Blondie's Nail
Salon
Welcomes
Marcie Shepard
New set of Solar
Nails for $40
with Marcie
2120 S. 56th, Suite 203
in the Hampton Place
483-4200
African
Americans
Is a new revolution
in order?
Panel discussion on
Civil Rights
Question & Answer Segment
Tomorrow
February 16
4-6 pm
Nebraska Union
Regency Room B
Black Law Students Association
Bob Dylan
Highway 61
Interactive
Interactive CD-ROM Includes. - p1
• Over 40 classic song clips , 4'
• 4 full length videos
• 10 full length songs
• 7 hyper-real fully navigable
3-D environments
• And much more!
i*
i
IN OTHER WORDS...
SAWMGHT
THURS 9-12
I486 O STREET
Law & Order
Valentine’s day a time of loss
From Staff Reports
Police are searching for three men
who did more than $1,000 worth of
Valentine’s Day shopping in a south
Lincoln residence.
The actual charge is burglary, re
lated to an incident Monday after
noon at 3093 Vine St. Police report a
Sharp AM/FM stereo system and
Fischer brand speakers, a Sega-Gen
esis entertainment system and a brace
let were stolen. The items were val
ued at $1,068.
Witnesses reported that two black
males and a Hispanic male carried
the items from the residence. The
three men reportedly left the area in
a large, 4-door car, described as ei
ther a Cadillac or LTD.
The victim, a 38-year-old woman,
reported that entry was made by forc
ing open the front door.
There are no suspects in the inci
dent.
Unidentified man
threatens school
with time bomb
From Staff Reports
A secretary at Lincoln High
School, 2229 J St., reported receiv
ing a bomb threat early Monday.
The woman told police she got a
phone call at 10:57 a.m. from a man
who said there was a “time bomb” in
the school, scheduled to go off in 30
minutes.
The school was evacuated, and
the Lincoln Fire Department was
called. No bomb was found, how
ever, in a search of the building.
There are no suspects in the case,
rhreatening to use explosives is a
Class IV felony, punishable by a
naximum five years in prison and
510,000 fine.
-Police Report
Beginning midnight Tuesday
12:58 a.m. — Abel Residence
Hall, miscellaneous.
Beginning midnight Monday
8:12 a.m. — 40th and Holdrege
streets, non-injury accident, $950
damage.
1:59 p.m.—Area 112 lot at 19th
Street from U to T streets, hit-and-run
accident, $350 damage.
7:42 p.m. — City of Lincoln, lar
ceny from building, pool cue taken,
$250 loss, item recovered, case
cleared by exception.
Studying science down South
Student learns world
of physics, from
robots to the stars
By Chris Hegarty
Staff Reporter
Last fall, David Becher had the
kind of semester some students only
dream of — he got to play with robots
and remote-control cars, and he was
hundreds of miles away from school.
Becher, a junior electrical engi
neering major at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, was one of 26 stu
dents from across the nation to spend
the fall semester at the Oak Ridge
Institute for Science and Education
in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Becher worked in Oak Ridge’s
physics division, where he attended
conferences and seminars ranging
from robotics to environmental is
sues. He also conducted advanced
physics experiments that were part of
ongoing research at Oak Ridge.
“This is pretty specialized re
search,” Becher said. “Some of the
applications will be that astrophysi
cists will study kinds of reactions that
only take place in stars and other
extreme conditions.”
The program at Oak Ridge, part of
the U.S. Department of Energy’s Sci
ence and Engineering Research Se
mester, is intended to increase the
number of students prepared for ca
reers in science, math and engineer
ing.
Becher said the experience made
him look at college in a new way.
“It gives you a vastly different
perspective from what you get taking
classes,” he said. “You have capa
bilities you just don’t have here. They
have a 25 million-volt particle accel
erator, a cyclotron — you just don’t
get to use those everywhere.”
Particle accelerators and cyclo
trons are used in high-level physics
experiments involving charged sub
atomic particles.
