SPORTS_I
Rivalry game I
The Nebraska softball team faces a key game
Tuesday when it plays Creighton in a game in
Omaha' PAGE 11
A & E
A daring play
Playwright Max Sparber has gleaned an award
winning show from the pages of Omaha's darkest
history. PAGE 12
TUES: IAY
March 30, 1999
Unbelievable
Windy and warm, high 80. Cloudy tonight, low 50.
L
VOL. 98 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 127
A life upside down
Matt Miller/DN
JILL FOSDICK KISSES her daughter, Jaylin, after giving her a bath. Even though her family helps take care of the baby, Fosdick, a student ath
lete, said she never has any free time. Please see story on page 8.
Groups aim to cork bottle club
ByIevaAugstums
Senior staff writer
The potential for UNL students to engage
in high-risk drinking could increase if one
downtown Lincoln business owner is told he
doesn’t have to obtain a liquor license, universi
ty officials said during a mayor’s press confer
ence Monday.
Mike Webb, co-owner of Barry’s Bar and
Grill, 235 N. Ninth St., petitioned the Nebraska
Liquor Control Commission on March 3,
requesting a declaratory ruling on the term
“bottle club,” a private membership-only club
which neither sells, serves nor dispenses alco
hol, but allows its members to consume alco
hol.
Assistant City Attorney Joel Pedersen said
the petition is requesting the commission to
clarify whether a private members-only club,
such as a bottle club, would be required to hold
a state-issued liquor license.
Even though bottle clubs were present in
Lincoln more than 30 years ago, Pedersen said,
current city officials and members of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln community
have raised concerns regarding Webb’s petition.
Webb, however, said he was not proposing
the creation of a bottle club or promoting high
risk drinking.
“I have not asked for a license. I’m not ask
ing for a permit. I simply asked a question,” he
66
A bottle club of
this nature is
not in the
best interests
of our students”
Andy Schuerman
ASUN senator and president-elect
said.
Many university officials said they are con
cerned about the impact the petition would
have, if passed, on the campus’ climate and cul
ture.
“A bottle club of this nature is not in the best
interests of our students,” said ASUN senator
and president-elect Andy Schuerman. “While
on the surface, it seems like additional enter
tainment opportunities, but when you look at it,
it’s inconceivable.” The proposed club would
specifically target UNL students, the petition
states, and allow its members to consume their
own alcohol on the premises between the hours
of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., Thursdays through
Please see BOTTLE CLUB on 7
r
Council ordinance
would ban clubs
By Josh Knaub
Staff writer
The Lincoln City Council has proposed an ordi
nance in response to bar owner Mike Webb’s petition
to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission.
The ordinance would amend Lincoln’s Municipal
Code relating to alcoholic beverages by defining
“bottle clubs” and adding a new section to prohibit
such clubs within city limits.
Webb, co-owner of Barry’s Bar and Grill, 235 N.
Ninth St., has asked the commission to rule on
whether or not bottle clubs must obtain a liquor
license.
The proposed amendment was on first reading at
Monday’s meeting, meaning that no action was taken.
The council likely will proceed through the ordi
nary process for proposed ordinances and vote on the
measure in three weeks. However, council action
could move the vote up a week or push it back indefi
nitely.
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at dailyneb.com
Concealed
weapons
bill tabled
■ LB476 is damaged, senators
on both sides say, and is
temporarily off the agenda.
By Shane Anthony
and Brian Carlson
Staff writers
Following a failed vote Monday to cease
debate on a bill that would allow Nebraskans
to carry concealed weapons, the bill’s spon
sor and one of its opponents both said the leg
islation is wounded.
“I would say it’s crippled,” said
Nickerson Sen. Ray Janssen, chief sponsor
of LB476. “It’s got one wing dragging.”
One of the measure’s chief detractors,
Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers, went a bit fur
ther.
“I think it means the bill is fatally wound
ed,” he said.
The motion for cloture, which would
have ceased debate, needed 33 votes to pass.
It fell three votes short, 30-16. Under legisla
tive rules, the bill was pulled from the agen
da until the speaker, Sen. Doug Kristensen of
Minden, puts it back on the agenda.
If that happened, Janssen could not ask
for cloture again until two more hours of
debate passed.
Janssen said he would ask Kristensen to
bring the bill back, but not until he was sure
he had the 33 votes necessary to halt debate.
“I don’t want to drag this on forever and
ever,” he said.
Three senators were absent for the vote.
Their votes could have given supporters the
33 votes needed for cloture, but Janssen said
he was unsure how they would have voted.
During debate Monday morning,
Chambers called the bill the worst piece of
legislation he had seen in his 29 years at the
Legislature.
“I’ve heard him say that about a lot of leg
islation,” Janssen said in response.
Lincoln Sen. Chris Beutler pointed to a
section of the bill dated back to an 1873 law
prohibiting concealed weapons. Even then,
he said, Nebraskans did not think concealed
weapons were a solution to problems.
Citing a number of statistics, Omaha
Sen. Shelley Kiel said support for the bill
stemmed from a probable increase in gun
sales. She said passing the legislation would
send the wrong message to young people.
“It sends the message that when you have
a gun, you can solve your problems,” she
said.
But Janssen said the issue would contin
ue to come back to the Legislature if it didn’t
pass this year.
The bill would require people who wish
to carry a concealed weapon to pay a fee,
receive training and submit to a background
check. It would also ban concealed weapons
in certain places.
Gov. Mike Johanns has said he would
sign concealed weapons legislation if it
reached his desk.
