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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 1994)
Sports ■ Nebraska wins big Kickoff Classic, Page 7 Arts & Entertainment ■ Stone film satirizes violence, Page 9 PAGE 2: Nelson, Spence square off Travis Heying/DN Lennox Hinds of New Jersey sits next to a cut-out of an executioner on Sunday after speaking to a group of death penalty protesters at the Nebraska Union. Below, Donna Polk of Lincoln bows her head while sne listens to another speaker at the public hearing. ( Death sentence provokes rally By Chad Lorenz Staff Reporter Pardons Board members made an appear ance at a death penalty protest Sunday, but not voluntarily. At the public hearing Sunday, protesters displayed cardboard cutouts of Gov. Ben Nelson in a leopard skin toga and Attorney General Don Stcnbcrg in a black execution er’s robe. Secretary of State Allen Beermann was stuck between the two to symboli/.c his vole to commute the sentence of death row inmate Harold Lamont Otey. Otey is to be executed Sept. 2. Death penalty opponents met Sunday in the Nebraska Union to “give justice a hear ing,” Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty board member DeCourcy Squire said. The public hearing, sponsored by N ADP, featured nationally known speakers and local opponents of the death penalty. Lennox Hinds, a Co-Cha ir of the National Alliance Against Racism and Political Re pression, described his inspirational meeting with Otey on Saturday and described Olcy’s strength in facing his execution. Hinds said he admired Olcy’s conviction that he’d evade execution. Otcy told him “I’m going to win and I’ll be talking to you on Sept. 3." Hinds said. Hinds said Nelson and Stenberg were using Otcy’s execution as a political plank and were manipulators of a cruel hoax that the Nebraskadeath penalty would detcrcrime. Repeatedly, Hinds said executions were not the answer to crime. Crime should be stopped through preventative measures, such as reduced unemployment and improved economic conditions, ho said. The states with the most executions since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976 did not have significant reductions in thier crime rates, he said. Hinds also criticized the racial disparities in the judicial system. Less than 5 percent of Nebraska’s popula tion is black, but blacks make up 44 percent of the Nebraska prison population, he said. Three of the next four prisoners on death row arc black, he said. And two of the three whites sentenced to death row have had their sentences commuted to life sentences. Michael Radclct, a Florida University professor of sociology and criminology, be gan his speech by repeating an old game hunter’s axiom for Gov. Nelson: “Don’t kill what you can’t cat.” Radclct said the state needed more public support to justify the execution. Only about half of Nebraskans support killing Otcy. Radclct said that if Otcy should die, it would be a time ofhurt, crying and mourning, but not a time to give up the fight against the death penally. New director’s life experiences to benefit Lied By Brian Sharp Senior Reporter C. Bruce Marquis has traveled many roads to get where he is today. Those roads have led him to Lincoln, where he is the newly announced director of the Lied Center for Performing Arts. But his career stops along these roads have taken him almost everywhere. He has experience in all the performing arts but dance, he said. He has studied piano, trum pet, guitar and opera, and he has even been an actor. So far, his acting has been his biggest claim to fame. Then again, it’s also been his most painful experience. While at Ohio University, gelling his bache lor’s degree in fine arts. Marquis said he worked as a commercial actor at a studio 100 miles away. The drawback to the job was not just the distance, he said, but also that they filmed from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. Marquis said he would then drive home, get two hours of sleep and be off to morning classes. It was draining, he said, but it paid the bills. His most famous role: America’s IGA gro cery store stock boy. A few years later Marquis had to choose between a profession that he loved and a long term career. Marquis’ start in youth choirs when he was 8 years old was the beginning of his love for voice. He would go on to study voice through college, and he even had a career at one point as an opera singer. When he graduated with his bachelor’s de gree in fine arts, he was offered a graduate assistantship both in opera and arts administra tion. He chose the latter, he said, because it offered a long-term career. Since then he has worked for theaters, opera companies and performance halls in Ohio, Bos ton, New York and most recently at the Univer sity of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. At that university, he was responsible for programming and management of three halls. The largest seated 1,400. Marquis said he had heard of the Lied Cen ter’s reputation as a premier center in the Mid west, but he had never been to Nebraska before he interviewed for the job. His selection was announced Friday. Now that he’s here, he has plans. “We have the opportunity to expand even more the (cultural )diversityofprogramming we arc offering,” Marquis said. "And expand op portunities for community participation in the arts.” Marquis said he wanted to take the arts outside the walls of the Lied Center to educate the community — from elementary schools to senior citizens. Bringing artists onto the University of Ne braska-Lincoln campus is part of that plan, he said. Lectures and free demonstrations in the Nebraska Union were among his ideas for bring ing more students to the Lied Center. Marquis will be paid $70,000 annually. He will officially take the position Oct. 10. UNL officials worry about church’s recruitment efforts By Brian Sharp Senior Reporter University officials, parents and former members are worried by rumors that the Lincoln Christian Church is increasing its recruiting efforts on cam pas. But David Casey, the church’s new minister, said the rumors were untrue. The church never decreased its efforts, he said. The Lincoln Christian Church was formed in 1991, and at that time it was called Campas Advance. Since its be ginning, it has been surrounded by con iraversy. The church has been charged wilh deceiving its members to recruit them, isolating them from friends and family, and placing strict controls on every aspect of members’ lives. But those in the church say joining the church was the best decision they ever made. Peg Blake, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of Ncbraska-Lincoln, said that based on the university’s past experience with the church, the rumors had put UNL officials on alert. “We’re definitely going to be watch mg,” Blake said. “We really don’t want this kind of organization having an impact on our students.” She said she was worried about re ports that a former UNL student, who left the university after joining the church, had called his parents recently to tel I them the church was going to start up in Lincoln again. Joining the church Mark Larson first was approached to join the church at a grocery store where he worked. A girl invited him to the church, he said, and also to a party that night. Then he was invited to another party the next night. Larson said he thought they were just parties, but they were really church gatherings. He said he thought they had befriended him just to recruit him. “When I went to church,” Larson said, “I realized all the people at the parties were in the church.” But church member Craig Lyons said the church didn’t try to manipulate people to join. It tried to find people who were serious about the church. “We’re just looking for people who want to know God the way we do,” he said. “It’s not wishy-washy. It’s not just to tickle your car or give you a warm fuzzy.” 4 Casey, the new mi n istcr of the church, said more than 100 Nebraskans were members, with 60 of them in Lincoln. The church is part of the Internation al Churches ofChrist, Casey said. That group hasgrown to al most90,000 mem tx;rs in just a few years under its leader. Kip McKean. Sharing their faith with new people is an important part of church life, Casey said. “The Bible says we need to go make disciples of all nations,” Casey said. See INSIGHT on 3