Fond thoughts of home
fill Chinese new year
By Chris Hegarty
Staff Reporter ~
A weekend of events is planned
for some UNL students to ring in
the new year.
The Chinese new year, that is.
The Chinese new year is marked
by the first day of the lunar month,
usually in late January or early
February, and is the start of a Chi
nese celebration known as the
Spring Festival. Tuesday was the
start of the new year.
The high point of the celebra
tion is the eve of the new year,
marked by firecrackers and loud
celebrations.
Bin Gong, president of the Chi
nese Students Association, said
celebrating the holiday in America
was difficult because it was not
widely observed.
“Here we don’t have the atmo
sphere to celebrate,” he said. “In
China, you can hear the fireworks
everywhere. It’s quiet here. That
makes it hard.”
On Saturday, the Chinese Stu
dents Association will host events
to celebrate the new year, which
include a dinner at Mr. Panda’s
restaurant, 2900 N 70th St., from
2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. The cost is
$4 per person.
The Association also will host a
dance from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the
Culture Center, 333 N. 14th St.
The group also will show vid
eos in the Nebraska Union of new
year celebrations in China.
The new year is also an impor
tant time of reunion for families,
but for many Chinese students at
UNL, returning home is not pos
sible.
“I miss home, -and I called
them,” said Huang Xuanning, a
graduate student in electrical engi
neering. “It is all I can do right
now.”
Zhang Xuanqi, a 42-year-old
chemistry research scholar, said
some students called home just to
uHere we don’t have
the atmosphere to
celebrate. In China,
you can hear the
fireivorks everyivhere.
It’s quiet here. That
makes it hard. ”
m
BIN GONG
president of the Chinese
Students Association
listen to the fireworks.
“For young students, they will
miss home,” he said. “They called
home (Monday) morning to hear
the fireworks. Everyone can hear
the fireworks over the phone.”
The lunar festival dates back to
a time when, according to Chinese
legend, a wild beast appeared at
the end of winter and devoured
villagers. But the beast was afraid
of drums, firecrackers and the color
red.
Every year vi 1 lagers would paint
objects red and explode “bamboo
crackers” to protect themselves.
Jessica Chong, assistant pro
gram coordinator for the Interna
tional Affairs Office, said the color
red was still important in the new
year celebration.
“Everyone still wears red. No
one wears black,” she said. Chong
also said when younger family
members visited older ones, they
received small red packets with
money in them.
Huang said the new year meant
a lot to him.
“The beginning of the new year
is full of hope and full of luck. It is
so important to me and my fam
ily,” he said.
Office helps decipher forms
From Staff Reports
The Office of Scholarships and
Financial Aid will be offering assis
tance in completing the 1995-96 Free
Application for Federal Student Aid
(FAFSA) and Renewal Applications
in the Nebraska Union during Febru
ary.
Financial aid staff members will
be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on
Feb. 6-8,13-15 and 20-22, in the first
floor lounge area of the union.
Students are encouraged to bring
the appropriate supporting documen
tation, such as tax returns or applica
tions. For more information, contact
the Office of Scholarships and Finan
cial Aid at 472-4242.
Former student faces lawsuits
From Staff Reports
A former UNL student charged
with five counts of felony assault is
now facing a double lawsuit in con
nection with the same incident.
Scott Schwaderer, a senior busi
ness management major last fall, ran
into several people with his pickup
truck Nov. 13, after they made a
comment about his cowboy hat, po
lice said.
Jeffrey and Denise Benne, two of
the victims in the incident, filed law
suits in Lancaster County District
Court Tuesday seeking medical com
pensation for their injuries.
Jeffrey Benne, 29, reported suf
fering a sprained ankle, cuts and abra
sions. His suit asks for $634.55, the
amount of his medical expenses.
Denise Benne, 27, reported suf
fering fractures to her skull, pelvis
and right shoulder. Her medical bills
totaled more than $12,500.
Both lawsuits also name Paul
Schwaderer of Grand Island, Scott’s
father. The lawsuits argue say the
1989 Ford pickup that Scott
Schwaderer was driving belonged to
hi's father, and was thus Paul
Schwadcrer’s responsibility.
Police reports stated that Scott
Schwaderer, 22, had been at The
Neighbors Lounge, 7010 O St., sing
ing karaoke. When he came off the
stage, reports state, someone in a
group of four couples, which included
Jeffrey and Denise Benne, said “nice
hat.”
