Weather: For the last day of
January, we're still spoiled by above
normal temperatures. Cloudy today,
high near39. South-southeast winds
during the day 5 to 10 mph. Clearing
toward evening, winds shifting from
the north. Low near 22. Saturday,
slightly warmer and clear, topping
out at 44.
i v;, -
Island of Misfit Toys
play unique music
Arts and Entertainment, page 9
Ricketts' swimming career
won't end with graduation
Sports, page 8
U
January 31, 1986 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 85 No. 92
Students protest
as construction
on Center begins
By Jonathan Taylor
Senior Reporter
Students for and against the Lied
Center Performing Arts project clashed
Thursday night on the steps of the
ilvt. iiwAa UuiVil. .'; .:..:;! ; ;',;i,?v;;.;-.''-;';?'-:''":'
What started as a pretest by the Stu
dents Aj-inst the Lied Center turned
into several shouting matches, alter
members of the Lied. Center Student.
Advisoiy Committee srriTed and began
At 6 p.nu, when the pretest stunted,
about 15 sntMied students were
, . .
.jaarcKiRA'cnsswrs zaa czrmng signs:;
T,T,o ncci!3 Lied" and "Lied is a lie,"
About eight pro-Lied students were .
present also, but none ccrried signs.
entiy fine aits majors tore signs of
their evn and began to arrive at 6:G0
p.m. Fro-lied sips read "Lied not
Greed' "Lied on, Nebr. " and "Support
the Arts,"
Shouting ensued between the groups
and the demonstrators on both sides
began to disperse at 7:15 p.m.
iiiy-Se PROTEST-
Andrea HoyDaily Nebraskan
Solace
Flags remained at half-staff
Thursday as the Legislature
adopted a resolution paying
tribute to the "ultimate sacri
fice" made by the crew cf the
Space Shuttle Challenger.
President Reagan will attend
a memorial service for the
crew, who died when the
shuttle exploded Tuesday,
today at the Houston Space
Center.
7
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Students for end aslnst
Thursday night.
Officials
By Lise Olsen
Senior Reporter
On New Year's Day 1986, 20-year-old
legal drinkers became extinct in
Nebraska.
People who turned 20 on or before
Jan. 1, 1985, had been allowed to drink
because of a grandfather clause att
ached to LB56, which increased the
state's drinking age in 1984 from 20 to
21. But people who turned 20 after Jan.
1, 1985, had to put away their party hats
and postpone alcoholic festivities.
Statisticians say it is too early to
judge the law's long-term effects, but
they have recorded some immediate
changes.
For example, Fred Zwonechek, an
administrator of the Nebraska Office
on Highway Safety, said the number of
accidents involving 20-year-olds drop
ped 34.5 percent from 254 in 1984 to
166 in 1985 and accidents involving
19-to 20-year-olds declined by at least 9
percent in each age group.
But, he said, the most significant
change from January 1985 to October
1985 was among the 20-year-olds, the
group directly targeted by the law.
"It's either a real ironic coincidence
or the law is having an effect," Zwone
chek said.
Traditionally, 20-year-olds had led all
age groups in alcohol-related accidents
by a margin of 60 or more. Twenty-year-olds
also consistently led all age groups
in the number of arrests for driving
while intoxicated from 1976 to 1984,
according to a study conducted by Ron
Dade, research analyst for Lincoln
Council on Alcoholism and Drugs.
Daily
t ii
1
the tied Center for the Performing
7 d
toast drinking age
The trends were broken in 1985
when the number of 20-year-olds
arrested for DWI dropped 48.9 percent,
from 139 in 1984 to 71. This moved
21-year-olds into the highest DWI cate
gory among the 19- to 24-year-old age
groups for DWI in 1985.
But even fewer 20-year-olds were
arrested, the 25-and-under group was
still over-represented in 1985's DWI
arrests, Dade said. Those under 25
accounted for 572 or 47.1 percent of the
state's 1,215 DWI arrests.
In every year of Dade's study, those
under 25 1 1.5 percent of the Lin
colnLancaster County population
have accounted for more than 40 per
cent of the arrests.
Like Dade's statistics, the Lincoln
Police Department's records for 1985
show decreases in nearly all categories
of alcohol-related arrests. Minor in
possession arrests dropped from 362 in
1984 to 309 in 1985, a 15 percent
decline. DWI arrests dropped 17 per
cent in 1985 from 1,580 to 1,316. Arrests
for contributing to the delinquency of a
minor fell from 63 in 1984 to 35 in 1985,
a 44 percent drop.
Although authorities and bar owners
predicted the law would increase the
number of false identification cards,
only 17 people were arrested for alter
ing or lending ID cards in 1985, com
pared to 44 in 1984, said Lt. Jerry Smith
of the LPD record department.
Although many partially credited
the law for statistical improvement,
officials agree that publicity surround
ing the legal age increase, tougher DWI
penalties and improved alcohol educa
tion also could have affected the
mm
. i4 J
Arts shout st each other in front
figures.
Alcohol education has been an out
growth of stiff er DWI penalties and the
1984 law, officials say.
However, Lincoln Sen. Don Wesely,
who voted against the bill two years
ago, still has mixed feelings. Stricter
DWI laws punish the offenders, Wesely
said, but a drinking age change pun
ishes people who abide by the law as
well as those who break it.
The 1984 law marked the third time
the Legislature has changed Nebras
ka's legal drinking age. The legal
Beutler says s
would benefit
By Kent Endacott
Senior Reporter
Though the Lied Center for the Per
forming Arts is not a top priority of Gov.
Bob Kerrey, the Legislature or the NU
Board of Regents, it was simply "too
good of a deal to pass up," said Sen.
Chris Beutler Thursday.
"The Lied Center was not my first
priority when it was proposed," Beutler
said.. "But life is like that, it doesn't
always give us the thing we most want.
But when the offer was made, the NU
foundation said, 'We're going to raise
$10 million to match the $10 million
grant, and raise another $5 million to
pay for maintenance so the people of
the state won't be saddled with the
maintenance costs.' "
Speaking to the UNL chapter of the
Young Democrats, Beutler said the
Lied center will strengthen the human-
I v
t
f.
v7
Andrea HoyDai!y Nsbrsskan
of the Nebraska Union
effects
drinking age was 21 until 1969, when it
was lowered to 20. In 1972, it again was
lowered, this time to 19.
The Legislature dropped the age to
19 because of pressure from 18 to 20
year olds who were being drafted to
fight in Vietnam but could not buy a
beer in their hometown bar, Wesely
said.
The 1984 hike came in the wake of a
federal bill that would have cut high
way funds to states with drinking ages
below 21 by 5 percent for the first five
years and by 10 percent in 10 years.
ate lottery
development
ities programs at UNL and make Ne
braska a more attractive place for new
businesses to locate.
"The quality of life in Nebraska is
important to economic development,"
he said. "In Colorado and California
they have natural resources such as
mountains and the ocean to attract
businesses.
"In Nebraska, we have to create our
attractions. That's why we build the
Lied Centers and the Sheldon Art Gal
leries...Ultimately, for a person to want
to locate their business in Nebraska,
they have to want to live here."
He also said he favors lottery to
offset revenue shortfalls which the
state has experienced recently.
"In this point in time, it would be
beneficial to have a state lottery and
put the money into economic develop
ment," he said.
A
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