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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 30, 1980)
s3 Wednesday, january 30, 1980 lincoln, nebraskavol. 104,' no. 13 n jD I A 1 I o LB22 1 sidlvaices to f leal MdiiM By Gordon Johnson and Val Swinton Sen. Ralph Kelly of Grand Island, sponsor of LB221, which would raise the drinking age from 19 to 21, yield ed to opposition Tuesday and supported an amendment by Neligh Sen. John DeCamp that would raise the drink ing age to 20 and not 21. The bill, as ameneded, was advanced from Select File to Final Reading with a vote of 30-1 1 . Kelly called advancement of the bill a victory for LB221 . He said he would not try to have the bill amend ed back to its original form before final reading, but he did not rule out the possibility of trying for age 21 in the future. If the number of alcohol-related teenage traffic deaths are not reduced as a result of the compromise bill, Kelly said he may try for age 21 again, "If this is the voice of what we want, I am willing to put my shoulder to the wheel and make it work," Kelly said. . v Kelly said that he supported DeCamp's amendment be cause he did not think he had enough votes to get his bill advanced in its original form. To select file The bill passed from general file to select file Jan. 17. When. LB221 came onto the floor for debate, it carried an amendment sponsored by Columbus Sen. Donald Dworak and Sen. Peter Hoagland of Omaha, which would have allowed 19-year olds to drink in bars and other supervised settings but not package and off -sale alcohol by the bottle until age 21. DeCamp said he offered his age 20 amendment because there seemed to be a lot of unhappiness with the Hoagland-Dworak amendment. i suggested then (Jan. 17) that you try it on for size, see how it fit for a week or two," DeCamp said. He said he is against LB221 but felt that age 20 fit better than the Hoagland J)worak amendment. Kelly agreed with DeCamp and supported the DeCamp amendment and voted to strike the Dworak-Hoagland amendment. The Dworak-Hoagland amendment is "totally bad,n Kelly said. He cited an attorney general's opinion that the amendment was vaguely worded. Bad at best 'The Dworak-Hoagland amendment, as you can tell from the attorney general's opinion, is bad at best and un workable at worst," Kelly said, Kelly said the Dworak-Hoagland bill would be difficult to enforce and would not significantly reduce the number of teenagers who drink and drive, - Dworak and Hoagland contended that Kelly's bill in its original form would have forced high school age children to cross state lines to buy alcohol and thus increase alcohol-related traffic accidents. However, Kelly cited a survey that reported that 80 percent of those high school age children surveyed would not cross state lines to buy alcohol. Continued on page 6 CM'- v-v i s x Photo by Jerry McBride Sen. John DeCamp of Neligh sponsored an amendment to LB221 that would put the drinking age at 20. Church to accept draft protests By Betsy Miller Many potential Lincoln draftees are already stating opposition to President Carter's request to resume draft registration. Those concerned now have an opportunity to let the draft board know about their conscientious objection to the draft if the induction process is resumed. The Common Place branch of the United Ministries for Higher Education is willing to let objectors lodge a formal protest during one of its meetings and record it in the' minutes. v r To register, the objector can talk with some of the Common Place board members to clarify what his or her intentions are and appear before a Common Place committee. Eventually the protest would be taken down in the minutes of the meeting, according to Larry Doerr, Common Place coordinator, . Doerr said if the draft is reinstated, an objector could ask the committee to "show the minutes to the draft board. The minutes could then be used as evidence of the person's conscientious objections, said Doerr, Currently, Doerr said at least three people have ' expressed an interest in the procedure. This is the association's first attempt to sponsor a program of this type, according to Doerr. In the late 60s the group had a draft information and counseling center, but they never recorded objections to the draft, Doerr said. The committee is doing this because it feels there is a need for the service, Doerr said, 'There's someone to take them seriously if that's what they want to do," Doerr said. Doerr encouraged anyone who objected to the draft protest formally as soon as possible in order to show that they did not become opposed to the draft just before it appeared imminent. Participation in any church group or committee against the draft would also be a good indicator to the draft board of a person's objection to the draft, said Doerr, Besides Common Place, Doerr said the Nebraskans for Peace Organization and perhaps other groups may be planning to register conscientious objectors. ASUN Svfu Pmmms first to mnounee cmdEmcM By Randy Essex Managing Editor Seeking to neutralize "totalitarinism" by the NU Board of Regents and bring about a renaissance in the role of. student government, ASUN Sen. John Parsons Tuesday became the first to announce his candidacy for UNL student body president. Parsons, who represents the College of Arts and Sciences in ASUN, also announced formation of his STAR party, which stands for Striving Toward an Academic Renaissance. . Other STAR candidates announced for the March elections are Mark Hirschfeld, a Junior political science A nice, healthy tan: May be contradiction in terms, two university officials say Page 9 Low wattage: "Electric Horseman" is said to be disappointing P 8 Tiebreaker time: The Hiisker men's basketball team faces Oklahoma tonight in a game which could mean an uncontested Big Eight second place in the standings Page 10 major who will run for first vice president, and Rick Dunagan, a junior' majoring in finance and pre Jaw who will seek the second vice presidency, , The candidates said making the regents more concern ed about student views of board decisions would be a major objective of the party . Hirschfeld said he has checked, filing procedures with the State Accountability and Disclosure Commission as an initial step in beginning a student political action committee to find two regent candidates sympathetic to student concerns. Regents Robert Raun of M in den and Robert Simmons of Scottsbluff are up for re-election next year, "Even if we can't get regents elected, the impact of students having a candidate will have great impact on the regents," Parsons said. 'They will have to sit back and ' think about student opinion , More accountable Another possible move to make the regents more accountable, Parsons said, would be an ASUN affirmation with the National Coalition for Lower Tuition and Higher Education, a labor-backed organization tied to the AFL CIO, the National Farmers' Organization, the Teamsters Union and other groups. Hirschfeld said membership in the organization would "broaden our constituency' and give students more power at regents meetings. Parsons said tuition is reaching the point where lower income people cannot afford higher education. - He criticized university administrators for not looking ahead to problems like projected enrollment drops. Dunagan attacked business practices of the university, likening NU to the federal government. What kind of business-except the federal government-raises prices 10 percent without a long-range plan?" Dunagan asked regarding possible 10 percent tuition hikes in each of the next three years. Dunagan and Parsons said the university needs a five year plan in projecting budget needs. Other way around Parsons said he would propose a student budget committee, in which students would formulate the budget request with input from administrators, rather than the other way around-. "At least students don't have their jobs on the line,' he said. The candidates supported the possibility of forming a state student association in Nebraska, uniting student governments in public institutions across the state. Hirschfeld said similar organizations in other states have hired lobbyists to present concerns to legislatures. On other subjects, Parsons said he is opposed to forma tion of a faculty labor union and to dissolution of the Central Administration, ideas supported by some UNL faculty members. He said some duplication exists in the administration, but "I won't make as bold a statement as urging dissolution of the Central Administration.