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February 7, 1989 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 88 No. 95
Council denies super market liquor licenses
By Natalie Weinstein
Staff Reporter
The Lincoln City Council
unanimously denied five ap
plications for liquor licenses
to area grocery stores and a conven
ience store after listening to more
than an hour of public testimony
Monday afternoon.
The applications for the grocery
stores would have been the first to be
approved since the Nebraska Su
preme Court ruled that a Lincoln
ordinance prohibiting such sales was
unconstitutional.
M.J. Bruckner, an attorney repre
senting B & R Stores, Inc., told coun
cil members they had no “legally
justifiable reasons for denying the
applications.”
In an interview after the council
vote, Bruckner said he was not sur
prised with the council’s decision.
‘They’ve just ignored all the
facts,” he said. ‘‘They’re operating
from their gut feeling.”
The Supreme Court has ruled that
communities must ‘‘allow competi
tion to flow freely” for all products,
including alcohol, he said.
‘‘The policy they (city council
members) have adopted ... violates
existing precedent,” he said. Bruck
ner said the denial will come under
the review of the Nebraska Liquor
Control Commission within a few
weeks.
Seventeen Nebraska cities, in
eluding Omaha, already allow alco
hol sales in grocery stores or conven
ience stores, Bruckner said.
Currently, no Lincoln grocery
stores sell beer, wine or liquor. Gas
‘N Shop stores received licenses to
sell beer in November after the Su
preme Court ruling.
More than 220 establishments
currently have active liquor licenses
within the city.
The council denied liquor licenses
to four grocery stores owned by B &
R Stores: Super Saver at 233 N. 48th
St.; Russ’s Edgcwood IGA at 5500 S.
56th St; Russ’s BAR IGA at 66th
and O streets; and Russ’s Bishop
Heights IGA at 4200 S, 27th St
The council also denied B & R’s
applications to expand Super Saver
Spirits at 27ih Street and Comhuskcr
Highway, RB’s Liquor Store at 1709
Washington St. and a license applica
tion for Minute Mart at 27 JO S. 70th
St.
Before voting on the applications,
council member Linda Wilson said
that buying alcohol should not be as
easy as buying toothpaste.
Council member Colecn Seng
said she does not “consider alcohol
the same as bread and milk.”
J. Michael Ricrdcn, an attorney
representing Lincoln Package Bever
age Association, opposed die appli
cations. This association is composed
of Class D establishments, the off
sale stores that sell beer, wine and
liquor. Three of B & R’s applications
were for stores that would be in direct
competition with these establish
ments.
Bruckner said the Class D stores
arc “not entitled to this unfair protec
tion.”
Representatives from the Lancas
ter County chapter of Mothers
Against Drunk Driving, the Lincoln
Council on Alcoholism & Drugs and
the Nebraska Council on Alcohol &
Drug Education testified against the
applications.
Rowland Benedict, administra
tive assistant for NCADE, said the
alcohol retailers do not have public
health in mind. If they did, he said,
they wouldn’t sell alcohol.
“Their primary motive is greed,”
he said.
Committee advances liquor bill
By Larry Peirce
Senior Reporter _
f g 1 he Nebraska Legislature’s General
I Affairs Committee advanced a bill
Monday that would give local govern
ments the option to allow on-salc liquor to be
sold by retailers from noon on Sunday until 1
a.m. Monday.
Fe~
Committee members voted 7-0 to advance
LB703, introduced by stale Sen. Tim Hall of
| * Omaha, to the floor.
Hall said on-sale liquor is available on
Sundays until 6 p.m. in Omaha, while beer and
wine is sold noon until 1 a.m.
1 _ Those who choose to drink liquor should be
able to, he said, because one serving of liquor
has the same alcohol content as one serving of
beer or wine.
Mike Kelley of the License Beverage Asso
ciation said LB703 “doesn’t demand any
thing’’ of local governments because they
would have the option of allowing or disallow
ing the sale of liquor during those hours.
Kelley said the bill would have been passed
last year, but it ran out of time on the floor.
David Frccdland, who represents United
Distilleries, also supported the bill. Frccdland
said not allowing the sale of liquor on Sunday
is the “last remnant of Prohibition.”
