friday, november30, 1979 fathom page 3
By Julie Bird
'ocial. turmois is generally not con
sidered an earmark of the 70s. However,
the changes in sexual values that began
more than 10 years ago ruin that general
ization. The passage of time has noted the
phenomenon of cohabitation where
couples choose to live together without .
benefit of marriage, a practice which upsets
traditional social norms.
For most people living together, is an
accepted situation until it involves some
one close. Then it becomes a different
matter.
People who live together enter the
arrangement for many of the same reasons
people marry, according to a counselor at
The Counseling Center, 1 133 H St,
"Those reasons would include physical
attraction, the need to give and receive a
higher degree of emotional fulfillment,
social pressure and economic pressure,"
Lotus Nicholas said, "The main difference'
is permanency. Few people enter this type
of liaison with the idea that it will go on
forever,"
The couples often feel they are not
ready for a long-term commitment,
Nicholas said, and many want to see if they
can live with each other on a daily basis.
But living together without the com
mitment of marriage is not a test of com
patibility, according to the Rev. Mel
Luetchens, campus minister at Wesley
House,
NICHOLAS AGREED, saying she didnt
think living together was the best basis for
a marriage.
"They forgot the rules are quite differ
ent,' she said. "You can stand a lot of
things from a lover you wouldn't take from
a husband or wife."
She said one couple came to her after a
year of marriage, confused about why their
marriage was not successful. They had lived
together for seven years and had three
children, but after they married they found
the situation quite different.
Family members, especially parents, are
affected profoundly when their children
decide to live together, Nicholas said.
"Parents are not as secure as authorita
tive figures as their parents were," Nicholas,
said. "Children now realize they are in
dividual people with more choices avail
able. Parents aren't sure about laying out
the thou shalts'and the thou shalt nots.'
Luetchens said that spirit of individual
ity makes people feel they are not re
sponsible to anyone, including parents.
ONE REASON many parents are upset
when their children decide to cohabitate is
the public assumption that the couple is
sexually intimate.
"A parent would probably be more up
set if their child were living .with someone
than if he were just sleeping with them,"
Nicholas said. "The parents and the child
face society. The child is not only making
a choice for himself, but also for his
parents," N
Many people credit the so-called "sexual
revolution" of the 60s for the increase in
cohabitation. However, Luetchens prefers
sex educator Sol Gordon's idea that the
60s may. have actually been an "anti-sex
revolution."
"He (Gordon) defies one to find a
school system that has a good sex edu
cation program all through the grades.
"He (Gordon) defies one to find a
school system that has a good sex edu
cation program all through the grades. In
stead, most sex education comes from the
media, which deals with violence such as
rape. It makes me wonder whether we had
a sex revolution or an exploitation revolu
tion," Luetchens said.
"More people talk about sex and are
public about it, but I'm not sure that
helps," he continued. "By thinking we
understand sexuality, we may fool our
selves into thinking we're better and more
honest people."
The problem now is in equating physical
desire with love, Luetchens said,
THE 60S gift to society was not revolu
tion, but general disenchantment with
things, that had previously been assumed,
Luetchens said,
"The war in Vietnam" wasn't very well
defined between good and bad " he said,
"On the whole we were questioning
whether we were right. There was political
scandal and the demoralization of some
values in areas held in high esteem before
then,"
"This demoralization began to erode
into personal values, and people questioned
those too. People began personal experi
mentation, to see if the old values could be
proven," he said.
But today's parents weren't the ones to
experiment, so for the most part they still
hold values of the generation, before them.
Therefore, many parents feel they have
failed in rearing their child, Nicholas said.
"Parents are shocked because this is not
the pattern in which they were reared.
They just married, wisely or unwisely," she
said.
PARENTS MIGHT fear that the child
may be emotionally hurt in a living
relationship because there is no guarantee
of permanence.
Some" also foresee children and mar
riage forced by pregnancy, Nicholas said,
A person who wants to help his parents
accept his lifestyle should give them some
evidence of his capability to make choices
and bear the results, Nicholas advised.
"If you feel you have the basis for a
relationship and can pull your weight, say,
'Mother, let me make my own mistakes',"
she said.
Living together is not a phenomenon
unique to young people, Some divorced
arid widowed parents, unsure about re
marriage, choose cohabitation. The mother
of one UNL sophomore lives with her boy
friend while her children are at home.
"I don't like it all that much, but I guess
it's her choice," the student said. "I figure
she's old enough to make her own
decisions."
10-ijear dealer recounts decade of traffic
P.
By Cindy Coglianese
'ale does drugs,
He has been doing drugs now for 12 years-ever since
he was an 1 8-year-old senior in Omaha ,
Marijuana was his first drug experience. He tried it one
day after school in the car of an older friend, He says it
took him awhile before he felt high and it has become a
way of life ever since.
Dale, now 30, went into business for himself, At 20 he
started making transactions with small amounts of mari
juana between his friends and a supplier,
"Dope was a little bit different then than it is now,"
Dale said, "It wasn't commercial stuff at all, And no one
really cared if it was Colombian or Hawaiian or what, just
as long as it was good,
"Prices sometimes were, more than they are today,
sometimes less. You had to be real careful wlien I first
started selling dope, Sometimes you got bags that were
half marijuana, half pencil shavings or oregano,"
DALE IS still selling the dope today, and he says, in
abundance. But Dale has expanded his business to include
cocaine, amyl nitrate and any type of barbiturate a
customer needs,
His phone number is not listed in the phone book and
the information operator will tell you that "the party has
requested an unpublished number," His business operates
strictly by word of mouth, ,
Dale said he has never sought counseling and does not
consider himself to be a drug addict. He said he only takes
drugs which he considers recreational. and he said he will
not take hallucinogenic drugs.
