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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 1999)
Event simulates poverty conditions By Gwen Tietgen Staff writer A group of UNL students made the experience of poverty more of a reality through a simulation Thursday night in the Nebraska Union. A nutritional science and dietetics class organized the “State of Poverty” welfare simulation. The event was designed to help participants understand what it’s like to be part of a typical low-income family trying to survive in today’s world. “We are trying to give people a sense of what people in poverty deal with every day,” said Nancy Betts, professor of nutritional science and dietetics. “We hope participants will be stimulated to make the system bet ter.” Participants, which included stu dents and community members, were given a description of a family or individual and had to live as that per son or group for one month. Ten minutes represented one week of life in poverty. In this time, participants had to pay the month’s bills on a limited income, find jobs if they didn’t have one and provide for their children. Each individual had experiences as diverse as being single mothers with non-school-aged children to being 70- and 80-year-olds living on Social Security. Jennifer Williams, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln nutritional science and dietetics graduate student, was one of the students participating in advanced community nutrition. Williams said the simulation was a semester-long project and took a lot of planning and researching. “I certainly know a lot more about the agencies that provide services for the poor in Lincoln,” Williams said. Williams said she helped monitor the simulation and provided assis tance to those who needed it. “It was interesting to see how people responded, acted and how well they took on their role,” Williams said. Nicky Tinner, a community out reach specialist for Healthy Homes, provides help for pregnant women and their newborn children on a regu lar basis, but Thursday she acted as an employment officer. Turner said she was responsible for giving the participants jobs if they qualified. Participants had to have the necessary skills for the job, and, even if they had the necessary skills, there was still no guarantee jobs would be available. “Some people who came to me weren’t aware of their skills. One of (the family members) who came to me could type and was qualified for the job but wasn’t aware of that skill, and so they didn’t think of putting that on their resume,” Turner said. “I hope it made participants more aware of the reality of poverty.” New Northern Ireland government inspires hope BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) - On a day of historic firsts and defining moments, Irish Republican Army supporters sat down with their Protestant antagonists on Thursday in a new Northern Ireland government. That first meeting produced no decisions but encouraged great hopes that three decades of bloodshed may truly be at an end. Also Thursday, the IRA con firmed it had appointed a senior member to meet soon with a Belfast based disarmament commission. The outlawed group issued brief state ments to the British Broadcasting Corp. in Belfast and to RTE, the Irish state broadcasters in Dublin. It did not name its appointee. “I welcome the IRA’s announce ment. It shows that on day one the IRA have kept their word, and that augurs well for decommissioning,” said Britain’s top official in Northern Ireland, Peter Mandelson. “It seems we are at the end of a ter rible era of violence and suffering, and at the beginning of a new era of life here,” said Seamus Mallon, the Catholic deputy leader of the new government. “People are almost afraid to express that hope.” Grand jury indicts supremacist for hate crimes LOS ANGELES (AP)-A federal grand jury issued a new indictment Thursday against white supremacist Buford O. Furrow, charging him with hate crimes in the shootings of five people at a Jewish community center and the killing of a postman in August. The Justice Department alleged that Furrow, 37, indicted earlier for the murder of letter carrier Joseph Deto, wounded three beys, a teen-age girl and a receptionist at the center because of their religion. The 16-count indictment, which supersedes the old charges, also added new firearms charges. It also adds details of the rampage that left five people wounded at the North Valley Jewish Community Center. Ileto was gunned down on his route in a nearby neighborhood. The document alleges Furrow had an arsenal of seven high-powered guns, including a machine gun. Residents say unmarked graves found all over city CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) - Dozens of graves such as the ones FBI and Mexican agents began digging up this week dot the hills around this gritty border city, drug experts and residents say. It is an open secret that only now is being made public, a legacy of the drug war that plunged this city into violence and chaos in a battle for con trol of the world’s most lucrative drug corridor. Drug experts and local activists also charge that it is a secret carefully protected by some Mexican police and politicians paid off to look the other way - and even to guard the clandestine graveyards. The Mexican government and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration know that every major drug figure “who has a ranch, has graves on that ranch,” said Phil Jordan, retired head of the DEA intel ligence center. Russian troops surround city near Grozny GROZNY, Russia (AP) - The Russian military said Thursday that Chechen rebels were putting up a tough defense of Grozny and nearby areas, but that federal troops had sur rounded a key city just outside the capital. After days of heavy fighting, Russian troops encircled Argun on Thursday and were fighting street bat tles for control of the city, commander Gennady Troshev said, according to Russian news reports. Casualties appeared high in Argun, three miles east of Grozny. But the counts were contradicting, with the Russians saying 200 rebels and no federal troops were killed, and the Chechens saying 150 Russians had died, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported. Russian military officials, who have dismissed the militants as an ineffective force, acknowledged Thursday that the Chechens had set up strong defensive positions in Grozny and its satellite cities. Rescuers search for bodies after trains collide SYDNEY, Australia (AP) - Rescuers worked into the night Thursday, searching fen* bodies in die tangled wreckage of two trains that collided in mountains outside Sydney, killing seven passengers and injuring more than 50. A train carrying 450 people rounded a blind comer during the morning rush and slammed into the back of the transcontinental Indian Pacific, which was carrying 159 pas sengers, state rail authorities said. “Seats went flying, people went flying, goods went flying,” said Michael Irik, who was aboard the commuter train. The front of the commuter train was mangled and carved open by the impact. All of the dead were found in the first car. Pepper spray discharge cancels high school classes OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) - Someone ran down a high school hallway discharging pepper spray Thursday, forcing the evacuation of die school and sending 12 students to the hospital. A total of 19 students complained of nausea, asthma attacks or eye irrita tion, police said. All but one of the stu dents had been released from the hos pital by late afternoon, said Steve McDvain, the district’s deputy super intendent. Blue Valley Northwest High School was evacuated for 15 minutes, and classes were later canceled. 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Subject to change without notice. Can for Ml details on hotel selection and availability. WTO talks set to conclude SEATTLE (AP) - World trade delegates, seeking to salvage some thing frctm a miserable, protest marred week, struggled Thursday for a compromise over deep differences that would allow them to launch a new round of market-opening negoti ations. v While delegates at the 135-nation ; World Trade Organization sought to wrap up their talks today, officials and businesses in Seattle were deal ing with the aftermath of violent street protests in which demonstra tors broke store windows, set fires and caused an estimated $2 million in property damage. 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