Qhnion
Thursday, July 27, 1995 Page 4
It’s only a gam©
Amusement law shouldread “game over”
Once again, fun and amusement are going to be put in a half
nelson by the laws of the state and city.
The Lincoln Star reported Tuesday that Lincoln’s soon-to-be
Champions Fun Center, under construction at 1615 Yolande St.,
hit a roadblock in its operations when general manager Gordon
Whitten was told that he couldn’t give away prizes or free game
tickets to the winners of the games.
It is a violation of both city and state laws for a game of chance
to give a prize to the winner.
These are the same laws which have kept the Lincoln Chuck b.
Cheese restaurant from distributing prizes for winning their
^ Out of 264 company-owned restaurants in 44 states, Lincoln is
the only place where a child can’t take home a stuffed animal for
getting a high score in skee-Ball. ,
What makes this (Situation even more frustrating is the tact that
the city law and state law can’t agree on what exactly is a game of
chance.
According to the state, games of chance are considered gam
bling, but for some reason, keno, pickle cards and the lottery are
not considered games of chance.
Very grey area, evidently.
If a game of chance is illegal, then half of the midway at the
Nebraska State Fair would be shut down, and there would be
roving police units sent out to shut down neighborhood carnivals
and arrest anyone playing pinball, because a free game can be
won at the end if the last two digits of the score match the two
digits randomly selected by the machine.
This kind of enforcement sounds ridiculous, but if the law is to
be equally enforced, that is what would need to be done.
Whether talking about the city or state law, the law in itself is
not only ludicrous, but it is rarely enforced.
Many arcades in Omaha have game tickets given out for high
scores in skee-ball, and all over Omaha and Lincoln are those
crane, games where the winner might get candy or a stuffed
animal, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
All games of chance have elements of skill involved, but where
does the skill stop and the chance begin? More importantly, can
laws be made to clear up this area?
No. The area is too vast and too grey. Better to abolish the law,
and start over if necessary, rather than continue to selectively
enforce the current law.
Hopefully Whitten and Paul Peter, attorney for Chuck E.
Cheese’s, will be successful in their efforts and get the city and
state laws repealed.
i . .I. I, i ,
Nebraskan
Editor Joel Strauch, 472-1766
Features Editor Gerry Bettz
Copy Desk Editors Jennifer Miratsky
Courtney Mathieson
Photo Chief Tanna Klnnaman
*■■ . Art Director James Mehsling
General Manager Daniel Shattil
Production Manager Katherine Poiicky
Advertising Manager Amy Strothers
Asst. Advertising Manager Laura Wilson
Publications BoardChairman Tim Hedegaard, 472-2588
Professional Adviser Don Walton, 473-7301
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRiGHT 1995 DAILY NEBRASKAN
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Problems can’t sink canoe trio
This past Saturday, I spent almost
12 straight hours in a canoe.
This was not a prison sentence or
even community service. It was vol
untary and.it.was fua—~soru>£.
Let rhe back up.
For the past two months my friend
Josh has been planning a river adven
ture on the Platte (it could have been
worse—we originally thought about
heading down Salt Creek).
And last Friday, eight of us hopped
into four canoes just south of North
Bend and drifted over 45 miles.
I’m going to have to give you a
description of the cast of characters in
order for any of this to make sense.
First of all, there’s me — whom
you all know and adore so there’s no
need to beat that dead horse.
Then there’s Josh. He was the man
behind the curtain of this adventure.
He got a really good deal on the ca
noes because of his military connec
tions.
une tmng about Josh—he doesn t
do anything half-assed. It’s gotta be
all or nothing. This pretty much sums
up our canoe trip.
Next, there is Brian. He’s my cousin
whom you may have read about be
fore. Brian (like me) does everything
half-assed. Since we were in the same
canoe, this may explain why everyone
else complained about how long it
took us to get to the next rendezvous
each time.
We’ve also got Kevin. Kevin spent
most of the trip completely covered
up because of the sun. He was along
for the ride.
Kevin’s canoemate was James.
James lost his glasses in the river and
spent most of the trip squinting and
drowning the biting sand flies. Their
canoe was not much ahead of ours.
James’ brother Steve came along.
Steve is all right, but he’s hyperactive
and 17 years old. He almost got killed
several times.
Holding down the back of Steve’s
canoe was my friend Gabe. Gabe is
like a monstrous teddy bear. He’s 6
feet tall and 230 pounds and wouldn’t
Joel Strauch
“Idon’t know how hot it
got on Saturday (I think
it was around 140 F),
but I do know that when
you drink and sit
directly under the sun
for tivelve hours and
you don't ivear
sunscreen, there's a
problem."
hurt a fly. But he came close to hurting
Steve.
After they stopped screaming at
each other and kind of figured out
what canoeing was all about, they kept
their boat offthe shore and stayed near
the front of the expedition.
The other half of Josh’s canoe was
filled by our friend Symeon. Symeon
doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink and
works out for hours every day. Their
canoe was usually up front.
Now with this motley assortment
spending three days out on the river,
camping on islands, you might think
there’d be a few problems.
You’d be right.
The problems started with James’
tent. He had borrowed this big ole
four-man job from his dad. But he
hadn’t asked his old man how to set it
up. He assumed that since all of us had
set up plenty of tents before, we could
figure this one out.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t a tent. It
was a canvas nightmare.
We finally got it to lean up un
steadily and the four suckers, I mean
sleepers, got in.
The tent was fine — as long ^s
there wasn’t any wind or rain. We had
both that night.
By some miracle, the tent was still
kind of standing in the morning and
the people inside were relatively dry.
It looked like everything was going
to work out. The rain had raised the
river several inches, we had a good
breakfast of 4 dozen scrambled eggs
and 2 dozen sausages, and we had two
cases of beer to keep us company
canoeing.
I don’t know how hot it got on
Saturday (I think it was around 140 F),
but 1 do know that when you drink and
sit directly under the sun for twelve
hours and you don’t wear sunscreen,
there’s a problem.
I’m still having difficulty walking
normally because my feet are so
burned. And Brian spent most of the
night ralphing because of the heat and
the beer.
iwasn i reany too annoyed at James
when I found out that he had sunblock
with him and hadn’t told us the whole
time he’d been cruising alongside our
canoe. Mainly because he was pretty
burned, too.
We were a bit slow on our last day
on the river. The final stretch was only
about ten miles, but it took Brian and
I several hours to drift it (probably
because we kept falling asleep).
A lot of things went wrong this
weekend. I won’t go into detail about
Brian diving headfirst into three-foot
deep water, or James stealing Brian’s
sleeping bag and passing out on top of
the wet tent because he was too drunk
to set it up, or Gabe and Steve capsiz
ing their canoe 15 feet from the end of
the trip.
It wasn’t a perfect adventure, but it
was a good time with some great
friends.
Strauch Is a graduate of UNL and the editor
of the Dally Nebraskan.
