Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 1999)
Gunmen planned to blow up Colorado high school - Milosevic accepts idea of U.N. presence ■ Police report that Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris probably had help planting high-powered bombs all over the Littleton, Colo., high school. LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) - The two gunmen in the Columbine High massacre were planning to blow up their school and probably had help from others, investigators said Thursday after discovering a powerful bomb in the kitchen that had been built from a propane tank. “These subjects were not only on a killing rampage, but they were going to destroy the school,” Sheriff John Stone said. “They were going to bum the school up.” The discovery of the 20-pound propane tank heightened suspicions that the two killers had help from other people, either with building the 32 bombs discovered so far in the school, its environs and the killers’ homes, or getting them into the high school. An earlier report said there were two bombs in the kitchen, but investigators may have been misled because there was a gasoline can next to the one bomb, a sheriff’s official said. Investigators still believed the gunmen may have had help. “It’s a feeling from our investigators that the chances are very, very good that we have more than two people involved,” sheriff’s spokesman Steve Davis said. CNN reported that a note left by one of the gunmen was a suicide note that indicated the two teen-agers acted alone. “This is the way we want to go out,” the note said, according to CNN, which cited unidentified sources. Davis said he had no details on a note that was found at one of the gunmen’s homes. Eric Harris, 18, and Dylan Klebold, 17, armed with sawed-off shotguns, a semiautomatic rifle, a pistol arfd homemade bombs stuffed with nails and shotgun shells, killed 12 students and one teacher Tuesday before taking their own lives. The bombs found Thursday used a propane tank similar to those on backyard barbecue grills. Nails and BBs had been taped to the tank to create shrapnel. “Twenty pounds of propane can create quite an exten sive amount of damage,” Davis said. District Attorney Dave Thomas said: “No one saw them carry it into the school, and people did see them enter. So we have to explore how that device got into the school.” Authorities had already been looking into the possibili ty of additional suspects because of the amount of ammuni tion and explosives left behind. “It’s drawing suspicion out here that they would have time to put as much ordnance in that school as they did without some help,” the sheriff said. Fourteen people remained hospitalized, eight in critical or serious condition. Meanwhile, crews used bomb-sniffing dogs as they carefully picked through thousands of backpacks, briefcas es and boxes strewn across the carpets, classrooms and hall ways. Investigators are also working to trace the weapons to determine how the teen-agers got them. Inside the heavily damaged school, officers began col lecting hundreds of pieces of evidence, including carpet, fragments of windows, ceiling tiles and walls and shrapnel. “We have a very big crime scene and so much evidence to catalog, it will take days to collect it,” Davis said. Despite intermittent, heavy snow, dozens of people left bouquets, stuffed animals, cards and balloons in the school colors of blue and silver at a makeshift memorial in a park near the school. The mementos were piled 2 feet deep by early Thursday. Reports come after attack on mansion BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - President Slobodan Milosevic has accepted the idea of a U.N.-controlled “international presence” in Kosovo, a Russian envoy said Thursday. Hours earlier, NATO struck directly against the Yugoslav leader for the first time, destroying his luxurious mansion. In a diplomatic bid to end the con flict, former Russian Premier Viktor Chernomyrdin held daylong talks with Milosevic. It was unclear whether the international force discussed would be armed, under what guidelines it would operate or whether the offer represented a real peace gesture. NATO has insisted it must lead any armed presence in Kosovo to enforce a peace agreement. Milosevic has so far rejected NATO demands to withdraw his troops from the embattled province and accept a Western-dictated autono my plan for the ethnic Albanian majori ty there. Chernomyrdin said after the talks that he and Milosevic had “considered the possibility of an international pres ence led by the U.N. in which Russia would take part” “Those are the basic principles we agreed upon,” Chernomyrdin said. Soon after Chernomyrdin left for Moscow, alliance jets were back in action Thursday night, attacking three Serbian television relays and a railway bridge on the Ibar River in central Serbia. As allied leaders gathered in Washington for a 50-year alliance anniversary summit, NATO’s missile strike on Milosevic’s mansion delivered a graphic message to Belgrade that it remains resolved to crush his forces if he doesn’t pull than out of Kosovo and commit to peace. Milosevic and his family were not home during the attack on the residence, according to state officials; he has at least one other home in the capital. NATO says that since the bombing cam paign began March 24, Milosevic has spent each night in a different bunker.Yugoslav officials expressed outrage over what they said was an attempt to kill their leader, saying three lasa-guided bombs blasted Milosevic’s bedroom, living room and dining room. American officials have insisted they are not trying to kill the Yugoslav leader. Man robs convenience store Police were still looking for the man who punched a convenience store clerk and robbed the store Wednesday night. The suspect entered Kabredlos, 1433 S. 17th St., just after 10 p.m. and asked the 20-year-old male clerk for a box of cigars, Lincoln Police Officer Kathy Finnell said. Instead of paying for the cigars, the man punched the clerk, jumped the counter and emptied the register before fleeing the store. The suspect is described as Hispanic, 5-foot-8-inches tall, 145 pounds and in his early 20s. Group mugs pizza man Two men have been arrested for attacking and robbing a pizza deliv ery man early Thursday morning. The 28-year-old Papa Johns carri er fromthe 4411 N. 27th St. store was attacked near 5000 N. 20th St. just after midnight, Finnell said. When the delivery man arrived, a man standing outside pointed out the house