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Nebraska twirls kma
State Cyclones In last
43/29
m Partly cloudy todaj^M
Tonight, increasing
clouds with a chance of
light rain. Tuesday,
cloudy and possai* rain.
Official calls
death penalty
in Harms case
unconstitutional
Plea bargain information
questionable, Helvie says
ByJeffZeleny
Senior Reporter
Seeking the death penalty for one of two
men allegedly involved in the killing of
a UNL student is unconstitutional,
Lancaster County Chief Public Defender Scott
Helvie said.
At a court hearing Friday, Helvie filed a 35
page motion challenging the legality of the
death penalty for his client, Roger Bjorklund.
Bjorklund, 30, and Scott Barney, 25, are
both charged with first-degree murder in the
fatal shooting of Candice Harms, an 18-year
old University of Nebraska-Lincoln student.
Barney gave police information that led to
the Dec. 8 discovery of Harms’ body in a
shallow grave southeast of Lincoln after she
had been missing for 12 weeks.
Because of that information, Lancaster
County Attorney Gary Lacey said earlier this
month he would not seek the death penalty for
Barney, but only for Bjorklund, who allegedly
did the shooting. Bjorklund also is being charged
with the use of a weapon to commit a felony. *
See HARMS on 6
rpi 9 ^. Travis Heying/DN
There s more than one way to skin a cat
HazelUndstrand Judges one ot many cats at the annual Lincoln Cat Club's cat show Saturday and Sunday at
Pershing Auditorium. Cat lovers from all over the Midwest brought their felines to Lincoln to show and compete.
Sigerson urges students to protest budget ax*.
m . i qplMv Wt - • -
will precede a d
hearing on
university budget A
cuts. Jf
Brian ShaMWo. Scott Maurer/DN
By Michelle Leary
Senior Reporter
Student leaders hope for a strong
student turnout at a rally pro
testing proposed university
budget cuts, AS UN President Andrew
Sigerson said Friday.
“Students are very concerned about
these cuts,” Sigerson said. He was
referring to a possible $13.98 million
cut, part of a preliminary recommen
dation approved by the Nebraska
Legislature’s Appropriations Com
mittee.
“In order for us to keep the budget
at a satisfactory level, we need to
speak out,*’ Sigerson said.
Sigerson said about 50 to 100 stu
dents from each university campus
would attend the rally at the Capitol
March 9 at 12:30 p.m., prior to the
university’s hearing before the appro
Rally planned, letter
priations committee.
“We’re targeting a goal of about
300 students (combined),” he said.
However, Sigerson said he hoped
to see more than 100 students from the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
“We’rfc not just looking for stu
dents, though,” he said. “We’re en
couraging parents, business owners,
taxpayers... to attend.”
A march to the rally site will start
at noon in front of Broyhill Fountain.
ASUN’s Government Liaison
Committee also has initiated a letter
writing campaign to make senators
aware of student sentiments, Sigerson
said.
campaign under way
“We’ve sent about 200 letters to
the unicameral from concerned stu
dents,” he said.
GLC Lobbyist Robb Douglas said
that he and other student leaders had
worked with and encouraged Lincoln
high school students to write to the
Legislature also.
“The budget cuts will affect them,
too, if they attend the university,”
Douglas said.
UNL freshman Julie Duerfeldt
wrote a letter saying, “as a senior in
high school, my plans were to come to
Lincoln and major in the sports medi
cine program.
“Unfortunately, the cuts last year
included getting rid of that particular
program,” she wrote. Duerfeldt’s
major is now pre-physical therapy.
“It's really sad when top high school
students have to look elsewhere. ..
when the university no longer looks
attractive for the best and the bright
est," Douglas said.
Sigerson said, “One of my great
est fears is that they (university ad
ministrators) are going to cut major
programs and faculty to the point
where students will have to leave the
university.”
Sigerson said about 20 senators
would attend a luncheon at the Wick
Alumni Center March 3.
“Students are invited to come and
talk to the senators,” Sigerson said.
The luncheon, which will begin at
noon, is free.
Storms keep scoopers busy
By Kathryn Borman
Staff Reporter
The deluge of snow this
winter has made the jobof
snow removal bigger than
usual for UNL groundskeepers, but
the department hopes its perfor
mance has met with student and
staff satisfaction.
Bud Dasenbrock, director of the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Landscape Services, said snow
storms this winter required repeated
cleanups of the more than 100 acres
of parking lots as well as streets and
sidewalks on City and East cam
puses.
Workers startat2 a.m. on Thurs
days and Fridays to remove accu
mulated snow, Dasenbrock said.
“With what we have to work
with, we think we're doing a good
job,’’ Dasenbrock said.
Landscape services has no bud
get designated for snow removal,
Dasenbrock said. Thedepartmcnt’s
total allocation covers all its re
sponsibilities, from maintaining
streets, sidewalks and lighting on
-
With what we have to work with, we think we're
doing a good Job.
—Dasenbrock
director of UNL Landscape Services
---- - At -
campus to landscape design and
development and snow removal.
Dasenbrock said the
department’s budget also covered
its approximately 45 permanent
employees and 30 to40 studen t and
hourly employees.
Landscape Services’ $1.3 mil
lion budget runs from July 1992 to
June 1993.
“We do the job of snow re
moval, and hopefully there’s money
left to do other things,’’ Dasenbrock
said. “That usually works out year
to year.”
This year, however, the cost of
snow removal may cause the de
partment to cut back on expendi
tures later in the year, such as fer
tilizer, weed control or student and
part-time employees, Dasenbrock
w w
said.
Because the department’s big
gest expense is employees,
Dasenbrock said, there probably
will be some reductions in the num
ber of people on the payroll.
Dasenbrock said leaving snow
on some campus sidewalks helped
to reduce costs but still did not
offset the increased snowfall.
Sidewalks no longer being
scooped were not the only reduc
tion in landscape services, he said.
Other areas, such as flower-bed
maintenance, also were reduced to
meet the overall budget reduction
this year, he said.
“We hope people are satisfied
with what we ao, and if they’re not,
will let us know so we can do
better,” Dasenbrock said.
Membership up in black
fraternities, sororities
Three chapters
serve community,
sponsor events
By Kara Morrison
Senior Editor
I
hree nationally recognized Af
rican-American fraternities
and sororities at UNL have
been gaining visibility and member
ship over the last few years.
Graduate Student Jeffrey Brown
has been working to increase both of
* these for Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity,
which has already increased to five
members after it became inactive in
1989.
The house became inactive be
cause there were not enough mem
bers to support the organization. Inac
tive status meant the group was not
allowed to participate in programs
sponsored by its national governing
council until enough members have
joined.
This semester, Brown’s chapter
has been involved in organizing a
vigil for Martin Luther King Jr. and
sponsoring last weekend’s African
American history quiz bowl at the
Nebraska Union, among other things.
Brown said he would like to spark
enough interest in Alpha Phi Alpha so
that it could be reinstated as an active
chapter on campus. The rising inter
est in the greek system among African
Americans has made him optimistic
about this goal, he said.
The three historically African
American greek associations at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln are
Zeta Phi Beta sorority and Kappa
Alpha Psi and Alpha Phi Alpha frater
nities.
Mark Jackson, senior biology ma
jor and treasurer of Kappa Alpha Psi
Fraternity, attributed the increased
membership in the sororities and fra
ternities to nationwide trends and to
an increasing acceptance of black
culture.
The UNL chapter of Kappa Alpha
Psi has grown from one to 10 mem
See FRATERNITY on 6