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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 19, 1996)
I I Tuesday l November 1911996 ! v I 5 £ I No nuts here fm mg f i i r ...... v Scott Bruhn^DN ONE SQUIRREL'S search for winter food proved to be futile — at least for a little while — Monday afternoon as it went nut-gathering atop a fence near Memorial Stadium. L - ' — — ' -— traffic accidents By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter Snow and freezing rain mean more accidents on Lincoln roadways, and more work for the city’s police offic ers. In fact, Lincoln drivers slam into each other twice as much on snowy days as clear ones, according to Lin coln Police Department records taken from snow days at the end of 1995 and early 1996. Lincoln Police Sgt. Ann Heermann said officers know what snow means to them. “It’s part of the job,” she said. “They are prepared for it. They take out extra accident reports and they re alize that’s what they are going to do all day.” Records show a daily average of 25 to 35 accidents. On days that it snowed, the average jumped to 64.6 accidents. On days of freezing rain, the aver age number of accidents was on the high side of die daily average range: 35 accidents versus the 25 to 35 acci- , dent average range. Please see ACCIDENTS on 6 Man arrested after home damaged by fire By Chad Lorenz Senior Reporter l Police arrested a Lincoln man on suspicion of aiibn Monday morning in connection with a fire that severely damaged the inside of his home. Police arrested Virgil Moats Mon day while the fire was still burning at his two-bedroom house at 844 Peach St. Chief Deputy Dean Staberg said ' Mo&svtent to a nearby laundromat and tried to get change for a pay phone to call firefighters. A woman at the laundromat stepped out of the laundromat, saw smoke coming from the house and called firefighters her self, Staberg said. Fire investigator Bob Fiedler said Moats-seemed to be “heavily medi cated” on prescription medicine when fire authorities contacted him. Fiedler would not elaborate on Moats’ medi cal condition. Preliminary investigation showed suspicious circumstances behind the cause of the fire, he said. ‘It appears it was intentionally set,” Fiedler said. The fire started in a mattress in a bedroom at the back of the house, Fiedler said. When firefighters arrived, they could see a column of dense smoke ris ing from the house from six blocks away, Staberg said. Smoke was pour ing through the windows and from un derneath the eaves of the house, Stabeigsaid. Firefighters attacked the blaze from the front of the house, while two oth ers sprayed water from both sides to protect the adjacent houses, he said. Evergreen bushes along the east side of the house had already started to bum, he said. While firefighters were inside, they heard a series of explosions and saw flames burst from the basement, Stabeig said. The fire apparently had reached some rifle or shotgun ammu nition in the basement, he said. No one was hurt. Once the fire was under control, firefighters dumped pails of smolder ing debris out the window where it was hosed down. Fiedler estimated $8,000 damage to the house itself and $10,000 damage to its contents. Moats shares the house with his brother, Roger Moats. Roger Moats ' had left Lincoln for Denver earlier Monday morning. j Travels open student’s [ eyes to other cultures I • ' r • . . : i ; . v By Chad Lorenz Senior Reporter During her travels around the globe, Jen Thompson has learned that home isway far from the rest of the world. The United States is so far from countries like Ecuador and India, even the American tour \ ists can’t truly see the people or the culture sur rounding them. | > America is so far and so detached from other nations, she said, its people couldn’t possibly | imagine the lives of foreigners. Not until they see the world's people as Th ompson has — face to face. “We are American, and we see the world from the United States,” Thompson said. K"r" ~ .^ ' The 22-year-old Spanish major has been to 21 different countries on five continents, includ ing popular destinations such as France, Ger many and England. But she has also landed in not-so-touristy locales such as Vietnam, Cam bodia and Russia. Since age 10, Thompson has md and lived .. : with people of several other races audcukures. On her first expeditions with her family, her ^ father would take them on the typical tourist routes through North America. They’d follow their schedule and visit the most popular attrac tions without interacting much with the people, she said. -l ’ ^ *. Those eariy experiences were appropriate, she said, because she needed some sheltered