Comet flies through sky
after 4,000-year trip
. ■ ■■ ■ ■■■■■■■■ . ^ 4 - -
Br David Welch
Staff Reporter
Amateur astronomers Alan
Hale and Thomas Bopp spotted a
comet in the summer of 1995 that
is now making its path across
nighttime skies.
For the next three months,
Hale-Bopp promises to be the most
sensational sky display in almost
two centuries, astronomers say.
Because Hale-Bopp only returns
into view every 4,000 years, pro
fessional and amateur astronomers
alike are fascinated about witness
ing this once-in-a-lifetime event.
Amateur astronomer Julie
Hennings, freshman business ad
ministration major, said she is ea
ger to view the comet.
“I think it will be really neat to
see, from what I’ve heard it’s sup
posed to be exciting.”
Don Thylor, associate professor
of physics and astronomy, said four
factors determine if a comet will
be spectacular and stand out in the
night sky. Those are: a comet’s size,
age, its proximity to the sun and
its path by Earth.
“These things are all favorable
in this case,” Taylor said.
He said Hale-Bopp is 20 miles
in diameter and thousands of times
more dense than last spring’s peri
odic comet Hyakutake, which gave
a good show.
In each pass by the sun, comets
lose a lot of ice and dust. Because
Hale-Bopp only flies by earth ev
ery 4,000 years, much of the
H
Once you find it,
it’s pretty easy to
keep track of
Don Taylor
astronomy professor
comet’s material in intact. Because
of this, Taylor said, the comet
maintains its splendor.In February,
Hale-Bopp will be visible in the
morning sky, just above the east
ern horizon. Hale-Bopp will be at
its closest to Earth on March 23,
during a partial lunar eclipse. This
eclipse should make it easier to see,
Taylor said.
“What people need to do is find
some published charts and start
looking for it,” Taylor said. “Once
you find it, it’s pretty easy to keep
track of.”
Hale-Bopp will start appearing
in the evening skies during the lat
ter part of its journey into Earth’s
inner solar system. The best dates ^
to view Hale-Bopp will be March
28 to April 10 and April 26 to May
9.
Away from the glare of city
lights, Behlen Observatory near
Mead has a large telescope for a
free public viewing of Hale-Bopp
on April 11, from 8 to 11 pjn.
And before it’s visible in the
night skies, Hale-Bopp and comet
tracking charts can be found on the
World * Wide Web at
<www.Skypub.com>. ^
Fraternity employment
addressed by ASUN
By Kasey Kerber
Staff Reporter Jf/Ki
After three government bills, four
appropriation bills, one senate bill, a
senate resolution and a bylaw change,
Wednesday’s meeting of the Associa
tion of Students of die University of
Nebraska was finally adjourned.
The meeting also featured two
guest speakers.
Larry Routh, the director of career
services, spoke to the senate about how
Career Services was helping students
find employment after graduation.
Routh said that new measures,
such as sending resumes online and
contacting companies on a national
scale, were gathering impressive re
sults.
Also in attendance was Eric
Crump, chairman for advocacy and
race relations for the Afrikan People’s
Union.
Crump, who attended last week’s
ASUN meeting to address the Sigma
Chi cross burning, outlined the six
areas Sigma Chi had violated within
the Student Code of Conduct.
The violations Gump outlined in
the code of conduct included: the un
lawful possession of alcohol, the un
lawful possession of firearms, danger
ous conduct, disruption of university
“operations, activities or functions”
and harassment.
“I think it’s clear on face value that
there were violations of the code of
conduct,” Crump said.
Crump asked ASUN to consider
these violations and pass legislation
acknowledging they occurred.
In other ASUN news:
■ Government Bills No. 16 and
No. 17 Were unanimously passed, ad
dressing Wkfmrrently within the Ne
braska Legislature.
■ Government Bill No. 16 sup
ported LB857, a bill addressing de
ferred maintenance. ASUN supports
the bill, which will give the univer
sity $5 million in funding for the reno
vation of buildings on campus.
The university originally asked for
$10 million, but ASUN President Eric
Marintzer said securing $5 million
was essential.
“If this bill is not passed, I believe
that the cost will be put on the back of
the students in the form of student tu
ition increases,” Marintzer said.
■ Government Bill No. 17 ad
dressed LB504, a bill that Marintzer
described as “legislation that puts ten
ants at an extreme disadvantage.”
LB504 doubles the amount of time
that a landlord can demand a security
deposit from one month to two
months. The bill also requires that if
a tenant wishes to legally contest a
landlord, legal action must be taken
within five to seven days. That figure
was previously 14 days.
ASUN passed the Government Bill
No. 17 unanimously, opposing LB504
and instructing Government Liaison
Committee members to lobby against
the bill.
■ Appropriation Bills 1 through
4 also were passed unanimously, ap
proving the budget increases requested
by the Lied Center for Performing
Arts, the Daily Nebraskan, the Uni
versity Program Council and ASUN.
