WEDNESDAY
WEATHER:
Today - Partly cloudy and
cold. Northwest wind 10
to 20 mph.
Tonight - Clear and cold,
Low around 0._
February 28, 1996
•Vj'v
‘People always ask me to get out of here, but I can’t go.
People think there is nothing here, but there is a lot. ’
AGNES LEAMONS
.. i ,
Travis Heying/DN
Clint and Amanda Brockmann walk with their dog past a sign leading into their hometown, the smallest in Nebraska.
Contrary to a Census Bureau error, there are actually seven people in the town of Monowi, not six.
Isolated point
Monoivi residents enjoy the quiet life
MONOWI — A length of rusted
metal pipe props open the front
door to the old wooden school
house. The haggard structure stands
deserted and alone on the edge of town,
amid frosted, overgrown Nebraska prairie
grass.
Located along Nebraska Highway 12,
which winds through the northern hills of
Boyd County, the rural community is
nestled just below the South Dakota
border. It’s a light villa with three stop
signs and four street lights resting among
pasture land, alfalfa and com fields.
The town today appears ghostly with its
abandoned buildings and shacks, junk
scattered everywhere,
overwhelming stillness—and seven lone
inhabitants. The slow, leisurely pace of
Monowi harnesses the hourglass of time.
A census bureau error on the sign
outside of town says only six people live
here. But there are seven.
Monowi is officially the smallest
incorporated town in Nebraska.
Lifelong residents Rudy and Elsie Eiler,
owners of the Monowi Tavern (the only
business in the town), are most qualified to
recall Monowi’s younger days.
“There used to be a lot of people
around here,” Rudy says. “Now, there’s
not as many folks to visit with. We are the
whole community.
“It’s so hard to make a living,” he says,
taking a drag from his Prime cigarette.
“The economy is a big factor. Farms are
bigger, and there are fewer people on the
farms. There’s less business. It’s a smaller
population, but the people are the same —
friendly.”
According to the Nebraska State
Historical Society, settlers founded
Monowi in 1902 when the Chicago
Northwestern railroad came through.
An 1889 treaty between Native Ameri
cans and the U.S. government opened the
area for settlement in Boyd County, which
previously had been Ponca Indian terri
tory.
Two destructive fires literally wiped out
the town. One demolished a bank and
general store. Another in 1912 scorched a
hotel, the post office and another general
store.
The town never recovered.
See MONOWI on 7
Forbes win
shakes up
GOP race
By John King
The Associated Press
Flat-tax champion Steve Forbes captured
Arizona’s winner-takc-all primary Tuesday,
shocking Pat Buchanan and Bob Dole. The
victory seized an improbable lead in the turbu
lent Republican presidential race. Stung in the
night’s showdown contest, Dole took some so
lace from winning North and South Dakota.
For Forbes, the dramatic Arizona win meant
back-to-back victory celebrations a her two dis
appointing fourth-place showings in Iowa and
New Hampshire.
The publishing heir won Delaware’s pri
mary Saturday, and used that boost — and
another major personal investment in TV ads—
to surge past Buchanan and Dole in the final
weekend of Arizona campaigning.
Forbes was ecstatic with his victory.
“We believe deeply that America has the
potential for the greatest, economic boom and
spiritual renewal in its history,” he said to cheer
ing supporters in Phoenix.
“A week ago they wrote our obituary,” he
said. “Now tonight we can perhaps write the
obituary of conventional political punditry in
America.” Buchanan could only be disap
pointed. He drew enthusiastic crowds through
out the final weekend and asserted an Arizona
win would make him the clear front-runner.
Instead, he came away empty-handed looking
to redeem himself with Saturday’s showdown
in South Carolina.
Dole natiy predicted a fcoutn Laronna vic
tory, and the contest shapes up as his last best
chance to launch a turnaround. Forbes trails in
South Carolina, while Buchanan has been inch
ing his way up. Dole left no doubt he considered
the more conservative Buchanan the bigger
threat in the South.
With one-third of Arizona’s vote tallied,
Forbes was leading with 36 percent. Buchanan
and Dole were battling for second; exit polling
suggested Buchanan had the edge.
Lamar Alexander was a dim afterthought on
the first multi-state primary day of the muddled
GOP campaign. Some leading Dole supporters
said it was time for the former Tennessee gov
ernor to get out of the way. Tuesday’s
results put Forbes well ahead in the The Asso
ciated Press delegate count, with 60 so far.
Buchanan had 37 and Dole 36, while Alexander
had 10 delegates.
A candidate needs 996 delegates to win the
Republican nomination and the success of the
anti-establishment candidates sparked talk in
Republican circles Tuesday of a contested con
vention.
The dramatic comeback gave Forbes mo
mentum for the nomination chase, with a criti
cal, crowded stretch of primaries just ahead.
Party leaders anxious to see Buchanan blocked
from the nomination would surely turn quick
attention to the deep-pocketed Forbes’ candi
See FORBES on 2
Risi, . ... isl2\
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter
Residence hall room and board rates
will increase for the 1996-97 school
year, but UNL’s rates are still among
the lowest in the Big 12, a UNL offi
cial said.
Doug Zatechka, director of hous
ing at the University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln, said room and board rates had
increased for the past 17 years.
“One reason is because of infla
tion,” Zatechka said. “I know of few
costs that go down each year.”
Next year the rate for a double
room with a 20-meal plan will increase
by 5.2 percent and will cost $3,525.
Now that plan costs $3,350.
The rate for a double room with a
14-meal plan will increase by 4.4 per
cent next year, costing $3,440. Now, a
13-meal plan is offered for $3,295.
A new 10-meal plan will be offered
next year, Zatechka said, and will cost
$3,370 with a double room.
The idea for the 10-meal plan came
from surveys done by ASUN, he said.
“The student government said there
was a lot of interest about a plan that
would offer fewer meals a week,” he
said. “We did some research and came
up with the 10-meal plan.”
Most of the Big 12 schools will
have room and board increases for the
1996-97 year.
Despite the increase,UNL will have
the second-lowest room and board rate
in the Big 12, Zatcchka said. Kansas
State University will have the lowest
rate —a double room with 20 meals
for $3,490 per year, a 3.6 percent in
crease from this year’s rate.
Zatechka said students returning to
the residence halls would not pay the
increased rate.
Returning students will pay the same
See RATES on 2 s
RiCinfl R#ltPC Increase for the last 10 years to
■1IOIIIIJ liaico UNL room and board rates.
Academic Amount of Room and Percent of Increase
year Increase board rates over prior year rates
; 1988/8*fl?—A $140 $2,255 6.6%
{a J-:- $140 ;••••, $2,310 ; 6.4%
1990/91 (13-meal) $195 $2,570 8.2%
(20-meal) $195 $2,625 8.0%
$95 $2,860 3.4%
1 RR,9HB P \
1994/95(13-b $150 $3,090 5.1%
(20-r $150 $3,145 50%
>'1996/9* mS£$4;'?$3370 'i 11mmS''' --* '
II? t f
iource: UNL Housing Department Russell Johnson/DN