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PAGE 2: Bonfire lights Husker homecoming spirit
Teaching from experience
Jeff Haller/DN
Reuben Lamia, a sophomore history malor, answers a question from Shelley Zwelbahmer, a senior business m^or,
after Lamm spoke to Qreg Weaver's sociology of mime class Monday In the Military and Naval Science building.
' Student shares insight of prison years
By PtPw Jan—n
Senior Reporter
Reuben Lerma is making his life an open
book.
An open textbook, that is.
Lerma, a sophomore history major at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, spoke
Monday to a sociology class about the two
and one-half years he spent in prison.
The 25-year-old from Ovcrbrook. Kan.,
said he could teach students more about the
prison system than any textbook
“No book can teach that,” he said. "And
no book can answer the questions I can
answer.” , *
Lerma was in prison from October 1990
to May 1993 for writing bad checks. He
spent most of that time in Norton Correc
tional Facility in Norton. Kan. He also spent
time in four other Kansas institutions.
“Probably 50 percent of people on this
campus have bounced a check,” he said,
“just not in the numbers I did.”
In the last year, Lerma has spoken to
students in both criminal justice and sociol
ogy classes, not to dissuade them from do
ing something that could land them in prison,
but to tell them about prison.
He talks during his presentations about
such things as the daily routine of prison life
and the social order that emerges in prison,
Lerma said.
Lerma said he also told of the racism and
violence that go on behind prison walls.
“It’s not an inspirational speech,” he
said. But, he said, his speeches were de
signed to help students understand an actual
former inmate’s perspective of prison life.
Lerma said his daily routine in prison
began about 5:30 a m. By 6:30 or 7 a.m.,
Lerma said, he went to work at a wildlife
refuge, where he stayed until about 3 p.m.
Meals were served at set times, he said,
and inmates had to eat what was served.
“The food sucked," he said.
After dinner, which was served about 6
p.m., Lerma said he had free time to watch
television, lift weights or gamble.
“If I wasn't gambling, I was watching
TV,” he said.
Lerma said mail call was the most impor
tant part of the day.
“A lot of people subscribe to magazines
just to get mail," he said.
The state gives inmates $21 each month,
Lerma said. They could spend their money
at a prison convenience store that sold items
includinghot chocolate, cookies and pasta.
Lerma said the inmates did not use money
for gambling.
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Speaker questions students’ alcohol abuse
By S—n McCarthy~
Staff Reporter
Dr. Tom Goodale has experienced alcohol's
effects in all areas of his life.
Goodale, vice president for student affairs
and a professor at Virginia Tech University,
was key speaker for the Uth annual “Do It
Sober”’program at the Lied Center Monday
night. Goodale spoke to an audience of more
than 1,800 about the effect of alcohol on stu
dents and his experiences with the subject.
In his hour-long speech, Goodale spoke of
his experiences with both students and his
family regarding alcohol abuse. The son of an
alcoholic mother and brother of a recovering
alcoholic, Goodale was the co-founder of the
national organization Boost Alcohol Conscious
ness Concerning the Health of University Stu
dents. The organization has more than 500
chapters in the United States and Canada.
“As long as I am given the breath to talk and
the energy to do it, I will talk about the issues
of alcohol,” Goodale said.
A poignant part of his speech came when he
told of a time when he met the parents of a
student who died of an alcohol overdose.
Goodale said the student consumed a 32-ouncc
bottle of tequila in 15 minutes and died at a
hospital four hours later.
“Why docs this carnage continue?” Goodale
asked. “Because it’s legal; it's cool; it’s avail
able, and everybody does it.”
The U S. culture plays a large role regarding
alcohol use, Goodale said. When guests visit,
Goodale said his first response is to ask if they
want a drink.
“Even before they get their coat off, I ask if
they want a drink because it’s culturally impor
tant," he said.
Adults had long-since made their decisions
on drinking, Goodale said, and even most
college students had already done the same.
The most impressionable age that needs to be
reached are those who are about 10 years old,
Goodale said.
The combination of sex and alcohol, an
other topic of importance to college students,
was a key point that Goodalc addressed. Be
cause alcohol is a mood-alternating chemical,
people would do things that they would not
necessarily do sober, including having sex,
Goodale said. However, Goodale said he stressed
the importance of keeping the topic ofboth sex
and alcohol open for discussion.
“Because we don’t talk enough about sex
and alcohol, there’s so much about it on com
mercials,” he said. “It’s the allure of the un
known that keeps it so popular.”
“Dream about the possibility of what it is
like to be free of drugs and alcohol,” he said.
See SOBER on 3
Fans dig deep
for admission
into showdown
By Chad Lorenz
Staff Reporter
Tickets to watch the Big Red’s big game
Saturday arc going for big bucks.
Cindy Bell, NU ticket manager, said a pair
of tickets to Nebraska’s homecoming football
game against Colorado could cost about $300.
Interest in the game between the No. 2 Huskcrs
and No. 3 Buffaloes has driven demand for
tickets higher, Bell said.
The ticket office sells general admission
tickets for for $30 each. Bell said, but all
general admission tickets were sold out after
season ticket sales ended.
Student tickets are worth $ 15 at face value,
but some students find tickets arc worth about
four times as much.
Sarah Bahr, a junior interior design major,
said she advertised for one Colorado ticket in
the ticket exchange section of the Daily Ne
braskan and received more than 10 offers on
the first day she advertised.
Tickets may be traded because Nebraska
doesn’t have any scalping laws. Student tickets
are transferable between other full-time stu
dents. They may be used by the general public
by paying a validation charge.
The validation fee is the difference in cost
between general admission tickets and stu
dents tickets.
Bahr sold her validated student ticket for
$60 after two $ 100 offers backed out, she said.
She said she regretted selling her only ticket
because of the excitement of the upcoming
game.
“I almost wish I would’ve kept it,” Bahr
said.
Vince Kirby, a junior construction manage
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New patrols
split opinions
among greeks
»y M«tth«w Wait#
Senior Reporter
The addition of the greek houses to areas
patrolled by community service officers has
fraternity and sorority members split over their
support for the program.
Jim Collura, the president of the Sigma Phi
Epsilon Fraternity, said a huge misconception
existed that the CSOs were nothing more than
an alcohol patrol.
“I can’t honestly say that I see that,” he said.
“I may have at first.”
The expanded patrols, which began this
year, involve one on-duty CSO patrolling the
areas around the greek units and other univer
sity buildings. The officers work seven days a
week, eight hours a night.
CSOs are not armed or as extensively trained
as regular officers. They are allowed to enter
greek houses with probable cause.
Collura said the patrols offered more safety
to the houses and also prevented vandalism. He
said if the CSOs were looking for alcohol,
things would be different.
“If this was an alcohol patrol, they would be
in my fraternity every day (looking for viola
tions),” Collura said. To date, he said, the
officers had been to his house three times.
Collura said he did not know of a fraternity
that CSOs had cited for alcohol violations. He
said, however, the addition of the officers would
not eliminate alcohol consumption in greek
houses, just as the addition of CSOs in the
residence halls did not.
But changing times have turned his house
into an alcohol-free house, along with a grow
ing number of fraternities and sororities, Collura
said.
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