■ —— l"-" - 1 ' '-i': .. . A ' ' v._' - - " ” “ - TT
‘Love Letters’
Matt Miller/DN
Lt. Governor Kim Robak rehearses Tuesday afternoon with Sen. Don Wesely of Lincoln in
Robak’s office in the Capitol. The two will be performing the two-person act “Love Letters”
Wednesday night at Huey’s Downtown Dinner Theatre.
Legal alcohol limit won’t change
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska Legislature’s Trans
portation Committee kil led a bi 11Tues
day that would punish drivers “close
but not beyond” the legal blood alco
hol limit for intoxication.
Gretna Sen. Mike Avery’s bill,
LB 1148, said a violation would occur
when a driver’s bloodalcohpl cpptent
is equal to or greater than .06 percent
and below .10 percent.
Nebraska state law now only*pun
ishes those who are at or above the. 10
percent level.
Avery cited eight other states in
cluding Colorado, California and Okla
homa, that have similar legislation.
Avery reminded the committee that
legislation to reduce the legal blood
Fireworks
explode in
Love Library
The deafening silence of UNL’s
Love Library was broken by the deaf
ening blasts of fireworks Tuesday af
ternoon.
Nearly 40 red, crayon-sized plastic
tubes littered the foyer floor of Love
Library after a box of fireworks went
off at 4:25 p.m.
“They were sparkling and flying all
across,” said Michael Straatmann, a
library assistant.
The mini-explosions, which lasted
about two minutes, filled the library
lobby with smoke and drew nearly 25
people to the scene, Straatmann said.
No one was injured in the incident,
but some witnesses in the foyer were
startled, he said.
“Most of them took off when they
saw it,” he said.
Campus police were still searching
for the culprit Tuesday.
— Chad Lorenz
“Through LB 1148,
Nebraska law would
presume that anyone
within the defined limits
of .06 and .10 is, per se,
driving while impaired. ”
MIKE AVERY
Gretna senator
alcohol limit to .08 was still on the
table and was worthy of more discus
sion.
“Understanding this may not be
accomplished, I bring to you another
alternative which may serve equally
well in its deterrence to driving under
the influence,” Avery said.
Understanding the state’s curren
limit is. 10, Avery said .06 blood alco
hoi content level noticeably impair:
one’s ability to drive.
“Through LB1148, Nebraska lav
would presume that anyone within th<
defined limits of .06 and .10 is, per se
driving while impaired,” he said.
Avery’s bill would have levied
fine of $100 for the first offense, an
$200 for each subsequent offense.
Mary Campbell of the Nebrask
Beer Wholesalers Association testi
fied against the measure and said th
bill would have legislation workin
backward.
“People would be guilty before the'
reached the legal limit,” she said.
“The best use of law enforcement i
to get the high BAC offenders,” sh
said.
Health fair provides
free testings, condoms
By Patty Wewel
Staff Reporter
UNL students, faculty and staff
will get the chance to check up on
their health at a fair sponsored by
the University Health Center and
the Office of Campus Recreation.
“To Your Health Fair” will be
from 11 a jn. to 1 p.m. today in the
Nebraska Union and tomorrow in
the East Union.
The fair will offer several tests,
including cholesterol screenings,
blood pressure testing, blood sugar
testings, body composition testing
and nutritional analyses.
The fair also kicks off National
Condom Week.
A booth in the Nebraska Union ’ s
lounge will offer students activi
ties, such as a chance to play sex
trivia.
Free condoms will be available
at the booth, which will move to the
East Union Thursday.
Carol Ash, health educator with
the University Health Center, said
health fairs gave the university com
munity members a chance to en
hance their health.
The screenings are preventive
measures that allow people to know
i f there may be a problem with their
cholesterol or blood pressure, she
said.
Most of the screenings are free
Ash said.
Hockey
Continued from Page 1
UNL rodeo, that normally use the coli
seum—Skoldsaid.
The team, which would play in the
same division as the Omaha Lancers,
could be just as successful as that fran
chise.
“If Omaha can get into it to the
extent they have, Lincoln certainly
could too,” Skold said.
The coliseum would be expanded
to seat nearly 4,500 people, which
Skold said wouldn't be hard to fill for
games. But, the team’s success de
pends on another factor, he said.
“Nobody wants to go watch losers.
They have to be a good team and an
interesting team before they’ll earn
people’s dollars.”
Jeff Althaus, who played in the
USHL for twoyears, said the franchise
would be a great asset to the commu
nity and players.
“From a player’s aspect, it’s a phe
nomenal experience toplay on a team.”
Althaus said hockey would be popu
lar in Lincoln with the coming of the
franchise.
Mark Quinn, president of the UNL
hockey club, said the trend would stai
with younger players.
“Kids go to the games, they see il
they like it and they want to play,” sail
Quinn, an undeclared sophomore.
The city and Quinn’s team desper
atelyneed the rink, he said. The club’
25 playersnow practice and play game
at Hitchcock Park Ice Arena in Omaha
“It really hampers our ability to pu
a team together. For our team to movi
forward, a rink is a must.”
