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Classifieds.11
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_~ Vol. 89 No.
Supporters urge Legislature to send message
Committee examines bills
to stiffen drug penalties
By victoria Ayotte
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary
Committee on Thursday killed a bill to
suspend drivers’ licenses for drug con
victions, but failed to act on two bills to stiffen
other drug penalties.
Proponents of the bills said the Legislature
needs to “send a message” to those thinking of
using drugs, but opponents of the bills said
passing them would get the wrong response.
LB927, sponsored by Sen. Chris Abboud of
Omaha, would increase the penalty by one
classification for those people 18 or older who
arc convicted of selling or giving drugs to
minors.
LB977, sponsored by Sen. Carol Pirsch of
Omaha and Sen. Lorraine Langford of Kear
ney, would increase the penalties for marijuana
possession from an infraction to a Class IV
misdemeanor on first offense. That could raise
the penalty from $100 to $100-5500.
Second offense would be a Class IIIA mis
demeanor, punishable by a minimum of $200
and up to five days in jail. Third and later
convictions would be Class III misdemeanors,
punishable by a minimum of $300 and up to
seven days in jail.
LB846, sponsored by Langford, would sus
pend the drivers’ licenses of those convicted of
drug offenses for six months on first offense,
one year on second offense and 15 years on the
third and following offenses.
Abboud said his bill to increase drug penal
ties would give judges more discretion and
“provide yet another window of opportunity
for prosecutors.”
* ‘I believe this is a responsible approach for
dealing with a very serious problem,” Abboud
said.
Jon Morris, a Lincoln police officer and
member of the Police Officers Association of
Nebraska, said many students are pressured to
buy drugs from former students or older friends
of students.
The school is a “place that things like this
shouldn’t be going on,” he said, and the bill
would be “giving a message’ ’ not to sell drugs
to minors.
Pirsch said her bill also would send a mes
sage, but to the users of marijuana.
“We have allowed alcohol and marijuana
to become so acceptable,” Pirsch said, “and
they are not. They are dangerous and should be
treated that way.”
Steve Shaw, chief legal counsel for the
Nebraska State Patrol, said the bill would allow
judges more flexibility in determining sen
tences.
“We feel that the decriminalization of
marijuana ... sends the wrong message to the
youth of this state,” Shaw said.
Sen. Jerry Chizek of Omaha said he thinks
stopping drugs requires a combination of stiffcr
penalties, education and treatment.
But Mike Kelly of the Nebraska County
Defense Attorneys Association said the bill
would produce more jury trials and court costs.
Treatment and causes of drug problems should
be the focus of drug efforts, he said.
Terry Schulz of Lincoln said, “1 just can’t
sec making criminals out of people that just
want to sit at home and smoke pot.”
Pirsch said “we have to attack ... by all
possible means. Again, this is only one.”
Langford said her bill would help keep
teenagers from using drugs because of the
value they place on drivers licenses.
Committee members questioned the rela
tionship between drug convictions and drivers ’
licenses. Most penalties to suspend driving
deal directly with driving infractions, Sen. Doug
Krislcnscn of Mindcn said.
Apellate court goes before voters
From Staff Reports
A proposal to create an intermediate ap
peals court will go before voters in
November after a resolution for a con
stitutional amendment was passed Thursday in
the Nebraska Legislature.
LR8CA, sponsored by the Judiciary Com
mittee, passed its final reading and was pre
sented to the secretary of state, who will pul the
proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot
The amendment would allow those accused
of crimes, except for capital cases, to appeal to
an appellate court. Previously, all appeals went
to the Nebraska Supreme Court.
The resolution’s sponsors said a backlog of
cases to be heard by the Supreme Court makes
an appellate court necessary, but Sen. Ernie
Chambers of Omaha fought the bill, saying all
criminal cases should be appealed to the Su
preme Court.
