Week’s events
focus on equality
National speakers, rally planned
By Veronica Daehn
Staff writer
What will culminate with a week
end rally at the Nebraska State
Capitol began Sunday with a candle
light vigil, an open house and a pho
tography exhibit.
Sunday marked the beginning of
Equality Begins at Home week, an
event organized by the Natioijial Gay
and Lesbian Task Force to draw atten
tion to local gay, bisexual and trans
gender concerns.
The largest event will be a pride
rally on Friday at 2 p.m. at the
Nebraska State Capitol.
Organized by the Nebraska
Citizens for Equal Protection, the
rally is an attempt by gay organiza
tions to work toward nondiscrimina
tion, said Stephen Charest, Citizens
for Equal Protection legal counsel.
“We’re trying to approach the gay
rights issue on a local, grass-roots
level,” he said.
Charest said the theme of the
entire week was for gays, lesbians,
bisexuals and transgendered people to
receive equal employment rights.
Under the current system, he said,
employers are not barred from dis
criminating against people because of
their sexual orientation.
Charest said his group was work
ing to get that changed by supporting
LB69. I
If passed, this bill would add sexu
al orientation to the list of characteris
tics for which one cannot be discrimi
nated against, which currently include
race, gender and religion.
The group is also sponsoring a
new statewide organizing effort
called the Nebraska Fair Workplace
Project.
Charest said this was designed for
employers to sign a pledge promising
they would not discriminate based on
sexual orientation.
“We’re trying to emphasize the
idea that we are Nebraskans like
everyone else,” Charest said.
“Whether you’re gay, bisexual, trans
gendered or even asexual, you’re still
a taxpaying, working Nebraskan.”
Kerry Lobel, executive director of
the Gay and Lesbian Task Force, will
be the rally’s keynote speaker.
Deanna Zaffke, a committee
member of Citizens for Equal
Protection, said Lobel would be a
highlight of the rally, as Nebraska was
one of only six states Lobel was visit
ing.
Zaffke said several other large
events were scheduled for the week,
in addition to Friday’s rally.
Little Rock, Ark., Women’s
Project founder Suzanne Pharr will
speak Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the
Nebraska East Union.
Her talk will center on the connec
tions among racism, sexism and
homophobia.
Pharr will sign copies of her
books “Homophobia: A Weapon of
Sexism” and “In the Time of the
Right: Reflections on Liberation”
after her speech.
Zaffke said about 50 people were
expected to lobby at the Capitol on
Thursday from 9 a.m. to noon in
honor of Nebraska Lobby Day.
Several other social activities are
also scheduled throughout the week.
Tuesday, a GLBT Youth Visibility
Day will recognize gay youth.
Students will be given rainbow rib
bons to wear, and an under-25 dance
will be held at the Culture Center
from 7:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.
Zaffke said the social activities
were important to help unite commu
nity members, but the biggest events
will be Thursday’s lobby and Friday’s
rally.
“Grass-roots political action
seems to be the way we can actually
move state government anymore,” she
said. “It’s a big week.”
Senators override
veto of school aid bill
By Jessica Fargen
Senior staff writer
After rounds of debate, ajumble of
numbers and a deep division between
the Legislature and the governor, sena
tors voted Monday to override Gov.
Mike Johanns’ recent veto of LB 149.
Under the bill, Nebraska school
districts would receive the $19.3 mil
lion they were overpaid last year, and
without LB 149, would have to repay
this year.
Proponents of the bill hailed
LB149’s stability and predictability,
but in a press conference after the vote,
Johanns condemned the 39-7 referen
dum, saying it was bad public policy
and would not stop the issue from aris
ing in the future.
Johanns said he was concerned
that taxpayers were given a false
impression of LB149 when they were
told it would bring stability.
“It just simply doesn’t,” he said.
“Stability won’t be there.”
Based on an analysis from his bud
get office, Johanns said out of the 284
school systems, 235 would gain or
lose 5 percent or more of state aid in
1999 and 2000.
Johanna said 176 out of284 sys
tems would receive less state aid next
year.
During debate, the bill’s sponsor,
Hastings Sen. Ardyce Bohlke, said the
Legislature’s stance had been apparent
from senators’ approval of the bill
through all three rounds of debate. .
“I think we’ve had sufficient
debate,” she said. “It’s the same bill,
the same policy, there are no changes.”
Freshman Sen. Tom Baker of
Trenton voted for LB 149 in earlier
debate, but changed his vote Monday
after visiting with constituents this
weekend.
“I believe that the local schools
still have to be accountable to the tax
payers,” he said. “The sky isn’t falling
just because we have some unspent
money we have to give back.”
Despite the division between
Johanns and the majority of the
Legislature, Johanns said it was time
for the two branches of government to
move on.
“The Legislature and I are going to
put it behind us and will work together
On important issues.”
Associate news editor Sarah
Baker contributed to this report.
Lincoln police arrest three
suspects in Allen stabbing
STABBING from page 1
Barry has been charged with 19
crimes since 1993, including several
assaults.
Welch had 17 crimes on his record
since 1993.
Irwin-Barry had only one crimi
nal charge on her record: attempting a
class two misdemeanor.
The three suspects are expected to
be charged in court today.
Casady would not comment on
possible motives for the murder, but
one of Allen’s neighbors said he heard
a disturbance in the apartment
Saturday night.
Michael Barrett said he heard a
scared, frantic woman in Allen’s
apartment when he walked by some
time between 10 p.m. and 12 am.
“It sounded like she was getting
raped,” Barrett said Sunday.
Police were able to identify, locate
and arrest the three suspects quickly
after the body was found.
-- “The nature of die crime and how
it was committed led to quick arrests,”
Casady said.
The investigation will continue
this week, but Casady said he did not
expect to make additional arrests.
Speeding
fines would
increase
FINES from page 1
Originally the initiative pro
posed lowering the speed limit to
70 mph on 1-80 east of York, but
Bromm said fellow senators and
constituents seemed to favor
approaching the issue from the
law-enforcement side.
“If we are going to have that
higher speed limit we really want
to encourage people to go that
speed,” he said.
Bromm said he hoped the
higher fines would eliminate the
“fudge factor” of motorists
thinking they can drive about 10
mph over the limit without being
caught
Eddyville Sen. Jim Jones also
favored hiking the fines instead
of slowing motorists down.
f “I’d rather do this than
change the speed limit,” Jones
said.
Also under the bill, courts
would be given the option to
impound the vehicles of repeat
drunken-driving offenders.
Currently, those caught driving
under the influence of alcohol
lose their licenses for a period of
time.
Bromm said the vehicle
impoundment was another way,
along with license revocation, to
ensure that drunken drivers were
not on the roads.
Another portion of the bill
would make it illegal for anyone
to possess an open container of
alcohol in the passenger’com
partment of a vehicle. The pas
senger compartment would
include the front of a vehicle
where the driver and passenger
sit
The bill is Bromm’s priority
bill, which gives it precedence
over other bills on the full
Legislature’s agenda.
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