Thursday
February 1,2001
Volume 100
Issue 95
dailyneb.com
Since 1901
Daily Nebraskan
Taking from past highs
and lows, Nil's Todd
Bee kerman has his eyes
on a national title
In SportsThursday/10
Dreaming of home: Yasmin
McEwen remembers her tropical
homeland
In Opinion/4
Chib 1427 sets high stan
dard for dance dubs in
Lincoln
In Arts/5
Concealed
guns bill
debated
BY GEORGE GREEN
Slots weren’t fired, but opin
ions collided when the Judiciary
Committee heard testimony
about concealed weapons
Wednesday.
The committee tackled
LB496, which would allow citi
zens to carry concealed firearms if
they obtain a permit from the
state
Sen. Gene Tyson of Norfolk
introduced the bill and said it
would create safer neighbor
hoods in Nebraska cities because
citizens would be able to ade
quately protect themselves and
their families.
Moreover, he said the bill
would affect only citizens who
legitimately want to carry a
firearm. Deviants who use
weapons to commit crimes will
skip over die application process
and head straight to the fire
power, he said.
“People who take out permits
are very law abiding,” he said.
Rich Boucher, a spokesman
for the Nebraska Sheriff’s
Association, said Tyson’s assump
tion about increased safety isn’t
true.
Handing deadly weapons
Please see HANDGUNS on 2
No smoking bill may advance today
■ Committee hears discussion
of two bills, LB 227 and LB 423,
which target cigarette usage.
BY GWEN T1ETGEN
People who support or
oppose smoking agree on one
thing: The bill that would ban
smoking in restaurants is a ques
tion of accommodation.
But the answer of whether leg
islators will vote to accommodate
nonsmokers or smokers has to
wait The bill was held in commit
tee Wednesday and could be
advanced out of committee as
early as today.
One bill from Sen. Nancy
Thompson of Papillion, LB227,
would ban smoking in most
restaurants by changing provi
sions in the Nebraska Clean
Indoor Air Act
Another bill from Thompson,
LB423, takes what is already
included in the 20-year-old act
and puts it into statute-making it
state law - by modernizing the
language.
The bills heard testimony in a
joint hearing Wednesday of the
Health and Human Services
Committee.
Nonsmokers and asthma suf
fers like Omahans Jennifer Taute
and her 4-year-old son, Jared,
argue that their families can’t go
near a restaurant that allows
smoking.
Taute said when her son was 3
7 see it as a victory of
life over death when
patients stop
smoking,”
Dr. Dan Noble
Nebraska Medical Association
years old she took him into a
restaurant that had separate
smoking and nonsmoking sec
tions.
Even after sitting in the non
smoking section, one day later,
Jared ended up in the hospital for
three days, T&ute said.
"He knows exactly what to do
when he sees or smells smoke,”
Taute said, as Jared cupped his
hand over his nose and mouth.
But if smoking in restaurants
is banned, Mark Lutz, who repre
sents the Nebraska Restaurant
Association, said the bans won’t
stop there.
Eventually, Lutz said, anti
smoking groups will want to ban
all tobacco use - everywhere.
“The one thing we firmly
believe as Americans is that we
have the right to operate in a free
market economy,” Lutz said.
Free markets or not, many
health professionals say the
health benefits gained by harming
smoking outweigh the possible
loss of freedom.
Dr. Dan Noble from the
Please see SMOKERS on 3
John Smith III
takes a drag in
the smoking
section of The
Coffee House at
1324 P St. LB227
would ban
smoking in
restaurants and
in places like The
Coffee House,
which allows
cigarette use in
certain sections.
Nate Wagner/m
University pushes smoking away
BY JILL ZEMAN
When ashtrays on campus were moved further
from the buildings, smokers at Avery Hall had to
make do.
During finals week, when snow covered every
thing on campus, smokers built a makeshift ashtray
out of snow to put their cigarettes out in.
The result? When the snow melted, a pile of cig
arette butts lay on the ground. *
This isn’t an uncommon sight on campus.
Kirby Baird, Landscape Services City Campus
supervisor, said since the ashtrays were moved away
from the entrances of campus buildings, workers on
campus have had to do a lot more cleaning up.
