page 6
daily nebraskan
tuesday, October 16, 1979
Neighborhoods cleaning up; program swept
by self pride
By Kent Wameke
The City-County Health Department is beginning a
neighborhood approach to cleaning up residential areas
which, according to its administrator, will be more
effective than any other program.
Dennis Grams, environmental health administrator,
said, "If we would go out and write up citations for safety
or health hazards we won't gain anything. They'll just go
pay the fine and do it again .
"However, if we go right into the neighborhoods and
try to develop some pride in the individual neighborhoods
then that would have a lasting effect," he said.
Health Department employees will go into the targeted
neighborhood and spend 100 percent of their time with
the neighborhood organizations and the residents, he said.
"We're going to try and help improve the neighbor
hood environment through the use of education, telling
the residents what the health ordinances are and making
the people feel like they are a part of the community,"
Grams said.
Bruce Baugh, one of the employees involved with the
program, first started the neighborhood approach when he
began spending time in the Clinton -Malone area, east of
Vine Street to 27th Street.
"It turned out to be a very successful first experience,"
Grams said. "The neighborhood is now in pretty good
shape and the people are interested in keeping it that
way."
Grams said the program was originally, financed by the
federal Housing and Urban Development Agency for an
environmental program. The program was so successful
that when federal funds ran out, the city took over the
financing. - ' . . ,
Grams said neighborhoods primarily filled with renters
rather than homeowners can cause problems.
"Any kind of population that rotates is going to cause
problems," Grams said. "It's hard to develop a sense of
neighborhood pride when the residents don't know how
long they will be living there."
Grams said officials often found new owners living in
apartmentsat first, but the problem is dwindling.
"It's hard to measure success in a program like this, but
if you go to the neighborhoods that have started
programs, you can visually see the results," Grams said.
"We've heard nothing but good comments from the
neighborhoods." .
buncil approves liquor license for Lincoln Exchange
By Debbie Hemminger
Approval of a liquor license for a
proposed downtown restaurant passed
Monday at the City Council meeting.
The site of the proposed restaurant,
The Lincoln Exchange, originally housed
the Bell Telephone Company and has been
listed on the National Register of
Historical Places. The restaurant intends to
be a first class, full service restaurant,
offering a tidbit menu and a specialty
menu, along with a full bar, according to
representatives of the restaurant.
The council has a horrible liquor policy ,
said Jim Haberlan, a Haberlan and Associ
ates architect and owner of Barrymore's,
124 No. 13th, adding there is no rhyme or
reason for the basis of the council's
decisions. He said he gave a similar
presentation four years ago.
Sphinx, Inc. which is investing in the
restaurant presented complex architectural
designs to the Council and had three
representatives speak to the Council today.
Tarn Allan, president of Sphinx, Inc. and
executive vice-president of Tews
Investment Company, said he has visited
council members to get advice on what the
council would like to see at the meeting.
Haberlan said there are no other
guidelines except for the architectural
rendering or the prettiness of a
presentation. He said he calls it
discrimination, adding there is no
guarantee that Sphinx will live up to their
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present . guidelines. However, he said the
license can be "taken away at any time."
When Haberlan's request for a liquor
license was refused, he had to buy a
business that had an existing license, the
Penthouse, 19th and'O Streets, and then
returned to the council to ask for a
relocation of the license. It-was granted.
Allan, a senior in UNL Law College, said
there was no legal way to insure that the
company followed through with its
presentations. However, there was an
"obligation based on faith" to live up to
the council's expectations.
He said his understanding of the
council's liquor license policy indicated a
preference of unique, and different
businesses.
The restaurant is expected to open Feb.
1, 1980. The State Historical Society will
work closely to insure the correct
preservation of the building which was
built before the turn of the century.
According to the presentation, "costs for
the" rehabilitation will exceed the amount
needed for the initial purchase of the
buildings."
