Athletes speak to children
on academic importance
TOUR from page 1 .
you cannot achieve with dedica
tion and persistence,” said Kevin
Lofton, UNK assistant menVbas
ketball coach.
The Tour of Excellence pre
sents across the state to stress the
importance of education to youth.
The tour was created in 1995 and is
based on the “School is C6ol”Jam,
which started in 1992 and features
a similar message.
Academic success is more
important than athletic success,
Amy Stephens, UNK women’s
basketball coach, said.
“When athletics is over, acade
mics will always carry you
through,” she said.
Strength, study and service are
the three Ss of success, said NU
gymnast Shelly Bartlett.
“If you have strength of charac
ter and body, study hard and serve
the community, you will have suc
cess,” Bartlett said.
And without hard work and a
strong character, it’s hard to get
anywhere, former NU wrestler
Tolly Thompson said.
Thompson spent a year build
ing basements after high school
before he realized the benefits of a
college education.
As a wrestler in college,
Thompson said he knew the mean
ing of hard work.
“Wrestling may not get as
much coverage as football, but we
*
work twice as hard,” he said. “But
hard work pays off in the class
room, practice room and in compe
tition.” .
People must choose a path for
their lives and set goals to advance
down that path, former NU foot
ball player Troy Branch said.
.,, “Once you make a choice don’t
let anyone or anything tal^you off
your path,” Branch said.
But is important to set attain
able goals, Thompson said.
“Set your goals just out of sight
but not out of reach,” he said.
When former UNK football
player Symeon Williams told his
co-workers he was going to col
lege, he said, they laughed at him.
“You have to realize that your
choice is going to be different,”
Williams said. “But being different
is OK.”
^ Handling adversity in life is the
true test of character, NU football
player Travis Antholz said.
For motivation, Antholz keeps
a poster of a running back stretch
ing the football across the goal line
while being tackled by nine other
players. The official is signaling a
touchdown, and the caption reads:
“A champion gets up even when he
can’t”
“There will always be someone
bigger, faster or stronger than
you,” Antholz said. “What matters
is what you do when you are lying
on the ground staring at your oppo
sition after being knocked down.”
\
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter
The playing field for ethanol and
petroleum may soon be closer to
level.
And Nebraska, a major player on
the ethanol team, is hoping to harvest
the benefits of a Senate Finance
Committee vote last week that could
lead to a tax break extension for the
production of the corn-based fuel
additive.
“The fact is that in the market
place, one can’t compete with gaso
line without a tax incentive from the
federal government,” said Steve
Sorum, project director for the
Nebraska Ethanol Board.
“We consider (the tax break) to be
essential to the continued growth of
the ethanol industry,” he said.
The Oct. 1 vote extended
ethanol’s partial exemption from fed
eral fuel taxes through 2007. Senators
also agreed to gradually lower pro
duction costs from 5.4 cents a gallon
to 5.1 cents after 2005. The tax break
was originally scheduled to expire in
2000.
Nebraska U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey, a
member of the Senate Finance
Committee, said in a statement
Tuesday the vote was something pos
itive for everyone in the state.
“This is a great victory for
ethanol and Nebraska,” he said. “As
«-———
We consider (the tax break)
to be essential
to the continued growth
of the ethanol industry
Steve Sorum
Nebraska Ethanol Board project director
we continue to look for alternative
sources of energy, ethanol remains a
product worthy of investment and
further development.”
There are six ethanol producing
plants in Nebraska, employing more
than 800 people.
Sorum said those six plants pro
duce more than 300 million gallons
of ethanol a year, which requires
about 10 percent of the state’s corn
crop. -'•* - - -
“Nebraska is the leader in the
research and development of the
product,” Sorum said.
Ethanol’s production benefits can
be traced nationwide, said Neil
Moseman, agriculture director for
U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel.
“It’s important because it helps
the com markets and helps the farm
income,” he said, “and it helps rediice
the dependence on sources of ferdgn
energy and oil.”
But he said it was still too early to
tell if the extended tax break would
make it through Congress intact.
