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frlday, march 16, 1979
llncoln, nebraska vol. 102 no. 96
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After drinking age hearing, committee appears split
By Randy Essex
About half of the state's senators heard
at least part of the testimony offered at a
public hearing Thursday on Grand Island
Sen. Ralph Kelly's bill to raise the legal
drinking age to 21.
A packed house of citizens, off-duty
pages, researchers and reporters listened to
four hours of testimony on LB221 , given
to the eight members of the Nebraska Le
gislature's Miscellaneous Subjects Commit
tee. At least 17 other senators dropped by
the chamber, and heard parts of the testi
mony. Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers testified in
support of the bill, saying the Legislature
has a responsibility to help shape the
norms of society.
Industry is allowed to make millions of
dollars at the expense of youth when the
legal age is 19, Chambers said. He said it
was probably a mistake to legalize alcohol
in the first place in America, but nothing
could be done about that now.
V Country drinking problem
However, Chambers said he-had mixed
emotions about supporting the bill, be
cause society holds a double standard in all
issues of morality. .
"It is difficult to tell young people not
to drink when they know the senators
voting on the bill may have drinking prob
lems themselves," Chambers said. '
He said the issue goes to tmfmoral roots
and the foundation of this society, and few .
countries have problems with aVnfml
OtSier supporters okKeiiyYbffl toJdof
personal experiences and observatibrts,in an ' "
an ittempt.rrthalj'iJiteklSi
problems have Ybeeir worsened by the
lowered drinking igeV ; -
Opponents of the bill charged sup
porters with emotionalism, and offered
statistics and arguments in an attempt to
disprove Kelly's statistics that 19 and 20-year-olds
are supplying minors with
alcohol.
Forbidden fruit
The opposition's lead-off witness was
James Rooney from the Catholic Universi
ty of America in Washington, D.C.
Rooney said results of a six-state study
showed higher drinking ages create the
"forbidden fruit syndrome," and that peer
.groups, rather than drinking age laws,
determine the drinking habits of youth.
He showed figures indicating alcohol
consumption and use among young people
is 5-10 percent higher in states with drink
ing ages of 21 than in states with ages of
18.
He said the reason for this seems to be
that alcohol is used by adolescents in their
quest for maturity, and that the higher
age makes drinking a more salient symbol
of maturity.
But Kelly questioned why the director
of Boy's Town, Father Robert Hupp, sup
ported LB221 when Rooney's study was
financed by Boy's Town.
High school professionals
Among those supporting the bill was
John Battels, a guidance counselor at
Beatrice Junior High School. Drinking
among junior high students has increased at
an alarming rate since the drinking age was
lowered, Bartels said.
Continued on Page 6
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men
State Senator Ralph Kelly testified in favor of LB 221 . Related stories and pictures en page C
Photo by Mark CiJJingtky
ASUN
campaigns grow frantic' as election date hears
By Shelley Smith.
In most elections, the nearness of voting
day increases tension among the
candidates. The ASUN election scheduled
Wednesday is no exception.
This year, for the first time in history,
five parties have officially entered the
senate race. ASUN president Ken Marienau
said the number of people seeking office
usually shows the interest in the organiza
tion. However, this years "large interest" can
also be viewed in a different light, accord
ing to Electoral Commission director Susan
Ugai.
"It's great that there are so many candi
dates," she said, "but it does add a lot of
extra work for the electoral commission."
"Frantic" is how ASUN Second Vice
President and electoral commission mem
ber Scott Ballentine described the atmo
sphere. .-
XZoingnuts
J ""Everyone is working frantically on
their campaigns, and we are going nuts try
ing to get everything organized , he said.
' Ugai said. numerous complaints have
been filed with the commission on alleged
foul play during the past week. -
She said candidates primarily com
plained that their posters were being torn "
down and replaced with other panics.,
posters:' ; , .. i '
'It's amazing how many have com
plained. ;Dut .what can you do?" she
asked: I V .
The five presidential candidates and
their parties are: Denny Wurtz, Organized .
