Nelson names health consultants
By John Fulwkier
Staff Reporter
Gov. Ben Nelson Wednesday
named the consulting firm that will
help Nebraska streamline its health
and human services delivery system.
Three consultants from Deloitte
& Touche LLP, a consulting firm
with offices in Omaha and Lincoln,
will be paid $150 an hour as part of
the Nebraska Health Policy Project.
Their pay is capped at $60,000, plus
expenses.
“This is a modest amount for a
very major undertaking,” Nelson said
at his press conference.
The project involves analyzing five
state agencies: Health Services, So
cial Services, Public Institutions,
Aging and Insurance. It will deter
mine how those agencies can work
together more efficiently.
Duplication of services is occur
ring among the agencies, Nelson said.
Money would be saved, he said, by
eliminating jhe duplication and con
solidating other agency functions.
Lt. Gov. Kim Robak, chosen by
Nelson to head the project, said it
would help Nebraska use federal
block grants better if the grants were
passed by Congress.
“When the federal government
comes in with block grants, we need
to be prepared,” she said.
Nelson also expressed concern
about Nebraska’s budget, which has
yet to be addressed by the Legisla
ture. He said his proposed budget,
which includes spending cuts, had
been “hatcheted and ignored” by state
senators.
Nelson said he was discouraged
by the pace of some bills in the Leg
islature. But he said he was glad
Speaker RoaJVithem of Papillion
planned to move the crime bin to the -
top of the agenda soon.
Nelson also addressed the security
of state buildings in light of the re
cent bombing of a federal building in
Oklahoma City. He said money al
ready had been put into Nebraska’s
budget to improve security before the
bombing occurred.
He said no specific incident led to
the security improvement.
“We’re just watching and ac
knowledging the danger is there,” he
said.
sum
thing
Continued from Page 1
In court, U.S. Attorney Randy
Rathbun said McVeigh calledNichols
from Oklahoma City on April 16 and
asked him to pick him up. Nichols,
40, lives in Herington, Kan., about
270 miles north of Oklahoma City.
Rathbun, quoting what Nichols
told the FBI after he was taken into
custody, gave this account of what
happened next:
Nichols picked McVeigh up, and
as the two men drove north, McVeigh
told Nichols: “Something big is go
ing to happen.”
Nichols responded: “Are you go
ing to rob a bank?” and McVeigh
repeated, “Something big is going to
happen.”
The men reached Junction City,
Kan., early in the morning of April
17. The FBI says the Ryder truck
used in die bombing was rented in
Junction City later that day.
The next day, McVeigh borrowed
Nichols’ pickup truck and told him,
“If I don’t come back in a while, go
clean up the storage shed.” He re
turned die truck later that day.
Both McVeigh and Nichols had
access to a shed outside Herington
that was rented under an alias,
Rathbun said. Sources have said tire
tracks matching the type of truck
used in the bombing were found at
the shed.
The bomb exploded the next morn
ing in Oklahoma City.
Union
Continued from Page 7
set for 1998.
On March 8, students voted in
favor of a student fee increase that
would fund the project. The $20 per
student, per-semester increase would
begin in fall 1997.
Daryl Swanson, director of the
Nebraska Union, said that increase
should stand despite the jump in cost
estimates.
James Griesen, vice chancellor for
student affairs, said staying at the
$20 increase was the goal, but a mod
erate increase was possible. In March,
estimated numbers were preliminary,
“Nothing^Ss'reallyfinati^if^J
completed the project statement,”
Griesen said.
The changes came in stages,
Swanson said, after facilities man
agement officials increased the esti
mated inflation on construction costs.
Any project costing more than $3
million also must be reviewed by a
committee of private architects, he
said. Those professionals suggested
more attention be paid to the plaza
and landscaping costs.
Recalculations in that area, com
bined with construction, made up
most of the increase, Swanson said.
Griesen said another student vote
would not be necessary to increase
fees. Those decisions are made by the
Committee for Fees Allocations. The
March vote was taken only to deter
mine if students supported the pos
sible increase, he said.
Swanson said he still believed the
project could be funded under the
original fee increase.
“I hope that we won’t even have to
spend all that money,” he said. “I
there is a contingency to be
conservative (in estimates). Nobody
wants to be surprised, so they tend to
overstate.”
Guessing inflation rates, he said,
is just that — guessing. The real
numbers won’t come in until compa
nies start bidding on the project, he
said.
