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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 15, 1992)
■ ___—-------— ■ - - .. Senators delay vote on death penalty bill By Cindy Kimbrough and Sean Green Senior Reporters After a morning of emotional debate, the Nebraska Legisla ture laid over LB327, the bill that would eliminate the death pen -x——ally in Nebraska. While the bill’s sponsors argued that iinnil the death penalty is mWIII IL un,air Punishment, opponents coun |^TjTf5lTr|Wj tered that without I 1 kd lU11J kl the death penalty, appropriate punishment may not be ensured. Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, the chief sponsor of the bill, said he introduced it to replace the death penalty with a life sentence without chance of parole. Debate centers on role of Pardon Board The Nebraska Pardon Board still would have the authority to mitigate any sentence, even one of life impris onment, Chambers said. The death penalty in Nebraska, he said, needed replacing as it is “is administered in an arbitrary, random and unfair manner.” It should not be administered un less it is applied across the board, Chambers said. _ “How in the world are you going to separate out 12 unfortunate wretches, who, when the roulette wheel was spun, and their number came up, deserved to die, when others who committed worse ... murders never faces the death penalty because of plea bargains?” Chambers asked. The bill also is unfair, he said, as several white men were put on death row, but their sentences were changed. But Sen. La Von Crosby of Lin coln disputed Chambers’ argument that the death penalty was racially motivated. She said that of the 12 men on death row, four were black, one was an American Indian, and seven were white. This, Crosby said, parallels popu lation ratios in Douglas County. - Chambers also argued that the bill was useless because no one had been executed in Nebraska since Charles Starkweather in 1959. “What other bill could be on the books for that long of time and never carried out its purpose and be consid ered a valid law?” he asked. The death penalty also does not necessarily benefit the victims’ fami lies, he said. Chambers said his nephew was murdered, but that he was not vindic tively nursing the issue. If the mur derer was caught, he said, he would fight just as hard to see that that person was not executed. “I’m opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.” Chambers proposed an amendment to his bill that those given the life sentence serve the maximum sentence with no time subtracted for “good time,” or good behavior. B ut Crosby argued that Cham bers ’ bill, even with the amendment, was flawed because the Pardon Board could reduce the number of years served and reduce the harshness of the pun ishment. Sen. Elroy Hefner of Coleridge agreed with Crosby that the bill’s weight would be reduced because of the Pardon Board power. South Dakota eliminated its death penalty law several years ago, Hefner said, and voted to reinstate it. Sen. Carol McBride Pirsch of Omaha said the only way to solve the lessening of a life sentence was to repeal the death penalty and replace it wijh a life sentence through a consti tutional amendment. “If you are sincere about keeping murderers in jail, it has to be a consti tutional amendment,” Pirsch said. ^ Chambers withdrew his amend ment and the bill was tabled to a later date. Union Board plans new food court By Kara Morrison Staff Reporter The Fast Break cafeteria service in the Nebraska Union will close in April, and plans for a proposed food court to oc cupy the vacated space are underway, a Ne braska Union official announced Tuesday night. Daryl Swanson, director of the Nebraska “ Unions, said that financial difficulties with the food service area made its clos ing and the elimination of its 11 employee positions necessary. --- Fast Break losses totalled more than $100,000 in 1988-89, Swanson said, adding that in 1989-90 and 1990-91, losses were estimated at $97,000 each year. “I felt a responsibility to stop the bleeding,” he said. Between July and November of 1991 alone, losses wialled $57,000, Swanson said. Sales also were down 14 percent from the same period in 1990. The layoff of the 11 employees of the food service area will be effective no earlier than March 20 and no later than the end of April, Swanson said. These employees, he said, will become pri See UNION on 3 r-> • m m • Michelle Paulman/DN Field Trip Students from Eastridge Elementary School don their coats after touring Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden Tuesday morning. Unannounced reductions planned for three colleges Spanierto reveal recommendations From Staff Reports and The Associated Press Unannounced reductions to the base budgets of three UNL colleges arc among the budget cuts Chancellor Graham Spanier will reveal Thursday. The College of Arts and Sciences, m ir>^CTColicgc ot Homc DUUvjlt I Economics and iZ? Teachers College will face cuts not Qincluded in earlier ^budget reduction recommendations. Karen Craig, dean of home eco nomics, said vacant positions proba bly/would be sacrificed to comply with the demand for additional cuts to the college’s base budget. “Any cut is difficult, but I under stand that the Legislature doesn’t think we have enough money for higher ' - --»---s education. So if we have to cut, we have to cut^ she said. Craig said she had been given a specific dollar amount to be cut, but would not reveal this number. John Peters, dean of arts and sci ences, refused to comment, and James O’Hanlon, dean of the teachers col lege, could not be reached Tuesday. Stan Liberty, interim vice chan cellor for academic affairs, said addi tional colleges would face reductions in money alloted for temporary in stri'ctors. That money is not part of the colleges’ base budgets, he said. Michael Mulnix, executive direc tor of university relations, said Tucs: day that Spanier’s recommendations were not yet complete. “Nothing is final,” he said. “We’re still working on this thing. To really say much right now about the final recommendations would be prema ture.” f 2_ Correction. In a story Monday about new NCAA regulations for athlete eligibility. James O'Hanlon, UNL s athletics faculty representa tive, was misidentified The Daily Nebraskan regrets the error. * United Nations peacekeep ers arrive in Yugoslavia. Page 2 Women’s basketball team faces test in conference opener. Page 7 _ r*~ "Bill and Ted’s Bogus Jour ney" among holiday video re leases reviewed Page 9 INDEX Wire " 2 Opinion 4 Sports 7 A&E 9 Classifieds 11 r 1. r- : -H” ,'J * • f, Bill calls for cultural diversity in state schools Teacher denounces educational racism By Jeremy Fitzpatrick Senior Reporter Several slate senators have joined with a teacher from Norfolk to support a bill in the Nebraska Legislature that would require cul tural diversity studies in the state’s schools.——-Lr _r . . • LB922, introduced by Ernie Qam -ibers of Omaha and co-sponsored by David Landis and Di Anna Schimek of Lincoln, would require Nebraska’s primary and sccon _— dary schools to develop a multicultural education program and implement it in their curriculum by the 1993-1994 school year. V • ^ The bill also would require school districts to provide evidence to the State Department of Education that they arc adhering to the proposed law, and require the department to conduct surveys of the multicultural education programs and publish the results. “I think we need more understand ing of cultural diversity,” Schimck said. “I guess what prompts me (to support it) is the signs of racism 1 have seen recently m our society.” Jim Kubik, a government teacher at Norfolk Senior High School and a member of the board of the directors „ of the Nebraska State Education Association, wrote LB922. He said he became involved with the issue of muliiculluralism after a public forum he held in Norfolk on cultural aware ness about a year ago. • Sen. Chambers was one of the See DIVERSITY on 6