“It’s just past one hurdle,” he said.
“It still has a ways to go.”
The subsidy, which is part of a
highway funding bill, must still be
passed by the full Senate, then a
House committee and then a T
Conference Committee, Moseman
said. And the road might not be pret- l
ty. ’• •;' '
The ethanol subsidy has divided
Congress into a battle between farm
states and oil states. j
Rep. Bill Archer, R-Texas, has
been one of ethanol’s strongest oppo
nents, Moseman^id, trying to stop
the tax break before the final $152
billion^ax bill was enacted earlier
this ye$r.
“There are some strong ethanol
opponents in the House,” he said.
SIDEWALK from page 1
He also said the hosts did not intend to cre
ate a situation that encouraged people to
express their “hateful” views.
“We apologized. We felt bad that it hap
pened, but we didn’t intend it to,” Marre said.
Marre said at 1 a.m. Tuesday morning,
when the hosts left Avery Hall, where their
show is aired from, they saw derogatory
remarks writtenOn the sidewalk.
He said they walked around campus and
changed many of the messages and drawings,
in an effort to change their original meaning.
The messages and pictures drawn on the
sidewalks ranged from comments supporting a
heterosexual lifestyle to comments regarding
the AIDS virus to comments written in a vulgar
and “hateful” manner regarding homosexual
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mak- S59d 1 ' ’r '--in ? ■,
JudithKriss, director of the UNL Women’s
Center, said a student came into her office
Tuesday morning visibly upset about the anti
gay messages written on the sidewalk.
Kriss said she called the UNL Police
Department and Landscape Services, which
was directed to remove the messages.
Peg Blake, associate vice chancellor for
student affairs and director of admissions, said
the university does not condone such messages
directed toward homosexuals. . .
“I wish our campus community were better
educated and more tolerant toward homosexu
als,” Blake said. “No one should have to be
subject to that kind of language.”
Blake said if the people who wrote the mes
sages were found, they could be charged with
defacing university property - a violation of
thesfudentcade of conduct.
She said they also could be chaifeo^rni
violating the university’s anti-discrimination
policy, which prohibits students from creating
a “hostile environment” for others.
Kriss said she hoped the administration
would enforce its own policy regarding hateful
speech and not leave it up to the homosexual
students to “defend themselves,” if the vandals
were found.
Jeff Krotz, secretary of the
Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Resource
Center, said KRNU’s station manager came to
the GLBT office to apologize for the incident
and asked what the resource center wanted the
hosts to do about the chalk writings.
Marre said he offered the GLBT the oppor
tunity to speak on his show.
Kriss said she thought the messages were
^rfflid^tiye Of general attitudes toward homo
^exuaflty afUNC
“I don’t think it’s an isolated incident,”
Kriss said. “It’s the voice we hear - the voice of
hate and discrimination. We don’t hear the
voice of welcome.”
Kriss said she would expect more from the
university community of “enlightened” people.
“It hurts worse when it’s here,” she said.
Kriss and Melissa Rigney, a graduate assis
tant working with Student Involvement who
focuses on GLBT issues and concerns, said
this incident could be used to foster discussion
regarding homosexual issues.
“What we saw on campus was a very real
example of hate speech and the face of dis
crimination,” Kriss said. “The chalk marks can
be washed off - but the attitude doesn’t go
away.” . r, - ♦ j
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ally Yal-i\ 1. to unite or form a
connection between: associate
2. one that is associated with
another as a helper
October is Gay/Lesbian History
Month. This ally card is being offered so
individuals can, if they choose, display
the card as a symbolic commitment to
diversity, personal safety a^d mutual
respect. It is NOT meant to say anything
about your sexual orientation, political or
religious perspective, or personal life.
For more information on National
Gay/Lesbian History Month or to obtain
a card, visit the Gay Lesbian Bisexual
Transgender Resource Center in the NE
Union, Rm. 234 or contact the University
Health Center Sexuality Education
Program at 472-7440 or GLBTRC at
472-5644.
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