Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 2

A Lincoln Journal Star FROM PAGE 1A Thursday, January 4, 2007 Sneaker u- AtfriMiHiim Agriculture Chaotic 1st day includes office switcheroos If the senators were anxious without their permanent quarters, at least they were solid in their chamber seats. Eight women dominated the north side, with only one Vickie McDonald of St. Paul seated on the south side, next to Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha. And McGill, on the north end of the front row, was glad to see some experience behind her.

Even though Sen. Cap Dierks of Ewing is technically a new senator, he served before, from 1987 to 2003. "He has so much experience. I can just turn around and ask questions," she said. She also got the seat that, by tradition, has the candy dish.

Her choice fof filling it? Dark chocolate Reach JoAnne Young at 473-7228 or jyoungjoumalstar.com. sion senators 22 of them will gather in a room to choose, by lottery, from what is left of the offices. What they pick out of a box is what they get. In the meantime, they were temporarily located in open offices until someone else moves in. Sen.

Danielle Nantkes of Lincoln staked a claim to Room 1116, outgoing Sen. Dave Landis' office, for the day. He had recently moved out and left a pile of "free stuff" among them a Magic Pan, some art, a chess set and Legos which mostly lobbyists had walked away with. The new senators were told they might not have offices until Monday. Sen.

Amanda McGill of Lincoln said that was unsettling. "The most frustrating part of this week is not knowing where our offices are going to be, she said. Continued from Page 1A tee. And Educational Committee Chairman Ron Raikes of Lincoln switched his voter registration from independent to Republican for the May primary but says he intends to switch back to nonpartisan status. The speaker's election was the first in a series of committee chairmanship elections Wednesday that pitted veterans against senators with just a few years of experience.

Four of the eight senators with just two years' experience won leadership positions, including the speaker. And one newly elected senator, Brad Ashford of Omaha, was selected chairman of the Judiciary Committee. But Ashford, an attorney, has experience. He served in the Legislature for eight years (1987-95) and was a member of the Judiciary Committee part of that time. Sophomore Sen.

Deb Fischer ofValentine, running successfully for the chairmanship of the Transportation Committee, did point out she is a veteran of sorts. Her father, the late Jerry Stro-bel, worked 40 years for the Department of Roads and was State Engineer for several years under Govs. Kay Orr and Ben Nelson. "I grew up talking about roads" and going on highway inspection tours, Fischer said. But this was not a clean sweep.

Janssen, who has served six years on the Revenue Committee, won the chairmanship over Sen. Mick Mines of Blair, who is heading into his second term and had never been a Revenue Committee member. Sen. LeRoy Louden of Ellsworth, who has served since 2002, beat Sen. Chris Langemeier of Schuyler, a member of the sophomore class, for the Natural Resources Committee chairmanship.

Flood's election is a sign of the changes brought by term limits, in which senators restricted to eight years in office at a time will run for leadership positions much sooner, Bromm said. Before term limits, senators often waited at least six years and held a committee chairmanship before considering a bid for the speaker, he said. The speaker's role is one of thoughtful, fair leadership, Bromm said. And Flood seems to be a deliberate person who does his research and thinks through issues, said Bromm, now a lobbyist In a series of interviews after his election to speaker, Flood stressed his role as a consensus builder and said he will be working with other legislative leaders as they look for solutions to problems ranging from the Omaha-suburban school conflict over boundaries to the state's water issues. Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicksjournalstar.com.

