Reporter tells of Iranian captivity
By William Lauer
Staff Reporter
One year ago Monday, Gerald
Seib stopped counting the marks on
the wall of an Iranian jail cell.
He stopped at
40 because his
spirit began to fail.
Seib told the
story of his impris
onment by the Ira
nian government
to Lincoln Pius X
High School stu- Seib
dents Monday.
Seib is the Wall-Street Journal’s
Washington correspondent.
On Jan. 31,1986, Seib was talk
ing to a Swiss diplomat in a parking
lot in Tehran when four men
grabbed him. They pinned his arms
behind his back arid threw him in the
back of a car. While two of his
captors used him for a cushion, the
car sped through the streets of
Tehran. They blindfolded him and
put him in another car. Fifteen
minutes later, the car stopped at
Evin Prison, formerly used for pris
oners of the Shah of Iran.
Seib was one of about 50 interna
tional journalists invited by the Ira
nian government to report on the
war between Iran and Iraq. He said
he still isn’t sure why the Iranian
government arrested him and ac
cused him of being an Israeli spy.
Seib was working as the Wall
Street Journal’s Middle East corre
spondent at the time. He said it was
well-known he traveled extensively
throughout the area, including Is
rael.
“I suspect I got caught in a power
struggle,” Seib said. “The whole
Irangate thing was going on at the
time. I think that there were people
in the government upset that others
were reaching to the West. Some
body in the secret service wanted to
arrest a journalist to make their
point,” Seib said.
Seib said he was interrogated in
prison for four days. He was blind
folded the entire time.
“One day they brought me a
hamburger from the Tehran Hilton
to make me feel better,” Seib said.
Soon after, Seib was released.
Seib said it is important to realize
that he was a prisoner of a govern
ment rather than any militia organi
zation or terrorist group.
“They realized they made a mis
take and let me go,” he said. “People
in Lebanon held by terrorists have it
much worse.”
Hostages in the Middle East
should not be forgotten, he said.
Seib said he has no animosity
toward the people of the Middle
East. He said they are as delightful
and gentle a people as he has met.
“There really ought to be com
munication,” he said, “if not be
tween government, then between
people.”
Questions arise about alcohol
bills and monitoring keg sales
LIQUOR from Page 1
said he also thinks both laws are
constitutional.
LB851, that would hold liquor
sellers accountable for the actions of
the buyer, drew criticism from sellers,
praise from Mothers Against Drunk
Drivers and questions from senators.
Sen. Marge Higgins of Omaha and
Sen. Jacklyn Smith of Hastings,
members of the committee, said the
phrase “appears to be intoxicated” in
the bill is ambiguous. Smith said
determining intoxication would be
difficult for sellers.
“If I were a silly person,” Smith
said, “I could be considered intoxi
cated by someone’s standards.”
Higgins said she thinks sellers
should be responsible for the actions
of an intox icated person to whom they
sell. But she said the word intoxicated
is “too broad.”
But Sen. Patricia Morehead of
Beatrice, chairwoman of the commit
tee and sponsor of LB851, said when
a seller buys a liquor license they are
responsible for determining if a cus
tomer is intoxicated.
Sam Bonofede, owner of
Salvatore’s restaurant in Omaha, tes
tified against the bill. He said licensed
sellers already refuse to serve intoxi
cated customers.
Bonofede told the committee
LB851 would increase law suits
against liquor sellers and double lia
bility insurance.
But James Downing, representa
tive of Mothers Against Drunk Driv
ing, urged the committee to pass the
bill to the floor of the legislature.
Downing said that during his career in
the Army he saw many traffic acci
dents and fights caused by intoxicated
servicemen.
“If the military would have had a
law like this,” Downing said, “we
could have decreased non-combat
injuries by 99 percent.”
AIDS bill passes first-round obstacle
By Amy Edwards
Senior Reporter
Nebraska legislators gave first
round approval Monday to a bill that
Sen. Don Wesely said “brings into
focus the eternal clash of the demo
cratic society” between the rights of
privacy and public safety.
LB 1012 is the first of several bills
concerning AIDS that will be
brought before the Legislature.
The bill was first introduced Jan. 8
and was referred to the Health and
Human Services Committee.
Wesely said the bill would recog
nize AIDS as an important health
concern in Nebraska and give the
State Health Department the oppor
tunity to establish a statewide AIDS
program to provide education, pre
vention, detection and counseling
services to protect the public health.
Between 1983 and 1987,49 AIDS
cases were reported in Nebraska.
Since then, 32 of those people have
died. An estimated 800 to 2,000
people in Nebraska are carrying the
HIV virus.
Wesely said the number of AIDS
cases in Nebraska represents .01
percent of the victims in the United
Slates. He added that .07 percent of
the population in Nebraska has
AIDS. The problem is not as serious
in Nebraska, Wesely said, adding that
LB 1012 would help “keep it that
way.”
The bill would make AIDS test
results confidential and not subject to
subpoena, Wesely said. Current leg
islation provides that public health
records are subject to subpoena.
The bill also would require results
of AIDS testing for the HIV virus to
be reported to the Centers for Disease
Control in Atlanta. However, the
person’s name would not be re
vealed.
People who test positive for AIDS
are reported to the health department
and the statistics are sent to the CDC.
Wesely said AIDS victims are
reported to the health department so
help can be provided to them.
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha
said he supported the bill, but he
would propose an amendment in
select file to establish specific guide
lines for protecting the rights of
people who test positive for AIDS.
Chambers said the amendment
would be necessary so people don’t
fear the ramifications of confidenti
ality problems more than they fear
the effects of the disease.
Sen. Chris Abboud of Omaha said
the only problem with LB 1012 is that
it “doesn’t go far enough.” Abboud
said he would also offer an amend
ment to the bill in select file that
would require testing for AIDS in
Nebraska.
Abboud is also offering a bill
through the Judiciary Committee
that would require premarital labora
tory evidence of AIDS testing.
LB 1012 also repeals a law con
trolling the sale and distribution of
condoms in Nebraska. Wesely said
the law has not been enforced for the
last five years.
Sen. Tim Hall of Omaha said he
was concerned about quality control
of prophylactics. Wesely said if fed
eral requirements did not administer
quality testing of condoms, he would
work with Hall to establish a state roll
for quality requirements.
LB 1012 passed to enrollment and
review with a 35-0 vote. ■
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
GRADUATE PROGRAMS IN ADMINISTRATION:
COURTS, LEGISLATURE, FEDERAL, STATE,
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
The University of Southern California School of Public Administra
tion offers a program leading to a Master in Public Administration
degree including such specializations as Judicial Administration,
Public Financial Management, Health Services Administration,
Applied Behavioral Science, Public Policy and International Public
Administration.
Dr. Donald Fuller, Director of the
International Public Administration
Center, will be on campus February 8,
1988, to speak with interested students.
Contact Placement Office at 472-3145.
.—" ii" i
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