^SPORTS
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J Nebraska puts itself in the Monday I
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Hundreds experience taste ofhomelessness
_!_ _ mm a a a ■
Participants hit
streets to raise
funds, awareness
By Matthew Waite
Staff Reporter
At 6:30 p.m. Friday it was 30
degrees, according to the sign
in front of Pershing Auditori
um.
By the time the night was over, the
temperature dipped to a chilly 18
degrees.
Despite the weather, Lincoln resi
dents came out to sleep on Centennial
Mall in front of the State Office Build
ing. The event that brought them out
was the Great Plains Winter SleepOut,
a fund-raiser for Lincoln homeless.
Throughout the night, participants
huddled together around benches and
trees to keep warm. Others slept in
boxes to keep out the cold. Children,
bundled tightly, ran around the empty
fountains at the center of the mall
while their parents settled down for
the night.
The Lincoln Police Department,
the Salvation Army and the American
Red Cross all assisted in the event.
The Red Cross provided medical ser
vices; the Salvation Army served din
ner, breakfast and hot drinks; and the
police provided security.
Mike Carpenter, vice-chairman of
See SLEEPOUT on 3
Gerik PanneJe/DN
Ernie Smith, 27, of Lincoln protests the sleepout Friday night at 15th and N streets. Smith
works with Rev. Andy Hird and his homeless ministry.
People s plight
misrepresented,
protesters say
By Matthew Waite
Staff Reporter
The Rev. Andy Hird went into
battle Friday. His troops car
ried signs, and the weapon
was silence.
Hird and members of Humanity
Plus, a local humanitarian group, pro
tested the Great Plains Winter
SleepOut. They said the event ex
ploited homeless people and made
light of their plight.
Protesters’ signs carried messag
es, such as: “Being homeless is not
fun,” and “Homelessness is not a ca
tered affair.”
The group of fewer than 10 pro
testers stood across the street from the
event, on the corner of 15th and N
streets.
Hird, of the All Souls Non-De
nominational Church and Street Min
istry, said the group had several rea
sons for protesting.
SleepOut took place on Centennial
Mall. But Hird said homeless people
were not allowed to sleep on the mall.
One protester said the people par
ticipating in the event had things home
less people did not, such as new, good
qual ity sleeping bags and warm coats.
He said the participants misrepresent
See PROTEST on 3
Judge accepts gun into evidence
Bjorklund attorney
objects repeatedly
By Alan Phelps
Senior Reporter
Judge Donald Endacott accepted into
evidence Friday a .38-caliber revolver
police say Roger Bjorklund used to
kill Candice Harms last September.
ine turn day
of Bjorklund’s
first-degree mur
der trial was
filled with testi
mony from Lin
coin r ire Depart
ment divers who
pulled the re
volver, a .380
caliber handgun
-and various live
bullets from Pawnee Lake on four separate
search dives.
Chief Deputy Public Defender Scott
Helvie told jurors that the area of the lake
where the items were found — near a park
ing area not far from several picnic tables—
was open to the public.
Helvie and Special Deputy Public De
fender Richard Goos also asked divers ques
tions about the media attention the first dive
received.
Helvie objected to almost every piece of
evidence the prosecution offered the court,
but was overmled by Endacott.
Bjorklund, one of two men charged in
Harms ’ slaying, wore den im jeans and a blue
shirt. He brought a computer magazine into
the courtroom,but spent the time listening to
testimony and taking notes.
Firefighters testified the .380-caliber
handgun was brought up from an icy Pawnee
Lake last Dec. 8. Divers waited for warmer
waters before searching the lake again on
April 8, when they found the .38-caliber
revolver.
Helvie asked Robert Adams, a fire de
partment diver, if the revolver was found in
the same area divers already had searched in
December. Adams said the revolver was
discovered in waters the divers had previ
ously searched.
►The Judge accepted as evidence a
revolver, handgun and various bullets pulled
from Pawnee Lake on four separate search
dives during a four-month period.
