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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