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today. Clear tonight and a
little warmer tomorrow.
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Doctor says Baldwin shooting avoidable
Inpatient help
was suggested
By Chuck Green
Senior Reporter
Saturday night’s shooting of
University of Ncbraska-Lin
coln student Andrew Scott
Baldwin could have been prevented,
one psychiatrist said Wednesday.
Dr. John Riedlcr, one of the Omaha
psychiatrists who treated Baldwin
after his first psychotic episode last
January, said the shooting was unfor
tunate. But if better treatment had
been administered, he said, the epi
sode could have been avoided.
“In retrospect, it’s easy to say that
we made a horrible decision in treat
ing (Baldwin) on an outpatient basis,”
Riedlcr said. “But I think there’s a lot
more to the case than that.
“It doesn’t all just come down to
anybody screwing up.”
Baldwin was shot during a scuttle
with two Omaha police officers when
he allegedly ignored warnings to stop
trying to grab the holstered gun from
one of the officers.
Doctors at St. Joseph’s Center for
Mental Health said Tuesday that
Baldwin probably would be perma
nently paralyzed from the chest down
as a result of the bul let that severed his
spinal cord.
The officers were dispatched to an
apartment complex where Baldwin,
who was nude when they arrived,
allegedly was trying to throw his body
through a glass door.
Last Jan. 18, Baldwin was charged
with first-degree assault and assault
of a pol ice officer, and was later found
not responsible for his actions by rea
son of insanity.
%
Riedler had recommended an in
patient program for Baldwin from the
beginning of his treatment. One rea
son for his recommendation, Riedler
said, was to make sure Baldwin re
ceived his medication.
Baldwin had been self-administer
ing lithium, an anti-depressant, since
March. He stopped taking his two
daily doses last Wednesday, despite
orders from Lancaster County Dis
trict Court Judge Paul Merritt Jr., to
continue.
The absence of the lithium, Riedler
said, was a major factor in Baldwin’s
second episode.
But, Riedler added, doctors had no
reason to assume Baldwin would stop
taking the drug, which he had doneon
his own since March.
“The arguments just weren ’ t strong
enough (to commit Baldwin to an
inpatient program) in light of the im
provement he was making,” Riedler
said. “He was a lot better a week ago
then he was in March.”
Riedler said Baldwin’s case was
unique, so psychiatrists had no way to
predict the consequences of an outpa
tient program.
But, he said, future cases could be
different.
“At least they will be if I have
anything to say about it,” he said.
“Quite simply, (Baldwin) needed
more treatment than he got.”
~l l~
lElllHA naiad Andrew Scott Baldwin severely beds
Gina Simanel Mountain as die is wteQhef dog.
EJUtoldwin is declared mentaly competent to aland Inal
lEEfcaktwin pleads not gufty and not gully by reason ol
insanity to charges olfirsMegreeassaul and
assauMng a poioe officer.
USD Baldwin is (and nol responsfeie by reason of insanity
___ for the assarts.
ESB^ncaster Goody District Judge fW Herrin Jr. ndes
banwm snouc con rue ms ksutot proysn at
OaiBha's St. Joespli's Center tor Mental Healfi St »
^Joesph's is panted authority to treat him as an outpatient
Hlfcaldwin is shot diving a scuffle «ih Omaha poke
officers when he alegedty attempts to grab i gun from
one of the poice officers.
■Mi^lfhvsiclans al SL Joseph's announce ttrt nanhrsis
suffered by Baldwin during Silty night's shooting
probetfy wi be permanent.
Scott Maurer/DN
EricUnger/DN
Work it
Darin Duin, a senior speech communications major, exercises Wednesday by climbing the stairs in Memorial Stadium.
Professor says
election hinges
on economics
By Jeremy Fitzpatrick
Staff Reporter
Despite his interest in the topic,
David Forsythe thinks it would
be wise for President Bush to
avoid stressing foreign policy in this
year’s election.
