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Sports
Special Orange Bowl
pullout section, page 11
Arts & Entertainment
First in series on eastern
Nebraska music scene,
page 17
COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 94 NO. 77 January 9 1995
Nelson proposes ambitious agenda
Budget will be
main concern
By J. Christopher Haln
Senior Reporter
No issue looms larger in the up
coming legislative session than the
budget, and no legislator has more
responsibility for the state’s finances
than Sen. Roger Wehrbein.
Wehrbein of Plattsmouth was
elected chairman of the Appropria
tions Committee last Wednesday, giv
ing him leadership as the committee
puts together and presents Nebraska ’ s
budget.
Wehibein has been in the Legisla
ture since 1987, serving all eight of
those years on the Appropriations
Committee, but this is tus first stint as
chairman.
He takes over a committee drasti
cally different from last year — four
members were not on the committee
last year and three are new to the
Legislature.
“I’m going to have to make sure
they understand the whole process,”
Wehrbein said. “But we’ll proceed
See BUDGET on 3
On tap for the 90-day
session could be health
care reform and proposals
on welfare. Property and
gas taxes could arise,
again. The state's biennial
budget also will be set. On
Gov. Nelson's agenda are
a $70 million tax cut, an
economic development
plan, crime legislation and
plans to restructure state
government.
Issues include
budget, crime
By I. Christopher Haln
Senior Reporter
Gov. Ben Nelson has put the heat
on Nebraska legislators.
The governor is proposing an am
bitious legislative agenda including a
$70 million tax cut, an economic
development plan, a restructuring of
state government and crime legisla
tion.
This year’s 90-day session, which
began last Wednesday, also will in
volve the formulation of the state’s
biennial budget.
The governor will release his bud
get to the Legislature on Thursday.
But some state senators are won
dering how Nelson plans to make
state government more efficient and
pay for his tax cut, which will amount
to a 4.5 percent reduction in income
tax.
“I don’t know what the governor
has in mind,” said Sen. Don Wesely
of Lincoln.
Wesely, who is chairman of the
See 1995 SESSION on 3
NU Regents
to consider
Union’s plan
for garage
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
The NU Board of Regents will consider a
plan for a $5.5 million parking garage that
would house 400 to 450 parking spaces and
room for student-oriented stores Jan. 14.
But the site of the garage remains under fire
from one of its potential neighbors.
Two house officers of Alpha Phi Sorority,
which has opposed the garage site, said they
felt the proposed garage had problems.
Paul Carlson, the interim vice-chancellor
for business and finance, said that if the board
were to approve the concept, it would begin
planning.
The program statement given to the regents
states the site of the garage would be east of the
Nebraska Union.
Alpha Phi, which would be right next door,
already has raised concerns and written letters
to the regents.
The program statement addressed ttCon
cems of the sorority. Those concerns ranged
from Peeping Toms to homeless people using
the garage.
Carlson said that if the program statement
was approved, the sorority would be invited to
help design the project.
“We really want them to get involved,” he
said. “We really do.”
Lesley Brandt, current house manager of
Alpha Phi, said the invitation to be a part of the
design missed the point of their opposition.
“It’s a nice gesture, but that’s not part of our
goal,” Brandt said. “Our goal is to not have (a
garage).”
Alpha Phi didn’t oppose the garage just for
the welfare of house members, Brandt said; the
sorority was also concerned about students
living in Selleck residence hall and using Ne
braska Union.
The plan also has inconsistencies, Brandt
said.
“It’s hypocritical to build green space and
then put a parking garage 60 feet away from it,”
she said.
Janet Ebert, incoming house manager, said
the proposal’s claim that traffic on S Street
would decrease did not make sense.
“There is definitely going to be an increase
in traffic because there is going to be more
(parking) spots,” Ebert said.
The project started with 14 proposed sites
and later narrowed to four using more than 30
criteria, Carlson said. The union site was the
only financially viable one, he said.
The program statement lists the total con
struction costs for the garage at $4.9 million.
Design fees and equipment costs would add
$600, #00.
Carlson said parking bonds and revenue
from the garage would pay for the garage. He
said it could take 10 to 20 years to pay off the
bonds.
The program statement listed the comple
tion date for the garage as July 1996.
Damon Lee/DN
Jennifer Hendren counts copies of Sports Illustrated's “That Championship Season: Nebraska 1994” for a customer at
Nebraska Bookstore Saturday afternoon. The store started selling the special editions shortly after noon Saturday, and
had sold 25,000 copies to more than 9,000 customers before closing at 6:30 p.m.
Sports Illustrated issue hits Lincoln
Orange Bowl mania has
fans lined up for hours
at Nebraska Bookstore
By John Fulwider
Staff Reporter
Lita Sheldon wasn’t going to let any
thing stop her from buying a copy of the
Sports Illustrated commemorative issue.
Not even a car accident.
Sheldon, a graduate student of the Col
lege of Saint Mary, said she was on her way
Saturday to Nebraska Bookstore when her
small car was rear-ended by a “big, huge,
honkin’ car.”
Sheldon said little damage was done to
her car, but her head snapped forward in the
accident. The driver of the other car recom
mended she go to the hospital, Sheldon said,
but she was in too much of a hurry for that.
“I said ‘no, I’ve gotta go get my Sports
Illustrated first, then I’ll think about that,”’
she said. :
Nothing — not car accidents, sub-zero
temperatures or long lines — kept many
Comhusker fans from buying their Sports
Illustrated commemorative issues this week
end.
“That Championship Season: Nebraska
1994,” is only the 11th commemorative
issue published by'Sports Illustrated. Only
300.000 copies of the special issue were
printed, and none were mailed to subscrib
ers — making it a sure collector’s item.
Saturday’s rush on Nebraska Bookstore
was a prime example of the buying frenzy
that began last Monday in Lincoln as Husker
fans scrambled to area bookstores, depart
ment stores and even hotels to get memora
bilia from the first Orange Bowl victory in
23 years.
Nebraska Bookstore has sold more than
40.000 Husker t-shirts, sweatshirts and other
memorabilia — 1,000 during the first hour
the store was open Monday—to the 20,000
customers who have passed through its doors
since the victory over Miami.
A number of people already were in line
outside the bookstore Saturday before it
opened at 9 a.m. — when the temperature
was 7 degrees below zero, according to the
National Weather Service.
About 200 people stood in line one hour
See HUSKER MANIA on 3