Friday
March 30,2001
VcHumelOO
Issue 134
daHyneb.com
Since 1901 v
Lamenting the enc
Simon Ringsmuth
growth of the Intel
In Opinion/4
UNL bids farewell to ASUN president
■Joel Schafer saw his last day
in office Wednesday but plans to
stay involved in campus issues.
BYMABQAHETBBCM
As Joel Schafer bids good
bye to his year as student gov
ernment president, he will
return to living the life of the
average college student
Now that his term is up,
Schafer said he planned on
studyingalot
"I’m just going to enjoy
being a normal student," he
said.
But he said he Would still be
involved in campus issues.
He will continue to work for
online student government vot
ing as a member of an organiza
tion he started called Students
For Online Voting.
Schafer said he wanted to
help Nathan Fuerst, newly
inducted ASUN president, but
said he didn’t want to step on
anyone’s toes.
"I'm going to help out where
Nathan wants me to and try to
stay out of his hair,” he said.
Schafer, the long-haired guy
with no previous student gov
ernment experience, said his
presidency proved anyone
could get involved in student
government
"ASUN can be an elite
organization of a select group of
people, but only if you let it," he
said.
Many people recommended
Schafer should cut his hair if he
wanted people to take him seri
ously, he said.
Schafer kept his shoulder
length hair until his last day -
Wednesday - as president of die
Association of the Students of
Nebraska.
"1 thought it was a fun litde
jab to cut my hair while I was
still president but on the last
day," he said.
Schafer transferred to UNL
in 1998 after the first semester of
his freshman year. He started
Please see SCHAFER on 5
'
* -*=:. ’ ' ? '
*
■?-.■ * •
liM IIW^—■ll^llll IMIM M Mil Ml
ACCOMPUSHED
ROTC students learn from mock rescue
BY CHARUE KAUFFMAN
UNL students Cody Trindle
and Ed Iwan walked down a
gravel road, waiting for the
coming ambush. As they
reached an intersection, they
were cut down by bursts of
M16 fire from troops con
cealed in the woods.
Trindle and Iwan were only
playing the role of "enemies”
in an exercise performed
Thursday by the UNL Army
ROTC at Camp Ashland, the
Nebraska National Guard
base.
The guns that shot at them
were only shooting blanks,
and the participants were in
full military gear, complete
with face paint and helmets.
The ROTC cadets were
transported to Ashland in
Army UH60 Blackhawk heli
copters, which were recently
used as medical evacuation
helicopters in Bosnia.
Their main mission was to
rescue a downed pilot with a
“broken’' leg, but they first had
to clear the area with recon
naissance and ambush mis
sions, like the one that “killed”
Trindle and I wan.
"We’re supposed to put up
a little bit of a fight,” Trindle
said.
Trindle and Ewan’s corpses
were searched by the ROTC
cadets for ammunition, intel
ligence and weapons in what
is called an EPW, or Enemy
Prisoner of War, search.
"The whole purpose is to
hit the objective quickly,” Sgt.
Please see ROTC on 3
TOPiTonyTimanus, senior/6 carried on a stretcher to safety by
six men Thursday at Ashland National Guard Park. Timanus
was playing the role of a pilot who had been shot down and
had a broken leg.
BELOW: ROTC students jump into a UH60 Blackhawk helicopter
Thursday for a ride back to campus from the National Guard
base near AshlandJhe students were picked up on campus
and flown to the exercises.
STORY BY
CHARLIE KAUFFMAN
PHOTOS BY
Disease could cripple Nebraska beef industry
■The contagious foot-and-mouth
disease, if contracted in Nebraska
cattle, could cost billions.
BY GEORGE GREEN
Newspaper stories detailing foot
and-mouth disease's rampage across
rural Europe have given J.D.
Alexander reason to pause.
A touch of the disease in his feed
lot could rob the feeder of millions of
dollars almost overnight
"It'd be a huge financial burden,’’
the Pilger feeder said.
