Diverse recruits
earn police degrees
By Jeff Zeleny
Senior Reporter
A straight-A student, an All
American baseball player and an
Army Hospital corpsman traded their
respective uniforms for police blues
and became commissioned officers
Wednesday night.
Fourteen police recruits, with sig
nificantly different backgrounds, re
ceived their diplomas Wednesday —
nearly one year after they applied to
be Lincoln police officers.
The three women and 11 men will
begin riding along with veteran po
lice officers today. In 22 weeks, they
will patrol the city "streets solo.
The new recruits stood at atten
tion as camera flashes brightened the
stage at the nearly-full O’Donnell
Auditorium on the Nebraska
Wesleyan University campus. With
their arms locked behind their backs,
Lincoln police Chief Tom Casady
congratulated the newest members
of his force.
“It’s truly an outstanding group of
men and women,” Casady said, his
moustached-grin brimming.
The 14 new officers, and the 15
officers who graduated earlier this
year from the Lincoln Police Acad
emy, came from a field of 902 appli
cants, said Lincoln Mayor Mike
Johanns.
“They are the best of the best,
joining a department that is the best
of the best in the United States,”
Johanns said.
The recruits completed 622 class
room hours since the academy started
July 10. In the last three months, the
rookie officers have studied police
law, experimented with directing traf
fic and practiced at the firearms range.
Recruits were given awards on die
highest grade-point-average, the best
shooter and the most physically fit.
Lancaster County District Judge
Bernard McGinn told police officers
to be accurate, fair and professional
in their new careers. In his keynote
address, McGinn recalled the sum
mer of 1964 when he worked at the
Lincoln Police Department.
“I know that this class is anxious
to get out on the streets and begin
their training as Lincoln police offic
ers,” McGinn said. “The exercise of
the power to make an arrest is an
awesome power, yours will be a most
difficult job.”
McGinn gave the officers advice
he gathered in his 11 years as a pros
ecutor and 15 years as a district judge.
The decisions that officers make daily
on the streets, McGinn said, will be
scrutinized again and again.
“Later, judges and juries will have
almost unlimited time to decide if
your split decisions were correct,” he
said. “We expect a lot from you.”
The graduation was the first pub
lic ceremony in the department’s re
cent history. Outstanding service
awards and the department’s medal
of honor were awarded to veteran
officers.
City officials encouraged the pub
lic to attend the graduation to show
officers support in a time of national
mistrust of the police.
“It reminds me again that I’m cur
rently the mayor of truly the greatest
city in America,” Johanns said. “One
of the major things that makes the
difference is the men and women of
the Lincoln Police Department.”
Coming out
Continued from Page 1
booth deserved to be commended,
she said.
A new addition to GLSA’s collec
tion of educational materials is the
Ally Card, available at its booth.
The pink, white and black post
card-sized card is similar to the pink
triangle stickers distributed a few
years ago, Schultz said.
The Ally Card is more useful than
the stickers, she said, because it in
cludes an explanation of National
Coming Out Day and discusses how
students and faculty can commit to a
more diverse and accepting campus.
The card also can be posted out
side an office to indicate that the
office is a safe place to talk openly
about sexuality.
The cards are less imposing than
the stickers, Schultz said, because
there is less pressure to display them.
People can tape them to their doors,
she said, or just pick up a card and
read it.
“It’s whatever they feel comfort
able with,” she said.
Schultz said one of GLSA’s goals
this year was to be all-inclusive, not
exclusive.
So she encourages everyone — of
all sexual orientations — to visit the
booth.
“We welcome you over to learn
more about us, to learn more about
the day.”
Fresh paint
Tanna Kinnaman/DN
The Apollo 009 space capsule sits inside a hanger at Duncan Aviation.
Repairs begin on Apollo capsule
By Paula Lavlgne
Senior Reporter
Lincoln, we have liftoff.
After sitting in a warehouse on
East Campus for five years, the
Apollo 009 space capsule docked
Wednesday at Duncan Aviation.
Instead of launching to the
moon,the capsule took a less glam
orous route down Cornhusker
Highway on a flat-bed truck.
It was weighed, then taken to a
Duncan Aviation paint hangar for
repairs.
The repairs are being funded by
an anonymous Nebraska donor.
Herb Howe, associate to the
chancellor, said a few highly pub
lic sites on and off campus were
being considered to display the
capsule.
Apollo 009 will stay in Ne
braska, he said, but will be kept
indoors.
NASA donated the capsule to
the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln in 1973. The 14-by-20-foot
spacecraft rested outside Morrill
Hall until 1991.
Rick Drapal, one of the Duncan
technicians restoring the space
craft, said Apollo 009 would first
have to undergo analysis.
“We have to remove what ap
pears to be house paint that the
university put on it,” he said.
The spacecraft will then be
painted with urethane paint, he
said, which is the same paint used
on commercial aircraft. Urethane
is more durable than ordinary paint.
Drapal said the technicians also
would try to match the original
colors, logos, flags and NASA
emblems. They will not repair dam
age from the capsule’s test mis
sions.
The craft was built in 1964 and
launched Feb. 26, 1966, by a Sat
urn I-B rocket on a sub-orbital
flight. It was the first Saturn launch
of an Apollo capsule, but not the
first Apollo launch.
During re-entry, the capsule lost
steering control and rolled, caus
ing bum marks on the outer skin of
the craft.
Its first — and only — un
manned mission lasted 37 min
utes.
The capsule did have life sup
port systems, Howe said, but as
tronauts never traveled in it.
Apollo 009 also was used to test
parachute systems, he said, which
failed.
“NASA said if there had been
people in that first flight,” he said,
“they would now be deceased.”
Although Apollo 009 wasn’t as
well-known as its Apollo relatives,
Drapal said the spacecraft’s land
ing mechanisms were the model
for those used in the famous Apollo
13.
Lori Johnson, Duncan
Aviation’s marketing communica
tions coordinator, said Apollo 009
was the company’s first spacecraft.
But the timeworn craft is in
good hands.
The technicians have repaired
aircraft that were in worse condi
tion than the Apollo 009, she said.
And besides, she said, the cap
sule is for display and “doesn’t
have to pass FAA tests.”
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