Daily Nebraskan
Friday, June 13, 1986
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Bob Asinusscn, Editor, 4?2,1?((
James Rogers, Editorial Vane Editor
Kent Kiulaeott, Scirs Editor
Jeff Koihelik, Associate AVr.s Editor
.let'f Apel, Sports Editor
Charles Lieunince, .4 rts X- Entertain went Editor
Nebrayskan
University ol Nebraska-Lincoln
Page 4
jiiiisjicer's
UNL should not take action
Danny Noonan should have
known better. A Cornhusker
football player who has
lettered two years in a row, who's
nearly an Ail-American candidate
next year, and has the top slot as
a middle guard in the fall, should
have known better.
After all, considering the
emphasis placed on Cornhusker
football at this University and in
this state, it's pretty obvious
that these players are role
models. What will the twelve-year-olds
who don pads and helmets in the
names of their gridiron idols
think now that one of these idols
has allegedly assaulted a bar
employee and allegedly broke
4 he bullet-proof pane dividing
'he seats in a poli e car. And
S'oonan isn't of drinking age
anyway.
Right now, if convicted, No
onan faces a $2,000 fine and a
maximum of two years imprison
ment. Chances are Noonan won't
ever see the inside of a jail and
will only have to fork over a
fraction of the line if he is
convicted of any of the four
charges leveled against him.
Like Johnny Rodgers, the
archetypal rebel athlete, Noonan
will most likely be coddled by
the legal system. Too had, but
those who truly believe in the
credo of "'equality under the
law" have obviously been hiding
City property tax hike
Increase needed to offset loss of funds
Lincoln Mayor Roland Luedtke
has proposed a 9.8 percent in
crease in property taxes for Lin
coln residents. The primary rea
son for his proposal is that the
increase is needed to make up
for revenue losses stemming from
a number of funding decreases
at other governmental levels. The
tax increase translates into about
a $20 increase in tax liability
next year for the owner of a
$59,000 house.
In spite of the tax increase,
the overall budget for Lincoln
would decline by one-half per
cent. Most of the decrease is
scheduled to come from the Parks
and Recreation budget, from the
consolidation of Senior Centers
and cutting operating hours of
city libraries.
Li the past tax increases usu
ally raised significant questions
about increasing government
control and how big the state
ought to be. This question is
entirely absent from the current
proposal.
Citizens should remember that
the nation is currently undergo
ing a significant redistribution
of government control and pro
gram funding due to President
Reagan's New Federalism scheme.
The current proposal simply rep
lesents an attempt to make up
for a $2 million decrease in fed
eral revenue-sharing funds and
the loss of capital improvement
monies.
arrest
in the pleasant delirium of a
charmed life.
Whether the legal system
brings down the sword of justice
on Noonan keeping him off
the football field in the fall or
not the university should not
reinforce this judgment with one
of its own.
Noonan, first of all, was not in
training at the time of the in
cident. He was a 20-year-old col
lege student out on the town,
like a lot of other 20-year-old
college students.
Any punitive measures on the
part of the university would be
one more instance of the over
prioritization of football. 25,000
students attend UNL. Some
represent fraternities, some repre
sent political organizations, cam
pus publications, residence hall
governments, social committees,
etc.
Noonan is in trouble with the
law and he should have known
better than to jeopardize his
athletic career. One can only
hope he wasn't feeling above the
law and, one also hopes, the law
won't look at him as such.
But Noonan is only a student.
That the media treats him as
anything else is unfortunate.
What Noonan did in a bar that
night does not necessarily reflect
on Noonan the college athlete.
Any measures taken by the
university would be the equi
valent of double jeopardy.
Additionally, local tax in
creases are needed to make up
for decreases in Nebraska state
aid, an increase in bond indebt
edness due to downtown rede
velopment and Lincoln landfill
and storm sewer bond issues, as
well as a projected decrease in
city sales tax.
The gist of current funding
redistribution policies is not that
these programs are not needed,
but that they are better taken
care of on a local level. The
necessary second step in the
New Federalism scheme is that
municipalities take up the slack
left by the absence of federal and
state level money.
In reality, as city officials
pointed out when the budget
was presented to the city coun
cil, many city programs will
undergo significant reductions
even with the tax increase, and
only budget items such as man
datory police and fireman salary
increases will receive funding
increases.
If Luedtke has erred, he has
erred on the side of not taking up
enough of the slack and propos
ing yet greater local tax increases.
It's not that Luedtke's budget
should be accepted in total
it's obviously not perfect. But the
emphasis of the city council's
and Lincoln citizens' examina
tion of the proposal should be on
the program level and not on
opposing the proposed tax hike.
MM, HHrt I it
any women stay Mima:
Yuppie materialism,
There can he no doubt that this
country is facing a grave new
domestic crisis. It's on the cover
of Newsweek magazine, the front page
of The Wall Street .Journal. Even that
most intellectual of publications, Peo
ple magazine, has taken note.
I'm talking about the growing glut in
America of unmarried women and the
shortage of eligible men.
The crisis came to light when a
scholarly study revealed that white,
college-educated women who are still
single at age 30 have only a 20 percent
chance of getting hitched.
At 35, only one out of 20 will ever
many. If they don't make it by 40, they
can just about forget it.
How did this come about? Some say
it's the fault of modern Yuppie females.
They are too choosy.
