FRIDAY
WEATHER:
Today - Partly cloudy. Hot.
North wind 5 to 15 mph.
Tonight - Partly cloudy,
around 60.
August 25, 1995
(
Mourners
remember
slain officer
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter
OMAHA — Slain Omaha po
lice officer James Wilson Jr. smiled
at those who gathered to mourn
him Thursday.
The wide grin, frozen on his
color portrait in the front of St.
John’s Catholic Church, is the vi
sion his sister will forever have
painted in her mind.
“All my images are of Jimmy
laughing,” Jeannie Wilson said,
eulogizing her brother. “It’s not
even a laugh, it’s a little grin with
big teeth. Jimmy had it on all the
time, and I’m sure he has it on
now.”
But for the more than 2,500
survivors who came m Wilson’s
funeral to pay respects, it was too
soon to laugh.
1 here were tears to shed. Memo
ries to relive. And a 24-year-o!d
rookie police officer to lay to rest.
Wilson, a third-generation
Omaha police officer, was shot to
death Sunday in his patrol car while
attempting to stop a van with a
suspicious license plate. His career
as an Omaha police officer lasted
380 days.
About 1,200 police officers from
across the state and Midwest lined
the aisles and pews of the church
and the sidewalks of Omaha’s
Creighton University campus. They
came to bury the first Omaha po
lice officer killed in the line of duty
since 1974.
Many officers, standing shoul
der-to-shoulder beneath purple
stained glass, wiped tears away
with their white-gloved hands.
They were silent, but the black
bands stripped across their badges
showed their grief.
“We watched Jimmy every day
keeping peace in the community. It
was easy to see every day how
proud he was,” fel low' officer Chuck
Noonan said from the pulpit. Now,
“we’ll be one man short.”
Noonan spoke on behalf of
Wi 1 son’s crew. He fought back tears
as he told the congregation about
his fallen comrade, whom many
had never met.
As Noonan stepped away from
We re one man short ’
Travis Heying/DN
James Wilson Sr., father of slain Omaha police officer Jimmy Wilson, hugs a supporter while an Omaha police officer grieves
nearby. Wilson, who was the first Omaha policeman killed in the line of duty in 21 years, was laid to rest in a ceremony
Thursday mornrrg.
the altar and walked toward the
head of the coffin, James Wilson
Sr. stood from his pew and em
braced the officer. Noonan buried
his face in Wilson’s shoulder and
wept.
The Rev. John J. Lynch offered
comfort through scripture and
words. He urged the officers not to'
be angry with the seven men and
boys being held in Wilson’s slay
ing.
“We join our hearts and prayers
for the families of those who are
charged in this senseless act,”
Lynch said. “Father forgive them,
they know not what they do. Those
people did not know Jimmy Wil
son.”
Police Chief Jim Skinner knew
Wilson and knew that the young
man represented a 60-year family
legacy with the department. That
tradition ended when the youngest
Wilson was struck down.
“He gave us one year of out
standing service,” Skinner said,
withholding tears.
But Skinner said Wilson’s ser
vice hasn’t necessarily ended.
“Young Jimmy Wilson gave his
mother, Barbara, and his father,
Jim, joy and happiness for 24
years,” Noonan said. “And to the
Omaha Police Department and the
citizens of this community, he has
given an eternity.”
Gov. Ben Nelson, Sen. Bob
Kerrey (D-Neb.), Rep. Jon
Christensen (R-Neb.) and Mayor
Hal Daub attended the funeral. In
pews throughout the church, floral
dresses and pin stripe suits were
dotted among blue and brown uni
forms.
As officer Kevin Rowe sang a
tribute, “I’ll Be With You ‘til the
End of Time,” a packet of pink
tissue was passed down an outside
aisle to husbands, wives and chil
dren of officers.
Even more officers — includ
ing 80 from the Lincoln Police
Department — were lined sym
metrically on a brick plaza outside
the church. About 1,000 people
listened to the service through
speakers that played throughout
the campus, where Wilson gradu
ated in May 1993.
Students listened to the funeral
as they went to class. Like many of
the officers from across the state
and Midwest, they came to pay
lcspcti iu a man uiey nevci mei.
“Law enforcement is a brother
hood,” University ofNebraska-Lin
coln Police Sgt. John Lustrea said
as he waited to join the procession
to the cemetery. “There is a cama
raderie between law enforcement
everywhere.”
Lustrea, who was joined at the
funeral by University Police Sgt.
Mylo Bushing and Cpl. Brian
Scusa, said there had been a som
bemess on the force since Wilson
was slain. ?
“Anyone here knows it can hap
pen,” Lustrea said. “We all face the
same type of situations. You just
want to show your respect to a
fellow officer.”
See FUNERAL on 3
Regents to explore ‘separate checks’ tuition option
By Paula Lavigne
Senior Reporte r
Two months after the NU Board of
Regents approved a 6.2 percent tu
ition increase, the regents will exam
ine other ways to make tuition afford
able.
At a special meeting Saturday, the
regents will break from their normal
business to study the financing of
higher education, including a new
concept called differential tuition.
The concept was conceived by
guest speaker Charles Kuralis, direc
tor of the national Fund for the Im
provement of Post secondary Educa
tion.
The system would charge students
based on their major, year in school,
and services used.
For example, students majoring in
low-cost areas, such as English, would
pay less than those in high-cost areas,
such as engineering. Seniors would
pay more than freshmen because they
need more one-on-one attention and
use more services.
Joe Rov/son, NU director of public
affairs, presented this analogy:
“If a bunch of us wdre going to a
restaurant to eat, and we each ordered
what we wanted, and when the end of
the meal comes they bring us one
check.
“We decide we will just split it
evenly rather than trying to figure out
what person had the salad and who
ordered the prime rib.”
The current systems ask students
in low-cost areas to subsidize those in
high-cost areas. Classes are high
cost if they call for small student
teacher ratios or expensive equip
ment or services.
James Hendrix, dean of engineer
ing, said engineering classes were
expensive because they relied on ex
tensive laboratory and computer use,
but it was premature to say if engi
neering students should pay more.
If Kuralis’ system was used,
Rowson said, the university would
have to study each student’s needs. It
also would have to make sure stu
dents would not pass up a challeng
ing class because it was more expen
sive.
The NU system already makes
graduate and some professional stu
dents pay a higher tuition than under
graduate students, Rowson said, but
it doesn’t parallel Kuralis’ idea.
And Kuralis’ idea will be only one
of several discussed.
Regents Chairwoman Nancy
O’Brien of Waterloo said she ex
pected to hear more than 50 ideas.
“This is a discussion and an explo
ration,” she said. “Too often, the board
gets together and sets policy, makes
decisions only based on what’s hap
pening in Nebraska.”
When the rising cost of tuition
butts heads with the shrinking amount
of federal and state funding, O’Brien
said, a university has to look at ways
to keep tuition affordable without
cutting programs.
“It’s balance.”
