WEATHER:
Today - Cloudy. A 40%
chance of snow. North
wind 10 to 20 mph.
Tonight - Cloudy. Low
near 10._
_January 22, 1996_
Supporters
unite, walk
for pro-life
By Erin Schulte
Staff Reporter
“...with liberty and justice for all, born
and unborn.”
So went the Pledge of Allegiance at the
__21st annual Walk for
, . Lifebeginningatthe
ItS time tO Nebraska State
fire nur Capitol Saturday.
jirc uur More lhan 2j000
COmmatlder- people took part in
in rhipf ” the wa,k’ Part of a
nationwide protest
BARBARA marking the 23rd an
niversary of the
MCPHILLIPS 1973 Roe v. Wade
Chairwoman of *$£*£**
Nebraska Right to During speeches at
, ,x , ,.x. . the Capitol, speak
Life s political ers urgej protestors
committee t0 take Part in the
political process.
. Barbara McPhillips,
chairwoman of Ne
braska Right to Life’s political committee,
told the crowds to unite in support of pro-life
presidential candidates, no matter what their
stances on other issues might be.
McPhillips said voter apathy was one of
the main reasons anti -abortion measures were
not made law and pro-life candidates were
not elected. She said no pro-life legislation
had been passed since President Clinton
took office.
“It’s time to fire our commander-in-chief,”
McPhillips said.
“I have one question for you right now:
Do we want four more years of the Clinton
administration?” she asked the crowd.
McPhillips said pro-life supporters should
become involved in politics by becoming
delegates to their county conventions.
The 10-degree weather may have hin
dered attendance at the walk, which has
brought 4,000 to 5,000 protestors in previ
ous years.
Sen. LaV on Crosby of Lincoln, who spoke
at the Capitol, said the cold could be sym
bolic of abortion.
“Just remember how cold that little baby
feels when he is yanked from his mother’s
womb,” Crosby said.
After walking from the Capitol to the
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Tanna Kinnaman/DN
Pro-life supporters gather at the Nebraska State Capitol on Saturday.
More than 2,000 people marched from the Capitol to the federal building
to protest the Jan. 22,1973, Roe v. Wade decision of the U.S. Supreme
Court.
federal building, the group congregated at
the Nebraska Union to warm up and collect
pro-life literature.
Several pro-choice demonstrators showed
their opposition. Abortion rights supporters
will gather tonight at 7 for a rally in the
Nebraska Union.
Sandy Danek, president of Lincoln Right
to Life, said she wasn’t bothered that atten
dance at this year’s walk was lower than
in previous years.
“I used to worry about the numbers,” she
said. “I don’t anymore because I know that
Nebraska is a pro-life state.”
Danek said political support for pro-life
measures was important.
“Abortion was never decided as a democ
racy; it was decided by a liberal Supreme
Court.”
Proposed bill
couldregulate
sports agents
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter
Sen. Kennit Brashear of Omaha wants Ne
braska to “get with it” and protect student ath
letes from the illegal activities of agents.
_ And Nebraska football
coach Tom Osborne is on
his side.
Osborne testified Friday
before the Legislature’s Ju
diciary Committee in sup
port of LB927.
Although he said he did
not have the expertise to
explain the nuts and bolts of
it, Osborne said Brashear’s
dih was uiuruugu.
“This one’s the best conceptually I’ve seen,”
Osborne said. “And I’m here to support the
concept. I feel it will benefit the student ath
lete.”
The Athlete Agent Registration and Account
ability Act, introduced by Brashear, would give
the state some control over the activities of
sports agents.
The 16-page bill has three main points:
• Requiring all agents and their “runners” to
register with the state attorney general’s office
— for a fee of $500 — and to disclose back
ground information on their businesses. Copies
of those records would be put on public record.
• Prohibiting certain activities and provid
ing criminal and civil actions that would penal
ize the agent, not the player.
• Allowing the student athlete to cancel the
contract within 10 days if it did not meet the
requirements of the act.
