f riday, february 17, 1978
page 4
daily nebraskan
No answers given in Roskens' nix of Fund B audit
Saturday is the big day for student
fees at NU.
4
NU President Ronald Roskens has
written and released his proposal on
student fees. Although his word is
not law, the NU Board of Regents
will put heavy consideration into
what Roskens has said.
Roskens accepted the University
wide Task Force on Student Fees'
recommendation that money be allo
cated to three "broad -based" groups
at UNL. These groups include ASUN,
the Union Program Council and the
Daily Nebraskan.
But, differing from the recommen
dation by the task force, Roskens
nixed the audit of Fund B-the
nebulous 95 percent of our $66.50
per semester student fee money.
The breakdown of the other 5
percent is clear. We have no qualms
about supporting the $3.42. But
when it comes to supporting the
mysterious $63.08, we find it
difficult.
Exactly what areas get the $26.92
granted to the University Health
Center? Exactly what bonds, and
their amounts, are paid through the
o o9uest I
(p(fi)0(fi)J
Bottle bill debate uncorks
The opinion is of Jim Jenkins, a sopho
more political science major from Broken
Bow, Neb.
Environmentalists, farmers and other
citizens' groups have been working off and
on for 20 years to get some kind of "bottle
bill" legislation passed.
For the past several years, such bills
have been killed in legislative committee,
but this year the Legislature's Agriculture
and Environment Committee sent the
bottle bill, LB818, to the floor for debate.
Round one of the debate probably will
be early next week.
LB818 is a beverage container law
similar to ones passed several years ago in
Oregon and Vermont. The bill, if passed,
would require a 5-cent deposit on all pop
and beer cans and bottles.
The deposit would be returned to the
consumer upon the return of the contain
ers to the retailer.
The objective of the law is to clean up
litter along our roads and parks.
Proponents also cite energy savings,
which would result from the use of more
returnable bottles and the increased
number of cans recycled.
Less than 3 percent of all cans and
bottles are being recycled in the United
States.
In Oregon and Vermont, recycling of
cans and bottles started to boom after
enactment of bottle bills.
Bottle and can deposit legislation has
been introduced in nearly every state, but
only five states have passed such legisla
tion. This is a result of a strong coalition of
retailers, labor and other beverage-related
industries that vigorously have opposed the
bills.
Professional lobbyists, public relations
consultants, media blitzes and advertising
campaigns have been used to kill the bills.
In Michigan, it was estimated that
industry spent between $2 million and
$3 million fighting container legislation.
Yet, in public opinion polls, the results
show from 65 to 75 percent of the people
favored beverage container legislation.
This was true in Vermont, Oregon,
Colorado, Michigan and Nebraska.
In a poll published last October by the
Lincoln Journal-Star, 71 percent of the
people asked favored 'some type of law re
quiring a 5-cent deposit on beverage con
tainers. In Oregon, polls taken a year after the
deposit law's enactment showed that sup
port had grown to 90 percent favoring the
bottle bill.
Unfortunately, the battle over contain
er deposit legislation is an example of the
power of money on public decision
making. Opponents argue that beverage litter
constitutes 20 percent of roadside
litter. They arrive at this figure by count
ing every litter item in the ditch; thus, a
gum wrapper counts the same as a beer
bottle.
The 20 percent figure jumps to about
70 percent when the litter is calculated by
volume.
The beverage litter problem is
compound, because cans and bottles take
thousands of years to decompose.
Anti-LB818 forces have stated that
they would support a more comprehensive
litter law. This sounds good and well, but
one wonders where industry and labor
were when Sen. Loran Schmit of Bell
wood introduced a comprehensive litter
bill last year.
And, if industry is interested in doing
something about litter, why haven't they
taken the initiative and had a bill intro
duced that they could support?
Assertions by LB818 opponents that
the bottle bill has done little to clean up
Oregon's roadsides are laughable.
Growing citizen support, and numerous
studies done by government and university
researchers, indicates the bottle bill's
success.
According to a report done by the Mid
west Research Institute for the Environ
mental Protection Agency, Oregon's bever
age litter has decreased by 80 percent.
Similar results have been reported in
Vermont.