A bill last year in anticipation of the consti
tutional amendment created a temporary ap
peals court to help deal with the case backlog. L
OCR, Nebraska Unions
request budget hikes
By Roger Price
Staff Reporter
—-gr
Che Committee for Fees Al
location on Thursday re
moved $3,523 from the
1990-91 Office of Campus Rec
reation budget request to reduce
the number of employees requested
few the equipment check-out win
dow.
With the cut, the committee gave
OCR a 40 percent budget increase
few the check-out window instead
of the 48.2 percent OCR had re
quested.
The reduction allows for 5.8
hours of double-staffing at the
window per day instead of the 9,5
hours per day campus recreation
had requested.
Todd Oilmans, the CFA mem
ber who proposed the reduction,
said the revised figure is “more
than fair.”
CFA also voted to eliminate
$1.500from OCR’s request by rec
ommending that users of the towel
exchange service in the Sapp Rec
reation Facility be charged $8 per
semester and $5 during the sum
mer.
CFA member Sheila Christensen
said, “People who get towel serv
ice should pay for it.”
The University Health Center
budget was approved by CFA in
full as presented to the committee
Tuesday.
Bint CFA did recommend that
an additional staff position be added
at the health center to help with
AIDS counseling and testing.
The health center budget request
represented a .9 percent student
fee increase over last year.
Appeals on the CFA recommen
dations for campus recreation and
the health center, both Fund B users,
will be heard on Tuesday
The third Fund B user, the Ne
braska Unions, presented its budget
to CFA Thursday night
Daryl Swanson, director of the
See CFA on 5
Butch Ireland/Daily Nebraskan
David Olsen, a 189-pound Kenesaw senior, takes time out during the
opening round of the high school state wrestling tournament Thursday
in the Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Appeals court would give justices
more time to write opinions
By James P. Webb
Staff Reporter
Nebraska needs an intermedi
ate appeals court to lighten
the Supreme Court’s caseload
so justices have time to write better
opinions, said Harvey Perlman, dean
of the Universtiy of Nebraska-Lin
coln College of Law.
“The (Supreme) court deals with
the whole scope of the law that gov
erns the state of Nebraska,’’ Perlman
said. “They do not have the proper
time to reflect on the opinion.’’
The Supreme Court’s current docket
lists the total number of cases at
1,272,966 that have been waiting since
last year. Forty-five cases are listed
for February.
Perlman said Nebraska is one of
12 or 13 states that do not have an
intermediate court system to hear
appeals.
He said the number of opinions
Nebraska’s justices write is twice the
amount written by justices of the other
states without an intermediate court
system.
“The justices don’t have the nec
essary lime to write clear enough
opinions. This causes new cases to be
filed because laws are not clear
enough,’’ said Perlman.
LR8CA, passed Thursday by the
Nebraska Legislature, proposes a
-4 4
We’re not just trying
to lighten our load.
The idea is to pro
vide the citizen with
a decision before
two years.
Hastings
Supreme Court Justice
-ft
constitutional amendment to create a
permanent appeals court as an inter
mediate court between the district
courts and the Supreme Court. Ne
braskans will vote on the proposal in
the fall.
He said the proposal initially would
help solve the problem of case back
log and eventually would allow jus
tices more lime to write opinions.
“I’m encouraged, but its just con
versation _Now I’m responsible to
the public to explain why we need
this (appeals) court,” said Supreme
Court Justice William Hastings.
“We’re not just trying to lighten
our load,” Hastings said. “The idea
is to provide the citizen with a deci
sion before two years.”
Hastings said that currently the
temporary Appellate Division of the
District Court has to “struggle through
error cases,” allowing the Supreme
Court to decide questions about the
doctrine and constitutionality of state
statutes.
But the temporary division does
not have the power to decide cases,.
Hastings said. Instead, he said, it makes
recommendations to the Supreme
Court.
The temporary division consists of
district judges, randomly selected in
panels of three so ‘ ‘there’s (a) combi
nation of years of experience,” ac
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