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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 22, 1999)
EDITOR Erin Gibson OPINION EDITOR Cliff Hicks EDITORIAL BOARD Nancy Christensen Brad Davis Sam McKewon Jeff Randall Bret Schulte ■ Our VIEW Up the river Towns seeking prisons send wrong message Crime pays. Regardless of what the McGruff the crime dog says, it must. If it didn’t, why has every cash- and job strapped community in Nebraska with a little political gusto been vying for a correctional facility to be built in its backyard? We saw it with the state prison, which Tecumseh won in a heated battle with McCook. Now we’re seeing it with Fullerton and Geneva, who are among four communities hoping to attract a new privately run wilder ness camp for juvenile delinquents. Town leaders say a seemingly bottomless farm economy makes all new jobs attractive, even those in corrections. So eastern Nebraska communities want the new juvenile camp run by a firm out of Austin, Texas, with a $3.5 million projected ^pnual budget. Towns with correctional facilities used to get the stigma “prison town.” Townspeople used to think that stigma wasn’t wanted. Prisons once were bad places for bad peo ple you wouldn’t want living in the shadow of your block party. Prisoners were outcasts, not fi|iancial assets. Crime was undesirable. Now, if the crime rate keeps dropping, someone could be out of a job. If crime pre vention worked and incarceration levels dropped, someone wouldn’t get a new prison. The new corrections industry could plateau. So, is it any wonder the incarceration rate has increased? Is it news that some states’ “three strikes, you’re out” policies have increased prison populations without deter ring crime? Or is it any surprise politicians can’t wait to tout their tough-on-crime policies? After all, each new 1-year sentence is money in some powerful voters’ pockets - voters who could contribute heartily to campaigns. ine correctional facilities that follow tough-on-crime policies are among the hottest pork-barrel items of the decade, and it’s time they are recognized as such. It’s also time that somewhere, amid the “Buildaprisonhere!”philandering, someone stands up to demand that the same amount spent on prisons is spent on crime prevention. For instance, former NU Football Coach Tom Osborne is among those promoting a legislative bill to fund mentoring programs - a proven method of crime prevention. That bill should have at least as many communities fighting for it as those fighting for a correc tion facility. But it likely won’t. After all, prevention dollars’ benefits are hard to see. Their effects aren’t immediate, like a shining new prison. And no one shouts for prevention like Tecumseh, McCook and others who shouted for a state prison. And they shouted to every man, woman and child in the state who would read, watch or listen: “Crime pays!” Let’s hope it doesn’t pay for long. Editorial Policy Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Spring 1999 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, its employees, its student body or the University of Nebraska Board of Regents. A column is solely the opinion of its author. The Board of Regents serves as pubfisher of the Daily Nebraskan; policy is set by the Daily Nebraskan Editorial Board. The UNL Publications Board, established by the regents, supervises the production of the paper. According to policy set by the regents, responsibility for the editorial content of the newspaper lies solely in the hands of its student employees. letter Policy The Daily Nebraskan welcomes brief letters to the editor and guest columns, but does not guarantee their publication. The Daily Nebraskan retains the right to edit or reject any material submitted. Submitted material becomes property of the Daily Nebraskan and cannot be returned. Anonymous submissions will not be published. Those who submit letters must identify themselves by name, • year in school, major and/or group affiliation, if any. Submit material to: Daily Nebraskan, 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St Lincoln, NE. 68588-0448. E-mail: letters@unfinfo.unl.edu. % ? DN LETTERS What’s UPC? I’ll give you $1,000 if you know what UPC is! Actually, I can’t. Our budget just got cut You may have heard lately about a group on campus known as the University Program Council. And what does this mean to you? Nothing, I guess, after CFA cut the UPC budget UPC is a volunteer organization that uses student funds to bring events to campus that are educational, multi cultural and entertaining. The “totally” hot programs men tioned in the DN editorial Feb. 18, including Run DMC, the Simpsons ani mator and MTV’s i^uvcnnc, arc in me une third of UPC events that are purely fun and games. UPC also addresses hot; issues that I guess people i just don’t care about like affirmative action. So