Program offers housing to homeless patients in recovery
HOUSING from page 1
-ciety,” he said. “We simply try to get
them to where they can participate in
society rather than have to be depen
dent.”
Patients will live in the apartments
for up to a year, Hansen said, and will
have to fulfill a treatment contract to
keep the apartments. The contract may
entail group therapy sessions or one
on-one treatment with clinic personnel,
he said.
All patients will remain in close
i
contact with treatment program offi
cials, he said.
Valdeen Nelson, the project’s ex
ecutive director, said projects will be
leasing the apartments directly from
landlords and will sublet the apart
ments to treatment program graduates.
“We will be absorbing all liability
for upkeep,” Nelson said. “Landlords
do not need to fear a loss of value.”
The program will hire full-time
maintenance personnel for the apart
ments, she said.
Hansen said landlords will know
they are leasing apartments to the Lin
coln/Lancaster Drug Projects but the
occupants’ histories of homelessness,
mental illness or drug addiction will
remain unknown to the landlord and
neighbors.
“We try to protect them because
there is so much stigma attached to
mental illness and drug addiction,”
Hansen said.
Federal law also dictates that a
patient’s history of illness must remain
confidential, he said.
Ed Beranek, president of the
Everett Neighborhood Association,
said the movement of treatment pro
gram patients into his traditionally low
income, student neighborhood does not
concern him.
“We already have a lot of people
with drug and alcohol problems,”
Beranek said. “The patients will have
little impact.”
He said many disturbance calls are
placed in the neighborhood because of
-1
the actions of “obnoxious people,” and
that neighborhood residents would not
notice people from the treatment pro
gram.
The apartments are funded through
a three-year, $586,253 grant from the
U.S. Department of Housing and Ur
ban Development’s Supportive Hous
ing Program.
Hansen said he expected to place
about 30 patients a year in the apart
ments. About 100 patients are released
from the treatment program each year.
SAVE UP TO
-mm— ::.i I
' All Rill Merino Select friit Tops All Rill Winter
Wool Dresses Already On Sale Rittemed Sweaters
20% Off Extra 20% Off 20% Off
Originally from $98 to $178 Already reduced: $14-90 to $39.90 Originally from $168 to $198
All Fall Jewelry All Regular Price Long & Short
Already On Sale Italian leather Belts Print/Tweed Skirts
Extra 20% Off 20% Off 20% Off
Already reduced: $14.90 to $34.90 Originally from $42 to $88 Originally up to $125
H H II H H H ■■ H H H H
'I I -I H ■■ ■ H ■ ■ ■ ■
■mhH i ■
I ft L J ■■ ■■
This Homecoming Weekend only, find hundreds of special new savings on select
groups of favorite ladies’ fall and winter categories, including these groups! It’s a rare
opportunity to save up to 20% on the stuff you want to wear now! See you there...
One Pacific Place, Omaha
Ban on nudity
obeys UNKfc
set precedent
UNK from page 1
-changed, Wubbels said. He said the
ACLU was mistaken in charging the
university with censorship.
“We have not asked that a single
word or scene cm* anything else in die
play be struck,” Wubbels said. “There
is no censorship of any sort going on.”
But Nebraska ACLU executive di
rector Matt LeMieux said he heard that
university administrators told Garrison
to get rid of the nudity or get out.
That accusation is false, Wubbels
said.
me omy mention aoout conse
quences was put hypothetically, saying
if this institution had a written policy
on this and he violated it, he would be
subjected to a charge of insubordina
tion,” Wubbels said.
“It sounds like it was a real threat,
but it isn’t because we have no real
policy on this.”
Nudity is not consistent with the
mission of the university, Wubbels
said, which is to provide education to
the people of Nebraska.
“We are located in a certain place,
and we are here to serve the popula
tion of the state,” he said. “When you
look at the totality of (the nudity), the
choice doesn’t fit.
“Does that mean we can actually
forbid him from doing this? No.”
Though Garrison did not contest the
action, the ACLU intervened when
Ryan Brehmer, a UNK student and cast
member in the play, complained about
the chancellor’s order.
LeMieux said the ACLU would try
to convince the university to let the
director have free reign with the play.
If the university did not consent, the
ACLU might consider a court injunc
tion.
n_'__* J xl_A /"vr TT1 ' . I*
uoiiiauii aaiu uit, s uuci ici
ence is unwelcome and is dismayed by
the attention the nudity has been given
because it has distracted from the
play’s artistic quality.
“I’m upset about a lot of things,”
Garrison said. “I’d be hurt and disap
pointed if someone prevented the show
from opening because of litigation.”
LeMieux said he was unaware Gar
rison didn’t wai^ ACLU intervention.
“(Garrison) is in a tough position
because he doesn’t want to rock the
boat and lose his job,” LeMieux said.
But LeMieux said editing the nude
scenes was censorship and needed to
be defended.
“It sounds like everyone’s backing
away from this because they’re
scared,” he said.
In the meantime, Johnston stands
by her decision to edit the scenes
though she has not seen the perfor
mance.
She told UNK students Wednesday she
banned the nudity because she felt a
“moral obligation.”
“The attention is coming into our
office by the bucket loads from people
who are supporting what we are do
ing.”
The Associated Press contributed
to this report.
