The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, December 06, 1996, Page 3, Image 3
Ttee choice sparks debate Fake or real: Decision may be prickly for holidays TREES from page 1 more than $ 140 for a fancy, 16-foot tall fir. Those big trees represent 15 to 20 years of grooming and care, Bagley said. Artificial trees, al though they require less care, just aren’t the same, he said. “They’re kind of a novelty that people get tired of,” Bagley said. Tammi Stock and Becky Lowmack of Crete agreed. “I always had the fake one at home,” Stock said, who will join Lowmack in taking home a real tree for the second year this December. Lowmack said, although a live tree is messy, it gives her home the holiday atmosphere she loves. “It isn’t Christmas without a real tree,” she said. Nola Rhoades, of 2911 N. Sixth St. said she missed the live trees she used to keep in her home. She now keeps a smaller ceramic tree to save space. “It just always seems more like Christmas with a real tree in the house,” Rhoades said. But a real tree can be problem atic, she said. One holiday night, she and her husband awoke to the sound of rain in their house. They laughed when they found the “rain” was needles falling off the tree branches and bouncing off wrapped packages underneath the tree, she said. “By Christmas, we just had the bare branches,” she said. That can be a fire hazard, said Barb Elstun, fire prevention coor dinator in the Nebraska Fire Marshal’s office. A dry tree can eas ily catch fire near a heat source or with faulty tree lights. “Trees need to be taken care of,” Elstun said. Trees should be watered daily so the tree can drink the water, and a fresh cut should be made on the bot tom of the tree prior to placing ft in its stand, she said. As for Elstun, she no longer keeps a tree in her home. But if she did get a tree, it would be artificial, she said. A self-described neat-freak, Elstun “wouldn’t want the mess of the needles,” she said. Marian Tritch, who picked up a new artificial tree Thursday at a Kmart Super Center, said an artifi cial tree is convenient and easy to maintain. Bob Schraeder, manager of the store at 3300 N. 27th St., said hun dreds of Lincoln residents agree with Tritch. The store sold about 500 artificial trees last year, he said, and he expects to sell just as many this year. “There’s a great advantage to an artificial tree,” he said. “You pay for it once, and then take it down and put it up year after year.” Kmart’s artificial trees range in price from $14.95 to $169.95, Schraeder said. Store shopper Sue Donahoo likes the one-time cost, she said. As an allergy sufferer, it’s the only tree she can keep in her north Lincoln home. Dr. Kirk A. Kinberg, a Lincoln allergy and asthma specialist, said many people who are allergic to mold may experience congestion, a runny nose and sneezing if they bring a live tree into their home. Mold grows naturally on the branches and trunks of trees, he said. “An artificial tree is better for those individuals,” Kinberg said. But there’s a real tree in the Kinberg home, he said. He’s not allergic, he said, and he loves the tradition. Correction A Dec. 3 Daily Nebraskan article about former Nebraska football player Riley Washington incorrectly stated that Deputy County Attorney David Stempson was disqualified from the Washington case because of a conflict of interest stemming from phone calls he made to Jermaine Cole, a witness in the case. Stempson was disqualified from the case because of a single phone call he received from Cole in August. UNIfe Rolling Storm basketball team seeks volunteers to drive to games From Staff Reports Rolling Storm, UNL’s wheelchair basketball team, is seeking volunteer drivers for away games during the 1996-97 season. Shad Dahlgren, a senior general agriculture major, said volunteer driv ers must be able to operate a 15-pas senger van with a trailer. Volunteers will also be required to help load and unload the team’s gear. Expenses will be paid, with a maxi mum of $ 10 a day for meals. Dahlgren said the team will travel to such places as Minneapolis, Kansas City and St. Louis. The team’s next trip will be to Min neapolis on Saturday and Sunday. Those interested in becoming vol unteer drivers are encouraged to call Dahlgren at 467-5735. Hagel to enter Congress as a Senate Deputy Whip From Staff Reports Sen.-Elect Chuck Hagel has been named one of the Senate’s Deputy Whips for the 105th Congress. Hagel joins the majority leader, Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, and the assistant majority leader Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles. A party’s whips gauge support for legislation in Con gress and lobby for legislation the lead ership is backing. “I am pleased Chuck Hagpl has agreed to serve as a deputy whip dur ing the 105th Congress,” Nickles said in a press release. Both Nickles and Lott stumped for Hagel’s campaign against Democratic Gov. Ben Nelson. Hagel, who was assigned to the Senate’s Foreign Relations and Bank ing, Housing and Urban Affairs com mittees Wednesday, said he was hon ored to help the Republican leadership. “I look forward to working with them in successfully moving our agenda of a balanced budget, lower taxes and a smaller federal government through the United States Senate,” he said. I «: It can only mean good things for Ne braska. It gives us a hefty voice in the Senate” Chuck Sigerson Nebraska State Republican Party Chairman Nebraska State Republican Party Chairman Chuck Sigerson said from his home Thursday night that he couldn’t remember a time when Ne braska had a senator in a party leader ship role. Sigerson said Hagel has been la beled a leader by the GOP brass, and that speaks well of a small-state sena tor. “It can only mean good things for Nebraska,” he said. “It gives us a hefty voice in the Senate.” ---1 Law & Order ^T illS%. nrtf/1 */\ Unvr mr\t*a iV»on rRAUD Lincoln police arrested two men Wednesday night for using a Mis souri man’s credit card to buy ste reo equipment. Michael Olsson of Kansas City lost his wallet and credit card on Nov. 9 when he was in Lincoln for the Nebraska-Missouri football game, Sgt. Terry Sherill said. That same day, two men alleg vuijr uovu uiv vuiu w $1,000 of stereo equipment at Ste reo West, Sherill said. After investigating, police found the clerk who made the sale. In a police lineup, the clerk identified Walter Osmon, 39, and Larry Welch, 21, as the men who used the card, Sherrill said. Osmon and Welch were arrested at 8:30 Wednesday night and jailed. _ i "The Places We’ll Take You!" "You'll reap great rewards! You'll be up with the best Who challenge their skills! You'll pass up the rest!" 1997 Student Assistant Selection Information Sessions Tuesday. December 3. 1996 3 p.m. - CPN Blue TV Lounge Friday. December 6. 1996 3:30 p.m. - Nebraska Union Georgian Suite Sunday. December 8, 1996 9 p.m. - Harper Food Service 24 Hour Study Room 9 p.m. - Selleck Hall Large CDR I Wednesday. December 11, 1996 7 p.m. - Abel Hall Ballroom 7 p.m. - Burr Hall Dirt Room Monday. January 13.1997 7 p.m. - Nebraska Union Georgian Suite It is the policy of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln not to discriminate on the basis of sex, age, disability, race, color, religion, marital status, veteran status, national or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation in its employment policies._ X