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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 1998)
Test center funding debated By Todd Anderson Assignment Reporter State investment in an electronics testing center at the University of Nebraska Technology Park would open the door to long-term economic development, businessmen and administrators said during the Appropriations Committee hearing Thursday. Five speakers testified in favor of LB 1173, a bill sponsored by Lincoln Sen. Ron Raikes, which would give $5 million to Southeast Community College to build the center and buy high-tech equipment Jack Huck, president of Southeast Community College, said the center would be a catalyst for growth in Nebraska. “This is an opportunity for a strong economic development model that may have spinoffs in other industries,” he said. In addition, he said, overseeing the construction and maintenance of the site would fit within the role and mis sion of SCC by providing hands-on experience for students and employees in electronics field. The community college would own the center, which would be locat ed in northwest Lincoln’s Tech Park. Joel Young, vice president of engi neering and marketing for Transcrypt International, located in Tech Park, said his company would save more than $100,000 a year in testing expens es by using the facility. The center would not only attract revenue from electronics businesses in other states, he said, but workers from other states would have more incentive > to relocate to Nebraska. He said private businesses had dis cussed the possibility of funding a cen ter on their own, but the project would be more productive with the involve ment of public and private sectors. “The educational aspects and the cooperation of our community col lege, the university and private indus try working together are a critical cata lyst for helping to attract qualified workers to the state,” he said. The committee took no action on the bill. Sex offenders post-prison fates argued By Brian Carlson Senior Reporter When probable repeat sex offend ers finish their prison sentences, they should serve time in mental institu tions rather than threaten the public, supporters of LB 1096 argued Thursday. The bill, presented in a hearing of the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, would require sex offenders to be examined by men tal health professionals before being released If the offender was found to be mentally ill or to have a mental abnor mality making repeated offenses like ly, the offender could face civil com mitment and mental health treatment in a mental health facility. Mental health professionals, how ever, said their industry is not equipped to protect the public from sex offenders when the criminal justice system fails to do so. Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg said the proposal was in response to a Supreme Court ruling last year upholding a similar statute in Kansas. “With respect to sexually violent offenders, Nebraska citizens deserve much more protection,” he said “Only when these extremely dangerous predators are confined where they do not have access to potential victims ; will Nebraska citizens enjoy the mea sure of safety that the law can and should provide” . Stenberg said LB1096 would com- , plement related pieces of legislation being considered in 1998. , LB323 would increase punish ments for repeat sexual offenders; ; LB204, known as “Megan’s Law,” i would provide for public notification | when sex offenders are released. But opponents objected to LB 1096, saying it was an attempt to ] dump the failures of the criminal jus- ; tice system into the lap of the state’s j mental health system. J. Rock Johnson of the National ] Alliance for the Mentally HI said die ; bill recklessly equated mental abnor- ; malities with true mental illness. i The bill could also divert mental health facilities’ funding from needy : patients, she said. Invoking William Joinings Bryan, < Johnson said, “We will not be cruci fied on a cross of punishment and i incarceration.” i Terry Davis, a psychiatrist repre senting the Nebraska Psychiatric Association, said the mingling of men tal health patients and sex offenders would pose a threat to patients’ safety. Davis also questioned the effec tiveness of mental health treatment for sex offenders, saying results had been nixed. Davis said he thought the bilT!s true purpose is not to rehabilitate sex sffenders but to quarantine them Sum he public - a task better suited for the criminal justice system. Eric Evans, deputy director of Nebraska Advocacy Services, said die 3ill stigmatized mental health patients )y wrongly equating mental illness with violent behavior. “This does extreme injustice to leople who are mentally ill and their families by codifying this stigma in state