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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 9, 1996)
TUESDAY WEATHER: Today - Partly sunny. Northwest wind 10 to 20 mph. TOHiOht- Partly cloudy. T 0/1 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 95 NO. 79 - °W ne(2r-: -- -January 9, 1996_ GO FISH Scott Bruhn/DN Gilbert Hess, of Farnam, and Virgil Jackman spent Monday afternoon ice fishing at Holmes Lake. “We don’t have enough to wet the bottom of the skillet tonight,” Jackman said. They had caught only three fish. Law imposes stiff penalties for uninsured By Ted Taylor Senior Reporter A new state law may have Nebras kans thinking twice before driving without insurance. LB37, which Gov. Ben Nelson signed at the end of the last legislative session, went into effect Jan. 1. The law increases the penalty for operat ing or allowing another person to op erate a motor vehicle without valid insurance. “What it says is that for any car operating on Nebraska highways, if you can’t prove there is insurance, whoever owns it or is driving it could be in big trouble,” said Cynthia Bowsman, legal counsel for the De partment of Motor Vehicles. If convicted of violating the new insurance requirements, motorists stand to lose their license, registration and plates until they get proper insur ance. “Before, there was no license revo cation,” Bowsman said. “Now there is.” Violators also face a class II mis demeanor carrying a a maximum of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. Nebraska law requires motorists to have a minimum $25,000 insurance coverage. Alvin Abramson, director of the DMV, said in a Jan. 5 statement that the bill made it clear to drivers without insurance that they would be dealt with severely. Bowsman said the law was needed because requiring proof of insurance at time of registration did not guaran tee that a motorist was insured. According to the DMV’s statement, the new law also requires vehicle own ers to maintain the insurance through out the entire registration period or be handed a mandatory $100 to $500 penalty. Abramson said he hoped the law would send a message to motorists. “It will make people aware that they must have insurance to drive a car,” he said. English courses offer students experience on World Wide Web By Tasha E. Kelter Staff Reporter Twenty years ago, the concept of a computerized classroom was little more than an idea out of “The Jetsons.” But with the World Wide Web expanding at a phenomenal rate, UNL students in English 254 and 258B — Composition and Auto biographical Writing, respectively —arc taking advantage of the web ’ s offerings. The classes still meet at speci fied times, in classrooms or a com puter lab. All class writing must be turned in electronically and is posted on the classes’ home pages on the web. Privacy is a big issue with stu dents said professor David Hibler, who teaches both courses. Authors are identified by number, unless they wish to include their names. Students are not assigned fixed topics, but are encouraged to write about personal issues. Hibler said the setup had led students to pro duce some of their most successful writings. Students must save their mate rial on a disk and bring it to the Mabel Lee computer lab to save in their personal “e-folders.” Owning a computer is not a re quirement of the course, although Hiblcr said students with comput ers at home would have a slight advantage. Access to a computer, however, is required. People who read the composi tions on the web may respond to the author (who still remains anony mous) via e-mail. Hibler said students also had the opportunity to creata their own home pages on the web—the final project for both classes. The project gives students the opportunity to be creative and get more in touch with their writing, he said. “Students can add in anything See ENGLISH CLASS on 6 Aaron Steckelberg/DN Gateway not alarmed by Westroads disturbance By Chad Lorenz Senior Reporter Alter an outbreak of violence Sat urday eveningat Westroads Shopping Mall in Omaha, store managers at Lincoln’s Gateway Mall said Monday they aren’t worried that a similar inci dent could occur there. “We just don’t have the problems they have in Omaha,” said Phyllis Dilley, a manager at A & W Hot Dogs & More. Officials at Westroads were forced to close the mall Saturday night after a crowd of 300 to 400 teen-agers started pushing each other and caus ing a violent disturbance. Witnesses told police the disturbance was gang related. Dilley worked at a store in Westroads six years ago and said she was more comfortable working in Lin coln. Omaha gangs had become a prob lem at Westroads, Dilley said, but not at Gateway. Rosemary Vogt, manager of Wilson’s Leather Store at Gateway, said she thought the Lincoln Police Department was large enough for the size of the city to reduce the threat of gangs. Inside the mall, security guards patrol common areas and are avail able to assist if employees encounter problems, Vogt said. The guards are helpful and keep a close eye on the mall, she said, but she hasn’t seen them handle violence. None of the managers interviewed said they had seen any changes in security in the mall since the Westroads incident. Scott Vyskocil, general mall man ager at Gateway, would not comment about security at the mall or say if it had been increased since the Omaha incident. But Julie Heigel, marketing man ager at Crossroads Mall in Omaha, said the mall tightened security Satur day night upon hearing of the Westroads incident. Many of the people cleared from Westroads, including those involved in the disturbance, got on a Metro Area Transit bus, she said. That bus’s next stop was Crossroads. Security guards met the bus at its stop near 72nd and Dodge streets and denied the passengers access to the mall, Heigel said. ‘ The next two buses bypassed Cross roads and were diverted to downtown, she said. Westroads security were compe tent in dealing with the incident, she said, because they protected the ten ants and public. Crossroads’ security force could have dealt with a similar problem just as well, Heigel said. Tenants at Crossroads feel their stores are safe from violence, Heigel said, because security has been well trained and has fine-tuned its patrol ling. Many Gateway stores have proce dures for handling violence, and em ployees are trained to work with man agers and security toprotect the store’s merchandise. Michelle Wallman, assistant man ager at The Buckle, said employees were prepared to handle a violent situ ation, but not firsthand. “You wouldn’t catch me jumping out in the middle of it.”