iSPORTS
Strickland
might tackle
football
Nebraska basketball
player Erick Strickland
considers playing
Huskerfootball
Thursday
76/47
Today, mostly sunny
and breezy.
Friday, mostly
sunny and wanner.
September 9, 1993
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol. 93 No. 13
New law requires 24-hour wait for abortion
By Jeff Zetony
Senbr §dtejr
Women seeking abortions
today in Nebraska will have
to wait until Friday to have
the service performed, under a new
state law.
LB 110, passed in June by the
Nebraska Legislature, states that
women must wait 24 hours after they
are given information about abortion
before having one.
Abortion opponents said the law,
which went into effect today, would
help protect women and ensure that
their decisions were property thought
out.
“It’s going to assure that women
have the ability now to ask for all of
the information they need,” said Julie
Schmit-Albin, executive director of
Nebraska Right to Life. “It is a life-or
death decision. We feel women need
this information.”
Dr. G.W. Orr, a physician who
performs abortions at Women’s
Services in Omaha, said his clinic
already provided information to
patients. He said the waiting period
would be nothing but an additional
hassle for patients.
“That’s just another unnecessary
delay for them,” he said. “They’ve
already waited a considerable amount
of time.”
Under the law, the woman must be
informed by the physician performing
the abortion, by the referring
physician, or by a physician assistant
or registered nurse. The law requires
conveyance of information on the
following issues:
• medical risks associated with the
abortion procedure, including risks of
infection, hemorrhage, danger to
• probable gestational age of the
unborn child at the time of the abortion.
• medical risks associated with
carrying the child to term.
Under a provision in the law, the
patient can be given the information
over the telephone. This eases the
-44
It’s going to assure that women have the ability
now to ask for all of the Information they need.
— SchmU-Albin
executive director, Nebraska Right to Life
inconvenience for the women, Orr
said, but adds to the strain on the
clinic’s office staff.
Additional phone lines, staffed by
registered nurses, will be installed at
Women’s Services, Orr said.
Schmit-Albin said she wasn’t
opposed to women being informed by
phone. The waiting period was the
most important part of the law, she
said.
“Only the cruelest people would
deny a cooling-off period, she said.
“I just think that it makes perfect
sense to allow her that time and not to
presume that she has already thought
See ABORTION on 3
Courtesy at Bob Henry
Bob Henry, a senior finance major and Army National Guard member, stands by a waterfall near Tamron, Honduras.
Off guard
Time spent in Honduras makes soldier late for class
By Alan Phelps
Senior Reporter
Bob Henry, a senior UNL finance
major, stepped out of the jungle and
into the classroom this week.
As a member of the Nebraska Army
National Guard, Henry spent the first two
weeks of the semester training in
Honduras with about 100 other
Nebraskans. Working with the Honduran
army, the soldiers played war games while
braving potential terrorism and tropical
temperatures.
\ “I tried weasel ing out because I was a
student, but they wouldn’t let me,” Henry
said.
Henry’s first mission was to track
down all of his professors before leaving.
‘‘Most were understanding," he said.
One professor thought missing two weeks
was too much, but Henry said his
instructors had no choice in the matter
because of laws protecting National Guard
members.
As most students were busy buying
books and parking permits the day before
the fall semester began, Henry boarded a
plane and left for another world.
Because of guerrilla activity, Henry
and the other Nebraskans were allowed
off the Honduran base where they stayed
only during daylight hours.
“We could onlv leave at certain times
or we might get snot” Henry said. “They
shoot first and ask questions later.”
Henry, part of a headquarters unit from
Omaha, said he and the other guard
members spent one day on a humanitarian
mission distributing U.S. school supplies
See GUARD on 3
Delender protests
adding witnesses
to Bjorklund trial
By Steve Smith and Alan Phelps
Senior Reporters
Lancaster County District Judge Donald
Endacott delayed a decision Wednesday
on whether prosecuting attorneys would
be allowed to introduce more than 70 additional
witnesses into Roger Bjorklund’s murder trial.
