CHUCK GREEN
Holiday struggle for homeless
Throughout the country, people
already are shopping for their
Thanksgiving meals.
Some even will take a more old
fashioned approach and will hunt for
wild turkey to fill their tables next
week.
But some of those hunting for
Thanksgiving dinner won’t be using
shotguns or bows and arrows, and
they won’t be traveling to central
Nebraska’s wilderness to find their
game.
They’ll be using their hands to dig
through trash dumpsters. Chances are,
they won’t even eat with the benefit
of a roof over their heads.
To America’s homeless, Thanks
giving is just another day of searching
for acceptance — and a warm, dry
place to stay.
Here in Lincoln, according to a
spokesperson at the People’s City
Mission, there are a “dozens” of
homeless citizens, although the num
bers fluctuate from month to month
because some of the homeless are
transients just passing through town.
Whatever the number, many spend
their time the same way. One can sec
them wandering the streets checking
for loose change at the stems of park
ing meters or in coin-return slots of
pay telephones and vending machines.
Some collect aluminum cans, while
others just ask passers-by for any
thing they can spare. Many of them
want to work and do look for jobs,
contrary to popular belief, said Steve
Janovee, executive director of the
People’s City Mission.
National statistics indicate that
many homeless, including those in
Lincoln, arc alcoholics, and some even
suffer from mental illness. Many others
probably arc regular abusers of vari
ous types of illegal drugs, according
to the same statistics.
In contrast to vast media attention
paid to the issue a few years ago, little
recent coverage has been given to
national programs and non-profit
organizations established to help
America’s homeless. The homeless
epidemic seems to have been swept
into the curb to make way for discus
sion of other problems that arc argua
bly less pressing.
After all, racism, sexism and other
For mjm—
about $1 per student
at the. University of
Nebraska-Lincoln —
the, mission could
help 2.083 less
fortunate men.
women and children,
forms of bigotry are vitally meaning
ful issues, but rarely do they involve
a daily struggle for survival.
Estimates of th® numbers of
America’s homeless range from 2
million to 10 million, depending on
whose counts arc being discussed.
The smallest estimates arc the result
of the Reagan and Bush administra
tions’ ignorance of life outside coun
try club walls.
Sadly, that perception, or lack
thereof, isn’t likely to change in the
next four years.
But a common public misconcep
tion of the homeless epidemic seems
to be that it is a problem for bigger
cities and “can’t happen here,” wher
ever “here” may be.
In Lincoln — one of the 10 best
American cities in which to live,
according to Money Magazine — the
problem exists, though few people
take time to notice it enough to lake
action. It’s one of those problems that
people think will go away if they just
turn their heads and keep walking.
But it won’t. Like the bitter cold
Lincoln receives every winter, the
existence of people without homes,
and sometimes without blankets, is a
fact of life.
Lincoln’s vagrancy laws ensure a
few arrests of homeless persons every
week. Those arrested are the lucky
ones because they’ll spend the night
in jail or at the detoxification center.
Those who successfully sidestep
police officers’ flashlights are proba
bly the ones who have been on the
streets the longest and who know how
to avoid hassles through experience.
Janovec said it costs about $12 for
the mission to provide services for
one person for 24 hours.
Those services include three meals,
clothing, personal counseling and job
referrals.
For $25,000 — about $1 per stu
dent at the University of Nebraska
Lincoln — the mission could help
2,083 less-fortunate men, women and
children.
One dollar. There’s something to
think about before crawling under the
covers tonight.
Thanksgiving is a time to be thank
ful and gracious for what we here in
America have been given. But, like
Christmas, it also is a time to reflect
on what we as a society have become,
and a lime to find ways to make
things better for those who aren’t so
fortunate.
Many people have had first-hand
experience with the homeless, cither
by a direct request for spare change or
just seeing them wander the streets.
But few people are ever affected
enough actually to think about what it
must be like not to have a place to I
live.
Three years ago, on Thanksgiving
morning, I was returning home from
out of town when I stopped at a con
venience store to fill my car’s gas
tank. As I entered the store to pay, I
noticed an elderly man digging through
a trash dumpster on the side of the
building.
