The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, October 03, 2000, Image 1
I Tuesday October 3,2000 Volume 100 Issue 32 dailyneb.com Since 1901 ZM/ifMebraskan Columnist Karen Brown has been called a hippie, whatever that means, and Tony Bock thinks bicyclists should be banned In Opinion/4 UNL’s literary magazine a forum for undergraduate creativity In Arts/8 Dave Story pulls himself up the dimbingwallin the Campus Recreation Center on Monday. Story, a junior news-edi torial major, b going to Antarctica for six months to work for Raytheon,a company that specializes in electronics and radar equip ment On latest adventure, UNL student ventures to coldest continent for six-month stint David Qasen/DN BY GEORGE GREEN v Later this month, Dave Story will leave Lincoln for the coldest, windiest and driest continent in the world: Antarctica. No one is forcing Story to leave Lincoln's comfortable fall weather for the sub-zero tem peratures of the world’s most southern continent. I Story, a junior news-editorial major, applied to work on the continent for six months. He will work for Raytheon, a research company that special izes in electronics and radar equipment. The Antarctic research cen ter is funded by the company and the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs. The goal of the pro gram is to advance polar science research. Story will be a manual labor er for the company, fixing equip ment and digging holes for con struction. “It’s a gopher job with manu al laborer attached,” he said. Story said he enjoys the out doors and wanted to do some thing that would take him to a new place, as well as put some money in his pocket. He will work near McMurdo Station, where the mean annual temperature is zero degrees. To reach McMurdo, Story will spend eight hours flying from New Zealand in a cargo plane. Please see ANTARCTICA on5 Med Center cuts abortion doctor from its faculty BYJILLZEMAN The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s College of Medicine has trimmed down its list of volunteer faculty, and one of the unpaid helpers get- * ting cut is LeRoy Carhart. Carhart, a Bellevue abor tion provider, told the Omaha World-Herald he received a let ter from UNMC seeking to remove him from its volunteer faculty. Carhart declined to com ment on the issue Monday. His attorneys at the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy in New York also would not comment on Carhart’s potential removal. Carhart has worked as a volunteer since 1997 in UNMC’s microbiology and pathology department. He also has provided aborted fetal tissue to the Medical Center to use for research in treatments of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. UNMC’s research sparked debate across the state last fall, and particularly strong oppo sition has come from anti abortion rights groups. Tom O’Connor, UNMC spokesman, would not com ment about whether Carhart was asked to step down as a volunteer for the Medical Center. “It’s a confidentiality situa tion," he said. Despite the controversy surrounding Carhart, O’Connor said that more than 200 volun- ‘ teers are being cut because sev eral people on the list no longer par ticipate, have retired or have moved out of the area. B u t O’Connor said the col lege is focus ing more on recognizing outstanding volunteers rather than just cutting inactive helpers. 1 The col lege, which ‘The timing of this makes it appear as just a ... ploy to try to get the regents reelect ed:" Bob Blank Metro Right to Life president has more than 1,100 volunteer faculty members in 18 depart ments, is the largest at UNMC. The recommendations, announced by James Armitage, dean of the College of Medicine, are the result of a Please see MED CENTER on 5 Abortion-pill reactions mixed BY VERONICA DAEHN Reaction on Monday to the FDA’s approval of the so-called abortion pill was mixed - three days after the federal agency approved RU-486 for use in the United States. John Keller, director of patient services at Lincoln’s Planned Parenthood, said the organization had been hoping for the decision for a long time. “Because the majority of the free world has been using this for awhile, it’s always been surprising that the U.S. has been so far behind,” Keller said. RU-486, or mifepristone, has been in use in Europe for the last 10 years. Clinical trials of the pill began in the United States five years ago. The pill is 95 percent effec tive in terminating a pregnan cy if taken within the first nine weeks. The FDA approval of the pill means mifepristone, sold by New York's Danco Laboratories as Mifeprex, could be available to doctors by the end of the month. Keller said approval of the pill marked a historic moment for women’s health care. “It’s another option for women and their families,” Keller said. “This means women can terminate preg nancies safely and effectively earlier.” Bob Blank, president of Metro Right to Life, said his group was disappointed that the pill was approved. “It will cause more abor- - tions and make abortions available in places they’re not available in now,” Blank said. Surgical abortions are typi cally done during or after the sixth week of pregnancy, Keller said. With RU-486, a woman can abort the fetus as soon as she realizes she is pregnant, he said. According to the Food and Drug Administration’s Web site, mifepristone blocks prog esterone, a hormone neces sary for pregnancy. Without *that hormone, the embryo cannot stay attached to the uterine wall, and it is aborted. Keller said a pill-induced abortion would likely cost more than a surgical one because it requires more time and more staff. Please see PILL on 5 Nebraska law may nullify Lincoln's sexual-contact ordinance ■A federal judge heard arguments on the Mataya's Babydolls owner's assertion the city rule is too vague. BYJOSH FUNK Under state law, Lincoln’s two sexual-contact bans could be voided if a federal judge decides the city was regulating an obscene performance. Only the state can regulate obscene material and live per formances, and counsel for Mataya’s Babydolls argued Monday that state law should nullify the city's ordinances. Chief City Prosecutor John McQuinn countered that the state law does not apply because the city’s sexual-contact ordi nances restrict specific conduct, not obscenity. In Monday’s trial, the city’s first ordinance restricting sexual contact was challenged as overly broad and vague by the majority owner of Mataya’s Babydolls Gentlemen’s Theatre Club. After hearing evidence from both sides, U.S. District Court Judge Warren Urbom said he would consider the matter and issue a ruling later. Urbom issued a preliminary injunction in March that pro hibited the city from enforcing the first ordinance. In April the city repealed the first sexual-contact ordinance and passed a revised version in its place. That revised law is being challenged on similar grounds in a separate lawsuit, but the court has not blocked the enforcement of that law. Urbom did not allow Mataya's attorney, Bill Chapin, to argue for monetary damages in this case, even though Chapin offered evidence that, a David City man, Steven Dvorak, had offered $1.3 million for the club. The offer was withdrawn after the city mounted its regulatory campaign. Only two witnesses, Mataya’s owner John Ways Jr. and Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady, took the stand during the trial. Urbom agreed to con sider all of the evidence present ed when Ways first petitioned for the preliminary injunction. On the stand, Ways said he didn’t know what the ordinance banned. “Yes (the law would prohibit lap dancing), for the same rea son it would prohibit a child sit ting on his grandpa’s lap in McDonald’s,” Ways said. Ways then rattled off a long list of activities he thought the law would apply to including ballet, kissing in public, Nebraska football, gynecologi cal exams and others. During cross-examination, McQuinn challenged Ways’ understanding of the law and said the law applies only to con tact that “can reasonably be construed as being for the pur pose of sexual arousal or sexual gratification of either party or any observer.” Casady’s testimony rein forced the city’s position that the sexual-contact ban applies only Please see ORDINANCE on 5