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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1997)
spouts_ « E_ WEDNESDAY Almost all-arounder Oscar for Woody? February 12,1997 NU gymnast Misty Oxford has set school records Oscar nominations were announced Tuesday in the vault and the balance beam this season, but morning, and although several favorites were On The BRIGHT she does not compete in the all-around. PAGE 10 named, many were left out in the cold. PAGE 12 Partly sunny, high 20. low 10. VOL. 96 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 99 Bills would alter MIR, DUI laws By Erin Schulte Senior Reporter During a hearing on several bills that would change drunken-driving laws, high school students filled almost all the seats. But they weren’t fighting for their right to party; they were trying to toughen underage drinking laws. Students showed support for LB603, introduced by Sen. Dwite Pedersen of Elkhom, which would make penalties more strict for charges of minor in possession and driving un der the influence of alcohol. Minors would lose their driver’s licenses for an MIP conviction even if they were not driving a car. During a hearing before the Legislature’s Transportation Commit tee, Karen Koch, a high school junior from Omaha, and several other high school students said the bill would cor rect laws that students now see as “a joke.” “Teens are not concerned about punishments because laws are not strict enough,” Koch said. According to the bill, one MIP charge would result in a fine of $250, 25 hours of community service and au tomatic loss of a driver’s license for six months. The $250 fine could be waived if an alcohol education course was completed. The second MIP would mean a $500 fine, 50 hours of commu nity service and a license suspension for one year. Under the bill’s provisions, the first time minors were arrested for driving with a .02 percent blood-alcohol level (legal level for adults is .10 percent), they would lose their licenses for one year; the second time they would lose their licenses for two years. The bill would also make an MIP or driving under the influence charge part of a minor’s permanent record. Marty Convoy has worked on Project Extra Mile, an effort to reduce drunken driving. He said police do not enforce the .02 percent blood-alcohol law — which is also known as the “zero tolerance” law — because the records are eventually sealed. He also said that if the bill did not pass, federal highway funding would be cut. Opponents of the bill said students could be prosecuted unfairly, and the charges could be on their records for ever. Susan Cook, a representative of the Nebraska Criminal Defense Associa tion, testified against the bill. “Kids can be at a party, never have a beer and still have an MIP convic tion,” Cook said. “A designated driver could be convicted of beer in a car.” Another bill heard by the commit tee would allow a second chance for those who had already had three strikes for DUI. Please see DRIVING on 6 Liquid called harmless after radioactive scare By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter Employees housed in a building on Seventh and K streets got a scare Tues day afternoon when a worker found a broken beaker with a radioactive chemical inside. After three hours of isolating work ers inside the building and testing the area, officials determined the radioac tivity of the area was insignificant. “There was no danger from the ma terial to the people inside,” said Bill Pugsley, an official for the Lincoln Lancaster County Health Department. Hazardous-materials teams were called to the building, which houses several businesses. State health work ers also had to be called to determine whether the liquid was dangerous. Among the businesses housed in the building are the Lincoln Detox center, the Wagon Train Project and the Soil Observation Service. The broken beaker was found in a la&the Soil Conservation Service uses tdperform tests on soil samples. Z* Lincoln Fire Deputy Chief Rich Furasek said hazardous-materials teams were called to the building Friday night where workers found three beakers with uranium acetate inside them. The three intact bottles were locked in a bunker after they were identified, he said. However, Furasek said, the bottle found Tuesday was broken. Pugsley said uranium acetate is a low-level radioactive chemical and was only as powerful as a doctor’s X-ray. The chemical is often used as a tracer in chemical tests. The hazard, Pugsley said, was from breathing fumes from the chemical. The only workers in the building that would have been in any sort of danger would have been those in the immediate area of the broken beaker, Pugsley said. However, he said, be cause there was no significant radia tion detected, employees had nothing to worry about. ~ Pugsley said the bottles found were very old; no one was sure where they came from. •■3 Photo illustration by Lane Hickenbottom STUDENTS can reach beyond traditional classroom boundaries with resources on the World Wide Web. ■ Online exercises; answer keys and various links are supplementing text books at the UNL Web becomes new teaching tool By Josh Funk Staff Reporter While some UNL professors are just now merging onto the informa tion superhighway, others are pull ing out to pass. By using the World Wide Web as a teaching tool in their classes, these online professors are reinvent ing the lecture. David Fowler, assistant profes sor of instructional technology, shows teachers and students how to make their own web pages and take advantage of the technology. “The use of the web can add an other dimension to information,” Fowler said. In one Chemistry 109 section this semester, students experience more than the traditional lecture. Lecture notes and other infor mation are posted on the web for students to review before they go to class. During class, students may discuss the day’s topic. Professor John Stezowski devel oped the course to make first-year chemistry easier for students to un derstand. “With chemistry there are things that can be done better on a com puter than in a text,” Stezowski said. In addition to lecture informa tion and notes, the web page has other useful resources like tutorials on basic concepts, links to other chemistry-related web pages and practice problems. After tests and quizzes, the an swer key is posted on the web within hours so students can check their answers. “The web page is the primary re source for students,” Stezowski said. “Then if they are still having problems they can refer to the text.” This is the first semester Chem istry 109 has been offered in this format, so the course is under con tinual development. “This is a dynamic course. If we find something we need to change we can do that,” Stezowski said. Through e-mail or class, stu dents have the ability to make sug gestions on how to improve the class. Stezowski and his design team can then evaluate the suggestions and make improvements. “I really like the interaction I have been getting, both in the class room and through e-mail,” Stezowski said. Students have had a mixed re sponse to the class. Some students enjoy the versatility of the web based class, but others prefer the structure of a regular lecture. “I like this better than a lecture class because we have 24-hour ac cess to the information,” said Mark Dicke, a freshman diversified agri culture major. The structure of the class is de manding on students’ time, some said. Joe Schulz, a freshman general studies student, said he would rather have a lecture class. Please see WEB on 6 Union evolves over its 59-year history By Kasey Kerber Staff Reporter Construction today, a forgotten yes terday and a future of splendor... some day. The Nebraska Union has undergone a variety of changes in its 59-year his tory, but no alterations may be as dras tic as those of the current union ex pansion. The expansion project will increase the union’s size, equip the building with new technology and refine both its in ner and outer appearances. If all phases of construction remain on schedule, the project should be done in a year and a half. But the development of the Ne braska Union has been a much longer project, spanning decades. Daryl Swanson, Nebraska Unions director, explained that the original 1938 building was only half the size of the one that now stands. In 1958, an addition was built on to the north side of the building, Swanson said. “The addition was ultra-modem looking and clashed with the original union building,” he said. As a result, the addition was ex panded and refined in 1969 to achieve its current look. Now with the current expansion project, which began in 1996, virtually every aspect of the Nebraska Union will be affected in some way. The most obvious changes will be noticed from the north side of the build ing. The north wall will be expanded to where Broyhill Fountain was. In addi tion, the second floor will hang over the first floor by nearly 20 feet, creat ing a shaded arcade supported by pil lars. Swanson said the design turned out Please see UNION on 6 ur" —- •• - Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http: / / www.unl.edu /DailyNeb "' ■ *“'•** ■ ' . ' t - I . - • . -■ • -."J V -