"It's presented a lot of problems,” Baird said.
“There’s always been a few (cigarette butts), but
nothing like this before.”
In November, the University of Nebraska
Lincoln’s Tobacco Free Campus Policy was reiterat
ed by an e-mail sent out by Vice Chancellor for
Business and Finance Christine Jackson.
The policy says smoking cannot occur within a
Please see ASHTRAY on 3
Sharon Kolbet/DI
BIRD WATCHER: Canada geese gather on a frozen pond in Pioneers Park, 3201S. Coddington Ave Jennifer Malfait, an employee at the Pioneers Park Nature Center, said the road to the feeding area
has been plowed, and people are welcome to come and view the wildfowl.
ASUN
New licenses
supported as
curb on fakes
BY MARGARET BEHM
Student government might look like irs contra
dicting itself.
It decided at its Wednesday meeting to support
one anti-drinking bill while lobbying against another
N'tylinor in Possession of Alcohol bill.
The Association of Students of the University of
Nebraska voted to lobby for the passage of LB574, a
bill that calls for a new digital driver's license.
Mike Echternacht, Committee for Technology
Fees Allocation chairman, said AS UN supports the
bill because it would implement a new license that’s
not as easy to reproduce - reducing the number of
minors using fakes.
ASUN is backing this bill because it’s focusing on
not giving minors access to alcohol instead of pun
ishing minors.
Student government last week voted to lobby
against LB 114, a bill that would make it easier to
arrest minors for possession of alcohol while also
stiffening the penalties for alcohol violations.
“This bill targets the system instead of the stu
dents,” he said.
Lobbying for the driver’s license bill proves ASUN
doesn’t approve of minors getting sloshed on week
ends, he said.
“This shows that we do consider underage drink
ing a problem," he said.
Please see ASUN on 7
Not just child's play: Toys aid studies on language, speech
■ ■ Young children who are at risk for being
nonspeaking are taught to improve their ability
to speak and to improve on their vocabularies.
BY SHARON KOLBET
These researchers have toys - lots of toys.
Just down the hall from the door labeled “Infant
Communications Lab,” there is a room housing a
bouncing Tigger, a vibrating Cookie Monster and
dozens of other brightly colored objects that shake,
rattle or roll.
For University of Nebraska-Lincoln student
Megan Magnuson, the toys aren’t just for play, they
are essential for her research.
Magnuson is a senior speech-language pathol
ogy and audiology major working under Special
Education Professor Cynthia Cress. As an under
graduate student, Magnuson is assisting Cress in
her research with young children who are at risk for
being nonspeaking.
“The research is focused on children who have
physical or con
genital impair
ments which
may hinder lan
guage develop
m e n t , ”
Magnuson said.
Complications from cerebral palsy, hearing
loss or tracheotomy tubes are often the cause of
delayed language skills. Cress’ research incorpo
rates interactive toys to encourage the children to
express themselves orally.
Many of the toys Cress has in her lab make
sounds when you touch them. Others will bounce,
walk or sit down.
Because some of the children are too young to
operate the toys themselves, Cress has the children
make oral indications when they want her to acti
vate the toys. These early exercises help children
improve their speaking ability, while other sessions
are designed to improve their vocabulary.
Cress’ sessions are recorded on video tape, and
it is Magnuson’s job to watch the tapes and record
the relevant data on computer spreadsheets.
“The tapes are made in three-month incre
ments, so I get to see their progress,” Magnuson
said.
As a participant in the Undergraduate Creative
Activities and Research Expediences program,
UCARE, Magnuson received funding for her
research with Cress.
Next year, she plans to continue in this field
with help from the UCARE program while doing
more in-depth analysis.
“Since it is a two-year program the
students have a longer period of
time to learn what to look for.”
Cynthia Cress
special education professor
Magnuson said the UCARE program has been
helped her plan her future.
“Speech pathology is such a wide field, but the
project has helped me narrow my focus,” she said.
Cress said she also appreciated the design of
the UCARE program.
“Since it is a two-year program, the students
have a longer period of time to learn what to look
Please see UCARE on 3