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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1997)
Funds lost if child support bills fail SUPPORT from page 1 The bill would help parents like Zoe Roth of Lincoln. Roth, a custodial parent, said her husband has, at times, been thousands of dollars late on payments. One portion of the bill states that parents more than three months delin quent on their child support payments would lose their drivers, professional, occupational or recreational licenses. Work permits would be available. “The bill would make failure to support one’s children a socially un acceptable act,” she said. She also said her husband had the habit of frequently changing jobs to avoid payment. One year, he switched employers four times. In such cases, it takes months to find out where non custodial parents are working so checks can be garnered. LB752 could help in this area also. Employers would have to give the state all names of new hires. Names would be compared to child support files to make sure they weren’t late on pay ments. A common way to pay child sup port is through automatic transfer of part of a paycheck from the employer. A similar process would apply to banks. Lists of those delinquent in child support would be compared to account holders at banks. Available funds could be frozen to pay the child support. Hearings would be held before any property was seized. A statement released by Beutler said there is about $323 million in outstanding child support in Nebraska, and only half of those required to pay child support are actually paying. The bill could increase child sup port payments by $10 million in the first year, he said. Some parents who’ve paid child support showed up to protest. James Tennant of Bellevue said unforeseeable mistakes could jeopar dize him. Once, he said, money was transferred from his paycheck to die wrong bank account and he wasn’t notified for months. “All of us fathers are walking on ice,” Tennant said. “Right now, you’re filling the water with piranhas.” He also said there was the threat of getting laid off from a job, and meet ing child support payments was hard. Many testified large increases in child support payments were dispro portionate to small pay raises. One complained too much money is left in the hands of the custodial parents. “They figure how much it costs to raise that child and give it all to the custodial parents,” said Randy Gates .of Lincoln. “The whole focus is against die non-custodial parents, and in fact, that’s against the child because a child needs both parents.” Gates said non-custodial parents needed to keep some of the money for things like making long-distance phone calls, providing a home for the children and taking them on vacation. Speaker offers methods to prevent sexual assault KOESTNER from page 1 Through the use of her personal story, which is planned for release as a docudrama on HBO, Koestner told the audience about a man she had known as a friend for 10 days. The man raped her during her fresh-' man year at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va. “Eighty-four percent of rapes are committed by someone you al ready know,” Koestner said. “No one had told me that at that time.” She said she never screamed, kicked or hit her assailant, although she bit a hole through her lip during the rape, which provided evidence for an on-campus trial. The trial led to the man’s temporary expulsion. Her case was never taken to a higher court than the campus com mittee that reviewed it. Although her case was never tried because of discouragement from a district attorney, Koestner encouraged victims to take steps that would aid in prosecution. She said victims should talk to some one they trust and seek medical at tention within 72 hours to provide evidencefor a possible court case. She said if women take a stand for themselves, and if more men could “be strong” and take the subject seriously, fewer rapes would occur. - ‘Tell one male friend that rape is wronj* and-^ever a joke,” Koe0i«"3jaid. “What about one day when a woman you cale a lot about starts crying on your shoulder and tells you she was raped?Then it will be too late to stop laughing.” Mmu * Glow la die Black Lights* Rock-i-Ron a Hobson funeral to be held today From Staff Reports Funeral services for Kim Hobson, 41, student organization consultant in the Student Involvement Office, will be today at 2 p.m. Hobson died Satur day after a heart attack. Services will be at Southwood Lutheran Church, 5511 S. 27th St. Viet Hoang, a student government chairman, said he worked closely with Hobson, who worked for the univer sity for 12 years. “She was one of the most dedi cated people.” Hoang said. “She let students develop and grow in their -own way.” Suicide A 20-year-old man died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head early Wednesday morning near Holmes Lake. Lincoln Police Sgt. Ann Heermann said an officer on patrol in the marina parking lot on the south shore of Holmes Lake found a parked car at 12:50 a.m. She said die officer parked his cruiser and got out to approach the car. “He had only taken a few steps when he heard a gunshot,” Heermann said. When die officer approached, he found the man with a head wound and a Chinese-made SKS assault nue wun one /.ozmm oui let missing from the rifle’s 40-round magazine. Hie man was taken to Saint Elizabeth Medical Centra where he was pronounced dead. Heermann said a suicide note was found, but she declined to elaborate. Vandalism A man who slashed two car tires before assaulting the owner of the car was detained by three men un til police arrived. James Houser Jr., 57, of 3815 J St., was arrested Tuesday afternoon at Woods Park. Two employees of the Woods Park Tennis Center, 33rd and J streets, told police they watched Houser slash two tires of a car in the parking lot, Heermann said. The two employees and the car’s owner went out to stop Houser, she said. The three men told police that Houser then as saulted the car owner. Houser was jailed on vandalism and assault charges.