Buffett praises Legislature
Gambling would destroy social fabric, he says
By Chad Lorenz
Senior Reporter
A former Nebraskan said Thurs
day that keeping gambling out of Ne
braska will preserve the good life.
Howard Buffett, chairman and
president of Grain Systems Incorpo
rated and son of Nebraska billionaire
Warren Buffett, praised the Legisla
ture for voting against expanded gam
bling in Nebraska. '
“This state has too much pride to
throw away its heritage on false prom
ises,” Buffett said. “And I thank those
elected officials here in Nebraska that
provided the leadership this week to
maintain Nebraska’s integrity.”
Buffett spoke on behalf of Gam
bling with the Good Life, a state grass
roots group against gambling.
Gambling has focused less on mo
rality and more on economics, Buffett
said.
“Turning the debate into a moral
issue is really just a clever way to
conceal the consequences gambling
brings.”
Buffett said gambling drained
money out of the state and put it in the
hands of greedy casino owners.
Sen. J im Jensen of Omaha attended
the speech and said profits from Iowa’s
two new riverboat casinos went to
owners in Las Vegas.
“The government gives gambling to people like
someone offering cocaine to an addict”
HOWARD BUFFETT
Grain Systems Incorporated chairman and president
The former owner of Bluffs Run in
Council Bluffs, Iowa, took $44 mil
lion in profits with him to Alabama,
Jensen said.
Buffett said the gambling industry
kept growing while people and busi
ness suffered losses.
“This is an industry that cannibal
izes other businesses,” he said. “Gam
bling does nothing more than move
money around, shifting it from a large
group to a select few.”
Gambling also feeds on people, he
said, because it’s common, but stakes
are high.
Buffett said gambling brought in
more revenue than movies, video
games, concerts and professional base
ball.
“Gambling has become the new
American pastime.”
* Gambling has shown how it de
stroys the social fabric of cities like
Atlantic City, Buffett said.
Within three years of legalizing
gambling, the city’s per capita crime
rate tripled, taking it from the 50th
rank to the first, he said. More people
became homeless and started collect
ing welfare, and prostitution was ram
pant, he said.
Government was partly to blame
for gambling’s destruction, he said,
because politicians make it available
under the excuse that it’s voluntary.
“You can’t have a society based on
voluntary behavior. It’s chaos,” Buf
fet said. “The government gives gam
bling to people like someone offering
cocaine to an addict.”
Tom Grey, executive director for
the National Coalition Against Legal
ized Gambling, said Iowa’s Legisla
ture allowed that to happen, and it
would end up hurting its people.
In 1989, 1.7 percent of Iowa’s
population were compulsive gamblers,
he said. By 1995, the rate grew to 5.4
percent.
Grey said the government was
wrong to sell gambling as entertain
ment.
“If you have money to lose and
don’t mind losing it, gambling is for
you,” he said. “But I don’t think gov
ernment should be in sponsorship of
it.”
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Tanna Kinnaman/DN
Lei Wang, right, walks by Hamilton Hall on
Thursday.
Mother Nature makes
high-temp turnaround
By Kasey Kerber
Start Reporter "
Today might go in the record
books.
The record high for Feb. 9 is 68
degrees — and there’s a good
chance the weather today will reach
69, according to John Pollack, a
meteorologist at the National
Weather Service.
Scott Johnson, a classics major
at the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln, was wearing shorts Thursday
afternoon.
“This is typical Nebraska,’* he
said.
Pollack said the abnormally high
temperatures were caused by a
“meridional flow pattern.”
“In one of these systems, you
have an exchange of north to south
and south to north air movement,”
he said. “During these movements
there is a lot of heat exchanged.”
Pollack said meridional flow pat
terns also produced frigid tempera
tures.
“The extremely cold tempera
tures we saw last week were also
the result of a meridional system,”
he said.
“This system i s extremely strong.
Usually we see a temperature
change of anywhere from 20 to 30
degrees. This system has caused a
temperature change of 30 to 40
degrees,” he said.
While the meridional flow pat
tern has produced warmer tempera
tures, he said they would not last.
“The colder temperatures will
begin to set back in by this week
end,” Pollack said.
But students can enjoy the warm
weather while it still lasts.'
“You do make it to classes more
often,” said Summer May, a fresh
man agricultural sciences and natu
ral resources major.
Scholarship to help teachers
By Jenny House
Staff Reporter
An estate gift from a former UNL
student has been turned into a scholar
ship to help students who want to teach
middle school English.
The scholarship is being created
from an $85,000 gift to the University
of Nebraska Foundation from Helen
Madsen, who died in August 1993.
“Her wish is that the scholarship be
awarded to students majoring in En
glish and planning to teach middle
school,” said Theresa Klein, the NU
Foundation’s director of public rela
tions. “She found her experience to be
very, very rewarding.”
James O’ Hanlon, dean of the Teach
ers College, said more and more stu
dents were becoming interested in
teaching at the middle school level.
Madsen taught at Lincoln Public
Schools for 34 years.
Jean Stutt, a former student of
Madsen, said her “mentor” had a genu
ine natural ability to teach.
“She inspired students to go be
yond what was required.” Stutt is a
retired music teacher who received her
bachelor’s degree in teaching at UNL.
Madsen showed Stutt that she, too,
wanted to be a teacher, a inspiration
she said she was grateful for.
“It was apparent with former stu
dents that Helen truly enjoyed her role
as a teacher,” Stutt said. “She values
those that choose the career of teach
ing.”
Stutt said Madsen used to work at
Love Library and enjoyed all types of
learning.
“Helen Madsen is a strong person
for education and the scholarship is
exactly something she would want to
do for those following a teaching ca
reer and who wouldn ’t ordinarily have
that opportunity,” she said. -
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