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O’Rourkes is one of many bars in Lincoln that has a book to single out fake IDs. Photo ,l,ustrat,on byStaci McKee
Senator aims to nullity take IDs
By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter_ _
Having an identity crisis at a
Lincoln bar or liquor store
can be costly.
But one state senator would like
to help.
In 1992, more than twice as
many minors as in 1991 were ar
rested in Lincoln for using false
identification to purchase beer or
liquor, or gain access into a bar.
Sen. Eric Will of Omaha has
proposed LB274 in the Legisla
ture, which would require future
driver’s licenses and stale ID cards
to be unalterable, possibly through
the use of holograms or other de
vices imprinted on the license.
However, such a plan would be
costly.
Will did not return several tele
phone calls made to his office
Monday.
Sgt. Ann Hecrmann, media re
lations officer for the Lincoln Po
~ ~ i -1— ..
Drivers licenses would be
tamper-proof under LB274
lice Department, said 65 arrests
were made in Lincoln in 1992 for
using false IDs — either an altered
driver’s license or identification
card, or the ID of someone else —
to purchase alcoholic beverages or
enter a bar.
In 1991, 32 arrests were made
for the same offense, and 31 were
made the year before that.
Sgt Bill Muldoon, media rela
tions officer for the Omaha Police
Department, said 12 people were
arrested in Omaha in 1991 for us
ing false identification. He said last
year’s figures had not been com
piled.
Tina Locske, a Lincoln city pros
ecutor, said a minor attempting to
purchase alcohol with a false ID
usually faces a fine of $100, and
possibly probation.
She said the maximum penalty
would be a $500 fine and a six
month jail sentence. But, she said,
that penalty is reserved for repeat
offenders.
“Actually, I’ve never seen any
one go to jail for that,” Loeske said.
Workers at two Lincoln bars
agreed they would be glad to sec a
better way of keeping minors out of
their establishments.
Bob Jcrgcnsen, manager at P.O.
Pears, 322 S. 9th St., said that al
though his bar has a reputation for
being hard on minors, some still try
to get in with false IDs.
“There have been times when
I’ve had a stack of 50 or more (fake
or misrepresented IDs) sitting be
hind the bar, that have accumu
latcd over a month or so,” Jcrgcnscn
said.
He said any P.O. Pears employee
who confiscates a false ID receives
a $10 reward.
What happens to the person try
ing to enter the bar with a false ID
depends on Jergcnscn’s mood at
the lime. -
“Usually, we’d call the police,”
he said. “But sometimes, if we’re
pretty busy, we might just confis
cate the ID and tell that person to
leave. We can’t physically restrain
them.”
Kim Gifford, co-owner of
Chesterfield’s, Bottomslcy & Potts,
in the lower level of the Gunny’s
Building, 245 N. 13th St., said the
number of confiscated IDs “have
been pretty consistent” since she
started working there four years
ago.
“I’d say we probably take in 20
IDs a month,” Gifford said. “The
See FAKES on 3
Book prices
out of date,
orricials say
By Steve Smith
r Editor_
Ithough theprices for textbooks
may sometimes seem outland
ish^ university officials arc ask
ing professors and students to read
between the lines.
Paul Carlson, UNL interim busi
ness manager, said the price list used
by James Moore, UNL history profes
sor, was outdated. Moore said in a Jan.
28 Daily Nebraskan story that the
bookstore was overcharging students.
“Moore says that he can’t believe
we’d be selling that book (for that
price) because his royalty statement
says it’s $17.98,” Carlson said. “That
has no bearing at all on what we have
to pay for or sell the book for. That
price could be just way low, and he
might be getting less than he should
be getting.
“That’s a problem between him
and his publisher, not with us.”
Carlson also said the University
Bookstore made an error when it gave
the suggested retail price of “In Our
Times: America After World War II”
in me Da i ly Nebraskan story as S25.80.
“That was our own error in the
bookstore system,”Carlson said. “We
hadn’t updated the prices ourselves.”
Larry Behrends, general manager
of the University Bookstore, said
Moore was correct in saying that
“Books in Print” listed a lower price
than the bookstore price tag. Carlson
said the University Bookstore also
followed that price list.
However, Behrends said “Books
in Print,” which came out in October
1992 and covers texts for the 1992-93
school year, was simply outdated.
“Itdocs say in ‘Books in Print’ that
‘In Our Times’ is S18,” Behrends
said. “That’s the net price—the price
that the bookstore pays for it. Since
that new edition came out, as can be
seen from the invoices, the price has
already risen.”
Carlson agreed that the majority of
information in “Books in Print” was
outdated by the time it was published.
“It takes them so long to research
it that, by the time they’re done, it’s
obsolete, what with escalating prices
these days,” he said.
Carlson said the invoice sent to the
bookstore from the publisher, Prentice
Hall, showed the list price at S22.80
See BOOKSTORE on 3
Legislative bills draw opposition from outside
UNL officials say
Nebraska voters
should pick regents
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter
An amendment added to proposed consti
tutional amendment LR3CA would
change the NU Board of Regents from
an elected txxly to one appointed by the gover
nor.
Sen. Michael Avery of
Gretna offered an addition
to LR3CA that originally
sought to reduce regents’
terms to four years. Regents
now serve six-year terms.
An appointed board would
allow regents to make deci
sions without political pressure, Avery said,
and would expand citizen participation.
Positions on the board would have to be
confirmed by one-half of the Legislature after
being appointed.
Appointing education boards is not a new
idea, Avery said. Similar boards arc appointed
in many states, he said in an education commit
tee hearing Monday.
“The gubernatorial method, with approval
by the Legislature, would be common,” he said.
“About 70 to 75 percent of four-year institu
tions do appoint members. Only five or six
states choose by electorate.”
Under the proposal, no more than one-half
of the eight-member board could be from the
same political party, which would create a
more diverse population on the board, Avery
said. The board also could be reduced to six
members.
Student regent positions would continue to
be held by student body presidents, elected
annually at each NU institution.
Andrew Sigerson, Association of Students
of the University of Nebraska, said he was
opposed to the appointment process.
“The governor of any party shouldn’t ap
point the highest education governing body,”
See REGENTS on 3
r
Wood says consent
before purchases
unconstitutional
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter_
Requiring the University of Nebraska to
gain legislative consent before purchas
ing land is unconstitutional, Richard
Wood, NU general counsel, said Monday.
Wood, testifying before
an education committee
hearing, said LB27 had seri
ous legal problems and spe
cifically violates article two,
section one of the constitu
tion.
-“The proposed legislation
violates (the) separation of powers,” he said. “It
would invade the executive (power) of the
board of regents.”
The bill, introduced by Sens. Ron W ithem of
Papillion and John Lindsay and Dan Lynch,
both of Omaha, would require the university to
gain legislative consent before making any
major land purchases.
Controversy over land acquisition erupted
when the university bought daVinci’s at 13 and
Q streets through University Foundation funds.
The land will be used for a Lied Center Park
project.
Wood said N U had no obi igation to repay the
foundation, and nothing was done incorrectly
in the da Vinci’s land purchase.
The land was taken for public use under the
eminent domain clause, Wood said.
Withem said the Legislature should be in
volved in the buying process if taxpayer funds
were used.
But Wood maintained that no tax money
was used in the entire Temple block project,
which started in 1980. It was funded entirely
through a University Foundation grant.
Wood said the university believed the land
acquisition issue was one that needed to be
addressed, but not necessarily by the Legisla
ture.
The Coordinating Commission for Post
See LAND on 3
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