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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 14, 1997)
8 P 0 B T 8_ * * E_ FRIDAY High flying Back in the Hole February 14,1997 The NU women’s gymnastics team starts a three- KFRX disc jockey Andy Vaughn is back as host meet homestand with a dual against Denver Sat- of “The Donut Holes in the Morning,” and he That LOVING Glow , urday. The Huskers are 8-1 this season. PAGE 9 couldn’t be happier. PAGE 11 Partly sunny, high 38. Cloudy topight, low 17. VOL. 96 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 101 Paridng lot may pave way for new hotel By Kasey Kerber Staff Reporter It’s 250 parking spaces today, and might be 250 hotel suites tomorrow. Lincoln Mayor Mike Johanns announced Thursday that Block 35, now used as a 250-spot parking lot between 10th and 11th streets and P and Q streets downtown, will become a 250 room Embassy Suites Hotel if negotiations go smoothly and it’s approved by the City Coun cil. The announcement was originally expected for the week of Jan. 13, but the committee needed additional time to consider the informa tion submitted by prospective developers. John Q. Hammons, a Springfield, Mo., de I U -- ... the project will enhance the UNL campus for foot ball, the Lied Center and everything else ...” Mayor Mike Johanns veloper, was selected for the project. The committee visited and approved an Embassy Suites Hotel that Hammons built in Omaha. “This developer is a very seasoned entrepre neur,” Johanns said. “He’s indicated an ability to be flexible on the project.” Flexibility will be a necessary component, Johanns said, as details are uncertain. Considerations in constructing the Embassy Suites Hotel include: designing the building to attract interest, replacing the 250 parking spaces and possibly providing a first-floor market with shops and restaurants. The effect of Block 35’s development on the nearby UNL campus also was discussed. “I believe the project will enhance the UNL campus for football, the Lied Center and every thing else at the university,” Johanns said. > UNL Chancellor James Moeser later com mented on the announcement. “I think it’s a positive development,” Moeser said. While a developer has been chosen for the project, the detailed plans have not been devel oped for Block 35. Johanns said the next stage is the negotia tions with Hammons. Dallas McGee, commu nity development coordinator, said the negotia tions stage could take anywhere from weeks to months. Johanns said the construction date could be pushed back to 1998. It was scheduled to begin this year. KEG party taps into government By Lindsay Young StaffReporter It’s a keg party, but instead of pouring beer, members of KEG pored over issues Thursday night. KEG party President Scott Brauer said his party wants to bring student government to the students. The party announced its candi dacy and platform Thursday in the Abel Residence Hall ballroom in preparation for the Association of Students of the University of Ne braska elections in March. KEG stands for Knowledge and Education through Government. The main focus of the platform is to get the residence halls and more minority organizations in volved in student government, Brauer said. “For one, I am sick of being underrepresented,” he said at the beginning of his platform speech. One way the party plans on get ting more students involved is through representation on each resi dence hall floor, Brauer said. The party plans on getting contacts not only for the upcoming election but to benefit the party in the future. These contacts, Brauer said, will be a way to help educate more stu dents on campus about the issues that face student government. This will help increase voter participation on campus from the 8.4 percent of students who voted in ASUN elections last year, he said. Listening to the concerns and wants of minority students and or ganizations was important to the party, he said. Brauer said it was the party’s responsibility as student rep resentatives to speak for all stu dents’ views. Brauer said the party had many concerns with the current represen tation in ASUN. He said it does not devote enough attention to bills that would affect a large percentage of students on campus. Ben Poole, campaign manager, said the KEG party targeted central ized billing as one important stu dent issue in its platform. Brauer said students were con fused by the new centralized bill ing plan, and needed more options. Some students, he said, could not pay because the bills were too large. Brauer said KEG also is con cerned about post-tenure review and said it should include students’ views. Brauer also addressed the debate over the university’s pending accep tance of a single-beverage company contract. The beverage alliance, which would bring about $10 million to the university, should be used to defray student fees, Brauer said. He said it should be used to stop the rate of tuition increase, and said it would improve educational qual ity by decreasing what students pay. And, even though it’s a KEG party, Brauer stood by the university’s policy of a dry campus by saying its stand on alcohol at the university should “be as dry as my sense of humor.” Ryan Soderlin/DN FROM LEFTS CAMPAIGN Manager Ben Poole and Presidential Candidate Scott Brauer launched the KEG party’s campaign for ASUN elections Thursday night in Abel Residence Hall. Legislature debates assisted-suicide bill JBy Erin Schulte Senior Reporter A bill heard Wednesday by the Ju diciary Committee would allow phy sicians to assist terminally-ill patients in dying, making Nebraska the first state to legalize the practice. Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, who sponsored the Physician Aid-in Dying bill, said the practice was al ready being done by doctors through out the state. Although he said he didn’t want doctors to use aid-in-dying fre quently, the state needed laws to ad dress it. LB406 would ensure that doctors who helped patients in aid-in-dying would not be prosecuted. Chambers urged the committee to advance the bill, so it could at least be discussed, rather than kill it just be cause people didn’t agree with it. “This (bill), literally a matter of life or death, should be advanced,” Cham bers said. Under the provisions of LB406, an adult who was expected to die of a ter minal illness in six months or less could sign a request for aid-in-dying (an advance directive). The patient could revoke the directive at any time. The physician who gave the lethal injection or dose of drugs could not be charged with murder or assisting sui cide, and the death would not be con sidered a suicide for insurance pur poses, according to the bill. If a physician declined to assist in dying, he would not be forced. Opponents are worried that a pa tient who changed his or her mind would still be given a lethal injection of drugs, and that the bill did not re quire a psychological exam to insure that the person requesting an advance directive was able-minded. Chambers tried to calm fears by stressing that the directive could be revoked at any time. “You can be clearheaded as Einstein when you make it, but if the next day you’re crazy as a bedbug and _ decide to revoke it... it doesn’t have to be carried out,” Chambers said. Consenting fear An opponent said the bill could open the door to Nazi-like practices. Walt Weaver, a Lincoln cardiolo gist, said Nazis used “the same trick when they got rid of people in nursing homes” in Germany. They would check the visitors list and kill patients who had no family visits — no advocates to protect them. He also said doctors could not pre dict if a patient was near death. Some patients are expected to die and are taken off respirators, yet they live for months. Jim Cunningham of the Nebraska Catholic Conference said his groups opposed the bill. Chambers said the church sup ported removing feeding tubes and let ting patients dehydrate if they or their families so chose. Others who testified said shutting down feeding tubes was “passive eu thanasia,” while giving lethal injec tions was direct killing. Teresa Wagner, an attorney for the National Right to Life, said the bill would let doctors kill patients who were not terminally ill, and doctors would have more reason to kill patients than develop better treatments. “The dollar spent is the largest of considerations,” she said. “Lethal in jections will be the cheapest, always. “The dependent and the sick lose. This could be called a prescription for their death.” Jack Kaufmann, a medical doctor from David City, said terminally-ill patients should live because pain can be controlled until they die. “When my patients cannot get well, God’s words, ‘comfort ye my people,’ always apply,” Kaufmann said. “Thou shalt not kill,” he said. ‘To Please see DYING on 8 Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http: / / www.unl.edu /DailyNeb