statute,” he said. But Sen. Kate Witek, Health and Human Services Committee member ind bill co-sponsor, $^ thepfopd&ar ' irose out of public dissatisfaction with he handling of released sex offenders. After a failure to secure increased sentences for sex offenders, Witek said, bill drafters resorted to the civil commitment option. “It’s more of a frustration than any hing else causing people to turn to that irea.” Student fees may rise to pay for union CFAfrom page! _ dent, said, “If you want to stop cigarette sales, you have a right to do it, but don’t ask students to pay for it” But Swanson said it was contradic tory for university entities, such as the University Health Center and Campus Recreation Center to promote wellness, but sell tobacco at the union. , If tobacco sales continued, a 7.4 per cent increase would be requested. If $35,500 from a National Bank of Commerce lease was given to the union instead of the university’s general fund, the 7.4 percent could be reduced to 5.6 percent, Swanson said. When NBC’s lease ended in 1996, hey bid again, which gave the union an additional $35,500 to occupy the space again and, more importantly, provide the ATM machines, which are the two most used AIM machines in the stale. At that time a university policy was stalled requiring revalues like this to be returned to the UNL general fund. But Chancellor James Moeser allowed the union to keep this money because of the decline in revenue the union would experience during its cur rent construction, which is scheduled to end in September. With the completion of the new union, the NBC lease money will go back into the general fund. If the budget passes, student fees would increase by $24 per semester, which would be added to the $207 pa semester now paid. The Association of Students for the University ofNebraska and Moeser will have to approve the amount CFA passes Thursday. CFA members also asked if the ser vices their fees would pay for would be die ones they wanted. Much of the $178,092 the union requested would pay for an art gallery and increased space and services of the Student Involvement office. Kendall Swenson, chairman of CFA, asked if the art gallery would be a way to improve the university and its image, rather than reflect the real wants af students here now. But Swanson said the union was there to “offer something for every body.” The majority may not want an art gallery, Swanson said, bin a lot of ser vices at the union now are designed to benefit the minority. Swanson said CFA members might not be giving students enough credit “Don’t underestimate the fact that your fellow students might head for the food court one day and sneak into the gallery.” I Question*? Comments? Ask for the appropriate section editor at (402} 472-2588 or *maN dnltufdnfo.unl.edu. Fax number (402) 472-1781 World Wide Web: www.unl.edu/DaityNeb The DaiN Nebraskan (USPS144-0MA is publaiied by the UNLPublcaBons Board, Nebraska Union 34, 1400 R St, Lincoln, NE 685884)448, Monday through Friday duming the academic year, weekly during the summer sessions.The pubic has access to Hie Publications Board. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daly Nebraskan by calling (402)472-2588. Subscriptions are $55 lor one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daly Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St, Lincoln NE 68588-0448. Periodtead postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL llATERULDOPYnQHT 1998 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Editor: Panto Lavigne Managing Editor: Chad Lorenz Associate News Editor. Erin Schulte Associate News Editor: Ted Taylor AarimrwfFdRnr Erin Gibson Opinion Editor: Joshua Gillin Sports Editor: David Wilson A&E Editor: JeffRandaU Copy Desk Chief: Bryce Glenn Photo Director: RyanSoderim Design Co-Chieft: Jamie Ziegler Tony Toth Art Director: Mad Haney Online Editor: Gregg Steams Asst Online Editor: Amy Pemberton General Manager: DanShattil PobHeattons Board Melissa Myles, Chnirwonmn: (402)476-2446 Professional Adviser: Don Walton, (402)473-7301 Advertising Manager: Nick Putsch, (402)472-2589 Assistant Ad Manager: Daniel Lam Chnnified Ad Manager: Marai Speck China, France oppose strike to end Iraq crisis DAunuAu, iraq (Ar; — Diplomatic attempts to solve the Iraq crisis picked up speed Thursday, while China and France registered strong new opposition to an American military strike. Russian President Boris Yeltsin declared that “we shall not allow” an American attack. Diplomats from Russia, France, Turkey and the Arab League — as well as an envoy of PLO leader Yasser Arafat — pressed Iraq to compromise on U.N. demands to inspect “sensi tive sites,” including President Saddam Hussein’s palaces, to head off a threatened U.S. strike. Thus far, varying forms of compromise offers reportedly dis