As Pete Axthelm. the sport sw liter,
points out, you can look in the personals
and never find an ad that sounds like
this:
"Rich, witty and beautiful career
woman craves balding, cigar-smoking
sportswriter who enjoys hanging out
until closing time in smoky saloons,
picking up large dinner tabs and taking
healthy and invigorating day trips to
racetracks."
He may be right. I sometimes glance
at the personals and they always say
things like: "Single, professional wo
man, 32, wants to meet single, profes
sional man, 32 to 39 12, tall, handsome,
Dartmouth Review staff antics
make mockery of human rights
Collegiate social arbiter Lisa Birnb
ach, who penned such bestsellers as
"The Preppy Handbook," once said
that Ivy League schools are good choi
ces for college-bound blacks, gays and
women. "Intellectualism fosters human
tolerance," she said.
Unfortunately, there are exceptions
to Birnbach's rule.
One of the country's best liberal
publications, The Village Voice, recently
did a depth story about one of the most
reactionary college newspapers in Ame
rica, The Dartmouth Review.
The anicle, titled "Protest 101: The
Battle Over Apartheid at Dartmouth,"
exposed numerous antics instigated by
the staff of the arch-conservative paper.
Case one: Dartmouth Review editors
and reporters tore down a shanty black
students built on the campus lawn to
protest racism in South Africa. The
shanty, which was spray painted with
sayings like "Apartheid Kills," was
torn down by the paper's staff because
"it looked like crap."
Case two: A white editor wrote a
notorious article titled '"Dis Sho' Ain't
No Jive, Bro'," which was littered with
racial stereotypes written in "black
jive" lingo. One of the columnist's
lack of eligible men
humorous, youthfully mature, energetic,
sensitive, open, caring, who enjoys long
walks on beaches, art, music, Woody
Allen movies, cross-country skiing,
scuba diving, tennis, gourmet dining,
Sundays at the zoo, world travel, cats,
foreign sports cars, and restoring old
mansions. No smokers, drinkers, or
bowlers need reply."
Mike
Royko
Those who blame the females for
their own plight also say that Yuppie
materialism is at fault. The females,
they say, were so busy with their
careers and buying their own condos
and Japanese cars, that they didn't
not ice that the young men at the health
club were beinj snatched off by those
who were more alert.
But whatever the causes are, the
study has reportedly brought panic to
millions of women. They are now said to
be looking around for any eligible warm
body.
At the same time, it has brought joy
to Yuppie men, who now find themselves
in even greater demand.
As one Yuppie man told me: "This is
terrific. I don't even have to pretend
that I'm open and caring anymore."
arguments was: "Some of us (blacks)
be gettin' into Ivy League schools, even
do' we not be bustin' our gizzards doin'
work! Maybe dere shold be anudda'
'firmative action program. Sheet!"
Case three: During Dartmouth's Gay
Awareness week last winter, the Re
viewer's front cover sported pictures of
Scott
Harrah
fruit holding superimposed signs like
"Homo Power" and "Homos For Child
rearing." Editor Teresa Polenz brought
a tape recorder into a Gay Students
Association meeting and then prepared
a transcript for the Review. When the
school and New Hampshire attorney
general threatened prosecution, the
Review wrote an editorial that asked
people to "Free Teresa Polenz!"
The Dartmouth Review was founded
in 1982 by mostly Greek students who
wanted to "expose the poppycock of
college liberalism." Some of 'its staff
members feel threatened by protests
-
ill
JiL
iried
blamed for 'crisis'
But the experts say that even if the
previously unwanted pool of males is
tapped, the crisis will not be eased.
There just aren't enough unmarried
males, especially with so many men
now holding hands.
So how is this nation to avoid a
future filled with biddies who have only
their cats for company?
The only sensible solution that I see
is some form of polygamy.
I'm not saying that men should set
up households with two, three or four
wives, all living together. That's not
practical. Too much squabbling over
who uses the bathroom first.
But some form of time-sharing, as is
done with vacation retreats, might
work.
A man might be married to two
women and spend alternate weeks with
each of them. That's probably as much
time as many men now spend with their
wives, if you consider the demands of
watching TV, having a couple after
work, and not talking after arguments.
I mentioned my idea to a female, age
32. professional, who likes long walks
on the beach, skiing, Woody Allen
movies, world travel, Sundays at the
zoo, etc., etc.
She said: "I think you are a jerk."
Huh! With that attitude, she'd better
get used to her cats.
c 1986 By The Chicago Tribune
Distributed by
Tribune Media Services, Inc.
against apartheid because they advo
cate investment in South Africa.
Dartmouth is one of the most vener
able schools in the Ivy League. Ivy
League schools are known for research
and work that has helped our society to
progress. It is disturbing that a school
which is purportedly devoted to social
progress and change allows such a
paper to exist. Evidently, the Review
staffers want to relive the bigoted atti
tudes of 50 years ago.
Minorities have been trying to get
civil rights bills enacted for decades.
Blacks in the '60s convinced an incred
ulous society that having a different
skin pigment has nothing to do with a
person's personality, abilities or traits.
Gays in the '80s have yet to convince
society that sexuality does not always
represent one's individuality. The ap
palling antics at Dartmouth are a dis
grace to journalism, education and the
human dignity minorities have strug
gled to attain.
In the '60s, students wondered about
the problems of the world. In the '80s,
it seems that all some students care
about are degrees that will get them
high-paying jobs and a BMW.
