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Daily Nctrr.skari
Monday, March 12, 1C34
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Benefits of video lotteries a rmjili
It is time fcr Nebraska to bring an end to the
nonsense it calls electronic video lotteries. Call it
by any other name, but it's still legalized gambling
.. and it should be stopped.
Proponents of electronic lotteries have failed to
prove that the machines provide any benefits to
the state. Nebraska law docs require that profits
go toward community betterment projects. The
theory, then, is that less public money will be
spent on these projects and the state's tax
burden will decrease.
Wrong. Government agencies at all levels have
proven many times that when they find new
sources of revenue, they don't reduce taxes, they
just find new ways of spending money.
The bad effects of gambling, however, are
obvious. The hope for instant riches often leads
those who can least afford it to plug money into
the machines. That can have a disastrous impact
on the well being of low-income families. The
gambling industry is controlled from out of state
and you can bet that those in charge are more
concerned with their own profits than what
impact they are having on Nebraska.
To their credit, several Nebraska senators have
pushed LB744, a proposal to ban video lotteries,
through the first round of debate. The bill is
expected to pass on its second and final readings
as well. Unfortunately, Sen. John DeCamp of
Neligh was successful in his attempt to amend the
bill so that its effective dates would move from
Oct. 1 of this year to Jan. 1 of 1985.
Such a change may seem insignificant, but its
impact could be far-reaching. If the effective date
is Jan. 1, the Legislature would be back in session
only hours after the bill became law. By passing
such legislation, senators could calm the fears of
their constituents for another year but have the
option of repealing it before it has a chance to
take effect.
As the Sunday Journal and Star correctly
pointed out on its editorial page, the senators
could, at the very least, employ the method of
non-enforcement used by Sen. Bernice Labedz of
Omaha last year. After a law had gone into effect
prohibiting studded snow tires, Labedz promised
to introduce legislation repealing the ban. She
made such an issue of it that state officials
declined to enforce the ban until the Legislature
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l!D LOTS C? rU7CS.
had another chance to hear the issue.
DeCamp has proposed putting the video lot
tery issue on the general election ballot. That
would seem to be the most democratic way of
solving the problem, but it gives the proponents of
lottery machines the companies that manu
facture them an unfair advantage. When one
side has lots of money and the other side doesn't,
the outcome of an election usually i3 predictable.
Just like the failed attempt several years ago to
charge a deposit on beverage cans, the big money
forces probably would stop any attempt to ban
the machines.
What Nebraska needs is an immediate and
complete end to video lotteries. That action ought
to he brought about by the Legislature during the,
remaining few weeks of this session. With the
parimutueloettingandorgaiiise
ed, the state's citizens have plenty of ways to
gamble their money-
Innocent bystanders now claim guilt
It is just 20 years since Kitty Genovese became one
of the few victims of crime we remember by name.
On March 13, 1984, this young woman was stabbed
repeatedly near her Queens, N.Y., home. That night,'
38 people heard her screams for help, but not one
called the police until she was dead.
t Ellen
& 1 Goodman
. The chilling anniversary of her death occurs just
as the New Bedford rape case has come to trial.
There, a woman has testified she was held down on
a pool table in a bar named Big Dan's and raped
while others watched and cheered.
- Both of these cases in their own time have
touched a sensitive public nerve about callousness
as well as crime. The classic line from the Kitty
Genovese case was from a witness: "I didn't want to
get involved." The memorable line in the alleged
barroom rape was the reported cheer "Go for it."
In neither instance were all the bystanders as
uncaring as we may have believed at first. The
attacks on Kitty Genovese were stopped twice by
yells from windows. At least one of the men in Big
Dan's, the bartendersays he tried to contact the
police when he sensed trouble.
What rivets public attention to these and dozens
of similar tales of violence are the crimes of omission
Bad Samaritanism, if you will. We are profoundly
disturbed by the idea that one human being can
watch another being hurt without helping. It makes
us all feel more vulnerable, isolated, alone.
In the years since Kitty Genovese s murder, social
scientists nave learned a great deal about bystander
behavior. TheyVe learned that willingness to intervene
depends on a number of subtle factors beyond fear.
It turns out that people are less likely to help if
they are in a crowd of bystanders than if they are the
only one. Their sense of responsibility is diffused. If
others aren't helping, they begin to reinterpret what
they are seeing.
People also are more passive in urban neighbor
hoods or crowded city spots where they suffer from
"excessive overload" and simply turn off. They rarely
get involved if they believe the victim knows the
assailant. This is especially true if the crime being
witnessed is, as alleged in both these cases, a rape or
attempted rape.
But the irony is that Bad Samaritans are not
comfortable with their apathy. In many crimes, says
Dr. Charles Korte, a psychologist at North Carolina
State who has done some of this research, "they are
not just callously viewing the situation. I'm quite
sure that bystanders are going through tremendous
internal conflict, but they can't bring themselves to
do anything."
