The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, March 12, 1996, Image 1

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    TUESDAY
I
WEATHER:
Today - Partly sunny &
mild. South wind 10 to 20
mph.
Tonight - Becoming mostly
cloudy, low arond 40.
March 12. 1996
Dole predicts
seven-state
super sweep
By Tom Raum
The Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO — Sen. Bob Dole said
Monday he was looking for signals that his re
maining rivals would join him in his bid for the
presidency, and he predicted a seven-state “Su
per Tuesday” sweep.
A flurry of predictions and offers marked the
day before the largest number of delegates are
dished out.
Publisher Steve Forbes rejected an offer by
former Housing Secretary Jack Kemp to bro
ker a deal with the ——
Dole campaign. “Tf T’m nnt
Commentator Pat V 1 rn nui
Buchanan said he’s in mistaken,
no mood to negotiate , • .
r an exit either. W6 re gOl tlg tO
„ „“I',VC ,o11* our win every one
folks there are no nc- ' ^
gotiations,” of the seven.
Buchanan said while
campaigning in Okla- BOB DOLE
homa. “We’re going
forward to that nomi- GOP presidential
nation. candidate
Dole clearly was _
enjoying mmseir as -
he wrapped up a five-day swing through “Su
per Tuesday” states with a rally on San Antonio’s
river walk.
“I know the sun is shining on the Dole cam
paign,” he said. He traveled the final few blocks
to the waterfront rally by barge, serenaded by a
Mariachi band.
“If I’m not mistaken, we’re going to win
every one of the seven,” Dole told about 1,000
supporters. But, characteristic of Dole’s caution,
he added, “Of course, I’ve been mistaken be
fore.”
This is the Senate majority leader’s third bid
for the GOP nomination.
At stake today are 362 delegates, 221 of them
in Texas and Florida. Going into today’s con
tests, Dole had 392 delegates, more than a third
of the 996 needed to clinch the nomination.
Earlier Monday, at a news conference in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., Dole referred to his two re
maining GOP rivals and said he was “looking
for signals to indicate a willingness to come on
board.”
House Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaking to
reporters in Atlanta, warned that Buchanan and
Forbes would have less influence on the Re
publican platform the longer they stayed in the
race.
“The fact is, this is now a Bob Dole team,
and Bob Dole has won the nomination for all
practical purposes,” Gingrich said.
--'I_
Gimme a break
TOP: Shannon Bryant, a senior international affairs major, juggles with
devil sticks outside the Nebraska Union on Monday afternoon. ABOVE:
Natalie Hipschman, a senior French and English major, and Joshua
Killman, a sophomore finance and economics major, study and eat lunch
in the greenspace. Photos by Tanna Kinnaman/DN
:i
Legislature
advances
merger bill
By Ted Taylor ,
Senior Reporter
After more than eight hours of debate span
ning three days, a proposal that would “stream
line” the administration of five state health and
human service agencies is one step away from
becoming law.
_ Lincoln Sen. Don
I Anielatairo Wescly’s LB 1044, which
Legislature would merge five state
tQA A agencies into three, ad
/V rfl vanced to final reading
Monday by a 25-13 vote.
Wescly said the bill
was one of the most im
portant he’d dealt with in
his 18 years in the Legis
lature.
1-IfillM J “This bill is huge;’ he
said after the vote. “Espe
cially when you realize it affects 6,000 employ
ees. And there are 3,000 more tied to it indi
rectly.”
The Nebraska Partnership Project, which
should receive its final reading before the Leg
islature next week, would merge and restruc
ture the departments of social services, health,
aging, and public institutions.
The merger also includes the Office of Juve
nile Services — a department of the state cor
rectional agency.
Jon Hill, juvenile services director, said the
agency was looking forward to “sharing and
collaborating” with the other agencies involved
in the merger.
“It makes good sense to look at developing
more community involvement,” he said, “and
having a stronger state and community partner
ship.”
Hill said that cooperation from the beginning
among the agencies also would be a benefit to
the children his agency served.
Senators spent Monday morning discussing
final amendments to the bill, including a failed
one introduced by Sen. Dave Maurstad of
Beatrice.
His amendment, in hopes of giving lawmak
ers more time to look at the benefits of the bill,
would have moved the implementation of the
merger from Dec. 1,1996, to March 15,1997.
Sen. Kate Witek, the only senator who voted
against advancing the bill from general file, said
it was not yet in legislative form.
“This bill is entirely a concept,” the Omaha
senator said. “Give us something we can legis
late, not some green-bill concept.”
Political pressure from outside lobbies, Witek
said, marred the bill from the beginning.
“This is the most politicized bill I’ve seen
See MERGER on 6
Recycling program among nation’s best
, A v • •
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter
It’s a dirty job, but Dale Ekart
doesn’t mind doing it.
Recycling, that is.
And Ekart is cleaning up as the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s re
cycling coordinator. For the past two
years, he has turned a program that
didn’t even exist into an efficient and
successful one.
Two years ago, Ekart said, there
were only a few recycling bins in the
residence halls and in the Nebraska
Union.
But now, all of the buildings on
campus have bins for aluminum, card
board, office paper and newspaper, he
said.
“We coordinated everything and
put it into a cohesive program,” Ekart
said. “One thing wc really offered was
a collection system.”
Each week, Ekart and his team of
three student workers collect about 50
tons of recyclables from across cam
pus.
“The program grew faster than wc
prepared for it,” he said. “The response
was outstanding. We couldn’t keep up
with it.”
Last year, that amount added up to
700 tons of recyclables, mostly card
board and paper, Ekart said. The pro
gram spends about $35,000 on recy
cling that amount.
Compared to 50 schools that at
tended the National Recycling Con
ference last September, he said, UNL’s
program is in the top 10 nationwide.
“We’re not spending a lot of money
for the amount of tons we’re getting,
compared to other schools,” he said.
“We’re getting a lot for our dollar.
“Other schools spend $100,000
and are only getting 300 to 400 tons.”
Because the program is only in its
second year, he said, he was surprised
to find it ranked highly among other
universities.
“We were amazed,” Ekart said. “We
felt our program was doing well, but
we didn’t know how well.”
Most buildings on campus arc re
cycling cans and paper, he said.
“We pick up at least some items
from every place on campus,” Ekart
said. “Every building and everybody
can do something.”
Twice a year, Ekart and his staff dig
through trash bins to make sure people
aren’t throwing away materials that
can be recycled.
“We check to see if people are
throwing the good stuff in with the
bad,” he said. “We found virtually ev
erybody is doing an outstanding job.”
This year, Ekart said, he plans to
break even with the amount spent on
recycling and the amount he gets back
from recycling the materials.
“It’s just like selling com,”
he said. “You don’t know
what you will produce
until you’re all done,
can guess the volume
you don’t really ki
until it’s over.”
Last year, the j
gram gained back
amount of money s{
— and then
said.
Although Ekart would not say how
much profit was gained, he said the
See RECYCLE on 6