what are the members of UPC to do when we vote on what to bring to cam- ^ pus next semester? Every semester before we-gggj vote, we bold an open forum for students, faculty and staff to attend to . inform us about what events they ' would like to see. I have been on UPC for two years now. At the first two forums, we had one - that’s right, one - person attending, and no one attended the last two forums. So, I challenge you CFA members and DN staff to come to our open forum and tell us, the UPC, what you want to see. Keep in mind we are required to plan educational and multicultural events, and Loveline doesn’t count We have brought three concerts in the last year <md a half that have paid us a small amount to advertise on campus, but it’s a shame that we can’t even get people to come to those events. One of them is the Everclear concert tonight the same night we co-sponsor a pro gram with the UNL Eating Disorders Awareness & Prevention group. Everclear was coming here whether UPC promoted it or not. With a budget cut we will have problems co-sponsor ing events with as many student organi zations. How do we please you, campus? UPC has been an organization since 1938, but where do we fit into die new millennium? Shape up or ship out?! We’ve heard it all before. We had a turnover rate of 70 percent from the 1998 council to the1999 council. But our outlook is bright because we have 26 new men and women who love to volunteer and coordinate events. It’s our passion. We do our best with what we have. Many people scream for Adam Sandler. He charges $50,000 just to perform (plus travel, lodging, food and the rider), and now we have $115,665.38 to work with, minus $4,000 for UPC member training. He’s entertaining - sure, he’s Jewish, too, according to his Hanukkah song - but that’s not why he’d come to UNL. Big name acts cost big Mabo{ rx i l yitorrHANEY/DN time money, and we don’t have much. So to suggest programs people we can now afford and people will actually attend and enjoy, call UPC at (402)472 8146 or stop by 117 Nebraska Union. We’d love to listen to your ideas, or you can just pick up an event calendar. We’U see you at our next event! Summer Spivey UPC executive member Fright causes goose bumps Unbelievable. A week removed from being a near lock in the NCAA tournament, and having his name being thrown around as Big 12 coach of the year, Danny Nee has managed to lose at home and then go lose to a team ranked 149th in the RPI. Then to top it off, he throws a tantrum after allowing the smallest guy on the court to go coast-to-coast untouched to beat his team in die* final seconds. The players can only do so much without a coach. Nee’s self-destructive nature and lack of discipline was wit nessed in front of a national audience Saturday night. How much do we as fans have to take before we get rid of this loser? This guy could coach the Harlem Globetrotters to a loss. Enough is enough! As far as I’m concerned, Nee owes his last two year’s paychecks to Tyronn Lue and Venson Hamilton. This team has proven that they are bet ter than their more than likely NIT bid. Let’s get a coach in here that can use our talent rather than frustrate it. Jesse Maddox first-year law student New greek-house decor I have been noticing recently that some residents of City Campus greek nouses nave neen parking near and at times on the around I first notice of this Feb. 11 when the weather was nasty and things were icy. I initially thought, “Well, I’d to park as close I could if the weather was bad, too,” so I didn’t pay much attention to it. Since he sidewalk that I was about to take was blocked by cars, I took > to the icy street. Still, the clocked sidewalk didn’t faze me, probably because 1 was focused on not falling on the icy edge of the street In front of me was a fellow UNL student who was disabled and walking with the assistance of a cane. This stu dent had to walk down an icy slope, along edge of abusy icy street, and then back up an icy slope to return to the sidewalk. Unwilling to accept assis tance, this student eventually made the detour to get back on the sidewalk. I had intended to call that particular house and inform them of this occur rence and suggest that they move-their cars, but as I drove away I noticed that I’d have to call several houses. Even a couple of days later when the weather was nice, I noticed that several of the sidewalks were blocked so much that someone without disabilities would have to dodge the front end of cars. Think of how much trouble that would cause for someone who requires the assistance of a wheelchair for ambula tion. The past couple of weeks, I have noticed several blocked sidewalks around greek houses. I did notice that most of the fraternities do a great job of scooping the sidewalks when it snows. Thanks! Just please don’t park on diem. Heather Swanson senior nursing Siers’ VIEW