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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 26, 1996)
-1 WEATHER: Today - Mostly sunny & cold. Southeast wind 10 to 20 mph. Tonight - Partly cloudy, low around 20. March 26, 1996 Scott Bruhn/DN Sen. David Maurstad of Beatrice discusses property taxes with BUI Lock Monday morning at the Nebraska Legislature. Lawmakers spent seven hours debating property taxes Monday, advancing three measures. Money marathon Lawmakers advance property tax bills after long debate By Erin Schulte Staff Reporter Seven hours of a non-stop property tax marathon in the Nebraska Legislature ended with three bills edging Legislature toward law Monday. The bills, all dealing with property tax re duction, were ad vanced after debate on several amendments. Bills passed were: • LB299, passed unanimously, which would curb local gov ernment overspending before levy limits are imposed. • LB 1177, which would provide state aid to more sparsely-populated counties af fected by property tax reduction. • LB 1114, which passed by a 25-2 vote, which would limit property tax levies. An hour of debate was spent on an amend ment that was withdrawn. The amendment dealt with school consolidation and ways to absorb property tax reductions. Schools receive two-thirds of all property tax collected in Nebraska, Sen. Don Wesely of Lincoln, who proposed the amendment, said. Since lawmakers advanced a bill limiting property tax rates Monday morning, the next step was to think about how to help schools keep functioning without that money, Wesely said. Suggestions in proposed amendments in cluded encouraging small schools to consoli date and reducing school administration staff. Nebraska’s school districts are unorga nized and overstaffed, Wesely said. “Wc have too much staff and too much expense in administration,” Wesely said. Nebraska has the third highest number of school districts in the country and needs to reorganize them to reduce the number of administrators, Wesely said. Those reduc tions would cut expenses, he said. Teacher to student ratios in Nebraska arc sixth best in the nation, Wesely said, so teach ing staff could also be reduced. There are problems with these sugges tions, Wesely said, because rural schools re sist consolidation and administrators make the decision on where to take budget cuts. Administrators most likely wouldn’t elimi See PROPERTY on 2 Abel Hall residents mourn teens By Chad Lorenz Senior Reporter The 12th floor of Abel Residence Hall was quiet Monday afternoon. The normally noisy floor had students creep ing down the halls, peering into each other’s rooms. One student sat in the hall and cried as she talked on her cordless phone. That day, 20 people from Abel Hall returned from the Columbus funerals of fellow UNL stu dents Christina Dyer and Jacob Behlen. Dyer and Behlen were among four Colum bus teen-agers, all 19, who drowned in a Co lumbus lake last week. __ Ryan Gragert and Eric T Kudron also were . No TYldtteV killed in the accident. what, she A preliminary au- / topsy report showed (CllTiStiYld the four were legally nVPr) 1l)a< intoxicated at the time uyvt j lvus of the accident. Family dllVdVS Smiling. members have said po- , lice arc still investigat- ^n& rldCl d little ing a possible blowout hnti Hi hor on the car. m rufr More than 600 Step. ” people attended the four funerals held in KIM BRENM separate churches, even though snow roommate closed schools. - Kim Brehm, Dyer s roommate in Abel Hall, said Dyer’s funeral showed a lot about her personality. The crowd of friends at her funeral showed how many people cared about her, Brehm said, especially when the Michael W. Smith song, “Friends are Friends Forever,” was played. “At that point I think everyone cried,” Brehm said. Brehm said she and Dyer, both freshmen, met when they moved into their 12th-floor room together. She said they instantly got along and did a lot together during the first few weeks of school. “No matter what, she was always smiling,” Brehm said. “She had a little hop in her step.” Dyer, called Tina by her friends, was a psy chology major, but was considering a switch to nursing. Brehm said Dyer volunteered at Lin coln General Hospital and the Red Cross once a week. Other residents of the 12th floor came to Brehm’s room to offer hugs and support. Kellie Feurt, a freshman pre-physical therapy ~~ See FUNERALS on 2 NU presidential home up for bids after fire From Staff Reports The University Foundation is tak ing bids on the property where the fire ravaged remains of the NU presiden tial residence now stand. Theresa Klein, director of public relations and publications, said the foundation decided to sell the prop erty because University of Nebraska President Dennis Smith and his wife already owned a house in Lincoln. After looking at appraisals from three insurance companies, the foun dation decided to sell the property without repairs, Klein said. The building’s foundation and some outer walls were still intact, but the interior and roof were damaged severely. The buyer of the property will de cide whether to rebuild on the remains or tear down the ruins and build over them, she said. Klein said the University Founda tion had mailed bidding notices to Lin coln realtors, builders and other pro spective buyers. Bids will be taken until April 8. Smith will receive a $ 1,000 monthly housing allowance from the foundation to compensate for the use of his own house for university func tions, Klein said. Chancellors of each of the four campuses receive that allowance, she said, because the university no longer provides their housing. The foundation is trying to sell the property as soon as possible because the remains of the house have been an eyesore since the January fire, Klein said. “Wc want to get it cleaned up and out of the way for the neighbors.” Work could make people sick UNL reports few instances of illnesses By Joshua Giflinf Staff Reporter People who say their jobs make them sick just might be onto some thing. Environmental illnesses are be coming increasingly more common in the American workplace, accord ing to Ncbline, a monthly health awareness publication distributed by the Uncoln-Lancastcr Health Department. Often the possibility of such ail ments can be dismissed by both em ployers and workers because the af flicted individuals are usually iso lated cases. _ Conditions include carpal tunnel syndrome, an ailment affecting the ligaments of the hands because of repetitive motion, and multiple chemical sensitivity, where expo sure to various workplace chemi cals makes the employee sick. But these maladies do exist, an environmental official said, and they can be a part of every working environment, including the Univer sity of Ncbraska-Lincoln. Ron Phillips, an environmental health specialist with UNL’s De partment of Environmental Health and Safety, said a few cases of en vironmental illnesses had been re ported on the NU campuses over the years. “There have been cases of car pal tunnel, but nothing that’s caused too big of a problem,” he said. “Most of those arc ergonomic prob lems or the result of repetitive mo- ~ tion.” Mike Holmquist, a health edu cator with the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department, said the danger of work-related illnesses al ways existed, even though the ill nesses were not always recognized immediately. He said typical environmental illnesses were usually considered by the victims to be colds or the flu, or the result of unrelated action, such as muscle pulls cm- strains. The possibilities of such condi tions existing in the workplace are very high, Holmquist said. Phillips said his biggest concern had been the control of air quality. Often environmental illnesses turn out to be nothing more than a reac tion to an agent in the workplace. "A lot of times there’s a mold or SeeSICKon3