Vol. 141. No. 4 USPS Chairman: Phil Erdman Members: Annette Dubas, Ernie Chambers, Cap Dierks, Norm Wall-man, Don Preister, Vickie McDonald, Russ Karpisek Appropriations Chairman: Lavon Heidemann Members: Lowen Kruse, Pat En-gel, Danielle Nantkes, John Synowiecki, John Harms, Tony Fulton, John Nelson, John Wightman Banking, Commerce and Insurance Chairman: Rich Pahls Members: Tom Hansen, Chris Langemeier, Tim Gay, Tom Carlson, Dave Pankonin, Pete Pirsch, Mark Christensen Business and Labor Chairwoman: Abbie Cornett Members: Kent Rogert, Amanda McGill, Ernie Chambers, Tom White, Norm Wallman, Steve Lathrop Education Chairman: Ron Raikes Members: Gwen Howard, Carroll Burling, Bill Avery, Gail Kopplin, Joel Johnson, Greg Adams, Brad Ashford General Affairs Chairwoman: Vickie McDonald Members: Ray Janssen, Mike Friend, Phil Erdman, Russ Karpisek, Don Preister, Cap Dierks, Annette Dubas Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Chairman: Ray Aguilar Members: Greg Adams, Rich Pahls, Kent Rogert, Russ Karpisek, Mick Mines, Mike Friend, Bill Avery Health and Human Services Chairman: Joel Johnson Members: Amie Stuthman, Gwen Howard, Phil Erdman, Dave Pankonin, Tim Gay, Tom Hansen Judiciary Chairman: Brad Ashford Members: Vickie McDonald, DiAn- na Schimek, Ernie Chambers, Steve Lathrop, Amanda McGill, Dwite Peder-sen, Pete Pirsch Natural Resources Chairman: LeRoy Louden Members: Norm Wallman, Gail Kopplin, Deb Fischer, Annette Dubas, Tom Carlson, Mark Christensen, Carol Hudkins Nebraska Retirement Systems Chairman: John Synowiecki Members: Phil Erdman, Russ Karpisek, Tom White, LeRoy Louden, Lavon Heidemann Revenue Chairman: Ray Janssen Members: Don Preister, Cap Dierks, Ron Raikes, Abbie Cornett, Carroll Burling, Chris Langemeier, Tom White Transportation and Telecommunications Chairwoman: Deb Fischer Members: Amie Stuthman, Dwite Pedersen, LeRoy Louden, Carol Hudkins, Mick Mines, Ray Aguilar, DiAnna Schimek Urban Affairs Chairman: Mike Friend Members: Kent Rogert, Ray Janssen, Abbie Cornett, Steve Lathrop, Amanda McGill, Tom White Executive Board Chairman: Pat Engel Members: Don Preister, Ernie Chambers, Phil Erdman, Mike Rood, Ray Janssen, Gail Kopplin, Vickie McDonald, Amie Stuthman, Lavon Heidemann (ex officio) Rules Chairwoman: Carol Hudkins Members: Tom White, Phil Erdman, Greg Adams, Steve Lathrop Intergovernmental Cooperation Chairman: Lowen Kruse Members: Kent Rogert, Chris Langemeier, Pete Pirsch, Ray Aguilar 0527- 200 January 4, 2007 Connect. BY JoANNE YOUNG Lincoln Journal Star If you were looking for chaos in the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, you'd have had to make do with the Langemeier boys Jakub, 7, and Aaron, 3 dashing out into the hall on their way to somewhere.

But even they were reined in pretty quickly by Mom and their state senator dad, Chris Langemeier of Schuyler. After the Legislature recessed on its first day and office transfers had begun, you might have expected more chairs rolling down the marble hallways, more stacks of files and books following. Some of that happened, but by 3 p.m., it was more peace than pandemonium. They love their orderliness at the Storm Continued from Page 1A Hundreds of people spent their fourth day in shelters with little promise of relief. About 29,000 people were still without power.

Dozens of communities were waiting for NPPD to fix its high-voltage system so they could supply electricity to homes and businesses. The ice storm, which hit 28 counties over the weekend, knocked out more than 600 miles of the utility's high-voltage power lines. About 1 50 miles of those lines were on the ground or severely damaged. Holdrege, which lost all power, had four portable generators set up by Wednesday afternoon. City officials had hoped to get power restored to 90 percent of the town's 5,600 residents by Wednesday night but found out they had a bad trans Stories Continued from Page 1A "It's a little bit of a nerve-wracking experience doing that," Stauffer said.

"I was driving a big fire truck with 1,000 gallons of water on the back." The fire hall has been like a big family room since the storm. The firefighters' wives and kids helped fix and serve meals, along with people from town and the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Stauffer said, and it seems everybody has brought something different to the table that's helped them cope. For example, Assistant Fire Chief Rob Evans knew how to hook up generators. The company he works for, Overhead Door, gave them a generator to use. Stauffer's wife, Jodi, a youth di Draft Continued from Page 1A seems to excite few and scare most.

Say the words "military draft," and thoughts swing to Vietnam, young men fleeing to Canada, college deferments, violent protests. "It's stupid," says 19-year-old Michael Hale of Lincoln. "Didn't they learn a while ago that was a bad idea? The rich would still find a way out of the war anyway." So went most of the opinions we solicited, the answering party's political preference making little difference. "Disastrous idea" "Dumb." "Silly." And then came a conversation with 61 -year-old psychologist Marty Ramirez of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "It's not so far-fetched," Ramirez says of Rangel's plan.

"People get very uneasy when it comes up, because now you 're having other people's sons and daughters that will potentially go and do what we're asking other Americans to do." Ramirez knows a thing or two about the draft. It came knocking for him in 1967. There were men both scared and eager, tripping over each other to see a list that might tell them if they'd live to see their 25th birthdays. Nearby, a brown -skinned soldier didn't move from his bunk. These many years later, he doesn't know why he kept still.

Maybe because he already knew. His name would be on that list. He'd be going to Vietnam. He didn't think it was a coincidence that 60 percent of the Mexicans he had graduated with at Scottsbluff High School were drafted Nor could it be coincidence the military had drafted Marty Ramirez within a month of his graduation from Chadron State in 1967. College graduate by August Military trainee by September.