Becher’s semester at Oak Ridge
already has opened doors for him at
UNL. He is working with Ned Ianno,
a professor of electrical engineering,
on a project similar to what he did at
Oak Ridge.
Ianno said Becher’s experience at
Oak Ridge was an indication to him
that Becher was serious about scien
tific research.
“I had him in class and I was
impressed with his academic abil
ity,” Ianno said. “He’s very reliable,
very independent.”
Ianno said experiences like
Becher’s were extremely valuable.
“National labs are wonderfully
equipped facilities. It broadens your
horizons,” he said.
“The environment I got
to work in, the
equ ipment I got to work
with, working in a
national laboratory for
the government, it was
all quite an experience. ”■
■
DAVID BECHER
/ '
engineering student
But being at Oak Ridge from Sep
tember through December last year
had one drawback for Becher—he is
now a semester behind in his classes.
“I basically came back this semes
ter and all my friends have moved a
semester ahead of me,” he said. “So
I feel behind, but I also feel I have a
very neat experience under my belt.”
“The environment I got to work
in, the equipment I got to work with,
working in a national laboratory for
the government, it was all quite an
experience. It was a good deal all
around,” he said.
Credit scams top consumer complaints
By Brian Jensen
Staff Reporter
The No. 1 complaint issued to the
Consumer Protection Division in
1994 concerned credit and financial
services, according to the attorney
general’s office.
Dan Parsons, special assistant to
the attorney general, said the largest
scam was by “credit repair” compa
nies who claimed they^ould clear
bad credit reports.
“Many people who have overex
tended their credit buy into these
repair companies who claim they can
erase the negatives in a report, when
legally they cannot,” Parsons said.
The bulletin claimed the office
received complaints that such com
panies were charging from $50 to
$1,500 to “fix” the credit reports.
After credit services, the top ten
lists personal and household prod
ucts (No- 2), mail order (No. 3), auto
mobiles (No. 4), and entertainment
and recreation (No. 5).
Parsons said hundreds of com
plaints were issued, but few led to
lawsuits.
“Most of the time it is simply a
problem based on a misunderstand
ing between the company and the
consumer. We will then act as a me
diator between the two and the prob
lem usually gets solved,” Parsons
said.
In the last 5 years, Parsons said,
complaints have increased signifi
cantly. The laws on the coasts have
deterred con artists from staying there,
and more are coming to the Midwest,
he said.
“No one can say they are immune
from scams anymore, because any
one with a phone or mailbox is going
to be a target,” Parsons said.
Rounding out the bottom five on
the list were home furnishings and
products, home repair, prize notifi
cation and sweepstakes, business ser
vices, and warranties and service
contracts.
Anyone who needs to file a con
sumer complaint may do so by call
ing or stopping by the attorney
general’s office for a complaint form.
Mineral dependency, mining talks to be held
From Staff Reports
A geological engineering expert
will give a lecture Friday on the envi
ronmental impacts of mineral depen
dency.
William X. Chavez Jr., associate
professor of geological engineering
at the New Mexico Institute of Min
ing and Technology, will make his
second appearance at the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The lecture will be in Bessey Hall
at 3:30 p.m.
He also will conduct a workshop/
seminar called “Mining and its Legal
Political and Environmental Con
straints — Are they fair?” The work
shop/seminar will be from 9:30 a.m.
to 11:30 a.m.
His talk, sponsored by the UNL
Research Council, is presented by
the geology department and the UNL
Research Council as part of the Mylan
Stout Lecture Series.
Chavez has been a frequent con
sultant to mining interests. He holds
the view that commercial miners now
are more conscious of their responsi
bilities m regard to the impact of
mining on the environment than they
have been in the past.
Much of his work in the Americas
and Asia has involved assessing min
eral prospects for their economic and
environmental impact.
Anyone interested in attending the
workshop/seminar should register in
advance at the UNL geology depart
ment office in Bessey Hall.
Both the lecture and the work
shop-seminar are free and open to the
public.