■ I ▼ Correction: In a Diversions story (DN, Feb .22) about UFO sightings, Donald Taylor, a
“ # UNL associate professor of astronomy, was misidentified as physics Professor Robert
Fuller. Statements attributed to Fuller were made by Taylor. The Daily Nebraskan regrets
this error, ..... .
WEATHER INDEX
Friday, partly sunny, high 45, northwest wind 15- News Digest.2
i 20 miles per hour. Friday night, partly cloudy, low Editorial.4
in the low-20s. Saturday, variable clouds, high sports 6
Arts & Entertainment.9
Classifieds.10
February 23,1990 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol. 89 No. id 7
Committee argues over
implications of flag bill
By Victoria Ayotte
Senior Reporter
Proponents of a bill to ban flag desecra
tion argued Thursday that America’s
symbol of freedom should be protected,
while opponents argued that the bill would take
away some of Americans’ freedoms.
The Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary
Committee failed to act on LB 1227 and LR245
after a public hearing on the measures.
LB 1227 would make flag desecration a Class
I misdemeanor, punishable by up to one-year
imprisonment, a $1,000 fine or both, according
to the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Elroy Hefner of
Coleridge.
LR245, also introduced by Hefner, would
petition Congress to propose a constitutional
amendment banning flag desecration.
“Our flag is a symbol of freedom,” Hefner
told a roomful of veterans and students at the
public hearing. “I feel that nobody should be
allowed to desecrate our flag.”
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, however,
said Hefner’s bill is worded poorly and would
be deemed unconstitutional, as the U.S. Su
preme Court declared a sim ilar Texas bill to be.
Chambers said the bill does not define a
flag, and asked if a stamp with a flag on it
qualifies as he tore one up.
“Sen. Chambers, 1 think you’re carrying
that a little bit too far,” Hefner responded.
“I think your bill goes too far because it
hasn’t been thought out,” Chambers said.
Sen. Arlene Nelson of Grand Island said the
bill’s provision that a flag is desecrated if it is
known that it will “outrage the sensibilities of
I any person likely to observe or discover such
action or disturb the peace and quiet of any
I person” can be read many different ways.
Chambers also questioned the resolution’s
provision that “all patriotic Americans” be
lieve the flag should not be desecrated. The
provision is a political statement, he said.
Chambers then tore up what he said was a
copy of the U.S. Constitution and asked Hefner
if that bothered him, to which Hefner said “not
necessarily.”
Chambers asked if the reason the bill’s
proponents don’t include the constitution “is
because they arc in fact desecrating the
constitution with this” bill.
Sen. Jerry Chi/.ck of Omaha said people
“border on being a little hypocritical with this
issue” when they support the ban on flag dese
cration but don’t petition Congress to reinstate
cut veterans’ benefits.
“The men and women that serve this coun
try are the ones we ought to move mountains
for,” Chi/.ck said.
Duane Bokcmpcr of the Nebraska Ameri
can Legion said he hopes the resolution passes
so a constitutional amendment could “settle
the issue once and for all.”
A flag protection amendment would not
infringe on the First Amendment, Bokcmpcr
said, and would say only that the flag deserves
special protection.
Another proponent, Joseph Ballwcg of the
County Veterans Service Officers Association
of Nebraska, said sometimes “we get loo lib
eral in our interpretation of the law.”
“We’re a good country,” Ballwcg said.
“The flag represents that goodness.”
Opponent Bill Schalz of David City said the
bill is a “knee-jerk political reaction.”
“Freedom means there’s a right to dissent,”
Schalz. said, and ihc Supreme Court was right
See FLAG on 3
CFA hears CAP budget appeals
By Roger Price
Staff Reporter
The Committee for Fees Allocation reaf
firmed Thursday its decision to elimi
nate some funds that would be used to
staff Campus Activities and Program’s leader
ship development
programs.
Students, faculty
and CAP staff testi
fied about the im
portance of leader
ship development,
but committee
members main
tained that although
the program is im
portant, it should not
be financed by student fees.
Some CFA members suggested the leader
ship programs in CAP become self-funded by
charging a fee to those who use the program.
“Why should every student pay for a lead
ership development program? Why not charge
those who use it?” asked CFA member Todd
Oilmans.
Committee members also questioned the
number of students served by CAP’S leadership
programs.
Kathy Shellogg, coordinator of student
organizations and leadership development for
CAP, said not all students take advantages of
other student-financed activities such as those
at the health center or in campus recreation.
CFA member Brad Brunz said there arc
differences between the number served by
campus recreation and the health center and
those who participate in leadership develop
ment programs.
