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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 22, 1996)
i EDITOR DougKouma OPINION EDITOR Anne Hjersman EDITORIAL BOARD Doug Peters Matt \Nhite Paula Lavigne Mitch Sherman Anthony Nguyen Endorsements Well voice our votes before ballots are cast Two weeks from today, voters in Ne braska and across the nation will go to the polls to decide everything from who will be president of the United States for the next four years to who should serve on the vil lage board of trustees. Voters have some important decisions to make. Are you ready? We on the Daily Nebraskan editorial board have been closely following the ma jor contests this year. We have devoted a portion of each of our weekly meetings to discussing the campaigns, the candidates and the issues involved. Why? Because starting tomorrow ana continuing through next week, we’ll be shar ing with you the conclusions we have come to. After our final discussions on each of the races we will cover, we will vote on our offi cial position as an editorial board. Candidate A or candidate B? For or against? Majority rules. No exceptions. Based on those votes, we will make our endorsements for particular candidates or take stands on particular ballot initiatives. We’ll tell you what we think about sev eral ballot initiatives, including 411 and 412, the property tax/quality education proposals. We’ll talk about term limits. We’ll endorse a candid&te in an NU Board of Regents race. And we’ll give our support to candidates in all three U.S. House races, the U.S. Senate race and the presidential race. We hope you’ll consider what we have to say. We hope you’ll find us convincing. But given that there is rarely consensus in politics, we understand that you might not agree with us. That’s OK. Mostly, we just want you to join us in thinking about these things, in making deci sions and making them known by casting ballots on Nov. 5. Time to register The time has come. The time is now. You have until 6 p.m. Friday to register to vote in this year’s elections. Your vote is your voice. It is your right It is your privilege. It is your choice. You can take part in the democratic system that keeps this country ticking—you can have a say in who will sit in the Oval Office for the next four years, who will rep resent you in Congress, what changes (if any) will be made to die state constitution. It’s up to you. But you’d better decide soon. You have until Friday. Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Fall 19% Daily Nebraskan. They do not nec essarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its stu dent body or die University of Nebraska Board of Regents. A column is soley die opinion of its author. The Board of Regents serves as publisher of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by die Daily Nebraskan Edito rial Board. The UNL Publications Board, es tablished by the regents, supervises the pro ducdon of the newspaper. According to policy set by die regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies soldy in the hands of its student employees. Letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief let ters to die editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submit ted material becomes the property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, year in school, major and/or group affilia tion, if any. Submit material to: Daily Ne braska^ 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St Lincoln, Neb. 68588-0448. E-mail: letters9unlinfb.unl.edu. TVS- M NEVIS imm \S W, TO TOx-tAD W, < Captain Campaign * Sky Harbor near Eppley Airfield i should be designated a landmark of historical significance for the field of i psychology. With Wednesday’s appearance of former Vice President Dan Quayle with Nebraska’s own Jon Christensen marks the first time in human history that two individuals have appeared together on a public , podium and the Intelligence Quotient dropped to zero in a single instance! All kidding aside, I think Quayle’s appearance points to the desperation of Jon Christensen to assure his standing here at home by bringing GOP celebrities, rather than manag ing affairs RATIONALLY in Washington. This is, after all, the same Jon Christensen who wanted to cut the national weather service a year ago and then brought Newt here to prop up his image and earn himself campaign funds via a zillion dollar-a-plate luncheon for the GOP faithful. Christensen certainly isn’t taking any chances with his incum bency. Now if he’d manage the affairs of the nation with such concern, maybe he’d miss appearing on Harper’s magazine’s “Dim Bulbs of Congress” next term. James Zank senior College of Arts and Sciences Animal Research Anytime animals are involved in research, conflicts will arise between opposing groups. In response to Scott Ferguson’s comments (Letters, Oct. 18 DN) we would like to point out that ostriches in South Africa have been raised in captivity for more than 160 years. There they are considered domesticated. In the wild they have only a 20 percent survival rate. However, since their domestication in 1881 in the U.S., their survival rate has increased to 36 Matt Haney/DN percent. Their domestication has prevented their potential extinction. The ostrich industry is rapidly growing throughout the U.S. In Nebraska, ostriches have been legally made a livestock animal, and at least 200 producers depend on them for their livelihood. As with any live stock animal, producers need nutrition and management plans to raise the animal. Therefore, research must take place. Kay Kunze # senior fisheries and wildlife Dr. Sheila Scheideler Associate Professor, Animal Science Department ‘Quality Education* “Educators unite to oppose ‘quality’ school initiatives,”’ read a front-page headline on Oct. 18. There is something the matter with university and college administrators opposing “quality” education for high school and grade school students, even it all that they are actually opposing is a particular initiative to change the state constitu tion. Initiatives 411 and 412 started life together as a single initiative that couple property tax relief with protection for primary and secondary schools, which receive most of their funding from property taxes. The purpose was to rectify real property tax unfairness without arbitrarily zapping schools. And yes, that meant that the legislature would somehow have to shield th6 schools from property tax decreases by moving money out of existing budgets or raising other taxes. And yes again, that means that money for colleges and universities, which is a large share of the state budget, could become part of the pot. Now that the two have been uncoupled by the state’s attorney general, it is tempting to see a constitutional guarantee of “quality” education on the lower levels as inimical to the university. But let’s not let the business interests of Omaha and Lincoln — or ordinary tax payers who would rather not pay for anybody’s education— succeed at playing divide and conquer with education interests in the state. Given the amount of grousing about poorly prepared students that emanates from univer sity professors (including me), we should all be doing our best to enshrine “quality education” at the. lower levels in the state constitution and then fight even harder to make . sure that the unicameral comes up with the substitute dollars by increasing taxes like the income tax the, however unpopular, is, unlike the real estate tax, assessed on those who can afford to pay. Let’s stick up for all education and not get to feuding among ourselves. Frances W. Kaye professor English