Students for Independents (OSI), Bud
Cuca, Students of the University of N- -
brasta (SUN), Joe Nigro, Students Organ
ized for Active Representation (SOAR),
Henry (Bob) Winkler, SINK (they have no
official party name), and Scott Brittenham,
Students Advocating Innovative Leader
ship (SAIL).
Last week, each candidate was given the
opportunity to participate in a quiz given
by the UNL Innocents society, ASUN Pres
ident Ken Marienau, and the Daily
Nebraska.
Quiz quip
However, SAIL presidential candidate
Scott Brittenham refused to take the quiz
because he said he failed to "find prece
dence for a test of this nature in any
national, state or local election where '
'Adults participate."
SINK presidential candidate Henry
(Bob) Winkler also refused to take the quiz
and issued a statement that read: "The
SINK party has found that this type of test
is all too common in national, state, and
local elections where 'Adults participate.
Therefore it is totally inappropriate for this
election, and SINK will not participate."
Nigro, Cuca and Wurtz participated in
the quiz which questioned the candidates
on uahrersity government and respectively
scored $85 percent, 69.2 percent and
335 percent, t -v-.. ,
Hie test was also given to about 20 stu
dent leaden in order to establish a control "
group score. Their average was 70 percent,
with scores ranging from 34 to 93 percent.
University knowledge indicator T.
Innocents member Bill Skoneld em
phasized that, the quiz was not an indica- '
lion ,of student government leadership
ability. lts simply a way of seeing what '
eacH person knows about the university, he .
said. - -
The three candidates were also given a
chance to answer several essay questions
about their views and party platforms.
All three said they questioned the fair
ness each party was giving the others. Cuca
said he felt there .were more games being
played than he or any of the other
candidates might believe.
Nigra said his role with the NU Board of
Regents would be to gain support for the
student regent as a regent rather than just a
student. He said he would like to work
with the regents on a personal level to gain
respect, and with this respect he could be
an effective member of the board.
Regents respect
Wurtz agreed that respect from the re
gents is essential in providing effective stu
dent representation, and he said he would
stand firm with students views.
Cuca also agreed that earning the
regents' respect is vital, and said he would
attempt to show the regents that students
are wefl prepared, rational and mature in
dividuals. Nigro and Wurtz both said they feel
that ASUN is not "a joke", however Cuca
said it could be considered a '"pun."
He said he felt that ASUN lacks respect
from thevstudent body because of its
Ineptness In Interacting with students who
iien student senators. t
However, Nigro argued that the ASUN
senators "try to do the best job possible
of representing tTirnstitutents,!s
. Wurtz added thai ASUN needs to reach
out itself to get student involvement tov
gain credibility with students on campus,
i Student budget control . !
Niro said he would like to see the stu
cents regain the budgeting of student fees.
Because students established the method to
tax themselves Nigro said they should toe
able to say how the money is spent
The SOAR party is the bn party run-'
ning Committee on Fees Allocation candi-'
dates. However, Cuca said the SUN party',
feels that CFA needs to have non-party V
members.
Tn order for CFA and ASUN to get c-:
curate, unbiased information on needs for
fees, we feel CFA members should be dec-
ted on a nonparty basis " he said.
Wurtz said he felt ASUN role Wfchr
CFA "should be one of finding out exact-:
ly what appropriations are necessary for
specific organizational requests,"
Heade(L that yearUNtod"
out how important the corrmuttee is'sH'd:
commended the senate for requiring CFA
members to be elected, - --j - , i
An three said they felt ASUN should
be subject to the Nebraska Open Meetings
Laws which specifically state the teasons'
why the senate could dose its meetings.
; ' -
Now yon see It,- now yoa dzt:
Some a bankers are . concern ed
, about the crime potenthl with the
advent of erasable ink ; , w ,pne 8
On the boob tube: Televiaon'sf ic7
lywcd Gsme is enough to mike
one avoid maniase fc ; v ;pcje 1 2
ITesdia for the sun: UNL's baseball
": team leaves for games in California
ana mwau , . . . , ... ,pa
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