Admittedly, passage of L3818 will
cause some job dislocation. But little good
(or bad) legislation is passed that does not
affect some people.
Unless we start taking a few major steps
toward conserving natural resources, a lot
of people are going to be out of jobs in the
future.
The United States is 90 percent depend
ent on foreign countries for aluminum re
sources. Most of these resources come from
political hot spots such as Rhodesia and
South Africa.
It is imperative that industry and the
general public start conserving our
aluminum instead of throwing it into the
ditches.
The passage of LB818 would create an
economic incentive not to litter.
It would save the taxpayers thousands of
dollars in litter cleanup, and would require
minimal government expense to
implement.
Let's hope that our state senators pass
LB818 and establish Nebraska as a re
sponsible leader in conserving resources.
- a a a .
$18 allocated for the bond debts
each semester? What about the
$10.49 given to the Nebraska and
East unions?
These are questions that could
be answered with a comprehensive,
critical audit.
Why President Roskens is hedg
ing on the Fund B audit is a ques
tion. With the concern Roskens has
shown for students, we think he
would be supporting such a measure.
We would like to believe the
university has nothing to hide. But,
when such recommendations are
tossed away, we begin to wonder.
Perhaps we are perennial pessi
mists, but when no reasons are
given for axing the Fund B audit,
questions begin flying.
We agree with the stand on Fund
A. We hope the students support it
in full force Saturday.
But, we strongly believe Fund B
needs an audit, which-would be re-
1 A A A ' .1
poneu io ine siuuems.
When we spend that much money,
it's nice to know where and to whom
it goes.
Taking a shot at shots
One flu over the cuckoos nest
I went down the other day to the U.S.
Center for the Spread of Infectious Diseas
es to get my swine flu shot .
"I'd like to get my swine flu shot," I
said to the government doctor.
He looked annoyed.
"You're too late," he said.
"I got held up in traffic," I said.
"The swine flu shot was the 1976 flu
shot," he said.
"Right," I said. "I've got a clipping here
that says the president wants every "man,
woman and child in America" to get a
swine fu shot before the epidemic hits.
My president can count on me."
"That was President Ford."
"I don't care," I said, beginning to
panic. "I want my swine flu shot before
the epidemic hits!"
"I told you: you're too late."
"Good grief!" I cried. "You mean the
epidemic has struck and I, all unprotected,
am doomed to a lingering death. from swine
flu?"
arthur
noppe
"Look," he said testily, "there was no
epidemic and only a few deaths were attri
buted to it."
"To the swine flu?"
"No, to the shots."
I pulled myself together.
"You mean you spent millions of
dollars to scare the country half to death
and perhaps kill off a bunch of citizens -all
for nothing? Well, I certainly don't care
for a swine flu shot, thank you."
"Good," he said with a sigh of relief.
"What you want, you see, is a Russian flu
shot."
"Russians are more dangerous than
swine?"
"Absolutely. A federal advisory Dane!
says millions of Americans should get shots
Kussian flu before the epi-
FLO;
, . .
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scare me again.
r ,
lor mis new
demic hits."
"Oh, no, you can't
You're crying wolf."
Not so. No less a person than the
panel's chairman, Dr. Ivan Bennett Jr.,
said, 'We are not crying wolf. We have a
wolf.' "
"A Russian wolf?"
"Already several high school students in
Cheyenne, Wyo , have some down with"
this dread disease. You could be next.?;
I blanched. " '
"All right, Doc," I said rolling up my
sleeve and closing my eyes. "You win.
Pump me full of the vaccine that will save
me from the Russian flu. ' ,
"We don't have any! he said, "It wi3
take several months for us to make it and
test it. And, after that, HEW wants a study;
prepared on the government's liability,
and, after that . . ."
"Thanks a lot for the warning, Doc" I
said, rolling down my sleeve.
"Not at all," he said. "Your government
wants every citizen to be prepared to face
the coming threat. . '
I prepared myself by going home zvA
taking to my bed. It was just as I thought:
I'm doomed.
If the flu does nofget me, the govern
ment will.
Copyright 1978, Chronicle Pybfishing Co.
ABOUT BEMG- I WE 6E ,M - J gEAUY I Ell G0TLEFT J