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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 31, 1995)
Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln JeffZeleny...Editor, 472-1766 Jeff Robb.Managing Editor Matt Woody... Opinion Page Editor DeDra Janssen....Associate News Editor Rainbow Rowell.Arts & Entertainment Editor James Mehsling...Cartoonist Chris Haiti.Senior Reporter Pricey highway Internet hookup serves few, costs all Improved access to the Internet — it’s every student’s wish and every administrator’s dream. As early as nextyear, residence hall students could be on-line from their rooms. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Housing officials have proposed to wire all of these students’ rooms, as well as faculty offices, to access HuskerNet and the Internet. Sounds like a great idea. . But there’s one tiny drawback: the $6.5 million price tag for the work. That’s a considerable amount of money to have to be paid by anyone. The most logical suggestions have been to increase rates for residence-hall living. But those rates are already increasing. Perhaps we should look at the issue of need. Do we really need to have all residence-hall rooms hooked up to the Internet? Sure, student interest in on-line services is constantly increasing, but it is unlikely that even a majority of residence-hall students even have HuskerNet accounts, let alone use them. Maybe all residence hall students should be allowed to vote on the issue to see if they really want the service and are willing to pay for it. If not, a smaller amount of money could be used to expand existing computer labs and build new ones. That would be a service that all UNL students, not just those living in residence halls, could utilize. Last call Lawmakers should extend alcohol sales The perennial proposal in the Legislature that would extend alcohol sales in Nebraska an additional hour deserves more consideration this year. Sen. Tim Hall of Omaha has continually argued that Nebraska’s 1 a.m. cutoff for alcohol sales hurts the state economically. He has said residents of his Omaha district can easily cross the Missouri River and enter Iowa for an extra hour of drinking. That might be true this year, but next year Nebraskans probably won’t be driving into Iowa. They will already be there. The two casino riverboats that will be open by next year in Council Bluffs will attract many from the Comhusker state. Extending alcohol sales is one way that members of the Nebraska Legislature can help the state economically without crossing the controversial gambling line. “There is acompetition issue,” Hall said during aMonday commit tee hearing. Under the current law, after 1 a.m. marty students drive to after hours parties that are held in uncontrolled environments. If drinking establishments were to stay open an additional hour, patrons would be supervised by bar employees, and the patrons’ drinking would be controlled. Extending the sale of alcohol by one hour will not save lives nor prevent drunken driving. The issue should be looked at as an economic one. The Daily Nebraskan encourages the General Affairs Committee to send LB217 to the full Legislature. Editorial policy Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Spring 1995. Daily Nebraskan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board Editori als do notnecessarily reflectthe views of the university, its employees, the students or the NU BoardofRegents. Editorial columns represent the opin ion of the author. The regents publish die Daily Nebraskan. "Dtey establish the UNL Publications Board to su pervise the daily production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the edito rial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its students. Letter policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publication on the basis ofclarity, originality, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all material submitted. Readers also are welcome to submit ma terial as guest opinions. The editor decides whether material should run as a guest opinion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be pub lished. Letters should included the author’s name, year in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Requests to withhold names will not be granted. Submitmaterial to the Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. \V\ G0IM6 To MAKE TUt WHITE HOUSE $iue RooN\... More mis m wum f v> O© : _r^. vA *u ■ I Send your brief letters to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St, Lincoln, Neb. 08588. Or fax to: (402) 472-1761. Letters must be signed and include a i phone number for ■^verification. Cindy Lange-Kubick I am writing in response to Cindy Lange-Kubick’s column “Abortion can saveiives, too” (Jan. 26). As I read her article, my mind continued to drift back to another story I read in the paper. It was about another woman who was trying to find an end to her depression. Feeling she could not cope with her children or her life, she tried to commit suicide but changed her mind. Instead, Susan Smith chose to end the lives of her two children. Lange-Kubick and Smith chose the same solution: murder. Each woman used her depression as an excuse to end the life of another person who was completely innocent. The only difference is that Lange-Kubick never gave her child a chance to be bom. The nation "was shocked and horrified by the selfish choice Smith made, one that was not hers to make. Lange-Kubick made the same choice, yet we’re supposed to support her. Lange-Kubick made her choice because she felt it was best for herself. So did Smith. These women ignored the children’s right to live, the fathers’ right to his children and the siblings’ right to know their brother or sister. Lange-Kubick may believe abortion saved her life. We know abortion killed her child. Counsel ing could have saved her life and her child, but Lange-Kubick will never know, and neither will her child. Kerry Hanigan senior English Lange-Kubick’s column stated her pro-abortion rights beliefs, and not whether she had an abortion. Lange Kubick says she has not had an abortion. — Editor Bret Gottshall/DN Allen Fans JeffZeleny’s column “Allen fans defeat Spanier fans 5-3” (Jan. 27), about the callers who talked to Regent Robert Allen on KLIN’s “Coffey Talk of Lincoln,” typifies modern journalism’s intellectual cowardice in its approach to covering both sides of a controver sial issue — Step one: Identify the conservative. Step two: Belittle his intelligence. Step three: Justify step two by quoting him inaccurately and out of context. I know this because I am Jerry, one of the Allen fans (conserva tives) who Zeleny set up as a straw man to be consumed in the inferno of his own white-hot intellect. In his opening sentence, Zeleny belittled the participants in the show by equating the conversation to sniper fire at a basketball game: “The shots rang out from the cheap seats,” he lamented. C’mon, Jeff! Words are not bullets, and my opinions are not the result of cheap, detached spectatorship. My degree in mathematics from this university represents an expensive victory in an arduous academic sport. And I’ve seen more playing time than Zeleny. Nevertheless, having quickly accomplished Steps one and two, Zeleny tried to make an example of me in Step three. He quoted me as saying: “Chancellor Spanier is one of those ex-campus radicals who once rallied for freedom. Regent Allen is right about Spanier. I applaud you, sir, keep up the good work.” This was not a direct quote of my words, but an insidious cut-and paste paraphrase of them designed to portray me as some tyrannical Neanderthal. UNL has mistaken indoctrina tion for education, and Chancellor Spanier has only deepened the confusion. Regent Allen IS right about Spanier. Jerry Paul Kreps Lincoln NEA funding Liberals are often quick to make a point sympathetic to their causes, but usually they are careful enough not to contradict themselves. The editorial “Culture Shock” (Jan. 30), dealing with National Endowment for the Arts funding, does exactly this. On one hand, the editorial says, “$167 million is not a price tag the private sector can pick up.” On the other hand, it says, “Americans spend $.64 per capita to preserve its heritage. That’s about the price of a cup of coffee.” Sure, it’s a small percentage of • the federal budget as a whole, but we only need to cut 3 to 5 percent annually to have a balanced budget. Cutting these types of expenses can make a big difference in the budget deficit if you make enough of them. So is $167 million a lot of money or not? If NEA funding were cut and only one out of every 10 people chose to make up the difference and contribute more to the arts, that would be $6.40 a person. That’s about 100 cups of coffee at an inexpensive place or only a few cups at a coffee shop. Robert Nickeson senior physics and astronomy