War trainee by November. Soldier in Vietnam by February. He's pretty certain the draft board didn't recognize him as a college graduate. Just a Mexican. It was a strange time Ramirez remembers the bus ride to take his draft physical.

Other young men aboard the bus were downing alcohol in hopes of being judged inadequate for war. Then there were the exact oppo-sites, those with "a John Wayne Capitol. Even with all the committee chairmen moving to their appropriate places only three out of 15 retained their offices and some of the veterans opting to move and all of the new senators camped out waiting for space, it was methodical. No big-furniture moves, just personal items: desk chairs and books and files. And cranes two movers rolled two artform sandhill cranes from Kearney Sen.

Joel Johnson's office down a floor to the new Health and Human Services chairman's office on the first floor. The process will be ongoing, said Chuck Hubka, coordinator for legislative services. It's a lot like slow-falling dominoes. By midafter-noon Wednesday, only about half of the chairmen were moved. By this afternoon, the first-ses former on the west side of town.

City Administrator Bob Rager said a new transformer is "on the road" and should arrive at 5 a.m. today. About 30 percent of the residents had power Wednesday night. "We just need some power from NPPD. We're ready to power up the whole town," said Holdrege Municipal Services Director Larry Duval.

Homes, care centers and the hospital are priorities, Duval said. Businesses and industry will have to wait, because the portable generators can't handle the load. Holdrege is paying about $80,000 per day to rent generators and another $24,000 per day for diesel fuel to run them, Duval said. Rager said he isn't worried about the price. "As far as money, I don't care.

I will deal with that (the bills) later," he said. Duval said some business owners and large industries are buying their own generators. Residents are rector at a Catholic church in Grand Island, kept kids busy playing games and watching DVDs. Monday night, about 22 people stayed at the fire hall; Tuesday night, about 10. Stauffer has been sleeping in three- and four-hour increments.

"This is making an old man out of me," the 37-year-old chief said, chuckling. Colleen Kenney Happy Birthday, Robert The sheriff brought Robert Wilber to the nursing home in Alma on Saturday. Heck, he carried the Republican City man over the ice to his cruiser. Then the Colonial Villa staff fed Wilber steak, baked potato and blueberry pie and gave him a front-row seat for Monday's Cotton Bowl. When he couldn't get home for mentality" young men who really wanted to go fight and round up as many "commies" as they could.

"You talk about patriotism," Ramirez says. "The draft was part of patriotism. It should not be for only those who can't afford to go to college." He recognizes the times are different from the Vietnam era, "but war is war," Ramirez says. "And if you're going to fight a war, then I think it's fair to make everybody eligible rather than put people who are going back to serve three or four times." "For the bulk of almost 34 years, we have proven we can achieve the manpower with volunteers," says Douglas Smith, spokesman for U.S. Army Recruiting Command.

"I'm not aware of any real enthusiasm in the Department of Defense for a draft." No need for a draft when they're coming to you. According to Smith, the Army met its recruitment goals in 2006. He throws out another statistic: 90 percent of those drafted in previous wars left after two years of mandatory service. Now, with a volunteer force, almost half of those enlisted stay on after four years of service are finished. Addressing the criticism that minorities are filling too many military uniforms, Smith says it's just not true.

His data show the percentage of blacks, whites and Hispanics enlisted "pretty much follow the proportion of people in America." The White House has said it has no plans to bring back the draft, though some eyebrows were raised in late December when the Selective Service System announced plans to test its draft machinery just in case. To show how slow these types of things can move, the test would not take place until 2009. Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson added to the speculation when he said a couple of weeks ago that "society would benefit" if the draft returned. He apparendy misspoke, issuing a statement hours later against the draft, which existed during the Civil War, both World Wars and between 1948 and 1973. The Selective Service System since 1980 has required 18-year-old men to register with it, but no one has been called up since 1973.

Then here comes Rangel, touting a bill that would mandate military service from men and women between the ages of 18 and 42. Col crew to help LES when Lincoln was hit with an ice storm in 1997. "Linemen get excited to come out and do this stuff to help out other communities to get power back on," Winkler said. "It a good feeling to use your skills." Trepper Beel and Dave VanAsperen, two Lincoln linemen who work for Kayton Electric, a private contractor, helped drill holes and string lines for new power poles south of Holdrege on Wednesday afternoon. Beel said this is some of the worst damage he's seen from an ice storm.

