News Digest Edited by Brandon Loomis
Gov.Orr says drug proposal misinterpreted
LINCOLN - The Orr administra
tion says a top aide to the governor
screwed up the explanation of an anti
drug proposal that would have sus
pended students at public colleges for
any drug-related offense.
Gary Rex, director of the Policy
Research Office, took the blame
Wednesday for what he said was a
misunderstanding of what Gov. Kay
Orr wanted in the measure.
Sen. Tim Hall of Omaha said he
was skeptical about the explanation
and Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha
said he didn’t believe it.
The proposal, sharply criticized
by some lawmakers and others, was
first described as requiring that stu
dents at public colleges lose state aid
and be suspended for any first-of
fense involving drugs, including
misdemeanors; it also required a pre
admission pledge to stay drug-free.
In the wake of the criticism, the
administration said the written mate
rials that explained the plan were
wrong and that Rex, an attorney who
holds three supervisory roles in the
administration, misunderstood Orr.
Chambers flatly said he didn’t
believe there was a misunderstanding
and said Rex was “obviously taking
the heat for the governor.’’
* ‘ Based on my knowledge of Gary
Rex, his professional experience and
background, I will tell you that there
is no way he could have screwed up
and misrepresented a position of the
governor in the way that she alleges,”
Chambers said. ‘‘All this shows is
that she will do any sort of thing and
sacrifice anyone to avoid the political
embarrassment she so richly deserves.”
Hall, a sharp critic of the plan, said
‘‘the new version is still ridiculous..
. what you have here is the governor
trying to get off the hook. I’m skepti
cal about the whole thing.”
Rex said Wednesday the governor
wants a bill that would suspend a
student only after a second drug-re
lated offense. A first offense would
simply require the student to take a
rehabilitation course, he said. Read
mission after a second offense would
require a second course, he said.
“And it wasn’t supposed to be a
pledge or some sort of loyalty oath or
promise to stay drug-free,” Rex said.
‘‘It would simply be a written ac
knowledgment that a student would
face certain penalties and require
ments if they had a drug offense ...
the governor was aghast at the talk of
‘ loyalty oaths’ that was going around.”
Hall said the governor was still off
base.
‘‘She has previously vetoed pro
grams aimed at the drug problem but
this year it’s the ‘in’ thing so she is
going with thepolls,’ ’ Hall said. * ‘She
still doesn’t understand what she is
talking about; you don’t take educa
tion away from people in the circum
stances she is talking about.”
Administration spokesmen previ
ously acknowledged that, under Orr’s
proposal, a student convicted of a
drug infraction could be suspended
from school while someone convicted
of violent crimes wouldn’t face such
a penalty.
The controversial proposal was only
one of measures the governor is sup
porting in an effort to fight illegal
drug peddling and abuse.
Sen. Lowell Johnson of North Bend
on Tuesday introduced LB 1091, a
measure that would create a series of
separate felony offenses for drug crimes
involving children.
The measure would apply to those
who employ those under 18 in any
capacity in connection with a drug
crime.
i
c
Enzyme allows men to drink more
BOSTON - Scientists believe
I they have solved one of the endur
' ing mysteries of the sexes - why
men can drink more alcohol than
women.
Many believe that women typi
cally get drunk more quickly than
men, even when their smaller size
is taken into account, and they are
more likely to suffer liver damage
from alcohol abuse.
The researchers say the differ
ence is all in the stomach.
They found that men make far
higher amounts of a protective
r^
stomach enzyme that breaks down
alcohol before it hits the blood
stream. The result They don’t get
as tipsy as women on the same
number of drinks.
“The implication of this is that
when it comes to social drinking,
women should be more careful than
men for a given amount of alcohol
when driving or operating equip
ment,’’ said Dr. Charles Licbcr, a
co-author of the study and director
of the Alcohol Research and Treat
ment Center at the Bronx Veterans
Affairs Medical Center.
i
Among the study’s findings:
• Women absorb about one
third more alcohol into their blood
than men do, even when they are
the same size and drink the same
amount
• The enzyme, called alcohol
dehydrogenase, works better when
people have a full stomach. This
explains why folks handle their
liquor better if they drink after eating.
• Alcoholics make less of the
protective enzyme than social drink
ers do.
A
Lithuanians protest soviet rule
as Gorbachev awaits meetings
with workers, party activists
VILNIUS, U.S.S.R. - Lithuanian
demonstrators chanting “Freedom”
rallied to demand independence
Wednesday before Soviet President
Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s visit to the
republic to try to halt its defiance of
Moscow.
Banners displayed among 20,000
protesters in central Cathedral Square
ranged from one polite welcome to
more blunt calls for Gorbachev to go
home and take the Soviet army with
him.
“We didn’t join the Soviet Union,
you grabbed us!” read one banner,
referring to the Soviet Union’s an
nexation of the Baltic republic in 1940.
Gorbachev is expected today
for three days ot meetings with fac
tory workers, collective farmers,
members of ethnic minorities and
Communist Party activists. He’ll be
trying to reverse the Lithuanian
Communist Party’s decision Dec. 20
to split from the national party and
support independence for the repub
lic.
It was the first such break since the
Communists look power in Moscow
in 1917. The Soviet leader has consis
tently and sharply criticized Lithu
anian Communist leaders for the move
for independence. '
Leaders of Sajudis, a grass-roots
Lithuanian political movement, hope
to draw 1 million of Lithuania’s 3.7
million people to Vilnius Thursday to
show Gorbachev the extent of sup
port for independence.
