The Columbus Telegram from Columbus, Nebraska • 6

6 Columbus, Telegram Thunday, May 21, 1987 Chance of showers through weekend Amended bill designed to attract physicians to state's rural areas Friday, May 22 The Acco-Weather forecast (or 8 AU, FROWTS: 60 70 Warm Cold Stationary Accu-Weatherforecast for Friday Daytime Conditions and High Temperatures of expensive medical equipment and the lack of physicians' support networks. "In some rural isolated areas, we have worse medical care than we had years ago before we got so sophisticated," he said. Sen. James Pappas of North Platte said the Mullen hospital has lost chances to recruit two physicians because of the three-year requirement for foreign-educated physicians. "Very few people realize how important and how difficult it is to get doctors in rural communities," he said.

Other states have the more lax one-year requirement, he said. "We're going to essentially keep a locked door around Nebraska" without the amendment, Pappas said. Sen. Don Wesely of Lincoln, who sponsored the original bill, opposed the amendment. The health department, the board of examiners and the Nebraska Medical Association oppose the amendment, he said.

Education requirements are stricter for foreign-educated physicians because some foreign medical schools provide inadequate training, he said. Wesely said he was concerned because the issue in the amendment had not been discussed at a public hearing and was not germane to the bill itself. When Lt. Gov. William Nichol ruled the amendment not germane, Conway mustered 25 votes to overrule Nichol's decision.

Sen. M.L. Dierks of Ewing, a veterinarian, opposed the amendment. The training provided by foreign medical schools sometimes is equivalent only to the training at U.S. high schools or technical colleges, he said.

He urged his colleagues to think of the health and safety of the patients, not of the physicians. "I think we have to step very carefully on this sort of thing," Dierks said. LINCOLN (AP) Lawmakers took a step toward trying to alleviate the shortage of physicians in rural areas by adopting an amendment to a bill during second-round debate. The amendment may result in rural areas obtaining physicians with less than the currently required amount of education. It would allow the state Department of Health, upon the recommendation of the Board of Examiners in Medicine and Surgery, to waive the requirement that physicians nave more than one year of graduate medical education if they agree to practice in a medical shortage area and meet certain other requirements.

Current Nebraska law requires foreign-educated physicians to receive three years of graduate medical education, although physicians educated in the United States only need one year. The amendment, offered by Sens. Gerald Conway of Wayne and Dennis Baack of Kimball, was adopted Wednesday without a vote to spare, 25-16. Conway said the amendment would make it easier for rural communities to attract physicians without actually changing the three-year requirement to one year. The bill under consideration, LB390, expands the radiation control act, administered by the state Department of Health.

The bill would allow the department to license radioactive material and equipment not regulated by the U.S. government and set up a method to educate and train people to operate X-ray systems. The bill was advanced to final-round action on a voice vote. Sen. Howard Lamb of Anselmo said a hospital in Mullen might be able to re-open if it could attract a physician.

Many rural communities would rather nave a physician with one year of such training than no physician at all, he said. Although pay is a factor, he said, another cause for the rural physician shortage is the lack By The Associated Press Nebraskans making outdoor plans for the holiday weekend may have to pack umbrellas in their picnic baskets. The National Weather Service says there's a chance of showers and thunderstorms through Monday. Highs will be in the 60s in western and northern Nebraska to the mid-60s to mid-708 in southeastern Nebraska on Saturday. Conditions will warm up by Monday with highs in the mid-70s to lower 80s.

In the 24 hours ending at 7 a.m. CDT today, Chadron reported 1.11 inches of rain and Columbus .70 of an inch. COLUMBUS WEATHER Tonight, decreasing cloudiness and cooler with the low in the lower to mid-40s. Northeast wind 5 to 15 mph. Friday, partly sunny with the high in the mid to upper 60s.

Outlook for the Memorial Day weekend: Unsettled with a chance of showers and thunderstorms. High in the 70s warming into the 80s. Low in the 50s warming into the lower 60s. The area agricultural forecast calls for heavy dew after midnight tonight. Highest humidity 90 to 95 percent.

Wind northeast 5 to 15 mph. Friday, five to seven hours of sun. Lowest humidity 50 to 55 percent. Wind northeast 10 to 15 mph. Good drying conditions but a chance of showers will return Friday night.

AROUND NEBRASKA Previous day's high temperature. Overnight low as of 6 or 7 a.m. CDT today. Precipitation last 24 hours. Sky conditions as of 7 a.m.

CDT. City. Lo Pre Sky Ainsworth 73 42 .27 cdy cdy cdy cdy cdy cdy cdy cdy cdy Alliance 60 36 .62 Beatrice 82 55 .21 Broken Bow 72 45 .13 Chadron 59 38 1.11 Columbus 83 59 .70 Cozad 68 42 .34 Grand Island 78 49 .11 Imperial 69 42 .26 advance shoplifting bill Chambers of Omaha. The kill motion was defeated, 16-28. Chambers said he decided not to offer other amendments and delay the bill further because "in reality, I have other fish to fry." Chambers said the bill would allow people cleared of criminal shoplifting charges to be sued, which would make them defend themselves twice.

"The child can go to court, be acquitted, then be sued again, he said. It would make parents responsible for the crimes of their children under 17, he said, although not all children's acts are the fault of their parents. It would allow merchants to use small claims courts as collection agencies, he said, and would allow merchants to sell judgments to collection agencies, which then would harass parents until they paid. Ashford defended the bill, saying it simply would clarify a method of recovering losses through civil suit. "To make more than that from the bill is overreaching," he said.

