Bill would move cigarettes
behindNebraska’s counters
By Erin Schulte
Staff Reporter
Anti -smoking advocates say a bi 11 introduced
to the Nebraska Legislature would keep teen
- agers from illegally obtain
Legislature inS Cigarettes from vending
■HI? machines.
But a tobacco lobbyist said
Monday that the bill was not
just aimed at teen-agers—it
would move cigarettes behind
counters everywhere.
Sen. Donald Preister of
Omaha, who introduced
LB1151, said he hoped it
would prevent lifelong ad
dictions to tobacco.
The bill would prohibit cigarette machines
in public areas. Businesses and factories not
open to the general public and bars still could
have the machines.
Preister said he had introduced the bill four
years in a row—every year he’d been in office.
The bill has a better chance of passing this year,
he said, because it has been reworded in simpler
language.
“Even if it doesn’t pass, I’ 11 always try to help
kids,” Preister said.
Teen-agers have told him the easiest way
they can get cigarettes is from vending ma
chines, Preister said.
Jamie Fassnacht, southeast area executive
director of the American Cancer Society, said
enforcing laws that prohibit use of tobacco for
those under age 18 would be difficult if ma
chines were available.
“The machine just can’t check an ID,”
Fassnacht said.
Fassnacht said she also thought there should
be a ban on all machines, not just ones in public
areas.
Several groups, including the American Can
cer Society, American Heart Association and
American Lung Association, are in full support
of the bill, Fassnacht said, and will send lobby
ists to talk to legislators about the bill.
Opponents of the bill said the problem in
volved much more than just vending machines.
Bill Peters, a lobbyist for the Tobacco Insti
tute, said language in the bill made retailing of
tobacco products extremely difficult. He said
the bill would force stores to remove cigarette
displays and products from the aisles and put
them all behind the counter.
“Anytime someone wanted to buy cigarettes,
they would have to have a clerk hand them to
them,” Peters said. “This makes retailing very
difficult if not impossible. There wouldn’t be
any storage area for cartons.”
That portion of the bill, Peters said, is the
main focus of the legislation, not the removal of
vending machines. Vending machines already
are banned in most public places in Nebraska,
he said.
The bill is scheduled to be presented today to
the Health and Human Services Committee.
Crime bill
Continued from Page 1
• The bill would require manda
tory drug testing of prison inmates and
parolees and require offenders on pa
role to remain drug free.
• Persons on parole and probation
would be allowed to be used as under
cover agents to help infiltrate gangs.
Stenberg said he believed Nebraska
to be the only state to have such a
“ridiculous restriction.”
He said the idea of the boot camps
also was not meant to be a soft social
program.
“These should be run as places no
one ever wants to go back to,” he said.
The only major difference between
this measure and last year’s crime bill,
said Sheri Apking, Fisher’s legislative
aide, was the aggravated circumstances
provision surrounding the murder of
law enforcement officials.
Stenberg said the bill was needed
for all Nebraskans.
“LB 1182 is a diligent and sincere
effort to make substantial and lasting
changes in our criminal justice system
in order to protect the safety of all
Nebraskans,” he said.
Duringhis opening remarks, Fisher
fielded questions from Omaha Sens.
Ernie Chambers and John Lindsay on
whether tougher penalties were the
answer.
Lindsay told Fisher he did not un
derstand how if the laws have gotten
tougher, the crime could continue to
go up.
“Maybe we need to get tougher
then,” Fisher responded.
“Have harsher penalties reduced
crime?” Chambers asked. “Statistically
speaking, do you know for sure?”
Fisher said no.
But Stenberg cited FBI and Ne
“LB 1182 is a diligent
and sincere effort to
make substantial and
lasting changes in our
criminal justice system
in order to protect the
safety of all
Nebraskans. ”
j: DON STENBERG
attorney general
i,
lj -
braska Crime Commission statistics
that said murders, rapes, robberies and
aggravated assaults had increased 70
percent from 1984 to 1993.
Stenberg said that in a recent poll
conducted by the National Research
Corporation, 23 percent of all Nebras
kans feel their communities are more
dangerous than a year ago.
Fisher’s measure also would repeal
a bill that required crime bills to fea
ture a cost est imate and appropriations
bill.
Stenberg said that LB507 had put
last year’s crime bill under a “legal
cloud.”
Most of the questions from the com
mittee focused on treating juvenile
offenders.
Sen. Carol Hudkins of Malcolm
said it had become apparent that young
people today were getting “worse and
worse” and had less respect for their
own parents.
“Don’t you see our frustration?”
she asked Stenberg. “We are trying to
write laws and enact laws that people
will obey, and they have no respect for
anything. What makes you think they
are going to obey the laws?”
The committee took no action on
the bill.
Regents
Continued from Page 1
sive rights to broadcast Nebraska
Comhusker athletic events.
Great Plains has guaranteed UNL
$8.6 million over a five-year period
for the rights to broadcast Husker foot
ball, volleyball and men’sand women’s
basketball games.
Blank said he expected the regents
to approve Great Plains’ proposal.
“It looks like a solid bid,” he said.
“It was examined thoroughly by the
Athletic Department, and the UNL
vice chancellor for business went over
it with a fine-toothed comb.”
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Students like union plans
By Todd Anderson
Staff Reporter
The plans for the Nebraska Union expan
sion, displayed in the union’s main lounge,
caught the eyes of several students Wednes
_day and Thursday.
The Nebraska Union
offices set up the displays,
which show how the plaza
will look after renovation.
The plans show the ex
tension of the union to the
south, the addition of a
convenience store and the
placement of the new foun
tain and stage area.
Completion of the en
tire project is planned for summer of 1998,
said Daryl Swanson, director of the Ne
braska Unions.
The displayed plans have been shown to
the Architectural Review Board, the Union
Board and the Student Affairs Advisory
Council.
Overal 1, students stopping to examine the
plans responded positively.
Craig Wellbrock, a junior business ma
jor, said he liked the addition of the trees and
seating.
“It’s a good place for students to sit out
side and study,” he said.
Diane Wilson, a graduate student who
works with Landscape Services, said she
liked the placement of the fountain and stage
area in the plaza.
“I think it’s an excellent way to extend the
union out into the green space and to use our
campus for more events,” she said.
The architects designing the plaza reno
vation used input from several organiza
tions, including Landscape Services, the
Association of Students of the University of
Nebraska and the Union Board.
Currently, the proposed cost of the ex
pansion is $512,000 more than the approved
budget. Planners are looking for a way to cut
costs without cutting proposed additions.
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