Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1999)
SPORTS Super Sandra Sandra Noetzel shoulders the pressure as the No. 1 singles players of the Nebraska women’s tennis team. PAGE 9 A & E Art rock American Indian Colleen Flores is determined to carve a life out of solid rock ... by being a suc cessful sculptor. PAGE 7 April 13, 1999 Am! Mostly cloudy, high 70. Rain ] : tonight, low 40. Nature calls Matt MiLLER/DN MANDY GUERNSEY, a sophomore biochemistry major, takes a break on the greenspace south of Andrews Hail on Monday afternoon. Guernsey was taking a break from teaching in the chemistry resource room. Legislature Tax credit could benefit new farmers By Jessica Fargen Senior staff writer Legislators are calling it the “Young Farmer Bill.” Senators hope LB630, which advanced 29-1 from the first round of debate Monday, will revitalize small farms by making it easier for beginning farmers to get their hands on a large family-owned farm without having to shell out loads of cash. LB630 would give refirfng farmers a 5 percent income tax credit if they leased their land to a beginning farmer for three years. The bill would exclude farmers who lease their land to relatives from being eligible for the credit. The resulting tax credit from the three-year lease could cost the state an estimated $2 million to $3 million in lost revenue. “Family agriculture has been the backbone of the country for 200 years,” Plattsmouth Sen. Roger Wehrbein said. “I’d like to see that ii Family agriculture has been the backbone of the country for 200 years.” Roger Wehrbein ,Plattsmouth senator continue.” But a lot stands in the way of the family-farm tradition, said Wehrbein, the bill’s sponsor. The cost of purchasing land, buying equipment and staying afloat in the competitive market is tough for beginning farmers. That is compounded by compe tition from large corporate farms and the unpredictability of the first Please see TAX on 2 Seat belt bill held until 2000 ■ A proposal that would legalize seat-belt-only traffic stops is delayed amid heavy debate. The bill would have made failure to wear a seat belt a primary offense accompanied by a $25 fine and loss of a point on a drivers license. Chambers objected to the bill, as he did during February’s debate, because of the potential for racial dis crimination. Union computer Lab officially opens By Tasha E. Kelter Senior editor Monday in the Nebraska Union Unions Director Daryl Swanson cut the ribbon that made official die opening ol the 24-hour computer lab. Although the lab will still follow the union’s building hours for now, Swansor said he guaranteed students that by fall 1999, the lab would be open 24 hours. The computer lab currently is oper from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Friday, Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m and Sunday from noon to 11 p.m Students will be able to gain access to the lab after building hours by swiping their IDs through a scanner, but the technolo gy will not be installed until fall. But Swanson said, an arrangement may be made with UNL Police to have a security guard stationed after hours to check IDs as early as dead week. The plans, however, are not definite. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Swanson welcomed UNL students back to the computer lab. He thanked Information Services for the work its staff members had done in partnership with the Nebraska Union in getting the lab up and running. Kent Hendrickson, associate vice chancellor for information services, said the lab and its new technology were an integral part of students’ education going into the next century. “It’s unfortunate in a way that we have to ask students for a technology fee, but if students are going to be prepared for the job field, we must upgrade our services,” he said Hendrickson thanked the students he had worked with who had supported the idea of the fee-sponsored lab. “It was students we talked to in focus Please see LAB on 2 By Jessica t argen Senior staff writer Seat belts, round two. Four hours of debate two months ago and about three more hours Monday ended in the knockout of a bill that would have allowed motorists to be pulled over solely for not wear ing their seat belts. Senators voted unanimously to take LB356 off the agenda until January 2000. The bill was originally debated in February, but further debate was delayed until Monday. Roadblocks such as Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers’ threats to stretch out debate and clog up the remaining Legislative session led to the bill’s temporary demise. He pointed to statistics from Maryland, where black people make up 14 percent of the population but 73 percent of the people pulled over by police officers.Chambers elongated debate by introducing an amendment that would have eliminated the one point license loss. The bill’s sponsor, Beatrice Sen. Dennis Byars, said he took the 27-3 vote on Chambers amendment as a sign that senators were ready to dis mantle his bill, rather than pass it Byars said he planned to intro duce an amendment that would bar searches and seizures based solely on a violation of the proposed law, but he Please see BELT on 2 Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at dailyneb.com 1