cussed have not provided a way out of the crisis. The United States and Britain, virtually alone among major powers in advocating the use of force, insist on the long standing U.N. demand of unfet tered access to all sites. “We have stood together ... before in the face of tyranny,” Prime Minister Tony Blair said after a Washington meeting with President Clinton. ‘Today, in the face of the threat from Saddam Hussein, we must stand together once more. We want a diplomatic solution to the crisis, but die success or failure of diplomacy rests on Saddam. If he fails to respond, then he knows that the threat of force is there, and it is real” Shortly before Blair’s com ments, the USS Independence accompanied by a submarine and , . four other American ships, sailed ~4nto4h&Persian Gulf. Another 2,000 Marines on Navy ships with infantry and combat aircraft aboard were heading toward the gulf to join 24,000 American forces. Iraq has been sparring for weeks with the United Nations over weapons inspections. It has barred members of the U.N. Special Commission, which over sees the inspections from certain sites including Saddam’s palaces, on grounds they would infringe on Iraqi sovereignty. The Security Council has said punishing economic sanctions, imposed after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which led to die Persian Gulf War, will not be lifted until the commission certifies it has destroyed its weapons of mass destruction. Iraq claims it has done so. Since March 1996, inspectors have visited 63 sites where they believed the Iraqis were hiding contraband. Inspectors were delayed from entering 38 of the sites and flady denied access to 14 others in the name of national w— We must not allow a strike by force, an American strike. I told Clinton about it.” Boris Yeltsin Russian president security. Yeltsin, directing unusually critical remarks at Clinton for the second straight day, renewed warnings that U.S. bombing raids against Iraq could spark a world war. “We must not allow a strike by force, an American strike. I told Clinton about it No, we shall not allow that,” Yeltsin said in Moscow. It wasn’t clear how Russia intends to block an American attack. Yeltsin aides ruled out Russian retaliation, and although Russia has veto power in the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. has said it doesn’t require further-council approval to attack Iraq. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine made clear that France will not join in any US.-led strike on Iraq now, telling Europe 1 radio that diplomatic means to * nrpecnrp remain An airstrike, he said, “would not resolve the problems” Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, speaking, on state-run * television, also Said he told Secretary of State Madeleine Albright that any military strike could make matters worse. The Iraqi Parliament, mean while, held an emergency session Thursday but refrained from action, with lawmakers saying they will give diplomacy a chance to resolve the crisis. Saddam discussed the crisis with his ruling Revolutionary Command Council, the official Iraqi News Agency said. It gave no details, other than to say he out lined the mediation efforts. Iraq reportedly has offered to allow U.N. inspectors access to eight disputed sites for about a month — a plan that U.S. and British officials have said does not go far enough. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, trying to line up sup port for a strike during visits to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, said “there are some interesting pro posals there, although they do not match up to our requirement of full compliance.” Penguin chicks hatched in captivity at Omaha zoo OMAHA (AP) — King penguins arely are hatched in captivity, so here was a lot to celebrate after a sec >nd chick arrived last weekend at the rlenry Doorly Zoo. Associate zoo director Randy Wisthoff said captive king penguins isually are hatched at specialized Sea World facilities. The Omaha zoo also latched a king penguin last March. The wrinkly chick began pecking hrough its eggshell on Jan. 30 and jmerged on Sunday. The bird, coveted by a fine brown iown, is small enough to fit into a lair of cupped hands. It weighed 6.8 ounces Thursday, up one half-ounce from Tuesday. Wisthoff said eventually, king penguins stand 30 to 36 inches tall and weigh 40 to 50 pounds. The chick will shed its baby down between 4 months and one year, replacing it with black, white and brilliant orange feathers. Its high-pitched whine will evolve into a deep-trumpeting call. Handlers don’t know the chick’s gender since birds offer few outward indications. Unless there is a need to know, such as transfer to another zoo, Wisthoff said, zoo keepers let nature take its course. “You let them figure it out,” he said. “They know.”
