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COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 95 NO. 82 ^°W ^ to 30.
=====^_ January 12, 1996
----- iaaswwwWP—MWBWHIBHWBIBPWreBWglEWaHWBMBWWWWEWBB—IPUMDll
Jay Calderon/DN
Governor Ben Nelson takes time during the State of the State address Thursday to applaud
Jimmy Wilson Sr., father of the Omaha officer who was shot in the line of duty last year.
Nelson delivers State address
oy iea layior
Senior Reporter
Gov. Ben Nelson urged Nebras
kans to turn challenges into oppor
tunities during his annual State of
the State address Thursday morn
ing at the State Capitol.
“We are still one Nebraska,”
Nelson told more than 120 people
in the Legislature’s West Chamber.
“And we must strive to do what is in
the best interest of all.”
In the address, Nelson intro
duced his 1996-97 budget proposal
and touted crime measures and his
property tax relief plan.
He praised Nebraskans and what
he called the “tremendous amount
of positive change” that had oc
curred in the state.
“We have delivered on prom
ises,” the governor said. “We have
made a difference.”
But he asked that citizens not
stand still.
“Now we can build on our
achievements,” Nelson said. “The
new challenges we face present even
more opportunities for positive
change.”
Nelson asked lawmakers to re
member that the state’s successes
have come from the fiscal integrity
of the state. He called his role as
“steward of the budget” his top pri
ority.
Nelson’s proposed budget bill
"We must establish
that our priority is
saving, rather than
spending, our general
fund dollars. ”
BEN NELSON
Nebraska governor
See related story
on page 3.
would transfer $21.5 million to the
cash reserve fund in the current
fiscal year, and $17.3 million next
year.
“Action to strengthen our cash
reserve is necessary and critical,”
he said. “We must establish that our
priority is saving, rather than spend
ing, our general fund dollars.”
Nelson called budgeting the state
government a balancing act where
he was “avoiding uncontrolled
growth while still meeting the im
portant needs of Nebraskans.”
And with property tax issues on
the front burner, Nelson asked sena
tors to consider his proposed prop
erty tax relief effort.
Nelson called his Local Control
Property Taxpayer Relief Act a
common-sense solution to the prob
lem.
“Others want to spell relief s-h
i-f-t,” he said. “I spell it c-u-t. It is
only with spendingcuts that we can
achieve true property tax relief.”
Nelson also urged senators to
look at the broader picture and how
property tax relief would affect not
only themselves, but their families,
neighbors, communities and the
state.
Another challenge Nebraska
faces — crime and the increase of
violent crime — is one of the most
difficult, Nelson said.
He pointed to retired Omaha po
lice officer Jimmy Wilson Sr.,
whose son was gunned down in the
line of duty Aug. 20, 1995, as an
example ofthe challenges Nebraska
faced.
“As we mourned the loss of this
young Nebraskan,” he said, “we
also continue to be outraged by the
increasing level of violence in our
state.”
This level of violence, Nelson
said, brings up another taxing prob
lem.
“Overcrowding in the state ’ s cor
rectional system has reached the
crisis point,” he said. “If we fail to
deal with this overcrowding prob
lem today, the courts will intervene
and tell us what we have to do.”
See NELSON on 3
Blank top choice
for chairmanship
By Julie Sobczyk
and Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter and Senior Editor
Regent Don Blank of McCook will
be the next chairperson of the NU
Board of Regents, according to an
informal poll of regents.
“If my name is pul up, I’ 11 probably
be chair,” Blank said Thursday. “Let’s
just wait and see what happens on
Saturday. If the majority of the re
gents want me to be chair, then I’ll be
chair.
“Let’sjustwaitandseewho’snomi
nated.”
The regents will elect a new chair
person and vice-chairperson at
Saturday’s monthly meeting.
In a phone poll of the regents, four
said they supported Blank: Regents
John Payne of Kearney, Nancy
O’Brien of Waterloo, Chuck
Hassebrook of Walthill and Charles
Wilson of Lincoln.
Regent Robert Allen of Hastings
said he would not support Blank, Re
gent Rosemary Skrupa said she would
not support anyone until Saturday and
Regent Drew Miller is out of the coun
try.
Hassebrook will be elected vice
chairman, according to the poll.
“I think I’ve got a good grasp of
what the university does,” he said. “1
have a grasp of the issue of how to
keep the university affordable to
people of modest means. I have a
good grasp for representing the needs
of ordinary folks out there.”
Hassebrook said he and Blank have
a good chance of being appointed, but
added, “nothing’s certain.”
