Cult brings 51 -day
standoii to tiery conclusion
Fire destroys compound;
86 believed to be dead,
including 24 children
WACO, Texas (AP)—Doomsday cult
leader David Koresh’s apocalyptic
vision came true Monday when fire
believed set by his followers destroyed their
prairie compound as federal agents tried to
drive them out with tear gas after a 51-day
standoff.
As many as 86 members of the Branch
Davidian religious sect, including Koresh and
24 children, were thought to have died as the
flames raced through the wooden buildings in
30 minutes. Only nine were known to have
survived.
The blaze erupted about 12:05 p.m., just six
hours after FBI agents' began using armored
vehicles to pound holes in the complex of
buildings and spray them with tear gas in a bid
to force an end to the standoff.
Nine cult members who escaped the flames
are believed by federal officials to be the only
survivors, but authorities said they would not
know the precise death toll until they could
search an underground maze of passageways.
Justice Department spokesman Carl Stern
See WACO on 3
Press should have played
incident down; news value
overstated, instructor says
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter
Finding the distinction between news
value and entertainment value is diffi
cult in a crisis like the Branch Davidian
hostage situation in Waco, Texas, a UNL pro
fessor said.
Chris Eskridge, a criminal justice professor,
said the broadcast media was dictated to by
Branch Davidian leader David Koresh. Eskridge
said the media was too eager to air Korcsh’s
statements in the opening
days of the stand-off.
“Early on the entertain
ment value was there,” he
said. “Koresh played the
game; he was able to ma
nipulate.”
WMBMWBBRw Eskridge said it was im
possible to know specifics about the case be
cause of the distance, but he said from his
vantage point it appeared action could have
been different from the Alcohol, Tobacco and
See REACTION on 3
Pound to be converted
into upperclass hall j
Overassignment of Cather Hall causes
department to form upperclass complex
By Steve Smith
Senior Editor
Returning UNL students now
have an entire housing com
plex devoted to them, a hous
ing department official said.
A massive student request for
uppcrclass housing in Calher Hall has
prompted the University of Nebraska
Lincoln housing department to con
vert Pound Hall to an uppcrclass resi
dence hall as well, said Glen
Schumann, assistanldirec tor for hous
ing in charge of operations.
Schumann said Friday that the de
partment had overassigned Cathcr Hall
with uppcrclass students for the fall
semester. To accommodate the over
flow, housing officials decided last
week to do the same thing with Pound
Hall.
“We were pleasantly surprised with
the student interest in an all-upperclass
, hall,” Schumann said. “We had two
choices—either turn people away or
try to project what would happen if we
opened up Pound, loo.”
Schumann said the department was
‘ confident that Pound could be filled
with upperclass students.
The same package in the works for
Cather will be enjoyed by Pound resi
dents next semester, including a coed
environment and computer labs on
each floor.
Housing officials decided earlier
this semester to convert Cather into an
all-upperclass, coed hall.
Currently, Cather is an all-male
hall and Pound is all-female.
With Pound’s addition,Cather will
be open during vacations, such as
Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks.
Pound will remain a non-vacation
residence hall.
That decision was made by simply
asking what kind of vacation housing
students wanted, Schumann said.
“We expected the response to be at
about a two-to-onc ratio in favor of
non-vacation housing,” he said. “To
our surprise, it went two-to-one the
other way.”
Cather’s rooms will feature a min
iature refrigerator to accommodate
those who stay in the residence halls
over breaks, when snack bars and
cafeterias are closed, he said.
Schumann said of the possible 432
vacancies for the upperclass complex
available, 313 already have been filled.
See HALLS on 7
Fire officials investigating
causes of bar evacuations
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter_
A release of unknown chemi
cals that has prompted the
evacuation of two Lincoln bars
is causing concern for city fire offi
cials.
Early last Saturday morning,
Duffy’s, 1412 O St., was evacuated
shortly before the 1 a.m. closing time
because of an irritating chemical in
the air, bar owner Reynold McMeem
said.
“The people behind the bar no
ticed they were all coughing, and
everyone in the bar was coughing,” he
said.
The packed bar was evacuated,
and the fire department was notified,
McMeem said. No lingering odor was
left behind by the chemical, he said,
which makes him think mace wasn’t
involved.
An incident in January at Bleach
ers, 5601 S. 56th St., caused a similar
evacuation.
Charlie Beachamp, Lincoln Fire
Department investigator, said the
chemical used in both circumstances
could have been mace because it was
easy to purchase and could be carried
around inconspicuously.
“It would probably be a little bit
easier to set on a mace container,” he
said.
After both incidents, Beachamp
said, mace containers were looked
for, but none were found.
Beachamp said the incidents were
still under investigation, but he was
certain tear gas wasn’t used because it
was not readily available.
Beachamp said it was a difficult
case to investigate, and leads weren’t
readily available.
“Youdon’teven have the names of
the people who were in there now,” he
said. “Everybody gets up and leaves.
The patrons in there are not going to
be the type of people to pull this type
of prank.”
It’s difficult to determine what the
penalty would be, Beachamp said, but
it would probably fall under criminal
mischief charges.
Lincoln Police Sgt. Ann Heermann
said criminal mischief charges in
clude damages to property ana crimi
nal malicious intent The penalty var
ies on monetary damage and ranges
from a Class III misdemeanor to a
Class IV felony.
Beachamp said the incidents could
stem from the widespread availability
of mace.
“It’s always been on the market,”
he said, “but every time you turn on
the television you see you should
have something like this, but it’s not
being used properly.”
Mwhelte PaulmarVDN
Michaels Aerts. a UNL student and Amigos employee, got the nickname “Cray Kayla”
last year after she became obsessed with handing out Big Swig cards. Although she won
the contest, Aerts says the competition was “just fun.”
Go crazy
Contest drives employee’s competitive edge
By Katherine Gordon
j Staff Raportar_
razy Kayla” isn’t the
worst nickname
Michaeia Aerts has
been tagged with. “Chicken lady”
was worse, she said.
But that’s another story.
Aerts, a junior family science
major at UNL, has worked at
Amigos for four and a half years.
Aerts was dubbed Crazy Kayla
by co-workers who found her
fierce competitiveness a little
unusual.
Especially for a Big Swig
contest. . . ..
A promotion currently under
way at Amigos otters a free 32
ouncc pop with a $1.50 purchase
and a special card. The cards are
available from Amigos employ
ees, who mark them with their
initials and distribute them
everywhere, except on the
restaurant’s premises. The
employee who has the most cards
returned wins $150 and a trip to
Kansas City.
“Last year was the first year I
took interest in it,” Kayla said of
the contest, which has been
running for three years. “I got
obsessed with it,” she said.
“At first a pile of 250 cards
looked like a lot 10 me, but alter
10 minutes on campus they were
gone,” she said.
Aerts stood outside the
Nebraska Union hollering “Free
drinks!” and visited fraternity
houses with slacks of cards.
These were but a few of her
distribution tricks. She also pul
cards on windshields, in the
downtown bars, empty class
rooms, gas stations, the libraries
and in mailboxes at the residence
halls.
When she noticed customers
coming to Amigos regularly, she
See AERTS on 7
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