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Students protest King verdict at weekend vigil
By Stacey McKenzie
Senior Reporter
Some University of Ncbraska
Lincoln students showed Lin
coln their outrage over the
Rodney King verdict with a 48-hour
vigil Friday through Sunday on the
steps of the County-City Building.
The students, many of them black,
camped out near the building’s steps
to remind Lincoln citizens that ra
cism and prejudice arc alive, they
said.
“We just want the people to know
we don’t plan to take anything sitting
down,” said Macedonia Smith, a
sophomore electrical engineering
major. “We just want the people to
know that we’re aware of what’s going
on.
“We shall not sing ‘We Shall
Racism and prejudice discussed at gathering
Overcome.’ This isn’tanothcr Marlin
Luther King (Jr.) peace march. People
are tired.”
The students stressed, however,
that the vigil was a peaceful protest
and said everyone was welcome to
support them.
“We’ll talk to whoever listens,”
said Anthony Briggs, a black sopho
more psychology major.
Fliers were passed out on campus
Friday morning announcing the pro
test.
Briggs said students started to gather
about noon on Friday at the County
City Building, 555 S. 10th St. They
came from campus and their homes.
Six or seven students spoke Friday
afternoon to a crowd that grew to
about 150 to 200 people, including
some passers-by.
About 75 junior-high children
joined the crowd and marched down
to the State Capitol and back to the
County-City Building in protest of
the King verdict.
The Wednesday verdict that ac
quitted four white Los Angeles police
officers in the beating of black motor
ist Rodney King did not shock Smith,
he said.
“It just reminded me of where I
lived and what kind of people I lived
around,” he said.
Smith said he did not care about
the verdict-spurred violence in Los
Angeles. The issue is about racism,
not the riots, he said, and racism “has
been going on for 500 years.”
Lincoln Mayor Mike Johanns said
he heard the crowd gathering Friday
in front of the County-City Building
through his window and went outside
to talk to the students.
Johanns said he told the students
they were welcome to stay there and
that he would listen to their questions
and concerns.
He gave the protesters his home
and office phone numbers.
During the gathering, a lot of
emotion was displayed, Johanns said.
“I wouldn’t describe it as out of
control,” he said. “I think they (pro
testers) were concerned.
“As long as they’re not hurting
anyone, I’m just really not bothered
by it.”
Johanns, also a lawyer, said he was
dumbfounded by the verdict.
Not hearing the evidence presented
in the trial handicaps everyone, Johanns
said, but watching the videotape of
the beating made the verdict seem
impossible.
Johanns supported an idea by one
of the protesters to form a city com
mittee to address racial issues.
“I think we can make positive and
constructive change and progress by
working together,” Johanns said.
( A l Schaben/DN
Jason Pence shows off his tattoo as he stands next to murals in the basement of the Lighthouse, a center for at-risk
youth. Pense is one of about 50 teens who use the Lighthouse each day. See story on pages 10 and 11.
Point of Light
Lighthouse steers Lincoln teens away from drugs, alcohol
By Jill O'Brien
Staff Reporter__
Al 10 p.m. on a Saturday, the parly at
2530 N St. is in full swing. Rock and
metal music pours through the win
dows, drowning out the noise of neighboring O
Street. Teen-agers surround the brick house,
most of them hanging out on the front porch.
Yet these teens arc not obnoxious partiers.
They’re disciplined, they refrain from swear
ing, and they adhere to the policy of no drugs or
alcohol at the Lighthouse — a meeting place
for at-risk youths 14 to 18 years of age.
Jim W. Smith, one of four paid staff mem
bers at the Lighthouse, says the idea of having
a gathering place for teens was first conceived
four years ago by Pete and Maureen Allman
and Jim Perry. And two years ago, the Light
house became a reality.
In the backyard, a sand-filled volleyball pit
swarms with teens. Smith, known as “Smitty”
by the Lighthouse crowd, observes from his
chair near the back door.
