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March 3-5, 1995
Two votes shy, budget amendment falls
From The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Senate
solemnly dealt defeat Thursday to the
balanced-budget amendment to the
Constitution, cornerstone of a broader
Republican drive to cut spending and
shrink government.
Both sides sought instant political
advantage in the residue of the fiery
battle, which saw the amendment fall
two votes shy, 65-35, ofthe two-thirds
majority needed for approval.
The vote followed Democratic ac
-w • *1
cusations that the Republicans were
threatening Social Security, a charge
Majority Leader Bob Dole sharply
denied.
“The real losers here are our chil
dren and grandchildren, who will be
burdened by a mountain of ever-in
creasing debt,” said Jim Exon, D-Neb.,
who voted for the amendment.
Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., voted against
it as promised.
Fifty-one Republicans and 14
Democrats voted for the amendment,
while 33 Democrats and two Republi
i
cans—Mark Hatfield of Oregon and
Dole — voted no.
Dole voted no — after one final,
futile attempt to sway Hatfield—in a
parliamentary maneuver that kept the
measure alive for another possible vote
during the 1996 election season. Dole
had to vote with the prevailing side
this time to bring up die amendment
again.
“Let ‘em try,” Democratic Leader
TomDaschle said defiantly a few hours
before the vote.
By opposing the amendment, he
said, Democrats were saving Social
Security trust funds from deficit cut
ters.
The amendment is designed to end
the run-up in red ink that has the na
tional debt approaching $5 trillion. It
calls for a balanced budget beginning
in the year 2002, unless three-fifths of
both houses vote otherwise.
A key element of the Contract With
America, it cleared the GOP-con
trolled House in January on a vote of
300-132.
Republicans had looked to the
measure toprovide discipline for tough
votes ahead.
“It might make getting what we
want to do harder,” Sen. Pete
Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the
Budget Committee, said shortly after
the vote. “For some senators, it might
be easier to avoid the tough votes.”
Moments before the vote, Dole
accused Democrats of playing blatant
politics.
“All this talk about protecting So
cial Security is a cover for a tax in
See BUDGET on 3
Legislature
begins debate
on crime bill
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
The future ofthe always-controversial crime
bill looks to be mired in lengthy debate, the
chairman of the Nebraska Legislature’s Judi
ciary Committee said Thursday.
■uu_s
LEGISLATURE
>en. Jonn Lindsay ot
Omaha, who introduced
LB571 at the requestor the
governor, said the 1995crime
bill was better than the pack
age that ground past senators
last session.
However, Lindsay said,
Sen. Ernie Chambers of
Omaha promised the mem
bers of the Judiciary Com
mittee that floor debates on the bill would last
into the night. He said Chambers also told
senators they would have to invoke cloture, a
rule designed to end lengthy debate.
Chambers, in an interview on the floor, was
more reserved in his comments about the bill.
He said he was not ready to comment, but was
preparing for floor debate.
Lindsay said that in committee, an attempt
failed to add amendments drawn up by Attorney
General Don Stenberg. Lindsay said much de
bate on the bill was left.
The bill, which was out of committee late
Wednesday night with Chambers casting the
lone dissenting vote, focuses primarily on vio
lent crime, Lindsay said, <
Lindsay said the bill was unlike last year’s,
which triedto catch all the little items with one
big net. The 1995 crime package will also be
more affordable, he said.
The bill contains language adding minimum
sentences for certain crimes and prohibits those
given mandatory minimum sentences from be
ing paroled.
Also under the bill, people over the age of 18
caught selling drugs within 1,000 yards of a
school, college or playground or within 100
yards of a youth center, public swimming pool,
or video arcade would receive a penalty onc>
level higher than prescribed by law.
LB371 also contains several sections in
creasingthe penalties for big-time drug dealers,
Lindsay said. In those sections of the bill, pen
alties are added for different amounts of drugs,
with sentences ranging from a maximum life I
sentence to a minimum of one year in prison.
The bill also creates a class IV felony for
carjacking. Called “unauthorized entry into a
propelled vehicle,” the carjacking offense car
’ ries with it a maximum punishment of five years
in prison and a $10,000 fine. a
Under LB371, boot camps would be created
for adult criminal offenders. Lindsay said the
bill helped clean up the boot-camp idea, which
had been rejected by senators in the past.
The camps, which would be assigned to the
Department of Correctional Services, would try
todeter criminals from future unlawful activity,
the bill states. The camps also would provide
education for the inmates.
Damon Lee/DN
smntt^class
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
If Moira Ferguson has her way, you won’t
find one of her books collecting dust in a
library.
The sandy-brown haired English profes
sor, who often speaks louder with her hands
than her voice, wants her research right where
her students can see it: in the classroom.
For her work on the writings of 16th- and
17th-century women slaves in the Carib
bean, Ferguson was awarded the Outstand
mg Research and Creative Activity award,
the highest award the University ofNebraska
gives to faculty members. She also has re
ceived awards for outstanding teaching from
the university.
But Ferguson said research and teaching
did not come naturally to her.
“It’s certainly not natural for me since I
grew up in the tenements in Glasgow (Scot
land),” she said, still holding on to some of
her Scottish accent. “It’s a combination of
good luck and hard work.”
Luck and work produced six books on
British colonial women writers, with a focus
on slave writers in the Caribbean.
And research for those has taken her to
the site of her studies: Antigua, in the East
Caribbean.
Ferguson spent hours in the archives of
the island, looking for women writers’ work.
But sticking to her work on the tropical
island was not hard, she said, because she
liked getting into her research.
Ferguson’s research since graduate school
See FERGUSON on 3
Court date set in lawsuit against UNL
sy Brian snarp
Senior Reporter ~
- A court date has been set in an $18 million
lawsuit filed against the University ofNebraska
and members of its faculty.
U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kopf
scheduled the trail to begin in February 1996.
Tadeusz Radecki, a former associate computer
science professor at UNL, filed the lawsuit in
October 1994.
In it, he alleges violations of the Americans
with Disabilities Act, civil rights and state laws
in his dismissal in 1991.
Radecki included the following faculty and
administrators in the suit;
• Roy Keller, former chairman of the Com
puter Science and Engineering Department and
emeritus professor at UNL.
• John Peters, former dean of the UNL
College of Arts and Sciences.
• David Klamer, computer sciences and
engineering professor at UNL.
• Joseph Y-T Leung, chairman of the Com
puter Science and Engineering Department at
UNL.
• William Splinter, dean of the College of
Engineering and Technology and former dean
of Graduate Studies at UNL.
Radecki came to UNL in 1985 and was given
a two-year appointment as a visiting professor.
He later was promoted to associate professor,
and also worked in the Center for Communica
tion and Information Sciences, the lawsuit states.
Radecki stated that in 1988 he began experi
encing symptoms of depression. Those symp
toms increased until he was diagnosed in 1990
as suffering from depression and anxiety, both
forms of mental illness.
The symptoms were easily recognizable and
known — or should have been — by faculty,
administrators and students, Radecki asserts.
Radecki stated he was, and still is, capable of
See LAWSUIT on 3