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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 28, 1995)
TUESDAY WEATHER: Today - Mostly cloudy with a 20% chance of rain. Southeast wind 5 to 10 mph. Tonight - Mostly cloudy. Low 30 to 35 November 28, 1995 Council hears debate over public access By John Fulwider Senior Reporter The City Council voted Monday night to delay a vote on public access until Dec. 4. --- The unanimous vote came Pllhlir ^ -; at a Public hearing after ruuiiu - sometimes passionate testi ACCGSS mony against Mayor Mike 7 / . Johanns’ proposal to elimi nate public access. Controversy surrounding the channel, formerly ^ CableVision Channel 14 and now Channel 20, was re newed when Scott Harrold was shown masturbating on a show that aired in beptemoer. City Attorney William Austin spoke first during the public hearing. He said the council could make no changes to public access, adopt Johanns’ proposal or adopt an alternative pro-# posal introduced by Councilman Ken Haar. m If no changes were made, he said: • CableVision must provide a public access channel as part of its franchise agreement with the City of Lincoln. • CableVision must provide equipment for use by public access programmers. • Obscene programming is prohibited on public access, and indecent programming can run only after midnight. If Johanns’ proposal is adopted, he said: • The requirement for a public access chan nel would be eliminated. CableVision could, but would not be required to, provide a commu nity access channel similar to public access but regulated solely by CableVision. The company isnow setting up a community access channel to premiere Dec. 1 on Channel 8. • All equipment now used by public access would be transferred to educational access on Channel 21. If Haar’s proposal is adopted, he said: ■&, o • A public access channel would still be required. • Equipment now used by public access would remain for its use. • CableVision would regulate obscene ma terial, nudity, sexually explicit conduct and materials promoting unlawful conduct “to the extent permitted by federal law.” Johanns spoke in favor of his proposal, which he said would give CableVision a chance to make a community access channel work. If community access is not satisfactory, he said, the city can get public access back when it begins a renegotiation of its franchise agree ment with CableVision in summer 1996. Nine people, many of them public access programmers, spoke in favor of either keeping public access as it is or adopting Haar’s alterna tive proposal. See CABLE on 6 Promised land Jeff Haiier/UN Junior agricultural education major Seth Derner is the new president of the national Future Farmers of America. Derner is pictured here on his family’s ranch near Bartlett. Derner achieves top FFA position By Melanie Branded Staff Reporter Seth Derner considers himself fortunate. In the last two years, the junior agricul ture education major has worked with high school students across the state as Nebraska Future Farmers of America vice president. He has traded views on education philoso phy with business associates at the Nebraska Department of Education. And after being turned down last year for a position as a national officer, Derner was named national FFA president this month. Very fortunate, indeed. Demer was elected to his post Nov. 11 during the National FFA Convention in Kan sas City, Mo. He and five other national officerswill leavenext week for Washington D.C. to participate in workshops and team building activities to help prepare them for upcoming presentations. Then in January, the six officers will spend about 300 days.traveling to 40 states presenting workshops and speeches to high school FFA students. They also will fly to Japan to learn about its agriculture. Demer, who grew up on his family’s ranch near Bartlett, has been involved with agriculture for years. He first joined FFA as a freshman at Wheeler Central High School. Since then, his involvement with FFA and his views on agriculture have grown signifi cantly. Demer said he gained perspective on how agriculture affects the world during a 1993 leadership conference in Russia with 14 other FFA members. The group worked in a 21 acre greenhouse, picked vegetables and vis ited dairy farms. The conference opened his eyes to the differences in agriculture between the United States and Russia, he said. “People have different challenges,” he said. “We take that for granted when we don’t push ourselves to open up to different ways of thinking.” Demer hopes his international experi ences will let him make a difference with FFA students and help them set their goals. “I’ve grown a lot personally and acquired a lot of leadership skills,” he said. “I want to show them that it can be done no matter who you are.” He also has had experience planning FFA summer leadership conferences, such as Chapter Officer Leadership Training, and coordinating the state convention as a FFA leadership intern for the state education de partment. The national officer also has other goals he wants to accomplish. Demer would like to see more students join the national organiza tion, which has increased by 60,000 over the last four years to 444,000 nationwide, even in larger schools, especially in Lincoln and Omaha. “Students find value in the organization and continue to join,” he said. “It’s not just for rural students. It’s for anyone who shows See DERNER on 6 Clinton seeks support for mission I w AMiiNU ium (Ar) — Seeking support for a risky military mission, President Clinton presented his case Monday night for sending 20,000 U.S. troops to enforce a fragile peace treaty in Bosnia. “In the choice between peace and war,” Clinton declared, “America must choose peace.” Without American force, “the war will reignite. The slaughter of inno - cents will begin again,” he said. Despite misgivings, it appeared Congress would give Clinton his way. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole said he believed in the constitutional au thority of the president and added, “No doubt about it, whether Congress agrees or not, troops will go to Bosnia.” In a prime-time address from the Oval Office, Clinton acknowledged American troops will face danger and he assumed “full responsibility” for any casualties. However, he laid down a marker to anyone threatening the peacekeepers: “America protects its own. Anyone—anyone—who takes on our troops will suffer the conse quences. We will fight fire with fire and then some.” He said a small number of Ameri can troops would go into Bosnia some time next week to lay the groundwork for thousands more to come, probably before Christmas. “Let us lead,” Clinton implored in a 20-minute speech delivered in som ber tones. “That is our responsibility as Americans.” Clinton pledged that the U.S. mis sion —expected to last up to a year— would be limited, focused and under the command of an American general. “America cannot and must not be the world’s policemen,” he said. “We cannot stop all war for all time but we can stop some wars. We cannot save all women and all children but we can save many of them. We can’t do ev erything but we must do what we can do.” “My fellow Americans, in this new era, there are still times when America — and America alone — can and should make the difference for peace.” Clinton’s prime-time address kicked off an intense administration campaign to break down skepticism to what Pentagon planners regard as See CLINTON on 2 Jury in Schlondorf trial narrowed down to 12 oy den ^eieny Senior Reporter Thirty-six potential jurors will be narrowed down to 12 today in Lancaster County District Court as the attempted second-degree murder trial of former UNL student Gerald Schlondorf continues. The group was selected from a 57 member jury pool Monday after about five hours of questioning from Judge Bernard McGinn and prosecuting and defense attorneys. A 911 dispatcher and a Russian immigrant who understands little En glish were among the jurors who were eliminated. Seventeen potential jurors were dismissed ai random ai me end of the session Monday. Schlondorf, 32, entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity on nine felony charges, including two counts of attempted second-degree murder, as saulting a police officer, making terror istic threats, and four counts of using a weapon to commit a felony. Schlondorf, dressed in a white and blue striped dress shirt with a blue tie, did not look around much but eyed potential jurors as they were called and seated in the jury box. Through out the day ,’he occasionally closed his eyes and briefly dozed off. See SCHLONDORF on 3