' " T- " t I JanaPeder**", Editor. 472-1766
— — m Daily Alan Phelps, Opinion Page Editor
T* M' "m • W T t "I Kara Wells, Managing Editor
age I lmmnn Nebraskan
B B B W JL BL Editorial Board Brian Shelliio, Cartoonist
* " “““ University of Nebraska-Lincoln Jeremy Fitzpatrick, Senior Reporter
Solution search
Parking services need improvement
When two outside consultants presented a report on
campus parking Wednesday, they said they really
didn’t know how to resolve UNL’s parking woes,
because the university has no long-term plan.
“It’s hard to make recommendations without a clear policy
standard,” one of the consultants said.
Instead of showing UNL how to solve its parking dilemma,
the consultants simply
recommended the develop
ment of some kind of parking
strategy, some form of
guidance.
Apparently, several UNL
students have become the
newest victims of that lack ol
direction.
Susan Oxley, a member
of the Parking Appeals Com
mittee, said more than 100
students had appealed tickets
this month alone.
The problem, she said, is
lack of communication
between the parking office
and students.
For those who haven’t
heard, UNL has stepped up
its ticketing of students who park in campus lots at night
without permits.
Many students have parked in these lots all school year
without knowing it was against the rules. Thai’s because
ticketing them wasn’t a priority until recently, which leaves
one wondering exactly where UNL gels its parking priorities.
Ray Coffey, UNL’s business manager, said the recent
barrage of tickets was aimed at making spaces available for
those who do have night permits. About three-fourths of those
ticketed had no permit at all, he said.
While it is unfair to charge only the students who purchased
permits for night-parking privileges, it also is an overstatement
to imply that anyone would have problems finding closc-at
hand parking spots at night. Most red lots arc barren after 6
p.m.
Ignorance is no excuse for disobeying the law — even n u s
just parking law — but to start enforcing the policy and expect
students to buy them at such a late stage in the school year is
ridiculous.
Parking officials should have learned their lesson after trying
to raise the price of permits earlier this semester: Students —
and outside parking consultants — no longer will stand for
haphazard parking services.
‘Jerusalem’ ad unfair to Arabs
I am writing in response to the
advertisement placed in the Daily
Nebraskan on April 17, 1992, tilled
“Next Year In Jerusalem.”
When the author titles thead “Next
Year In Jerusalem,” he is triggering
emotions among the three religious
groups that regard Jerusalem holy to
them. I am wondering if the author
meant Jerusalem as Israeli Jews know
it, as Arab Jews know it, as Arab
Christians know it or as Arab Mos
lems know it! I believe that Jerusalem
is Jerusalem for all.
Hirincr in me aa, me aumor re
ferred lo Arabs, saying that .. our
Arab brethren will abandon lies, murder
and terror.” For someone to describe
all Arabs as murderers, liars and ter
rorists reflects noth ing but hatred and
ignorance. I think, rather than calling
each other names, it is about time foi
us (Arabs and Jews) to pul our differ
ences behind and start thinking seri
ously about giving peace a real chance
Rassem M. Dabba?
graduate sluden
-EDITORIAL POLICY
_ . . i . a vrv
Stall editorials represent tneoin
cial policy of the Spring 1992 Daily
Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily
Nebraskan Editorial Board. Its mem
bers are: Jana Pedersen, editor; Alan
Phelps, opinion page editor; Kara
Wells, managing editor; Roger Price,
wire editor; Wendy Navratil, copy
desk chief; Brian Shellito, cartoon
ist; Jeremy Fil/pairick, senior re
porter.
Editorials do not necessarily re
„ fleet the views of the university, its
employees, me siuuems ui ur
Board of Regents.
Editorial columns represent th<
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are the regents, who established th<
UNL Publications Board to super
vise the daily production of the pa
per.
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gents, responsibility for the editoria
content of the newspaper lies solel;
in the hands of its students.
-Lb IIbK HUUU r
rv • • i ■ I V ....... /tr\inu\nL' IT
i ric uany i>ci/id>Kuii wch wiiio
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x^
" ViEU., LOOKS UKE the STALEMATE is over
ALAN PHELPS
State debate open, shut case
Kolokansahoma?
Elementary school kids may
have to learn a new slate capi
tal if some southwest Kansans have
their way.
Upset with a proposed plan that
would take tax revenues from oil-rich
southwest Kansas and distribute them
more evenly across the state, some
Kansans arc talking secession.
Nearby counties in adjoining Colo
rado, the Oklahoma panhandle and
perhaps even Texas are looking into
joining them. It seems residents of the
sparsely populated, agricultural multi
state area believe they have much
more in common with each other than
fellow citizens in their respective slates.
Representatives from southwest
Kansas, the Oklahoma panhand Ic and
eastern Colorado planned to meet today
to discuss the mechanics of secession
and the formation of a new state.
