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Technology park would benefit state, university
By Karen Okamoto
Staff Reporter
A technology park being devel
oped in northwest Lincoln will
benefit the state and the Uni
versity of Ncbraska-Lincoln, a UNL
official said Thursday.
The technology park, which will
bring together entities and businesses
interested in advanced technology, is
being developed by UNL and the city
of Lincoln in the Highlands area.
Construction on the technology
park will start in about three to eight
years, Lincoln Mayor Mike Johanns
Purse, wallet
thefts rising,
official says
Students should
take precautions
By Juliet Oseka
Staff Reporter
Because the number of purse
and wallcl ihcfls has been on
ihc increase ihis semester, stu
dents should take extra care w ilh these
items, a UNL pohccofficcr said Thurs
day.
Sgt. Mylo Bushing said there had
been 49 purses and wallets reported
stolen since January.
When a purse or wallcl is stolen,
the thief not only gets money and
credit cards, Bushing said, but also
gels a drivers license with personal
information about the victim and keys
to both cars and homes.
“This is information that we don’t
want released to anyone,” he said.
Purse and wallet thefts arc not just
a problem at UNL, Bushing said. In
February, the number of ihcfls re
ported in both the Capitol and State
Office buildings also had increased,
he said.
If anyone sees a person who looks
suspicious or is in an area of a building
that is restricted, the police should be
contacted, Bushing said.
To help alleviate the problem.
Bushing sa id students should take their
purses and wallets with them instead
of leaving them unattended.
“Lock these items up, or take them
with you,” Bushing said.
“If you want to save your place in
the library, for example, leave a note
book but not your purse,” he said.
Purses and wallets should not be
left in unlocked desk drawers either.
Bushing said. It only takes a few
seconds to take a purse or wallcl, he
said.
Research opportunities, high-tech jobs to result, officials say
said.
Bill Splinter, vice chancellor for
research at UNL, said the park would
broaden the slate’s economic base by
bringing new industry into Nebraska.
“Our ultimate goal is to help the
economy of the state,” he said!
The university also will benefit
because researchers at UNL will be
able to scale up their lab work to a
manufacturing level, he said.
By opening businesses in the park,
Splinter said, professors may work
■
with several barrels of material in
stead of just test-tube amounts.
The university, which obtains pat
ents on professors’ developments, will
receive royalties from any sales that
the ofessors make, he said.
e park also will create jobs for
UNL graduates who may be inter
ested in staying in Nebraska, Splinter
said.
Many of the jobs will be high-tech
jobs, he said.
UNL expertise, not money, is go
ing into the development of the tech
nology park, Splinter said.
The proposed park is the result of
a recommendation by a committee
appointed in 1988 by former Mayor
Bill Harris and then-UNL Chancellor
Martin Massengalc.
That committee recommended fo
cusing efforts on technology-related
business development as a strategy
for long-term economic development
and job creation in Lincoln.
The committee also named the
Highlands as a potential site ior tne
park, and, in December 1989, the city
annexed the area.
The committee then coordinated
the development of a detailed master
plan for the Highlands’ 600 acres with
the technology park a key part of the
plan.
One hundred acres have been re
served for the technology park, and 50
more acres may be added.
A seven-member coalition of Ne
braska businesses and the University
of Nebraska Foundation now own the
SeeTECH on 2
__
• Jeff Haller/DN
A student bikes across campus between classes Thursday.
Helmet usage
called crucial
for bicyclists
By Michelle Leary
Senior Reporter__
OncC the warm temperatures of the new
season spring up, many UNL students
opt to leave their cars at home and ride
their bicycles to class.
“They’re everywhere,” said Deborah Conley,
a junior sociology major.
Conley said there already were several thou
sand frantic pedestrians on campus each day,
and that cyclists caused even more chaos.
“(Cyclists) arc confusing at limes, espe
cially when the weather starts getting nice,” she
said. “You don’t know which way they’re
going to go, and that’s when the accidents start
happening.”
Joan Artman, manager of the Urgent Care
area at the University Health Center, said that
with the increase in temperature, the number of
bicycle injuries increased.
The sand and gravel used on the roads and
walkways in the winter time make the side
walks and streets slick for riders, Artman said.
Other causes of bicycle injuries include a
combination of car-and-bicyclc and car-and
pedcstrian accidents, she said.
“As soon as it gets nice, everyone is outside
on their bikes enjoying the weather,” Artman
said. “But they aren’t wearing helmets.
“Helmets arc a must because it only takes
one accident to ruin your li fc,” she said. “When
you wear a helmet you have protection at all
times.”
Junior mechanical engineering major Allen
McPhaull said hedid not want to wear a helmet.
“I don’t need one,” McPhaull said. “I trust
my riding abilities.
“And besides, I don’t want to mess up the
waves in my hair,” he said.
McPhaull also said that the cost of purchas
ing a helmet was too much for his student
pockctbook.
Gary Baldwin, a sales associate at Cycle
Works on 27th and Vine streets, said the gen
eral price range for hclmels was S40 to SI00.
“Generally,” he said, “the more expensive
ones are lighter, more ventilating ones, and
they look cooler.”
Baldwin said a few years ago, when he first
See BIKES on 3 |
Parking committee approves new lot, increased lighting
By Mindy Letter
Staff Reporter
The UNL Parking Advisory Committee
intends to shed a little light on the East
Campus Loop as well as provide for
another commuter student lot on East Campus,
a UNL official said.
- The parking committee
, passed a resolution at its
< meeting Thursday to finance
a commuter lot on East Cam
pus that would add 195 new
■ stalls.
Located south ol the Law
Library, the lot will cost an
esti mated $175,000and wi 11
be paid for through the extra parking fees, said
Tom Johnson, chairman of the committee.
East Campus Loop primary target for illumination
“By providing for more commuter student
lots, we will cut down on the number of people
who are parking in places they have no permit
for,” Johnson said. “That way we will help
everybody.”
The committee also passed a resolution that
would increase lighting in the eastern portion of
the East Campus Loop.
Mike Cacak, interim parking administrator,
said the committee’s decision to light the east- ~
em portion of the loop was based on the in
creased use of East Campus.
Safely concerns have increased because more
students are walking through the area, which
hasalways been a lighting concern, Cacak said.
“The east side of East Campus Loop is what
we have heard about the most that needs to be
taken care of,” he said.
“Some of the darkest areas (at the univer
sity) are on East Campus.”
Lighting the East Campus Loop will cost an
estimated S58.000, Cacak said, and it would be
paid using the $4 safely fee already added to
UNL parking fees. The project is tentatively
scheduled for completion in the fall. .
The parking lot for state employees, located
cast of the livestock judging pavilion, currently
has no lighting. The committee resolved to
place lighting on a nearby street to light the
area.
In other business, the Parking Advisory
Committee elected a new chairman for the
1994-95 academic year.
Dean Waddcl, chairman of branch services
and professor of libraries, was unanimously
approved as the new chairman.
The committee also established parking
maintenance and repair as another one of its
priorities.
Comm ittce members plan to use operational
fees to pay for repair of potholes and cracks in
the concrete, which are the result of winter
damage to the lots, Johnson said.
“That might slop the complaints,” he said.
“People donrt like potholes that are big enough
to lake their Lincoln Continental and make it
disappear into the ground.”
