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Budget ax would wound UNL, officials warn
Students, faculty,
public would be
severely affected
By Michelle Leary
Senior Reporter
UNL will suffer severe reper
cussions if a proposed 5 per
cent cut to the University of
Nebraska’s budget is approved by the
full Legislature, university officials
said.
Michael Mulnix, executive direc
tor of university relations, said the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln would
take the brunt of at least half of the
$ 13.98 million cut, part of a prelimi
nary recommendation approved Mon
day by the Legislature’s Appropria
tions Committee.
“The university has known for
months that a possibility of budget
cuts existed,” Mulnix said. But the
cuts could send the university into a
“crisis situation,” he added.
“We’re not crying wolf,” he said.
The university already has experi
enced three successive budget cuts
and budget reductions in seven of the
past 12 years.
UNL Chancellor Graham Spanier
said he was very concerned about the
Appropriations Committee’s pro
posal.
“Eighty percent of UNL’s budget
is in people,” Spanier said.
“Cuts of the magnitude being pro
posed would require us to lay off
dozens, if not thousands, of employ
ees,” he said. “Not only would that
disrupt the university, it would dis
rupt the city of Lincoln where most of
our employees live.”
Spanier said students would feel
the greatest impact of the budget cuts.
“That’s even scarier to me,” he
said. “This university took 124 years
to build and I don’t want to see it
dismantled over budget problems.”
In a written statement, NU Presi
dent Martin Massengale said all NU
campuses already had reduced pro
grams and services in the areas where
it was hoped the least damage would
be done to teaching, research and
public services.
The proposed cut represents 5 per
cent of NU’s fiscal year 1992-93 gen
eral fund operations appropriation of
_ 44
Cuts of the magnitude being proposed would
require us to lay off dozens, if not thousands, of
employees.
-Spanier
UNL chancellor
$279.6 million.
Massengalc said the additional 5
percent reduction would leave the
university no choice but to restrict the
basic programs in ways that directly
affect students, faculty and those citi
zens who depend on the outreach
services.
Members of UNL’s Government
Liaison Committee, who met with
77
Mulnix Tuesday to voice their con
cerns, said they were genuinely
shocked when they heard about the
proposed cuts.
“We are extremely concerned with
the budgeting process at Legislature,”
said Chris Peterson, a GLC lobbyist.
“We feel the students were blindsided
See CUT on 6
Bill to lower
legal alcohol
limit debated
By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter
A proposed bill that would lower
Nebraska’s legal blood-alcohol con
tent raised disputes Tuesday between
state officials and business owners at a hearing
for thebegisiaturc’s Transportation Commit
tee.
LB80, if passed, would lower the legal blood
alcohol limit from .10 percent to .08 percent.
I-^ I Under the proposed bill,
anyone found to have a
blood-alcohol level greater
than .08 would be consid
ered intoxicated.
The committee did not
vote on the bill Tuesday.
Under Nebraska law, a
person convicted on a first offense of driving
while intoxicated faces a minimum sentence of
seven days in jail, a $200 fine and a suspended
license for six months.
A second ollcnsc brings a maximum ol 90
days in jail, a $500 fine and suspension of a
license for a year. The maximum sentence for
a third conviction is one year in jail, a $500 fine
and a suspended license for 15 years.
Sen. LaVon Crosby of Lincoln, who co
sponsored LB80 with three other senators, said
statistics showed that 20 percent of all alcohol
related traffic fatalities in the United States
involved drivers with blood-alcohol levels be
low .10.
That statistic, she said, shows it’s time for a
change in the law.
“People may feel like they’re sober, but in
reality, their judgment and reactions arc im
paired enough to allow an accident,” Crosby
said. “This bill won’t solve everything, but it’s
a step in the right direction.”
David Newell, an Omaha police officer, said
he routinely stops motorists who arc intoxi
cated and unable to safely drive, but cannot
arrest them bcctfuseohey only test at .08 or .09.