James Hamilton, chairman of the National
Council on Alcohol and Drug Education, was
the only opponent of LB703, saying the reduc
tion of liquor restrictions leads to the “prolif
eration of human suffering.”
In other action, the committee held over
LB704, which would authorize the sale of
liquor between retailers. Liquor retailers now
arc required to buy from wholesale dealers, but
LB704 would allow them to buy from other
retailers when they run out and can’t drive to
wholesale outlets.
LB760 could create competition
By Brandon Loomis
Senior Reporter
proposal in the Nebraska Legislature
that would change all four state col
leges to universities could pull students
away from the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln, NU President Ronald Roskens said.
“It would create, clearly, a second univer
sity system that would bring about competi
tion,’ ’ Roskens said.
The State College Board of Trustees voted
Friday to support LB760, which would change
the names of the colleges, but would not incor
porate them into the University of Nebraska
system.
The proposal would change Kearney State
College to Central Nebraska University,
Wayne State to Northeastern Nebraska Uni
versity, Peru Stale to Southeastern Nebraska
University and Chadron Slate to Northwestern
Nebraska University.
Jean Lovell, chairperson of the board, said
that in November the board gave top priority to
getting funding for the state colleges rather
than changing the names.
“That was taken out of our hands with the
introduction of LB 160,” she said, which
would change Kearney State College to a uni
versity and bring it under the University of
Nebraska system.
Since then, she said, the board has rcconsid
crcd and now supports a change in name, but
not in structure.
Members of the board plan to testify against
LB 160 because not enough is known about
how a change in structure would affect the
colleges, Lovell said.
“We’re going to request that if they’re
going to change governance ... a lot more
study needs to be done.”
Lovell said she does support the name
change, however, because the new names
would more accurately reflect the regions the
colleges serve.
“They aren’t just colleges for Wayne,
Kearney, Chadron and Peru,” she said.
A recent study conducted by Chadron Stale
College showed that of 209 colleges similar to
Nebraska’s colleges in size and mission, 75
percent are called universities, Lovell said.
NU Regent Margaret Robinson of Norfolk
said she has not yet formed an opinion about
LB760, bul the role and mission of the college
system should be considered before its name.
“The name is not the crux of the matter,”
she said.
As a small state, Nebraska cannot afford to
have two or more institutions with the same
mission, Robinson said.
“The Lincoln campus must remain as the
stale’s flagship institution with a research
mandate.”
Health Center requests slight increase
By Jerry Guenther
Suff Reporter __
While medical costs have
gone up 10 percent in the
past year, the University
Health Center has requested less than
a 1 percent increase in student fees,
according to Kunlc Ojikulu, director
of the center.
Ojikulu said the slight increase is
needed so the health center can con
tinue to provide quality health care to
University of Nebraska-Lincoln stu
dents.
“The budget request is in order,”
Ojikulu said. We will continue lobe
prudent without taking anything
away from service.”
But, Ojikulu said, ihc budget pro
posal doesn’t allow for an increase in
staff salaries.
The increase in salaries will be
decided by the NU Board of Regents
and Nebraska Legislature.
The University Health Center will
be submitting its budget request to
the Committee for Fees Allocation
during a 6:30 p.m. meeting tonight.
Ojikulu said the health center has
been able to hold down costs by pur
chasing generic drugs and passing the
savings on to students.
“Thai’s one way we’ve been able
to hold the line (on costs),’’ Ojikulu
said. “How long we’ll be able to hold
the costs - I don’t know.”
The budget request reflects an
increase of 10 cents per student per
semester, to $55.03 for 1989-90,
Ojikulu said. The increase would
boost the Health Center’s funding to
S783.854 - $19,420above the 1988
89 budget.
The biggest increase in the budget
proposal comes with a request to
increase the funding for small equip
ment Irom $6,000 to $20,000 -- a
more than 233 percent increase.
and supplies, almost an 11 percent
increase over last year’s $135,150 ,
budget allocation.
Ojikulu said the increase is neces
sary to allow the health center more
flexibility to purchase such items as
typewriters and small medical equip
ment.
The other most substantial in
crease comes in materials and sup
plies. Ojikutu said the health center
has requested $150,000 for material
See FUND B on 5