1987 Accu-WMIr. mc Omaha 85 59 .69 cdy O'Neill 71 46 .00 ran Scottsbluff 60 39 .32 cdy Valentine 74 41 .17 cdy The state high Wednesday was 89 at Lin- coin. The overnight low as of 7 a.m. CDT was 36 at Alliance. hoi Oi Jhjpn Jhouoa 9Q 1 I Bitterness over campus merger reappears during SCC mooting Ci 987 Accv-Weaher, Kearney 75 46 .50 Kimball 58 37 .16 Lincoln 89 56 .10 MeCook 67 44 .03 Mullen 72 39 .20 Norfolk 80 51 .82 North Platte 70 44 .14 cdy cdy cdy cdy cdy cdy cdy haven't met our IBP Lawmakers LINCOLN (AP) After an effort to kill it failed, a measure intended to clamp down on shoplifters was advanced to final-round action by lawmakers.

Sen. Brad Ashford of Omaha said Wednesday the bottom line of LB536 is to make shoplifters and not merchants pay for retail losses because of shoplifting. The bill would require shoplifters or their parents to pay their victims actual damages as well as court costs and attorneys' fees. Ashford and Sen. Carol Pirsch of Omaha sponsored the bill, which won second-round approval on a 31-13 vote.

The bill has survived a kill motion and a series of amendments offered by Sen. Ernest Missouri campaigns for ConAgra relocation OMAHA (AP) Missouri Gov. John Ashcroft telephoned ConAgra Inc. Chairman Charles M. Harper this week to start an aggressive campaign by his state to encourage the Omaha-based conglomerate to relocate in St.

Louis. "To Nebraska's dismay, we will aggressively pursue that company," said Linda George, public affairs director for the Missouri Department of Economic Development in Jefferson City, Mo. "Any company that would bring the promise of a thousand jobs would be important to us." A ConAgra spokeswoman said Wednesday the company would not comment on proposals from other states. Ashcroft's call was in response to a news release ConAgra issued Friday saying it would entertain offers to locate its headquarters in other states, Mrs. George said Wednesday.

"It's one of those proposals that you can't not respond to," she said. ConAgra issued the statement after Nebraska's Legislature amended LB775 to remove some tax exemptions the company favored. The Legislature Tuesday evening restored the exemptions and has until May 29 to pass the bill. ConAgra has said it probably would keep its headquarters in Omaha if the bill becomes law. Mrs.

George said St. Louis County, surrounding metropolitan St. Louis, and the Regional Commerce and Growth Association are compiling data to send to ConAgra. The state office is providing additional information and may have a basic proposal for ConAgra within two weeks, she said. Mrs.

George said ConAgra's Banquet Foods division is headquartered in St. Louis and the company has three processing plants in Missouri. The company has 375 employees in the St. Louis area. Nebraska merchants lose about $154 million a year to shoplifters, he said, and U.S.

merchants lose about $24 billion a year. Merchants suggested the bill, he said. Mrs. Pirsch said shoplifters bleed profits from merchants, who then pass losses on to customers through higher prices. Seventeen states have a process similar to that found in the bill, she said.

Sen. Don Wesely of Lincoln said the bill suffers from a series of problems, although the concept may be good. He and others suggested the bill be held until next year. "I have not seen or heard from one retailer," he said. "I don't understand where the hue and cry is to take up this issue this year." Chambers said merchants lose more profit through theft by employees than through shoplifting, he said.

The measure would victimize children, he said. The bill would "put them in a Eosition to have one thing eaped on top of another," he said. Dvorak's request that he and others resign. People "are entitled to their opinion," he said, and he thinks the Beatrice campus will succeed. Faculty member Charles Riedesel praised Dvorak's teaching ability and community involvement in both Fairbury and Beatrice.

Riedesel said he sees "a damaging trend toward mediocrity" at the college. Riedesel said the board does not listen to the faculty, student recruiting is ineffective, enrollment is falling, many teachers are unqualified and some faculty members "do little more than show movies" in class. The Beatrice campus is "losing the best and keeping the worst" on the staff as part of a purge to eliminate five or six ''Fairbury malcontents," Riedesel said. Several other faculty members supported Dvorak. Campus Director Ken Shiba-ta said Dvorak, a two-year probationary teacher, was dismissed because of a projected low enrollment in history.

The enrollment is higher than in several other subjects, however, Dvorak countered. SCC attorney Charles Humble said that under state law and board policy, a non-tenured teacher does not have to have a due-process hearing on termination and is not subject to grievance procedures. MILFORD (AP) Simmering bitterness over last summer's merger of the Fairbury and Beatrice campuses of Southeast Community College boiled over during a heated meeting of the SCC board. Fired history teacher Andrew Dvorak, who taught at the college for two years, called for the resignation of SCC Area President Robert Eicher and board members Alan Dunlap of Milford and Earl Kraft of. Lincoln at the Tuesday meeting.

"If they represent Nebraska's future, then God help us all," Dvorak said. Dvorak, whose firing was upheld Tuesday on a 74 vote, accused the board of starving academic transfer courses that were moved from Fairbury to Beatrice "to serve the narrow interests of Robert Eicher and a handful of his cronies." Dvorak said his firing was "politically motivated" because he did not favor the merger and is a former Fairbury faculty president. Eicher, Dunlap, Kraft and former board member Robert Wekesser of Lincoln "made a mockery of free speech" by trying to stifle dissent and by not properly notifying him he was to be fired, Dvorak said. He charged that the board wanted "only mediocre team players" who have "blind loyalty to administrators" After the meeting, Eicher said he had no comment on IBP and the area pork producers are forming an important partnership. Pork produced in Nebraska will be served on dinner tables around the world.

We will provide a constant market for your hogs at the fairest possible price. The Madison plant is presently receiving hogs. QBE) If vou buyers 1 800 plant and yet in your territory, call I II 672 8311 at the Madison LJL set up a time to meet him..