■ Bylaw Amendment No. 3 was
approved, making part-time students
eligible to serve on ASUN subcommit
tees.
■ Senate Resolution No. 4 was
approved with a voice vote, authoriz
ing a survey on campus safety to be
distributed and its results to be acted
upon.
Student parking employees
cross path of peril on job
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
> Brandon Stolle goes to class and
has a job just like any other student.
But people throw trash cans and
scream obscenities at him when he
goes to work.
His co-workers have been as
saulted, spit on and threatened for
doing this part-time job, which 25 stu
dents use to get through the Univer
sity of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Stolle is a parking cadet, employed
by Parking Services. Parking cadets
enforce the university’s parking rules,
and can be the first to bear the brunt
of people’s frustration.
Parking Services Manager Tad
McDowell said 98 percent of the
people who break the rules are “fairly
mellow” when they find a ticket on
their car. He said he could empathize
with the 2 percent who get verbally
abusive, or worse.
“It’s understandable,” he said. “It’s
no one’s best day to come out and their
car is being impounded.
“Everyone expresses their anger
differently.”
Expressions of anger have in
cluded:
■ One student who was assaulted.
■ A cadet who had his feet run
over by a car.
■ One cadet who had a pizza
thrown at him.
■ Several cadets who have had
car keys thrown at than.
■ People locking themselves in
their cars to try to prevent cadets from
towing the car.
■ People getting in their cars and
speeding away to avoid getting towed
or ticketed.
■ One man who started kicking
and punching his own car.
Other people have spray painted
meters, yanked them out of the ground
and broken the gate arms on reserved
lots. Still others write obscene letters
to parking services—an estimated 40
per month.
“It just really varies,” Stolle said.
“Some people just go off.
“There are thousands of cars a day
that go by that don’t get a ticket. They
could be one of them.”
McDowell said Parking Services
finds itself in a bind between its duty
and public opinion. He said its work
ers’ jobs are to maintain the parking
lots, keep emergency routes through
campus open and enforce the rules of
campus parking.
Parking services sells permits to
make the money needed to maintain
the lots and provide shuttle service cm
campus, he said. But, McDowell said,
some people try to skirt the rules and,
as a result, get tickets.
“Unfortunately, some people de
cide they are not going to pay those
tickets, or can’t, and we have to im
pound those vehicles,” McDowell
said.
“We go from a minor but impor
tant reason to be here,” he said, “to
being the big ogres that some cm the
campus believe us to be.”
Doug Wagner, the cadet supervi
sor, said the students are just trying to
do their jobs.
“They’re not there to pick on any
one or take out vengeance on anyone,”
he said. “They don’t get any thrill out
of writing tickets. It’s just a job. It’s
just like going to McDonald’s.”
And, Wagner said, many of the
perceptions of parking cadets are not
true. He said cadets do not target any
one or any place.
“We’re equal opportunity,” he said.
“Everyone in violation is going to get
cited.”
And there are no quotas, he said.
“I wouldn’t care if they didn’t write
a single ticket in a day,” he said. “I
would have questions why they didn’t
write tickets.
“A perfect day on campus would
be no tickets because nobody parked
wrong. There never has been a per
fect day on campus.”
Wagner, who as supervisor is
called in when someone gets abusive,
said students need to read their park
ing rules to get along on campus.
“I’d just as soon talk to someone
until I’m blue in the face so they
wouldn’t get another ticket.”
Matthew Watte/DN
DOUG WAGNER pats a wanbf aa a track wkase wiaiaar was im aad
aarldaa taa was aaae.
Candidates to partake in 4 debates
BtKaseyKerber
Staff Reporter
Although ASUN candidates
wanted to keep the number of elec
tion debates low, both parties
agreed Wednesday to have more
than they originally wanted.
At an Electoral Commission
meeting for the Association of Stu
dents of die University ofNebraska,
the possibility of five debates was
discussed. ADVANCE presidential
candidate Curt Ruwe and Scott
Brauer, presidential candidate for
KEG, both agreed that the number
was too high.
They agreed instead to take part
in four.
Previously Brauer said he
wanted to participate id two debates
and Ruwe said he wanted to par
ticipate in three. -
Tentative dates for the four de
bates were announced at the elec
toral commission meeting.
TWo of the debate dates are cer
tain.
The first debate will be March
4 at 4 p.m. at the Nebraska Union
Gib and will be sponsored by the
Innocents Society, Mortar Board,
Golden Key and the Political Sci
ence Honorary Board.
The Young Democrats and Col
lege Republicans will sponsor the
second debate on March 6 at 12:30
♦.
pjn. in the Grib.
Another two debates will take
place at dates not yet finalized. The
debates will be sponsored by 10 stu
dent organizations, which ex
pressed interest in the debates last
Wednesday.
One will be sponsored by the
Teachers College Advisory Board,
4-H Club, and the Residence Hall
Association. It will be held either
March 5 or in late February.
The other will be sponsored by ;
the Afrikan People’s Union. The
tentative date set for this event is
March 7.