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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 26, 1999)
Attempt to di Is House prosecutors still after Lewinsky, shorten list of other witnesses « The case cannot be made. It is time to end it.” Nicole Seligman private attorney representing President Clinton WASHINGTON (AP)-The Senate closed its doors Monday to debate a Democratic attempt to dismiss all charges against President Clinton, and to bring his impeachment trial to an end. House prosecutors pressed their case for testimony by Monica Lewinsky and a shortened list of additional witnesses. Senators deliberated into the night in a rare secret session as the White House, confident of Clinton’s ability to win eventual acquittal, announced it would ignore a written list of questions submitted by Majority Leader Trent Lott and other Republicans. An attempt by two Democrats to open the debate to the public was reject ed, with 57 senators voting against it and 43 for it. A two-thirds majority was needed to pass. The senators began their closed door debate after two final hours of arguments by the White House and House prosecutors on the question of dismissal. Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., the lead prosecutor, told the Senate that dis missal would mean that “charges of per jury, obstruction of justice are summar ily dismissed, disregarded, ignored, brushed off, and these are charges that send ordinary folk to jail every day of the week and remove federal judges.” There will be continuing contention about Clinton’s case, he said, unless the articles of impeachment themselves are brought to a vote. “The case cannot be made. It is time to end it,” countered Nicole Seligman, a private attorney who has long represent ed Clinton and is part of his impeach ment defense team. No votes are expected before today or possibly Wednesday, but after more than two weeks, the first presidential impeachment trial in 131 years was fast approaching a pivotal moment House Republicans are expected to produce a formal proposal for witnesses today, to be voted on after the attempt to dismiss die charges. A decision by the House prosecu tors to winnow their witness list during the day marked an attempt to hold the support of wavering Republican sena tors whose votes will be crucial when the roll is called. Lewinsky remains at the top of the list, House officials said, and there is continued interest in seeking testimony from Betty Currie, the president’s secre tary. Additional consideration is being given to adding Clinton’s friend Vernon Jordan to the list, or perhaps a White House aide, either chief of staff John Podesta or Sidney Bhimenthal. Prosecutors and defense lawyers were granted an hour apiece to argue the motion to dismiss the charges. But Lott, R-Miss., claimed enough votes to squash the attempt, and no Democrat disputed him. U.S. misfire causes deaths of 11 Iraqi civilians ■ The jets fired in response to threats by anti-aircraft and warplanes, officials say. BASRA, Iraq (AP) - U.S. missiles slammed into residential neighbor hoods in southern Iraq on Monday, demolishing sturdy, stone-walled homes as they killed at least 11 peo ple, Iraqi officials said. U.S. officials said its Air Force and Navy jets fired at air defense sys tems in response to threats by anti-air craft artillery fire and by four Iraqi warplanes flying south of the 33rd parallel in violation of the no-flight ban. Pentagon officials said it was like ly that U.S. jets targeting die Iraqi air defense installations misfired and that at least two missiles may have resulted in civilian deaths in and around the city of Basra. Navy Capt. Michael Doubleday said U.S. officials were still assessing the site damage. The missiles hit five areas of southern Iraq, including the working class al-Jumhuriya neighborhood on the outskirts of Basra, Iraqi officials said. Several homes in that neighbor hood were destroyed, and had their roofs caved in. Broken dishes and kitchen utensils were strewn among the rubble. Civilians worked late into the .night to clean the debris from the morning strike. Ahmed Ibrahim Hamash, the gov ernor of Basra, said two aircraft Bred Bve missiles that killed 11 people and injured 59. The missiles struck in the morn ing, and Hamash said most of the casualties were women, children or the elderly because many men had already left for work. The missiles hit three civilian areas in or near Basra, as well as a site near the airport and another near the Rumeilah oil fields. Iraqi officials took reporters to the al-Jumhouri hospital, one of the city’s two main hospitals. Several injured children and women woe at the hos pital. Iraqi officials said they had been wounded in the strikes. Hamash said there were no mili tary