Chief Lancaster County Public Defender
Scott Helvie objected to the introduction of
additional witnesses, saying the move
back up the case and interfere D;~-u
constitutional rieht to due or
“Iter* • ‘
Initially, the state had introduced about 150
to 200 witnesses to be endorsed for Bjorklund’s
trial. About 20 to 30 witnesses were added in
July, Deputy Lancaster County Attorney John
Colbom said.
“We’ve tried to be quite diligent,” Colbom
said. “But in regards to physical evidence, the
state has had to dot every ‘i’ and cross every
However, Helvie said he objected to
additional witnesses “at this late date.” Helvie
said endorsing additional witnesses meant he
would have to prepare for them before the trial.
But Colbom said it was unlikely all the
additional witnesses would testify.
“I know, the court knows and Mr. Helvie
knows we won’t call all these witnesses,”
Colbom said. “We never do."
The hearings were closed to the public four
times Wednesday in accordance with Endacott’s
earlier order to suppress sensitive material.
During open court, Lincoln Police Detective
Sgt. Greg Sorensen told of how police came to
interview Bjorklund on Feb. z4, a session
Sorensen said Bjorklund requested.
Although the court was closed when
questions dealt directly with statements
Bjorklund made to police, Sorensen said
Bjorklund spoke of the Mary Cronin case “and
also other cases he felt Scott Barney was involved
in."
Police have said in earlier hearings that
Bjorklund told them Barney had been involved
in the disappearance of Mary Cronin of Omaha.
Sorensen said the interview began in the
See BJORKLUND on 3
Sweepstakes fraud a growing problem, official warns
Suspicious offers
seldom fabulous,
belong in trash
By Matt Woody
M FhpotHr. _
You may already be a winner.
Or more likely, you may al
ready be a sucker.
Sweepstakes fraud is a growing
problem — one that has warranted
attention from the Nebraska attorney
general’s office.
Dan Parsons, senior consumer pro
tection specialist in Attorney General
Don Stenberg’soffice, said complaints
to the office deal ing with sweepstakes
fraud increased 52percent in 1992.
“We’ve been aware of the problem
for some time now,” Parsons said,
“and it has become increasingly a
problem not only in Nebraska, but
across the country.” '
The increase prompted the office
to launch its “Just Toss It” campaign,
which urges people to throw away
sweepstakes prize notifications with
out opening them.
“We feel the best way to combat
this problem is a consumer education
program,” he said.”It’s much better to
put our resources on this aspect than
to wait for a tot of victims to come
forward.”
To promote the “Just Toss It” cam
paign, the attorney general’s office
opened a booth at the Nebraska State
Fair, where consumers can bring their
notifications and throw them in a large
bin.
“The best way to avoid this kind of
problem is to not get involved,” Par
sons said.
Parsons said students needed tobe
especially cautious. '
“I would say students and the eld
erly are probabl v the two most com
mon targets for these types of scams,”
Parsons said.
Students are susceptible because
the sweepstakes offer cash or fabu
lous prizes with no strings attached,
he said.
“It’s an easy way to possibly make
easy money," Parsons said, “if you
think you’re going to get something
for nothing."
But many times it's the other way
around, Parsons said. Winners pay
bogus prize-claim fees and receive
either nothing or a prize that is much
less valuable than was promised.
Although students are prime swin
dle targets, Shelley Stall, director of
UNL’s Student Legal Services, said
she had not yet heard complaints of
sweepstakes fraud from University of
Nebraska-Lmcoln students.
Parsons said students should be
especially wary of sweepstakes or
companies that ask for a credit card or
checking account number over the
phone.
A good rule to remember is: “If
you didn’t enter a contest, then you
probably didn’t win anything,” he
said.
“The ones that are legitimate, you
don’t have to pay anything to claim
that prize.”
