' Page T7 AI tori 1 Nebraskan
4 JLl U. llUllal Friday, April 29,1988
# Mike Reillcy, Editor, 472-1766
DailV Diana Johnson, Editorial Page Editor
~|W T_-/| , r Jcn Dcselms, Managing Editor
I y-*| /I K 1 ('un W agner, Associate News Editor
Chns Anderson, Associate News Editor
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Joci carlson. Columnist
l
Quibbles & bits
Neil Smith scores 4 out of 50 on test
• The National Football
League administers intelligence
tests to draft selections to give
teams a better idea of how quick
new players can pick up each
club’s system. The best a player
can score on the test is a 50, while
the lowest is a three. The NFL
average is about 20. Nebraska’s
Neil Smith, the Kansas City
Chiefs’ No. 1 pick and the No. 2
selection overall, scored a four
on the test, according to an ar
ticle in The Chicago Tribune.
• Apparently there’s no hope
for the readers of the Daily Ne
braskan, according to columnist
Jim Gayley. Gayley’s column
appeared in the April issue of the
UNL Good News, the uni
versity’s conservative Christian
monthly newspaper. “People
hold their sin very dear, even ...
Christians,’’ Gayley wrote. “If
you don ’ t believe me, pick up the
Daily Nebraskan, or any other
publication, and you can see
people both exploiting sin and
clinging desperately to it.”
Yep, even on a slow news day,
Jim.
• While Greek Fight Night
was a tremendous success on the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
campus, Greeks at Indiana Uni
versity were planning to square
off outside the boxing ring.
According to National On-Cam
pus Report, a rumored fight be
tween two fraternities prompted
Indiana’s dean of students to
cancel all campus social events
during the last weekend in
March. The rumor circulated in
the wake of a brawl between two
other fraternities at !U’s McNutt
Quad.
• An alleged prank by two
men didn’t draw any chuckles
from the manager of the the
University of Pennsylvania’s
Class of 1923 ice rink, according
to On-Campus Report. The
manager plans to prosecute two
men who are accused of stealing
the rink’s Zamboni ice-laying
machine and taking it for an early
morning joyride. Philadelphia
police caught the suspects only
five blocks from the rink.
UNL given a ‘B’ for services rendered
As a soon-to-be graduate of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, I
feel I have earned the right to evaluate
the UNL “experience.” 1 wouldn’t
even pretend to know everything
about UNL, but there are a few areas
about it that I would like to express my
opinion on.
First of all, 1 should say that I
graduated from a small-town high
school in central Ncbra ita with a
class of 32. Moving from a small town
to UNL proved to be very rewarding
as there were many situations and1
kinds of people who I had never been
exposed to. Being forced to live in the
residence halls during my freshman
year was probably the best thing that
happened to me as all types of people
lived there. I learned that if I didn’t
fend for myself, then most likely
nobody else would, either. In the
greater UNL community, the oppor
tunity for exposure to people of other
attitudes, cultures and beliefs is abun
* dant. Various clubs, organizations
and groups provide this and people
only have to have the desire to get
involved in order to meet these ideas
from their own. I think this is impor
tant as one must become accustomed
to different opinions and beliefs to
become tolerant of them without
necessarily agreeing. It is a part of
becoming a more-rounded person.
Having never been part of the
Greek system, I will reserve judgment
on it. However, I will make the obser
vation that the system must be doing
something right or i t wouldn ’ t survive
year after year. Overall, the instruc
4 lion received by my self has been very
good. While there have been a few
poor excuses for instructors — one of
which told the class he was there only
because he couldn’t find another job
— by far the majority of my classes
have been conducted by very profes
sional people and i appreciate that. I
don’t even mind professors showing
up to conduct a class in blue jeans as
long as they act professionally. I was
happy that the bill passed through the
Legislature to raise faculty salaries.
Next to the students, the faculty is the
most important body of the university
and it deserves to be satisfied.
There also are some areas I am
critical of, and the first is financial
aid. From my experience and from
talking with others, the story is always
the same. As a freshman, one receives
some financial aid. As a sophomore
the aid is cut and by the junior and
senior years, if people don’t have a
four-year or departmental scholar
ship, they will receive practically
nothing. It seems aid is offered to get
students far enough into their college
career to where it is impossible to turn
back. These are the students you see at
football games telling mom to send
money.
While I am speaking of how
money is distributed, let me say that
the two biggest expenditures during
my college days have been for the
Lied and student recreation centers. I
can deal with the Lied much easier
than the rec center. I don’t care to get
into the football argument because I
would get mad and start name-calling
and that isn’t the purpose of this letter.
A good example of spending was the
decision to install air conditioning
and upgrade Morrill Hall. I think
another good choice would be to in
stall about 5,000 parking stalls in two
or three locations close to campus,
forget the parking meters and charge
$40 a year to park there. It would pay
for itself in five or 10 years.