"The drugs I take are no different than people who go.
and put four martinis in their system,"
Yet unlike some drinkers, Dale uses speed to get up in
the morning and marijuana to go to sleep at night,
"COCAINE IS big in Omaha, especially with the
people who can easily afford it, That includes some of
my lawyer friends," Dale said,
Dale noted that another change occurring in the drug
Hippies .
Continued from Page 2
Ladely said he often called himself a hippie and was
called one during that time, He said the label had negative
connotations when used by people other than himself,
Ladely said being a hippie, a title he called "coined by
the press," does not necessarily mean being a societal
dropout. .
"I thought that was kind of a stupid idea,' he said.
"How do you drop out of society?"
Ladely said he used drugs for merely recreational pur
poses, and that he did not receive any revelations from
them. He did say, however, that he thinks drugs allow you
to "free yourself from the day-to-day reponsibilities and
take an objective look at your life."
But Ladely said he attributed his soul-searching to "an
open and curious mind," not hallucinogenic drugs.
Although he is a member of the so-called "Woodstock
Generation," Ladely said he only attended one rock
festival during the 60s; '
HE SAID it was a "terrible experience!' because of a
bad sound system, a motorcycle gang doubling as security
personnel, rampant drugs, no available free food except
watermelon and oatmeal and exorbitant prices for hot
dogs and cigarettes. .
The motorcycle gang was involved in a shooting during
the concert, he said, adding that he and his friends remain
ed there for only one day. ...
Ladely said his mental attitude did not change with the
advent of the 70s and won't with the 80s. He said he
thinks the majority of the hippie movement was "a lot of
hyP"Tliey were just different kinds of conformists."
Lincoln Gazette editor Ron Kurtenbach, who said he
called himfelf an "anarchal hippie," said he thinks he has
become more realistic in the decade since the youth move
ment, He said his main concern in the movement was
political, and that he was not involved in drugs. .
Admitting that people find this surprising, Kurtenbach
said he never experimented with hallucinogenic drugs.
"I dropped citric acid instead of LSD,"-he said, but
added that he tried marijuana once, and it "enhanced my
basic experience," The self-professed puritan also said he
has never been drunk.
KURTENBACH, who said Ladely has retained his long
hair, said he thinks the issue of hair was not a focal point
in the youth movement, but that he would resent it if
someone told him he must get a haircut.
Rather than dropping out of society; he said, he re
sented the dominant values found in the United States,
naming multi-national corporations the villans.
He said he still is actively fighting what these cor
porations stand for by offering alternatives. Kurtenbach
was involved in organizing both the Open Harvest co
operative food store and public radio station KZUM. His
newspaper, the Lincoln Gazette, is considered by many to
be the underground press.
Kurtenbach said he thinks the hippie of yesterday and
today need to set models for organization. Too often, he
said, they think they can solve their problems by escap
ing into a world of their own.
Kurtenbach said he is unsure what shape political
activism will take in the 80s, but thinks a move towards
socialism is a possibility.
world is-the frequency of synthetic drugs; He said much
of the cocaine that He sells is synthetic and is sometimes
packed with speed instead of cocaine,
"What am I suppose to do, you know? Let the buyer
beware. If someone unloaded synthetic coke on me, I'll
sell it for pure coke. What am I going to do, call the
Better Business Bureau?"
Dale has cleaned his stash out for now, He said he has
heard that the grand jury will be convening in Omaha and
he does not wish to be a part of their proceedings. But for
good friends, they can call him and give him a number
code indicating how much of a particular drug they want.
Dale doesn't mind talking about the course of his life
the-past twelve years, as long as his ral name isn't used."
He is an edgy, nervous 30-year-old man, His face is dull
but his eyes are quick and bright, Years of heayy drugs
have taken their toll. At 6-foot-2, Dale weighs 140
pounds. His skeleton juts out under his skin. He says it is
difficult to gain weight - he never feels like eating.
THE 12 YEARS that he has been taking drugs and the
10 and he has been dealing drugs have brought about
sharp changes since the time he smoked his first joint.
"Just imagine 10 years ago, walking into-a big shopping
center and seeing paraphernalia stores with bongs, pipes,
coke spoons, the whole bit. It just didn't happen. Now,
that is a respected business. They have a store at West
roads in Omaha, and I saw one in Lincoln at Gateway,"
Dale said, his hands waving in the air with emphasis.
"It used to be a 'hippie' activity. You had to be an
honest-to-goodness burn-out or junkie to even know how
to get your hands on drugs. Now, football players and 13-year-olds
make up a large part of my clientele,
"And I also remember how secret we used to be, Like
if we went to a party and got loaded, we'd have to sneak
off to somebody's car or walk around the block or some
thing. Dale says that contrasts with smoking marijuana in
bars, which he claims can be done in a few bars in Omaha.
"THEY (the bar owners) don't really give a damn. As
long as you don't cause any trouble, they pretend they
don't smell the smoke."
Dale feels that society is accepting drugs and he said
he looks forward to the day when marijuana is legalized in
every state. He says acceptance of some outlawed drugs is
inevitable.
It was kind of funny what was going on. A kid would
come home loaded and his mom would be screaming at
him and telling him how drugs can mess your mind up and
then she'd pop a Valium to cope with the situation. Fine
example, huh?"
Dale said the double standard concerning drugs has
been realized and that could be the reason why there
seems to be more of a tolerance to drugs today than when
he was in high school.
"I don't think 111 always be doing drugs. It's fun, good
recreation and I'm still young. Maybe when I have a
family I will quit and everything."
