Montigo Bay
Continued from Page 1
evening. Johanns was out of the office, and
officials at the mayor’s office were unsure
of his plans.
Regardless of whether the mayor signs,
the commission has the authority to stay
any decision pending a hearing, McArthur
said. That means that for now, the doors of
Montigo Bay will remain open for business,
he said.
Bill Austin, city attorney, said the vote
possibly marked the first time that the coun
cil had voted to revoke a liquor license.
“I can’t recall the last time we had a full
blown revocation hearing,” Austin said.
For Cindy Johnson, vice-chairwoman of
the council and chairwoman of the internal
liquor commission, the decision was war
ranted and overdue.
“We have to have the guts to yank a
license if they (bar owners) are not being
responsible,” she said. “We can’t let the
violations continue.
“And promises (that things will change)
sometimes get to a point where you have to
go with what’s reality.”
More and more liquor licenses are com
ing into Lincoln, Johnson said, and several
bars are running a “risky business.” Montigo
Bay was operating at that point, she said,
and making promises it wasn’t keeping.
None of the other bars have fallen to the
level of Montigo Bay, she said, and
Monday’s vote was not a symbol of things
to come.
Kugler said the vote had made him a
symbol. Montigo Bay was unfairly singled
out, he said, and the bar has already teen
affected.
“(The decision) was straight-out, ‘rail
road you out of business,’” Kugler said.
When Kugler returned to Montigo Bay
after the vote, he got a call from a man in
charge of the bar’s campus promotion, he
said. The man told him that several sorori
ties had voted not to do business with
Montigo Bay because of the city’s crack
down.
Counc il members maintain the bar ’ s man
agement brought the action on themselves.
For councilman Curt Donaldson, the mes
sage was simple.
Donaldson said a liquor license was not
a learner’s permit. It’s a serious responsibil
ity, he said, and so was Monday’s decision
to revoke the license.
McArthur said he would argue before
the commission that Kugler had not been
given enough time to correct problems and
take action on the council’s demands.
At an informal meeting between the
council and Montigo Bay, held Dec. 13, a
set of guidelines and actions was agreed
upon to correct the problems, he said. But
the council followed that up with a hearing
to revoke the license Jan. 30.
A month and a half is not enough time,
McArthur said.
The issue was rushed, he said. Now,
given the rarity of the situation and ambigu
ity of the law, there is a lot of confusion
about how to proceed, he said.
McArthur said the commission hearing
‘ would take up to six months before any
decision was passed down. Montigo Bay is
expected to continue liquor sales during
that time, he said.
Scott Bruhn/DN
Chris Kugler, co-owner of Montigo Bay, sits at the bar following a vote by
the Lincoln City Council to revoke Montigo Bay’s liquor license.
I_
Officer files suit seeking
$ 1 million from accused
From Staff Reports
UNL Police officer Robert Soflin, who was
wounded in a Sept. 12 shooting, has filed a
lawsuit seeking more than $1 million from the
man charged with shooting him.
Soflin filed the lawsuit against £erald
Schlondorf on last Wednesday in Lancaster
County District Court. The lawsuit claims
disability and medical expenses, lost wages
and suffering resulting from wounds he re
ceived to his right hand, neck and shoulder.
Schlondorf, a former criminal justice major
at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, fired
nine shots at Soflin, police allege, at a Septem
ber incident at 16th and R streets.
District Court Judge Jeffre Cheuvront has
put a hold on Schlondorf s bank accounts.
Schlondorf had asked that a public defender be
appointed for him because he couldn’t afford
one.
Soflin’s statement in the lawsuit, however,
states that Schlondorf has an account totaling
several thousand dollars at the National Bank
of Commerce in Lincoln. He also has a
$136,000 money market account at the Bank
of Clarks in Clarks, Neb., Soflin states.
Schlondorf, 31, remains in custody on nine
felony charges including an attempted second
degree murder.
Soflin would not comment on the lawsuit or
the case Monday night.
Committee
Continued from Page 1
by six separate governing boards, one for each
of the six community college areas.
By merging funding and control,
Wickersham said, community colleges would
be able to coordinate resources and program
ming and increase access and service to stu
dents.
But Mary Harding, of the Southeast Com
munity College governing board, said she was
concerned that the bill centralizes authority at
a time when most movement is toward decen
tralization.
“It’s astounding we have to deal with a
proposal that heads in just the opposite direc
tion,” Harding said.
In other action, the Education Committee
voted to advance to the floor of the Legislature
a resolution that would urge Congress to con
tinue supporting public broadcasting.
LR48, sponsored by Sen. Roger Wehrbein,
recognizes the quality of public broadcasting
in Nebraska and the unique circumstances of
public broadcasting in a sparsely populated
state, such as Nebraska.
Wehrbein said Nebraska had an excep
tional public broadcasting system and should
not lose the valuable programming used in
homes, schools and businesses across the state.
He said it would be senseless to waste the
investment the state had committed to infra
structure for public broadcasting.
“It would be a mistake to give this up at this
time,” Wehrbein said.
Wehrbein said if state public broadcasting
lost federal funds, the Legislature would be
hard pressed to make up all the funds. Wehrbein
is chairman of the Appropriations Committee,
which sets the state’s budget.
Even if funds were restored to public broad
casting in Nebraska, Wehrbein said, national
programs couldn’t be replaced.
In action by the full Legislature, a bill that
would require certain lottery vendors to dis
close campaign contributions received sec
ond-round approval by state lawmakers. LB28
was moved to Final Reading on 31-4 vote.
LB274, a bill that would prohibit interfer
ence with a person engaged in hunting, trap
ping or fishing, also was given second-round
approval on a voice vote.
Wage
Continued from Page 1
The states, including Iowa, the “radical entity
to the east,” were seeing success.
Hall also cited studies from after the last
increase — which went from $3.35 to $4.25 in
1991 — to show a higher wage wouldn’t lead
to a rash of firings. He pointed to statistics
showing that .6 percent of teen-agers at fast
food restaurants were the only firings. Adults
were not affected, he said.
In New Jersey, Hall said, a minimum wage
of $5.05 led to an increase in teen-age employ
ment at fast-food restaurants.
“In other words, folks felt an incentive to go
to work,” Hall said.
Hall said the increase would be the best way
to fight poverty and could be considered wel
fare reform. He said the 1991 increase brought
200,000 people above the poverty line.
“It’s time for us to start to look at not just
playing catch-up,” he said.
But five opponents besides Lambi disagreed.
Jerry Stilmock of the National Federation of
Independent Business said the 24 percent in
crease in the minimum wage would lead to
more poverty, as low-skilled workers found
themselves out of work and more jobs became
part-time.
Lambi also said the higher wage would
raise unemployment. The last time the mini
mum wage increased, Lambi said, Spaghetti
Works started making sauce in one central
kitchen, instead of each restaurant making its
own.
“I’m not a fancy economist, but I can tell
you I don’t have five sauce people anymore,”
he said.
Another increase could see a person who
spreads butter on bread get fired.
“That’s five more jobs gone,” Lambi said.
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