installations in the areas that were hit. “There is not even a police station there, let alone a military installation,” he said. “The United States claims to be a humanitarian nation, but they are enemies of that concept” Lincoln Police Department up for accreditation assessment POLICE from page 1 cems about the department’s adher ence to the national standards. Citizens can call (402) 441-6359 between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. today to voice concerns. The goal of die on-site visit is to make sure the department is follow ing all the required directives. When the Lincoln Police was originally accredited in 1989, it was the first and only agency in the state to fneet the national standards. Today, the Lincoln Police and the State Patrol are the only accredited agencies in the state. Casady said it is difficult for smaller agencies to become accredit ed because of the cost required. Accreditation for a mid-size department costs more than $ 18,000, and requires many work hours to install the guidelines and policies. “A lot of agencies are not willing to devote the time and effort to the process,” Casady said. But police departments see sev eral benefits from accreditation. Insurance companies give accredited agencies a break on their liability insurance because the stan dards reduce some risk factors. “Accreditation reduces the risk of lawsuits,” Casady said. “And injuries to citizens and officers are less like ly” Clarification__ Because of an editing error, a paragraph was unclear in Monday’s story about Wahoo Sen. Curt Bromm’s Highway Safety Initiative. The initiative would require that a person caught driving on a suspended license after a conviction for motor vehicle homicide would be charged with a felony instead of a misdemeanor. i-—-1 m • ^!or: Questions? Comments? AsJS^IISSl; MM. Associate News Editor: Bryce Glenn o_m.il /tnfflTni »/4.. Assignment Editor: Lindsay Young Of e-mail dn@.unl.edu. Opinion Editor: Cliff Hicks Sports Editor: Sam McKewon General Manager: Dan Shattil A&E Editor: Bret Publications Board Jessica Hofmann, Copy Desk Chief: Tasha Kelter Chairwoman: (402)466-8404 Asst Copy Desk Chief: Heidi White Professional Adviser: Don Walton, Photo Co-Chief: Matt Miller (402)473-7248 Photo Co-Chief: Lane Hickenbottom Advertising Manager: Nick Partsch, Design Chief: Nancy Christensen (402) 472-2589 Art Director: Matt Haney Asst Ad Manager: Andrea Oeltjen Web Editor: Gregg Steams Classifleld Ad Manager: Mary Johnson Asst Web Editor: Amy Burke Fax number (402) 472-1761 World Wide Web: www.dailyneb.com The Daily Nebraskan (USPS144-080) is published by tne UNL Publications Board, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St, Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during the summer sess»ns.The public has access to the Publications Board. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by calling (402)472-2588. Subscriptions are $55 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St, Lincoln NE 68588-0448. Periodical postagejiaid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT1999 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN 1 ■ Columbia Earthquake kills 87, injures nearly 850 - BOGOTA (AP) - An earth quake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 87 people and injuring nearly 850 as it top pled buildings across the country’s coffee-growing heartland, police and radio reported. The early-aftemoon quake had a preliminary magnitude of 6, according to the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colo. Its epicenter was located in western Valle del Cauca, 140 miles west of the capital, Bogota. if i ■Washington Supreme Court bans statistical census sampling The Associated Press - The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the 2000 Census cannot use statis tical sampling to enhance its accu racy, a decision making it more likely millions of people will be left out. The 5-4 ruling requires the tra ditional nose count to determine how many members of Congress each state should have. The nation’s highest court ruled that a 1976 federal census law “directly prohibits the use of sampling in the determination of population for the purposes of apportionment.” Bill stiffens punishments for stores ALCOHOL from page 1 rect that is to take away something very valuable to the teens, riie said. ‘To a teen-ager, a driver’s license is everything,” she said. “It’s a piece of freedom. A driver’s license is a privi lege, not a right” Under the bill, minors who drink alcohol and get caught would face a mandatory fine of $250 and an auto matic six-month driver’s license suspen sion on the first offense. The punish ment for second offense would be $500 and a one-year license suspension. Third offense would bring a $750 