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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 13, 1996)
h -• I ir I l s f S* I jj. !» k •i ' Scott Bruhn/DN JULIE PATTAVINA, an undeclared freshman, signs a get-well banner for Tracy Jensen Thursday night at a benefit concert for - Jensen at The Royal-Grove. Pattavina is a member of Jensen’s sorority, Tri-Delta. Jensen’s condition upgraded By Chad Lorenz Senior Reporter The medical condition of a UNL cheer leader who injured her neck during practice last week has improved. Tracy Jensen, a junior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is at Lincoln General Hospital where her condition was upgraded from critical to serious Wednesday, said Phyllis Larsen, UNL director of public rela tions. Jensen was hurt while performing a rou tine tumbling maneuver during Yell Squad practice on Dec. 4. Her family has not re leased any detailed medical information. The family has not filed a lawsuit against the university, Larsen said. The university ' Please see JENSEN on 9 Supporters rally to help injured UNL cheerleader By Chad Lorenz Senior Reporter Friends, teammates and Tri-Delta soror ity sisters of Tracy Jensen gathered together Thursday night at the Royal Grove to show their support for the injured cheerleader. Jensen, a junior from Lyons, is in serious condition at Lincoln General Hospital after she hurt her neck during cheerleading prac tice last week. The condition improved from critical Wednesday. Three bands — Ivory Star, Chronic Bliss and Far From Nowhere — played at the Royal Grove Thursday night to raise money for Jensen’s medical expenses. The Royal Grove and radio station KFRX sponsored the event. Jensen’s supporters wore white ribbons to symbolize hope for the junior member of . the Yell Squad and wrote messages to her on a wall-sized poster. “Hang in there kid and keep your head high and your smile strong. We all love you and you’re in our prayers,” one note read. “Get well soon. Can’t wait to see your smiling face...” Please see BENEFIT on 9 Cocaine round in syringes at grocery store By Chad Lorenz Senior Reporter Cocaine may have been injected into pro duce and other food items at a Lincoln grocery store Wednesday, a Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department investigation discovered. Several syringes were found inside Russ’s Market at 17th and Washington Streets Wednes day afternoon, according to a health department statement. The Food and Drug Administration tested a liquid residue in a syringe and found traces of cocaine, the statement said. The store voluntarily removed all food that may have been injected after the syringes were found. Officials have not determined if any food had been injected with cocaine, according to the statement. The store will establish a hotline for cus tomers to determine if they need to return any food bought at Russ’s. Vice chancellor search reaches its fmalltages By Erin Schulte Senior Reporter With the last candidate for the position vis iting campus this week, the search for a vice chancellor for academic affairs is in its final stages. Risa Been Palm, dean of the Collegepf Arts and Sciences at the University Eugene, was on campus Thursday candidates, Richard Edy/ards, ( lege of Arts and S6iehces' a^fej . Kentucky in Lexington, and Dank chology and public affairs profess University of Maryland at College ited campus earlier this month. T'T: ’* ^ Harvey Perlman, dean of UNL’s CoBege of Law, is the other candidate. Chancellor James Moeser said the four made up an “exceBent field of candidates.” Please see SEARCH on 6 Fossils suggest coexisting species - Findings hint that Homo erectus, Homo sapiens lived in same period The Associated Press WASHINGTON—Beetle-browed, humanlike creatures may have been neighbors with anatomically modem humans in Java as recently as 27,000 years ago, researchers say. Their study * suggests the primitive species lived on * the Pacific island almost a million years after it died out in Africa. Using new techniques to age-date | fossils found on Java, a team of an il thropologists concluded that a primi | tive species known as Homo erectus lived in Java between 27,000 to 53,000 years ago. Carl C. Swisher HI of the Berke ley Geochronology Center said this new date indicates that Homo erectus lived in Java at the same time that Homo sapiens, the modem human, was also there. “These are the youngest dates ever found for Homo erectus and it is quite startling,” said Susan Anton, a Univer sity of Florida anthropologist and co author of the study. “This is the first time that they have been shown to co exist Even in Africa, they didn’t over lap.” A report on the study , will be pub lished Friday in the journal Science. Most experts believe Homo erectus arose in Africa about 1.8 million years ago and then spread throughout Asia. Anton said it is widely believed that Homo sapiens evolved in Africa, per haps from Homo erectus, about 200,000 years ago and then spread into the rest of the world. Homo erectus disappeared from Africa and Asia, but Java “was sort of a refuge” for the species, Swisher said. Java was once connected with Asia by a land bridge, he said, but when the sea level rose, it became an island, trapping and isolating the primitive humans. Swisher said the erectus have never been shown to have developed water transportation. But the more advanced sapiens built boats and probably ar rived in Java about 40,000 years ago. This means that sapien and erectus hominids shared that island for hun dred&pfgenerations, said Anton, and suggfljR that the arrival of modem humanfled to the demise of the primi tive forms. “I find it hard to imagine that there wasn’t some effect from a new homi nid moving in,” she said. There’s no strong evidence that warfare wiped out Please see HUMANS on 8 . Scott Bruhn/DN SAM FULLER, 2, eats a piece of cookie from the hand of his babysitter, Jennifer Griffith, a sophomore music education major, > Thursday afternoon in the Westbrook Music Building. Griffith mid Fuller were at the Sigma Alpha Iota Wassail Party. Sam Fuller is the son of Craig Fuller, a tuba professor at UNL. - ■ .