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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 1995)
Qhnon Wednesday, November 29, 1995 Page 4 Net)raskan Editorial Board University of Nebraska-Lincoln J. Christopher Hain. Editor, 472-1766 Rainbow Rowell.Managing Editor Mark Baldridge.Opinion Page Editor DeDra Janssen.Associate News Editor Doug Kouma.Arts & Entertainment Editor JeJfZeleny.Senior Reporter Matt Woody.Senior Reporter James Mehsling.Cartoonist Speed up 65 too slo w for Nebraska drivers Just can’t drive 65? Soon you may not have to. President Clinton is expected to sign a bill this month that would repeal the national speed limit of 55 mph on most roads and 65 mph on rural interstates, giving back to the states the power to set limits. _____ . With the change, Mon tana — where penalties for speeders have been notori ously lax — will essentially do away with speed limits altogether. Wyoming state law re quires that speed limits be raised with the repeal of the federal law, and starting next month, the state will phase in a 75-mph limit on its inter state highways. Similar plans are in the works in other rural states, including Colorado, Utah, Kansas and South Dakota. And they should be in the works in Nebraska, too. * A speed limit of 75 mph BretGottschali/DN along rural stretches of Inter state 80, which spans more than 450 miles across the state, is not unreasonable. Those living in the Omaha and Lincoln areas can easily forget how vast and how rural this state really is. There are just as many exits off 1-80 in the Omaha area alone as there are between Lincoln and Grand Island. And in the stretch of more than 300 miles west of Grand Island, the interstate passes only two towns with populations greater than 10,000. The landscape is sparse. The topography flat. The road rarely bends. Ask anyone who must drive this stretch of 1-80 how heavy the foot can feel on the accelerator. Interstate highways were built to accommodate high-speed traffic, and lower limits were imposed only when the foreign oil embargo of 1974 brought the national limit down to 55 mph. In a 1987 mass transit bill, Congress allowed states to raise the limit to 65. But with automakers in the ’90s building more fuel-efficient vehicles with better emission controls and higher safety stan dards, Nebraska and other rural states should follow the leads of Montana and Wyoming. A case can be made for maintaining the status quo between Lincoln and Omaha, where traffic, by Nebraska standards, is of ten heavy. And Nebraska’s two-lane highways are in some spots as treacherous as they come, and 55 mph seems an adequate speed. But any four-lane divided highway or Interstate should be fair game for review. A higher speed limit would require even greater driver respon sibility, which the state should promote. How about adding “Buckle up” to all those new highway signs? Editorial policy Staff editorials represent the official policy of the Fall 1995 Daily Nebras kan. Policy is set by the Daily Nebras kan Editorial Board. Editorials do not necessarily reflect the views of the university, its employees, the students or die NU Board of Regents. Editorial columns represent the opinion of the author. The regents publish the Daily Nebraskan. They establish the UNL Publications Board to supervise the daily production of the paper. Accord ing to policy set by the regents, respon sibility for die editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in die hands of its students. Letter policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor from all readers and interested others. Letters will be selected for publication on the basis of clarity, originality, timeliness and space available. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject all material submitted. Readers also are welcome to submit mate rial as guest opinions. The editor decides whether material should run as a guest opinion. Letters and guest opinions sent to the newspaper become the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be re turned. Anonymous submissions will not be pub lished. Letters should include the author’s name, year in school, major and group affiliation, if any. Re quests to withhold names will not be granted. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St. Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. ■ t Reefer madness I am writing in response to the “pot smoker’s view” by Matt Chimelewski. I am sitting in my room not smok ing marijuana in compliance with what I think is a federal law. My roomsmdlls terrible with mari juana and incense. How is this, you ask? I’m not smok ing it. Hey, you know what? My neighbor could be, maybe that is why it smells. The other day I was walking past a room and heard a ticking noise, you know, the sound a bomb makes. I didn ’ t think any thing of it and j ust kept on walking. c What if it was a real bomb? x He is making it “in the privacy of his own home,” so leave it alone. Hey, Matt, maybe people don’t like the rich smell of marijuana, did you ever think of that? I believe that is their right if they don’t want to put up with it. R. Tyler McClymont ( Junior ( Business v Fanmale !' I am writing to congratulate Mr. t Baldridge on another wonderful col- t umn (“Eye opener,” Nov. 27). I have faithfully read every piece i of writing he has put in the DN this 1 semester. He consistently challenges t me to think. That is something that is lacking in f today’s society of short attention span a television and other forms of enter- f tainment. t I have also read letters from other readers who attack Mr. Baldridge and t his work. These people need to open their a minds todifferingopinions and points r of view. f I do not agree with all of Mr. c Baldridge’s ideas or opinions, but I r respect them. t He has even swayed my ideology f in some areas, a feat not easily accom plished. t In short, I hope to continue reading s his work next semester and I hope that others will ome to appreciate his column for ^hat it is: food for the mind. Matt Wieser Junior Biochemistry via e-mail Gross error In response to the letter from Vicki ’laassen (Nov. 17) accusing Attorney 5eneral Don Stenbergofthrowinghis /eight around “without any regard for umanity” concerning the placement if a foster child, your readers should ie aware that Claassen’s letter con ains a gross misstatement of fact. Claassen opens her attack by stat ig a 3-year-old boy was removed rom his home “per Stenberg’s order” ecause his foster mother had AIDS. First of all, the child was removed rom his foster home by the Nelson dministration after it was learned the nstcr family had lied on their applica ion. The attorney general had nothing a do with this decision. Secondly, the attorney general’s ppeal seeks to keep the child with his ew foster parents, where he has been nr six months. It would indeed be ruel to force the child to readjust to a ew foster home all over again, only 3 witness the death of the former nster mother. Apparently, Claassen does not let lie facts get in the way of a good cheap hot. Steve Grasz Deputy Attorney General BretGottschall/DN Sing a song The recent article in the Daily Ne braskan (“Seow unveils Singapore’s evils,” Nov. 16) prompted me, a Singaporean, to express a few things. 1) Francis Seow, the invited speaker of the E.N. Thompson Forum on World Issues, painted a picture of Singapore not known to me. There are traffic jams in Singapore, believe me. There are potholes, beg gars, the poor and homeless, graffiti, and the streets are not necessarily “safe to walk alone at night.” That is why they have police offic ers, social workers repairs on the roads and Michael Fay. Put another way: Although there is the death penalty for traffickingdrugs in Singapore, it doesn’t imply there are no drugs — there are a dozen or more convicted traffickers on the death row. 2) Singapore is still a tropical is land paradise — when compared to other cities in Southeast Asia, she outshines them by a large margin. 3) Why was Seow chosen for the forum? Did the Singapore Embassy know an “exiled” Singaporean was representing their country? Perhaps the organizers owe everyone an ex planation. Kirti Doshi Sophomore Business ...to the , Nebraskan > - ' ■ Send your brief letters to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St., Lincoln, Neb. 68588, or Fax to (402) 472-1761, or email detters @ unlinfo.unl.edu.> Letters must be signed and include a phone number for verification.