Dana wants to solve that probler
and give something to the Lincoln com
munity and the State Fair.
“I think this will give some life bad
to the fairgrounds.”
New gels may help
women fend off AIDS
BETHESDA, Md. (AP)—A cousin
of the healthy bacteria found in yogurt
helps women fight off vaginal infec
tions naturally—and now doctors are
trying to harness these bugs to protect
against the AIDS virus.
They are trying to create a gel or
cream that a woman could insert into
her vagina before sexual intercourse
to kill the HIV virus in case her partner
had it. AIDS researchers said Tuesday
the need for these “vaginal
microbicides” is huge because AIDS
is skyrocketing among heterosexual
women worldwide.
“We are really trying to get the
word out on microbicides,” said Sharon
Hillierofthe University of Pittsburgh,
who in about a month will begin test
ing a candidate made with the bacteria
on 900 teen-agers.
AIDS is now the fourth leading
killer of U.S. women ages 25-44, and
two-thirds were infected through sex.
Doctors tell women to insist their
sexual partners use condoms to block
HIV. But many women either don’t
ask or their partners refuse, or they
sometimes use the condoms wrong.
A cheap, easy-to-use microbicide
would give women more control to
protect themselves, explained Zeda
, Rosenberg of the National Institutes
of Health, which is spending about
$12 million on microbicide research.
Within two years, NIH hopes to
know if a spermicide ingredient al
ready sold to help diaphragms and
other birth-control devices work also
fights HIV. This ingredient,
nonoxynol-9, kills HIV in the test tube
but some studies suggest it actually
increases women’sriskbecause it irri
tates the vagina, creating footholds for
HIV infection.
NIH now is funding a study of pros
titutes in Cameroon and Kenya, where
female HIV infection is epidemic, to
settle the question.
Hillier told AIDS researchers she
was trying to create a natural
microbicide made from the beneficial
bacteria already in the bodies of healthy
women.
Lactobacilli are best known as bac
teria eaten in yogurt, but a very differ
ent strain lives in the vagina. They’re
essentially little machines that con
stantly manufacture hydrogen perox
ide and lactic acid, two chemicals that
kill infections, including HIV, Hillier
explained.
But creating microbicides is an up
hill battle because the pharmaceutical
industry isn’t interested, the NIH’s
Rosenberg said Tuesday. Companies
foresee little profit in microbicides
because they will have to be cheap
even here to gain women’s interest,
and sold at or below cost in poor,
developing countries, shg said.
“We’re all very frustrated because
we need a microbicide today,” agreed
Hillier, who said she unsuccessfully
tried to convince some companies that
“this isn’t a crazy thing to do.”
Gramm to quit GOP race
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — Bat
! tered by back-to-back defeats in Iowa
and Louisiana, Texas Sen. Phil Gramm
r called top supporters around the coun
s try Tuesday night and told them he
, would quit the Republican presiden
tial race, GOP sources said,
a Gramm planned an afternoon an
j nouncement Wednesday in Washing
ton. ; ' •
a Gramm’s departure would leave
- an eight-man GOP field, with one
2 week to go before the New Hamp
y shire primary. It also would remove
from the race a dogged conservative
/ campaigner who early on was viewed
by Sen. Bob Dole’s campaign as the
s biggest threat to his status as the
; GOP front-runner.
But Gramm’s campaign never real
ized its promise, and he was facing
dim prospects in New Hampshire after
being stunned by Pat Buchanan in
Louisiana last week and then placing a
distant fifth Monday in Iowa’s cau
cuses.
Gramm gave no inkling of his im
pending decision during a speech ear
lier Tuesday at a Concord business
luncheon, where he attacked
Buchanan’s protectionist stance on
trade.
“We have let errant nonsense and
second-ratelhinking passasrcafthink
ing and real policy on this topic,” he
said.
Campaign sources said Gramm
looked at three options: quit, retreat
from New Hampshire to concentrate
on a few Southern states, or retreat and
make one last-ditch effort in South
Carolina, which holds the first South
ern primary on March 2.
Gramm can ’ t blame a lack of money
for his poor showing. He had raised
$25 million coming into the campaign,
but critics say he has not used his
money wisely.
NZ?
Continued from Page 1
The committee members were vis
ibly impressed with the young people’s
testimony.
Jeremy Randall, a member of the
Nebraska Network of Drug-Free
Youth, said the youth oftoday were on
the downward spiral, and something
needed to be done.
“The current MIP laws are weak,”
he said. “We need to make a stand
now.”
A
I
Randall told the committee that by
advancing the bill, an idea would be
planted in the heads of young people
that alcohol could lead to serious prob
lems.
“And we need to fix that problem
for a better tomorrow,” he said.
Denise McNeel, an adult member
of the Nebraska Network of Drug
Free Youth, said solvingthe MIP prob
lem needed to start with the youth.
“Hopefully it will put mom and dad
in a predicament,” she said. “But let’s
start with the kids and hold the kids
responsible.”
“T I
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