Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 17, 1994)
Sports ■ No new clots found during Frazier’s examination, Page 7 Arts and Entertainment ■ Tonight’s Theatrix play details life struggles, Page 9 PAGE 2: Gore pushes GATT HAIR DAY Mlchalla Paulman/DN Studonts got blastod by gusts of wind botwoon Oldfathor and Bumott halls on Wodnosday. Tho broozy woathor will contlnuo today with a HttJ# rain mlxod In, tho National Woathor Sorvlco said. i Student charged in assault By Brian Sharp Senior Reporter A University of Nebraska-Lincoln student was released on a $50,000 percentage bond on Wednesday after being charged with driving his pickup into a crowd of people last weekend. Scott Schwaderer, a senior busi ness management major, was arrested on Sunday morning and charged Tues day with five counts of felony assault and one count of driving while in toxicated. Police reports gave the following account of the Sunday morning inci dent: Schwaderer was at Neighbors Lounge, 7010 O St., on Saturday evening for Karaoke Night. A group of four couples also was there to celebrate a birthday. Schwaderer, 22, had just gotten off stage around 11:30 p.m. when a member of the group said “nice hat.” Schwaderer took it as a sarcastic com ment, and the two argued. At 1:09 a.m., six members of the group were talking in the parking lot when Schwaderer pulled up in his pickup. He started to get out, but members of the group told him not to get out, saying they didn’t want any trouble. Schwaderer then put his pickup in reverse, stopped, squealed the tires, pointed the front tires at the group and accelerated. The vehicle struck five of the six individuals. Jeffery Benne, 29, Bobby Hilker, 37, Connie Hilker, 22, and Janet Crosby, 38, were taken to Lincoln General Hospital, treated for minor injuries and released. ’ More police not likely despite higher crime ■y Matttww Watte _ Senior Reporter The level of campus crime prob ably has increased this year, but the number of university police officers won’t, UNL Police Chief Ken Cauble said. The department already has handled 2,100 cases this year, Cauble said, and following the trend of the last three years, the department will handle enough cases to push it past last year’s total of 2,764. According to University Police records through Nov. 10, the num bers of crimes reported in 15 catego ries have been mostly lower than the 1993 numbers. The largest decreases came in the number of obscene phone calls and larcenies reported this year. In 1993, 148 obscene calls were reported, while 52 have been re ported in 1994, a decrease of 96 re ports. In 1994, 620 larcenies have been reported, 358 fewer than 1993, when 978 were reported. The only crimes from 1994 with higher reported numbers than 1993 were arson, drug and weapons viola tions. In 1994, 10 arsons, seven drug and four weapons violations have been reported, compared to nine ar sons, four drug and three weapons violations reported in 1993. The cause of the decrease in ob scene calls stems from UNL police's tracking and arrest of a man making the calls from New Jersey, Cauble said. He said many of the 1993 ob scene-call reports came from him. Larcenies may be down because people are listening to police about crime prevention, Cauble said. He said, however, that December is a high month for larceny, but the num ber should come in lower than 1993. Drug and weapon offenses are on the rise across the nation and state, Cauble said, and UNL is no different. He said arsons rose and fell in spurts because something as minor as set ting fire to a flyer on a bulletin board was classified as arson. He said arson did not imply that the perpetrator had intent to do major damage. Despite the rising number of calls to the University Police, the number of officers hired at the department has stayed the same because of bud get constraints, he said. Caubie said the department was budgeted $1.16 million for the 1994 95 school year, and in times of bud get cuts, it was tough to expand that budget. He said the department cut back on administration to keep more patrol officers on the streets. The number of on-duty officers is down by two because of “unusual” calls that left one officer in physical therapy and another on administra tive leave. Officers have put in more over time this year because officers Rob ert Soflin and Charlotte Veskma were not on duty, Caubie said. See CRIME on 6 Denise Benne, 27, remains in the hospital. She was upgraded from se rious to fair condition on Wednes day. She fractured her back, pelvis and skull. Schwaderer left the scene but then called 911 and asked whether police wanted to talk to him. Police later arrested him at his residence at 5619 Huntington Ave. on one count of first-degree assault, four counts of second-degree assault and one count of driving while in toxicated. A Lancaster County judge set the bond Tuesday at 10 percent of $100,000. A judge later reduced that bond. Schwaderer was released Wednes day afternoon. The judge included several provi sions in the bond, including an order that Schwaderer not operate a motor See HEARING on 6 <r • *1 Auditor finds no abuse of telephone usage in Legislature From Th» A—od«t»d Pr— It took nearly two years of wran gling with the Legislature, a court decision and $40,000 for a report Wednesday that shows the state audi tor found no abuse in senators* use of state telephones. The 57-page report released by State Auditor John Breslow is the result of a study of senator’s indi vidual phone records from July 1, 1989, through June 30, 1991. It also covers phone records from several legislative divisions such as the clerk and research offices, senator’s daily expense accounts and an inventory of office equipment and Breslow requests that senators pay for non-business calls furniture under the legislature’s con trol. For Breslow, the bottom line was that lawmakers should pay the state $700.67 for 428 calls listed as neither business nor personal but unknown. He also said Lincoln Sen. Don Wesely had failed to reimburse the state for 20 personal calls, 124 minutes worth, totalling $19.62. Wesely said the calls were busi ness-related and that he wouldn't pay. For the head of the Legislature’s Executive Board, Sen. Tim Hall of Omaha, the bottom line was the cost of the audit. Breslow said about $25,000 of the total was paid for staff time. “The amount of time spent by senators, senators’ staff. Department of Administrative Service’s staff and the auditor’s staff on this issue has been unjustified and certainly not cost effective,” Hall wrote in a re sponse that was part of the audit report. Long-distance calls amounted to 0.01 percent of the total budget for the Legislature in 1990 and 0.008 percent in 1991, Hall said. Legislators’ daily expenses have been subjected to independent audits for years. The state auditor also has scrutinized a more generic form of legislative telephone bills for years, but Breslow’s demand in 1992 to see individual records for each state sena tor drew an outcry from the Legisla ture. When some senators refused to turn over complete records, Breslow and Attorney General Don Stenberg took the matter to court. Lancaster County District Judge William Blue said the records should be turned over, but he allowed sena tors to black out any sensitive calls to protect their constituents’ identity. About half of the 49 lawmakers did just that. Retiring Sen. Rex Haberman of Imperial blacked out the most information, deleting the numbers from 1,177 of his 1,723 calls. Haberman said he deleted the calls from people who asked him for help in a variety of matters ranging from divorce to sexual harassment. Breslow questioned the number of calls Haberman deleted but acknowl- • edged the senator acted within the judge’s order.