Schwaderer was wearing a black
cowboy hat at the time.
He later met the group in the lounge
parking lot and after a verbal ex
change, drove into them with his
truck, reports state. Schwaderer left
the scene, but later called 911 and
turned himself in.
Schwaderer also was charged with
one count of driving while intoxicated.
Attempts to reach Schwaderer or
Herbert Friedman, the Bennes’ law
yer, Wednesday night were unsuc
cessful.
Loudon worries about costly Union
By Melanie Brandert
Staff Reporter
The time has come to prepare the
Nebraska Union for the future, Di
rector Daryl Swanson told A SUN
senators Wednesday night.
A proposed $10 million expan
sion would extend the union to the
north and renovate the University
Bookstore, union administrative of
fices, the food court dining room and
other existing areas.
It also would provide additional
meeting rooms, a new 300-seat audi
torium and more businesses, such as
a music store and a dry cleaner.
In addition, the expansion would
upgrade mechanical and electrical
systems and modify handicap-acces
sible areas to bring them up to federal
requirements.
Swanson gave a slide presenta
tion to senators, showing vital areas
in the union that were in need of
renovation or expansion.
James Griesen, vice chancellor for
student affairs, told senators that the
university could not use state tax dol
lars to build non-academic facilities.
“It’s very clear that we wouldn’t get
another state dollar for this,” he said.
Andrew Loudon, president of the
Association of Students of the Uni
versity of Nebraska, said his main
concern with the expansion was its
cost and how student fees would be
affected.
The senate also passed a referen
dum introduced by Loudon that would
ask students if they would support an
increase in student fees.
Plainsmen
Continued from Page 1
“This is not advocating someone
to pop some doctor with a bullet,” he
said.
He said everyone should remem
ber the inalienable rights guaranteed
in the Declaration of Independence.
“This doesn’t mean you have the
right to spread your legs in the back
seat of every car you want to spread
you legs in,” he said.
Rights belong to die innocent, he
said, and not to criminals, such as
those who torture and torment chil
dren. He said abortion tortured and
tormented babies.
He said that because fetuses “cry
and struggle when their arms and legs
are ripped off,” they were the same as
babies.
“They say if it looks like a duck,
walks like a duck and quacks like a
duck,” he said, “it probably is a duck.”
Ball then pointed to the noose.
“This stands for the judgment of
God,” he said. “... Abortion is legal
because the public accepts it as legal,
but it’s not legal in the eyes of God.”
During Ball’s demonstration,
Sheryl Schrepf stood 3 feet from him
and contested his statements. Schrepf
is the executive director of Nebraska
Planned Parenthood Voters for
Choice.
Schrepf, the former executive di
rector of the Preterm Clinic in
Brookline, Mass., — the site of two
shootings — said the noose and plate
demonstration would incite violence
against Planned Parenthood of Lin
coln.
“They’re trying to say we’re pull
ing the heads off babies? That’s ab
surd,” she said. “That’s not exag
geration. That’s lying.”
Schrepf said this was the first con
tact she had had with the Plainsmen.
No matter what groups show up to
protest, she said, the clinic will open
in May.
Charles and Mary Lue Gove said
they hoped it wouldn’t. The couple
watched the demonstration and said
they supported Ball’s views.
“I spent 22 years in the Air Force
and went on 35 missions in World
War II,” Charles Gove said. “This is
not what I did it for. The Supreme
Court is dead wrong.”
The Goves said they were not
members of the Plainsmen but had
several friends who were.
The Plainsmen was founded in
March 1994. The organization has
more than 400 members, with 80
percent in Omaha and Lincoln. The
rest of the members are from central
and western Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas,
Missouri, Pennsylvania, Colorado
and Illinois.
“Our purpose is to restore the Con
stitution,” Ball said.
Although the group started with a
focus on repealing the assault weap
ons ban — most of the members are
also members of the National Rifle
Association — Ball said the Plains
men was not a single-issue group.
“The gun has no value except in
the protection of values,” he said.
“The purpose of the gun is not for
duck hunting. It’s to protect the val
ues declared in the Declaration of
Independence.”
Ball said the Plainsmen advocated
capital punishment, especially in cases
of child molestation.
“We’re grass-roots. We’re local,”
he said. “We’re trying to be good
citizens.
“We think we’re losing our liber
ties to protect the guilty and damage
the innocent. We want to make sure
we have public virtue back again.”
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