~Tr..„,Jay _ ■' ::
CORRECTION: In a story about the Recreation Center (DN, Sept 6), the
cost of Cook Pavilion was incorrectly reported Thecostwas$3 5 million The
Daily Nebraskan regrets this error.
WEATHER: INDEX
Thursday, partly cloudy and humid with a high
from 85 to 90 and winds from the south at 10 to News Digest 2
15 miles per hour. A 30 percent chance of Editorial 4
showers during the day and 40 percent at Diversion.7
night. Partly cloudy and humid Thursday night Sports.19
with a low in the 60s Classifieds .23
I
September 7, 1989 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No. 8
Survey: Fewer students drinking alcohol
On days that you drink, how many drinks do you average?
St
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
I
How does your drinking now
compare to your drinking 2
years ago?
_ 10%’
John Bruce/Daily Nebraskan
By C.J. Schepers
Staff Reporter
The percentage of University
of Nebraska-Lincoln students
who drink alcohol has shrunk
in the past few years, according to
statistics from the annual UNL Stu
dent Health Survey.
In 1985, the survey showed that
84.7 percent of UNL students said
they drank, and in 1986 and 1987,
those figures were 82.8 and 85.1 per
cent.
In 1988, that percentage dropped
to 78.4. The 1989 survey shows the
number of students drinking has
dropped to 77.7 percent.
David Johnson, chairman of the
UNL Department of Sociology, said
the survey has a 6 percent margin of
error.
The report shows a “statistical
significamdiffcrencc’ ’ in the number
of students drinking, Johnson said.
Although the number of drinkers
at UNL has declined only slightly,
college students still out-drink most
other age groups, Johnson said.
‘ ‘Compared to the general popula
tion figures, students drink at a much
higher rate,” he said.
Despite the nationwide decrease
in alcohol consumption, problems of
alcohol abuse have not decreased,
said Ian Newman, director of the
Nebraska Prevention Center for Al
cohol and Drug Abuse at UNL.
“It looks like there’s evidence of a
small decline,” Newman said. “But
it doesn’t mean that there’s not a
problem.”
He said alcohol is associated with
a variety of societal “ills,” including
crimes such as robbery and rape.
“ It’s the most costly drug we have
today,” Newman said.
The UNL survey also found that
college males drink more alcohol
than college females.
-
‘Compared to the
general popula
tion figures, stu
dents drink at a
much higher rate.'
.—Johnson
Women were more likely to con
sume only one or two drinks during a
single day, while men arc more likely
to drink five to six drinks. Of students
who said they drink, 22 percent of the
males said they had five to six drinks,
compared to only 8.6 percent of the
females.
Johnson said, “One of the heavi
est drinking groups is college-age
men.”
Many things contribute to college
students' higher rales of drinking,
Johnson said, including peer pressure
to drink and using alcohol as a pas
sage rite to adulthood and independ
ence from parents.
Another significant study result
was the difference in drinking be
tween upper- and underclassmen,
with freshmen drinking the most.
Of freshmen who drink, 55.4 per
cent said they arc drinking more now
than two years ago. The percentage
steadily drops, with 52.4 percent of
sophomores, 23.7 percent of juniors,
11.1 percent of seniors and 2.6 per
cent of graduates reporting the same.
Johnson said heavier drinking
among teenagers and young college
students reflects a nationwide social
pattern.
Newman agreed that young
people tend to drink more because of
a “conceived pressure’’ to drink.
As students grow older, there is a
tendency to drink less and “smart
up,’’ he said.
For the first time in the survey’s
history, students were asked: How
serious of a problem at the university
do you consider alcohol to be? On a
scale of one to seven, 15.1 percent of
students surveyed rated alcohol as a
seven — or a very serious problem.
According to Greg Barth, infor
mation systems manager for the Uni
versity Health Center, alcohol was
rated by UNL students as the most
serious health-related problem on
campus.
Bush’s plan draws mixed reviews
By Cindy Wostrel
Staff Reporter
President George Bush’s new
S7.9 billion drug program has
drawn mixed reactions from
Nebraska and University of Ne
braska-Lincoln officials.
Jim Joneson, executive director of
the Nebraska Crime Commission,
said he feels Bush is focusing on
important points.
In his new drug plan, Bush ad
dresses education, treatment, arrest
and prosecution, Joneson said.
“I think that the approach he is
taking is correct,” Joneson said.
However, three UNL sociologists
disagreed.
Bush’s program is “focusing on
issues that are not the root of the
problem,” said Michelle Miller, a
graduate assistant.
Miller, who teaches a class on
drugs, said Bush’s new program is no
better than any other programs of the
past.
