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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 2000)
Man arrested for alleged threats An man allegedly threatened to blow up the Hall of Justice on Wednesday. Sometime between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., Benjamin Karpick, 22, 3510 Daniel Road, was arrested for threatening to use explosives, Lincoln Police Ofc. Katherine Finnell said. Karpick was at the Hall of Justice, 575 S. 10th St., in the city attorney’s office and was told that charges against him for previous offenses were not going to be dropped, Finnell said. Karpick was not pleased, and peo ple in the building told police they heard him threatening to blow up the building, Finnell said. The charge is a felony, and Karpick was put in jail, Finnell said. Former Babydolls employee accused of threatening boss An employee of Babydolls, 5600 Cornhusker Highway, was accused Wednesday of threatening to shoot his former boss. Jeremy White, 20,4208 Browning St., was at Perkins, 121 N 48th St., at 3:15 a.m. and had a loaded .22-caliber Remington automatic rifle in the front seat of his car, Finnell said. According to court documents, White allegedly told friends and for mer fellow employees he was going to walk into Babydolls and shoot John Ways, his former boss, regardless of who was around. He was charged with making ter roristic threats. Charges were reduced to third-degree assault in Lancaster County Court on Thursday. Ways said he had not been noti fiedofficially at the time of the threats. White had been fired from the club, Ways said. It was possible that White knew he was going to be fired and was upset, so he made the threats, Ways said. According to court documents, the friends contacted Ways and the police because they were concerned that White would go into the club and start shooting innocent people. According to court records, a wit ness persuaded White to let him unload the gun. White was arrested at Babydolls at 4:36 p.m. Wednesday. Ways said he did not feel threat ened at any time by White’s statements. Bond was set at 10 percent of $2,500 for White. Police looking for man who exposed himself A gas station clerk found out Saturday that it doesn’t always take two to tango. In a report filed Wednesday, the manager of the store said a man came into Fast Fuel, 5501 Superior St, at 10 a.m. and said if the clerk wanted to see something weird she should come out side, Finnell said. She said no, and the man left. The man got into a small gray car, possibly a Pontiac, and pulled in front of the window, Finnell said. The clerk said his penis was exposed, and he was performing oral sex on himself, Finnell said. The man is described as a white man with dark hair, about 45 years old, 5 feet 4 inches tall and thin, Finnell said. Police are still investigating. Police respond to call for lewd conduct A cleaning worker who was fin ished with her work saw a man mastur bating outside a bank Wednesday. When the 46-year-old cleaning worker left First Federal Lincoln Bank, 3301 S. 13th St., she saw the man on the left side of the south doors, Finnell said. The woman ran back into the bank and called 911, Finnell said. She described the man as a white man in his 20s with blond hair. He is about 5 feet 10 inches tall and about 150 pounds. He was wearing a blue stocldng cap and blue jeans, Finnell said. Police came to the area, but the man was not found. Student cuts tip of finger off Jeffery Walderstadt, a UNL senior, cut off the tip of his finger Wednesday with a table saw in Henzlik Hall, University Police Sgt. Mylo Bushing said. Walderstadt turned 21 the same day. He refused transport to a Lincoln hospital but went to the University Health Center for treatment, Bushing said. Jury selection continues in case Jury selection for a trial involving first-degree murder and first-degree arson charges continued Thursday. The case to be heard before Lancaster District Court Judge Paul Merritt has been a long time coming. According to court documents, Clifford J. Davlin was arrested in con nection with the 1993 death of a 27 year-old Lincoln woman. Tamara Ligenza was found by fire fighters in the bedroom of a house at 1620 Washington St. at 4:50 a.m. on Sept. 7,1993. According to Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey, an autopsy revealed Ligenza had been strangled to death before the fire. Davlin is currently serving a 25- to 35-year sentence in the Nebraska State Penitentiary for charges of first-degree assault, first-degree sexual assault and the use of a frearm to commit a felony; all previous chaiges are unrelated to the current chaiges. Davlin was sent to jail for the charges about 10 weeks before Ligenza’s death. Compiled by staff writer Michelle Starr the secret to becoming an eGrad is just around the comer, keep reading and soon you'll know how to get the right start in the real world. Phone program to aid victims ■ New system releases prison status of adult offenders. By Michelk Starr Staff ivriter Making crime victims feel safer and more in control of their lives were the motivation behind Victim Information and Notification Everyday. VINE, a computerized system available starting today, provides a way for victims to call into a system and reg ister by a touch-tone phone to be noti fied of an adult offender’s status within the legal system and county and state prisons throughout the state. The system is free, anonymous and available 24 hours a day in English or Spanish. “It’s important to not take this sys tem as the only way to stay safe, but it is an important tool,” said Lincoln Sen. DiAnna Schimek. “We owe it to the vic tims to do our best to ensure their safe ty.” Chief Deputy County Attorney John Colbome agreed and said it was time to take the focus off the prosecuted offenders and place more emphasis and concern on the victims. Lancaster County Corrections Director Mike Thurber said the system is important because of the 10,000 peo ple booked each month in Lancaster County Jail; 35 percent will be out on bond within a month. Angela Hacker, program specialist with the Public Awareness and Community Education in Kentucky - where the system originated - said the system will call the victim within 15 minutes of updated records if an offend er were released from prison, escapes, returns to custody or was transferred The system will call every half hour if no one answers or every two hours if an answering machine picks up or 24 hours has elapsed since the message was given. The victim should call into the sys tem and confirm that the message was received by using a personal identifica tion number created during registration. To register in the step-by-step auto mated process, the victim needs to know the name, booking number or case number of the offender to receive information about his or her status, Hacker said. They should also be prepared to create a four-digit personal identifica tion number. Alien eums, executive director oi the Nebraska Crime Commission, said VINE also provides information about an accused person’s status in the court system; this service is in an experimen tal stage and only available on offenders in Lancaster County. The system also can be accessed out of state lines in case a victim had moved. Also, 37 other states already use VINE, but only seven provide a statewide system. If a prisoner is moved to another state, the victim can register and receive calls from that state. Hacker said only Dodge and Hall counties in Nebraska are not hooked up to the system because of software prob lems, but they hope to be connected within the next few months. The VINE service began in Louisville, Ky., after a 21-year-old woman was shot and killed in a parking lot after work by a former boyfriend in 1993. She thought he had been in jail and would be notified of his release, but she was not The VINE system was developed two years after the murder. In Nebraska, law enforcement’s researching of the system began three years ago. Implementation began a year ago. J The VINE number is 1-877-NE 4 VINE (1-877-634-8463).