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Wednesday
50/35
Today, mostly sunny.
Thursday, partly sunny
with highs In the lower
70s.
Vol. 93 No. 47
Police arrest
one suspect
for assault
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Editor_
One suspect in the beating of a UNL
international student was cited on third
degree assault charges in Omaha Mon
day night, Police Chief Ken Cauble said Tues
day.
Cauble said because the suspect was a juve
nile his name would not be released. Cauble
said he was not a UNL student.
The juvenile arrested is one of three suspects
in the Oct. 17 assault of Boon-Chung Ong, a
University of Nebraska-Lincoln student from
Malaysia.
Another suspect was interviewed by UNL
police Tuesday night, Cauble said. The suspect
was aware of the assault, but offered a different
account of what happened, Cauble said. The
man, who is not a university student, was not
cited during the interview.
Because of the additional information given
to police, the investigation will continue before
more arrests are made, Cauble said.
The UNL student suspected in the assault
has sought legal advice, Cauble said, and has
chosen to remain silent.
See ASSAULT on 3
Judge allows
15 photographs
into evidence
judge ruled Tuesday that 15 photo
graphs of the autopsy and burial site of
UNL student Candice Harms would be
allowed as evidence in the first-degree murder
trial of Roger Bjorklund.
Lancaster County District Judge Donald
Endacott reviewed about 50 photographs in a
closed meeting during the trial with Chief
Public Defender Scott Helvie, Lancaster Coun
ty Attorney Gary Lacey and Bjorklund.
The ruling came during the second day of
Bjorklund’s trial.
Bjorklund, 31, who wore a blue shirt with
gray stripes, blue jeans and white tennis shoes
Tuesday, has been charged along with Scott
Barney, 24, in the slaying.During Tuesday’s
hearing, prosecuting and defending attorneys
questioned witnesses about sets of tire tracks at
27th and Bluff Road where Harms’ 1987
By Dionne Searcey
Senior Reporter
See TRIAL on 3
University bii
Odd events common
. in ‘haunted’ house,
UNL employees say
Editor’s note: These stories are a part of the
Halloween week series about Lincoln ghost
stories.
By Dionne Searcey
Sinter Report*__
Things go bump even during the day at
the Lewis-Syford House, employees in
the building said.
Jim Wankech, a counselor for UNL’s Em
ployee Assistance Program, which is a confi- <
dential counseling program for UNL employ- ,
ees, said strange noises were commonplace at
the house, 700 N. 16th St.
“Sometimes there will be noises like ma- ,
chines turning on and off in the basement that
we can’t figure out,” Wankech said.
The front door sticks or pops open for no
reason, he said, and lights sometimes blink.
Kiley Timpertey/DN
Alex Carper of Lincoln, right, was one of many riders along the Walton Bike Trail near Walton Sunday
afternoon.
Business thrives, so does town
Walton Trail Company offers hiking, biking, good time
By Rebecca Oltmans
Staff Reporter
WALTON — Walton’s main street
ends and begins in a cornfield; the
post off ice is considered the hub of
activity. So why are 100 people — half of
them students—coming to this town almost
every day?
To get to the Walton Trail Company.
The Walton Trail Company sits on the
corner of Main Street in a 100-year-old
building. Outside are wooden bike racks;
inside is an old-fashioned store where one
can get anything from specialty coffees to
bike repairs.
The store also serves as a promoter and
fundraiser for the Walton bike trail.
The bike trail has been open since 1990
when the Great Plains Trails Network bought
an abandoned railroad line and turned it into
a hiker-biker trail. In January 1993, Rich
Rodenburg and Richard Conradt formed the
company to tap some of the potential of the
trail.
Rodenburg said bike trails were a grow
ing business opportunity.
“There’s a constant stream of business,”
Rodenburg said.
That stream becomes a river of bikers
during weekends. During the trail’s peak
season—February to September—the trail
is trod by up to 500 people, mostly families,
Conradt said.
Money isn’t the only thing the bike trail
brings to the little town, Conradt said.
“It brings a lot of capital into a 1 ittlc town,
but it’s also a great way to revive a town
that’s ailing,” Conradt said. “It kind ofbrings
them together and makes them less depen
dent on other towns.”
Walton might not be the only small town
to benefit from the trail, as 23 more miles of
bike trail are being developed, Conradt said.
The additional trail will run through Eagle,
Elmwood and Wabash.
“Weather permitting, they will keep
working on the trail through the winter and
the projected completion date is next sum
mer,” Conradt said.
A horseback riding trail and landscaping
also are in the works, he said.
“The farther away the trail gets from
Lincoln, the more beautiful and rustic it
gets,” Conradt said.
The Trail Company expects more busi
ness in the winter because of cross-country
skiing, but already the trail hasdrawn people
from all over Nebraska and even other coun
tries.
“People come from all over, Europe,
South America, Asia, everywhere, and they
all have a story to tell,” Conradt said, “and
a lot of them say how much the store reminds
them of their old hometown.”
“It’s just a good way to get away from it
all,” Conradt said. “You can get on a bike,
ride out and have a sandwich and a cup of
coffee, and be back to town in an hour and a
half.”
Despite the positive results of the trail so
far, Rodenburg said a lot of things have yet
to be seen because the “rails to trails” project,
although a national one, is new to Nebraska.
“Rails to trails” is planned for many more
parts of Nebraska, Conradt said.
lildings go bump with mysterious ghosts
The house, located between the Cornerstone
Church and Alpha Chi Omega Sorority, was
built in 1878 for Rev. Elisha Moshcr-Lewis, a
Presbyterian minister.
When Lewisdied in 1891,
the property shifted hands
several times until Dewitt
and Amanda Syford bought
the home in 1904. Their
daughter,Constance, a Uni
versity ofNebraska-Lincoln
graduate, willed the house
to the historical society in
1967.
According to state histor
cal records, the oldest Syford child was Ethel
rorrine, a successful writer and musician and
in active republican.
Corrine died in the home Nov. 3, 1955.
“We think that Ethel might be with us from
ime to time,” Nancy Myers, director of the
imployee Assistance Program, said.
Eerie experiences are not uncommon in the
See HOUSE on 2
Thespian apparition
tap dances, clamors
in Temple Theatre
By Paula Lavlgne
Staff Reporter _ _
Discarded couches, chairs, swords and
even coffins covered by a thin film of
dust and cobwebs fill most of the Temple
Theatre props attic. But the attic is said to host
another relic — the theater’s resident ghost.
Pat Overton, theatre manager, said Temple
ghost stories and sightings had been circulating
for years. Overton said she’d heard several
first-hand accounts of the ghost, but had never
had an encounter herself.
“I’m not afraid of ghosts,” she said, “so
maybe that’s why they don’t haunt me.”
Overton said two custodians who were work
ing the late shin years ago heard tap dancing
and chairs moving in the Howell Theater. When
they went to check, she said, nothing was there.
About 15 years ago, a
former faculty member. Dr.
Morgan, said he thought
“Dallas” was haunting the
theater.
Overton said“Dallas” was
the late Dallas Williams,
who was chairman of the
theater department for 15
years.
“Dr. Morgan said while
he was having a rehearsal, he heard folding
chairs being thrown around in the Howell Lob
by,” Overton said. “He said he went to check it
out, and there was nothing.
“He said his rehearsal wasn’t going so well
and he joked that Dallas was passing judgment
on his directing."
Overton said although the ghost had raised
havoc around the theater, she didn’t think it was
anything to fear.
“No one was ever hurt, and there were never
See GHOST on 2