The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, October 05, 1995, Page 2, Image 2

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    News Digest
Thursday, October 5, 1995 Page 2
Pope returns with challenge:
Set example of virtue, freedom
NEWARK, N.J.—Pope John Paul
II returned to America on Wednes
day as a self-described pilgrim for
peace, echoing Pope Paul Vi’s 1965
appeal to the United Nations: “No
' more war, war never again.”
The pope told President Clinton
and about 2,000 Catholic schoolchil
dren gathered to meet him at the
airport that the ideals behind the
founding of the United Nations 50
years ago are still needed in a world
where “ancient rivalries and suspi
cions still compromise the cause of
peace.”
At a prayer service later, John
Paul challenged countries in the
United Nations to “clothe yourselves
with humility. In particular, the pow
erful and the mighty ought to show
meekness in their dealings with the
weak.”
The 1,800 invited guests at the
evening prayer service included
Clinton, comedian Bob Hope and
about 120 cloistered nuns. Some of
the nuns left their convent grounds
for the first time since taking their
vows as long as 50 years ago.
The pope met with Clinton for
about 30 minutes before the service
at Sacred Heart Cathedral. Unlike
their meeting two years ago in Den
ver, the pope did not challenge the
president ’ s support for abortion rights.
Instead, the leaders discussed efforts
to forge peace in Bosnia and through
out the world.
“The president asked his Holiness
to continue his prayers for peace,”
said a joint statement from Vatican
and White House spokesmen.
In his airport address, John Paul
called for America to be a moral
superpower in the post-Cold War era,
and he reminded the nation’s leaders
not to forget the poor as Congress
considers cuts in social spending.
“Your, country stands upon the
world scene as a model of a demo
cratic society at an advanced stage of
de vel opment .Your power of example
carries with it heavy responsibili
ties,” the pope said. “Use it well,
America! Be an example of justice
and civic virtue, freedom fulfilled in
goodness, at home and abroad.”
Clinton added his belief that
Americans must “see to it that chil
dren live free of poverty with oppor
tunity for good and decent educa
tion.”
The pope’s five-day visit will take
him to New Jersey, New York and
Maryland. He seemed to be in good
spirits as he began his fourth trip to
the United States.
“The pope is bringing you the rain
— a very important event,” he said
with a smile at the conclusion of his
address at Newark International Air
port. The region has been plagued by
a drought for months.
Hundreds of people lined the route
of the pope’s motorcade from the
airport to the cathedral.
.“You can’t describe it. It was like,
'Let me touch the hem of your gar
ment,’ but it seemed like he touched
me,” said Doris Schenck after watch
ing the pope go by on his way to the
service. “It’s a wonderful feeling just
to be in his presence. He made me
holy.”
After the service, the pope re
turned for the night to the Manhattan
residence of the papal envoy to the
United Nations. John Paul is to ad
dress the United Nations General
Assembly on Thursday, exactly 30
years after Pope PaulVI delivered his
injunction against war.
Simpson angry about misconceptions
Jurors explain how
decision was reached
LOS ANGELES — Speaking out
for the first time since his acquittal,
O.J. Simpson on Wednesday assailed
prosecutors and legal commentators
for distorting the trial evidence to
make him look bad.
“My basic anger is these miscon
ceptions,” Simpson said in a surprise
phone call to CNN’s “Larry King
Live,” the latest twist in a case that
has shown no shortage of surprises.
Earlier, some of his jurors ex
plained for the first time why they
acquitted him in the murders of his
ex-wife and her friend. One said a
cop lied, another was a racist, and the
gloves didn’t fit — either on
Simpson’s hands or at his estate — so
she had to acquit.
Simpson, who wasn’t-seen during
his second day of freedom, also of
fered a brief comment about his first
reunion with his two small children,
Sydney and Justin, since he was ar
rested for their mother’s murder.
“It’s been great,” Simpson said
without elaboration. He then thanked
King and got off the phone.
Simpson’s call came during King’s
interview with lead defense attorney
Johnnie Cochran Jr. The lawyer
wouldn’t say where the meeting with
the children took place, or whether
Simpson had to elude the more than
100 reporters camped outside his es
tate.
