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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 1999)
Bills may stiffen sex crime penalties BILLS from page 1 three points for first-degree sexual assault and two points for second degree sexual assault. After four or more points are accumulated, mandatory sentences are instated, ranging from a five-year minimum with a maximum of 50 years for a person with four points to a 25-year mandatory minimum, with a maximum of life in prisotffor a per son with six or more points. Under the point system, offend ers must serve the mandatory mini mum with no option for early parole. County attorneys would have the discretion of determining if offend ers with four points or more should be labeled habitual sexual offenders under the new point system. Habitual sexual offenders would be encouraged to undergo treatment in order to get out of prison. “If charged as a habitual sexual offender, they need to be treated; and if they aren’t treated, then they can’t get out of jail,” Suttle said. “They also are given longer sentences, regardless of treatment. “And much longer if no treat ment.” LB435, introduced by Malcolm Sen. Carol Hudkins, would require sexual offenders to be evaluated before they are released from prison. If sexual offenders are deemed dan gerous or likely to commit a sexual crime again, they would be recom mended to the county attorney for further treatment. | Hudkins said sexual offenders in Nebraska do not always receive treat ment, which puts them back into society virtually unchanged. “What we are trying to do is pro tect the public,” Hudkins said. The bill is also supported by Attorney General Don Stenbeig. Both bills are geared at prevent ing people such as David Burdette, a convicted multiple rapist arrested in Omaha, from re-entering society too soon, Suttle said. Burdette was arrested in November after raping two women and attempting to rape a third, short ly after being released from prison for a series of rapes in 1982. “They get out regardless of treat ment; that’s what happened with Burdette,” Suttle said. “He refused treatment and got out and promptly went and raped someone else.” Suttle said treatment involves habitual sexual offenders changing their behavior patterns, much in the way alcoholics do to become sober. * Suttle said lawmakers have been . working on getting a sexual offender bill passed since 1994. Wesely proposed a sexual-preda tor bill in 1994 and 1995, but later a similar Washington state bill was found unconstitutional. The Nebraska bill was reworked and introduced in 1996 but died in the Judiciary Committee because mem bers felt it needed more work. Suttle said she was optimistic about the passage of LB467, which possibly could be combined with Hudkin’s LB435 later in the legisla tive session. Increase in ’98 burglaries worries police CRIME from page 1 nience store clerk was shot Part of the problem may be an increase in the number of places for criminals to rob, he said. Casady said when he began work ing as a police officer, the number of businesses that stayed open late was significantly lower. “You.could count the number of 24-hour businesses we had on one hand and still have three fingers left,” he said. Police have put more and more officers on night shifts, Casady said, and the officers try to stay in touch with business owners. “I think if you’ll stop by late-night businesses, you’ll find the police are frequent visitors,” he said. Lincoln also had nine homicides, the highest number this decade. Most of diem occurred during die first half of the year, Casady said. Compared to other cities its size, though, Lincoln’s violent crime rates are still relatively low. Police are concerned about a rise in residential burglaries, he said. Residential burglaries were up 17.3 percent in 1998. He said many of those 1 could have been prevented by simply locking garages and homes. “I don’t think citizens in Lincoln areas cognizant of the crimes that are going on in town as they should be,” he said. Commercial burglaries, however, were down by 3.6 percent For the first time in years, Casady said, Lincoln had no bank robberies. That statistic com pared favorably with figures from the Omaha metro area. Omaha had 78 bank and credit union robberies in 1998, more than triple the previous year’s total. “We’re doing an awful lot of work with our banks here in Lincoln,” Casady said. Meanwhile, arrests increased by 8.6 percent, including a 23.2 percent increase in DWI arrests. Casady said officers worked hard to crack down on drunken drivers. Nationally, the latest FBI reports indicate a 1 percent drop in serious crime in the Midwest, and a 2 percent decline nationwide. Casady said Lincoln’s figures are in line with national trends,, but decreases may not be as large because of Lincoln’s growth. Other figures presented at the press conference include: ■ Official traffic citations incr eased by 11.7 percent A total of 47,<563 were issued. ■Auto theft decreased by 14.2 per cent ■ Lincoln’s population grew by 1 percent from209,192 to 211^284. Pat I violent crimes - murder, rape, robbery and felony