Forsythe, a UNL political science
professor who spe
cializes in foreign
policy, said people
based their vote on
economic reasons,
not on a candidate’s
foreign policy po
' sition or experi
ence.
“What 1 read now tells me people
want to hear about the economy and
about jobs,” he said. “They don ’ t ncc -
essarily want to hear about foreign
policy.
“I think that’s unfortunate, but I
think it’s a political fact.”
A good example, Forsythe said, is
that Americans gave Bush a 90 per
cent approval rating for his handling
of the Persian Gulf war, but rate him
poorly now for his handl ing of domes
tic issues.
“That tells us that high approval
ratings on foreign policy do not trans
late into high approval ratings in gen
eral,” he said. “Bush can do very well
in public opinion polls on foreign
policy, and still not do well overall.”
When voters do evaluate Bush and
See ELECTION on 3
State’s financial questions loom for university
Faculty salaries may be free
from proposed budget freeze
From Staff Reports
The salaries of college and uni
versity faculty may be pro
tected from a budget freeze if
the Nebraska Legislature heeds rec
ommendations made Wednesday by
the Coordinating Commission for
Postsecondary Education.
The coordinating commission ten
tatively proposed Tuesday that Ne
braska colleges and universities freeze
their budgets for two years.
Norman Otto, a comm issioner from
Lincoln for the coordinating commis
sion, said the commission wanted to
make sure that university faculty re
ceived the same yearly increases in
pay as state employees, regardless of
the proposed freeze in funds.
“Whatever the Legislature gives
to state employees, we want the same,”
he said. “It’s not a total freeze.
The coordinating commission’s
budget included a recommendation
that all state colleges and universities
receive the same amount of slate ap
propriation fo< 1993-94 and 1994-94
as was appropriated for 1992-93.
Otto said the committee also rec
ommended that administrators work
on finding ways to save money from
within to curtail the threat of inflation
over the freeze period because no
extra funding will be available.
The Legislature will meet Sept. 21
in special session to look at ways to
reduce spending.
Growing shortfall leaves Regents in doubt
By Wendy Navratil
Senior Editor _
It is unclear what Gov. Ben
Nelson’sproposed budget-trim
ming package bodes for the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, an
NU regent said Wednesday.
“There are just too many things
that are up in the air,” Regent Charles
Wilson of Lincoln said. „
Sen. Scott Moore of Sfeward said
the Legislature’s AppropriationsCom
mittce met Wednesday to get a firmer
grip on the financial problems the
stale wa? facing. By the end of the
meeting, the committee raised the
state ’ s estimated budget shortfall over
the next three years from $ 135 million
to $153 million, he said.
“It’s growing evdfy lime you
blink,” he said. Thatcould mean more
or bigger cuts to the university than
Gov. Nelson proposed Tuesday,
Moore said, but nothing is certain.
Nelson said Tuesday that he wanted
to cut about $119 million from the
Nebraska budget over the next three
years. About $4.3 million of this would
come from the Uni versity of Nebraska
operating budget, which includes the
Kearney, Omaha and Lincoln cam
puses as well as the medical center in
Omaha.
“You’re talking about $4.3 mil
lion, and you can’t just wink that
away,” Moore said. “I don’t know if
it’ll be the extent of last year, but it’ll
obviously have an impact.”
Last year, UNL made cuts of more
than $4 million after the Legislature
mandated a 3 percent budget reduc
tion. Among other proposals, UNL
considered eliminating the classics
and speech communications depart
ments to comply with that order. In
the end, those two departments were
spared.
As part of this year’s cuts, Nelson
wants to delay for two years capital
construction projects at the Omaha,
Kearney and medical center cam
puses. Nocapital construction projects
at UNL were named in Nelson’s pro
posed delay.
The Legislature will consider both
Nelson’s budget proposal and a sepa
rate budget proposal from the Appro
priations Committee in a special ses
sion September 21.