To be more effective, Miller said,
a war on drugs should focus more on
education and society’s structure and
less on the law.
Bush’s plan calls for:
•Increasing four-fold military and
law enforcement aid given to Bolivia,
Colombia and Peru. The government
will give $261.2 million to the coun
tries in 1990.
•Diverting $751 million from
other programs, which include juve
nile justice, housing, immigration
and economic development, to the
drug budget.
•Authorizing $1.6 billion for cor
rections, $250 million to strengthen
the court system, $3.1 billion for law
enforcement, $ 1.2 billion for preven
tion and education and $925 million
for treatment.
•Doubling the amount of money
given to local law enforcement ef
forts to about $350 million to finance
a street-level attack on drugs.
•Urging states to adopt stiffer fines
for casual drug users, including seiz
ing users’ cars and suspending driv
ers’ licenses and sending some of
fenders to military-style camps.
• Requiring schools, colleges and
universities to adopt drug-prevention
programs before they can receive
federal funds.
•Urging state and local govern
ments and private institutions to
adopt drug-testing programs for
employees, including mandatory
drug testing for those arrested by the
federal government, prisoners and
those paroled for illegal drug use.
•Asking insurance companies to
cover drug treatment in their policies.
Joneson agreed with Bush’s plan
to combat the drug problem at the
local level.
“The war must be on the street,”
Joneson said.
Bush’s new program differs from
previous drug programs, Joneson
said, because it is far larger in scope
and more expensive.
Similar programs have succeeded
in the past in finding more drug users
and prosecuting more drug-related
cases and in getting drug users into
treatment, Joneson said.
Miller said she finds it interesting
that money is going to be spent trying
to prevent drug problems in other
countries, implying that other coun
tries arc causing the United States’
drug problem.
See DRUG on 5
Former student receives probation, tine
By Pat Dinslage
Staff Reporter
Convicted on theft and third
degree assault charges, Todd
J. Zimmerman, a former Uni
versity of Ncbraska-Lincoln student,
was sentenced Wednesday in Lan
caster County District Court.
Pleading no contest to the
amended charges, Zimmerman re
ceived one year probation and a $500
fine from Judge William D. Blue.
Zimmerman is the fourth of six
students to be sentenced for partici
pation in the robbery and alleged at
tack on 31-ycar-old Mitchell Radncy
of California last May at the Corn
husker Hotel.
According to Deputy County At
torney Jan Lipovsky, the victim's
statement, listing the items stolen,
only recently has been received, as
Radney has been on a buying trip for
his job as a jewel dealer.
Items listed in the statement in
clude two wallets, keys, a briefcase, a
gold-and-sapphirc ring, a watch, an
airplane ticket, about $110 in cash
and a pinky ring. The pinkie ring had
not been included in the list at the
lime of the incident, Lipovsky said.
Blue directed the Probation Off ice
to attempt to contact Radney again
for clarification of the discrepancy.
One of the wallets, the pinky ring
and the ticket have not yet been re
covered, Lipovsky said.
When asked by Blue, Zimmerman
denied any knowledge of the second
ring.
Zimmerman’s attorney, Jerry
Socie, told the court that Zimmerman
plans to attend Coastal Carolina Col
lege in South Carolina this year.
Socie said that during the days
Zimmerman spent in jail on these
charges he “obtained two years col
lege education... The chances of him
participating is this kind of thing
again are nil.’*
Zimmerman declined to comment
on his plans or feelings about the
sentence.
Leodis Wiley, the fifth student
involved, will be sentenced Sept. 28.
Previously receiving one year proba
tion for their participation were
David Kuszaj, John Mikkelsen and
Ward Elliott. Kuszaj also received a
fine of $800.
Mikkelsen and Elliott, upon suc
cessful completion of probation, may
have it stricken from their records.
Zimmerman was not offered such
terms.
Yet to be tried is Mitchell Hope,
also a former IJNL student.
the GenTest service.' .*
UNL graduates begin unique
business of sequencing DNA
By Lisa Botin
Staff Reporter
Two University of Ne
braska-Lincoln graduates
have started a business
unique to the Lincoln area. In fact,
the business is one of few of its
kind operating in the United
States.
Jim Willett and Doug Koenig
make their livelihood sequencing
deoxyribonucleic acid - DNA.
Willett said that as far as he
knows, there is only one other
business in the United States simi
lar to theirs.
Their business, GenTcst, assists
researchers by discovering how
different genes are put together,
Willett said.
Through automated sequenc
ing, GenTcst figures out the DN A
sequence of gene samples sent to
it by its customers, he said.
The four bases DN A is made up
of - A, T, C and G - are the basic
See DMA on 5