Proponents of the secession even
have a catchy slogan they’ve plas
tered alI over T-shirts—“Tolo, we’re
not in Kansas anymore.” Chortle.
It isn’t likely that anything will
become of all this hot air. To form a
new stale requires a vole of the people,
the stale legislatures involved and
Congress. 1 doubt Kansans would vote
away a portion of their state, espe
cially a portion they could raise money
frr-im
Plus, it’s kind of an unwritten law
that to make a stale, you have to have
. SOMETHING. Anyone who hasever
been to eastern Colorado or western
1 Kansas will agree that nothing exists
there. Really. A few state patrol cars
‘ cruise around, but that's about it.
Eastern Colorado is just something
5 you have to drive through to gel to the
' mountains. Western Kansas is somc
- thing you thankfully don’t have to
■ drive through to get anywhere.
Meanwhile, down in Texas, one
' state legislator recently proposed
1 dividing the state into New Texas and
* Old Texas in an effort to bring atten
tion to how much people in the west
ern part of that state believe they arc
dwarfed by the political clout of their
eastern brethren.
Texans actually could divide their
stale into as many as five new states,
according to the rcadmission treaty
they signed with the Union after the
Civil War. They wouldn’t need con
| grcssional approval.
Still, Texans arc too proud of that
huge spot they have on the map. So
don’t look for New Texas anytime
soon, either.
Every once in a while we hear
The last lime / drove
through Lma mlh
some friends, m de
cided everyone would
be a lot happier if we
just squished Ne
braska ami Illinois
together,
Western Nebraskans whine about
wanting to join Wyoming. Cheyenne
is much closer to the Panhandle than
Lincoln, and Wyom ing has Jel lystonc
Park.
The Panhandle is more like Wyo
ming than Nebraska. They’re in the
wrong time /.one, the terrain is differ
ent, they go to rodeos, they punch
cattle and drive cattle and whatever
else you do with cattle.
But all the talk never goes any
where. Why that is. I’m not sure.
I remember once when 1 was a kid
I became tired of Nebraska and de
clared my bedroom a separate coun
try. It was kind of an odd country,
because my nx)m was on the second
floor of my house, which meant it
kind of floated in midair.
My room was a lot like the United
Stales, although 1 was president, and
the family cat was vice president.
I half-expected the United States
to wage war against me, but nothing
ever happened. I never actually de
clared my room to be part of America
again; 1 suppose it is still a different
country.
People always arc coming up with
ways to meddle around with the map
of the United States. I ’vc read articles
in the past advocating a total redesign
of all state borders so big cities wouldn’t
overlap into different states, like metro
Chicago does. -
Well, if that’s the way it’s going to
be, I have a few suggestions of my
own:
•Why Iowa? Do we really need
Iowa? What’s up with that?
Interstate 80 is boring enough as it
is. The last lime I drove through Iowa
with some friends, we decided every
one would be a lot happier if we just
squished Nebraska and Illinois to
gether.
The drive to Chicago would be
quicker. The Missouri and Missis
sippi rivers would flow side-by-side.
We wouldn’t have to pronounce Dez
Monez.
Iowa is the hardest state to get
across that I’ve ever traveled through.
Besides 1-80, I’ve also been up through
Sioux City and the northwestern cor
ner, and it’s not much better.
•Let’s just gel it over with and
annex Canada. I’m tired of all this
hem-haw and rigamarole. Whenever
you go to Canada it’s like, do you
have any live animals or any fruits or
soil, blah blah blah. And then when
you do get across the border, every
thing is in the metric system.
Once, in Ontario, I paid S20 for
some “liters” of gas and a Reese’s
peanut buttercup package with three
peanut butter cups. Who ever heard
of getting more than two peanut butter
cups? Docs that have something to do
with the metric system?
. • .. . . __...rr
I UUII I MIUW IIUW IIIUV.M illai 3UIII
really cost because the cashier gave
me a horrible exchange rale for my
American money.
We’ll just see who messes up which
candy bars when Old Glory flics above
those gas pumps.
•There arc loo many squarish slates
out west. In the East, slates all have
very distinctive shapes. But in the
West, you gel shapes like Colorado,
Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, etc.
There’s just no reason for it.
Why, Colorado and Wyoming arc
EXACTLY the same. What if you
had to tell which was which in the
dark? You couldn’t, that’s what.
That problem would be solved if a
new state was created between Colo
rado and Kansas.
But none of this is really worth it.
All the maps would have to be re
drawn, and Rand McNally is already
in a fit over Europe.
When it comes right down to it,
most people would agree the states
arc fine the way they arc.
Every once in a while, though, it’s
nice to go to my old room, where, by
Presidential Decree, my birthday is a
national holiday.
Phelps Is a sophomore news-editorial
major, the Dally Nebraskan opinion paj{c
editor and a columnist.
