The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, September 28, 1993, Image 1
. ’ Nl jPj£ "The Tuesday f I Program" 70/40 | Perf0rm°nCeS SM5SKIF -____-,-_-, Federal appeals court dismisses Otey case Stenberg calls for new execution date; lawyers to appeal By Alan Phelps Senior Reporter A ttomey General Don Stenberg asked for a new execution date " x ^ to be set for Harold Lamont Otey, after a federal appeals court Monday dismissed the death row in • f mate’s latest appeal. “For the 21st time, the State of Nebraska has been successful in up holding the death sentence of Harold Lamont Otey,”Stenberg said. “The time has come for this sentence to be carried out.” The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap peals in St Louis decided it lacked jurisdiction in the case, but the court also said it would have ruled in the state’s favor. Judges Pasco M. Bowman and Frank J. Mag ill rejected Otey’s claim that the 1991 Nebraska Board of Par dons decision not to reduce Otey’s sentence from death was unconstitu tional. In adissenting opinion, Judge John R. Gibson said the fact that Nebras ka’s Board of Pardons included the attorney general was unconstitution al. Part of Otey’s argument was that the board tearing was unfair because Stenberg served on it while two of his assistants testified against Otey. Stenberg said he disagreed with Gibson. “In any event, the attorney general cannot exercise a veto power,” Stenberg said, “and the other two members of the board can grant a commutation in any case despite what ever objections the attorney general may have.” Gov. Ben Nelson, Secretary of State Allen Beermann and Stenberg make up the pardons board. U.S. District Judge Warren Urbom of Lincoln rejected in 1992 Otey’s challenge to the pardons board deci sion. Otey, 42, was sentenced to death in 1978 for the 1977 rape and murder of Jane McManus of Omaha. Otey had challenged his death sen tence in five separate actions without success before his case was heard by the pardons board. Through a spokesman, Nelson said it was good to see that justice would be carried out after 21 appeals in 16 years. “The death penalty is the law in Nebraska, and we’re pleased the pro cess is moving forward,” he said. Deputy Clerk of the Nebraska Su preme Court Jan Culver said the court See OTEY on 3 -1 Jeff Riggert, UNL Housing staff assistant for recycling and energy efficiency, displays some of the new energy saving fluorescent light bulbs that have replaced conventional models on campus. Riggert graduated from UNL in December with a bachelor’s degree of biology. Recycling, reusing, reducing reward Riggert By Jody Holzworth Sttdf Haporfr _, Jeff Riggert learned his “three Rs” at UNL. Recycling, reusing and reduc ing were what his education had been all about. While getting his University of Nebras ka-Lincoln degree in biology and environ mental studies, Riggert worked to demon strate the importance of ecological deci sions to the university community. Now, he continues that role as UNL’s housing staff assistant for recycling and energy efficiency. He decided to do some thing about the paper, bottles and cans not being recycled at the university when he was an undergraduate. _ • -rj- “I felt I could contrib RECYCUE ute to the university by Dl?rvrY I? helPin8 to establish a lilStv I campuswide recycling RECYCIE program,” Riggert said. He started recycling RECYCLE efforts with the help of the UNL environmen RECYCLE tal group, Ecology Now. -- His efforts have blos somed into many opportunities for him and a recycling program for the university. The union staffs on both City and East campuses allowed Riggert and Ecology Now to place recycling containers throughout the buildings in 1990. But the group found everything from cigarette butts to leftover lunch thrown into the recycling containers. “When dealing with recycling, you’re . dealing with human behavior,” Rigged said. The group learned that the location and the type of recycling containers determined whether the recycling program would work, Rigged said. Ecology Now members used trial and error to find the best conditions for recycling. After watching the group’s program be S66 RIGGERT on 6 New lighting to save UNL energy, money By Rebecca Oilmans Stmff Reporter Jeff Riggert is saving the university $46,000 a year with an idea he stum bled upon accidentally. The idea — energy-efficient lighting — came when Riggert moved into his own apartment after four years of residence hall living and started paying his own light bill. “I thought there had to be a cheaper way to light up my apartment," Riggert said. “So 1 went down to tne electric store to find one.” It wtB.tten,Rlggei?fta«d, that he realized improving lighting was profitable. A December graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Riggert decided the university could profit from his ideas as well. Riggert is the assistant director of UNL’s Environmental Resource Center. After reading the Environmental Protec tion Agency’s manual on efficient lighting, called the Green Lights Program, he took the idea to Nebraska Union officials and UNL Housing Director Doug Zatechka. They gave him the go ahead to try to improve the lighting in partsof the Nebraska Union and Selleck Quadrangle, be said. Frank Kuhn, assistant director of the Nebraska Union, said the union’s lights stayed on for up to 24 hours a day. Because bulbs in the union were almost always on, new bulbs needed to be efficient as well as small, he said. Riggert used smaller electronic fluores cent bulbs that are adapted to screw into the union’s regular incandescent fixtures. The new fixtures are made up of bulbs and adapters. The adapters last from six to 10 years. The fluorescent bulbs must be re placed after about a year and a half, he said, but they are inexpensive. The system reduces labor costs and uses less energy, he said. In the union, some areas went from using 200 watt bulbs to 30 watt bulbs without reducing the amount of light, he said. “It’s pollution prevention,” Riggert said, “when we reduce energy consumption it improves national security because we aren’t See LIGHTS on 6 Traditional presidential mold could be broken By Dionne Searcey Smor Rmrrn_ In 1871, Allen R. Benton was named the First leader of the University of Nebraska. Benton, 1 ike e very uni versity pres ident that would follow, was a white male. NU joins the club when it comes to hiring white university presidents, an American Council on Education re port shows. The report, based on a survey of 2,423 university leaders, shows the typical president to be white, male and 54 years old. Most American presidents are married and are Protes tants. Members of the 1993 NU Presi dential Search Committee say they are ensuring that candidates who break the age-old presidential mold will be given a fair shot at the job. Clarence Ueda, dean of the NU College of Pharmacy at the Universi ty of Nebraska Medical Center, said that from day one the search commit tee had been dedicated to creating a diverse pool of candidates. “That was essentially our charge when we had our first meeting," said Ueda, a member of the presidential search committee. Committee members have nar rowed the candidate pool to about 16 members, Ueda said. The search com mittee will meet Oct. 4 to further whittle the options. No formal recruiting process ex ists, he said. Instead, Ueda said, the committee sends requests for job nom inations to all university faculty and staff members regarding the jobopen ing. . The committee advertises the job in newspapers and journals such as the Chronicle of Higher Education and the American Council of Educa tion. Members also sent advertisements for the president’s job to publications that have predominantly minority sub scribers. The last paragraph of an advertise ment for the job of NU president says the university “actively seeks and encourages nominations and expres sion of interest from minorities and women, and provides reasonable ac commodations to the known disabil ities of applicants." As word of mouth gets around, Ueda said, the applications file in. Since the advertising for the job be gan in May, more than 200 applica tions have been received. “It’s pretty wide open," he said. “The committee would accept nomi nations from anybody and everybody." The committee, he said, does not nec essarily look to hire a candidate who has job experience at university sys tems similar to NU. “We look at a lot of different at tributes that a candidate brings," he said. “You try and get the best match up of attributes with needs.” Stephen Thew, a UNMC student who is a member of the committee, said he was pleased with the recruit ing efforts of the search committee members. See PRESIDENT on 3