VOL. 98 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 145
SPORTS
The national champ
Jason Hardabura was crowned as the national
champion in the all-around Thursday night at
NCAA Championships PAGE 12
A&E
Psychology pays off
Lincoln psychologist Mary Pipher earned the spot
light on family therapy with “Reviving Ophelia,”
her new book focuses on the elderly. PAGE 8
April 23, 5.999
Just One Thing to S|y ... *
Cloudy, high 55. Cloudy tonight, low 41.
Defenders, foes of smut
fight ongoing battle |
1
Story by Sam McKewon
G' ot access to a computer? Good. Because the
"only way to ever completely understand the
peripheral debate surrounding pornography is
to see where it flourishes the most.
Go to it. Right now, if it’s possible. Log on to the
Internet. Go to a search engine.
Now t>^ them in-the most sexual words that come 1
to mind. The flagrant ones, the nasty ones, the ones that I
make most people squirm. Because there’s no under- 1
standing pom - why some hate it, why legal wars have 1
been fought over it - until one sees it.
That’s what many anti-pom activists will say, that I
when one sees pom, they’ll know it. Seeing is knowing, 1
they say.
Now behold the response elicited by the information
superhighway. 2
Please see PORN on 8 1
Photo Illustration by Ryan Soderlin/DN
OME PEOPLE CONSIDER pornography to be a dirty mark on society, hut today It has taken another foothold. Magazines and movies
re no longer the only way to view It, as pornography Is readily found on the Internet.
Gymnastics
teams face
mortality
By John Gaskins
Staff writer
Lincoln was the center of attention in the world of NCAA
gymnastics Thursday night. And for 20 years, the town has
practically been its adopted home.
But since it became that home in the early 1980s, the
glory days of the sport have come to an end.
If the trend continues, the sport itself may be on its way
out.
In the back of his mind, Francis Allen, Nebraska’s leg
endary 30-year head gymnastics coach, knows things aren’t
Matt Miller/DN
NU’S DEREK LEITER takes a moment to prepare before the beginning of
the NCAA Championship meet Thursday night at the Devaney Sports
Center. _
the same as tnose eariy »us glory aays, wnen men s gymnas
tics was a premier NCAA sport with more than 70 teams. Back then,
he would never have expected the sport to be on the verge of death.
Men’s gymnastics - die?
It’s a distinct possibility.
No one has more memories of the events than Allen, who has
guided his team to eight national titles - five of them at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
Allen takes great pride in the years from 1980-82 when NU
reeled off three consecutive titles at the Devaney Center and per
formed before more than 10,000 screaming fans - most cheering for
the hometown Huskers. He said he hoped his team would rekindle
those memories this weekend as NU competes for another national
championship.
This weekend, for the 10th time in the history of the 62-year-old
sport and the 10th time since 1980, the Bob Devaney Sports Center
and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are hosting the NCAA
Men’s Gymnastics Championships.
But behind the showcase and pride for men’s gymnastics, this
week has been one very harsh reality - the sport is slipping into
obscurity at many universities. Since 1983,45 of the 71 men’s gym
nastics programs that existed then have been dropped. Only 26,
Please see GYMNASTICS on 6
Meat-pricing
bill advances
in Legislature
By Shane Anthony
Staff writer
After a compromise m the Legislature on 1 hursday, a
bill that would require price reporting for meat packers
passed second-round debate.
In exchange for an emergency clause that would allow
a provision outlawing packer feeding of animals to take
effect immediately, LB835’s chief proponent - Sen. Cap
Dierks of Ewing - agreed to an amendment pushing back
the starting date for price reporting by a month and a half.
“What we lost in time was really not all that great,”
Dierks said after senators advanced the amended bill on a
voice vote.
He said he is confident the bill will become law. The
compromise, he said, means the statutory outlawing of
packer feeding will be enacted more quickly.
The amended bill changes the date when meat packers
would begin reporting price, discount and meat quality
information to the state and U.S. departments of agricul
ture from Jan. 3 to Feb. 15.
Sen. Kermit Brashear of Omaha introduced the first
Please see MEAT on 9
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