Alexander's feedlot houses 5,000
cattle worth millions of dollars.
E
Kir <rr' .
One case of the nefarious disease
could force him to execute hundreds
of animals because the disease is so
contagious.
Ironically, the disease poses no
threat to humans and runs its course
in infected animals in a period of
months. Few animals actually die
from it
But the disease is nearly 100 per
cent contagious, forcing owners to
cull massive herds if they want to put
a lid on outbreaks.
Mike Fitzgerald, Nebraska
Cattlemen spokesman, said the
infectious disease could cripple
Nebraska.
“Cattle production means more
to this state economically than any
other," he said.
Nebraska feeds for slaughter as
many cattle as Texas does, he said.
But Texas supports several other
industries, including the profit-rich
energy production sector, he said.
On the other hand, he said,
Nebraska leans heavily on the beef
industry.
Therefore, Fitzgerald said, the
disease would damage the entire
state.
Nebraskans directly tied to cattle
production are acutely aware of how
vulnerable they are, he said.
“They want to make sure every
thing that can be done is being
done,” he said.
The Nebraska Cattlemen office in
I
"Cattle production means
more to this state
economically than any
other.”
Mike Fitzgerald
Nebraska cattlemen spokesman
Lincoln has fielded several calls from
livestock owners who want to know
what the state is doing to protect
livestock, he said.
Sen. Ben Nelson also wanted to
Please see DISEASE on 5
Joel Schafer's
ASUN presiden
tial term ended
Wednesday
when he passed
the gavel to
Nathan Fuerst
Schafer's last
artide of legisla
tion was to give
an official name
toNusathe
Moosa,the
stuffed moose
head mounted
over the ASUN
-t_o_ JT
presidents desit*
Bill would
put students
to the test
■A bill proposed Thursday to the Legislature
would allot funds for tests that would increase
students'capabilities in the working world.
BY GEOBOE PREEN
Sen. Elaine Stuhr of Bradshaw aims to boot
Nebraska schools into the 21st Century.
She introduced a proposal to die Legislature on
Thursday that would create a new educational fund
school districts could use to test students on their
abilities to master new technology and employment
skills, *
“We are looking at a new curricular framework,"
she said.
Districts across the state could apply for state
funds they would use to evaluate student capabilities.
Stuhr said the test would help students build on
their abilities to be successful in the working world.
This type of training and evaluation is particulady
valuable, she said, because the modem workplace
becomes increasingly technological and career-ori
ented with each passing day.
As nice as it sounds to beef up student capabili
ties, Sen. Pam Brown of Omaha said she wasn't sure
the state bucks would do much good for students.
“This is feel good legislation," she said.
Sen. Ron Raikes of Lincoln also wasn't sure the
state should shell out money for a program geared
toward only one part of education curriculum.
In die past, he said, the state generally allocates
money to districts and allows them to decide how
spend it
More importantly, he said, the test might divide
students when they get back results pointing each
Please see FUNDS on 5
Recruiters
seek Teachers
College grads
BYJILLZEMAN
Senior social sciences major Eric Wicherski
would like to stay in Nebraska to teach.
But Wicherski said he would try to work In
Southern California because there Pbhmb
was just no money for teachers in UJ J[kg {fag
Nebraska. .
Wicherski was one of a crowd People,
of students who attended the Qnd / like
Education Recruitment Day, held ..
Thursday in the Nebraska Union "***
Centennial Ballroom. Midwest.
More than 100 recruiters from
across the country shared one
thing in common: they wanted P<Xy is
UNLs Teachers College graduates, *qq
But even though die demand is , „
high, most recruiters can’t afford to lOW.
offer future teachers big bucks for
their work. £ric
And while low salaries are the Wicherski
norm for many new teachers, stu- senior
dents were still lined up to talk to ■■ ■
potential employers.
Wicherski, who would like to teach history and
geography as well as coach, said he interviewed
Please see TEACHERS on 5