to deliver to. Then, as the delivery man approached the house, he was jumped from behind by the man and three others who had been standing in a driveway a few houses away. Thursday two men, aged 19 and 20, were arrested for the robbery, and police had leads on additional sus pects. Police arrest masturbator Security guards spotted a Lincoln man masturbating in the Super Kmart parking lot around 2 a.m. Thursday. The two guards called police after a video sweep of the 27th Street and Comhusker Highway lot showed the man masturbating in the front seat of a red Chevrolet Suburban, Finnell said. Police arrested the 21-year-old man for indecent exposure. Compiled by senior staff writer Josh Funk Clinton pushes for gun restrictions Victims of shooting get $1.5 million WASHINGTON (AP) - The Clinton administration prepared Thursday to release $1.5 million to compensate victims of the Colorado school shooting and voiced hope that the tragedy would spur passage of “reasonable restrictions on the pos session of guns.” Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder said at the department’s week ly news conference Thursday that the administration would send Congress suggested gun-control legislation, which would include banning gun possession for people who commit ted violent crimes as juveniles. The current ban applies only to adult con victions. President Clinton on Friday will announce the immediate availability of as much as $1.5 million from the Crime Victims’ Fund to help families in Littleton, Colo., pay for funerals, uninsured medical expenses, lost wages and mental-health counseling, a White House official said. Many of Clinton’s gun-control proposals failed in previous sessions of the Republican-controlled Congress and are opposed by the National Rifle Association. Democratic lawmakers in Congress, angry that their gun-con trol bills remain stalled, said they would increase their efforts. “Voices from the American peo ple are starting to rise,” said Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., who promised to use procedural rules to force a vote on her gun bill if House Republicans leaders continue to block it. Study looks at potential ‘'gay gene* WASHINGTON (AP) - Canadian scientists are questioning whether a gene inherited from moth ers influences men’s sexual orienta tion in a study that attacks U.S. researchers’ hunt for a “gay gene.” Scientists still can’t explain what determines a person’s sexual orienta tion, although many studies have suggested that it is biology and not choice. The first such evidence came in 1991, when researchers discovered that identical twins of gay men were much more likely to also be gay than were fraternal twins. Then National Cancer Institute geneticist Dean Hamer made head lines in 1993 by suggesting that one such gene resides in a region of the X chromosome, one of the microscop ic structures that carry genes. Men inherit that chromosome from their mothers. w . SJJ*5 Erin Gibson Questions? Comments? Managing Editor: Brad Davis Ask for the aDDrooriate section editor at Associate News Editor: Sarah Baker 14021472-25M Associate News Editor: Bryce Glenn A-.ii _j,, Assignment Editor: Ltodsay Young ortHnaildn@unl.edu. Opinion Editor: Cliff Hicks Sports Editor: Sam McKewon General Manager: Dan Shattil A&E Editor: Bret Schulte Publications Board Jessica Hofmann, Copy Desk Chief: Tasha Kelter Chairwoman: (402) 466-8404 Asst Copy Desk Chief: Heidi White Professional Adviser: Don Walton, Photo Co-Chief: Matt Miller (402)473-7248 Photo Co-Chief: Lane Hickenbottom Advertising Manager: NickPartsch, Design Chief: Nancy Christensen (402) 472-2589 Art Director: Matt Haney Asst. Ad Manager: Andrea Oeltjen Web Editor: Gregg Steams Classifieki Ad Manager: Mary Johnson Asst Web Editor: Amy Burke Fax number: (402) 472-1761 World Wide Web: www.dailyneb.com The Daily Nebraskan (USPS144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St, Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during the summer sessions.The public has access to the Publications Board. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by calling (402)472-2588. Subscriptions are $55 for one year. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St., Lincoln NE 68588-0448. Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1999 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Burr Hall to hold third Bull Frv By Bernard Vogelsang Stajfwriter Burr Hall on Saturday will be the place for students to enjoy food and have a ball The residence hall on East Campus hosts the Third Annual Bull Fry. It will feature basketball, sand volleyball, roasted bull fries (bull testicles) and a carnival. The Bull Fry will benefit the family of Ray Koziol, Nebraska East Union operations manager. Last April, his wife and two of his sons died in car accident. Two other sons of Koziol survived the crash. Former Burr Hall President Nathan Fuerst, who helped organize the event, said he has met several times with Koziol. “Koziol is happy we chose to bene fit his family,” he said. The Bull Fry will begin Saturday at 9 a.m. with co-ed sand volleyball and three-on-three basketball tournaments. Fuerst, a sophomore agronomy major, said teams could still register Friday or early Saturday morning at the Burr Hall desk. Registration is $40 per team. In return, every team member receives aT shirt. The winning basketball and vol leyball teams will both get $ 100. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., hot dogs, hamburgers and toasted bull fries wili be served. Fuerst recommended the bull fries. “They taste like chicken-fried steak,” he said. Tickets for the lunch are $5. Fuerst said they can be purchased at the Bun Hall desk or today at noon at booths in the Nebraska and East unions. The Bull Fry will also feature a car nival that begins at 11 a.m. with face painting, a dunking booth, sumo wrestling, pedestal jousting and a Farmers Olympics. In the Fanners Olympics, contes tants will take part in dummy roping, human barrel racing, bail relays, post throwing, tug-of-war and cow-chip throwing. Fuerst said he expects about 1,000 people to attend the Bull Fry. “It is going to be a great time to socialize with each other.” David Bums, a Bull Fry organiza tion member, 'said if the weather is bad some events will be moved inside. “The Bull Fry is going on no matter what,” he said. Those who stay at home can follow the Bull Fry on KZKX-FM (96.9), which will cover it all day. For more information contact the Burr Hall desk at (402) 472-1025.