I want to thank the people of the Tri-City area who attended the luncheon honoring Bo Pelini and his coaching staff that was held at the Grand Island Heartland Events Center a couple of weeks ago.

The coaches were pleasantly surprised at the large turnout and we were especially gratified to receive a contribution of more than $18,000 to the Athletic Department as a result of the luncheon.

The money will be used to buy some new weight equipment for our strength and conditioning program. We have a new strength coach and he is wanting to get some equipment that is not now available to us. I can assure you that this $18,000 will be put to very good use.

Thank you again to Orv and Mary Qualsett and all those who contributed to making the luncheon a great success.

Tom Osborne

University of Nebraska Athletic Director, Lincoln

'No smoking' means we will go out

Since the smoking ban has passed, I've seen a few letters from concerned business owners that they'll be losing money. I wanted to reassure you that my family and I will now finally be able to visit many of these establishments.

We don't go to places where there's any smoke, as it stinks and kills, but in the future we will be able to eat at a lot more restaurants, go bowling, and such. I'm sure there will be a lot of people like us who will now visit your businesses. Unless of course you have an outdoor patio area for smokers - we won't travel through that to enter your business.

Kathy Rysiew

Hastings

Smoking decision is not democratic

I am confused, to say the least. It has been proven by the smoking ban and other regulatory laws in this state and others that any business space open to the general public is a public space and as such is subject to the laws governing the public. Ok, I got that. As I read about the controversy in Cozad and Dawson county concerning a totally nude dance bar, I hear the attorneys stating that since this is a privately owned business, the city and county cannot govern or dictate the types of activities that occur there. Hmmmmm. Doesn't the smoking ban offer precedence that it is in fact a public space and therefore subject to the laws of the state, county and city? I have brought this up before and was informed that one issue is a health issue and the other is a morality issue. Fine. We already have laws that prohibit public nudity, so by my understanding nudity in a bar (public space as defined by the state smoking ban) is illegal. Yet the Dawson county attorneys cannot interfere?

Some will argue that the nude dancing bar does not allow minors and is required to check IDs, etc. So do many of the bars that are subject to the smoking ban. More important to me is this: Theoretically at least, we live in a democratic country, meaning that the voice of the majority of the people decide the laws that govern us. Ok, do we have that condition in either case? No! The smoking ban was decided by a select few influential people for the entire state. None of the business owners or the good people of Nebraska were allowed to decide. The good people of Dawson County and Cozad will not be able to decide about the nude dancing bar because the same law that gives the state the right to decide the smoking ban, for some strange reason does not apply to them. It seems more and more that the law is double tongued, manipulated to say whatever the powers that be want it to say, whenever it applies to their needs. Voters and democracy be hanged. I don't have any daughters, but I am quite sure I would rather have them wait tables in a cafe or bar that allows smoking, than to have them dancing naked in front of a bunch of leering and rude strangers. I don't know about you, but I feel that living to a healthy, ripe, old age is a mute point if one has lost all morality and personal values in the process. If we give up our ideals, morality and values, what are we living for?

I feel for the business owners all across the state that are going to suffer financial hardship because of the smoking ban. Perhaps businesses in larger population areas, especially college towns can survive the loss of revenue, but there are many family owned businesses in small rural communities, across Nebraska that will be hit hard by this, sadly, I fear, that many of them will lose their livelihood, their investment in that business and that community gone forever and the local employment they offered. Fortunately they will live a longer, healthier life in poverty. I doubt that they will appreciate that and I know that the disappearance of their businesses will never make the news. Celebrate your victories while you can, it just might be your business that gets hit by the next well meaning do-gooders, for the sake of public health or whatever cause they can sell to the masses.

Robert J. Duering

1804 E. 7th St