"It's all-encompassing. It pretty much took out every line and pole that wasn't brand new," he said. Brian Brinkman, utility foreman for Holdrege, estimated the town lost between 150 and 200 power poles. Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitisjournalstar.com.

old-fashioned way at Schneider's Hardware in Aurora on Sunday, with calculators and paper and pen. And it was done in the dark. "We were literally wandering around in the dark," owner Jeff Schneider said, "trying to problem-solve and help people." Some customers used their own flashlights to search the shelves. When he had nothing else of use to sell, Schneider closed the store and put a sign on the door: "No power. No kerosene.

No batteries. No lanterns. No propane. No fuel If you need to contact someone for help, call my cell phone." That night, he went to a friend's house to celebrate New Year's Eve. The friend had power.

"We got there, but then the power went out in the middle of my second shot" Colleen Kenney fondness, and so the youths of today trust their ears and assume they'd rather not see what their parents did. "It should be your choice if you want to go," says Kate Makovicka, a 19-year-old student at Southeast Community College. "You would hate to have people drafted if they didn't want to go," says 18-year-old Corey Miller of Plymouth. "It seems pretty dangerous for kids over there, especially if they have other plans for their lives." Leave it to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to provide some comforting words to any fretting youths. In June 2005, Rumsfeld spoke to Congress about the draft.

His exact words: "There isn't a chance in the world that the draft will be brought back." Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristophersonjournalstar.com. If you see something incorrect in the Journal Star's news coverage, please call the city desk at 473-7306 or (800) 742-7315 after 9 a.m. weekdays and Saturdays and after 1 p.m. Sundays. Written requests for corrections may be sent to Corrections, P.O.

Box 81689, Lincoln, NE 68501. U.S. company Snyder Industries of Lincoln bought divisions of Clawson Container which is based in Clarkston, Mich. A headline on Page 7A of Wednesday's Journal Star incorrectly described where Clawson is located and was unclear about the assets purchased. K's Chris Walston Chris Walston of Bertrand was injured in a 22-vehicle chain-reaction crash In March In Wyoming.

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reportedly snapping up portable generators, hauled in by semi-trucks, for about $650 each. That's about double the usual price. A five-man crew from Lincoln Electric System has been in Holdrege since Sunday, removing snapped tree branches and power lines from roads and alleys and helping to connect the portable generators. "We were just kind of shocked. It was pretty devastating," said LES crew chief Andy Winkler, recalling his first impression of the damage.

"All the trees and power lines were down for miles." LES has 21 employees helping restore power in Holdrege, Cambridge and Columbus. Spokesman Russ Reno said the crews will be rotated Friday, and LES employees will continue working with local utilities until power is restored. Winkler said the crews are glad to help because Holdrege sent a his 92nd birthday Wednesday, they surprised him with a balloon bouquet and lunch on a special birthday plate. Over the holiday weekend, Wilber was joined by the folks from the assisted-living unit down the street and the low-income housing residents and families of Villa workers without power. A grocery store donated food, employees worked extra shifts and the maintenance man shoveled walks, drove the van and kept the generator generating.

Everyone stayed warm and well, said Kay Knutson, co-director of nursing. While outside, the trees glistened in their icy coats. Cindy Old-fashioned business Business was conducted the lege deferments would not be allowed. A veteran of the Korean War and the incoming chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rangel has danced to his song before. In 2004, a similar draft bill under his name failed on a House vote of 402 against, 2 for.

Oddly, one of the nays came from Rangel, who voted against his own bill because it had not been subjected to hearings and testimony from Bush administration officials. Now he's back, telling the Washington Post in November: "If we're going to challenge Iran and challenge North Korea and then, as some people have asked, to send more troops to Iraq, we can't do that without a draft." As Bob Hall's friends always remind him: He is not allowed to curse his bad feet, however much they might ache. They kept him from a war. He was drafted 38 years ago. Then his old Lincoln physician reminded him those terrible feet of his might not work well in a war zone.

And so he stayed home while friends left for life-changing experiences. It was strange how each friend who served reacted upon his return. One came back a pacifist Another returned saying the high point of his life was charging up a hill with a machine gun. What Hall remembers most about the time is a torn America. "I think the draft now would be a disaster of monumental proportions," the 62-year-old says.

"I wpuld hate to see it divide the country as it did then." Another view comes from Stan Matzke, a 73-year-old Lincoln man who served in the U.S. Army's 3rd Division after graduating from college in 1955. He'd like to see some sort of required public training and service for all American young people that "teaches responsibility to country." The thinking is that it would better instill discipline, teamwork and perhaps eliminate some of that classism about which Rangel is worried. Says Matzke: "Whether your fa' ther or mother were doctors or whether your father and mother were janitors or truck drivers, you go in and put on the uniform, and you're all the same." Talking about the draft is not as easy for those bom post-Vietnam. Draft tales usually are not told with JournaoStar rv irf-t Journalstar.com 926 Street Lincoln NE 68508 Mailing address: Lincoln Journal Star P.O.

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