When I left the store, he was walk
ing across the parking lot empty
handed. I asked him if he needed
anything, or even a ride somewhere. 1
He asked me if 1 could spare a dollar.
I gave him a $5 bill. He insisted on
giving me S4 change.
1 only wish everyone could experi
ence what I felt for the rest of that day.
(Ireen is a senior news-editorial major,
the Daily Nebraskan’s assistant sports editor
and a columnist.
Critical student evaluations
not motivated by racism
This letter is in response to an
article by Tom Kunz (“Professor
targets racism,” DN, Nov. 13).
We would like to make a few
things clear about this situation.
First of all, we arc not saying that
Colin Ramsay of the actuarial
department science is a poor
professor. In fact, we would be the
first to say that we learned a great
deal from his classes. We just want
to set the record straight about the
attitudes of the actuarial science
students and tell the other side of
the story.
The subject of the article was the
use of teacher evaluations to vent
racial hostilities. We have Ramsay
as a teacher and feel his assessment
of the evaluations is incorrect. We
can sec where Ramsay might get
poor evaluations from some of his
students, but the reason for this is
not racially motivated. Ramsay
teaches very difficult subjects and
purposely tries to make the classes
very difficult for the students. He is
trying to challenge the students to
work harder than they are used to
working for other classes. This
causes many students to become
upset and this is reflected in the
evaluations.
To say that poor evaluations are
caused by students’ racial attitudes
is an unwarranted accusation. We
doubt very much if there were any
racially motivated evaluations trom
*
his classes. In fact, in most of the
actuarial classes that we have had
including the classes we had with
Ramsay, about half of the class was
made up of minority students.
The article quotes Ramsay as
saying, “The excuse is that, ‘We’re
not used to that color of human
. being.’” We know most of the
actuarial science students and we
have never heard any such com
ment nor have we heard any racial
comments even close to that about
Ramsay or any minority. The
actuarial science students are not
racially biased and arc not deserv
ing of these accusations. We hope
this letter helps to relate the other
side of the story and promote better
communication between the
students and Ramsay in the future.
Scolt Herchenbach
senior
actuarial science
Scott Cross
senior
actuarial science
Kevin Kassebaum
senior
actuarial science
Pam Welker
senior
actuarial science
^very good 10 J
i 2 3 4 5
4 5
m o
J
4 5
o o
Brian Shellito/DN
. •' f '
‘Unpersonals’
disgusting,
disheartening
After reading the first group
of “unpersonals” Tuesday, I’m
really disgusted and disheart
ened. These threats of violence,
oppressive attacks and simple
meanness are gratuitous and
unfortunate. “ You freaks — get
back in the closet” seems bla
tantly homophobic and anyone
who freely dreams of “hurling a
poison-laden spear through your
quivering body” is probably
psychotic and needs help.
Come on, guys. College is
supposed to make us more tol
erant, right? Wc have plenty of
negativity on campus without
the Daily Nebraskan actively
soliciting it.
Victoria Kovar
junior
English
A University-wide canned
goods drive will take place
on Nov. 18 - 22. CAN-IT
boxes for donations will be
located at the front desk of
each Residence Hall,
Greek houses, and at
CORNERSTONE (640
North 16). Contributions
will be given to the
Malone Community
Center Thanksgiving
Basket Project. Spon
sored by UMHE
CONERSTONE. Please
help us help others.
r^^EARN $15 FOR EACH DONATION 1ST - 15TH OF THE MONTH |
Enjoy prompt courteous treatment from our caring staff_V J I
jjh~J Free physical on your first donation, call lor aopointmentl ExPin>s it-30-9tl ■
|i \ BRING THIS AD IN FOR $20 ON YOUR FIRST VISIT & ) M I
PH $20 ON YOUR SECOND VISIT WITHIN FIVE DAYS |
wjP il this is your first donation, or if you have not donated in the last two months^ ^^B
126 N. 14th Street, Suite #2, Phone 474-2335 j
| 2fc50%off
Everything in the Store
From Nov 20-23, you
can now save 20-50%
off Fashion II's already
low consignment prices,
have designer clothes tailored
A
-_____-• ~ —-T.-t x7^ . ■ w.™ ■■ - i- ’s