fine and two-year license suspension, unless the minor turned 21 before die suspen sion expired. If a minor was given probation for MIP, he or she would get an automatic 90-day license suspension on first offense and a six-month license suspen sion on second offense. Thirty-three states have some sort of law suspending the driver’s licenses of minors who are caught with alcohol. Columbus Sen. Jennie Robak said although underage drinking is a prob lem, she worried about minors who attended parties unaware that alcohol U * •• '*> .r.i ••••■* ' • • • • was there. Those minors could lose their licenses for t$ing in the wrong place at the wrong time, she said But high school students testifying at the healing said their peers knew when alcohol would be a£a party. ' “I have never been to a party where alcohol is there because I deliberately avoid that,” said April Otterberg, a senior at Northwest High School in Omaha Schellpeper said the bill would cause students to change their behavior. “This is going to force kids to pick their friends better,” he said Many liquor retailers supported the notion of license suspension for minors, but objected to giving die liquor com mission more discretion. The bill would let the Liquor Control Commission elect not to let establishments that sell to minors “buy out” of a liquor violation suspension on a second offense. Currently, liquor license holders can pay $50 a day for as long as the suspen sion would have lasted for a first offense, and $100 a day for a second offense, in lieu of a license suspen sion. Schellpeper said the measure would be used on 15 percent of liquor license holders, restricted to those who flagrantly violate the law and sell to minors. Carey Potter, executive director of the Nebraska Retail Federation, said although she was in favor of penalties for minors, toe ones for liquor establish ments seemed too stringent. But Elm Creek Sen. Ed Schrock questioned that reasoning, which was offered by several other retail groups. He said retailers seemed to be say ing, “It’s all right to penalize toe kids, but don’t penalize us.” Potter said more of the fault for sell ing alcohol to minors should be placed on the actual employees who sell to minors, not the store. She said regard less of how well some employees are trained, they may still sell to minors. But even if retailers or employees were held more responsible, Bellevue Sol Paul Hartnett said that was only a small part of the problem. Liquor license establishments account for about 20 percent of all sales to minors, he said. The remaining get their alcohol from friends or relatives. “Most of the iceberg is under the surface someplace,” Hartnett said, “and we have to deal with that problem.” Professors avoid lawsuit comments SUIT from page 1 ^ Schwebach began filing complaints with the university about harassment in the political science department in spring 1995. Because to action was taken by for mer Political Science Department Chairman David Forsythe in 1995, the lawsuit alleged, additional complaints were filed with die arts and sciences college and the UNL Academic Senate’s Academic Rights and Responsibilities Committee. In spring of 1998, the Academic Rights and Responsibilities Committee said the political science department tolerated a hostile climate for women. The committee recommended placing the department on a “receivership,” a three-year probation-like period UNL Chancellor James Moeser appointed a three-member faculty com mittee to look at the department’s cli mate. The committee found no hard evi dence to support gender inequity. Moeser did not return phone calls to the Daily Nebraskan on Monday. Joan Giesecke, dean of libraries, was a member of the ad hoc committee. “We reported on what we discov ered when we talked to people in the department,” Giesecke said. “We said that a vast majority of respondents did not identify problems with gender related differential treat ment in the department” The faculty committee presented seven recommendations to Moeser. Some of the recommendations included calling for the department to work “very hard” to hire more women, ensuring that the department chairman was trained on university gender bias and sexual harassment policies, and developing policies to demonstrate the department’s sensitivity. The committee reported not finding any “hard evidence of gender equity” in the department. Giesecke said it was up to die (chan cellor’s office to act on the recommen dations. J.T. Smith, a second-year polit ical science graduate student, said he had heard some discussion within the department Monday about die lawsuit “I cannot speak for other graduate students,” Smith said. “But die general scope of what I have been hearing is that it’s a story that will not go away”