assault-per 100,000people increased by 3.0 percent Part I proper ty crimes - burglary, larceny and auto theft - per 100,000 p>eople decreased by 1.8 percent Smile. You get 5 free online hours with these Navix* plans*: Low Usage Plan: 15 hours for $6.50 a month. Medium Usage Plan: 40 hours for $10.00 a month. High Usage Plan: 250 hours for $19.50 a month. And whichever you choose, we’ll give you 5 free hours of Internet access every month. * Additional minutes are $.02. Call University Telecommunica tions at 472-5151 (students) or 472-3434 (faculty or staff). Or, stop by 211 Nebraska Hall. Navi$» navix.net Aliant Communications* MsUri H oasior to eomnoRicatOL** ' You must be a UNL student faculty or staff member to qualify for these plans. Netscape software is available in Windows and Macintosh versions. take any reasonably smart person and tell them to a year researching an industry, they can become an expert if they Work at it." c^sty Hanger approached, she couldn’t shake the magazine idea from her head, so she decided to devote a year to chasing her dream. "My friends thought I was crazy." she recalls. "But I figured the worst thing that could happen would be that the business wouldn’t fly and I’d end up being a lawyer after all." As President of her class at law school. Christy already possessed the leadership skills that entrepreneurs need. Her publishing experience, however, was limited to editing, the Stanford Law Review Still. of your contacts, you should.” she says. Turns out that Christy’s classmate's aunt’s neighbor (follow that?) knew the editor of Essence. a women's magazine aimed at African-Americans. Christy convinced the magazine's president to meet with her. and his company agreed to help fund her start-up. Christy launched Latina magazine in 1996, and it was an immediate hit. Today, it has an impressive circulation of almost 200.000. but it wasn't easy getting there. One of the hardest things about being a young entrepreneur is simply the fact that you are young. Potential business partners often assume you are inex __:_I -M»t____ll_ :__ / ■hb ■ £ ^ _ pvi iwiivvu. i iuuvvjj jat» iiiv- ytoik imu a FI 1^1 I ■ ^ C C ■* ■ ^ meeting and thought they were looking at or someone ■ ■ ■ ^ ^1 ^ M W W'W 9 0 V W I I W 9 a magazine publisher. But I persevered. You who is only 30 brings you information designed to help you achieve your personal and career goals, have to be prepared to get over your pride years old. magazine Watch for the rest of this series in future issues of your school newspaper. and fake your confidence when you need to." ■ i icigi iai^ viiiiisiy Haubegger has already put together a pretty impressive resume. She’s"won an award Jfom the Ms. Foundation (also given to Oprah Winfrey and Madeleine Albright), and Tom Brokaw named her one of the "most influential people of the year" in 1996. So how did she end up in company like that? Turns out it all started with one simple question. "I took a few business class es in school with some great professors, and they always talked about the search for that mythical big idea." she recalls. "As a Mexican-American. I’d always wondered why no one had ever produced a magazine for Latina women. Then I wondered if 1 could do it myself." Christy graduated ftofn the University of lexas in 1989 with a philosophy degree and immediately headed off to Stanford University Law School. But as law school graduation she figured she could learn what she needed to know pretty quickly. "If you take any reasonably smart person and tell them to spend a year researching an industry, they can become an expert if they work at it." she says. "All the data I needed was in the public library. Census data, information about the magazine industry, books on how to write a business plan, it was all there.” In the meantime, she lived on the cheap in San Francisco's Mission District and did legal research to pay the bills. Once Christas business plan was done, she started to show it to people whi^ might be willing to invest the millions of dollars she would need to launch a glossy publication. "192 people told me no. I counted ’ she says. "But most of them didn't slam the door in my face, and 1 was able to learn a lot by asking them how I could improve my business pitch.” Eventually, some good old-fashioned networking led her to her first big investor. "If you don’t believe that stuff about using all < While there is a certain glamour associated with being the publisher of a major magazine, Christy still relishes the role of underdog. "Each milestone means so much more when you’re a start-up,” she says. "A major retailer just advertised with us for the first time, lo a larger publication, it wouldn't be such a big deal. But when they agreed to be in our magazine, we jumped up and down and cried and hugged. Then, "she laughs, "we ate ice cream." % As an owner of a growing company and Publisher of Latina, Christy has continued to nurture her dream magazine into a * leading lifestyle publication, read by thousands of dynamic, educated young women just like her self. She says that she hopes to inspire other young women to pursue their dreams as well.