Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 17, 1992)
South African leaders campaign for reforms JOHANNESBURG, South Africa —Presi dent F.W. dc Klerk, slaking the country’s fu ture on a historic referendum Tuesday, urged whiles to abandon decades of apartheid or risk plunging the country into chaos. On Monday, the eve of the whitcs-only referendum on sharing power with the black majority, the country’s leaders made final ef forts to sway voters. If reform is rejected, “there is no doubt where that must lead us — to a dead end of division and destruction,” said dc Klerk in a newspaper message to voters. The referendum is favored to carry. If it fails, dc Klerk has promised to resign and call a whitcs-only election. Political analysts warned the government’s lead had slipped in recent days as campaign frenzy reached a peak and violence in black townships soared. Army and police in long columns of ar mored vehicles poured into black townships around Johannesburg lo try to halt factional violence after at least 15 people died Monday and overnight. Township violence has claimed some 280 lives in the three weeks since the referendum was announced. Some black groups say the violence has been orchestrated to persuade whiles to reject reform and side with the pro-apartheid Conser vative Party. However, they have not provided any evidence. The pro-govcmmcnl Citizen newspaper said Monday the outcome was unpredictable, while other newspapers forecast a close win for the government. Votes will be counted Wednes day. Full-page ads were splashed across newspa pers Monday, lawmakers handed out leaflets to commuters, and both sides held last-minute rallies. Only^jvhitcs may vote Tuesday. The 3.27 million eligible voters will be asked to vote yes or no for the continuation of talks on a new constitution to give blacks the vote. House bank always troubled WASHINGTON (AP)—The year was 1832 when a House leader first publicly chastised his colleagues for deliberately overdrawing their House bank accounts. Nothing much happened. A half-century later, a cashier skipped the country with his mistress and S71 ,(XX) in House money. And in the 1940s, a bank official was sent to jail after skimming from accounts for 20 years. Three times, when the bank was caught short of funds, the House voted to make up the difference with lax dollars. But the scandal that finally shut tered the House bank last year docs not involve taxpayer money. The bank was brought down by the 160-year old custom of members writing checks on money that wasn’t yet in their accounts. As Phil Kuntz wrote in a recent issue of Congressional Quarterly, the hank “operated for more than 150 years outside the system of checks and balances. Too often, there were plenty of checks but not enough bal ances.” Although it was almost always called the House bank, it never was a bank in traditional terms, starting with the fact it made no profit. It served an exclusive group of clients — the members of the House of Representa tives. Framed photographs of all 435 covered the wall the tellers faced, rank on rank of the famous and ob scure. The currency those tellers slid across the counters was invariably crisp and new. And when a member wrote a bad check, he did so with no charge and little fuss. Essentially, members were free to write themselves short-term, interest-free loans. I In Store Today Great New Hits MELISSA ETHERIDGE RIDE k Cs. $6.97 CD $10.97 " y 3814 Normal • 237 S. 70th —JL— 17th & P • 58th & Hwy. 2 USENET Continued from Page 1 posted. But the alt groups never have edi tors, Kenyon said. Anyone can start an alt group, and anyone can add to one. Kenyon said he thought the alt groups were taken out of UNLINFO because some of them were porno graphic in nature, such as “all.sex.bondage” and “alt.scx .bestiality.” Others dealt with trivial subjects, such as “all.tv. simpsons.” But other all groups arc worth while, he said. “I’ll guarantee you that out of 400 (all groups), there arc 200 that arc as legitimate as the rest of USENET,” Kenyon said. Douglas Gale, director of comput ing at UNL, said he was tired of hearing students complain about the removal of the all groups from UN LINFO. “They haven’t been denied any thing,” he said. People still can gain access to the all groups by logging into systems elsewhere. Gale said. A list of alter native sites was posted on UNLINFO, he said. Many students do not understand why those groups could no longer be stored on UNLINFO, Gale said. Make sure your road trip proceeds without a hitch. Sometimes road trips can be a little more adventurous than you expect them to be. Which is why you should always pack your AT&T Calling Card. □ wc rc acaimg very muen wun a resource issue,” he said. The amount of memory on UN LI NFO was doubling every four months, he said, and the increase of data was making UN LI NFO run more slowly. Gale said he got the impression that some students would limit access to valuable educational resources, such as library catalogs and news wire services, just to look at “all.lv.simpsons.” The content of the USENET groups also makes a difference, Gale said, when taxpayers’ money is involved. ‘‘Some of that stuff (in the alt groups) is pretty sick,” he said. ‘‘There’s stufl that would not be in the adult book store downtown.” CRC decided to stop storing the all groups after a Feb. 27 meeting of the UNL Academic Senate Computational Services and Facilities Committee. Leo Chouinard, the Academic Senate representative on the Compu tational Committee, said the commit tee discussed several considerations before making a decision about the all groups, including possible viola tions of state pornography laws and concerns about computer resources being used for non-cducational pur poses. I It’s all you need to make a call from almost anywhere to anywhere. It’s the least -— ____•_ . .. ~ .1' '.— — —.- • —... _l_.._ expensive way to call state-to-state on AT&T when you can’t dial direct. And now, a " r you could also get 10% back on all the long distance calls you make with your card* □ The AT&T Calling Card. It’s the best route to wherever you’re going. Call more, save more with an AT&T Calling Card E& 1 Ri I Call 1 800 6544)471, Ext. 5915. •Must make at least $30 worth of ATAT Long Distance Calls with your ATAT Card per quarter Calls covered by special ATAT pricing plans are not Included ©1992 ATAT