“A large number of students use the health
and rcc center while a much, much, much
smaller number arc served by leadership pro
grams,” Brunz said.
In an atmosphere which CFA member Chris
Potter called the “most hostile” of the year,
See CFA on 5
Bllllllll FIHli HH III I im
. David Hansen/Daily Nebraskan
Diver down . . .
Omaha Burke diver Ben Culhane practices at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center on Thursday afternoon before the start of the Nebraska High
School Swimming and Diving Championships.
Pool opens today after long delay
From staff reports
After receiving a permit from the state
Department of Health, the pool at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cam
pus Recreation Center will open at 10 a.m.
today.
The Office of Campus Recreation received
the permit Wednesday, according to Bill Goa,
coordinator of informal recreation and facili
ties, after depth markings were painted.
Regular hours for the pool begin Saturday.
They arc 6:45 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Monday through
Friday, 9:15 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. Saturdays and
11:15 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Sundays.
Today is the last day for open recreation
swimming at the Mabel Lee Hall pool. It is
open from 1:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The pool still
will be used for recreation classes and clinics,
intramural and club sports.
Testimony heard on remains bill
!By Sara Bauder
Staff Reporter
A legislative committee Thurs
day heard testimony on a bill
that would allow state-financed
nstitutions to keep some American
ndian burial artifacts.
Sen. Glenn Goodrich of Omaha,
sponsor of LB 1097, told the Nebraska
Legislature’s Government, Military
and Veterans Affairs Committee that
the bill was not requested by the
Nebraska State Historical Society.
Goodrich said there are "an awful
lot” of people in Nebraska who want
the bill to be passed.
In the 1989 session, legislators
passed LB340, which requires insti
tutions receiving slate funds to return
any remains and burial goods identi
fied as American Indian to the rela
Itives or tribe the remains are identi
fied with.
LB 1097 would require state-fi
nanced institutions to return to tribes
any American Indian remains and
burial goods excavated after Aug. 25,
1989. The bill stales that only those
remains and goods reasonably identi
fied with the tribe must be returned.
Those burial goods excavated
before Aug. 25, 1989, could be re
tained by the institution holding them.
Skeletal remains would be returned
under the bill.
Ronald Hunter, an Omaha lawyer
and member of the Nebraska State
Historical Society, said a law such as
LB1097 would discourage collectors
from donating their historical collec
tions to the State Historical Society.
When they die, collectors want to
give their collections to museums that
arc stable and will be there forever,
Hunter said. He said LB340 took
45,000 artifacts and 40,000beads that
collectors had donated in good faith
and gave them back to the American
Indian tribes.
Frank LaMere, rcprcscnling the
Nebraska Indian Inter-Tribal Devel
opment Corporation, said LB 1097
insults the sanctity of human burial.
LaMcrc told the committee about his
brother, a war hero who died in Viet
nam. He said his brother was buried
with all of his medals, including a
bronze star and purple heart.
“Someday, someone will come
into possession of those medals,”
LaMere said.
LaMere said he hopes that who
ever finds his brother’s grave in the
future does not lake the medals from
it just because they are historically
significant
“My brother was a good man, and
if he’d lived, he’d probably be here
testifying right now,” LaMere said.
‘ ‘Those medals said something about
him, and they were his whole life.”
See BURIAL on 3
Chickenpox cases reported,
but not considered serious
By Emily Rosenbaum
Senior Reporter
Although up to five cases of
chickenpox have been re
ported at University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, officials said
they are not worried.
Dr. Gerald Fleischli, director of
the University Health Center, said
the disease is not as serious as the
measles, which was considered an
epidemic last year.
Fleischli said Doug Zatechka,
university housing director, in
formed him a few days ago that
there were about five students in
the residence halls who had con
tracted chickenpox.
The disease is “extremely con
tagious,” but docs not require
medical attention, he said.
I !■■■!! I ■■■■ ...... lint— ■
The chances of anyone contract
ing chtckenpox who has had the
disease before are rare because the
body develops an immunity to the
disease, he said.
No vaccine is available for chick
enpox, he said.
Symptoms of the disease are
headache, mild fever and body
aches, followed bv “miniature
blisters” on the body, he said.
Students who develop those
symptoms should ‘ ’withdraw them
selves from unnecessary exposure
to others,” he said.
Students should not go to classes
or the cafeteria, but “we wouldn’t
quarantine someone,” he said.
The best treatment for chicken
pox is Benadryl, an over-the-counter
See POX on 5
