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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 1998)
SPORTS ARE TUESDAY Struggish Metal misfits February 3, 1998 Hampered by injuries, the Nebraska women’s Pantera, a band that often has been considered an gymnastics team recorded a season-high perfor- outcast of the heavy metal community, will per- YADA, YADA, YaBA mance Saturday against Missouri. PAGE 7 form Wednesday night in Omaha. PAGE 9 Partly sunny, high 32. Cleartomght, low 23. VOL. 97 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 93 BM11M _ .. Matt Miller/DN ROBERT MELLAGE, Tai Chi instructor at the F Street Recreational Center, leads his class through the basics Monday night. The class has all ages of adults, and both men and women participating. Local instructor teaches tai chi basics ■ Participants gain strength and coordination from the Chinese martial art. By Anne Heitz Staff Reporter Waving your hands like clouds isn’t as easy as it sounds. For local tai chi instructor Robert Mellage, the movement is part of a highly developed art form that requires years of training and practice. Mellage teaches tai chi, a Chinese health-enhancing exercise, at the F Street Recreation Center in Lincoln. Tai chi. now gaining popularity in the United States, began as a martial art in China and was later adopted by the aris tocracy, said Karla Decker, director of the center. Tai chi was then refined into a medita tive experience through which students of the art could build muscle strength and create inner peace. During Mellage’s 12-week course, stu dents learn up to 24 forms of distinct calming movements with names including “parting the wild horse s mane,” “snake creeps down” and “waving hands like clouds.” These unique movements emphasize rejuvenation of health, mind and self-cul tivation. Mellage said. Mellage. who has taught tai chi classes in Lincoln for two years, said along with teaching the memory of these movements, he hopes to teach his students relaxation, balance and coordination through tai chi. Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http: / / www.unl.edu /Dailyh A lot of tai chi’s slow, deliberate move ments involve shifting weight from one leg to another or standing on one leg for a long time, he said. Such exercises increase a tai chi student’s lower body strength. Tai chi also builds its students’ coordi nation, Mellage said. “These are not everyday movements that we are used to doing.” Tai chi is gaining popularity among all age groups in Lincoln, Mellage said. Decker said class participants at the F Street Recreation Center have included high school students as well as people more than 90 years old. “Anyone can do it.” Decker said. “You just need to set your own personal goals.” But students shouldn't confuse tai chi's slow speed with ease. “The class takes commitment,” she said. “It's not as easy as it looks.” Veterans see name change as NU ‘curse’ By Brad Davis and Ted Taylor Senior Staff Veterans groups are warning of a “curse” if the NU Board of Regents follows through with plans to name the field at Memorial Stadium for retiring Football Coach Tom Osborne. John DeCamp, spokesman for the Nebraska Veterans Council, said in a statement that naming the field could evoke the “Curse of the Dishonored Veterans,” causing the Cornhuskers to lose on their home field. Though the “curse” is an exaggeration, DeCamp is serious about urging the regents to reverse their decision. He said naming the field for Osborne detracted from the stadium's memorial to Nebraska veterans. “If you’re changing the name," DeCamp said, “you’re changing the whole meaning of it.” DeCamp issued a statement and poem Monday in response to Hastings Regent Robert Allen's letter to the editor in Sunday’s Lincoln Journal Star. “This CURSE will last for every game, ‘till honor’s returned, to Dishonored names. ... One final time ten thousand dead Speak, Save our honor, now at Big Red’s Peak,” the poem reads. In Allen’s letter, he questioned why the veterans group didn't come forth sooner and testify during one of the two regents meetings when they discussed the matter. Allen noted in his letter that the regents began dis Please see VETERANSon 2 Bill proposes funding for testing center By Todd Anderson Assignment Reporter A final stamp of approval for electronic products sold abroad would come from a new Lincoln testing center under a new bill before the Legislature. LB1173, sponsored by Sen. Ron Raikes of Lincoln, would give $5 million to Southeast Community College to fund construction of an elec tronics testing center at the University of Nebraska Technology Park in northwest Lincoln. The bill is important for economic development, because it will help keep money in the state and will attract new businesses and more revenue for Nebraska's electronics industry, Raikes said. Kelvin Hullet, vice president of government affairs for the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, said about S1.5 million leaves the state every year to pay for testing in states such as Connecticut and Alabama. All new electronics products must be tested in an Please see CENTER on 3 eb
