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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 1999)
■ UNITE’s 10th annual powwow will feature dancing and music. By Dane Stickney ~ - Staff writer — _ - For 10 years, American Indians from across the state have eagerly attended UNITE’s powwow. On Saturday and Sunday more than 60 American Indians will flock to UNL’s East Campus for the 10th Annual University of Nebraska Lincoln Pow-Wow, which is spon sored by the University of Nebraska Inter-Tribal Exchange and the University Program Council. A powwow is a culmination of American-Indian dances and music celebrating the American-Indian cul ture. Helen Long Soldier, an education al specialist in UNL’s Multicultural Affairs office, said the pow-wow is always a much-anticipated event. “It’s a good powwow,” she said. “People look forward to it each year because it brings a lot of Native American people together that haven’t seen each other in a ^hile.” Misty Thomas, president of UNITE, said the powwow is an important function for American Indians. “We traditionally have not cele brated holidays,” she said. “Only through assimilation did we observe holidays, so the powwows were a form of celebration when something good happened to the tribe.” Thomas said American Indians typically held powwows to celebrate good hunting expeditions, victories in battles and plentiful harvests. The UNL powwow is held to show the uni versity and Lincoln a piece of the American-Indian culture. “Everyone will be wearing tradi tional clothing, and five tribes will be represented,” she said. “We want the university to see an important part of our culture. We want them to see who we are” , Admittance to the powwow is free, but a booth will be set up to accept donations for Camp Justice, an organization that lends support to the American Indians of Pine Ridge. “We’re asking people to donate winter clothing and blankets to the people of Pine Ridge,” Long Soldier said. “They’ve been through so much this year. They deserve our help.” The powwow is dedicated to the parents of UNL American-Indian stu dents. “The family is the most important social unit,” Long Soldier said. “When students leave home, it is especially hard on the families because this culture calls for very close family ties.” The powwow will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday at the Great Plains Room in the Nebraska East Union. La Nina presents opposing outcomes By Michelle Starr « Staff writer Don’t put away the T-shirts and shorts just yet, but don’t discount thermal underwear, either. Researchers say because of the weather phenomenon La Nina, Nebraska may have a second mild winter in a row, or it could be faced with sharp cold arctic winds. “It’s not going to be a normal win ter,” said Ken Dewey, researcher for High Plains Climate Center and a University of Nebraska-Lincoln pro fessor. Dewey, with help from some of his students, completed a study last week comparing this month’^temper atures to previous years. The data showed that this winter will be unpredictable because of La Nina and Nebraska’s position in the United States, Dewey said. /“All we know is that we don’t know what is going to happen,” Dewey >aid. This winter could be calm and. mild or take a drastic turn for the worse, Dewey said. “We could really pay for this beautiful weather,” he said. Ken Hubbard, director of High Plains Research Center, said the research was important to show how the weather could affect Nebraskans. The possibility of a sharp change in temperature, coupled with the lack of precipitation, could damage plants, Dewey said. Without water, the soil will crack, exposing the roots to air. Without snow or some form of precipitation as an insulator, it is pos sible of La Nina’s extremely cold weather could kill plant roots, he said. Hubbard said Dewey’s research was important in determining what the weather will do. “It’s a very timely research issue,” Hubbard said. Dewey’s research has been based on water patterns. He said because the world is mostly water, he used ocean patterns to give evidence of the weather to come. He also said he could use previ ous information to foresee what will happen in the future. “We don’t need to wait until the wliiter!s over to see what will hap pen,” Dewey said. Dewey has used what js common knowledge about weather patterns El Nino and La Nina to forecast weather conditions. El Nino produces severe weather for the West Coast and a mild winter for middle America, which means that the opposite is an unstable winter for the central states, he said. La Nina, the opposite of El Nino, is a cooling of the ocean off the coast of South America. The warmer water sends the jet stream northward, trapping cold air in the northern United States and CanadaL Previous La Nina weather phe nomena brought extremely cold tern it All we know is that we don ’t know what is going to happen Ken Dewey High Plains Climate Center researcher peratures to the central states. In 1983, La Nina caused Lincoln temperatures to remain below freez ing the entire month of December. Many mornings, the temperature dipped below zero, Dewey said. He said that although the central state’s weather is unpredictable, some regions’ weather is easy to forecast. California will experience a warm, dry winter, but the Pacific Northwest will see a stormy winter, Dewey said. Dewey examined Nebraska’s cur rent record-breaking highs. Never before has Nebraska seen temperatures this high so far into November. On Nov. 8, Lincoln reached 81 degrees, breaking the 1931 record of. 80 degrees. On the same record breaking day for Lincoln, the Arctic experienced a dip to -33 degrees. Dewey found that the dark con trast is characteristic of La Nina. “My Christmas gift for every body would be the second warm win ter in a row. But we don’t know,” Dewey said. Lawmakers ponder lethal injection option ■ The Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the electric chair is cruel and unusual punishment. STARKE, Fla. (AP) - Florida law makers?who have an almost religious devotion to the state’s electric chair, may fry to protect “Old Sparky” from a U.S. Supreme Court review by giving con demned inmates the option of death by lethal injection. Ghoulish images of executions in Florida’s electric chair have led the nation’s high court to consider whether the state’s method of execution is cruel and unusual punishment. The court is scheduled to hear arguments in February. Florida House Speaker John Thrasher, a Republican, has said if the state gives death row inmates a choice, the Supreme Court may drop the case. When the court agreed to consider the constitutionality of California’s gas chamber a few years ago, it dropped die review when die state added the lethal injection option. Lawmakers are even considering calling a special legislative session to address die issue. The electric chair, which has been used in Florida to execute 240 men and one woman over 75 years, carries a deeper meaning than other forms of execution said Deborah Denno, a Fordham University professor and death penalty researcher. “Execution methods are symbols of bigger things. The electric chair is a symbol of retribution and extreme vengeance,” Ms. Denno said. “The elec tric chair is ‘death penalty-plus.”’ Electric chair opponents cite several examples of what they consider “botched” executions in the last decade. Flames shot from the top of Jesse Tafero’s head in 1990 and from behind the face mask ofPedro Medina in 1997. Photographs taken in July of Allen Lee Davis showed a large Wood stain cover ing his white burial shirt. Pictures of Davis’ bloodied face taken after his execution were posted on die Florida Supreme Court’s Web site, resulting in more than a million visits. The Davis pictures are evidence in the Supreme Court appeal. Old Sparky was replaced before the Davis execution with a new chair that, like the 1920s original, ismade of oak and has the same electrical system. Those who want to keep the chair say any pain suffered by condemned killers is minimal when compared to the suffering their victims endured. Republican state Rep. Howard Futch recently suggested the crucifix ion of an inmate who had delusions of being Jesus. The attitude of the Legislature is “real men don’t kill by lethal injection,” said Michael Radelet, a University of Florida sociology professor and death penalty opponent. “The view is we want to get even, and you don’t do that by putting someone to sleep.” A statewide poll of 600 people taken Oct. 28-31 shows 58 percent of voters support a law to substitute chem ical injection for die electric chair. The poll, conducted by the St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald, shows 23 percent are opposed to a change. The . margin of error was 4 percentage points. Ofthe 38 states with capital punish ment, only Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Nebraska have electrocution as the sole means of execution. The other three states have had problems with their electric chairs, but those problems occurred more than a decade ago and weren’t as extensive as in Florida, Dennosaid. Handbook provides ASUN election tips ■ In the guide, Andy Schuerman offers guidance on running for office. By Veronica Daehn Staff writer ASUN President Andy Schuerman is trying to make it easi er for students to fill his shoes next year. Schuerman created a campaign handbook that is now available in the ASUN office to guide students who are thinking about running in an Association of Students of the University of Nebraska election. “There’s a misperception that ASUN is only an organization for certain people,” Schuerman said. “I wanted to make it so any student would feel they had the opportunity to talk to anybody in the office and have something to take away with them.” The handbook details a cam paign from its beginning, but is not designed to tell students exactly what to do. It is meant to serve as a guide and to point out the “little, mun dane, trivial parts” of a campaign, Schuerman said. The handbook explains the responsibilities of each office and then talks about how to get a cam paign started aijd what to do until election time. Things like fund raising, devel oping a platform, publicizing, hold ing debates and recruiting campaign workers are included. An appendix is included with names and phone numbers of peo ple to contact for more information. Schuerman said he got the idea for the handbook during his cam paign last year when students told him they didn’t feel connected to ASUN members. “This will hopefully create a Correction Brett Stohs is a co-founder of week model were expanded to run NU on Wheels. He was misidenti- from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. The cost of fied in Wednesday’s Daily running the program as it is now is Nebraskan. NU on Wheels would $27, 869.60. cost $35,148.32 if the three-day-a u This will hopefully create a desire to find out more (about $ campaigning).” AndySchuerman ASUN president desire to find out more (about cam paigning),” Schuerman said. “So people don’t have to know all the right people.” Laura Grother, a sophomore biology major, said she is planning to run for a senate seat in the College of Arts and Sciences this spring. Grother said she is friends with some people in ASUN right now but that the handbook is a good tool for all interested students to use. “This is excellent, especially coming from the president,” Grother said. “If anyone’s going to know how to run a campaign, it’s going to be the last one who ran suc cessfully.” Although the handbook does give a thorough description of what running for an office entails, Schuerman said, it cannot be the sole basis forva campaign. “This should give them a rough outline of what to expect, what to plan for and what to consider in the planning process,” Schuerman said. “It was not meant to be a cookie cut ter, just a first step.” Every campaign has a unique aspect that makes it successful, Schuerman said. “Ingenuity and creativity are the — most important parts,” he said. “My goal was not (to make more people want to run) but to provide an opportunity for students to find out more about it.” ■x -, - . 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