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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 21, 1996)
DWI law changes at standstill Pardons board questions legality, waits on repeatoffender reviews By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter Douglas Hansen may not have won his driver’s license back Tues day, but he is still sober and will continue to fight to get back the privilege he lost after his third DWI conviction six years ago. “My life is a hell of a lot better today than when I was drinking,” he said after a pardons board meet ing at the State Capitol. “I wouldn’t give that up, license or no license.” Hansen was one of 18 who peti tioned the Nebraska Board of Par dons to end their 15-year driver’s license suspensions for multiple driving-while-intoxicated convic tions. In a three-hour hearing that did more to preview the spring session of the Nebraska Legislature than to pardon refamed drunken drivers, the board voted unanimously to hold off on deciding any cases until lawmakers have a chance to try and fix the problem. At issue is a January Nebraska Supreme Court ruling that declared unconstitutional a law allowing judges to review 15-year DWI li cense suspensions after five years. The ruling stated the law gave judges the power to grant pardons, which is the constitutional power of the pardons board.* The result has been a glut of. cases going to the board —18 on Wednesday and more than 300 that also potentially could have come before the board. In Nebraska, ac cording to the Department of Mo tor Vehicles, there are 3,35915-year license suspensions — 349 with lifetime suspensions. Attorney General Don Stenberg said the board — made up of Stenberg, Gov. Ben Nelson and Sec retary of State Scott Moore —■ would see an increase of more than 40 hours per week of work for DWI cases alone. “I don’t think there is any other choice but to send this back to the Legislature,” Stenberg said. “I don’t think there is any practical way to deal with this problem.” The board agreed to send the issue back to the Legislature and said they would outline some areas lawmakers could examine based on testimony given to them Tuesday. Some of those issues included: • Stiffening jail terms for DWI offenses. • Making the penalties for first and second offense DWI tougher. • Establishing some sort of ad ministrative review of 15-year sus pension cases after five years, re moving the responsibility from the pardons board. Diane Riibe, who represented Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said her organization opposed the pardoning of any repeat drunken driving offender. “Is it fair to the victims (of drunken-driving accidents)? It is not fair to the victims,” she said. “Does - it take away their hope? Absolutely, it takes away their hope.” Riibe said someone injured in a drunken-driving accident could not apply to have a sentence reduced. She did say, however, that MADD would favor some of the issues brought before the board, such as stiffening penalties on first and sec ond drunken-driving offenses. Hansen told the board he had been sober for six years with the help of God and Alcoholics Anony mous. After his third conviction, he sobered up, got an engineering de gree and got married. After the meeting, Hansen said he was disappointed by the board’s decision, but he was not discour aged. He said he was hopeful the Legislature would fix the problem in the spring. “It’s not really a win or lose is sue,” he said. “Everybody wins in the end. “I just want to live a normal life again, and without a license, it’s tough to do that.” Electronic signs will signal drivers about slick roads By The Associated Press Travelers on Nebraska’s Interstate 80 will get better warning of bad driv ing conditions this winter. Thirteen solar-powered electronic signs are being installed at 13 spots beginning at York, 50 miles west of Lincoln, and extending all the way to the Colorado and Wyoming borders. “This will allow us to get the infor mation out to the people so they can make the decision whether they want to continue their trip,” said Paul Cammack, state maintenance engineer with the Nebraska Department of Roads. I The signs cost $26,700, are similar to message boards used at construction sites and during the summer they will be used at construction areas. Some of the 13 signs have been installed, and signs near Kearney were used last weekend to warn motorists of icy road conditions. All of the signs will be in place by Dec. 1. The signs would be used in the event of road closures and potential safety hazards. The screens will be blank if there is no imminent threat. “We don’t want people to get used to seeing a' drive safely’ message on it that doesn’t mean anything,” Cammack said. “If we put something up there, we want them to notice it.” NO UI ,, TURN Muscular Dystrophy Association This is no time to turn back. 1 717 Keep MDA's lifesaving research 1 OUU ' ' 11 _ moving forward. j i.' I Meth information meeting draws crowd of 400 GRAND ISLAND (AP) — The methamphetamine problem is going rapidly enough in central Nebraska that 400 people turned out Tuesday night to learn more about the “poor man’s cocaine.” The information meeting moder ated by state Sen.-elect Chris Peterson provided material from a pair of pan els. One discussion group included two recovering addicts and a doctor, while law enforcement personnel and Hall County Judge David Bush made up the other. Bush said the problem begins with alcohol as the drug of choice, followed by marijuana and methamphetamine, which reportedly is growing in use at an alarming rate in the Midwest. Bush said the illegal drug problem is more than a law enforcement prob lem, it is a community health problem. State Patrol Lt. Bill Schelchter said the patrol has met with many counse lors and law enforcement officials across the state to educate them on the growing problem. He agreed with Bush that the problem is expanding. A senior high school* student, who recently completed a drug recovery course, said meth use is everywhere. He called the drug the ultimate high, whether people smoke it, snort it, shoot it or swallow it. A member of the audience asked how to recognize the drug problem in a neighborhood or a home. Hall County Deputy Sheriff Chris Ray said people should be suspicious of a house that has a lot of traffic mak ing brief visits. And, he said, parents should be alerted if a child is up early in the morning, doesn’t eat and is usu ally hyperactive. The mother of a teen-ager who is in a drug treatment center in Minne sota suggested that families who sus pect their children are using metham phetamine should test them with kits similar to home pregnancy tests. “We have boxes of them in our re frigerator,” said Debbie McCarty. “The urine drug screen is the one proof you have as to whether your child is taking drugs or not.” Mike McCarty said his son began experimenting with alcohol and mari juana, then started using methamphet amine at least six months ago. The boy was excited when he was under the in fluence, then became lethargic and de pressed. Tired of playing textbook tag? Then leave the games to us. 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