■4 NEWS DIGEST
NAFTA Vote
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American Free
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NU tour, programs impress new president
By Matthew Waite
Staff Reporter_
During his four-day tourof the University
of Nebraska, newly appointed NU
President Dennis Smith caught a glimpse
of the campuses he will oversee.
He also caught a cold.
“I caught kind of a Nebraska bug,” Smith
said Tuesday before touring Varner Hall on the
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln’sEastCampus.
Smith attended the Nebraska football game
against Iowa State on Saturday and toured the
four University of Nebraska campuses Sunday
through Tuesday.
Smith said the campus tours went well and
he was impressed with what he saw.
“I’ve been impressed with all four campuses,”
he said.
Smith said he also was impressed with Big
Red football spirit.
“1 haven’t seen that much red in one place,
ever,” Smith said.
He said he and his wife were both football
and basketball fans and they looked forward to
seeing the Nebraska programs.
Smith said his first action as president would
be to sit down and get to know the chancellors
of each NU campus and find out their plans.
University of Ncbraska-Lincoln Chancellor
Graham Spanicr said the meetings he had with
Smith were very productive.
“Our time was limited,but 1 think we covered
a lot of ground in the time available,” Spanicr
said.
“He’s a quick learner,” Spanicr said. “I was
impressed with his ability to grasp the issues as
they came up very quickly.”
Spanicr said he thought Smith would bring
experience and insight to the NU system.
Smith also said he wanted to talk to faculty,
staff and students about their plans and
expectations.
Smith said he was taking home some budget
information and would take a long look at the
figures.
“1 really need to do some studying,” Smith
said.
NU Corporation Secretary J.B. Milliken said
he was impressed with Smith’s energy.
“It was kind of a whirlwind tour of-the
campuses,’’Millikensaid.“I am quite impressed
with his enthusiasm and hisquestions and I look
forward to working with him as everybody
does.”
Milliken said Smith was familiarizing
himself with the university.
“He’s still very much engaged in the learning
process,” Milliken said. “He took home a copy
of our operational budget for this year.
“Over the next couple of months, he has got
a lot of homework,” Milliken said.
Milliken said Smith commented on how it
was nice to be going from an Antcatcr, the
University of California-Irvinc mascot, to a
Cornhuskcr.
“I think he’s pretty excited about the program
at UNL,” Milliken said.
M illiken said Smith would return to Nebraska
before he started his job on March 1, 1994. He
said the trips would be to learn more about the
NU system.
Bjorklund
jury takes
some time
on verdict
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Editor
and Dionne Searcey
Senior Reporter
Family and friends of Candice
Harms played cards and paced
the halls of the County-City
Building Tuesday as they waited for a
jury to decide the fate of the man
accused in Harms’ slaying.
The jury, which is composed of
eight women and four men, entered
its 12th hour of deliberation when it
adjourned at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Thcjury
will reconvene at 8 a.in. Wednesday.
Jurors are deliberating the evidence
and witness testimony in the first
degree murder trial of Roger
Bjorklund. Bjorklund is charged in
the 1992 slaying of Harms.
Lancaster County Attorney Gary
Lacey said Monday he hoped for a
quick deliberation. Prosecutors in any
court case, Lacey said, get nervous
after the jury deliberates for more
than 20 hours.
Members of 11 local and Omaha
tncdiajoined a handful of trial-watch
ers who waited in vain for nine hours
in hopes of hearing a verdict from the
See DELIBERATIONS on 6
Bjorklund
trial costs
mount daily
for county
By Steve Smith
Senior Reporter
ncastcr County Sheriffs
e has spent almost $ 1,000
for security during the
lund murder trial, Sheriff
Tom Casady said Tuesday.
Casady said his office’s expenses
for the security totaled about $20,000
since jury selection began Oct. 18 in
Sidney.
