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lincoln, nebraska vol. 104, no. 62
tuesday, april 15, 1980
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BeCamp, Simon: we won't push 'bong bill' change
By Gordon Johnson
Two state senators Monday said they would not push
for the adoption of an amendment to make the so-called
"ban the bong' bill constitutional.
Sens. John DeCamp of Ncligh and Neil Simon of
Omaha earlier said they would attempt to amend LB991
so it would be constitutional.
The attorney general's office indicated the bill,, if
passed in its original form, would be unconstitutional
because the definition applied to "paraphernalia" is too
broad.
Committee amendments also will come up for consi
deration, but the attorney general also has said that even
though the amendments more narrowly define para
phernalia, the amendments still would be too broad.
Narrows definition
The proposed Simon-DeCamp amendment, on the
other hand, significantly narrows the definition of para
phernalia and, according to the attorney general's office,
would be constitutional. The amendment would make
paraphernalia illegal only for minors and require that head
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Photo by Tom Gessner
UNL art photography graduate teaching assistant Rob Friedman and 12 UNL students went to Hickman
Monday seeking the unusual, and a wagon wheel from the old west caught one student's eye.
shops be located at least 100 meters from schools,
churches and parks.
If passed in its original form, the bill would outlaw
scales, all types of pipes, and balloons and bags that could
be used for the storage of illegal drugs.
Simon said he would not offer his amendments because
of constituent response.
"I had a lot of people call me to ask me to support
the original bill," Simon said. "I normally vote my own
opinion regardless of public opinion, but on this issue I
have had a deluge of public support for the bill."
The bill isnow unconstitutional, Simon said, and
will not affect head shops for another two years.
Concern over litigation
"My concern has been all along that while LB991 is
tied up in the courts, the head shops will be able to
continue 'business as usual," Simon said.
The bill "will be tied up in the courts for years in
litigation and eventually found unconstitutional," he
said. "I state this because no where in the country is
this type of legislation being inacted and our own
attorney general has stated that the bill has constitutional
flaws."
The bill was introduced by the Law Enforcement and
Justice Committee at the request of Sen. Patrick Venditte
of Omaha.
Venditte has said that if all senators were present in
the Legislature he could get 35 votes for the bill.
A poll of senators taken by Simon indicated
overwhelming support existed for some kind of anti
paraphernalia legislation, and that the bill would receive
overwhelming support in any form.
Simon said the bill will be tied up in the courts for at
least two years, but that he is working on a solution to the
problem in Omaha.
Simon said he is proposing an ordinance for Omaha
that would do about the same thing his amendment was
designed to do.
m
Marriage class 'babies' are tiny bean sprouts
By Betsy Miller
Every student in UNL instructor Mary Jane Visser's
Marriage and the Family course is now a parent.
Visser last week, gave each of her students a bean seed
in a styrofoam cup to watch over.
"This is a simulated parenting experiment," Visser said.
Visser said she hopes to make her students understand
the responsibilities of parenthood without actually going
through it by caring for a bean plant.
When the beans were first handed out she explained
that since they hadn't sprouted yet the plants were like
unborn children. As soon as they sprout, the students are
to treat them like babies.
According to Visser, the students can't leave the bean
sprout unattended because they would be child neglect. If
the student is going somewhere and can't take the bean,
he or she must pay a baby sitter Visser said.
Pairing off
To start the experiment, Visser had the class pair off as
married couples. Those students who had boyfriends or
girlfriends not enrolled in the course could pair off with
them, she said.
"They got a cup and a bean and planted it right there
in class," Visser said.
According to some of the students, the experiment is
unique-especially the idea of not leaving the bean un
attended. Dawn Bed! an, a sophomore, has taken her bean to the
rodeo and to the hospital. She and her fiancee, Matt
Swantek, a junior, are the bean's parents and have named
it Stacy.
Bedlan admits she is starting to worry, "because it
hasn't sprouted yet."
"When she (Visser) first assigned it, we thought she
was totally crazy," Bedlan said. However,, Bedlan said
she's found the idea to be really interesting.
Bean in a bar
Mary Beth Hoffmann, a junior, has taken her bean to
some interesting places, too.
"I went to a formal banquet and put it right on the
table," she said. Hoffman also took her bean to a bar. "I
sat it on the piano next to its daddy," she said.
Hoffmann's partner in the experiment is junior Dave
Fergus, a member of the band "Shootin' From the Hip."
The Hoffmann-Fergus bean, like Bedlan and Swantek's
has not sprouted yet so it has not been given a formal
name.
For now Hoffmann said she and Fergus are calling ihe
bean "Boo-Boo" because its arrival was not planned.
t
"At first I laughed and through it (Visser's bean idea)
was a joke, but it's been kind of fun explaining it to every
one," Hoffmann said.
Visser said she got the idea for the parenting exper
ience from a friend who teaches at Lincoln Southeast
High School. The Southeast students ud raw eggs in
stead of bean plants.
Parenting rated
Visser said the students will be graded on a passfail
basis. They are required to keep a journal of their daily
activities with the plant and will also rate their partner's
effectiveness as parents.
Visser conducted the experiment five years ago when
she had a fairly even split of males and females in her
class.
She remembers one event which happened then to a
"parent" who left the bean plant alone in a dorm room
while she went to the laundry room. Someone kidnapped
the bean, and ransomed it for several sacks of potato chips
and a few bottles of pop, Visser said.
Visser says it is interesting to watch the students react
when they see each other's bean plants.
"As soon as they sprout, everyone compares their
beans just like people compare children," she said.
When the experiment ends this week, Visser said the
students are free to do whatever they wish with their
plants.
"Some may let the plant grow, collect seeds from it
and grow grandchildren," she said.
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Abortion aid threatened: Legislature gives second-round
approval to measure banning state aid for abortions to
state employees .Page 2.
Fun at the Academy: Columnist invents academy award,
winning shows Page 8.
Athletes defy the ban: Mark Spitz in lincoln predicts U.S.
athletes will go to the Olympics Page 10.