A local bar is ready to party for the troops this weekend.

Amnesia will sell patriotic T-shirts and sweatshirts. A percentage of the sale will be donated to the Veterans Association of Voluntary Services.

Amnesia also will give away yellow ribbons and bumper stickers. Owner, Mike Carpenter, also thought it would be a fun idea to make dance music tapes and send it to the troops.

"We want to make tapes of hot music with the crowd cheering in the background," he said.

Carpenter has a friend in the Gulf and said he has to ride the bus and stand in long lines waiting to make phone calls. "I know the guys over there don't have many luxuries, but some have walkmans and can listen to our tapes," Carpenter said.

Classic Hi-Fi will donate the tapes and Amnesia will send them to NIU troops in the Gulf.

On Saturday, Amnesia is having a complimentary party from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. for the relatives of men and women serving in the Gulf.

Drinks for the party will be provided by Amnesia and Marchelloni is providing pizza.

"What is happening is very traumatic for people and they are scared. We want them to get together and talk so they know they are not alone in how they are feeling," Carpenter said.

Copy Service will donate to the cause also, Carpenter said.

Rounding out the weekend is Under 21 night on Sunday. Only people under 21 years old can go. Profits will go to the Kirkland Memorial, a 75-foot granite wall listing servicemen.

The Friends of NIU Libraries is taking donations for its ninth annual book sale to help support NIU's library.

The sale will be in late April. Donations are accepted in the library.

Earl Schumaker, head of government publications department, is coordinating the book sale. "We're starting from scratch this year, so we need donations," Schumaker said.

Books are received from various areas. "We've received books from the university community, from the Illinois area and even from outside this area," Schumaker said.

"The Friends are comprised of individuals interested in enhancing the library. That would include former students," he said.

The group was founded in 1983 by those interested in developing library resources.

It holds the book sale each year to raise money to buy library materials.

"We welcome everyone's donations. Volunteers will help sell the books. We can use students to assist selling the books, if they want to donate time," Schumaker said.

Most books can be taken, but textbooks older than five years, study guides, condensed books, government documents, reports or magazines are of no use.

The books donated can be taken to the information desk in the Founders Memorial Library and the sale will take place on April 23 and 24 in the library lobby.

In a repeat performance of last year's Valentine's Day blizzard, the northern Illinois area was pounded by whipping snows.

The temperature dropped from a high in the middle or upper 30s Wednesday to just above 10 degrees Thursday.

"We received a bit over 2 inches of snow," said Michael Bell, forecaster for the National Weather Service.

In addition to the 2.4 inches of snow dumped throughout the day, Bell said he expected to get less than an inch of occasional light snow and considerable blowing snow Thursday night.

Today should be partly sunny and very cold with the mercury not climbing past 10 degrees above zero, he added.

Forecasters don't expect snow again until Sunday, when there will be a chance of rain or snow. Monday should be dry again, he said.

"We're in pretty good shape," said NIU groundscrew worker Tom Anderson.

He said there was a slight problem when a hydraulic line broke n one of the snowplows. It was fixed before it caused any problems, he added.

Anderson said there might be some problems with the weather in the future. "The wind blowing could cause some problems," he said.

There were no weather-related accidents reported to the University Police. DeKalb police said the accidents reported were not yet determined to be weather-related.

Officials are skeptical of the White House proposal to overhaul the $12-billion-a-year student loan program and doubt it will pass.

This process would bypass banks and have the government offer loans directly to students.

"I doubt seriously that it will ever happen," said Jerry Augsburger, NIU financial aid director.

"If pushed by the administration in congress, the bankers' lobby will get out guns against it," Augsburger said. "The banking industry will not want to lose the student loan business."

The government says the move will simplify the loan process and could save taxpayers $1 billion a year by eliminating the subsidies paid to banks.

However, many authorities are worried that the government will not put the money back into the loan system.

They also fear that the government might eliminate the interest it pays on loans while the students are in school. This elimination would make students responsible for the interest after graduation instead of the government.

Bypassing banks also will place more responsibility on colleges. "Loans going through institutions would require more work on our part and schools would need expanded staffing," Augsburger said.

If all goes well at the Board of Regents' two-day retreat in Chicago, the NIU governing body should be able to assess its performance.

Regent Carol Burns, who introduced the workshop idea at the January meetings in Normal, said, "it n a standard method for the Board to assess its performance."

The two-day workshop is being conducted by Richard T. Ingram, vice president of the Washington-based national Association of Governing Boards (AGB).

Burns said the AGB has a suggested format the workshop will follow.

Ingram, who authored the AGB process, said the Regents will examine themselves from "a process standpoint—how they function as a governing body."

He added that because the workshop is designed to let the members express themselves, no official Regency business will be discussed.

Ingram said Regents members completed a self-study questionnaire before the conference. The study will be discussed at the workshop.

Topics to be discussed are "typical, boiler-plate questions that any governing board should answer," Ingram said.

The workshop focus includes examination of purpose, goals and how they get along with each other and with Chancellor Roderick Groves, he said.

Groves estimates the cost of the workshop at just under $3,000. Included in this estimate is the $2,000 fee for the AGB, a $60 per-hotel room (12-13 rooms) charge at the Ambassador West Hotel and refreshments and dinner costs.

Regents Chairman D. Brewster Parker said, "this retreat happens every few years. It's a chance for the Board members to communicate."

The Board of Regents govern NIU, Illinois State University in Normal and Sangamon State University in Springfield.