Late-night booze
Adults 21 and older may have
a little longer to purchase alco
holic beverages if one legislative
bill passes.
LB231, heard Monday in die
General Affairs Committee, gives
cities and counties the option to
sell alcohol to 1:30 am instead of
lam
Hilgert, sponsor of the bill,
said it gave local communities an
option to compete with bordering
states, such as Omaha being able
to compete with Council Bluffs,
Iowa.
Iowa retailers can sell alco
holic beverages until 2 am
Hilgert said the time of 1:30
ajn. was a compromise between 1
a m and 9am
“Every year something like
this is introduced,” he said. “I
think we need to give local com
munities die ability to compete
with bordering states.”
Mike Kelley, representing the
United Retailers Liquor
Association, said the bill would
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affect entertainment venues such
as the new arena in Omaha.
Kelley said the bill wouldn’t
increase drunken driving citations
and would increase safety by
keeping alcoholic beverages in the
state instead of having drunks
drive across the rivet
“People are more responsible
(with alcoholic beverages) than
they were before," Kelley said.
"It’s a pro-safety issue.”
American Sign Language
American Sign Language
would be recognized as a separate
language under LB669, heard
Monday in the Education
Committee.
The bill would recognize sign
language as a language in the fall
linguistic sense of the word, said
Sen. Dennis Byars of Beatrice,
sponsor of the bill
Under the bill, the State
Department of Education would
allow accredited schools to teach
American Sign Language, the
most-used language by the North
American deaf community
All students would be eligible
tn tala* sign language Hasses, and
schools would not be required to
teach sign language under the Hill.
Byars said similar bills had
been passed by 35 other states.
“It's very important to the deaf
community to have the language
that they use every day recognized
as a distinct language,” Byars said.
The bill would allow college
students to use sign language for
post-secondary craiit toward for
eign language requirements.
"It's a matter of credibility and
respect to the Nebraska deaf com
munity, “he said.
Nosmoking?
A bin that would ban smoking
in restaurants was debated for the
second time on the floor of the
legislature on Monday.
The bin, LB227, was debated
Wednesday, but the morning floor
debate ended before the Rill was
voted on. The scene was the same
on Monday
_l #_ _l _
The bill, introduced fay Sen.
Nancy Thompson of Papillion,
would ban smoking in restaurants
unless they have a liquor license
or a separately attached room
used for private social functions.
The bill was passed out of the
Health and Human Services
Committee on Feb. 2.
Since then, lobbyists against
the bill have been busy talking to
senators, and telemarketers have
been busy phoning Nebraskans
encouraging them to talk to their
state senators.
Thompson said she didn’t
know which telemarketing firm
was placing the calls.
The chances of the bill being
passed this year comes down to
four or five undecided senators,
Thompson said.
"It's an issue that everyone has
astrong opinion about one way or
die other,’’ she said.
If the bill isn’t passed this year,
Thompson said, she might bring
the bill to the Legislature next yean
“Its time is going to come,
maybe not this year, but some
time,” she said.
Supervised fiquor sales
For the fourth year in a row,
Sen. Dwite Pederson of Elkhom
has introduced a bill that would
require 19- and 20-year-olds to be
supervised when selling alcoholic
beverages.
On Monday, the bin, LB11, was
heard in the General Affairs
Committee .
Currently, 19- and-20-year
olds don't have to be supervised
when selling alcohol
Pederson said the bill proba
bly wouldn't get out of committee
because it was heard this late in
the legislative session.
“Most restaurants won’t hire
individuals to sell alcohol until
they are 21 anyway,” Pederson
said.
Pederson said 19- and 20
year-olds need to be supervised
because they could give in to peer
pressure.
Compiled by Gwen Hetgen
Comments stun many
HUH from page 1
lor for student afFairs, who also
attended the Regents meeting,
said he was shocked when Miller
spoke on minority recruitment
“I think we’re all stunned by
the comment,* Griesen said. *It
surprised almost everyone in the
room."
In his feet, Miller said many of
NU’s campus recruitment pro
grams are geared toward recruit
ing more minority students.
Therefore, Miller said, "a big
minority recruiting campaign if it
lowered test scores could lower
NU’s rankings."
He said he pointed this out at
Saturday's meeting as a potential
problem and emphasized the
importance of recruiting students
with high standardized test
scores.
Miller wrote:
"I never said, and never would
say, we should not recruit minori
ty students because of this poten
tial school disadvantage
"Any suggestion that I am
against minority recruiting or
biased is wrong."
