Spotting of common crane
in Nebraska creates stir
GRAND ISLAND (AP) — A bird
that normally flies with a flock in Asia
probably took a wrong turn in Siberia
to turn up in Nebraska.
The sighting of the common crane
hanging out with a flock of sandhill
cranes in south-central Nebraska has
created quite a stir among bird watch
ers. The news has shown up on bird
alerts on the Internet, and bird watch
ers hoping to add the bird to their “life
lists” of personal bird sightings have
been calling bird watchers here to in
quire.
Don’t let its name fool you. The
common crane, also known as the Eur
asian crane, is common only on its
home turf of Europe and Asia, said
Gary Lingle, habitat manager for the
Platte River Whooping Crane Main
tenance Trust in Grand Island. Only
about 10 sightings have been recorded
in North America outside of Alaska.
“In the bird world, this is quite an
event,” said Craig Faanes, a former
Grand Island resident who now works
for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
in Arlington, Va. He has seen 1,665 dif
ferent birds in North America but never
a common crane.
Bob Janssen, a Minnesota orni
thologist and author of “Birds in Min
nesota,” spotted the common crane
Saturday. It was in a field about six
miles east of Prosser near the Adams
County-Hall County line.
Bird watchers are drawn to Ne
braska each spring when an estimated
500,000 sandhill cranes stop here to
rest and feed before going north to their
summer nesting grounds.
About 40,000 to 60,000 sandhill
cranes nest each summer in Siberia.
Common cranes’ summer nesting
grounds extend to Siberia. Lingle said
the local common crane probably be
came mixed up with the wrong group
last fall in Siberia.
Lingle said he expected the com
mon crane would bring quite a bit of
economic activity to the state from bird
watchers.
“This is like the golden crane,” he
said.
UNL aid applications delayed
By Joshua Gillin_
Staff Reporter
Students who applied for finan
cial aid for the 1996-97 academic
year may have to wait awhile, ac
cording to the director of UNL
scholarships and financial aid.
John Beacon said mailing de
lays, software glitches and the fed
eral government shutdowns all had
contributed to a delay in process
ing the Free Application for Fed
eral Student Aid.
Mailing delays caused by bad
weather and problems with a new
software program have set back ap
plications by up to 70 percent, Bea
con said.
And, he said, “The employee
furloughs that were given (during
the government shutdown) didn’t
help matters any.”
As of March 22, Beacon said,
fewer than half of the 3.3 million
applications had been entered into
“Almost every school
in the country has to
wait for the
Department of
Education to send
out its figures”
JOHN BEACON
UNL financial aid director
the federal disbursement system.
“We’ve (UNL) only got about
4,400 students processed now, com
pared to the 8,800 we had done
about this time last year,” he said.
But Beacon said the staff mem
bers in federal data-processing of
fices were going full-speed trying
to catch up — three shifts a day,
seven days a week.
Beacon said receiving informa
tion regarding federally awarded
money for education was vital for
the distribution of award notes for
UNL students.
“The set deadline for getting all
of the applications processed for
next year is April 15,” he said. “Af
ter we get the federal information,
we can start sending out award let
ters.”
He said students who had ap
plied for financial aid should not
worry or resubmit applications.
Money will be awarded based on
the order in which applications
were received.
Beacon said he wanted UNL stu
dents to know that the fault lies with
the system, not the university.
“Almost every school in the
country has to wait for the Depart
ment of Education to send out its
figures,” he said.
“Basically, we’re all in the same
boat when it comes to waiting.”
Property
Continued from Page 1
said. “This does not affect 292CA a
bit. It only lets the voters approve
what’s already in statute.”
By keeping levy levels in state stat
ute and not putting it in the constitu
tion, Sen. Jerome Warner of Waverly
said LR29CA would keep some flex
ibility by not requiring a constitutional
amendment to change levy levels in
future adjustments.
If it’s put into the state constitution,
he said, “you will have locked into the
constitution that ag land will be taxed
at 80 percent of market value. Period.”
When senators voted on the
Schrock amendment again, they de
feated it 21-22.
In other property tax related action
Tuesday:
School districts in rural Nebraska
won’t get a “gentle little nudge” to
consolidate after an amendment was
put down by lawmakers earlier in the
day.
By a 13-18 vote, senators rejected
Lincoln Sen. Chris Beutler’s amend
ment asking rural school districts to
look at the possibility of merging.
The amendment would have been
part of one of the Legislature’s prop
erty tax relief bills, LB 1085.
Sen. Bob Wickersham of Harrison
opposed the amendment and said the
bill focused on encouraging local gov
ernments — not schools — to merge
or consolidate.
“If we include schools, should we
then expand it so it deals with com
munity colleges, NRDs (Natural Re
source Districts) and the airport au
thority?” he asked. “I don’t think so.”
School districts already had the in
centive to consolidate in another bill
awaiting final reading, Wickersham
said, and didn’t need the prompting
of the Legislature.
One of the few supporters of the
bill, Sen. Carol Pirsch of Omaha re
minded senators the schools were the
biggest users of the property tax lev
ies the Legislature would be cutting.
“I hate to put a mandate on
schools,” she said, “but I don’t know
any other way to make sure they do
this.” ____
LONDON $319
FRANHFORT $425
PARIS $399
AMSTERDAM $399
MILAN $439
Fares are from Lincoln each maij based on a AT purchase.
Fares do no! include federal taxes and passenger facilities charges,
inhich can total hehueen $19.95 and $31.95. depending on Itie destina
tion. nor do they include departure charges pad directly to to foreign
governments, inhich can total hehueen $3.00 and $00.00. Int I Student
10 may be required. Fares are subject to change. Restrictions appiq.
talid for departures until 31 Hag 1990.
_Travel -
CIEE: Council on International
Educational Exchange
VV^IIT *n line for.
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