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1 Damon Lee/DN
Brock Williamson ponders the possibility of serving on Lincoln’s City Council at the County-City Building.
Williamson, a junior political science major, is the only UNL student running for a city office.
Student shoots for council seat
Younger citizens
need voice in city,
UNL junior says
By Min* Steyer
Staff Reporter'
Some UNL students who want to
make a difference look at ASUN as
tlieir vehicle for change. But one
University of Nebraska-Lincoln student is
aiming higher.
Brock Williamson, a junior political
science major at UNL, describes himself
as an “average, everyday student,” but
average college students don’t run for city
council.
Williamson said his impression of
ASUN was that it had no real power, and
because of that, it did nothing. He said he
wanted to be involved where he was
allowed a voice and offered the opportu
nity to accomplish something.
Williamson, 21, is the only student of
seven candidates vying for the three at
large seats open on the Lincoln City
Council.
He is running against two City Council
veterans, Ken Haar and Cindy Johnson.
Others running include 19-year-old
Michael Barrett; Jerry Shoecraft, 32;
Edward Price, 36; and Scott Stuart, 46.
Only six candidates will advance from
the April 6 primary to the May 4 general
election.
Williamson said he hoped to be among
them, if only to prove to local government
that young people need a voice.
Young people are citizens, Williamson
said, and as such, they deserved to have a
part in decision-making.
“What good is a City Council without
citizen input?”
Williamson said he hoped to attract
more students to meetings so they could
see what decisions affecting them were
being made and could voice their opin
ions.
The City Council chamber is where
decisions about the city are made, he said,
and Williamson said he was tired of being
shut out of decision-making that affected
him.
“I think if you’re going to have a
representative government, young people
need to be represented,” he said. “Why do
we sit back and wait to get to a magic age
to gel involved?
“I want to see our generation get
involved now, instead of waiting until
we’re all over 30 — why not now?”
His youthfulness has been somewhat of
*' i A 4 . r#
a burden, he said, because the community
didn't take him seriously. But he said he
wouldn't let that deter him.
Williamson said he had been attending
various meetings, luncheons and forums
with local groups, such as the Lincoln
Independent Business Association and the
League of Women Voters.
Williamson described the meetings as
opportunities to “rub elbows and meet
people.” While he won’t commit yet to
liking the meetings, he said he was getting
used to them.
Although he was not shy before getting
involved in the election, he said he never
would have introduced himself to a group
of strangers — especially ones who did
not always take him seriously.
Williamson said he didn’t blame
people for their skepticism or for wonder
ing what experience a 21-year-old college
student had.
That question is a valid one, he said,
“because what experience do I have?”
But his lack of political experience
doesn’t have to be negative, Williamson
said.
“Maybe a little young blood can
rejuvenate city council.
Williamson, who graduated from
Lincoln East High School in 1990, said he
wasn’t interested in high school politics,
See BROCK on 3
CBA faculty
to abandon old
section during
renovations
By Corey Russman
Staff Reporter
Construction of the College of Business
Administration building addition is
nearly completed. And while plans are
being made for the new section, some UNL
faculty members are making plans to leave the
old section.
At least for a year.
Nancy Stara, associate dean of the College
of Business Administration, said the new addi
tion must be completed and ready for classes by
June 7, when the five-week summer session
begins at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Soon after June 7, Stara said, the old portion
of CBA will be vacated to allow for renovation
and asbestos removal. The CBA auditorium,
however, will be reopened for classes this fall,
she said.
Dick Chase, assistant manager in the archi
tecture and engineering services division of the
UNL Facilities Management Department, said
the renovation would include a “general over
haul of the existing building.”
Workers will take out walls that had been
added over the years to create more classrooms,
Chase said. , ,
Renovation also will include “bringing CB A
up to date in terms of its systems," Chase said.
Workers will improve the existing heating, air
conditioning and ventilation systems.
All renovations are aimed at making the
building “more efficient and more usable,” he
said.
During the renovation, the college had con
sidered moving some faculty offices to other
locations on City and East campuses. But offi
cials decided faculty members should share an
office with at least one colleague, Stara said.
The faculty decided student accessibility to
the offices must come first, Stara said.
The behavioral laboratories in the new addi
tion will house the graduate students’ offices in
order that they may remain accessible to stu
dents, she said.
Computer rooms will remain in the old
Kinko’s building at 1239 R St. until the renova
tion is complete, Stara said.
The Economic Education Council and Cen
ter and other centers also will be moved from
CBA during the renovation, Stara said.
Chase said the old building’s renovation was
expected to be completed by June 1,1994. The
total project — including renovation, the new
addition and asbestos removal — will cost
about $6.7 million. Chase said.
Flood victims clean up while officials try to break jam
By Jeff zeleny
Senior Reporter
SHLAND — For 20 years,
Roy Hay put time and en
ergy into perfecting his home
in Beacon View, cast of Ashland.
Now he is just trying to clean it up.
Hay and his wife Kathy’s home
was severely damaged last week in
the floodwaters that continue to plague
the Platte River area. Wednesday, the
Hays inspected what was left of their
home.
“I can’t believe how much mud is
on top of everything,” Hay said. “This
is the first lime I’ve ever come out of
the house and cleaned my shoes.”
Over two inches of mud and silt
turned the Hay ’ s carpet into a si ippery
mess and scattered furniture through
out the house.
The water current that filled the
house with four feel of dirty river
„ water knocked over lamps and moved
sofas across the room. Many strange
things happened in the house, Hay
said, but the most amazing was a bow I
of dog food that floated undisturbed
from the kitchen to a bedroom on the
other side of the house.
A few things did remain untouched,
he said, including an antique dining
room table.
“The top of the table is just the way
it was," he said. “The white lace is still
there.”
But Kathy Hay said other antiques
didn't fare as well. Oak dressers in the
bedroom arc warped and separated at
the bottom.
The Hays had insurance on their
house, but it covered the contents of
the house only, which docs not in
clude carpeting, cabinets or anything
attached to the house. They are ex
peeling to receive federal disaster aid r
when officials arrive to inspect the
damage Friday.
Roy Hay said he thought the
chances of receiving disaster aid were
good.
“With a Democratic governor and
a Democratic president, we are hope
ful,” he said.
Although the Hays’ story sounds
bad, other residents of the Beacon
Vie w development area suffered more
damage. One house was swept away
entirely by the water, and three others
were damaged beyond repair.
"It was kind of a pretty place,” Roy
Hay said.
Friends told the Hays of the poten
tial flood the night before it happened.
They didn’t think the warning was
serious, but they followed the advice
See FLOOD on 3
Michelle Paulman/nw
Spectators, including Bill Rhoades, left, of LaVista, watch
dynamite blasts on the Platte River Wednesday near
Rhoades