Students question need for
restrictive dress code policy
GRAND ISLAND (AP) — Students are
chafing at a new school policy against baggy
clothing, saying it’s too restrictive.
Grand Island Senior High School Principal
Kent Mann said baggy pants could be used to
hide all kinds of contraband — from pagers to
dangerous weapons. The school also requires
students to tuck in loose-fitting shirts to con
firm that the waistband is where it should be.
Students Melanie Green and Johnny Gamer
think certain baggy clothes can be appropriate.
They think the school district’s safety concerns
are overblown.
“You can hide a weapon in a book bag or a
locker,” said Gamer, adding that students can
hide weapons even when they wear more form
fitting clothes.
Gamer said he had received detentions this
school year because of his clothes. Although a
critic of high school’s clothing policy, Green said
she complied with the rules.
For the most part, the bagging and sagging
style is favored by male students, Mann said,
and is rarely an issue with female students.
Mann described sagging pants as “worn well
below the waist. Boxer shorts are worn four or
five inches above the belt line of the pants, so
they’re visible.”
Green said the same conflict on baggy
clothes occurred last fall when some students
wore pants so low that the waist “was below their
butts.” She agreed that was not appropriate dress
for school.
Both students said they think the school is
safe, which is part of the reason they do not
understand the alarm bells over baggy clothes.
Mann agreed, but he said safety is not an
idle concern. He said that over the years, weap
ons such as brass knuckles and knives have been
taken from students wearing all styles — but
mostly baggy clothes.
Mann said he is trying to take a proactive
stand on baggy clothes, rather than a reactive
stand after a serious incident occurs.
“I won’t compromise safety at Senior High,”
he said.
Auction’s timing benefits Omaha
OMAHA (AP) — A three-day auction of a
portion of the Omaha-owned Byron Reed coin
and document collection will bring $ 1.5 million
more into Omaha city coffers than originally
expected.
Last week’s auction in New York City and
London raised $6,549 million, considerably
more than the $3 million to $4 million Christie’s
auction house projected.
Use of the windfall has not yet been deter
mined, Mayor Hal Daub said. But he has some
ideas for a few lucky recipients.
Daub said the extra proceeds resulted from
lucky timing and a strong market and not from
the city putting too much of the collection on
the block.
Daub estimated that about $5.7 million to
$5.8 million in revenue would come to the city
once a 10 percent buyer’s premium on each lot
is subtracted and appropriate auction fees are
paid.
Of the city’s proceeds, $3 million has been
pledged toward the renovation and expansion
of Western Heritage Museum, where the Reed
collection is housed.
In addition, Daub said, another $500,000 to
$800,000 of the revenue would be set aside to
endow a curator to oversee the collection with
the staff at the Western Heritage Museum.
After residual auction expenses, he said,
more than $1.5 million would be left for other
purposes. It will go to the city’s general fund.
Daub proposed three possible uses for all or
part of the money:
— Offsetting the $3 million from the gen
eral fund the city pledged to pay to Western
Heritage in $300,000 annual payments begin
ning in 1995. This figure is in addition to the $3
million the museum will receive from auction
revenue.
— Upgrading and developing the 75-acre
Omaha Botanical Garden, which opened in
1993.
—Contributing to the construction of a long
discussed trolley along 10th Street, linking the
Henry Doorly Zoo and Rosenblatt Stadium with
the Western Heritage Museum and the Old Mar
ket. - _
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