Two other liquor license questions went
before the council, Monday, A request by
Far West Services for CoCo's Famous
Hamburgers, 120 N. 66th St., was denied
approval, with Councilman Joe Hampton
declaring a conflict of interest. Approval of
a liquor license for Wallbangers
Racquetball Club, 330 West P St., was
postponed.
Lincoln's criminal institution
emphasizes extensive testing
By Kathy Stokebrand
Homosexual assaults bv prisoners is one
of the : most disruptive forces Lincoln's
Diagnostic and Evaluations Center is faced
with, according to its superintendent.
Gary Grammer said the homosexuality
problem is dealt with at the center daily
and some of the most serious assaults are
homosexually related.
The center, the result of a $5 million
legislative package, opened Aug. 1 .
Grammer said it has a population of 106
inmates with a capacity of 176.
The center employs about 110 people,
but other professionals and specialists work
there part time.
The center is located on West Van Dorn
Street adjacent .to the Lincoln Correctional
Center. Both centers are two of the three
major adult male criminal institutions in
Nebraska The. State Penitentiary is the
third.
All offenders in the state are sent to the
Diagnostic and Evaluation Center, a short
term facility. The regular length of stay
: tor an inmate is 30 days.
However, the courts can send an
offender to the center for 90 days evalua
tion and then sentence him, based on the
information gathered there.
THE CENTER, GRAMMER said, is dif
ferent from many other diagnostic and
evaluation centers in the country because it
emphasizes a more complete, detailed med-
Simants. ...
Continued from Page 1
"Is it legally sane for a person to fondle
sexually a dead person?" Schroeder asked.
"He was a sick man. He played with dead
women."
During a taped interview with police,
which the jury was allowed to hear,
Simants admitted fondling Mrs. Kellie,
though he didn't know whether she was
dead or alive.
In his rebuttal, Holscher criticized
Schroeder for calling the defendant
"dumb."
"It has terrible' connotations," he said.
But Holscher said Simants, even with his
low IQ, was capable of a normal life.
. "At this level, this defendant could per
form normally, conduct a good life and get
along fine in this world," Holscher said.
Both attorneys accused the other's ex.
pert witnesses of botching their interviews
with Simants.
Six doctors, both psychiatrists and
ical examination of the inmates than most
do.
The center contains extensive examina
tion, equipment , including an ; X-ray
machine, optical testing equipment and a
fully equipped dental office.
The major control center ofhe institu
tion, Grammer said, is operated 24 hours a
day by correctional staff members.
WHEN , A NEW inmate comes to the
center, he is legally received with his com
mitment papers. Then he is photographed,
fingerprinted, showered, de-loused and
given a uniform.
The inmate is taken to the medical
support people to be screened for immed
iate medical needs. A case manager super
visor interviews the inmate to orientate
him to the facility and to give the super
visor an idea of the offender's emotional
stability. . " ,
In the next three to four weeks the in
mate is examined more thoroughly socio
logically, medically and psychologically,
After this examination,. Grammer said,
the inmate, a psychologist and the case
manager review the strengths and weak
nesses of the offender. Together they
develop a personal plan for the inmate.
A final classification document, which
gives a complete history of the offender,
evaluation results and recommendations, is
signed by each individual who evaluated
the inmate. The inmate is not allowed to
see this document.
psychologists, three hired by each side,
interviewed Simants and testified during
the trial concerning their findings.
Schroeder also accused Holscher of
playing on the emotions of the jury. He
said Holscher needlessly introduced police
and FBI witnesses to describe details of
the murder when the murder itself was not
being questioned by the defense.
"Mr. Holscher is not concerned with the
real sanity of this case," Schroeder said.
'His concern is "with waving the bloody
sheet in front of you."
Simants was originally convicted by a
Lincoln County jury in 1976, and
sentenced to death. But Lincoln County
Sheriff Gordon GUster was accused of play
ing cards with sequestered jurors during the
trial, and the Nebraska Supreme Court
overturned the conviction.
The retrial was moved to Lancaster
County after District Judge Hugh Stuart
ruled that Simants could not get a fair trial
in North Platte.