►Defense attorneys objected to the
evidence and said the area where the
weapons and ammunition were found was
open to the pubic.
Dflprsphtc
Deputy Lancaster County Attorney John
Colbom then asked Adams if divers touched
every single inch of the bottom of the lake
when they searched in December.
“I would say no,” Adams said. “We try.”
Adams said the two- to three-foot deep
water was murky for the dives, making the
search difficult.
He and six other divers testified they used
their feet to feel the bottom of the lake during
the first two dives. A new underwater metal
detector was used July 8, when divers found
See TRIAL on 3
Massengale seeks Florida State position
By Steve Smith
Senior Reporter
University of Nebraska President Martin
Massengale’s days as a university ad
ministrator may not be finished.
Those days just might not be spent in the NU
system.
Massengale, who will leave his position as
NU president in June, is one of 10 finalists for
the vacant presidential position at Florida State
University.
Massengale’s interest in Florida State’s top
post was made official in October when the NU
president wrote a letter to the Florida State
presidential search committee. The letter was
made public in an Omaha newspaper.
“Alter carefully considering your in vita
tion, I have decided to forward my curriculum
vita for evaluation,” Massengale wrote in the
letter. “In my opinion, Florida State University
has made such progress in recent years, and it
is one of a small number of universities for
which I would be willing to consider a move.”
The president’s position in the Florida sys
tem is different from that of the NU system. A
president is the top executive of an individual
campus, and the chancellor is the head of the
university system.
The FSU governing board plans to name a
new president by early 1994.
NU Corporation Secretary J.B. Millikensaid
university administration officials had little
information about the outgoing NU president’s
decision to be considered for the FSU job.
“All I know about Dr. Massengale’s inter-.
ests in Florida State is what I read in the papers,
Milliken said.
Massengale could not be reached for com
ment Sunday.
Milliken said Florida State’s presidential
position opened up about two months ago,
when FSU President Dale Lick resigned after
being named a finalist for the Michigan State
University presidency.
Massengale, 60, is a former University of
Nebraska-Lincoln chancellor and has served as
NU president since 1991. He announced in
January he would not seek an extension of his
contract, which expires this year.
The Associated Press contributed to this
story.
Police cite
third male
in assault
By Alan Phelps
Senior Reporter
A male University of Nebraska-Lincoln
student was arrested Friday afternoon
in connection with the Oct. 17 assault of
a student in Bn ill Plaza.
UNL Police lefKenCauble said witness
es to the beating of Boon-Chung Ong identif ed
three suspects, all of whom have been cited.
The first, an Omaha teenager, was cited Mon
day. A Lincoln resident was cited Wednesday
evening.
Cauble said names of the suspects would not
be released until the Lancaster County Attor
ney’s office determined what charges would be
filed.
UNL Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs
James Griesen said the campus judicial system
probably also would level sanctions at the UNL
student who was arrested.
“We will charge the individual with a viola
tion of the Student Code of Conducf,” Griesen
said.
Griesen said a Judicial Officer would pro
pose a sanction. If the student wishes to contest
the sanction, the University Judicial Board,
made up of student and faculty members, would
hear the case.
University sanctions can include restitution,
community service, conduct probation, sus
pension and expulsion, he said.
Griesen said sanctions of restitution were
fairly common. If the board decides on restitu
tion, the student suspect could be forced to pay
Ong’s medical costs not covered by insurance.
“My whole intent is to realize Mr. Ong is an
unfortunate victim of assault,” Griesen said.
Ong, junior business major from Malaysia,
was beaten and kicked in the head outside the
Nebraska Union on Oct. 17.
Witnesses to the assault told police they saw
a group of 10 men gathered around Ong. Three
of the men assaulted Ong, witnesses skid. Ong
was semi-conscious when police arrived. He
was taken to Lincoln General Hospital, where
he was treated and released.
