Disability Fair aims to educate
By Ktbecci Oitmm_
Staff Reporter
For Chris Etheredge, attending the
National Camp for Blind Children
changed his life — twice.
Etheredge, a Lincoln man who has
been blind from birth, and his seeing
eye dog, Domer, were one part of a
Disability Awareness Fair sponsored
by Christian Record Services Tues
day.
CRS is a nonprofit organization
that provides free publications and
programs for the visually and hear
ing-impaired. It also sponsors the
camps.
At the fair, Etheredge talked about
his experience attending the first camp
for the blind in 1967. Etheredge, who
was IS at the time, had no interest in
the camp until he found out that a girl
he wanted to date was attending the
camp.
Although he barely spoke to the
girl, something much more impor
tant happened, he said. He got to
water ski.
“After I did that I began to wonder
what else I had sold myself short on,”
Etheredge said.
Etheredge experienced another
important event at another camp for
the blind 13 years later. Etheredge
was director of the camp and he met
his current wife, who was a nurse
there.
Besides question-and-answer op
portunities with Etheredge and oth
ers with disabilities, the fair also had
free testing for glaucoma and hearing
loss, a sign language class and games.
During the fair, Rep. Doug
Bcrcuter presented service awards to
special education teachers.
Rikki Stenbakken, assistant to the
president of CRS, said the fair was
designed to educate people about dis
abilities.
- Shaun Sartln/DN
Chris Etheredge, a public Information specialist with the
Christian Record Services, greets Ms seelng-eye dog, Domer,
during the Disability Awareness Fair Tuesday.
During a beeper ball game, par
ticipants nit a baseball off a tee while
blindfolded. When a pin was removed
from the ball, it beeped so batters
could locate it.
Etheredge, a CRS public informa
uon specialist, said he tried to edu
cate children, who usually are more
open to learn about disabilities than
adults.
Freezes may not end
sneezes, allergist says
By Joah Wlmmw__
Staff Reporter
There’s something in the air,
but it’s not pollen anymore. It’s
mold.
With the first statewide freeze
Tuesday morning, the weed pollen
count has decreased. But hay fever
sufferers hoping for a change for
the better might be disappointed,
because allergy-causing molds are
on the rise, Lincoln allergist Fred
Kiechel said.
“We’re now into the time of the
year where the pollen counts are
going down, and the mold counts
are going up,” Kiechel said.
Various types of pollen remain
in the air only for a few months, but
molds proliferate throughout the
year, he said.
These molds are not the type
that grow on old bread or cheese.
These are parasitic fungi that re
lease microscopic spores into the
air. The spores are a major cause of
hay fever, Kiechel said.
Hay fever is the generic name
for a number of allergies caused by
natural substances in the air such
as mold spores and weed pollens,
Kiechel said.
Victims of this allergy suffer
from congested sinuses and ninny
noses and eyes. The extremity of
the symptoms varies from person
to person.
Weed pollen probably is the best
known cause ofhay fever, but molds
also can cause the allergy, Kiechel
said.
“Typically, the weed pollens
come out in mid-August and go on
until we get a freeze,” he said.
Molds, on the other hand, are
more resistant to the freeze and can
live indoors as well as out.
The recent upsurge in molds is
due to seasonal occurrences,
Kiechel said. Grass is starting to
die and leaves are beginning to
fall, and those events provide
greater feeding opportunities for
the molds and help stir them up.
Both spring and autumn are prime
times for molds, he said.
About 10 to 15 major molds can
give allergy sufferers trouble, and
about six of those account for most
of the symptoms in the Lincoln
area, Kiechel said.
Hay fever victims can protect
themselves from the misery that
pollens and molds cause, he said.
Keep windows and doors closed
to prevent pollens from entering
the house. Because molds can live
indoors, however, run a dehumidi
fier in normally damp areas, such
as the basement, he said.
Raking leaves, mowing the lawn
and doing other yard work can ag
gravate hay fever, because so many
pollens and mold spores are stirred
up in the process.
