Powwow to begin healing process f
By John Fulwider
Senior Reporter
Seth Whiteface and Francisco
Renteria will be honored at a memo
rial powwow Sunday at the Indian
Center.
The event will bring together mem
bers of two different minority com
munities to memorialize lost family
members, said Lawrence
SpottedBird, Indian Center execu
tive director.
“We decided it might be a nice
addition to introduce another minor
ity community to the powwow tradi
tion,” SpottedBird said.
Whiteface was fatally shot by a
Lincoln police officer Aug. 1, 1992,
after he pointed a toy gun at the
officer. A grand jury exonerated the
officer.
Renteria died Oct. 1, a day after a
confrontation with Lincoln police. A
grand jury indicted two Lincoln po
lice officers and a fire captain on
misdemeanor charges, but all were
acquitted. A judge also .dismissed a
charge of official misconduct against
Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady.
SpottedBird said the powwow was
not being held to make a political
statement.
“It’s a simple humanitarian event,”
he said.
Memorial powwows commonly
are held among American Indians, he
said, to memorialize a lost loved one
and to help the deceased person’s
family start the healing process.
The powwow will feature dances
to honor Whiteface and Renteria.
Gifts will be given by various people
and organizations to the two fami
lies^
The public is invited to attend the »
free event. There will be a free barbe
cue dinner from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The
powwow’s major events begin at 7
p.m. with the Grand Entry and me
morial dance.
McMenamin
Continued from Page 1
Tina died on a Tuesday, between
a double-shift at a nearby Godfather’s
Pizza. She was on the phone with her
roommate’s mother until about 5:15
p.m. that day. She should have left
for work about 5:25 p.m., her mother
said, which was 5 minutes before her
shift began.
“In that 10-minute time period this
happened,” she said. “This person just
surprised her as she was leaving.”
Her mother spoke throughout the
65-minute telephone interview with
out breaking down. She seldom talked
about the day her daughter was ki 1 led,
but had her own theories on the crime.
“We’re a dog family. If you have
a dog, you have stability and a secu
rity factor there,” McMenamin said.
“Tina didn’t have a dog in Lincoln. I
was trying to get across to her that
you had to be careful.
“When she was in the apartment,
sometimes she wouldn’t lockthe door.
I knew she had this mindset that
Lincoln was unsophisticated. I think
she felt Lincoln was so wholesome
that you didn’t have to be as careful
as in Omaha.”
Police have released few details
about the slaying. A $12,550
CrimeStoppers reward — the largest
amount ever in a Lincoln police in
vestigation — is offered for informa
tion leading to the arrest and convic
k
McMenamin Memorial
• A memorial service for Martina McMenamin will be
Sunday at 2 p.m. in the Wick Alumni Center. Photographs
of the slain UNL student will be shown. University officials
and family members will speak at the service.
• A scholarship fund has been established in memory of
McMenamin. Contributions to the Martina McMenamin
Memorial Scholarship Fund may be sent to the University
of Nebraska Foundation, P.O. Box 82555, Lincoln, Neb.,
68501.
I___
tion of a suspect.
The McMenamin case has not
generated near the publicity Candice
Harms’ disappearance and murder
gained in 1992.
After Harms, a UNL freshman,
disappeared three years ago today,
her family waited for 12 weeks until
police found the body. Stan and Pat
Harms, as well as other parents of
slain children, have written, spoken
and sent books to McMenamin.
McMenamin said she had not al
lowed herself the time to realize her
own pain. Organizing memorial ser
vices and scholarship funds has kept
her from focusing on the brutal killing.
McMenamin said she had not read
or watched much of the news cover
age on her daughter’s slaying. But
she has been contacted several times
for interviews.
“The media has been pretty nice
-1
about it, but they want me on cam
era,” she said. “I don’t want to be on
television. I don’t have any crusade.”
Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady
said investigators continued to inter
view Tina’s acquaintances. Some
potential suspects have been cleared
because they have alibis, he said.
McMenamin remains hopeful her
daughter’s killer, who she believes is
a stranger, wifi be captured.
However, as the months go on, her
depression could be more difficult to
overcome. She is apprehensive about
Tina’s favorite day of the year — the
day after Thanksgiving when the fam- '
ily picks out a Christmas tree.
“We’re all worried about the holi
days,” McMenamin said. “She in
sisted on decorating every year. I just
dread this. I don’t want to get the
decorations out because I’ll cry.
“She loyerd Christmas.”
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