Anti-smoking bill gets more amendments
■ Senators voted to remove
the legislation’s wording that
would have banned smoking
in all state-owned buildings,
including residence halls.
By Shane Anthony
Staffwriter
A controversial smoking bill
returned to its original form Tuesday
amid a cloud of amendments.
Lincoln Sen. Chris Beutler’s
amendment to LB211 removed an ear
lier amendment that would have
extended a proposed smoking ban in
the State Capitol to all state buildings.
Two other amendments were with
I
drawn and further action was delayed
until Friday.
Most of the debate centered on
possible exceptions to the ban, such as
veterans homes, dormitories and
| greek houses, state park cabins and the
state fairgrounds. Some senators still
support a ban with exceptions. Others
worried about how those exceptions
would play out
“We assume too much responsibil
ity for living peoples’ lives for them,”
said Sen. David Landis of Lincoln. He
supported Beutler’s amendment and
an amendment introduced and with
drawn by Grand Island Sen. Chris
Peterson.
Peterson’s amendment would have
banned smoking from state buildings
unless the governing body in charge of
the building chose to make exceptions.
She said her biggest concern was with
veterans homes, but she also men
tioned university residence halls.
She withdrew the amendment after
criticism from senators that it could
allow more smoking than the current
law does.
Lincoln Sen. Chris Beutler was the
first to speak in opposition to the
amendment.
“My feeling is that the language is
so broad that, in fact, we may be taking
a step backward,” he said.
Beutler later introduced his own
amendment - which passed 36-0 - to
strike an amendment introduced Feb. 8
during general file debate.
Sen. Jerry Schmitt of Ord original
ly introduced the bill to prohibit smok
I
APU events bring end to month
By Veronica Daehn
and Sarah Fox
Staff writers I
The conclusion to a month of
black history will take place this week
as members of the Afrikan People’s
Union hold the final events.
An open forum was held Tuesday
night in Sandoz Residence Hall. The
group discussed what it is like to be a
minority at UNL. Some said the
racism they experienced was uninten
tional.
“I had somebody tell me I speak
really good English,” Suzanne
Prenger, a senior elementary educa
tion major said. “I was like, ‘I’ve lived
here all my life! This is the only lan
guage I speak.’”
Prenger answered questions about
her ethnic background, Asian and
white. She said she would rather have
people ask, “What is your ethnic back
ground?” than stare at her, or ask her
“what” she is.
“People have asked, ‘What are
you?”’ .
“I’m a person!” Prenger said she
Black
History
Month
would answer.
Rachel Gildon, a freshman pre
physical therapy major, said she has
learned to have a positive outlook after
going through sorority rush last fall.
Although die sorority was friendly, she
said she hated it
“Everybody was blonde and I
stuck out Idee a sore thumb,” she said
Gddon, along with other students,
said it is important to find friends in
people who are unlike them and be
friendly to different kinds of people.
“If you’re going to hold it in and
not talk, you’ll have a negative atti
tude,” she said
Other black history month events
include a movie night Wednesday
from 7 p.m. to 9:30 pm. in the Culture
Center, Senior APU delegate N. Omar
Valentine said The night is co-spon
sored by the Office of Multi-Cultural
Affairs and is free and open to every
one, although the specific movie has
yet to be decided
On Thursday, a soul-food dinner
will be held from 4:45 p.m. to 6 p.m. in
Selleck’s dining hall, Valentine said.
The dinner is no extra charge for stu
dents with meal plans and costs $6.20
for those who live off-campus or do
not have a meal plan.
To conclude the activities for
Black History Month, a social night
will be held Saturday from 6 p.m. to
midnight in the Culture Center. Titled
“Keeping it Real,” the event will focus
on promoting open dialogue between
male and female black students.
“Hopefully, there will be some
dialogue about African-American
relationships,” Valentine said
After the discussion, there will be
entertainment, including movies,
music, cards and games.
APU adviser Venetria Patton said
her group planned all of the events.
“I hope students will think of these
events as a reminder of the contribu
tions of African Americans in the for
mation of our country.”
Peace Corps seeks new recruits
By JoshKnaub
Staff writer
Eight years ago, Danyl Cook trained
coconut growers in a Dominican
Republic village to prepare their pro
duce for export
Today, because of an increase in
funding for die Peace Corps, more stu
dents have die opportunity to work on
similar projects throughout the world.
Thursday and Friday, UNL students
can apply join the ranks of the Corps.
Tire recent boost in funding for the
national service program means Cook
and other recruiters will admit a larger
number of volunteers than ever before.
