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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1994)
Sports ■ Former NFL player shares struggle, Page 7 Arts & Entertainment ■ Nine Inch Nalls rock Civic Auditorium, Page 9 PAGE 2: U.S. reaction to Cedras skeptical COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901_ VOL. 94 NO. 21 _ Group supports death penalty Demonstrators tote signs in favor of Bjorklund’s death By Julie Sobczyk Staff Reporter Three men stood outside the City-County Building Monday to show that they want Roger Bjorklund sentenced to death. Bjorklund. who was convicted last No vember of the murder and rape of University of Ncbraska-Li ncol n student Candice Harms, is scheduled to be sentenced today. A judge must choose between a sentence of life in prison or death. Many drivers applauded and honked at death penalty supporters, who carried signs that read “Bjorklund must die" and “Bjorklund's crime worse than Otcy's.” The men. who arc members ofThc Plains men. a group that favors the death penalty, demonstrated peacefully. They carried signs in silence and passed out fliers about crimi nal justice. “If Otcy's execution was just, then Roger Bjorklund's would be just,” said Larry Ball, president of the Plainsmen. Harold Lamont Otey was executed earlier this month for the 1977 rape and murder of an Omaha woman. “Society has lost its resolve to enforce laws,” Ball said. “We want to wake the people to the cfTcct something needs to be done ” The Plainsmen have been protesting ev ery day from noon to I pin. since last Mon day, excluding the weekend. They limited the number of protestors to three a day to keep the protest peaceful. W.O. Stephens, a member ofThc Plains men who protested Monday, said he demon strated to let others know his opinion. “Not enough people arc participating in the political process,” he said. “If you don't participate, you shouldn't criticize.” Stephens said he t houghl Bjorkl und shou Id be executed. “Justice should be carried out because actually. Harms was executed by him.” he said. Dennis Rosenc. a member of the Plains men, carried a sign that read. “Is Justice Racist?”. He said he believed justice was for everybody, no matter what race they were. Many people slopped Monday to look at the signs and take fliers as they walked to the City-County Building. Others refused lotakc fliers after reading the signs. Christine Wright, a sophomore political science major, walked by the City-County Building Monday She said she was unsure of whether criminals should receive the death penalty. “I was a friend of Otcy’s for three years," she said. “I still don't know how 1 feel.” But she said society should focus on de terring crime. “We need lo attack the problem in the beginning, like with child abuse.” Wright said. “After you get a dead victim that's somebody's daughter, it's too late.” I; B30RKL UNO'S CRIME WORS£ than oteYs ■ *1 uamon Lee/DN Plainsmen W.O. Stephens, left, and Dennis Rosene show their support for the death penalty In front of the City County Building Monday afternoon. Rosene said The Plainsmen were demonstrating to voice their view that capital punishment has a place In the Nebraska Justice system. "Some people flat out deserve It,” he said. Bjorklund to be sentenced today From Staff Reports Roger Bjorklund is scheduled to be sen tenced today in Lancaster County District Court Bjorklund was convicted last November in the rape and murder of University of Ncbraska-Lincoln freshman Candice Harms. At 10:30 a m.. Judge Donald Endacott will decide whether the 31-year-old will be executed or spend life in prison Scott Barney. 26. also convicted in the murder, was sentenced in May to life in prison. Prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty against him in exchange for his cooperation in the case against Bjorklund. Recovery to be slow for Haiti By Brian Sharp Senior Reporter Haiti is a broken country. And some UNL professors say it will be a long time before it is put back together again. An agreement reached Sunday night haltcda U.S. led invasion of Haiti. The current military leaders agreed to leave by Oct. 15 so that exiled President Jcan-Bcrtrand Aristide could return to power. That promise, however, is just the first step. Haiti is a mess, said John Hibbing. a UNL political science professor. Many indexes list it as the poorest country in this hemisphere, he said. That translates into unrest and a long road to establishing democ racy and correcting the country's economic devastation, he said. “There’s a lot of work to be done down there,” Hibbing said. “We should just be happy that it’s going to be done economically rather than militarily.” This agreement should stand. Hibbing said. An expected 15,(MM) U.S. troops will land in Haiti by the end of the week to keep peace and help in the transition of power. But Gen. Raoul Ccdras. the army commander, has reneged on past agreements with the United States to step down. The most recent came on October 30. 1993. “It’s going to be very hard for Cedras to thumb his nose at us this time.” he said. Sunday's agreement was signed by Ccdras and Philippe Biamby. the army chief of staff. Brig. Gen. Michel Francois, who is the chief of police and the third member of the ruling group, did not sign. Robert Hitchcock, associate professor of anthropology, agreed that U.S. military pres ence would make it difficult for Ccdras to change his mind again. Whe*her U.S. intervention was right is an other question, he said. Hitchcock said he was concerned about what Haiti could become once Aristide took over. “I’m concerned that the human-rights viola tions arc going to continue in Haiti and the United States will stop reporting them because now we have our guys in there, he said. Past violations by Aristide, along with his reported tics to the drug market, could cause further problems in rebuilding, he said. ' The country is fractionalized, he said. Some military analysts have said the transition of power in Haiti would be easy, but Hitchcock said he disagreed. “The United States is going to be there for quite a while.” he said. If forces aren't the United States', then they will be international. See HAITI on 6 NU libraries rank higher in poll, but too low for dean By Catherine Blalock Staff Reporter Libraries at the University of Nebraska have climbed two rankings in a national librarv poll, but a UNL official said the libraries should climb about 20 more spots. The Association of Research Library Index’s latest poll, for 1992-93, ranked NU libraries 74 of 108 universities. Harvard, Yale and Berke ley ranked in the top five. NU previously was ranked 76th. Moving from 76th to 74th place is good, said Kent Hendrickson, dean of University of Nebraska Lincoln libraries, but it’s not enough. “The ranking is not good for the type of institution we service,” Hendrickson said. “We should be in the low 50s." The relatively low ranking has been caused in part by the lack of renovations to the library. The last major renovations to Love Library occurred 20 years auo, he said. Technological advances, a growing student population and a larger library inventory also have contributed to the lack of adequate facili ties. The association recommends that a library have enough room for 15 percent of the student population. But Love Library is able to seat only 6 percent of UNL students, he said. In the library association's evaluation,each library polled was divided into 18 categories, five of which were used to determine the index. The poll was based on a variety of factors including budgeting, staffing and the amount of materials in the library, said Joan Giesecke, associate dean of UNL libraries. In the five categories used to determine the index, UNL libraries ranked 65th in the amount of volumes held, 70th in volumes added in 1992-1993, 54th in the current subscription received and total operating expenses and 77th in the number of professional and nonprofes sional employees. But library officials hope a proposed budget increase could improve the library and help boost NU in the polls. NU’s 1995-1997 biennial budget request, which was presented to the NU Board of Re gents in July, requests $1.25 million for its Lincoln, Kearney and Omaha branches. That is a 15 percent yearly increase from the libraries’ current budget. One part of the amount was based on pro jected inflation and the value of the dollar where foreign books and periodicals are pur chased, Hendrickson said. If the proposed $ 1.25 million budget is not approved, 800 to 1,000 periodicals may be cancelled, Hendrickson said. Each branch of the university requested a budget and sent it to NU’s central administra tion. At central administration, all the proposed budgets were taken into consideration, Giesecke said. See LIBRARY on 6