Simpson called to respond to a
woman who called in asking about
prosecution claims that a shadowy
figure seen moving across the drive
way of Simpson’s house was-in fact
Simpson returning from an attempt
to hide a bloody glove.
Simpson said testimony from lim
ousine driver Allan Park never
showed this — only that there was a
person near the front door.
“It was me — walking out of my
front door, dropping my bags and
going back in,” he said. Simpson’s
defense had said that Simpson was
racing around his house at about 11
p.rri. packing for a planned trip to
Chicago.
Simpson said prosecutors and le
gal commentators constantly miscon
strued the evidence.
“My basic anger is people I’ve
heard say, 'I followed the case.’ I’ve
heard experts say,’'This was the tes
timony today,’ and that wasn’t the
testimony today,’’ Simpson said.
“Fortunately for me, the jury lis
tened to what the witnesses said and
not wh#t ^Marcia Clark’s or (Christo
pher) Darden’s or anyone else’s ren
ditions of what was said,’’ Simpson
said.
In their first full day free from
sequestration, some jurors spoke out.
Brenda Moran, a black computer
technician from South Central Los
Angeles, said a glove found behind
Simpson’s mansion was key to her
decision to acquit Simpson in the
murders of Nicole Brown Simpson
and Ronald Goldman.
“Somebody planted it,’’ Moran
said, signaling she agreed with the
defense contention that Simpson was
framed by rogue cops.
The juror discussed the case with
more than 100 reporters, who were
assembled on the roof of a Beverly
Hills parking garage because there
wasn’t enough room inside the of
fices of Moran’s attorney.
Another black juror, Gina
Rosborough said a straw poll taken
less than an hour into deliberations
was 10-2 in favor of acquittal. One of
those voting guilty was black or His
panic and one was white, she said.
The next vote was unanimous.
E-mail
Continued from Page 1
have bigred accounts. The system
can serve up to 25,000 users, he said.
Amy Nickerson, a junior psychol
ogy major, is another new bigred
user. Like most bigred users,
Nickerson mainly uses her account
for e-mail.
“I don’t have to have a long-dis
tance phone bill 'all the time,”
Nickerson said,‘‘and also I can talk to
my friends in other states a lot easier.”
Blaufuss has figured out how to
I -
access’ the World Wide Web,
Netscape and other Internet locales
through his modem.
’“I’m now omnipotent, if you wi 11,”
he said.
The system also is useful for “chat
ting,” or talking directly via com
puter with others who have bigred
accounts, James said.
“You can talk to someone who’s
on Herbie,” James said, “but it’s a lot
faster if both people are on bigred.”
Students can apply for a free bigred
account at the Computer Shop in the
501 building or the Operations Cen
ter in the basement of the Walter
Scott Engineering Center.
Account information such as pass
words and account numbers will be
ready two to three, days after the
application is turned in.
If people heed help with their ac
counts,they may call the Operations
Center at 472-5653 or the Informa
tion Services help desk at 472-3970.
There are still some problems with
bigred, James said. The complica
tions primarily have concerned pass
words and terminal recognition. . '
“It’s a brand new system.” he said.
“There are lots of adjustments to be
made. It’s been a real learning pro
cess.”
Nebraskan
. FAX NUMBER 472-1761 y
The Daly Nebraskan(USPS 144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448,
Monday through Friday dunng the academic year; weekly during summer sessions.
Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday
through Friday. The public also has access to the Publications Board. For information, contact Tim Hedegaard, 436-9253, 9 a.m.-fl p.m.
Subscription price is $50 for one year.
Postmaster: Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34,1400 R St.,Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. Second-class postage paid
at Lincoln, NE. -
ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT
1995 DAILY NEBRASKAN
News a
in a ( vj
1 MinutP
Opal lashes Honda beaches
PENSACOLA* Fla. — Hurricane Opal thrashed the Florida Pan
handle with howling wind gusts up to 144 mph Wednesday, flooding
homes, knocking down piers along the sugar-white beaches and
forcing more than 100,000 terrified people to flee inland. At least one
person was killed.
Opal, whose storm center hit the Air Force’s Hurlburt Field, east of
Pensacola, just after 6 p.m. EDT, was one of the strongest storms to hit
the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Camille killed 256 people in 1969.
