insidell
lit
ednesday
Sports
Men’s gymnastics team
looking for a repeat title,
page 7
Arts & Entertainment
Wickedly good “ The Last
Seduction” comes to the
Ross Theater, page 9
April 19, 1995
UNL student dies of apparent suicide
By Matthew Waite
and Brian Sharp
Senior Reporters
The weekend death of a UNL fresh
man has left family, police and univer
sity officials searching for answers.
Stacy Lynn Bartlett, 19, died Sat
urday after being hospitalized for eight
days following an April 9 pill over
dose in her campus residence hall
room.
Bartlett was a 1994 graduate of
Harvard High School. “This is just
unusual,” said Dwight Cude, the guid
ance counselor at Harvard High.
“We’fe a little bit removed out here,
but everybody remembers Stacy.
“She was just a great kid.”
Funeral services for Bartlett are
today at 2 p.m. at St. Cecilia’s Catho
lic Church in Hastings.
Bartlett’s death has been prelimi
narily classified a suicide by police,
but remains under investigation.
James Griesen, vice chancellor for
student affairs, said the UNL offices
of Greek and judicial affairs were look
ing into reports of alcohol in the case.
Griesen and university police pro
vided the following account of the
events leading up to Bartlett’s death:
On April 8, Bartlett went to a party
about 10 p.m. at Delta Upsilon Frater
nity. She reportedly drank alcohol
throughout the night.
“The investigation is not complete,”
Griesen said. “But if the early reports
of the drinking happening at the Delta
Upsilon house hold up, indeed it would
be an infraction of the student code of
conduct.
Delta Upsilon President Bret Bailey
declined comment.
After the party, Bartlett returned to
Sandoz Residence Hall at 3 a.m. Sun
day. She spent three hours in a friend’s
room, and then returned to her own
room on the second floor.
At 6:30 a.m., Bartlett called the
friend she had just left and said she
had ingested a lot of pills. Friends
reported that Bartlett said “I don’t
want to die” and asked for help.
Two friends took her to the emer
gency room and checked her into
Bryan Memorial Hospital at 7:28 a.m.
Bartlett apparently overdosed on
asthma medication, Tylenol and large
doses of another unidentified drug.
See SUICIDE on 6
UHC offers counseling
From staff Reports
Counseling services for students
suffering from depression, having
difficulty dealing with stress or cop
ing with loss are available through
the University Health Center.
For appointments call 472-5000.
In the wake of the Saturday sui
cide death of a University of Ne
braska-Lincoln freshman, signs of
suicidal behavior are not uncom
mon at this time of year, said James
Griesen, vice chancellor for stu
dent affairs.
“I think many students start to
feel the pressure of term papers and
impending finals,” Griesen said
Tuesday. “It makes it difficult for
students that are suffering from
depression.”
Griesen urged any student on
campus who was feeling depressed
to call the health center for help. He
also said students with friends show
ing signs of depression should en
courage the friends to get help.
Rolling Storm
thunders over
NU players
By Brian Sharp
Senior Reporter
Shad Dahlgren glides to the basket.
As the UNL junior puts the basketball through
the hoop, a boy seated at the courtside smiles
and shouts something to his father.
The 8-year-old boy is Scott Pigsley. He has
spinabifida and is in a wheelchair. As NU bas
ketball player Jaron Boone brings the ball down
the court, Pigsley leans back again, his big,
green eyes wide with excitement.
Basketball is Pigsley’s favorite sport — to
play and to watch. When asked who his favorite
Comhusker is, there is little hesitation before he
blurts out, “Boone! ” and points to the young star
breezing by.
Boone and other NU basketball players faced
Dahlgren and his Rolling Storm team Tuesday
night at the NU Coliseum for the second annual
Rolling Storm benefit wheelchair basketball
game. Throughout the night, Boone often
found himself one-on-one with Dahlgren. And
he usually lost.
“He’s slippery,” said Boone, who was play
ing in his second wheelchair basketball game.