Well, this really isn’t all I have to
say, but it touches the highlights.
Overall, I think the university has
done much to change me as a person,
mainly for the better. I carry no long
standing grudges, but only minor
ones that one fun-filled summer will
wipe out. Thus, I am compelled to
give UNL a“B” for services rendered.
Greg Gillham
senior
malh/prc-mcd
P.S. There was no scale.
Minister takes in brutal ex-con
Rev. Smith’s Oregon neighbors not as compassionate as he is
It’s obvious that the Rev. Tho
mas Smith Jr. is a compassion
ate person, a man who believes
that nobody is all bad and that even
the worst of us can be redeemed.
So why would such a decent,
compassionate clergyman fear that
some of his angry neighbors might
want to bump him off?
Well, it’s unfortunate for the Rev.
Smith, but some of his neighbors
don’t share his brand of compassion.
The minister recently decided to
provide a home for an ex-convict
named Lawrence Singleton.
Singleton, 60, isn’t your ordinary,
run-of-the-mill ex-con. He wasn’t a
stickup man, a burglar, a car thief or a
swindler.
No, he went to prison in California
for a crime that was so brutal, even his
fellow inmates thought he was
creepy.
About 10 years ago, he kidnapped
a young girl, raped her, then chopped
off her arms with an axe and dumped
her in a gully.
He assumed she would die, but
miraculously she survived. Singleton
was arrested, convicted and impris
oned.
Because of California’s dippy
penal laws, he was paroled after less
than eight years. That’s four years for
each lost arm, if you want to figure it
that way, with the rape thrown in free.
Not surprisingly, the parole cre
ated a public uproar. And it created
problems for the parole authorities.
A parolee has to live somewhere.
But every time the state tried to move
Singleton into a community, the resi
dents would raise hell about having a
convicted arm-chopper in theii
midst
So the authorities kept moving him
around, until finally they gave up and
let him live in a trailer on the grounds
of San Quentin prison.
But now his parole is over and he
becomes a free man. He can live
anywhere he chooses.
And that’s where the Rev. Smith
comes in. He had heard about how one
town after another rejected Singleton,
and his preacher-heart was touched.
So he offered S ingleton a job and a
home on the grounds of his church in
rural Oregon.
However, those who live near his
church have less tender hearts. And
the preacher says, they have shown
their displeasure. When the preacher
and his wife go to the small local
town, the natives sit in their pickup
trucks and glare and scowl at them.
He sometimes hears guns being fired
in the distance and suspects that this is
an ominous message.
With sadness he says: “We believe
we will be killed, my wife and I.” And
he says that he and his wife have wept
for those who have threatened to raise
their hands against him.
Well, it is a sad situation. Here you
have a clergyman who is just doing
what clergymen are supposed to do—
show compassion for the underdogs,
the needy.
Of course, one could make an
argument that there might be people
more deserving of compassion and
help than Singleton. Our cities are
filled with homeless and destitute
souls who have never chopped off
anyone’s arms, or even fingers. Their
only crime is to be without skills or
jobs. Some have skills, but no jobs.
So it’s likely that Smith’s neigh
bors wouldn’t be nearly as upset ii he
had said: “I’m taking in this couple.
The husband’s been out of work since
a machine crushed his foot in the
factory where he worked just before
the factory closed down after a
merger.”
I suppose it’s just human nature,
but most people don’t feel compas
sionate when they’re told: “I’m tak
ing in this ex-convict who raped a girl
and chopped off her arms with an ax.
But don’t worry, he’s mended his
ways.”
And it’s possible that Singleton
has reformed and won’t chop off any
more arms. As one of his prison coun
selors said:
“There are a lot of wonderful
qualities about Larry Singleton.”
I don’t doubt that. Even John
Gacy, Chicago’s most famous mass
murderers, did other things besides
kill 30-plus young gay men and bury
them under his house. He was also a
hard-working political precinct cap
tain, performed as a clown for
children’s shows and had a modest
talent for painting. But that’s the way
narrow-minded people arc. Kill a few
dozen young men, and who remem
bers your great clown act?
And as Singleton’s prison coun
selor also said: “The public has to
look at the fact that we’re supposed to
be a country of laws. The man served
his time. He’s done all that’s required
through our legal system. Give the
man a fair chance.”
He’s right. Singleton served the
sentence the law demanded and he
deserves a fair chance. Of course, if
the law had required that he be
dropped head-first off the roof of a tal 1
building, that might have been a much
fairer chance.
I suspect that the Rev. Smith isn’t
in as much danger from his neighbors
as he fears.
But if he’s really concerned about
his safety, he’d be wise not to give his
handy man Singleton any chores that
involve using an ax.
e 1988 The Chicago Tribune
Royko is a Pulitzer Prize-winning colum
nist with The Chicago Tribune.
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