Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 5, 1995)
insideVIJ Wednesday }XX»XX:xX<X>XX»XX<X>K<X>XX*XXCXX<X>XX»XXeXX<X>X>' Sports Surles may redshirt next season, page 8 Arts & Entertainment Duran Duran says “Thank You,” page 11 _April X 1995_ UNL gets millions in two minutes By John Fulwider Staff Reporter State legislators Tuesday morn ing spent more than an hour discuss ing Nebraska’s relationship with Tai wan and two min utes discussing nearly $4.5 mil lion in UNL con struction and renovation funds. The Taiwan measure, intro duced by Sen. LEGISLATURE Roger Wehrbein of Plattsmouth, was an attempt to urge Congress to recognize the Re public of China on Taiwan for United Nations membership. It was pulled from debate and referred to a com mittee for public hearing. A resolution introduced by Sen. Wehrbein, which approved the ex penditure of $4,488,400 for the fol lowing University of Nebraska-Lin coln construction and renovation projects, passed with no debate: • $2.2 million to pave 16 parking lots on City and East campuses. Tad McDowell, parking services manager, said the area-1-2-20 lot west of the George W. Beadle Center, the area 10 lot south of the Westbrook Music Building and the area-20 lot north west of the utility plant on Avery Street would all be paved. • $530,000 to install air condi tioning and upgrade the heating sys tem in Neihardt Residence Hall. • $ 1.8 million to acquire and reno vate an apartment complex at 2222 Vine St. and 2224 Vine St. for use as family housing. • $430,000 to acquire the Beta Sigma Psi fraternity house for use as university housing. In the afternoon session, legisla tors discussed a bill introduced by Sen. George Coordsen of Hebron. The bill would change several provi sions relating to motor vehicles. Much debate focused on an amend ment to that bill. The amendment, introduced by Sen. Don Preister of Omaha, would have prohibited in surance companies from practicing territorial rating — using the place a person lives to determine his or her car insurance rates. The prohibition would have applied only to state mandated coverage for minimum li ability. Nebraska requires all automobile drivers to have liability insurance before being issued a license. Sen. Ron Withem of Papillion, who was presiding over the Legisla ture, ruled the amendment not suffi ciently relevant to the bill. See LEGISLATURE on 7 . ( State legislators Tuesday approved $4.5 million for UNL construction and renovation funds. ■ $2.2 million will go to pave 16 parking lots. ■ $530,000 is for installing air conditioning and upgrading the heating system in Neihardt Residence Hall. ■ $1.8 million will go to acquire and renovate an apartment complex for use as family housing. ■ $430,000 was approved to acquire the Beta Sigma Psi fraternity house for use as university housing. DN graphic GerikParmeie/DN Inspector Calvin Wells, right, looks for voters through the windows of the Bob Devaney Sports Center during Tuesday’s primary election while Bernice Goemann, an election board judge, writes a letter. Wells said about 90 percent of the voters in precinct 3D were students. By 2 p.m., two non-students had come to vote. Uncontested races produce few voters Ri# fihric Monartu_ J —--gJ Staff Reporter - Voter turnout for Lincoln’s largely uncon tested primary election Tuesday was lower than expected, with only 12.78 percent report ing to the polls. Election Commissioner Patty Hansen said the low turnout was disap pointing. “I was hoping for 15 percent,” she said. “We’d always like to have a really high num ber like 80 or 90 percent, but at least its not a record low.” Voter turnout hit a record low in the 1993 primary election, with only 9.8 percent of registered Lincoln voters going to the polls. The race for mayor and all four city council seats went uncontested. “Having the mayor’s race uncontested really hurts our turn out,” Hansen said. “The city council has the next most visible offices, and unfortunately, they, too, were uncontested.” Mayor Mike Johanns received almost 97 percent of the vote. Coleen Seng advanced in the race for the first- district city council seat, and Linda Wilson advanced in the race for the second-district seat. Dale Young and Jack Schnebel Jr. both advanced in the race for the third-district city council seat. Curt Donaldson will advance in the race for the fourth-district seat. Contests pitting more than two candidates against each other included Airport Authority and the fifth and sixth district Board of Educa tion seats. UNL turnout