“I think this one is going to clean our clock,” said Tom Beliech, who
fled Pensacola. “Erin gave us a deep respect for knowing when to
leave,” he said, referring to the hurricane that forced a similar exodus
two months ago.
At 9 p.m. EDT, Opal was about 45 miles north of Pensacola, moving
north at about 22 mph. Maximum sustained winds had dropped to
about 100 mph from 125 mph, and forecasters said the storm gradually
would weaken through the night as it headed toward southern Ala
bama.
At least 100,000 were evacuated from a 150-mile stretch of Florida’s
Gulf coast, from Pensacola to Wakulla Beach south of Tallahassee, as .
the ninth hurricane of the/Atlantic storm season closed in.
Opal, which left 10 people dead in Mexico, spun off at least seven
tornadoes and caused flooding from storm surges of up to 15 feet.
Cult leader reportedly confesses
TOKYO — The cult guru charged with murder in a nerve gas attack
on Tokyo’s subways has confessed to that and other killings, reports
said Wednesday. His cult said the confession had been forced.
The cult — Aum Shinri Kyo, or Supreme Truth — and some reports
also said the confession was not strong enough to be admissible as
evidence. Police would not comment.
Cult leader Shoko Asahara has been charged with masterminding
the March 20 subway attack that killed 12 and sickened 5,500. Police
believe cult members carried out the attack to fulfill Asahara’s
-predictions of doom.
Asahara has previously denied involvement in the gassing.
He also is charged in a nerve gas attack in central Japan last year that
killed seven people; with directing the 1989 murder of an anti-cult
lawyer and his family; and with involvement in the murder in February
of a man who was helping his younger sister try to leave the cult.
“In each case, I gave the order and group leaders carried it out,” Japan’s
public television network, NHK, quoted Asahara as telling investiga
tors in a written confession.
But the cult almost immediately drafted a statement quoting
Asahara’s lawyer as saying the confession had been forced and would
be inadmissible. - ' .
Regents
Continued from Page 1
limited but still important:
“It would be great to be voting
members on the board,” Hurtgen said.
“But being non-voting still gives us
an influence by having four student
regents on a board of eight.”
If they would vote, the four stu
dent regents would represent a total
of about 50,000 people. They would
stack up unevenly against the eight
regents who each represent a district
of 200,000 people. That was one of
the arguments against giving student
regents a vote, J.B. Milliken, NU
corporation secretary, said.
“It’s unfathomable for the state of
Nebraska to have four student re
gents control one-third of the board
when they represent only a fraction
of the state,” he said.
The second objection is their one
year terms, Milliken said, because
one year is not enough time to be
come well-versed in the language of
the NU system.
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Student Regent Dave Bargen agreed.
“We have one year to take a crash
course in how the board works, its
concerns, debates, policies and by
laws,” Bargen said.
Voting student regents also would
violate the .one-person, one-vote con
cept, Milliken said, because a stu
dent and a regent would be compet
ing in a district.
Five years ago, though* student
regents’ votes were registered, and
two years ago they were asked to
voice their opinions before the re
gents, Milliken said, so. they could
make more of an impact without an
official vote.
Payne, who has been a regent for
15 years, said the changes gave stu
dents a louder voice.
“They’re more active now than
they used to be,” he said. “They can
make motions and discuss them, and
their opinion can be counted.”
O’Brien said the system encour
aged input from student regents.
“They behave responsibly,”
O’Brien said. “They have ideas and
thoughts to contribute and have been
responsive to the students’ rights and
responsibilities.”
Even though the board went
against the student regents’ opposi
tion to a tuition increase, Bargen said
the students’ votes can be a lobbyist
tool.
“Even though our votes aren’t
counted,” he said, “they are counted
for swaying (the regents’) opinions,”
Bargen said the system has at
tracted other universities, namely the
University of Colorado at Boulder,
to adopt a similar student regent-con
cept.
Some institutions, most of which ,
have appointed regents or trustees,
do enlist a voting student regent who
represents the entire system, Milliken
said. But NU regents and student
regents said that system wouldn’t
work for Nebraska.
“I’d say there’s no likelihood of
that whatsoever,” O’Brien said.
Hurtgen agreed.
. “I’d hate to see an appointment by
the governor to be a representative of
the university,” she said. “The way '
we do it now is very fair, and it gives
all students a chance to represent the
university.”