O’Brien, who is the current regents
chairperson, said she didn’t want to
run again. .
Skrupa and Allen agreed it would
See REGENTS on 6
Chewing tobacco law
has ambiguous meaning
By Chad Lorenz
Senior Reporter
The difference between a $500 fine
for promotional distribution of smoke
less tobacco and a legal tobacco dis
count all depend on the interpretation
of Nebraska’s law.
Theambiguouswordingofthe stat
ute has led a deputy attorney general
and one of the law’s writers to dis
agree on whether tobacco sellers
should be allowed to honor coupons
discounting smokeless tobacco.
The law states that manufacturers,
wholesalers and retailers are prohib
ited from distributing smokeless to
bacco for promotional purposes.
The discussion follows a Daily
Nebraskan investigation in which Lin
coln retailers honored a coupon for a
$ 1.50 discount on Skoal tobacco. The
coupon was void in Nebraska because
ofthe laws against discounting smoke
less tobacco.
Laurie Camp, deputy attorney gen
eral, said retailers who honored the
coupon did not violate the law be
cause they didn’t necessarily distrib
ute for promotional purposes and they
did not give the coupon out.
“I couldn’t conclude there was a
violation, only a mistake,” Camp said.
The mistake made by store cash
iers in honoring the void coupon would
not bring a fine, but only a loss of
profit, she said.
The manufacturer will not reim
burse Nebraska retailers $1.50 per
Law prohibiting
promotional
distribution of
smokeless tobacco
• Distributeshall mean to
give smokeless tobacco
products to the general
public at no cost or at
nominal cost or to give
coupons or rebate offers
with the products.
• Manufacturers, whole
salers, or retailers, or their
representatives, of
smokeless tobacco prod
ucts shall not distribute
for promotional pur
poses.
— taken from sections
69-1902 and 69-1903
coupon because they should not have
given the discount for a void coupon,
Camp said.
Camp said Nebraska retailers
would be violating the law only under
one of the three conditions:
• If retailers issued their own store
coupon.
•If retailers gave away free
See TOBACCO on 6
-4 .
New residence hall could
ease overcrowding
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter
Plans for a new residence hall to
house 400 honors program students is
intheworks,aUNLofflcial said Thurs
day.
James Griesen, vice chancellor for
student affairs, brought the proposal
before the Academic Planning Com
mittee on Wednesday.
Griesen tentatively set the project’s
cost at $ 12 million and said the money
would be well-spent ifit helped allevi
ate overcrowding in the residence
halls.
“For the past two fall semesters,
students have been living in lounges
and in three-person triple rooms,”
Griesen said. “We’re not meeting the
demand for students, especially tnose
who want single rooms.”
Last year, about 200 requests for
single rooms from upperclassmen
could not be granted, he said. That
number does not include any fresh
men who may have wanted their own
room.
A new hall also would help create
a sense of community among honors
program students, Griesen said.
A special community for students
can help them feel more at home at
UNL and can build a stable environ
ment, he said.
Other community environments,
such as engineering student floors and
floors for health and wellness, have
been attractive to students, he said.
The Freshman Learning Community,
a pilot program this year, also has
been successful. 4
“We want to be flexible with stu
dents and accommodate their special
interests,” Griesen said.
And the best way to alleviate the
housing crunch, yet remain flexible to
students, would be to create an honors
program residence hall, he said.
The honors program has grown
each year, and the floors set aside for
honors students in the Neihardt Resi
dence Complex are reaching capac
ity.
“They need more computer space,
more space for honors seminars and
more space for the director’s office,”
Griesen said. t
The new building would be more
modern than the other residence halls,
he said, and have suites consisting of
two rooms and an adjoining bathroom.
So far, two possible sites have been
pinpointed. They are: north of Cather
Residence Hall and south of Bancroft
Hall.
The parking lot south of Bancroft
wouldhavetobe removed,but Griesen
said he did not want the issue to spark
a new parking debate.
“Whenever you build something,
you have to disrupt something else,”
he said. “You have to look at parking
as a big picture.”
Griesen said removingthe lot would
not add to the parking problem be
cause a proposed plan to build a park
ing garage west of Memorial Stadium
would increase the amount of avail
able parking on campus.
Griesen said the proposed sites are
near cafeterias, and a new dining hall
would not have to be built.
The proposal is still in its early
stages, but Griesen said he already
had heard opposition to the plan.
“We’re not trying to set the honors
kids apart as elites,” he said. “There
have always been talented and gifted
students in all of the halls.”