If hay fever sufferers absolutely
must perform those chores, they
may want to wear a mask covering
the mouth and nose. They also
should shower or bathe immedi
ately afterward to remove any re
sidual pollens or spores, Kiechel
said.
Allergy sufferers also should
take antihistamines or use a pre
scription nasal spray before head
ing outdoors on particularly windy
days or to do yardwork, Kiechel
said.
, ■ _ . ' •
tVKOl JJS
/IiDNiGhT
/Iadness!
Yes, the whole store's gone
mad! We've reduced prices
on new, yes new, fall clothing!
And if that's not enough... there’ll be
* cheap refreshments (they're free!!) and loud,
terrible music (you'll love it!!) All this... plus a few
bizarre and insane surprises too crazy to mention!!
THE FUN STARTS TOMORROW NIGHT!
*7PH TO MIDNIGHT!
* We ll be closed from 5- 7pm to restock merchandise through out the store
HAROLD'S
One Pacific Place, Omaha
Murder suspect confronts
former girlfriend in court
FALLS CITY (AP) — A man ac
cused in a triple slaving near
Humboldt confronted a former girl
friend in court Tuesday in an obscen
ity-filled tirade.
John Lotter interrupted the testi
mony given by Rhonda McKenzie of
Falls City at a hearing in Richardson
County with some of his own ques
tions and comments.
“Who the (expletive)... is paying
you off?,” Ik asked McKenzie. As she
was escorted from the stand, Lotter
said: “Get her the (expletive)... out of
here.”
After a 30-minute recess,
McKenzie retook the stand to con
» tinue her testimony without interrup
tion at the suppression hearing that
began Monday and is expected to
continue throughout the week.
Lotter, 22, and Marvin Nissen, 21,
arc each charged with three counts of
first-degree murder in the deaths of
three people in a farmhouse near
Humboldt on New Year’s Eve.
The men were originally arrested
for allegedly kidnapping and sexu
ally assaulting one of the murder vic
tims, Teena Brandon. Brandon, who
posed as a man, reported on Dec. 24
that the men forced her into a car,
drove her outside of Falls City and
raped her.
The hearing is being held to con
sider whether evidence should be sup
pressed in the case because the two
were arrested on the day of the al
leged murders without an arrest war
rant.
Assistant Police Chief John
Caverzagie of Falls City had testified
that he knew law enforcement offi
cials did not have a warrant when the
two men were arrested but he feared
that if they waited the men would
flee. In addition, Caverzagie said he
felt they had enough probable cause
to make the arrest.
On Tuesday, a police investigator
with Falls City testified that the mur
ders were “probably a factor” in the
arrest of the two men on the rape
charges.
Keith Hayes said he knew of no
hard evidence that linked the two
men to the slayings but that their
involvement was “basically a theory
Hayes said he did not know that
the arrests had been made without
warrants until a few weeks later.
^ *
uj.nl gets grant to develop
uses for wheat gluten
»y Qfgg Bidun_
Staff Raporter
The USDA has awarded the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln a
$ 172,000 grant to pioneer new, envi
ronmentally friendly uses for wheat
gluten.
Curtis Weller, assistant professor
of food science and technology, said
the new uses include a different type
of mulch and plastic bags made par
tially from the wheat gluten.
Weller said the research will focus
on making plastic bags that are more
environmentally friendly:
“I hesitate to call the bags biode
gradable, it depends on your defini
tion of the word,” Weller said. MWe
would hope these bags will be
compostable”
The bags would break down
quicker than ordinary plastic bags, he
said.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
researchers requested the grant be
cause they wanted to find more uses
for agricultural commodities, Weller
said.
“The USD A has many programs
which they award money to. There
were 150 applicants for this program
and about 25 of them were accepted,”
Weller said.
The research has already begun,
he said.
“This grant is really a continua
tion of funds to keep our research
going," Weller said.
