Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1994)
^A&E Women and Words A series of free films by and about women starts this weekend at Sheldon's Mary Ross Theatre. Page 9 Friday 47/20 Today mostly sunny and warmer. January 21, 1994 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 93 No. 86 Professor Roger Pabian holds the umbrella from a crinoid, an animal related to starfish and sea lilies. Pabian is sorting the fossil collection stratigraphically for paleoecology research. Cataloging the past Paleontologists rediscover ancient fossils By Deborah D. McAdams Staff Reporter _ Fossils from Nebraska’s Great Plains have recently been un earthed — again. In the early 1900s, a small army of geologists collected 7.5 million fossils, which were placed into box es, brown paper sacks or sheets of newspapers. They have remained there, mostly undisturbed, until now. University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers worked with research ers from Yale University on the field study. Yale’s collection was cataloged by numbers; Nebraska’s was cataloged oy type, rock layer and location. Yale researchers have requested a catalog of UNL’s collection. Roger Pabian, a paleontologist with die UNL Conservation and Survey Division, is trying to sort the fossils and create a computer database with information from the collection. “We are trying to resurrect a database that’s been lost for 30 years or so,” Pabian said. Many of the fossils were collect ed by George E. Condra, director at CSD from 1921 to 1954, and C.O. Dunbar of Yale during their geo logical survey of Nebraska, Pabian said. This collection is especially valu able to researchers because it is arranged according to the rock lay ers where the fossils were found, Pabian said. It also is valuable be cause the fossils cover such a long See FOSSIL on 3 Official: health plan overlooks students Uninsured could get lost in cracks By Kara G. Morrison Senior Reporter A Creighton University admin istrator told Lt. Gov. Kim Robak that she feared college students were being forgotten in the state’s health care reform plan. Virginia Moore, Creighton’s stu dent health center director, said stu ucnis — especial ly non-undergrad uates— who were no longer covered by their parents’ insurance plan comprised a large portion of unin sured adults. “We don’t want Robak them to get lost in the cracks of the uninsured,” Moore said. Robak, who spoke about health care reform in the East Campus Union on Thursday, was the guest of 17 wom en administrators of higher education from across the state. Moore said she also was concerned about the role college health centers, which she said provided cost-effec tive, accessible care, would play in health care reform. “There is no provision for college health centers,” she said. “We’re con cerned that they will be completely cut out.” Elizabeth Mulliken, associate vice president and dean of the College of St. Mary in Omaha, asked Robak how medical educators needed to prepare for health care reform. “There will be a huge need for mid level practitioners, particularly in ru ral areas,” Robak said. She said more students needed en couragement to become primary-care physicians — only 25 percent of the state’s doctors are in primary care. However, 75 percent are specialists. Robak said President Bill Clinton’s proposed health care reform package would require the opposite. Clinton’s plan would call for about 75 percent of physicians to provide primary care. Robak said one of the major areas of Gov. Ben Nelson’s 10-point health care plan, which was introduced to the Legislature on Wednesday, included See ROBAK on 3 New law would enforce crime victims’ rights By Kara G. Morrison Senior Reporter Victims of violent crime will be better informed of — and guaranteed — certain rights if the Legislature passes a constitu tional amendment this session, a UNL victim services coordinator said. Lisa Cauble is helping circulate unofficial petitions for the amendment — LR 29CA — which has been held in the Legislature’s Judiciary Com mittee for a third year. “What we’re trying to do is get a constitutional amendment passed to basically give victims the same rights that defendants now have,” Cauble said. After “considerable discussion” Thursday night, however, a motion to advance LR 29CA in the Judiciary Committee again failed, Michael Loeffler, the committee’s research analyst, said. Motions to kill the amendment also failed Thursday. Cauble said Nebraska has a “Vic tim’s Bill of Rights.” LR 29CA reiter ates those rights, she said, and would require the Legislature to pass laws so those rights are enforced. “The problem is, there’s nothing in the (Victim’s Bill of Rights) statute for the enforcement of them,” Cauble said. “(The amendment) is more of a guaranteed right.” The amendment says crime vic tims are entitled to fundamental rights, including the right to be informed of criminal justice proceedings, the right to be present at the proceedings, and the right to make oral or written state ments at sentencings and hearings. Loeffler said senators had mixed feelings on the amendment. “The committee felt that many of the rights enumerated could be pro vided by statute instead of constitu tional amendment and that many of the provisions were too detailed to be made part of the constitution,” Loeffler said. “At the same time, I think there is also a feeling that people want to do something for victim’s rights.” Cauble said LR 29CA was a neces sary supplement to the Victim’s Bill of Rights. Although crime victims have the right to be present at court proceed ings, they now are not always informed of the correct times or schedule chang es, she said. “If a victim is not needed in a court See VICTIMS on 3 Despite student opposition, greenspace plans underway By Todd Neeley Staff Reporter_ Plans to turn a faculty parking lot north of the Nebraska Union into recreational greenspace will be completed in mid to late February, a UNL official said. Paul Carlson, interim business manager, said the plans would include the addition of lighting, bushes, trees and an irrigation system. Once the plans are approved by University of Nebraska-Lincoln administrators, he said, the project would be up for bids by several con struction companies. “We hope to finish the project sometime this summer,” Carlson said. Despite opposition from ASUN senators and Administration looks toward summer for completion some 1,200 students who signed an anti greenspace petition, the plan was approved by the NU Board of Regents last October. Doug Oxley, an AaUN senator for the graduate col lege, said although the plan ners of the project had con sidered all the issues sur rounding it, it still was pos sible most people didn’t sup port it. _ ^ “We demonstrated that Ureen SpclCC most people opposed it,” he said. “But some decisions are made without us.” Wilbur Dasenbrock, director of Landscape Services, said construction on the greenspace would begin sometime in April. But it is possi ble that construction crews will begin tearing down the parking lot before the end of the spring semester. “It all depends on the timing of the contrac tors,” he said. Once the project begins, it will take about a week to remove the four to six inches of asphalt in the parking lot, Dasenbrock said. Then the same amount of topsoil will have to be added. In October, the NU Board of Regents ap proved between $ 100,000 and $200,000 for the project. The money would come from adminis trative funds and monetary gifts to UNL. Dasenbrock said the estimate for the project came without landscape plans. The actual cost of the project is yet to be determined. “We hope we can do it for less,” he said. “We want to make it as reasonable in cost as we can.”, He said the addition of greehspace north of the union would help to improve the appearance of UNL’s campus. “I think it’s very important to have a nice looking campus,” Dasenbrock said. Although the project includes the elimina tion of about 160 faculty parking spaces, he said the parking situation should continue to im See GREENSPACE on 3
