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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 1995)
1 SAY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE LIZARD The lizard Lounge is one year old this THU RSDAY THE PARTY STARTS AT 9:00 WITH 50c DRAWS UNTIL 1 1:00 BUD, BUD LIGHT. UTE, RED DOG. COORS LIGHT ETC. ITS OUR BIRTHDAY BUT WE’RE GIVING THE GIFTS!! T-SHIRTS. HAT. MUGS AND LOTS OF OTHER PARTY FAVORS!! i I—;--i HERE’S YOUR CHANCE TO..f| Sell 1 Your I Socks * Off! Daily Nebraskan Advertising Account Executive. Positions available beginning Fall 1995. Application information: Room 34, Nebr. Union. Materials due March 10,1995 at 5 pm. Citizen wants to make difference By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter As the roll call vote goes around the table at the mayor’s Conciliation Committee meetings, members re spond with their name, committee position and affiliation. Pascual Marquez. U.S. Department of Justice. Joel Gajardo. Director of the His panic Community Center. Mike Merwick. Lincoln fire chief. Then there’s a different reply. “I’m Ron Leifert, a concerned citi zen. Leifert does not represent an organization’s agenda, nor does he belong to a special interest group. Leifert belongs to the community, and he’s there to protect it. The committee, which was charged with promoting diversity and cultural understanding in Lincoln, was prompted by the death of Francisco Renteria. A month and a half later, Leifert was spurred on by the birth of his daughter, Lorin. He said he saw how polarized Lincoln’s ethnic and white populations had become after v Renteria’s death and did not want this y environment for his daughter. j Instead, Leifert said he wanted a community in which people were ac cepting of each other’s ethnicity. At the suggestion of a minority business associate who knew the Renteria fam ily, Leifert went to a Multicultural Advisory Committee meeting. The meeting was full of people from various ethnic backgrounds, Leifert said, and he—a white, middle aged, middle-class male—was a mi nority. After the meeting, Leifert’s ques tion to the mayor was, “Who would represent your average Joe Blow?” “Everyone was representing a group,” he said. “There was not any one to say, ‘I’m a citizen. I want to hear all sides and get in there and make a good decision.’” The committee needed someone Travis Heyina/DN Ron Leifert, who is a community representative on the Lincoln Conciliation Process Board, talks about the group’s motive during a meeting on Tuesday at Bryan Memorial Hospital. who did not have an agenda, he said. “One thing they certainly needed was a voice of balance.” Leifert, a native of Lyons — a small town of 1,500 people and few minorities—was not exposed to mi norities until he came to the Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1965. “I grew up in a Norman Rockwell painting,” he said. Teaching was Leifert’s first pas sion. He taught at Clinton Elementary School, where he was exposed to a diverse student population, and he coached football and taught drivers’ education at Lincoln East High School. Then Leifert’s life changed. While working on his administrative degree in the summer of 1975, two of his former employers offered him a job offer he said he couldn’t refuse. Today, at 47, he owns and operates Leifert Construction Co., which spe cializes in concrete construction, but his teaching hasn’t stopped. His com pany employs several university stu dents who, he said, can take away more than a paycheck from their work experience. Leifert wants to teach them toler ance. ... For instance, the company’s appli cations expanded the Equal Opportu nity Employment statement by stat ing: “We welcome applicants of all ethnic backgrounds.” This was a suggestion for city em ployers mentioned at a previous con ciliation meeting. The mayor ’ s meetings have height ened Leifert’s and others’ respect and awareness of minorities, he said, but these goals could not be accomplished overnight. Even if committee members’ opin ions aren’t the same, he said, members should have respect for each others’ opinions. • “I can’t comprehend that a 10 year-old boy fears the police —with out hearing things from parents or authority figures,” he said. “But these things exist in the community.” For hi s daughter’s sake, Leifert said he wanted to change them. “I will work to be someone who thinks on balance and makes deci sions on objective judgment,” he said. “I do not speak on a position of emo tionalism. “Now it’s my time to be involved and to make a difference.” MACARONI AU FROMAGE (EAT WITH GUSTO FOR ABOUT 5I< PER SERVING.) 2 cups macaroni (pinwheels are fun) 1 cup milk 1 cup sharp Cheddar (grated) 3 tbs flour 1/2 stick butter 1 tsp pepper 1 tsp Worcestershire (if you like) 1 tsp salt < Cook macaroni in 5 cups salted, boiling water for 15 minutes or until al dente. Drain. In a separate pot, melt butter and mix in flour over low heat. Then, stir in milk until smooth. Add cheese, salt, pepper and Worcestershire. Stir well. Smother macaroni. Serves 4. Note: For your nutritional convenience, Citibank Classic cards are accepted at over 12 million locations, including grocery stores.