- By Tarn Lee
The question of abolishing the death
penalty is being kept alive in the Nebraska
Legislature, even though the bill was killed
Monday on a 2423 vote.
Senators spent an hour Wednesday de
bating a resolution, LB63, sponsored by
Lincoln Sen. Wally Barnett. It would allow
voters to decide whether the Legislature
should set the penalties for first-degree
murder, treason, and impeachment,
Barnett said. No action was taken on the
resolution.
Some senators have said they could
support a move to abolish the death penal
ty if they could be assured that those con
victed of first-degree murder would serve
thursday, february 9, 1978 vol. 101 no. 70 lincoln, nebraska -
Students slip-slidin away on ddetOcdk ice
Members ofthe UNL sidewalk ice
skating team (which includes anyone
who dares to venture onto UNL's
campus) are participating in this rapidly
growing sport without medical coverage.
Persons injured in falls on icy side
walks are entitled to sue the univer
sity, but chances of collecting damages
are small, according to NU's general
legal counsel.
John Gourlay said Nebraska case law
in slip-and-fall" suits indicates proper
ty owners are not responsible for
nature1 accumulations of ice and snow.
An injured party must show negli
gence by the property owner to win a
suit, he said. The courts assume a per
son is able to see and avoid danger,
Gourlay said.;.
As of Monday, 20 tons of sand and
gravel had been spread , on , campus
streets and sidewalks-after a weekend
ice storm said Jay Schluckebier, assist
ant grounds department director. ' v -
ScMuckst?toMdJrepartnieat has
run oui of the salt normally used on
sidewalks and the department lias hesk
tated to use road salt because of danger
"to grass.
Although the department sands side
walks on campus daily, he said, the sand .
soon blows away, ,
'JL1 11'' t -i r-" - - '
long sentences. v , i L
The Board of Pardons now has the
power to reduce sentences. According to
Barnett, if voters give the Legislature, the
power to determine sentences the pardons
board will have no authority to reduce
them.
i r M
One of the arguments for keeping the
death penalty is that prisoners serving a.
life sentence often get out of prison within
a few years The proposed constitutional
amendment to take the power of commut
ing sentences for first-degree murder out of
the hands of the pardons board would in
sure that a Ciininal sentenced for 30 years,
would serve 30 years, with no possibility
for parole and no provision for good time.,
Barnett said.
Omaha Sen. Ernest Chambers, who
sponsored a bill to abolish the death
penalty, said he would fight to keep the
x death penalty issue alive;
"You can kill every bill I have before
you. This issue is more important to me
than any other," he said. r
"I am trying to save lives, I am trying to
keep the state from , killing four of its
citizens. ' - ,
Sen. John teCamp of Neligh, who
favors the death- penalty, said the death
penalty should be retained because it is a
fundamental part of the state's judicial, .
systemic 4 f--'M T y'X
lf you start tampering with the ju
: 'dicial system, pretty soon you; won't
haveonehesaid, '
'Omaha Sen. Neil Simon replied, The
, barbaric way we have of executing people ;
V is- upsetting our judicial system.";- , - I '
T Last Vear Chambers introduced LB64,
l ; which originally would have abolished the
I, -death, penalty In a-final attempt to get
enough votes to , pass the bill Monday,
Chambers agreed to amend it to put a one
"year? moratorium on state executions. The .
1, bill was defeated .ty jone vote, with two
senators absent ---., -
' ' ' Falls City Sen. Nelson Merz, one of the
senators" absent during the vote, offered a
: . motion Tuesday to reconsider LB 64 on the
4 condition that Jt be amended, to put a:
; moratorium on, The, death penalty until
LR63 is acted upon. t
the resolution is scheduled to be de-
bated again today. - -
'Mom' has no favorites
By Mary Fastenau
Only a mother xould watch a basket
ball game and wear that beaming. smile of
pride. Those wringing Hands and 4 nervous
stomping feet must belong to a mother.
She calls them all by name with moth
erly affection, but the UNL basketball
team does not call her, "Mom, they call
her Nancy Williams. : .
Williams, an attractive brunette, is Joe
Cipriano's personal secretary, the basket
ball secretary and an enthusiastic basket
ball fan. " - :V '
Williams is like a mother because she
has no favorites. k
. I think it would be. impossible to have,
favorites, she said "Ihey are ? all
favorites.' ' - , ' "
She admitted that she feels close to,
Brian Banks and Carl McPipe.because all
three were new to Lincoln at the same
Williams sits tsehind the team, alwaya-, ' Though Williams is a native Kansan, she
dressed in red. She has almost' as manyi said; there was no question as to which
t' 1 " team she was suboorting.
; 'Look, I don't have an inch of purple .
on "she said.
u.r. She has worked in the" basketbau de-
partment for three years, she said. She
v graduated from the Lincoln School of
V Commerce in 1971 and was working for a
law firm in Topeka when she . discovered -;
the job.'. ' ' . r ' ' V . .
. I used to be a legal secretary, so i weni
moves as a player as she fidgets through the
game. :rf - - - .
She calls each team member by name as
she yells from her seat. Her remarks are
rarely derogatory as , she 'encour-1
ages t4her5 boys.' She says 1 she never,;
tries to coach, she just provides encourage-;
menti . v. r ? .. .,. j :t?
Williams says the, players tell her they i
an hear her yelling, and it seems to help. ' e
In a tense . situation McPipe is on the
free throw line." He misses the first shot,
and Williams yells, Come on Carl, we need r
, that.? , . ;t ,
w The second shot drops through the net.
"s Williams grew up in Kansas. While living
in Jopeka she said she attended bothKan-
sas and Kansas State basketball games. She ;
said basketball was the sport which attrac- :
. ted the most attention." I C ; - '
"l wasn't used-to the football fever,"
she admitted. : , " r :
His name ; is Mudd: foreign service
officefis rectuitmg for the foreign -service
; . . . . : . . : . . -page 2 '
They may not be burning their ;
underwear: but a UNL rap group
helps men understand their roles
in society, .s. . . . i . . -V .page 7 .
UNL senior pockets " championship :
Ricsirdo Vargas wins ; a . Mid-
western.; 14.1 .billiards, tourna
- ment 7 . . . .......... .page 11.
.'from legal terms to basketball terms," she
.said. . ' - - ..- '.
" Williams said the reason she gets 'so
' crazy at games is because she thinks the
enthusiasm from the crowd can really
make a difference in a basketball game.
. Williams enjoyed halftimc festivities in
cluding a sweeping race between two men,,
George Brown and Harry Druns, who the
announcer said had 'bcen'around almost as
long as the basketball program."
j, ...
' '
.
t .K
J.
- i ,. V
Nebraska center Curl McPbe end Kizzzs Stc'.i fcr.vard Curt":
for a loose rebound in last nr.ht's gtzme in I'vz Sports Cc ; ' k.T z L
subJucd tlz V.'ilJccts 63-53.
1
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