The 12 jurors who were selected
from Cheyenne County in October
continued their deliberation of
Bjorklund’s fate Tuesday. Bjorklund
is charged in the Sept. z2, 1992 ab
duction, rape and murder of Universi
ty of Neoraska-Lincoln student
Candice Harms.
See EXPENSES on 6
Travis Heying/DN
Scott Wilhite, director of the National Museum of Roller Skating, stands in front
of a display inside the museum at 48th and South streets.
Rinky-dink
Museum keeps roller-skating history alive
By Rebecca Oltmans
Staff Reporter_
R Roller-skating history and
memories in Lincoln are
stronger—and stranger—
than most people know.
The National Museum of Roller
Skating, 48th and South streets, is
dedicated to preserving skating
memories beyond grade school
skating parties and roller blading
across campus.
And it’s the only such museum
in the world.
Scott Wilhite, director and
curator of the museum, said the
museum never failed to please
seekers of the unusual.
Some aspects of roller-skating
history are a little weird, he said.
- ««
You won’t believe
the number of little
old couples who
are lifelong skaters
that come here.
— Wilhite
curator, National Roller
Skating Museum
-tf -
Skates have been designed in
many forms. Sneakers, thongs,
walking shoes and boots all have
been converted to skates and are
included in the museum ’ s displays.
Someone even came up with a
motorized “automobile skate.”
W ilhite said automobile skates were
hooked to a motor that was strapped
on the skater’s back and fed by a
hand-held gas pump.
“That never really caught on,”
Wilhite said. “No brakes.
“Animal skating was big for a
while,” Wilhite said. The museum
has skates used by bears, horses,
elephants and cockatiels, as well as
pictures of skating penguins.
Roller skates were used in operas
and movies. During the 1940s and
50s one of the biggest attractions
was a touring group called the
Skating Vanities, Wilhite said. The
group’s audience included Queen
Elizabeth and the Pope.
See SKATE on 6
Rotary helps
international
scholars help
their homes
By Shane Tucker
Staff Reporter
Rotary International and the
University of Nebraska
Lincoln are helping the fight
against world hunger by helping to
educate scholars from Third World
countries.
Dccpak Sahai, 26, is working to
ward a Ph.D. at UNL, studying starch
granule structures in the food scienc
es and technology department.
Sahai is attending the university on
a Rotary International Freedom From
Hunger scholarship. The scholarship,
Sahai said, is intended to allow students
from underdeveloped countries to
study agriculture.
UNL currently is home to seven
rotary scholars. Three of the scholars
are from India,and thcothersare from
the Philippines,Germany, Turkey and
Brazil.
Sahai plans to graduate in May and
said he would take what he had learned
at UNL back to his native country of
India. The Freedom from Hunger
scholarship requires students to return
to their homelands.
Sahai receives approximately
$4,000 per semester for living
expenses. Tuition is billed directly to
Rotary.
UNL was one ot tour schools sahai
wanted to attend. He said he chose
UNL because he thought its agriculture
program was excellent.
Gopalakrishnan Krishnan, 24, is a
native of India working toward a
master’s degree in agronomy.
Specializing in weed science,
Krishnan also is a Freedom From
Hunger scholar.
Krishnan is nine months into his
two-year scholarship. Upon
graduation, he plans to return to India
and possibly pursue a Ph.D.
“I’m thinking ofjoining industries
back home or going to school again,”
Krishnan said.
Krishnan was one of two or three
students from India chosen for
scholarships the year he applied. Like
Sahai, Krishnan said he also chose
UNL for its agriculture department.
“I felt this was a good ag school,”
Krishnan said. “It was my first choice,
and I got it.”
Rotary International, however, is
phasing out the Freedom From Hunger
scholarsh ip. Students currently at UN L
working on their programs will be
allowed to finish, but new scholarships
arc not being awarded, said Merle
Jansen, chairman of the District
Scholarship Committee.
In place of the Freedom from
See ROTARY on 2