“In fact,” Ncwclksaid, “I’ve never tested
anyone at .08 who was not significantly im
paired and a significant danger to society.”
Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey said
LB80 would increase the number of DWI con
victions and decrease the number of alcohol
related fatalities.
■OBI^———
Robin Trimarchi/DN
Abortion-rights supporters march through downtown Lincoln to the governor’s residence Tuesday evening. From
left to right: Juleign Morgan; Suzanne Rogers-Lipsey, president of tne National Organization for Women Lincoln
chapter; Kim Tubbs and Monte Lefholtz, treasurer of tne Nebraska NOW.
Activists protest abortion-related bills
Laws would prohibit
use of public facilities,
enact waiting period
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter
About 30 sign-toting abortion-rights
activists gathered Tuesday to pro
test two abortion-related legislative
bills.
Signs reading: “Doctors went to mcd
school, not senators,” and “Rich, white privi
leged men will not decide,” were among
some carried by protesters who marched
from 17th and O streets to the governor’s
mansion, 1425 H St.
The march, organized by the National
Organization for Women-Lincoln chapter,
was organized to draw public attention to
anti-abortion Legislative Bills 110 and 1-56.
LB110, introduced by Sen. John Lindsay
of Omaha, was passed out of committee last
week. The bill would require a woman to
receive information prior to having an abor
tion, and to wait 24 hours after signing the
information.
Suzanne Rogers-Lipscy, president of Lin
coln NOW, said the bill wasn’t needed.
“A woman doesn’t decide to have an
abortion frivolously,” she said.
LB 156, sponsored by Sen. Cap Dierks of
Ewing, would prohibit the use of public
facilities for abortion. It is being held by the
Judiciary Committee.
Rogers-Lipsey said that if the bill passed,
women’s lives could be at risk.
If a woman was in a public-funded hospi
tal and needed an abortion for health rea
sons, she would not be able to have one
performed, she said.
Amber Worcester, a freshman environ
mental science major, said senators needed
to be reminded of opposing points of view.
“It’s important for people to know that
we’re still here,” she said. “The laws aren’t
forever. We need to make senators vote
right.” v
Worcester said protester!# weren’t in fa
vor of abortion; l>tttHhe^noice should be
there for those who were.
“I'm against abortion personally,’’ she
said, but “people need to realize if they are
against abortion, it’s not up to them to
decide."
Rich Higgins of Lincoln said the issue
was of importance to men and women.
“Real men aren’t afraid of women’s
rights,” he said. “Most pro-life people arc
anti-women, which is anti-human."
Tony Lindquist, a senior sociology ma
jor, agreed, and participated in the rally to
show support for the abortion-rights cause.
The issue concerns everyone, not just women,
he said.
“Taking away women’s choice is taking
away mcn"s as well,” he said.
Lindquist, who works at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln Women’s Center, said
men needed to get more involved in issues
like abortion.
Monte LefTtoltz of Omaha, treasurer of
Nebraska NOW, led women attached by
leashes to signify the abortion gag rule. He
portrayed Lindsay in the march.
“I’d be ashamed to be Sen. Lindsay,” he
said. “He is to America as Islamic funda
mentalists are to Islam.”
Worcester said the march probably didn’t
change anyone’s mind,, but it brought atten
tion to the issue.
“It’s better to make people angry than
nothing at all,” she said.
One problem with convicting DWI suspects,
Lacey said, is the perception by judges that
breathalizers — devices used by law enforce
ment officers to test the breath of drivers under
suspicion of driving intoxicated — have an
inherent error rate.
“There are six judges in Lancaster County,
and all of them have bought the argument of a
standard deviation rate,” l^acey said. “Because
of that, if someone is brought in with a .10,
they’re usually not prosecuted.”
Lacey added that lowering the legal limit to
.08 would relieve other forms of stress for law
enforcement officers caused by current law.
See LEGISLATURE on 6