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Wednesday, february 26, 1975
lincoln, nebraska vol. 98, no. 83
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SORHr FOLKS, ILL
TICKETS IRE
ALICTTEO FOR.
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Complimentary tickets
Number may be reduced
By Susie Reitz
Chancellor James Zumberge said Monday he is
considering reducing the number of
complimentary football tickets given to
government and news media organizations
because they are paid for by tax dollars.
"Basically I believe it is legitimate to offer
some complimentary tickets. The university does
it to all university functions-Kimball concerts,
performances at the theater. There is no question
about it being reasonable," Zumberge said,
"however, a question arises when they are paid
for by tax dollars or general university funds."
The practice began before tickets were at a
premium, Zumberge said, and has become a
"tradition."
Tickets are made availalbe tor the chancellor's
office at a cost of $1.50 each, regardless, of
location. These are paid for from the university
general fund, which consists of tax dollars,
; according to Fleming.
The $1.50 charge was set because of an
arbitrary Big 8 conference rule stating that
visiting teams should get half the value of game
tickets sold. Complimentary tickets are valued at
$1.50 by the rule, James Pittenger, UNL athletic
ticket manager, said, meaning a visiting team gets
75 cents for each complimentary ticket.
NU decided that the Husker Athletic Dept.
should also get 75 cents from each ticket and the
$1 .50 charge was set, Pittenger explained.
3,583 complimentary tickets
The - chancellor's office purchased and
distributed 3,583 complimentary tickets in 1974,
Fleming said. These included 226 season stadium
tickets and 20 season press box tickets given to
federal, state and city officials and 1,428 single
game tickets to radio, television and newspaper
executives.
Those given to media were in addition to the
press passes made available through the Sports
Information Office to sports writers and
broadcasters covering the game, Fleming stated.
The question of free tickets and conflicts of
interest arose earlier this month when several
Nebraska Public Service Commission (PSC)
members admitted receiving complimentary
tickets from Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph
and Northwestern Bell, along with other favors.
Continued on p. 11
State leader race
'healthy' for GOP
By Rex Seline
The battle for the chairmanship of the Nebraska Republican
party will be settled at Saturday's meeting of the State Central
Committee. The leading contenders for the job consider the
competition healthy for the party.
Chairman William Barrett of Lexington announced Feb. 15 that
he is resigning to pursue "business and family interests." Long-time
Republican party leaders Anne Batchelder of Omaha and E.L
(Jack) Schuetz of Lincoln, have announced their candidacies foi
the unpaid post.
The 102 members of the state central committee and the seven
members of the state executive committee will select the new
chairman Saturday, at the Lincoln Holiday Inn.
Conservative wing
"Both candidates represent the more conservative wing of the
party," Barrett said.
"We like each other," Batchelder said. "We're not competing
against each other, we're competing for the office."
"A vote for either one of us is not a repudiation of the other's
service to the party," according to Schuetz. "I've worked with
Anne for many years, in fact I recruited her for the vice
chairmanship in 1959."
Schuetz is now the Nebraska representative for U.S. Sen.
Roman Hruska, but he has said he will step down from that
position if he is elected. Batchelder was the party's unsuccessful
1974 lieutenant governor candidate and publishes the Douglas
County Gazette, a weekly newspaper.
Big job
. "It's a big job for a volunteer chairman," Barrett said. "I wanted
to step down because of the taxing of my time and finances and
the physical and mental strain. The lack of pay does tend to limit
the tenure of chairmen as well as who can run."
According to Barrett, the Democratic Party in Nebraska has a
full-time, paid state chairman.
All three leaders called for an effort to appeal to younger voters
and an attempt to register more Republicans. They foresee the
party's problems, caused by Watergate, subsiding.
Barrett wants the party to identify more with conservatism.
"The Democrats are usually identified as being more liberal. I'm
not sure that we have been identified at the opposite end of the
spectrum," Barrett said.
"We've got to broaden our base a little," he added. "Eighteen
per cent of Americans call themselves Republicans, according to
one survey. But 53 per cent identify themselves as being
conservative. Somewhere we've got to draw the two ends of that
spectrum together."
