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Tuesday
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Today,mostly sunny,
becoming cloudy
with flumes at night.
March 8, 1994
Vol. 93 No. 119
Robbery victims testify at Bj orklund hearing
By Angie Brunkow
Senior Reporter
and Jeff Zeleny
Senior Editor
Prosecutors cal led four witness
es Monday after both sides
presented opening arguments
during the first day of Roger
Bjorklund’s sentencing hearing.
The four witnesses were victims in
robberies Bjorklund and Scott Barney
were accused of committing in the fall
of 1992.
During opening statements,
Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey
said he would prove three aggravating
circumstances tnat
I would require Dis
trict Judge Donald
Endacott to decide
in favor of the death
Hpenalty.
« Bjorklund was
convicted last No
vember of murdering University of
Nebraska-Lincoln student Candice
Harms. After the three-week sentenc
ing hearing, Endacott will decide be
tween life in prison for Bjorklund or
death.
Lacey said he would prove during
the three weeks of hearings that
Bjorklund had a history of assaultive
and terrorizing activity.
“That history began really with a
vengeance only a month before Candi
Harms’ disappearance,” he said.
During that month, Bjorklund is
accused of robbing about five or six
local businesses, Lacey said. During
one robbery, Bjorklund struck an em
ployee in the back of the head, he said.
“Assaultive activity—yes,” Lacey
said. “Terrorizing activity — yes.”
Lacey said he also would prove
Bjorklund committed the murder to
cover up another crime, the rape of
Harms.
"They were bent on making sure...
that Candi Harms was not going to be
a witness on the stand against them,”
Lacey said.
During the morning hearing, Lacey
read excerpts from a Bjorklund con
fession that the lawyer said proved
Barney and Bjorklund believed they
had to eliminate the only witness to
the rape.
"It was necessary for them to si
lence her,” he said. “They decided to
silence her, and they did silence her.”
Finally, Lacey said he would prove
Bjorklund’s crime was especially hei
nous, cruel and atrocious.
A previous Nebraska case where a
man sexually assaulted a woman and
then stabbed her seven times set the
standard for applying the death penal
ty, Lacey said.
“Any killing that involves sexual
abuse is especially heinous and cru
el,” he said.
See BJORKLUND on 6
Shaun Sartn/DN
Classics professor Neil Adkin said that teaching in the United. States was different than
teaching in Europe. American students expect classes to be interesting, he said.
Professor gives classics life
By Patty Wewel
Staff Reporter
From the screen-filled aura
of a traffic Greek charac
ter, a classics professor,
slightly left-leaning, walks slowly
to the front of the room.
He begins to tell the story of the
character looming behind him. He
animates the story in a voice filled
with hushed awe and excitement,
complimented with full gestures
and shifting posture.
He stretches out his British-ac
cented words to a near hiss, setting
up his booming proclamations that
echo throughout the auditorium.
Students might think they are
watching a narrator on a theater
stage giving a passionate account
of a tragic story, but the small desk
tops remind them that they are in
Room 104 of Love Library listen
ing to Neil Adkin’s classical my
thology lecture.
As the class nears completion,
the students begin to pack up.
Adkin looks out at them.
“You paid for three more min
utes, but you’re not going to get
See ADKIN on 6
Final ASUN debate is
both amusing, serious
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
The final ASUN debate took on
a circus-like atmosphere with
the addition of the LETTUCE
party to the slate of candidates.
LETTUCE, with mock Secret Ser
vice agents standing guard, were al
lowed to debate VISION and RE
SUME for the first
time. Singing
priests and a
thwarted assassina
tion attempt with a
sausage were all
part of the LET
TUCE show.
ihe party had been previously
barred from the debates by the ASUN
electoral commission. The ASUN elec
tions will be held Wednesday.
Candidates generally agreed on the
issues of the bike dismount zone, grad
ing proposals and voter turnout. The
Association of Studcntsof the Univer
sity of Nebraska student senate took
most of the criticism in the debate,
with LETTUCE and RESUME doing
the damage.
RESUME presidential candidate
J.B. Howell said ASUN was a waste of
time.
“Students don’t have to make a
mockery of ASUN,” he said. “ASUN
makes a mockery of itself.”
Howell said some of the senate
action was foolish. He cited the com
mendation of Tom Osborne, the crit
icism of the Associated Press football
poll and the one cent student fee re
duction for the University Health Cen
ter as examples.
Andrew Loudon, VISION candi
date for president, defended ASUN
saying Howell needed to look at some
of the senators actions. He said, how
ever, ASUN could have introduced
more legislation.
“There’s always room for improve
ment in ASUN,” Loudon said.
Candidates from all parties agreed
voter turnout in ASUN elections need
ed improvement.
“The voter turnout sucks,” Joey
Whitney, RESUME second vice-pres
idential candidate, said. “The only
people who vote arc greeks.”
Brian Fitzgerald, LETTUCE can
didate for first-vice president, said
voter apathy was a reflection on ASUN.
“No one on this campus believes
ASUN can do anything,” he said.
Fitzgerald said the UNL adminis
tration didn’t care what ASUN did.
“Ifwe arcelccted, we will be heard,”
he said. “There will be a revolution on
this campus.”
Loudon said VISION had already
been trying to get more people in
See DEBATE on 3
Conference focuses
on technology in state
By Paula Lavigne
Senior Reporter
In the middle of a meeting Mon
day with Nebraska educators
and businesspeople, debates
over electronic mail, video
conferencing and communication net
works mixed with complaints about
the varying Nebraska weather.
Gov. Ben Nelson said this termi
nology was just a part of an explosion
of technological advances.
‘“Information superhighway’ is
becoming a household word,” Nelson
said at The Governor’s Conference on
Information Technology.
“Traveling the Information Super
highway,” a two-day event at the Ne
braska Center for Continuing Educa
tion, features discussions and exhibits
on upcoming information and tele
communication technology for the
future of Nebraska.
“There are new and exciting devel
opments in communication and com
puter technology every day,” he said.
r‘You can’t pick up any periodical or
tune into any information channel
without seeing information develop
ments that are truly astounding.”
Nelson cited developments such as
Nebraska On-line—a statewide com
munication and information network
— as evidence of this technological
progression.
He said in order to use this technol
ogy, Nebraskans needed to be better
informed.
“We need a clearer picture of the
road ahead,” he said. “We can start
bringing the information superhigh
way right to our doorsteps.”
The conference is coordinated to
encourage dialogue and further dis
cussions concerning technology.
Nelson said he had three goals to
achieving completion of the super
highway.
Nelson said his first goal was to
inform everybody about the “technol
ogy explosion.”
“Many of us don ’ t have the foggiest
idea,” he said. “At the end of the day
tomorrow I hope that those of us on the
foggy end of it will know what the fuss
is all about."
Nelson said his second objective
was to have people leave with a sense
of context. He wanted them to know
how technology would affect Nebras
ka’s future.
Nelson said he encouraged input
from the small group and panel dis
See TECHNOLOGY on 3