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thursday, aprll 5, 1979
lincoin, nebraska vol. 102 no. 105
Fifth vote breaks deadlock
1
1IM5MY
9 ji o"no- "n oim ...... o
s air iMnanE kpmjl passes ammRie
By Randy Essex
The full Nebraska Legislature will con.
sider Grand Island Sen. Ralph Kelly's
LB221, which would raise the legal
drinking age to 21.
South Sioux City Sen. J.R. Murphy was
successful Wednesday in his motion to
bring the bill out of the deadlocked Mis
cellaneous Subjects Committee. His motion
passed 277, placing the bill on General
File.
The Miscellaneous Subjects Committee
had voted four times on motions to either
advance or kill 221 , but split 44 on each
vote. - 4
Because the bill had been held by the
committee for two days following its pub
lie hearing, and because the committee did
not indefinitely postpone the bill, only 25
yots;.yeir0r reqiinld . for- Murfhys motion
to pass. ' - ' .. .; .
Michael Moriarty, lobbyist for the Ne
braska Committee on the Age of Respon
sibility, said "you can see the way itV
going' after the vote. Moriarty 's group op
poses the bill.
Weak Indication
He said students have not indicated
strongly enough to the Legislature that
they care about the issue.
"Call it apathy, indifference or taking
an ostrich -like approach and pretending the
problem doesn't exist, but unless the itn-
dertt$inake
'tights" Moriarty said. ; m
Only a few students have been involved
in lobbying efforts, he said, and students
have failed to get their parents involved .
in opposition to the bill .
But Kelly said he is proud of the way
students have handled themselves. He said
he was impressed with their ability to or
ganize and research the subject.
Two years ago, when Kelly first intro
duced a bill to raise the drinking age to 21 ,
he said students would not agree that a
teen-age drinking problem existed.
Old attitude
He said the attitude of students two
years ago was poor. He said when another
drinking age bill was killed last year, the
students did not seem interested in the.
matter.
But, he said, efforts this year by Robb
Cole, the owner of Horsefeathers and the
Water Hole, and "continuing coverage by
the Daily Nebraskan ignited the spark that
put some energy in the students effort.
During debate on the Murphy motion;
BeJJevue Sen. Frank Lewis scolded sup
porters for not getting to the real drinking
problem. i
"It's politically popular, Lewis said.
Vote for it, and then like Pilate, wash
your hands. You've done your job; youe
solved the teen-age drinking problem "
Lewis said.
But Lewis told the LeIature raising
the age would not solve teenage drinking
problems. - v
"The solution is not in the issue, be
said "The ; political solution is Jn this
issue. The solution istibt in the state law.'
- : . Border Occidents - .;
lie said border towns in Nebraska would
have I problem with teen-agers driving to
states where the age is lower. He said he
; will ask the state patrols in those states to .
keep records concerning how many young
people are in alcohol-related accidents near
- state lines. - : -'""
- ' - V - - -.
: "Sen. Kelly, this rests riAt in your
' hands, Lewis said. You are going to r
cause that is the issue," Lewis said.
But Kelly said he will not pretend to be
lieve that LB221 Is a solution to teen-age
drinking problems.
"But without 221, there is no answer,"
Kelly said.
Lobby encouraged
Both Moriarty and Kelly said the votes
are not solid enough to raise the drinking
age. Moriarty suggested that students
spend the next couple of weeks lobbying
senators who may not be firm in their
votes.
Kelly said now that the bill is on the
floor, he can at least begin efforts to gain
enough support to raise the age.
Moriarty added that he has no inten
tion of trying to tell students what to do.
Voting aye were Burrows, Carsten,
Chambers, Clark, Cope, Cullan, Duis,
Haberman, Hasebroock, Hefner, Kahle,
Kelly, Kennedy, Kremer, Labedz, Lamb,
Maresh, Marvel, Murphy, Nichol, Pirsch,
Rumery, Schmit, Sieck, Stoney, Venditte,
and Warner.
Voting nay were Beutler, Brennan,
Fowler, George, Hoagland, Johnson,
Landis, Lewis, Newell, Reutzel, Vickers
and Wesely.
Present and not voting were DeCamp,
Dworak, Fitzgerald, Goodrich and Koch.
Not present were Keyes, Marsh, Merz,
Simon and Wagner.
:
I . . ; " I W 'W
Photo by Bob Pearson
South Sioux City Sen. J JR. Murphy, Who moved to advance LB22 1 to the Legislature General File.
c
omrtpniits
AS
UN
im a
.holding patterai;
By Shelley Smith
Newly elected ASUN senators and vice
presidents will have to wait until a new
ASUN president is chosen before they can
take office, the Student Court ruled Wed
nesday. -
Following a petition by current ASUN
president Ken Marienau for clarification
of the constitution, the court ruled that
the spring general election is not complete
Without the election of a presidenCand the
new senate elect should not be appointed
until he is chosen.
f. ': r ' - ' a
The delay stems from an KU Board of
Regents rule adopted last spring requiring
.executive candidates, to be elected by a
majority vote. This prompted the Electoral
1 Commission to implement a ballot where '
voters could rank their choices. "f ;
However, the system failed in the presi
dential race because voters did not mark
subject more young people to driving (with four chokes, or marked the same candidate
alcohol), and I wan that on your back be four times. A runoff ekction between two
candidates is tentatively scheduled for
April 11.
President disappointed
Marienau said the court's decision dis
appointed him because the new senate
elect will not get a chance to get a strong
hold on its position before the end of the
semester. .
And, he said, some current senators are
thinking of resigning because they do not
have time to complete the extra two
weeks.
One advantage of the ruling, Marienau
said, is that the current senate win be able
to finish business started, earlier in the
semester. .
i However, the ruling still violates one.
constitutional clause -and could possibly t
result in another. -'- - - :
H i One section of the constitution states
that senators and executives sha3 serve
for one year.w The court said that because
this provision lias never been followed pre-
cisefy, their ruling is consistent with the
psst practice of the crpvision's interpre- -
- - . ... v m . V" ''--I-.
rcsc." 3 aiuse .. . .
Dy stayL in cfHce longer than ens
year, Marienau might be able to abuse the
powers granted the president, according to
the ruling. ' --':'h
However, the court also said It Relieves
it unlikely that any individual able to
cure election to that high office would at
tempt "such shady actions, and there is no
evidence that the current president antici
pates taking such actions.;
The court refused to rule on a petition
Submitted by student Bob Gleason asking
the court to restrain the senate from ap
pointing its new members.
Ihe statement issued . said Marierisas
petition fully addressed the questions and
that Gleason lacked personal stake in the
outcome of the controversy. . . v
- Marienau said; Gleason's petition vszs
basically the same as the tuling the court
- masses . ... . ,v,
" The court also refused to grant an in
junction on the run-off election scheduled ,
April 11 requested to a petition by Ben T.
r Shomshor.. , . ..f ... ' ,t
; Shomshor charged that" the Electcrsl .
Ccmsnisslcn Improperly tallied ballots in-
- the election held last month. The ce ,
wm be tried Sunday afternooa. . -k. -
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