Thursday
December 5,1996
UNL modem pool
drained in spring
By Josh Funk
Staff Reporter
For UNL’s 16,000-plus off-campus
students, the information superhighway
! t soon will become a toll road.
The University of Nebraska-Lin
coln will eliminate the dial-in modem
pool early next semester. The pool cur
rently gives off-campus students free
: ; Internet access without making them
travel to campus computer labs.
Beginning in February, all off-cam
pus students will have to subscribe to
a commercial Internet access provider
! ; and pay a monthly fee to access the
Internet.
The change will not affect most stu
dents living in residence halls, who
have Internet access from their rooms
— provided their computers have
l Ethernet cards.
Kent Hendrickson, associate vice
chancellor for information services,
said demand for access to the pool and
the cost of keeping up with advancing
technology has made the modem pool
too expensive.
Despite UNL’s ongoing efforts to
upgrade the system, students often en
counter busy signals and outdated
hardware when they call. Connecting
to the system can take dozens of tries
during peak evening hours.
.Information Services considered
many different proposals to improve
the service for students before decid
ing to turn over university Internet ac
cess to a commercial provider.
“We finally reached an agreement
with the vendors to provide service to
students,” Hendrickson said.
Hendrickson, who was in Califor
nia on business Wednesday, did not
have specific information about pro
viders or costs. Last year, when the
possibility of abandoning the univer
Please see INTERNET on 8
Donated bridge offers link for trails
By Erin Gibson
Staff Reporter
An abandoned railroad bridge
over the Platte River will provide
the vital link between Omaha and
Lincoln hiker-biker trails, Nebraska
trails officials said Wednesday.
The bridge, about four miles
southeast of South Bend, will be
donated to the state by a private
donor, said Andy Bailey, project
manager for the Lower Platte South
Natural Resources District.
Although the bridge needs some
work — $1.5 million to make it
hiker and biker-friendly — it will
greatly enhance the metro area trail
system when completed around
2001, he said.
The bridge’s railroad tracks will
be converted to a path, and trails
will be built on both sides of the
bridge to link it with existing trails
and roadways, Bailey said.
And Great Plains Trails Net
work (GPTN) President Susan
Source: Great Plains Trails Network
Rodenburg said the converted
bridge will speed the completion of
an off-road trail system between
Lincoln and Omaha.
“It’s just very vital to the area
trails system,” Rodenburg said.
“We’re working on the bridge first
Natalie Linstrom/DN
because the opportunity is there.”
In support of the bridge conver
sion, the GPTN has agreed to ex
pand the Mopac trail that runs from
84th Street between A and O streets
Please see TRAILS on 6
, •
Lane Htckenbottom/DN
THIRTY-TWO WHITE BALLOONS with red ribbons were launched Wednesday in
commemoration of World AIDS Day. Each of the 16 years of the epidemic was marked by
the release of two balloons.
UNL commemorates
World AIDS Day
Students distribute infor
mation and release balloons
, to mark the 16th year of the
* epidemic.
By Tasha E. Kelter
StaffReporter
A small group of UNL students gathered in
front of the Nebraska Union Wednesday to re
j lease balloons in commemoration of World
AIDS Day.
Students walking past the union were invited
to release a balloon as a symbol of AIDS aware
* ness.
The Mueller bell tower chimed an extra 16
times after its usual 12 chimes at noon — one
for each year AIDS has been recognized as an
* epidemic in America.
Pat Tetreault, sexuality education coordina
tor at the University Health Center, said the re
lease of the balloons and the booth inside the
Nebraska Union caught the attention of many
students.
“It was an uplifting, hopeful kind of display,”
mm • - ■-*
-!»':
she said.
Neil Vacek, a senior family science major,
said the release of the balloons would have been
more effective at reaching a larger number of
students if it was at 12:30 p.m. or another time
when students weren’t in class.
Glynnis Smith, a sophomore special educa
tion major, said one of the purposes of the ac
tivities was to not discriminate against people
who are HIV-positive or have AIDS.
The theme of World AIDS Day last Sunday
was “One World, One Hope,” signifying the glo
bal unity needed to face the challenges AIDS
presents, Tetreault said.
“We really need to look at this as a global
issue,” she said.
Frieda Fowler, graduate assistant in commu
nity health education, said it was important to
keep attention on the problem of the AIDS epi
demic.
One out of every 250 Americans, and about
one out of every 500 students, is thought to be
HIV-positive, Fowler said. This includes people
who are unaware that they have the virus be
cause they haven’t been tested.
“People get too comfortable and forget to
Please see AIDS on 8
_____ ' ^ - - Lane Htckenbottoii/DN
GUNNIS SMITH, a sophomore special education major, prepares to release a handful
of balloons Wednesday in celebratidn of World AIDS Day. Smith is a peer sexual educator
at the University Health Center.