Former Husker lineman Brenden Stai said
Saturday from his home in Pittsburgh that the
bill was a good idea. He called it “absolutely
perfect.”
“There are a lot of agents who really aren’t
qualified to do the job,” he said. “They’re out
there just to make a quick buck.”
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha was the only
committee member to question Osborne, and he
later spoke in opposition to the bill.
“I have a lot of problems with the bill,” he
said.
Chambers asked Osborne why the rules gov
erning agents should be different from those
dealing with college recruiters. He said recruit
ers were just as bad about hounding the stu
dents.
“And nobody requires recruiters to give back
See AGENTS on 6
Health center cannot treat serious injuries
By Michaela Pieler
Staff Reporter
When faced with life-threatening
pain, UNL students should head to a
hospital instead of the University
Health Center, one official says.
“We don’t run a hospital,” said Peg
Blake, director of the center. “If you
feel your life is endangered, call 911
and get yourself into an emergency
room.”
Blake was speaking in response to
recent complaints about long waits to
be treated at the center. She stressed
that the center focused on common
medical treatment, not serious emer
gencies, of college students.
“Of course, we have had diabetics
with insulin shocks or cases ofasthma,”
die said, “but we should never come
to see a heart attack.”
Emergencies such as complete frac
tures or tendon cuts are immediately
transferred to a hospital, UHC physi
cian Mvy Lutz said.
“We don’t have the capacities to
treat such severe cases here,” she said.
The UHC is not a regular 24-hour
clinic, although it offers after-hours
care — one nurse and one doctor —
from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Students with simple stitches, cuts
or fractures definitely can be helped
after hours, Blake said.
“But i f further treatment or an over
night stay is required, we have to trans
fer the patient to a general hospital,”
she said.
In less urgent cases, students can
make appointments with specialists
such as orthopedists, neurologists or
optometrists who come to the center
on certain days of the week.
Usually, after-hours patients are
helped on a first-come, first-served
basis, Blake said. Before beingtreated,
they have to fill out a checklist speci
fying the problem and providing per
sonal information.
But exceptions from that schedule
are made if a patient has severe pain,
she said.
“If someone is bleeding profusely,
he will absolutely be treated prior to
someone with a sprained ankle,” Blake
said.
Lutz stressed that every effort was
made to help students quickly.
“Our nurses always try to put people
with severe pain ahead,” she said.
Students usually have to wait about
15 minutes before they are seen by a
doctor or a nurse, Blake said, which
she called “a pretty good rate.”
“I don’t think that’s too long,” she
said. In some emergency rooms, pa
tients are not seen within an hour.
During after hours, students often
are treated in less than 15 minutes
because staff is not as busy. Blake said
about five students seek medical help
at the center each night.
I “That obviously makes the after
hours very cost-intensive,” she said.
For that reason, health center officials
have considered restrictingafter-hours
care and closing the center by 8 p.m.
Within the next month, two emer
“We don’t run a hospital. If you feel your life is
endangered, call 911 and get yourself into an
emergency room. ”
PEG BLAKE
Health Center director
gency lines will be installed at the
front and back entrances of UHC,
Lutz said. By pushing a blue button,
students will get a direct connection to
Lincoln General Hospital’semergency
room.
Students also can call Ask-A-Nurse
if they want to talk to medical staff at
the hospital. Thirteen nurses are avail
able on that line, said Jeanne Boiler,
program coordinator.
“We assist patients in makinghealth
care decisions,” she said, “and send
them to appropriate facilities if neces
sary.” -
Students use the service frequently,
especially after the health center is
closed, Boiler said.
“We hear about every possible
symptom at every day of the year,” she
said.
Blake said many accidents and dis
eases could be avoided by educating
students. She said this education —
including lessons on birth control, safe
sex and sexually transmitted diseases
— was part of the Health Center’s
mission.
“It’s much easier to teach them
how not to get ill than to actually treat
their illness”