“These are a great bunch of guys. They’re out
there playing a game they love.
Dahlgren knows how difficult it is to leam
that different game. He played on his high
school’s basketball team in Bertrand until a
June 1993 car accident.
Dahlgren has been in a wheelchair since he
was 16. He spent his last two years of high
_ ' $
Travis Heying/DN
Rolling Storm basketball player Jeremy Schmitt watches as teammate Dale Johannes collides with NU basketball player
Andy Markowski during tne second annual benefit wheelchair basketball game Tuesday night.
school on the sidelines, watching his friends
and teammates win two state championships.
“It was really hard,” Dahlgren says, taking
time between questions to sign autographs.
Athletics were very big there.”
In Augqst 1993, Dahlgren created Rolling
Storm. Players range from amputees to quad
riplegics, he said, and some players don’t use a
wheelchair in their daily lives.
In the contest with Boone, Dahlgren came
out on top. He finished with 12 points in a 34
27 victory. Boone finished with six points.
Lincoln man shoots self
as police arrive at scene
By Matt Woody
Senior Editor
A 35-year-old Lincoln man died
Tuesday on his apartment balcony
from a self-inflicted gunshot, police
say.
David Rivers of 4340 Leighton
Ave. committed suicide as police ar
rived on the scene, said Lincoln Po
lice Sgt. Jim Spanel.
Spanel gave the following account
of the incident:
The Lincoln 911 center received a
call at 2:32 p.m. from Rivers, who said
he was going to commit suicide be
cause “he had to.”
Units were dispatched to the scene
at the Cheever Apartments. As police
came around the side of the building
where fevers was, they saw him with
a rifle^hointed up from beneath his
chin.
They backed off and did not get a
chance to establish communication
with Rivers, who then pulled the trig
ger.
No one else was home at the apart
ment when the shooting occurred,
Spanel said.
An autopsy will be conducted, he
said, and a grand jury investigation
will begin through the county
attorney’s office. Such an investiga
tion is standard when a person is shot
in front of police, the sergeant said.
Funeral arrangements through
Roper and Sons Mortuary are pend
ing. Rivers is survived by his parents.
Legislature feels the ‘crunch’
By J. Christopher Hain
Senior Reporter
The Nebraska Legislature is ex
periencing its own version of end
of-the-semester blues.
With 27 days
left in the legis
lative session,
several impor
tant bills have
yet to be ad
dressed.
Gov. Ben
Nelson likened
the situation to
the two weeks
before final exams in college.
“It’s crunch time,” Nelson said.
Nelson said that every year the
session gets to a point where legis
lators start to wonder if they will get
to every important bill.
Among bills yet to be debated,
Nelson said, the crime bill is his
No. 1 priority, followed closely by
welfare reform and a proposed cap
on special-education funding.
The budget also has yet to be
debated but will be addressed dur
ing the next few weeks.
Budget debate has been known
to be lengthy, but Sen. Roger
Wehrbein of Plattsmouth said he
expected moderate debate on it this
year.
That doesn’t mean the Legisla
ture will be able to get to every key
issue, Wehrbein said.
“I assume in 27 more days we
are not going to get to everyone’s
priority,” Wehrbein said.
Bills to be addressed are chosen
by Speaker of the Legislature Ron
Withem of Papillion.
Withem said he would deter
mine which bills to address by ask
ingmembersofthe Legislature what
their biggest priorities were.
Defining legislation of this year ’ s
session is still ahead, Withem said,
though the budget is the only thing
the Legislature is required to deal
with.
He said the crime bill would be
covered only if members thought it
was important enough to bring up
out of its natural order.
Otherwise, the bill will carry over
to next year’s session. Withem said
many bills faced the same situation.
“The worst thing that happens to
a bill is that it will be one of the first
ones we pick up next year,” he said.
Nelson said that may not be in
the best interest of the state.
“Every day they don ’ t pass some
thing important,” Nelson said, “it’s
just that much worse off.”