If not enough money is available,
Swanson said the bond could be ex
tended from the 20-year payback plan
to 25 years, without increasing stu
dent costs.
Griesen estimated the total in
crease in student fees wouldn’t be
more than $21. There still are a lot of
issues to be settled, he said, including
proportioning the debt responsibility
between the University Bookstore and
the union.
When the union last expanded, an
agreement was made that the book
store would pay a debt service on the
space it took over. That amount, he
said, has not been finalized. ^ ^
The Coordinating Commission for
Postsecondary Education will be
asked to review the project next week,
Swanson said. Regents will see the
issue come up twice more, he said —
to appoint an architect in September
and again to approve a construction
bid in September 1996.
Parking services move
ByTanna Kinnaman
Staff Reporter
Students who plan to do busi
ness with University Parking Ser
vices may get a surprise if they go
to ks office at 1315 N. 17th St.
after May 14
— it won’t be
there.
The office is
relocating to
1941 Y St. It
will be open for
business at the
new address on May 15.
Tad McDowell, parking ser
vices manager, said overcrowd
ing at the current location was
the main reason for the move. No
plans are being made to change
how services are delivered, he
said.
“We share office space with the
University Police and are bump
ing into one another,” McDowell
said.
He said the new location in the
old Kingery Construction Co.
building was easy to prepare for
the move.
“We really only needed to slap
some paint on the walls,” he said.
“We are using existing partitions,
desks and other furniture.”
Visitor parking spaces will re
main about the same, but the office
space will increase from about
2,000 square feet to 3,200 square
feet, McDowell said.
CPR
can keep your love alive
I American Heart
Association^
0
This is no time for
playing Tarzan - and
your backpack shouldn't
feel like Cheetah trying to
hold his own while you
are trying to swing. Next
time your adventure
j takes you to Africa - or
just down the street,
make sure your backpack
is a DANA DESIGN - the
best performing, best
built and most comfort
able internal frame
backpacks in the world.
Tiir
MOOSE'S
TOOTH
1950 North 19th
Bozeman WIT 59715
40th & O Street
489-4849
College
Continued from Page 1
tend a community college before at
tending CSU, said Steve MacCarthy,
spokesman for CSU.
MacCarthy said community col
leges could become a popular alter
native in the rest of the country —
particularly among politicians.
“A lot of legislatures will see com
munity colleges as a way to keep
costs low.”
***
In Nebraska, the trend toward aca
demic offerings at community col
leges is just beginning. Nebraska has
13 community colleges. Twelve of
fer academic transfer programs, but
many of those programs are new.
Southeast Community College in
Lincoln began offering its program
in January 1994.
Richard Ross, dean of general edu
cation at SCC, said the program had
been adding about 40 or 30 students
each term. He said he expected the
program to grow by about 100 people
in the fall.
“There’s been a higher demand
than I thought we would have early
on,” Ross said.
Ross said he thought more stu
dents would be attending community
colleges in the future, but it wouldn’t
become the norm.
“As I walk down the hall I see a
younger population than a couple of
years ago,” Ross said.
A younger population at SCC runs
hand-in-hand with what is going on
atUNL.
John Beacon, director of scholar
ships and financial aid at UNL, said
the transfer enrollment at the univer
sity was growing.
The majority of those students are
The community
college connection
An increasing number of
students are choosing to attend
two-year colleges before
completing their degrees at
four-year institutions. California’s
community college system is
considered the nation’s premier
program.
■ More than 1.35 million students
attend California’s 106
community colleges.
■ In the 1993-94 school year, the
California State University system
had 44,454 community college
transfer students, compared to
22,035 incoming freshmen.
■ Community colleges in
California are open to all high
school graduates.
ON graphic
coming from community colleges,
Beacon said.
Beacon said the number of com
munity college transfers had been
growing for several years, but he
didn’t see Nebraska moving toward a
California-like situation.
“I think we’re less likely to move
in that direction because of the nature
of our community colleges,” Beacon
said.
Many of Nebraska’s community
colleges still have vocational/techni
cal programs as their main emphasis,
Beacon said.
However, Beacon said, rising edu
cation costs probably will spur par
ents and students to give more con
sideration to community colleges for
the savings.
However, that shouldn’t neces
sarily mean a community college is
the answer, he said.
“Parents and students need to lode
at some of the hidden costs of a
community college,” Beacon said.
Beware the Children
OF THE
Opens April JSth at a theatre near you