Wearing white jogging pants turned inside
out and a red T-shirt, Smitty could easily be
mistaken for a teen — if it weren’t for his
moustache and quiet, authoritative voice.
Proficient at carrying on three conversa
tions at once, Smitty occasionally reminds a
rambunctious iccn of the rules.
The Lighthouse rules arc simple, Smilty
says. Rule No. 1 is that no one under the
influence of drugs or alcohol is allowed. The
second rule, he says, is “treat everyone and
everything with unconditional respect”
Another “rule” is that everyone is on a first
name basis.
Dani McArthur, 15, who dots the “i” in her
name with a heart, giggles as she stands around
Smilty and a group of girls her age. The girls
tease the 29-ycar-old staff member in the way
younger sisters might provoke an older brother.
“Smitty’s a stud-muffin,” Dani says. Trans
lation: Smitty’s cool.
Dark-haired Karen Francis, also 15, wants
to be sure everyone understands that the Light
house staff and teens make up a happy family.
“Everyone here cares about everyone else
because we all share the same problems,” Karen
says.
When those problems become loo great for
teens to handle, Smilty says, the Lighthouse
serves as a crisis-intervention center.
The Lighthouse offers “long-term care and
nurturing and peer support for the youth,”
Smilty says. The support offered by the Light
house helps to counteract negative teen-age
behavior, he says, which results from verbal
and physical abuse.
Smitty says the Lighthouse is a refuge and
learning place, as well as a hangout. As a
refuge, the center offers hope and help, giving
teens a sense of security and safety.
Lighthouse counselor Mary McCauley said
that according to psychologist Abraham
Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs, safely is
the No. 1 need.
“Sometimes being at home doesn’t feel that
safe,” she says, referring to the teens who come
to the Lighthouse to escape abuse.
. Some teens escape to the Lighthouse base
ment where graffiti covers the pink concrete
walls. Staff member Bonnie Nichols watches a
ping-pong match between two boys there.
Bonnie started working at the Lighthouse
last August as a volunteer. She says the Light
house gives the kids an alternative to being on
the streets.
When the teens come to the Lighthouse, she
says, they know there arc rules, yet no one
balks. The kids have a good lime, she says,
adding that one youth had confessed, “This is
more fun than alcohol.”
Smitty says that if a youth came off the
street with an attitude and cussed constantly,
lime spent at the Lighthouse would most likely
change that.
See LIGHTHOUSE on 11
UNL recycling
efforts need
improvement,
student says
By Sarah Duey L
Staff Reporter
fler scanning the Daily Nebraskan, stu
dents often toss it in the trash without
thinking, and along with thousands of
tons of trash, it heads for the landfill.
The University of Ncbraska-Lincoln alone
generates 4,500 tons of trash. Most of the waste
could cither be reduced, reused or recycled,
said Jeff Riggcrt, housing student staff assis
tant for recycling.
“UNL isn’t doing much,” Riggcrt said.
“Support from administration has been mini
mal.”
Although developing a sustainable waste
reduction and recycling program is challeng
ing, environmental interest has sparked more
efforts to make recycling at UNL a bigger
priority.
The UNL Waste Reduction and Recycling
Committee will meet today at 1:30 p.m. in the
Nebraska Union to discuss the university’s
recycling efforts and possibilities for the fu
ture.
Environmental concern has spurred several
recycling efforts in the past few years, Riggcrt
said.
In late April, the UNL Housing Office ap
proved the Residence Hall Association’s call
to slop using paper towels in residence hall
bathrooms. Elimination of about 10 million
towels will save housing S30,000 annually,
Riggcrt said.
See RECYCLE on 9
Death toll up to 45 in riot-torn Los
Angeles. Page 2
J I
Students look for internships. Page
7
Beatles impersonators not enough
like the real thing Page 14
INDEX
Wire 2
Opinion 4
Sports 12
A & E 14
Classifieds 17
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