low at primaries By J. Christopher Hain Senior Reporter : ~ After 12 hours of polling, only nine voters found their way to one election poll, tucked in the southwest comer of Bob Devaney Sports Center. Three members of the Lancaster County Election Board staked their ground at 7 a.m. Tuesday for Lincoln’s primary election. They set up a table, chairs and four election booths for precinct 3D, which includes 1,838 registered voters. UNL City Campus stu dents make up the largest portion of regis tered voters in 3D. Shortly after the polls opened at 8 a.m., the first voter arrived and optimism soared. Calvin Wells, election board inspector, expected as many as 30 people to vote at the Devaney Center poll. But that was not the case. All three workers — Wells, Bernice Goemann and Mark Gross — have worked previous elections, and they knew that a city primary usually received a low turnout. Gross, 24, a University of Nebraska Lincoln graduate student in economics, said he had worked presidential elections when students waited in line for as long as 1 1/2 hours to vote. But Gross also has worked a city primary at precinct 3D. He said no students voted at the Devaney center in the 1993 primary. Only 9 voters actually cast ballots in 1993 out of 1,887 registered voters in the precinct, said Patty Hansen, Lancaster See STUDENTS on 6 Shirley S. Doan and Robert A. Grundman advanced in the race for the fifth district board of education seat and Sally G. Wysong and Richard B. Bouma Jr. advanced in the sixth district race. John L. Hoppe Jr. and Edward P. Raines won six-year seats on the airport authority board. Phyllis Chambers and Connie Dawson each won four-year seats on the board, beating current board member Fredrick A. Eiche, who has been on the board for more than 30 years. “I think after 30 years anyone would be disappointed, but I’m not feeling bad. I’ll take it the way it comes,” Eiche said. The air port authority is a five-member board that manages Lincoln Municipal Airport. Robert Miewald, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said the low See TURNOUT on 7 Rising prices can’t stop most football fans By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter Although season football ticket prices have increased by $14.50 compared to last season, an additional game and lingering national championship fever will attract more sales for the 1995 season, a UNL official said. In 1993, season tickets for seven games were $56. In 1994, they jumped to $73 for six games. This year, students will pay $87.50 for the Comhuskers’ seven home games. Gary Fouraker, assistant athletic director for business affairs at the University of Ne braska-Lincoln, said the schedule wavered between six and seven home games about every two years. Student purchases have remained about the same for the past three years, Fouraker said, and he expects the national championship to draw even more students this year. “As inflation continues year to year, you’re going to have increases,” he said. “That comes with the territory.” Current funds and national-championship revenue could not absorb the additional $ 14.50, he said, because the athletic program needed the money for waterproofing the stadium and expanding its women ’ s restrooms—two mul ti - million dollar projects. x xic uiajuxiiy ox ine aimcue program s runus come from ticket purchases and television revenue, he said. And unless the state finances the program through taxes, students can expect ticket prices to gradually increase. Even if student tickets increased to $200, one student said he would buy them — but he would not be happy. Ryan Kaiser, a sophomore elementary edu cation major, said he was a devoted fan but was dissatisfied with the price and the 1995 sched ule. “We’re not playing many good home games this year,” he said. “The best game we have is Oklahoma.” Higher ticket prices could drive students away, he said, and he didn’t expect the national championship to increase sales. But Mike DiGiacomo, a senior criminal justice major, disagreed. “Everybody wants to see the national-cham pionship team play and defend their title again,” lie said. “When a team does good, a lot more people are going to be fans — they’re band wagon fans.” Students don’t have a choice when it comes to ticket prices, he said, but the increase was fair. ‘ “You have to support the program some how, especially a national-championship pro gram,” he said. DiGiacomo said he was just happy he could pay the half-price student rate and not the full rate of $175.