The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, March 13, 1997, Page 8, Image 8

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    Donated blood needed
for explosion victims
Two police officers
and one FBI agent
remain hospitalized
after accidental blast.
From Staff Reports
The Community Blood Bank is
> asking for donors to help the two
Nebraska State Patrol officers and
an FBI agent who were injured in a
weekend explosion.
Patrol Sgt. Rod Getting of Lin
coln, Trooper Paul Gaboury and an
FBI agent whose name has not been
released were injured.
They were using explosives,
which accidentally detonated, to
destroy other confiscated explo
sives south of Grand Island.
Getting was most seriously in
jured, with severe bums and lacera
tions. . '
He is in critical, but stable con
dition, at St. Elizabeth’s Bum Cen
ter. Gaboury was listed in serious
condition, but his injuries were not
life-threatening. The FBI agent’s in
juries were also not life-threatening.
The blood bank provides blood
to Lincoln hospitals and needs 450
donors a week to maintain its sup
ply.
People interested in donating
blood for the explosion victims can
contact the Lincoln Community
Blood Bank at 474-1781.
Donations are taken Mondays
and Thursdays from 6:30 a.m. to
5:30 p.m. and Tuesdays, Wednes
days and Fridays from 6:30 a.m. to
noon. The bank is at 2966 O St.
Donors must be healthy, weigh
at least 110 pounds. They must have
no hepatitis risk (i.e. no tattoos or
body piercing) or HIV risk (i.e. IV
drug use or high-risk sexual activ
ity).
Donors should also eat within
four hours of donating and bring
proof of a Social Security number.
Corn-based anti-icing agent
may outperform salt, gravel
By Jessica Fargen
Staff Reporter
Drivers who see what looks like a
coat of molasses on snowy or icy roads
shouldn’t worry that they’ll get stuck.
The coating may actually make
their driving safer, but it’s not molas
ses. It’s a corn-based substance called
ICE BAN MAGic, and tests show it
has advantages over using salt or gravel
in hazardous winter conditions. The
substance is being tested by the Ne
braska Department of Roads.
Preliminary tests done on roads in
Lincoln and Omaha showed the new
anti-icing agent can melt snow and ice
faster and at lower temperatures than
salt, said Rich Ruby, district engineer
in Lincoln.
And ICE BAN MAGic won’t rust
cars and corrode roads like salt can,
nor will it crack windshields and chip
paint as flying gravel does.
Ruby said the Department of Roads
paid $30,000 in 1996 to compensate
62 drivers who claimed the gravel used
for de-icing the roads chipped their
windshields. Ruby said if ICE BAN
MAGic is effective, those costs could
be avoided.
Dalyce Ronnau, assistant mainte
nance engineer in Lincoln, said ICE
BAN MAGic prevents ice from form
ing on the roads because it is applied
several hours before it snows and melts
the ice faster.
ICE BAN MAGic can melt ice at
temperatures reaching minus 40 de
grees, while salt’s melting power stops
at 15 degrees.
Dale Butler, a highway mainte
nance supervisor in Omaha, said ICE
BAN also could benefit Nebraska
farmers by increasing the demand for
ethanol production. Ethanol is made in
Nebraska from com and other grains.
ICE BAN is the concentrated liq
uid of ethanol by-products and other
agricultural products. Adding magne
sium chloride turns it into ICE BAN
MAGic, hence the MAG in the name.
But while Nebraska has plenty of
com, it does not have a source of mag
nesium chloride, Ronnau said, and
magnesium chloride is more expensive
than salt and gravel.
Testing the substance will deter
mine if the “benefits outweigh the
costs,” Ronnau said. So far, the Depart
ment of Roads tested ICE BAN
MAGic in areas where there was low
traffic volume, Butler said.
Another downfall of ICE BAN
MAGic is its odor, Ruby said. Three
drivers who drove through the testing
areas, Ruby said, complained about the
odor the substance left on their cars and
in their garages.
ICE BAN MAGic is sprayed out
the back of a truck onto the pavement,
which is the same method to apply salt
and gravel, Ruby said, and ICE BAN
MAGic adheres to cars.
Ruby said it can be washed off a
car by rain, snow or a few seconds of a
constant spray of water.
Aside from the odor, preliminary
tests look promising, Ruby said, and
the substance needs to be tested in
deeper snowfall.
Snow and ice caused about 4,195
accidents on Nebraska roads from
January to September 1996. Ruby said
he hoped ICE BAN MAGic could re
duce that number.
j
1
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canyon
national
act Lens
m CENTERS.
475-1030
)r glasses and
VTACT LENS
from any eye doctor
available
: Fashion, Sports,
ict Lenses
CREDIT CARDS
and receive 20% off frame and lenses, sunglasses and contact
lenses (excludes other discounts.) Offer expires 4/15/97 ^
The Daily „
Nebraskan is now
accepting applications for
our new design team for the
fall semester. Any major field
and class standing is eligible, as
long as you are carrying at least
six credit hours and have a 2.0
GPA or higher.
We are looking for a team of page designers
to design and paginate its news, sports, A&E
and opinion pages. Designers should know
QuarkXPress and be able to show solid design
skills and familiarity with newspaper layout.
Designers do not need to be journalism
majors.
Pick up an application, job description and
sign up for an interview at the Daily Nebraskan,
34 Nebraska Union. Applications are due
March 21. Interviews will begin March 31.
And dont forget, applications for current staff
positions are always accepted.
UNL does not discriminate in its academic,
admission or employment programs and v
abides by all federal regulations regarding
the same.
1997
SUE TIDBALL
AWARD FOR
CREATIVE HUMANITY
HONORS:
Shirley Baugher de Colmenares
Julia Hagemeier
Sheri Hastings
Viet Hoang
Velma Peter
Teresa Phillips
Norman Schneider
Bill Shepard
Pat Tetreault
Susan Voss
Martin Williams II
AWARD CELEBRATION &
RECEPTION
SUNDAY, MARCH 16
7:00 PM
St. Mark's Episcopal Church
1309 R Street
Celebrative Music &
Entertainment
PUBLIC INVITED