Sen. Brenda Council/Unicameral Information Office photo

Nebraska voters might decide this fall whether state residents will have a constitutional right to hunt, fish and trap.

The legislature has advanced a constitutional amendment, LR 40CA. One more successful vote sends it to the ballot in November.

Sen. Brenda Council of Omaha, during floor debate, accused supporters of moving to head off a threat that doesn’t exist.

“There’s not threat. It’s not real,” Council stated. “It’s imagined and, in fact, it’s exaggerated.”

Other senators criticized the measure as unnecessary and questioned whether it would spawn unintended consequences. They suggested the measure be pulled until supporters more thoroughly considered their objections.

Council, though, proved to be the most vocal critics during debate in the legislative chamber.

She claimed the resolution had little to do with hunting or fishing, but is really just another attempt to keep the Humane Society of the United States from coming to Nebraska to regulate livestock production.

“If we’re afraid of the Humane Society of the United States coming in and stopping the residents of the state of Nebraska from livestock production, why don’t we put it in our constitution that Nebraskans have a constitutional right to raise livestock for consumption,” Council said. “Get to the point.”

Supporters say the threat is real.

Sen. Tony Fulton of Lincoln told colleagues he had hesitated to support the constitutional amendment in the past, believing it wasn’t necessary.

Sen. Pete Pirsch/Unicameral Information Office photo

“But the reason I’ve changed my mind is because I’ve had a chance to reflect on what is actually going on. And that is, the urbanization of Nebraska is causing an entire generation to be removed from theses traditions that we have grown up assuming,” according to Fulton. “And I dare say that if this goes one more generation then folks like HSUS will have fertile ground with which to operate.”

Sponsor Pete Pirsch of Omaha brushed aside the reservations raised by critics and state the resolution is pretty simple.

“The underlying purpose of this LR is to preserve and protect what exists now,” Pirsch said.

LR 40CA needs to win final approval before it goes to the November ballot.

Miriam Kelle speaks with reporters at the Capitol

The sister of a man brutally murdered nearly 30 years ago campaigns against executing his killer.

A mixture of Mennonite faith and practicality leads Miriam Kelle of Beatrice to come out against the execution of Michael Ryan. Kelle says her faith compels her to speak out against the death penalty. Kelle adds, though, that each time the legislature debates capital punishment, the news media recounts how Michael Ryan tortured and murdered her brother, James Thimm, at his religious compound near Rulo in far southeastern Nebraska in 1984.

Kelle uses a coping mechanism whenever debate at the Capitol turns to capital punishment.

“We just try not to read the paper,” Kelle tells reporters at the Capitol. “You know, I try really hard not. My co-workers are reading it. You just try to go on and do your job that you’re supposed to do.”

That approach didn’t work this year. Kelle actually gathered numerous newspaper accounts of the murder for Sen. Brenda Council of Omaha who sponsors LB 276, a bill that would eliminate the death penalty. Under the legislation, life in prison without the possibility of parole would be the ultimate penalty in Nebraska. The legislature debated the bill for two days last week before Council moved to indefinitely postpone it. The bill could return for debate later this session.

Kelle says it’s difficult to re-read accounts of her brother’s death.

“And the really hard thing is when you read something that you kind of forgot about and it comes crashing back, that’s the hard part,” Kelle says with emotion in her voice.

An execution date of March 6th has been set for Ryan in the 1984 murder. A delay will begin the news cycle over. Kelle contends if Ryan had been sentenced to life he would have been forgotten long ago and she wouldn’t have to relive her brother’s brutal death.

AUDIO:  Brent Martin reports [:40]