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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 12, 1995)
THURSDAY ««3*»M««»>M««3M»M««3»M««C33»M«««3»M««C3»»M««»>M WEATHER: Today - Mostly sunny. South wind 15 to 25 mph. Tonight - Partly cloudy. 30% chance of showers. Low in upper 40s. COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA SINCE 1901 VOL. 95 NO. 38 -;-—: _October 12, 1995_ jay uaiaeron/UN New police academy graduate Officer Johnny Pitts Jr., right, receives a congratulatory handshake from his father Officer John Pitts Sr. The younger Pitts was one of 14 new graduates who will now be serving on the Lincoln Police Department. See story on page 6. Dispute leads to gunplay, injury By Jeff Zeleny Senior Reporter Those who live along 27th Street in central Lincoln said disturbances, like verbal argu ments and loud music, are common in their neighborhood, but gunshots are rare. However, six to 10 shots rang out Tuesday night in the parking lot of Lincoln Billiard ‘N’ Game, 611 N. 27th St. Police said the gunfire crossed the bustling four-lane street. An 18-year-old Lincoln High School stu dent was shot in the foot and a passerby’s car was hit. No one was seriously injured in the gunplay that apparently started with a simple argument outside the pool hall, police said. “When they left, we thought everything was fine. Then a couple minutes later, the shots came,” said Dung Tang, who was treated and released at Lincoln General Hospital for a gunshot wound to his right foot. A Lincoln couple was driving north on 27th Street when their 1977 Oldsmobile Omega was hit by at least one of the sailing bullets, police said. After the passenger side of the car was struck, police said, the driver followed a car that sped away from the scene. “The timing was bad on where they were at,” said Lincoln police Lt. Lee Wagner. “They just happened to drive past as one of the rounds struck their car.” The Lincoln man, driving the copper-col ored Omega, chased Tang and his friends in a red Honda for several blocks. Police said that when the man caught up with the teens, a confrontation began. A roommate of Tang’s, who requested ano nymity, said he was taking Tang to the hospital when the chase began. “We thought he shot at us, and he thought we shot at him,’’ the roommate said. Police allege the victims of the shooting hit the other man’s car with baseball bats and clubs, causing about $600 damage to the Omega. No arrests were made Wednesday in the vandalism incident. Witnesses and police said the scene near 27th and S streets was chaotic. The pool hall, which sits between a hair salon and an attorney’s office, is closed Monday through Thursday. However, a group of people were milling around in the parking lot, witnesses said. None of the bystanders were struck by bullets, which witnesses believed were fired from a .22-caliber handgun about 9:45 p.m. Standing on crutches outside his two-story brown house about two blocks from the Uni versity of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus, Tang said Wednesday that he and his friends knew the shooters. Tang said they were teen agers who have lived in Lincoln for about one year. “We used to hang around. There are little fights, but not shootings,” Tang said. “We Vietnamese don’t fight each other.” Investigator Richard Doetkcr said police also had identified the suspects, but had not located them Wednesday afternoon. Initial reports indicated that teens involved in the shooting had gang tics. Tang and his friends denied having gang affiliations. “The police think we are in a gang because we wear baggies,” said Tang’s roommate. “We don’t know anything about a gang.” National day meaningful despite funds By John Fulwider Senior Reporter Many on campus Wednesday may have noticed that UNL’s observance of National Coming Out Day was a bit more low-key this year. Stacie Schultz, Gay and Lesbian Student Association president, said people had asked her why GLSA did not do more to mark the event. Funding was the problem, the senior broad casting major said. GLSA began the year in debt, she said, and could only afford to operate a booth in Nebraska Union to mark the day. In 1994, GLSA provided an open micro phone on Broyhill Plaza for anyone to speak. All that was on the plaza Wednesday were colorful chalk messages that said “Ignorance=Fear,” “One in ten: think about it” and “Bum down your closets.” Schultz said GLSA did not sponsor the chalk messages. Despite the funding problems, many gay, lesbian and bisexual students said the day was still meaningful. The first National Coming Out Day was held in 1987 to commemorate that year’s March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. Wednesday was Bryan Pakiescr’s first Com ing Out Day since he came out. The sophomore architecture major said the day was a way for him to look back on the progress he had made since coming out. One of his biggest accom plishments, he said, was telling his parents and his friends about his sexuality. “I can just be myself now,” he said. “I don’t have to live in a closet anymore.” Coming Out Day isn’t just for coming out of the closet, Pakieser said. And it isn’t just for homosexuals. “It’s a day to support our movement more,” he said. “And they don’t have to be gay to do that.” Jeff Krotz, a freshman elementary educa tion major, said the day provided an opportu nity for people who weren’t educated about homosexuality to learn about it, “I’m not saying they have to like it,” he said. “But they should at least make them selves aware that it is out there.” GLSA’s booth in the union lobby will be open all week, Schultz said. Buttons, coffee mugs and bumper stickers are being offered for sale. Schultz said she had not heard of any UNL students or faculty coming out Wednesday. But sales were brisk, she said. She said it took a lot of courage just to walk up to GLSA’s booth. Those who visited the See COMING OUT on 6 Masters Week targets gold-medal graduates’ careers Getting along with others opens door to opportunity for Olympic photo chief By Paula Lavigne Senior Reporter People see the world through Gary Kemper’s camera._ Kemper and his camera have traveled across the globe, capturing images from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kuwait, South Africa, Northern Ireland, China and other news hot spots in his almost 20-year career. But his latest job brings him back to American soil as the photo chiet tor the Kemper 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Kemper, a 1976 University of Nebraska Lincoln journalism graduate, returned to his home state of Nebraska Wednesday for Mas ters Week. He will work this week with stu dents in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications. After receiving his bachelor’s degree from UNL, he received his masters degree from Columbia University in New York. Kemper’s overseas ventures started even before he graduated from UNL. In 1971, he left college for two years. “I put my backpack on and went off to Europe for nine months,” he said. His hike began in Germany, and through a series of adventures ended up in Portugal, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. “I always had a bug for travel,” he said. “I always wanted to jump in a car and take off.” His international career took off in London in 1981, when he covered the United Kingdom and Ireland for United Press International. See KEMPER on 8 Special Olympics director appreciates UNL education, urges students to do same By Ted Taylor Staff Reporter Charles Greene reached into his book bag and pulled out two socks. I —--j Inside, he keeps two med ais, a goia ana a oronze, which he won at the 1968 Olympics. The medal s have lost their shine and show signs of wear, but they re main symbols of a reward ing part of Greene’s past. And Greene doesn’t for « Er get 8ltts trom tiie Past That’s why this week is Greene so special for Greene. The 1968 University of Nebraska-Lincoln gradu \ ate has returned for Masters Week, an annual event to honor successful UNL graduates. “Oh yeah, this is a big-time deal for me,” Greene said Wednesday. “I am very honored they selected me to be a part of this. Very honored.” UNL was an educational and athletic op portunity that helped him find success in life, he said. “That is how I look at the university,” he said. “If it is supposed to be an institution to prepare students to go out in the real world and be successful — then it did well by me,” he said. “UNL really prepared me to do what I have done.” Athletics and the military, things that were important to Greene at UNL, remained impor tant throughout his life. Greene was the 1968 Bronze medalist in the 100-meter dash. His 400-meter relay team set a world record and won the gold medal that year in Mexico City. See GREENE on 8
