MONDAY
WEATHER:
Today - Partly cloudy &
colder. Northwest wind 10
to 20 mph.
Tonight - Cloudy & very
cold, low near 0 to -5.
_January 29, 1996_
Matthew Waite/DN
Lincoln firefighters remove remnants of a house, at 850 N. 23rd St., that was destroyed late
Saturday night. A fire was started by a candle lit because of trouble with a light fixture.
Flames engulf house
Man escapes injury in $40,000fire
By Matthew Waite
Senior Editor
Fire destroyed a Lincoln man’s
home late Saturday night when he
fell asleep after lighting a candle in
his bathroom.
Firefighters were called to 850
N. 23rd St. shortly before 11:30
p.m. to find the house engulfed in
flames.
Mike Kula, one of two men
renting the house, was asleep in
side when he was awakened by
the fire. Kula was alone and not
injured.
Acting Deputy Fire Chief Den
nis Miller said Kula was having
trouble with a bathroom light fix
ture and lit a candle. Miller said the
fire started over the toilet and
quickly spread through the house.
“This thing had flames coming
out of every window and door,” he
said, pointing to the house. “I don’t
know what woke him up, but he is
one lucky man.”
Miller said the house was a total
loss, with $30,000 damage to the
structure and $10,000 damage to
the contents. The house was owned
by Bill Alexander.
Freezing temperatures made lad
ders slick for firefighters, and coats
were covered in ice. A bus was
stationed behind the housefo allow
firefighters to warm up.
As firefighters battled the flames
through the midnight hour, more
than 30 residents from neighboring
homes watched from driveways and
porches.
Tracey Badley, a junior educa
tion major at the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln, was in her apart
ment at 2244 Vine St. when she
heard sirens. When she looked out
side, she said, flames covered the
front of the house.
“All I saw was orange,” she said.
Badley joined dozens of people
outside who came from parties in
side the apartment building. She
said she heard the windows break
ing but was unsure if firefighters
were breaking them or if it was
caused by the fire.
Thick smoke started to blow to
ward the building, and she, along
with others, went inside, Badley
said.
Firefighters were cleaning up
from the fire until after 2 a.m.
Army deploys graduate as ‘historian’
By Michaela Pieler
Staff Reporter
Major A1 Koenig is sure he’s
headed to Bosnia today, and he says
it’s the best thing that could happen to
his career.
Koenig, who received his doctorate
in history from the University of Ne
braska-Lincoln last May, received a
deployment order from the U.S. Army
last Thursday.
The order said he would act as a
historian. Although it did not specify
a final destination, his route—from
St. Paul, Minn., to Fort Benning,
Ga., and then to Frankfurt, Germany
— makes him sure he is going to
Bosnia.
“That’s just the standard way for
U.S. troops to Bosnia,” said Koenig,
who was living at 818 S. 14th St.
He assumes that his duty will be to
chronicle the peace-enforcement mis
sion, which one of his former class
mates did after the Gulf War.
“It’s the best thing that could hap
pen for my professional and my mili
tary career,” he said.
Koenig, who is a writer, said he had
been looking for a job since gradua
tion. The job market for historians is
not good, he said.
“Many historians would kill to get
the chance to chronicle what’s going
“ Whatever the Army wants me to do, I will do to
my best ability. ” *%.. A f
MAJ. AL KOENIG
Historian
on in Bosnia,” he said.
After nearly four years of war,
Muslims and Croats signed a peace
contract in December that separated
Bosnia into two separate ethnic re
gions.
To get ready for his trip, Koenig
has started reading books on Croatian
history. He also studied the Croatian
language and read newspapers “reli
giously,” he said.
“I prepare myself to do my best
possible job for the Army,” he said.
Koenig is a member of the Indi
vidual Ready Reserve. He joined the
reserve in the late 1980s when he
came to UNL to begin his graduate
studies. He received his undergradu
ate degree from Mankato State Uni
versity in Mankato, Minn.
But this will be his first military
action, he said.
“Whatever the Army wants me to
do,” Koenig said, “I will do to my best
ability.”
Although he got an advanced warn
ing in December, Koenig did not take
it seriously.
“Nothing is certain until you get
your order in hand,” he said. “So far,
I just assumed I didn’t have to go.”
The reaction of his family and
friends varied, Koenig said. Some were
excited because the deployment was a
great career opportunity. Others were
concerned about the area beingrough,
he said.
Koenig was a little troubled, too.
“Only a fool wouldn’t have some
fear,” he said.
But he joked that he had seen a lot
of crime while living in one of
Lincoln’s worst areas.
