daily nebraskan
thursday, march 3, 1977
page 4
Stricter laws needed
for drunken drivers
When 51 per cent of all fatal car accidents in
the state last year were alcohol related, something
needs to be done.
The Nebraska Legislature's Judiciary
Committee heard testimony Monday concerning
Omaha Sen. Patrick Venditte's bill about drunken
driving laws. Venditte says that current laws are
ineffective. Statistics seem to support this charge.
Drunken drivers probably will be a problem
that can never be erased totally.
If 51 per cent of the fatal accidents involve
drunken drivers, perhaps the current programs
are not working. Currently judges can sentence
offenders to alcohol counseling programs as an
alternative to jail terms.
Walter Giles, a Lincoln alcoholism programs
coordinator; testified that 148 per cent of those
convicted on drunken driving charges and sen-"
tenced to jail terms repeat their crime. However,
he said only three per cent.of those who complete
the alcoholism program repeat their crime.
Because a person drives home drunk does not
mean he or she is an alcoholic although Giles'
arguments seem to be based on that theory.
Venditte's bill proposes stricter laws for the
state to enforce against the drunken driver.
Stricter laws are needed.
The mandatory sentences proposed by
Venditte's bill leave a judge little discretion in
sentencing individuals. An acceptable compromise
would be to let a judge make the decision in the ,.
first offense of whether to sentence the driver to
a jail term or to the alcohol program, but in
successive offenses follow the mandatory jail
terms and license suspension provisions in
Venditte's bill.
letters
Lake is too much
It has been brought to this bird's attention that a
small oversite on our part has occured. It seems that the
FAB overlooked the budget request of the Heterosexual
Organization for Non-Kinky Intranational Elitist Students
(H.O.N.K.I.E.S.). We must apologize.
ATsr discussing the matter the board came to the
realization HONKIES were not a recognized
student organize ion and do suggest that you begin the
process to constuutionalize.
Concerning your budget", the board feels that most of
your requests were legitimate. However, we will not be
able to fund the 250 sq. mile lake. You see, in order to
allocate $5 billion for your project, fees on a per student
basis would go from the present $63.00 a semester
to $227,335.73. I'm not sure that UNL students are
ready for that kind of increase.
We are sure that you will understand, but are always
open to student input.
Jay Matzke
" Fees Allocation Board member
ccdcro tX Csrnsfcin
inion
Tor
Goes of s i n o re ch eo per
Arthur Hoppo
m m m
The hitherto idyllic relationship between Liz Trebbing
and Woofie Cranswell has been subjected to severe strains
recently by President Carter.
Liz and Woofie, who had come to Washington to join
the new Administration, met at the Inaugural. It was love
at first sight and they set up housekeeping in a small
apartment on Capitol Hill to make ends and whatnot
meet. ;
A couple of weeks ago Woofie came home from his job
as an environmental impact reporter at the Department of
Housing and Urban Development with a strange look on
his face. "The President wants us to get married," he said.
innocent bystander
"How did he know about us?" asked Liz nervously.
There was a certain coolness between them however,
all week. Then, a week later, Liz came home all excited
from her job as an assistant quota allotter in the Depart
ment of Agriculture. .
"Woofie! Woofie!" she cried. "Great news! President
Carter told us he heard about our problem. So He's going ,
to drop the single deduction to $2,200 and raise the one
for married couples to $3 J000."
$926 saved .
"Just a minute," said Woofie, -whipping out his cal
culator. "Let's see, 15000 minus 2200 is ... By George,
well save $926!"
"By getting married?" asked Liz happily. ,
"No, by continuing to live in sin," said Woofie. "But
IIMI JlUy P I I .1 I a lUUMllt bill 1 UU11A IliiailiipV Id tt Ul ill
every penny of that."
"Oh, Woofie!" said Liz.
Woofie shrugged. "He just showed up in the cafeteria
and said he hoped all of us living in sin would get married
But, gosh, Liz, while I'd like to make you and him happy,
we just cant afford that extra $92.25 a month."
"Is it really that much, Woofie?" Liz asked.
"Yeah, I worked it out again," Woofie said. "We each
make $15,000 a year, right? And we each get a $2,400
iiJr Crt Aar4i miA O 8" in tavAC fnr a trttal
of $5,166. Check? Now if we got married, we'd have a
joint Income of $30,000, a joint deduction of $2,800 and
a joint tax bill of $6,273 or $1,107 a year more than
' we're paying together now. You really think marriage is
worth $92.25 a month?"
Higher bracket
"No, I guess not," said Liz with a sigh. "Well, maybe
when we're in a higher bracket itll all work out."
The young couple stayed up half the night making
plans. Disaster struck the following day. The House Ways
and Means Committee restored the deduction for living in
sin to $2,400, but did approve the increase to $3,000 for
married couples.
"Now itll cost us $lj034 to get married," said Woofie,
clicking off his calculator with a frown. "That's $86.1 6 a
month, Liz! Gee, I don't know ..."
"I wouldn't marry you if you were blind and over 65!"
shouted Liz. And with that, she ran off with a C.P.A.
When it comes to living in sin, she says, pick an expert.
(Copyright Chronicle Publishing Co. 1977)
Misusing miss' so Gommon, some don't notice i
A miss with a miss. Nope, this has nothing to do with
femininity, but rather with a misuse of the word miss that
is so common that most of us don't even notice it. Linda
Graham Mastri of Bloomington, Ind., writes that on
several occasions she has heard sentences like this: "My
wife, Anne, really misses not seeing you." A similar
sentence that she heard an athlete say on TV was, "Of
course, I miss not being in my home town." The relevant
meaning of miss in these instances is to feel or regret the
absence or loss of; it is not simply to regret. Therefore,
the no is should be removed. Or maybe the nots should be
untied.
but vicious gossips in this town said she kiHed him because
they were not getting along." The reporter did not intend
to say on his own. that vicious gossips had made that
allegation; he meant to say that those words about the
gossips were still part of what the lawyer said. A single
word, but an important one, is needed to make the
sentence say what the writer intended. The conjunction
that should appear after the word but to parallel the first
that, which appears after insisted. A second that when
two clauses have the same subject is not always necessary
but it is imperative in this instance.
A missing word. A reporter covering a murder trial
wrote a passage as follows: "Before the jury retired, her
lawyer insisted that she shot hei boyfriend accidentally,
Persons vs. people. The distinction made in common
usage between persons and people has been taken up here
before, but some readers obviously missed the discussion.
Jean Potts of Pataskala, unio, is the latest of several who
rafph
UMTttl YOU
semto of,
A
si .
If S i
WHAT IF J ASK JhlS miimvsM:ftj - V YOU 60TM KITE )
1 . :iJ i J i : - -
have asked me about the two words. A general guide to
their usage is to employ people for large uncounted
groups and persons for an exact or small number.
Example: "A great many people are. uncertain about how
bernstein on words
to use those two words, but only seven persons took the
trouble to write notes asking about the distinction."
Word oddities. The word laze, meaning to indulge in
idleness, obviously derives from the word lazy and it
sounds as if it was. coined in recent years. Would you
believe that the big Oxford dictionary has a citation of the
word's use dating to 1592? Well, you'd better believe it.
(e) 1977 Theodore M. Bemctein Special Feature
1
The Daily Nebraskan welcomes letters to the
editor and guest opinions. Choices of material pub
lished will be based on timeliness and originality.
Letters must be accompanied by the writer's name,
but may be published under a pen name if request
ed. Guest opinions should be typed, tripled-spaced,
on nonerasable paper. They should be accompanied
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