A spokesman for Sajudis, Riman
tas Kanapienis, said the organization
rejected a call by Kremlin ideology
chief Vadim A. Medvedev, sent to
Lithuania in advance of Gorbachev’s
visit, to call off the rally Wednesday.
Medvedev indicated Tuesday that
the Moscow leadership favors grant
ing Lithuanians more autonomy as
__ .1_•_L ._*__ _ _ _ 1
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to Lithuanian secession.
Dem°nslralors> waving the red,
yellow and green nag of independent
Lithuania, made it clear they fell it is
too late for Gorbachev to change the
course for independence.
“Lithuania has already decided,”
said one sign.
Lithuania was recognized as an
independent country by Soviet founder
Vladmir Lenin, but Josef Stalin an
nexed it in 1940 as part of a secret
Nazi-Soviet treaty.
One sign read: “Lenin recognized
Lithuania. Stalin took away its inde
pendence, and Gorbachev?”
supreme court overturns tines on Yonkers councilmen
v> n^nii>u i uin - a snarpiy di
vided Supreme Court Wednesday
overturned contempt fines imposed
against four Yonkers, N.Y., city coun
cilmen who defied a federal judge's
order to adopt a housing desegrega
tion plan.
By a 5-4 vote, the court said the
judge who imposed the fines exceeded
his authority.
Dissenting justices said the ruling
could hamper civil rights progress
and hamstring federal judges in deal
ing with public officials who defy
anti-discrimination court orders.
Chief Justice William H. Rchnquist,
writing for the court, said U.S. Dis
trict Judge Leonard Sand acted loo
hastily in holding the councilmcn in
contempt.
The judge should have waited to
sec whether a contempt order against
the city that threatened to bankrupt it
succeeded in forcing compliance with
Sand’s descgrcgauon order, Rchnquist
said.
Only if that failed, the chief justice
said, should contempt sanctions against
the individual council members even
have been considered.
“The imposition of sanctions on
individual legislators is designed to
cause them to vote, not with a view to
the interest of their constituents or of
the city, but with a view solely to their
own personal interests,” Rchnquist
said.
Justice William J. Brennan, in a
dissenting opinion, said the ruling
may intimidate judges and give pub
lic officials more reason to defy rea
sonable court orders.
“1 worry that the court’s message
will have the unintended effect of
emboldening recalcitrant officials
umana bens. Goodrich, Lynch propose bill
to undo Indian skeletal remains reburial law
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who opposed last year’s passage of a
bill to force the Nebraska Historical
Society to give skeletal remains and
artifacts back to the American Indi
ans, introduced a bill Wednesday to
undo that measure.
Sens. Glenn Goodrich and Dan
Lynch co-sponsored LB 1097, which
would allow the historical society or
any other entity “which receives
funding or official recognition from
the state or any of its political subdi
visions” to retain possession or con
trol of any “burial goods of Ameri
can Indian origin disinterred on or
before Aug. 25,1989.”
However, the measure says that
any items unearthed after Aug. 25,
1707 mm aic reasunaoic as 10 iaminai
or tribal origin should be relumed to
the relative or Indian tribe for re
burial, upon request of such relative
or Indian tribe.
“We’re talking about the artifacts
that have nothing to do with their
religion,” Goodrich said.
“The Spanish medallions, for in
stance. Why bury them and let them
deteriorate? This is one of only three
in existence and it should be in a
mqscum where everybody can see it,
Indians and non-Indians alike,” he
said.
During debate last year, historical
society officials mentioned a rare
Spanish medallion that was among
Indian burial goods as an example of
mstoricai items me society would lose
if all of the burial goods were re
lumed.
Sen. Dennis Baack of Kimball, a
participant in the negotiations between
the state historical society and attor
neys for the Pawnee Tribe that led to
Ihc bill’s passage, said he would oppose
the new measure vigorously.
“This totally undoes what we
accomplished in hours of compro
mise on LB340 (last year’s meas
ure),” said Baack, chairman of the
Legislature’s Government Commit
tee.
‘ ‘This should have come up a year
ago,” Baack said. “Thai’s when we
were discussing this matter and that’s
when we could have done something
about it.”
continually to test the ultimate reach
of the remedial authority of the fed
eral courts,” he said.
The cna result could be the delay
ing of civil rights progress, Brennan
said.
He was joined by Justices Thur
good Marshall, Harry A. Blackmun
and John Paul Stevens.
Joining Rchnquist were Justices
Byron R. While, Sandra Day O’Con
nor, Anihony M. Kennedy and An
tonin Scalia.
Councilman Edward Fagan, one
of the four, said, ‘ ‘It’s a great vindica
tion. It proved the things I did were
justified. It adds a whole new impetus
tocontinue the fight against the hous
ing.”
Cambodian orticials acknowledge attacks, I
claim guerrillas exaggerated effectiveness I
bainumjk., lhailand - Official
Cambodian reports Wednesday ac
knowledged that guerrilla attacks have
occurred in Phnom Penh and near
Cambodia’s second-largest city but
said rebel claims about their success
were exaggerated.
Khmer Rouge guerrillas said they
attacked vjhe Cambodian capital with
grenades Saturday night, forcing the
leadership of the Communist govern
ment to flee toward Vietnam. The
---—
guerrilla radio Wednesday said me
rebel force held the provincial capital
of Bauambang for four hours over the
weekend.
Khieu Kanharith, editor of the
government-sponsored weekly news
paper “Kampuchea,” said four or
five plastic explosives went off in the
streets of Phnom Penh on Friday and
Saturday night, causing no injuries or
damage.
“There weren’t even any broken
windows,’ ’ he said by telephone.
Netiraskan
Editor Amy Edwards Professional Adviser Don Walton
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