We can't prove there are fewer cases of bystander
apathy today than 20 years ago. But we do know
that public acceptance of "not getting involved" has
practically disappeared. Indeed, most of us have
come to favor a law that would require bystanders
to help.
Dr. Harold Takooshian, who has organized a Kitty
Genovese memorial conference at Fordham University
on March 10, says that after the Genovese murder,
75 percent of those polled still thought intervention
should be left to one's own conscience. But by the
time he repeated the survey last year after the New
Bedford case, So percent agreed that a person
should be required to help, or at least phone the
police, or face a fine or jail sentence.
There already are many such "duty to rescue"
laws in countries Ilka France, West Germany and the
Soviet Union. But only three states (Vermont, Rhode
Island and Minnesota) have adopted a model by
stander law that explicitly states a citizen's "duty to
rescue" a victim under certain conditions when,
for example, the bystander is not in danger himself.
Perhaps we have become more sensitive to victims
or simply more conscious of the social effect of
apathy in the face of a criminal. As Dr. R. Lance
Shetland, a researcher at Penn State University,
says, the Bad Samaritan gives a message to the
criminal "to go ahead, that it's easy."
Shetland says, There's a delicate balance between
social control and criminal behavior. Only as people
get involved do we preserve social control."
Any "duty-to-help" law is largely symbolic. There
is no sure way to compel one person to help another.
But widespread adoption of the law would show
public support for the ethical instinct to help, the
belief that people have responsibility to each other.
It would be, finally, a statement that was missing the
night of Kitty Genovese's death: We want to get
involved.
134, The Dentin Globs Newspaper Ccrrtrj
WasLLOra Pest wiit Grog?
Apathy abounds as
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just stun. resumes
The ASUN elections are this Wednesday. That's
two days from now. For many of you, or I should say,
most of you, that is news. Mainly because you don't
care about ASUN, you don't know about ASUN, and
even if you did know about ASUN, you wouldn't care
about ASUN. Believe me.
So Wednesday, elections will determine who will
comprise a student organization that few of us care
about
.Dill
Alien
This isnt another lecture on student apathy. I
don't care if you're apathetic, and that's about as
apathetic as you can get. If this were a city, state or
national election I would chastise you for apathy
and a low voter .turnout That stuff is important.
ASUN isn't important. It's a joke.
I want to explain why I feel this way. I think this
will also explain why students are so apathetic.
First ol ail, ASUN is criticized for being nothing
more than a resume stuffer for those involved with
it
Whether that is true is of little importance. Even if
ASUN were important, people would criticize those
involved for stuffing their resumes. It shouldn't
matter to us if the people involved stuff their
resumes, because we don't care about ASUN, right?
Also, people say that ASUN is nothing more than
an extenuation of the Greek system. To some degree
that is true. There are a large number of Greeks in
the campus government, but one cant say it h an
extension of the Greek system because it is not
exclusive to Greeks. Anybody that wants to run for
an office can. If they get more votes than the Greek
candidate, they win. And that happens.
The reason for the large number of Greeks in
ASUN is that they are better organized. I'm not
saying that is good, necessarily. Hitler was better
organized than many of the allied forces. So, ASUN
being predominantly Greek isn't good or bad to us,
because we don't care about ASUN.
So right there I've shown that two of ASUN's
biggest criticisms aren't important.
But there's one more.
The ones of us who even know what ASUN is voice
another criticism. ASUN does nothing for me.
One of the most paradoxical things I remember
about ASUN was the last time tuition was increased.
ASUN members told students what they had done
to prevent the increase, yet tuition increased. They
tried, sure, but they didn't prevent the increase.
Every year they talk about parking problems. In
my three years of college IVe been towed once. It
was a result of a) I was ticketed for an expired meter
on more than one occasion, and b) after not paying
the tickets I was towed away by the pretty trucks
from Lincolnland.
So right there I can offer the solution to one of
ASUN's biggest problems. If you dont want to get
towed, don't park where you shouldn't. It's simple.
ASUN people say that if people get involved with
ASUN they will see what it does fcr them. No way,
people. The burden of proof is on ASUN. We're
getting along just fine without you. You have to
prove to us that you are worthwhile. We already
think that you are not Prove us wrong. If your
candidates really, care about the students, as you
claim, you would prove this. You wouldn't say, well,
we tried. You will prove it.
Maybe you could send out a newsletter. For the
past three years, there has always been talk of a
widely circulated newsletter to let students know
what is going on. IVe seen maybe three. Is all that
going on? You tell me.
Now I expect ASUN people to say that everything
I've written here is untrue. I expect that. But I, and
the 21,000 other students that attend the university
who will not vote Wednesday, know that what I have
said is true.
ASUN, when you get your 10 to 20 percent voter
turnout at the polls, then tell me that we care.
ASUN, until you prove us wrong, we can get along
fine without you. I. know it's not a holiday, but
"happy resume stuClng." .