The volunteer force will increase
from 6,500 to 7,000 next year, accord
ing to the Peace Corps Web site.
Cook said Peace Corps volunteers
today have a variety of service opportu
nities. Volunteers may teach basic skills
or work with well-educated people.
“We have university English teach
ers. We also have people building
latrines,” he said
Program volunteers currently serve
in 82 countries, according to the Peace
Corps Web site and 38 percent of volun
teers serve as educators.
Cook said volunteers equip the peo
ple they serve with the skills necessary
to continue without further assistance.
Volunteers go through a rigorous
I i
selection process for two-year service
assignments.
Cook said he did not anticipate hav
ing a problem with filling openings. He
said recruiters turn away more qualified
candidates than they accept.
“We always haw a great pool to pull
from,” he said
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln is an important part of that pool,
Cook said. He said UNL is one of the
top 100 schools, nationwide in terms of
Peace Corps recruitment
Cook said he would have a booth at
the career fair in the Nebraska Union on
Thursday and Friday to answer ques
tions and pass out information to those
interested in the Corps.
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mg in die State Capitol. During gener
al file debate Feb. 8, an amendment
from Norfolk Sen. Gene Tyson passed
that would have extended a proposed
smoking ban to all state buildings.
By striking down Tyson’s amend
ment, Beutler’s amendment returned
the bill to its original language, ban
ning smoking only in the State
Capitol.
Omaha Sen. Don Preister intro
duced an amendment based on bills he
has introduced in past sessions which
would have prohibited smoking in
state vehicles, buildings and areas
within 10 feet of those buildings’
entrances.
The amendment also allowed
exceptions for veterans’ homes and
private residences, as well as residence
halls controlled by the NU Board of
Regents and the Nebraska State
College Board of Trustees, facilities
ind institutions controlled by the
Department of Health and Human
Services, and cabins and buildings
managed by the Game and Parks
Commission.
But Hastings Sen. Ardyce Bohlke
expressed concern about state park
cabins. Sens. Floyd Vrtiska of Table
Rock and Stan Schellpeper of Stanton
said state fair activities were not listed
in the amendment
Both were critical of listing excep
tions specifically.
“You’re going to leave somebody
mit,” Schellpeper said.
After Preister withdrew his
amendment further action on the bill
was delayed until Friday so senators
could work out a compromise on
whether or not the smoking ban should
apply to other state buildings
Bad, weather moves
Everclear ceremony
By Dane Stickney
Staff writer
Pop-rock group Everclear was
supposed to be welcomed to Lincoln
with a ceremony on UNL’s campus.
Instead, they were welcomed by 4
inches of blowing snow and bus trou
bles.
The University Program Council
and Mayor Dale Young decided to
make Everclear’s stop in Lincoln
even more memorable by presenting
band members with a ceremonial key
to the city at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln on Monday after
noon.
Because of poor weather and
Everclear’s bus problems, the key
was instead presented to the pop-rock
band at the Levi’s Sno-Core Tour ’99
on Monday night at Pershing
Auditorium.
tt
The key to the city?
I wouldn’t give us\
a key to my
mom s house.”
Art Alexakis
Everclear singer/guitarist
sion.
“We went to the mayor and he
said this is something he wanted to
do,” Bandemer said. “We wanted to
show the music industry that they are
welcome, so in the future we can
draw more concerts of this scale to
Lincoln.”
After two hours of bass-filled
opening acts, Everclear took the
stage to the delight of many sweaty,
screaming fans. Bandemer then read
a welcoming proclamation from the
mayor and presented the band with
the ceremonial pewter key.
After receiving the key, Everclear
lead-singer Art Alexakis thanked the
city, and said: “The key to the city? I
wouldn’t give us a key to my mom’s
house.”
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uru promoter nick Bandemer
said there were many reasons for pre
senting Everclear with a key to the
city.
“They’ve done a lot of work with
anti-drug activities,” Bandemer said.
“They really portray a positive mes
sage to our generation. It makes a dif
ference when a Grammy-nominated
band like Everclear shows they can
be a success without drugs.”
Bandemer, a freshman business
administration major, also said the
ceremony carried a public relations
aspect.
“We wanted to draw media and
public attention to the event,” he said.
“Giving them a key to the city kind of
sets the event apart.”
Organizers of the Sno-Core Tom
wanted to pick a Midwestern loca
tion, and when they picked Lincoln,
Bandemer said both UPC and the
mayor wanted to make an impres
1
i
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m