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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