Miller also emphasized that
he voted in favor of the resolution
that included increased minority
recruitment
Schafer said he thought Miller
should have clarified his com
ments during the public meeting.
Schafer, who attended
Saturday's meeting, emphasized
that Miller didn’t speak on behalf
of the university or the Board of
Regents.
“The fact that test scores and
national rankings are more
important (to Miller) than diver
sity is something I abhor;” Schafer
said.
Schafer said he wanted Miller
to visit the UNL campus and
speak with students and student
government representatives
about his views on minority
recruitment.
Griesen said Millerfe quotes
may have been taken out of con
text
Miller's comments in the
Daily Nebraskan didn't include
what he said about the cultural
biases in standardized tests.
Griesen said he didn't think
Miller meant his comments to be
taken negatively.
Nonetheless, Griesen said he
didn't share Miller's view on
minority recruitment
"Our campus is still not as
diverse as it should be," Griesen
said.
Regardless of Miller's state
ments, Griesen said as of now,
minority recruitment wasn't
going to decrease at UNL.
“We will still be as aggressive
as possible in recruiting minori
ties,” he said.
Even though Griesen said
Miller didn't say that minority stu
dents were intklectually inferior
to whites, it was still disturbing
that national rankings would take
precedence over drawing more
minorities to UNL
"For a minority student to
hear someone say it’s more
important to rank high than to
have us in that institution - thatfe
negative."
Earl Key, a UNL graduate law
student, said he was in disbelief
when he read Miller's comments
in Monday's Daily Nebraskan.
“I couldn’t believe it," Key
said. “I had to drde the paragraph
(with MiUert comments) and re
read it"
Key, who is president of the
Black Law Students Association,
said he had talked to several peo
ple - both minorities and white
students - who were offended
after reading Miller's comments
in the newspaper
Key said he hoped to bring
Miller to campus to discuss his
stance on minority recruitment
with student organizations.
Key said he was shocked by
what he read and he hoped the
other members of the Board of
Regents didn’t feel the same
about recruiting minorities.
'Diversity has to start at the
top,” he said.
Do Something About it
•H
13rd Annual Housing Fair
Wednesday
March 21, 2001
10 am to 2 pm
Grand Ballroom
Nebraska Union
L
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\
L
l
L Biwgfct to yw by time partkipatiag mrdiuits
ASUN's files erased after break-in
MmAKY from page 1
Schafer their card usually isn’t
swiped when they check out the
key, which is how the key could
have landed in anyone’s hands.
Daryl Swanson, director of
Nebraska Unions, said he only
considered the theft offilesasecu
rity violation, not a burglary.
Swanson said he considered it
a security violation caused by his
staff because it was reported to
him that sometimes the ID card
was not swiped or looked at when
students asked for the key
About 50 names are on the
checkout list inducting senators,
executives and committee chair
men and chairwomen,he said.
”1 think the conclusion I
would leap to is that this was very
possibly an authorized person on
that list," he said,
Despite this, Swanson said he
was surprised someone would
delete important files.
‘Thatseemsunlikelytoixie.lt
seems like a person who knows
the system wouldn't take that
chance,” Swanson sakL
Schafer said he was also
unsure why someone would even
want to vandalize the office.
Ttfe sort of one of those sense
less acts of vandalism,” he sakL
SPARE
TIME?
■ men and women
■ 19 to 65 years old
■ .smokers and nonsmokers
■ availability: variety of
schedules
MDS
Pharma Services
MARCH 2-9 2001
WOMEN’S WEEK
+ ‘LOCAL TREASURES’
Tuesday, March 6th
Chancellor's Commission on the Status of Women
Chilly Climate Forum,
11:30-1:30 p.m. Nebraska Union.* *
GLBT Speakers Bureau: "Everything you wanted
to know about being GLBT that you were v
afraid to ask" 2:00 p.m. Nebraska Union.*
PREVENT Roundtable Discussion, 7:30 p.m.
Nebraska Union.*
Wednesday, March 7th
Chancellor's Commission on the Status of Women
Award Presentation and reception, 3:00 p.m.
Nebraska Union.*
Career Services Presentation, "The Internet:
An important tool for Women's Career Development"
7:00 p.m. Nebraska Union.* ,eventJ wj„ be posted
_A in the Nebraska Union
a STUDENT ^AvTOCiicnsri call 472-2597 for more
W centeiv. information.