"We should give Young Republicans and the Womens
Federation a more specific place in the picture," Batchelder said.
Schuetz said the party might establish fellowships and
scholarships for high school students interested in getting political
experience by working for the party. Speakers may also be sent to
schools "so students get a better picture of the Republican party,"
Schuetz said.
Organization on a grass roots level and restaffing the state
headquarters after the departure of some staff members will be
required of the new chairman, according to both candidates. They
agreed that fund raising will be necessary.
Bill would
consider
alcoholism
as illness
Editor's note: This is the second of two
articles examining the establishment and
future of Detoxification Centers in
Nebraska.
By Lori Demo
Five proponents, five opponents and
five "neutrals" testified Tuesday
afternoon at the Unicameral's Judiciary
Committee public hearing on LB237, the
Treatment .and Rehabilitation of
Alcohol-Dependent People Act.
The committee postponed action on
the bill, but Lincoln Sen. Wally Barnett,
who introduced it, proposed that five
amendments be added to it.
The bill would decriminalize public
intoxication, treat alcoholism as a disease
instead of a crime and provide for taking
persons picked up for public intoxication
to detoxification centers instead of to
jail.
Among Barnett's proposed
amendments are:
-if a court determines a person who
needs rehabilitation is financially able to
pay for the treatment, the court may
direct him to do so.
-if, within six hours after a person is
taken into custody for detoxification, all
records and reports show he has not been
involved in any previous offenses which
may indicate an alcohol-related problem,
he will be released "as soon as possible"
after detoxification.
Those testifying were concerned with
financing the detoxification centers and
with the section requiring coverage in all
insurance policies for treatment in
.detoxification centers.
Ted Fraizer, representing Health
Insurance Association of America, and
John Humpal, representing Nebraska Blue
Cross and Blue Shield, said they were
concerned with the proposed mandatory
insurance coverage.
Fraizer said the bill is "not the proper
vehicle" for stipulating insurance
coverage of this type.
"You'd be having a judge instead of a
doctor admit you to a hospital," he said.
"This is opening a new type of admission
and duration of treatment." The subject
should be considered separately, he said.
Humpal said to add a benefit with
unknown cost would provide his
company with a problem it is not now
ready to handle.
However, Keith H. Tobias, favoring
the bill, said the required coverage should
not cause any problems.
"All insurance policies contain heart
and cancer insurance thul not everyone
uses," he said. "I don't think this would
hurt insurance costs as much as they (the
opponents) think."
Douglas Curry, representing the
Nebraska Sheriff and Peace Officer
Association, said his organization
"applauds the attempt and concept of the
bill."
However, he said, his organization is
concerned with the location of the
detoxification centers.
He said he would like an amendment
to be attached to the bill, giving police
officers up to 24 hour to keep the
person jailed, until the person could be
safely moved to a detoxification center.
This would particularly pertain to
western Nebraska, where a detoxification
center may be miles away, he said.
Ted Kessner, representing the Police
Officer Association of Nebraska, opposed
the bill because he said it set no
guidelines to help police decide if
rehabilitation is needed for a person.
"If yc" make the decision that
alcoholism is an illness, you should take
law enforcement out of it, or at least give
them guidelines to follow," he said.
Fred W. Patzel, a masonry contractor
in Lincoln, and Emma Meyer, of Lincoln,
both called for the committee to consider
prohibition.
"You will not cure a disease as long as
you have the problem of the disease
before you," Patzel said. "The solution is
prohibition."
He did say, however, that he would
support the bill if the liquor industry
were taxed for paying for the
detoxification centers.
Carlin Whitesell, of Omaha, disagreed.
"I have no objection to financing it
from liquor," he said. "But it is poor
legislation to tie a certain bill to a certain
revenue. There is no flexibility."
He said if the money weje put into the
general fund and then drawn out for
financing, he would approve.
Flora Shimkle, of the League of
Women Voters, said the League supports
the bill and its "humanitarian ideal of
decriminalization."
