The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, January 20, 1999, Image 1

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    SPORTS ■
Country Kubik
Nicole Kubik has taken her game from the family
driveway to the Devaney Sports Center to excel for
the NU women’s basketball team. PAGE 7
A & E_
Acting your best
UNL theater students head to Ames, Iowa, for a
round of national competition. The students will
perform a full-length play. PAGE 9
TUES AY
January 20, 1999
The Gray Unwashed
Mostly cloudy, high 46. Cloudy tonight, low 30.
L
V
VOL. 98 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 83
- - - —.■ ■■ - ■ - r ' - ■ ..- -
Congressmen find
address unrealistic
By Brian Carlson
Staff writer
President Clinton called for too much gov
ernment spending, too much federal control over
school districts and not enough tax breaks in his
State of the Union Address on Tuesday, two of
Nebraska’s Republican congressmen said.
Reps. Doug Bereuter and Lee Terry spoke
with the Daily Nebraskan after Clinton’s speech,
the first State of the Union Address ever deliv
ered by an impeached president. The speech
came the same day Clinton’s lawyers began his
defense in his Senate impeachment trial.
Bereuter criticized Clinton for offering a
slew of new spending programs while offering
only one mention of a tax break.
“It was the longest laundry list the president
has ever given us in terms of spending pro
grams,” he said. “1 don’t think he left out anyone
or anything.”
Bereuter said Clinton’s new spending pro
posals, many of which depend on continued bud
get surpluses for funding, could lead to explod
ing costs in future years.
New spending programs drawing from bud
get surpluses threaten the very promise Clinton
made Tuesday night, Bereuter said - to use those
surpluses to save Social Security.
“The important thing for Americans to think
about is the cost of these programs into the sec
ond and third years and beyond,” he said. “It
would amount to a very major increase in the size
of the federal budget.”
Clinton proposed that $2.7 trillion - about 60
percent of projected surpluses of $4 trillion - be
used to fund shortfalls in future Social Security
benefits . Some of those funds would be invested
by the government in private funds.
Bereuter applauded Clinton for making a
specific Social Security proposal that could be
the basis for a bipartisan solution.
He warned, however, that government
administered investments in private funds could
lead to abuses. For example, the government
could make politically motivated investments or
gain undue influence in corporations.
“Count us very suspicious (of government
investment),” he said. “I would prefer that we
would have the option to use part of what we con
tribute to invest in our own way.”
Bereuter said Clinton’s education proposals
would give the federal government too much
power over local school districts.
“He is proposing that he is the chairman of
local school boards,” he said. “Once you open up
the federal checkbook, there’s no end to how far
or how big it could grow.”
Bereuter applauded Clinton's call for
increased defense spending but said congres
sional Republicans may seek more. Bereuter also
advocated research for a missile defense system.
Bereuter said he also supported Clinton’s call
for tax credits for stay-at-home parents, as well as
his request for fast-track authority to negotiate
trade agreements.
Terry agreed that Clinton had requested
sharp spending increases.
“I struggle to find out what segment of soci
ety he left out,” he said. “He touched on every
emotional aspect of society, and he had a new
spending program to accompany each one of
those.
“All these new warm, fuzizy and emotional
programs, I oppose.”
Terry also said he opposed most of Clinton’s
education proposals because they would extend
federal control over local schools.
As for Social Security, Tern/ said he shared
Bereuter’s concerns that government investment
schemes could lead to abuse.
“What we need to do is give dollars to indi
viduals so they can make their individual invest
ment decisions,” he said.
Terry said he agreed with Clinton that the
government should use budget surpluses to save
Social Security, but he said any remaining sur
plus funds should be returned as tax cuts.
He said he was pleased with Clmton’s call for
increased defense spending, which he said was
necessary after defense cuts in recent years.
Although Clinton’s speech was unprecedent
ed and delivered in the midst of bitter, bipartisan
disagreement over his fitness to hold office,
Terry said he saw nothing unusual in Clinton’s
delivery or in the response by members of
Congress.
Bereuter noted that Supreme Court Chief
Justice William Rehnquist, who is presiding over
Clinton’s Senate trial on charges of peijury and
obstruction of justice, did not attend with fellow
members of the court. This indicated the unique
political context of the address, he said.
Two House managers in the Senate trial,
Please see REACT on 6
---■—|
Lane Hickenbottom/DN
AARON CARRIZALES, a junior elementary education major and a member of the track team, rolls
water from the Ed Weir track on Tuesday afternoon.
Rise in ’98 robberies worries police
By Shane Anthony
Staff writer-'
Overall, serious crime in Lincoln
decreased slightly in 1998, but an
increase in robberies concerns police.
Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady
released the 1998 crime data at a press
conference Tuesday morning. Police
said they are concerned about burglar
ies, and an increase in violent crime, he
said, but, generally, the data show little
dramatic change.
“Lincoln is a very safe place com
pared to other cities,” he said.
The .2 percent overall decrease for
Part I crimes - including murder, rape,
robbery, felony assault, residential and
commercial burglary, larceny, auto theft
and arson - was driven by a decrease in
larcenies, Casady said. Larcenies
decreased by 2.2 percent - 231 fewer
incidents than last year’s figure.
Violent crime, however, increased
by 4.1 percent from 1997 to 1998. A big
factor in that increase, Casady said, was
a 17 percent increase in robbery. Those
crimes were up 30 percent by midyear.
Police investigated 172 robberies in
1998, very close to a peak of 178 in
1994.
Robberies are dangerous because
someone is physically threatened,
Casady said, often with a weapon. He
cited an April robbery in which a conve
Please-see CREME on 3
Cops and robbers
While Lincoln saw a slight increase in violent crime in
1998, property Crime continued to decline steadily.
Offenses per 100,000 population, 1989-1998.
8,500 $50
8,000 ||
4 A A |
6,5000—
6.000 J, ° °
9!*°% ... 450
5 ooo LI Violent crimes
^ □ Propejjy crimes
o to • £^^0
1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
John Frank/DN
Bills may stiffen penalties
for habitual sex offenders
By Jessica Fargen
Senior staff writer
It is a cycle, some lawmakers
said.
People commit sexual crimes,
serve time in prison and are released
with little or no evaluation or treat
ment. Sometimes, they commit the
same crimes and are put back in
prison.
Two bills introduced in the
Legislature last week would aim to
put an end to the cycle by stiffening
penalties for habitual sexual offend
ers and requiring more evaluations
and treatment before they can be
released from prison.
LB467, introduced by Omaha
Sen. Deb Suttle, would create
longer mandatory sentences and a
possible life sentence for habitual
sexual offenders.
The bill, a version of legislation
proposed several years ago by for
mer Lincoln Sen. Don Wesely,
would enact a point system for
habitual sexual offenders.
Under the bill, crimes are
assigned point amounts, such as
Please see BILLS on 3
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