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COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SIN 95 NO. 18 -— [4~1995
Fairbury
to be back
at stadium
By Brian Jensen
Staff Reporter
Lil* Red is back.
No, not the balloon guy who
stands on the sidelines. This lil’
red comes in an aluminum foil
wrapper with the word “Fairbury”
stamped on its side.
Popular demand has brought
Fairbury hot dogs back to Memo
rial Stadium. The dogs missed the
1994 season because of a business
dispute between the NU Athletic
Department and Roode Packing,
Fairbury’s parent company.
“We’re tickled to be back here,”
said Tom Roode, owner of Roode
Packing. “We’ve been here since
1962. It was a big disappointment
to miss last year, but it was a busi
ness decision, and we don’t feel
any hard feelings towards any
one.”
The athletic department asked
each vendor prior to the 1994 sea
son to contribute money toward the
HuskerVision project. Fairbury
could not afford the $30,000 con
tribution, Roode said, and no longer
could sell hot dogs at the games.
Gary Fouraker, assistant ath
letic director for business and fi
nance, said the athletic department
allowed a sponsorship with Armour
hot dogs on a trial basis last season.
“We weren’t happy with the
quality of the hot dog,” Fouraker
said. “We received some letters
and heard of some complaints.”
In fact, in a random survey con
ducted by the athletic department
last summer, the overwhelming
response called for the return of
Fairbury hot dogs.
Armour Swift-Eckrich officials
did not return calls from the Daily
Nebraskan Wednesday.
Fouraker said Roode Packing
and the athletic department made
an agreement in late summer so
that Fairbury could return to Me
morial Stadium. Fairbury will be
the corporate sponsor of the Ne
braska-Missouri game. Terms of
the agreement were not disclosed.
Many fans and hot dog lovers
may be thrilled by the return. But
one man — P. Stephen Potter —
might be happiest of all.
Potter is better known on game
days as the “Hot Dog Guy.” An
attorney from Gothenburg, Potter
See HOT DOGS on 6
Jeff Hal ler/DN
Riley Washington waits in the hallway at Lancaster County District Court.
'v
Player
maintains
innocence
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter
Riley Washington maintained his
innocence in court Wednesday as he
moved one step closer to an attempted
second-degree murder trial.
Washington pleaded not guilty to
two felony charges that stem from the
Aug. 2 shooting of a Lincoln man.
Lancaster County District Judge
Donald Endacott scheduled
Washington’s trial for the week of
Oct. 23.
Prosecutors allege Washington
shot Jermaine Cole after a gang-re
lated fight in the parking lot of a
convenience store on Aug. 2. Wash
ington is also charged with using a
weapon to commit a felony.
Washington s appearance in court
was his second in less than a week.
His case was moved Friday from
county court when a judge ruled there
was sufficient evidence for Washing
ton to stand trial.
Washington, who was wearing red
jeans, a black T-shirt and white Fila
tennis shoes, walked past a handful of
reporters as he entered the court room.
The junior wingback on the NU
football team sat between his two
attorneys from the public defender’s
office as seven other defendants were
^arraigned.
The attempted second-degree mur
der charge carries a jail sentence of
five to 50 years and up to a $25,000
fine. The weapons charge carries a
one-to-20-year prison sentence.
A witness to the Aug. 2 shooting
testified last week that he could not be
completely sure Washington was the
trigger man. However, Cole insists
Washington fired the shots that sent
him to the hospital for two days.
Chief Deputy Public Defender
Scott Helvie, who declined comment
Wednesday, has said Cole was not a
credible witness because he had been
charged with making false statements
to police.
Washington continues to practice
with the Nebraska football team, but
coach Tom Osborne has not said when
Washington will be allowed to return
to games.
Obstacles don’t stop women from shining
Female judge tops
the judicial ladder
despite tough times
Editor's note: These stories are part of a
five-day series on women in the Lincoln
community — their achievements and the
challenges they face.
Bv Julie Sobczyk
Senior Editor
Judge Lindsey Miller-Lerman has climbed
the ladder of Nebraska’s judicial system higher
than any other woman.
And the long climb has only made Miller
Lerman’s sense of justice more defined.
“I am really proud of what I do,” Miller
Lerman said. “I feel competent and thorough
about what I regard as valuable in a judge.”
In March, Miller-Lerman made history by
becoming the first woman to sit in on a session
of the Nebraska Supreme Court.
And she has presided over the Nebraska
Court of Appeals since 1992, the first and only
woman on the six-member court.
But the judge didn’t achieve this success
without overcoming some obstacles. She be
gan facing those obstacles on the first rung of
the ladder—as soon as she entered law school.
“When I entered law school in ’68, the class
was composed of about 10 percent women,”
she said. “Being a numeric minority is always
troublesome.”
See JUDGE on 6
Minority struggles
spark Combs’ drive
for ethnic diversity
By Chad Lorenz
Senior Editor »
When Gwendolyn Combs attended college
in 1970, she sometimes stood alone.
Combs, director of affirmative action for
Lincoln Public Schools, was one of the first
black women to be admitted to Wellesley Col
lege in Wellesley, Mass. Black women did not
attend the prestigious college until 1968, she
said.
Combs said she often felt inhibited as the
only black person in some of her large lecture
classes at Wellesley, but she didn’t let that stop
her from reaching success.
“It can be a horrifying experience to be the
only one all the time,” she said. “There was
racism. There were prejudices, but it was not
advert.”
Being at Wellesley was quite a contrast to
the mostly black community in Memphis,
Tenn., where Combs grew up, she said. In
Memphis, everyone looked out for each other,
she said.
Combs’ struggles as a minority in college
have motivated her to provide racial and ethnic
diversity in Lincoln schools, she said.
She now strives for racial and ethnic diver
sity in the schools so other minorities don’t
have to go it alone like she did, she said.
^ “ See COMBS on 7