_I
UNL taking the
challenge: Coke,
Pepsi or 7-Up
for die-hard Mountain Dew or Coke
fans, but the rewards would be enor
mous, said James Main, assistant vice
chancellor for business and finance.
“The nature of an exclusive con
tract has become extremely lucrative
in the last several years,” Main said.
“Possibly several million dollars a
year.”
Main stressed that the university
had not made any decisions yet and was
simply looking at die possibility of
exclusive sales rights.
Association of Students of the Uni
versity of Nebraska President Eric
Marintzer was consulted about die is
sue for student input, Main said.
The university also checked with
other universities to see how beverage
contracts had worked for their cam
puses, Main said. The University of
Minnesota in Minneapolis just signed
a deal with Coke for $28 million, Main
said, and Penn State just signed a deal
Pleageae&430NTBACT on 6
Suppliers blamed
for hike in gas price
By Erin Gibson
Staff Reporter
No relief is in sight for high gas
prices, which could strain Nebraskans’
holiday travel budgets, a gasoline dis
tributor and gas station employees said
Monday.
This means a lot of travelers com
plaining at the gas station checkout
counters, said Helen Foreman, presi
dent and CEO of Foreman Inc., a gaso
line distributor.
Gas prices have risen by about 10
cents per gallon since February. But
don’t blame the gas stations, Foreman
said.
Gas stations and distributors’ prices
just reflect higher market forces, she
said.
The blame for this fall’s high gas
prices falls on both suppliers’ charg
ing more for crude oil and the typical
increase of the season, Foreman said.
In the fall, gas prices rise because of a
jump in demand for oil products used
for heating on the East Coast, she said.
“When our suppliers raise their
price, we have no choice,” she said.
‘We have to pass it on to the con
sumer.”
Foreman said gas stations do not get
together to fix gas prices around the
holidays, a practice called collusion.
That is illegal, she said.
Please see GAS on 6
Scott Bruhn/DN
MATT BEATTY, a UNL custodian, shovels snow off the steps of Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery
Monday afternoon. Although Lincoln had a slight accumulation, some areas in Ohio were were buried
under more than 20 inches of snow. Cleveland was covered by 2 Vi feet of snow in the early blizzard.
Up to two more feet of snow was expected in the area by this morning. Please see story on page 7.
: - & •
Soft drink companies
may bid for exclusive
rights to sell their
beverages on campus.
By Erin Schulte
Senior Reporter
It’s the new cola challenge: Will
Pepsi, Coke or 7-Up offer UNL the best
: deal to sell only their line of products
on campus?
Coke, Pepsi and Midcontinent Bot
tlers (which makes 7-Up) have until
Dec. 4 to answer a request for propos
als issued last month by UNL. If the
university accepts a bid, the winning
company would have exclusive rights
to sell its products on campus, includ
i ing in vending machines, Nebraska
Union restaurants, Memorial Stadium
and residence halls.
The decision might be hard at first
Homemade bombs found throughout Lincoln duringweekend
-----
Bt Chad Lorenz
Senior Reporters
A mailbox was the only victim in a
rash of six homemade bombs that deto
nated in Lincoln over the weekend.
Eleven pop-bottle bombs, six of
which detonated, woe reported at two
residences and two businesses, Lincoln
police Sgt Ann Heermann said. Police
had not identified any suspects Mon
day. •
All the bombs apparently were
made with plastic pop bottles contain
ing an odorous cleaning solvent and
aluminum foil pieces, Heermann said.
They are called “MacGyver” bombs
because erf their use on the popular tele
vision show of the same name.
Police think the targets were se
lected at random, but the incidents may
be related.
M
It can be a pretty good explosion if you have
the right amount and the right ratio.”
Darrel Kinnan
manager of the UNL chemistry lab
Heermann gave the following ac
counts of the incidents:
An employee of Havelock Furni
ture, 6200Havelock St, found the re
mains of one bomb in the driveway in
front of the store Saturday morning.
A 16-ounce plastic bottle was
melted and twisted at the top andpieces
of plastic and aluminum foil were scat
tered around. :
A 45-year-old man living on the
4700block of Greenwood Street found
two green plastic Mountain Dew \
bottles sealed with tape on Ms porch.
He took the bottles inside where he
noticed they were heating up and ex
panding as the liquid inside fizzed. ^ j
He set them in his back yard and 1
watched diem from Ms kitchen win
dow. One exploited with a loud boom;
the liquid in the other continued fizz
ing._s._ I
Please see BOMBS on 6