“I guess there’s not too much more
war in Bosnia,” he said.
According to his order, Koenig will
be away from home for nine months.
He said the idea of being in Bosnia at
the time of rebuilding thrilled himas a
historian.
“It’s a chance to see history hap
pening,” he said.
Gambling will hurt
state, expert says
By Matthew Waite
Senior Editor
Expanding gambling would only
further burden taxpayers with more
social service spending, not reduce
taxes as some have said, an expert on
gambling issues said Friday.
Robert Goodman, a former colum
nist for the Boston Globe and author
of‘The Luck Business,” told Nebraska
senators, senatorial staff and mem
bers of the media that gambling only
made matters worse.
“When you fight fire with fire, you
only get a bigger fire,” he said.
Goodman’s appearance was spon
sored by Gambling with the Good
Life, a grass roots organization op
posing expanded gambling in Ne
braska.
Gambling, a key issue in the 1996
session, will be at the forefront of this
week’s legislative debate as LR43CA,
a constitutional amendment to expand
gambling, hits the floor.
Gov. Ben Nelson has said he would
veto any bill that expanded gambling.
Nelson, however, cannot veto a con
stitutional amendment.
Supporters of expanded gambling
have sdid that gambling in Nebraska
will bring dollars spent in Iowa casi
nos back to Nebraska.
Goodman said that idea was flawed,
however.
“When you fight fire
with fire, you only get a
bigger fire. ”
ROBERT GOODMAN
Author of "The Luck Business"
He said he was not anti-gambling
— he gambles himself. But he said
gambling was a moral decision to be
made by an individual, not states.
Two years of research on states
that introduced gambling showed sev
eral things, Goodman said. They in
clude:
• Of the groups in the United States
that were not supported by the gam
bling industry, none of them favored
expanded gambling.
• Gambling did not lower taxes in
any state. In fact, they went up.
• Social service spending increased
after the introduction of gambling.
• In Minnesota, bankruptcy claims
rose 20 percent after gambling was
introduced.
Goodman said there were two types
of gambling economies. They are: a
tourist-based gambling economy like
Nevada’sand a convenience gambling
See GOODMAN on 3
Nelson argues in favor
of work camp punishment
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter “
Almost a year ago, Gov. Ben Nelson
urged Nebraska lawmakers to con
sider a proposal for a military-style
boot camp for non-violent criminals.
And after a year of tweaking and
revamping the idea, he again testified
before the Legislature’s Judiciary
Committee on Friday in support of a
bill that would give judges the option
to sentence first-time, non-violent of
fenders to prison work camps.
Nelson said the programs would
give Nebraska judges another option
— one, he said, “that provides for
appropriate discipline, work and treat
ment programs for non-violent offend
ers.”
Sen. John Lindsay of Omaha, who
introduced LB 1171 at the request of
the governor, said the probation pro
gram would be beneficial.
“I think it will be effective,” he
said. “I think it will be cost effective,
and I think it will have the support of
the public.”
But Lindsay called the commonly
used term “boot camp” a misnomer.
“The emphasis of the camps is keep
ing inmates busy,” he said, “rather
than having the emphasis be on mili
tary-type components.”
Nelson said Nebraska’s prison
overcrowding problem had reached a
“crisis point,” and the work camps
would free up bed space for more
serious and violent offenders.
“By making sure that offenders are
housed in appropriate facilities, we
use our limited resources and tax dol
lars more effectively,” Nelson said.
Statistics show Nebraska prisons
are 146 percent above capacity, said
Harold Clarke, the director of the
Nebraska Department of Corrections.
That number could rise to 200 percent
by the turn of the century.
Harold Clarke, the
director of the Nebraska
Department of
Corrections, said the 180
day work camps had six
main goals.
% Protecting the public by keeping
qualified offenders under tight
supervision while incarcerated and
upon release.
% Reducing prison overcrowding by
diverting offenders from
institutions.
% Saving money by providing a
shorter, cheaper intervention than
prison.
£ Holding the offender accountable
by placing him/her in a highly
regimented and disciplined
environment.
0 Rehabilitating offenders by
teaching them self-discipline and
good work habits, and by offering
them counseling.
£ Potentially reducing recidivism
and deterring future crime.
Aaron Steckelberg/DN
Clarke said certain individuals
might benefit from a period of short,
intensive, regimented discipline.
“I think it is a viable alternative to
incarceration,” he said. “Not every
one needs to be locked up.”
But if the offender committed seri
ous violations, Clarke said, or refused
to take part in the program, he or she
would be resentenced.
See CAMPS on 6