In their honor
Scott McClurg/DN
WORLD WAR II VETERAN Irl Everett, left, visits with Lou Bernum and Susan Fields aftera Veterans Day ser
vice-held Tuesday evening at tha Italy Trinity Episcopal ChurchT SIMH a ». ...
Man critically hurt
clearing tree debris
By Erin Gibson
Senior Reporter
A 21-year-old Kansas man who was
helping to cut dangling tree branches in
Lincoln suffered severe head injuries
Tuesday morning after a 10-foot-long
tree limb fell on his head.
Lee Oberle of Shawnee Mission,
Kan., was listed in critical condition
Tuesday night at Lincoln General
Hospital.
According to police, Oberle was
working with another employee of
Shawnee Mission Tree Service to trim
hanging branches on the 200 block of
South 29th Street when the limb fell.
Kevin Burkland, spokesman for
Rural/Metro Medical Service, said the
service received an emergency medical
call at 8:51 a.m., and an ambulance
arrived five minutes later.
Paramedics found Oberle uncon
scious and took him to Lincoln General
on the trip to die hospital, Burkland said.
; 1 hat only Happens it somebody s
i pretty hurt,” he said.
' The ambulance arrived at Lincoln
{GeneralTiauma Center shortly after9 am
Oberie was socni listed in critic^ condition.
1 Oberle was wearing a helmet at die
time of the accident, but bystanders
reported seeing die helmet lying on die
ground in two pieces - apparently
cleaved in two by the strong blow of the
tree limb, which measured about 7 inch
es in diameter.
Burkland estimated the branch
weighed 100 pounds or more and fell
from a height of about 10 feet above
Oberle.
Oberle and his fellow worker were
contracted by the city of Lincoln to help
clear tree debris left over from the record
October blizzard that damaged between
$37 million and $54 million worth of
trees statewide, a Lincoln Parks and
Recreation Department official said.
Shawnee Mission Tree Service
would not comment on how long
Oberle had been in Lincobi or whether
he had volunteered to help with
Lincoln’s after-storm cleanup.
unshine or
Students must outsmart spring break scams
by researching, not being taken in by swindles
‘ ByIevaAugstums
Staff Reporter
From casino gambling in the
Bahamas to scuba diving on South
Padre Island, or just sipping a mai tai
in the Jamaican sunshine, spring break
companies are selling themselves to
college students all over the nation.
The sales pitch: Have fun in the
sun, parties and drinks all for three
small payments.
But students beware.
If a deal seems to good to be true,
it probably is, local business experts
said
Scott Mecham, president of the
Comhusker Better Business Bureau,
said the best way students can avoid
being taken advantage of during
spring break is to be cautious of com
panies and aware of marketing tac
tics.
“When a company says you can
I
earn a free trip by selling so many
trips to your friends, usually there is a
catch,” Mecham said.
Spring break at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln is March 21-28,
and students are now beginning to
look at the many options offered by
spring break travel companies.
As evidence, bulletin board fliers
and newspaper inserts for companies
have been scattered throughout cam
pus since October.
“Students need to look past the
fliers and classified ads in the news
papers if they want to have a good
spring break experience,” said
Courtney Ellis, a sophomore pre
medicine major, and campus repre
sentative for College Tours.
Sales pitch
College Tours, a nationally
Please see SCAMS on 6
: — I
Correction
Because of an editing error, Republican lieutenant governor candi
date Kevin Fry’s position on abortion was incorrectly stated in Friday’s
Daily Nebraskan. Fry takes an anti-abortion rights portion.
Fo ity
Meenng concemrama on campus problems
By Lindsay Young
Staff Reporter
Three university student groups
brought Coretta Scott King’s Thursday
message in Lincoln closer to everyday
campus life Tuesday night.
ASUN, die Afrikan People’s Union
and the Student Impact Team sponsored
a diversity forum, which brought about
70 people to the Culture Center for an
open discussion on diversity in the cam
pus community. '11^'
Viet Hoang, ASUN speaker of the
senate, said the groups wanted to bring
King’s global diversity message down
to a scale that would mdbe^ universi
ty community realize howlliversity
affects their everyday lives.
Sara Russell, ASUN human rights
committee chair, said the forum was
planned as a follow-up to King’s mes
sage.
But, she said, it was also timely with
other events such as die controversy sur
rounding the Academic Senate’s deci
sion on the observance ofMartin Luther
King Jr.’s birthday.
“We did not foresee these events,
but this was a good media to bring them
out,” Russell, a junior math major, said.
Donny White, APU president and
senior psychology major, said the
forum was an avenue for people to have
their voices heard.
The forum tackled a broad set of
issues and consisted of nine panelists,
but speech was not restricted to only
them.
Audience members looked at what
tt- i
We hide behind the topic of diversity and !
don’t look at the problem!’
Eddie Brown
panelist
needed to be done to overcome campus
problems.
Eddie Brown, panelist and junior
business major, said people needed to
look at the problems, not just the overall
picture.
“We hide behind the topic of diver
sity and don’t look at the problem,”
Brown said, * .
Omar Valentine, panelist and junior
marketing major, told the audience that
everyone needs to step out of his com
fort zone and try to meet different peo
ple.
However, the climate on campus
has not always been helpful in achieving
this diversity, audience members said.
Sharia Battle, freshman restaurant
and food service management major,
said events such as the Sigma Chi
Fraternity cross burning last year show
that there is a problem on campus that
needs to be addressed. Lancaster
County sheriff’s deputies found the
burned remains of a cross last spring
after a Sigma Chi initiation ritual.
“The appreciation of diversity has
been put on the back burner,” an audi
ence member said during the forum.
“It’s a scary situation. It needs to be
improved big time,” another audience
member said.
Audience members agreed that
Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday should
be observed, but had different views on
whether class should be dismissed for
die day.
Some panelists and audience mem
bers said taking a day off would not be
beneficial because the campus possibly
will not participate in activities honor
ingKing.
However, some panelists and audi
ence members said it would be a disser
vice to King if a day was not taken off.
Audience members said it would be a
day to stop our routine duties and
observe his accomplishments.
The forum was one way of honoring
him, said Chuck Van Rossum, assistant
director of the Office of Multicultural
Affairs Minority Assistance Program.
“You ask how you can honor Dr.
King. This is one way you have chosen
to honor Dr. King,” he said.
However, Cynthia Gooch, an audi
ence member and education specialist
in the Office of Multicultural Affairs,
said it was important to celebrate diver
sity every day of the year.
“It’s not just a day, a week or a
month.” Gooch said
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