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Cuca looks for better relations between students, senate
By Barb Richardson
Newly elected ASUN President Bud Cuca laid one of
hit goals for his term will be to make "student govern
ment more accessible to students."
Cuca said In an Interview Tuesday that he wants stu
dents to know the ASUN Senate exists for their use.
Accessibility to students is not just a goal of Cuca'i.
Cuca said during senate orientation Sunday the new sena
tors ranked "improvement of relationships with the uni
versity community" as their first priority. The senators
ranked Increasing accountability as second in their con
cerns for the next year.
Cuca said the senate will be asking for more money for
communications in their budget request that will come be
fore the NU Board of Regents Saturday.
Cuca said he has been "brainstorming" with the new
First Vice President Hubert Brown and the new Second
Vice President Kim Weiland about ways to increase stu
dent involvement in student government. He said they
have also been discussing what they would like to accom
plish next year.
Although Cuca is concerned with the coming year, he
said, "my main priority now is being prepared for the re
gents' meeting on Saturday."
Cuca will defend the students' budget of Fund A and
Fund B fees before the Regents, who will vote on the
appropriations.
To prepare for the meeting Cuca said he will meet
with the groups receiving Fund A appropriations before
the Saturday meeting. These groups Include the Daily
Nebraskan, University Program Council,
ASUN and the Cultural Affairs Committee.
He said he is meeting with the different group repre
sentatives to get their justification for the money they
need.
Past ASUN president Ken Marienau, Mike Gibson, for
mer RHA president and the members of the Committee
Professor testifies to Ellis absence
By Val Swinton
Prosecuting attorneys may have suffered a setback in
their attempts to prove that former UNL student John
R. Ellis was absent from class on the day Debra Forycki
disappeared after leaving her apartment near downtown.
An attendance book kept by one of Ellis' professors
was not admitted into evidence yesterday, although a
ruling on the book by Judge William Blue probably will be
made at a later date.
Maxlne Trauernicht, a speech communication profes
sor, took the witness stand yesterday to testify that ac
cording to her attendance book, Ellis was not in her class
that day. Trauernicht had testified that her class in 1974
began about 12:30 pjn. and ended about 2 p.m. Earlier
testimony revealed that Forycki was last seen leaving her
apartment shortly before 1 1 a.m.
Book dispute
As Lancaster County Attorney Ron Lahners asked
Trauernicht what the attendance book revealed, defense
attorney John Stevens Berry continually objected, saying
Lahners had not laid a proper foundation for admitting
the professor's remarks into evidence and Judge Blue sus
tained those objections.'
Lahners asked Trauernicht if the attendance book was
in about the same condition now as it was when she made
entries into it in the fall of 1974, when Forycki
disappeared.
"Yes," Dr. Trauernicht replied, "except that the dates
have been put in."
She explained that she did not put dates above the at
tendance blocks in the book at the time she made the en
tries, but she was requested to compute the dates from
the beginning of the school year in 1974 and put them in
the book last September following Ellis' arrest. Defense
attorneys said later they had not been aware that the
dates had not been added last fall until Trauernicht's
testimony.
Attendance indicator
Lahners asked the professor if the attendance book in
dicated that Ellis was in class on Oct. 3, 1974, the date
Forycki disappeared. As Berry again started to object,
Trauernicht replied "no" and Berry withdrew the objec
tion. Following a hearing in front of the judge's bench,
Trauernicht was allowed to step down from the witness
stand without further testimony, although Lahners indi
cated she may be called back to testify at a later date.
A UNL forensic anthropologist, Kenneth McWilliams,
also testified Thursday concerning the size of the opening
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in the water wagon and the position of the body.
"It would have been very difficult to put the body into
the position In which it was found, although it would be
possible," he told the jury.
McWilliams said he based his opinion on the position of
the skeleton, which he described as laying on its back,
with one arm extended along the side of the body, the
other arm bent towards the head with the hand near the
skull. Both legs were extended. McWilliams described the
skeleton as laying "in a normal sleeping position."
When Lahners had a chance to redirect examination of
McWilliams, he told the witness, "Of course you're not
saying what could have caused a person to crawl into that
tank, like a gun pointed at them."
Berry then objected to the remark and moved for a
mistrial. Following another conference in front of the
judges bench, Judge Blue sustained the objection, but
the trial continued.
McWilliams also testified that he had originally es
timated the time of death at six months to three years
from the time the skeleton was found,, which meant
Forycki would have died at least a year after her disap
pearance. Flesh-based estimate
He said he based that estimate on the amount of
mummified flesh still found on the skeleton. McWilliams
added though, that he later revised his estimate to six
weeks to ten years. However, he told the jury that "it
could be less or more. That's a very difficult thing to de
termine." The anthropologist also said that in his opinion,
grooves found in a wrist bone were not caused by a bullet
wound, although under questioning by Lahners, he said he
based his assumption on visual observation only.
A lead object proported to be a bullet was found near
the area of the skeleton where the kidneys would have
been, but McWilliams said there was no evidence of
trauma in the bones in that part of the skeleton.
McWilliams also said small amounts of lead found in
.the groove in the wrist could have been caused by
minerals in a piece of refrigerator tubing found under the
hand, although again, under questioning by Lahners, he
admitted he was not qualified to reach such a conclusion.
The UNL anthropologist also said there was no evi
dence of any clothing found in the water wagon, nor was
there an jewelry, such as a wrist watch or rings. Also
missing from the tank were any medicine bottles or
weapons that may have been indicative of suicide.
McWilliams said he also obtained samples of hair, some
laying on the floor of the water wagon while other strands
were still attached to the skeleton.
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for Fee Allocation have also helped in preparation for
Saturday, Cuca said.
He said that he plans to talk with four or flve pf the
regents before Saturday about the budget.
Cuca said hopefully, he will be able to get some "pre
conceived notions" in the regents heads "so, they'll be
favorable" to the budget requests.
It has been a smooth transition into office, Cuca said.
"Kim and Hubert, being conscientious people about
student government, are handling it well," he. said.
Although he will be working with 24 SOAR sena
tors this coming year, Cuca said he does and does not
expect problems during his term.
"Most people are concerned about student govern
ment," Cuca Said. Concerned senators will be able to work
together for the students' benefit, he added.
Cuca said the next three weeks will be an indication of
how people will work together next year.
"We've got to guard against stagnation and need to
have Innovative ideas," Cuca said.
Commenting on this year's senate, referred to by some
as controversial, Cuca said he does not care if issues are
controversial next year if they benefit the students.
"The Nestle resolution is opening a new realm-social
issues," Cuca said. "I think we (the senate) should
comment on issues that affect students and social issues
do."
The senate passed a resolution April 11 supporting
a universitywide boycott of Nestle products. The Nest
le's company has been accused of selling baby formula to
third world nations that's responsibile for killing 10
million babies.
"I want to encourage students to the maximum to talk
to senators," Cuca said. He added if any group, dorm
floor or Greek house, wants to talk to someone from
ASUN, someone will be there to talk with the group.
"Before you can get the respect of administrators, re
gents and everybody else, you need the respect of stu
dents," Cuca said.
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