THURSDAY
WEATHER:
Today - Considerable
cloudiness. South wind 15
to 25 mph.
Tonight - Partly cloudy,
low around 40. _
_February 22, 1996_
_Bosnia's fe)_
Fragile Peace
totakecare otherS wounded ln a shel1 attack near Srebrenica-She said there were not enough doctor! hi thecamp
Shelter’s refugees tell war tales
By Matthew Waite
Senior Editor
T|UZLA, Bosnia-Herzegovina
— Emin Smajlovic doesn’t
know how old he is today.
Neither does Ahmo Osmanovic.
Dzevahira Hodzic has almost
everything she needs — food and shelter.
What she needs, she says, is peace.
Her son, Halid, cannot think about the
past without crying.
They have been at the Enver Siljak
refugee camp in the Slatina district of Tuzla
for as many as five years. They all came
from Srebrenica, or villages near the city
that fell to the Serbs while under U.N.
protection.
This building is more of a hospital than
the four other camps in Tuzla, which house
more than 20,000 refugees.
The cany used to be a dormitory for
students at the nearby university.
Now, it houses 372 Muslim refugees.
Many were crippled by war. About 150
are too old to live on their own. Vahida
Lclic, the chief manager of the facility,
says the others needed someone to take
care of them — but no one was there.
She says she often receives phone calls
from concerned sons and daughters asking
about their parents. Lelic tells them they
are alive and doing fine, and they hang up.
The camp survives completely on
international aid. Food, medicine and
supplies from the United Nations, the Red
Cross, Care International and several other
groups all make their way here.
If it were not for those donations, the
residents of the Enver Siljak refugee camp
would not eat or have heat.
See CAMP on 8
For the first time, the Daily Nebraskan will
give its readers an up-close look at the larg
est European conflict since World War II.
Senior Editor Matthew Waite and Photo
Chief Staci McKee recently spent five days
in Tuzla, a city of 160,000 people in north
eastern Bosnia-Herzegovina. Today is the
second day of a three-part series of stories
from the former Yugoslavia.
Today:
Restless refugees react to the president of
Bosnia-Herzegovina. Page 7.
Residents of a refugee camp for the eld
erly offer their stories. Pages 8 and 9.
Friday:
Two friends, both soldiers and students,
tell about the war and trying to study with
the memories of conflict._
Hate crime
penalties
may stiffen
By Ted Taylor
Senior Reporter
Kristen Job told the Judiciary Committee of
the Nebraska Legislature on Wednesday she was
scared for her life last New Year’s Eve.
Scared to think the four men outside her
apartment meant what they were yelling through
her door.
“They repeatedly told us we would be raped,
beaten and possibly killed if we opened the
door,” she said. “All because we were interested
in and preferred women to men — like them
selves.”
Job, a junior English major at the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln, testified in favor of
LB919, which would enhance the criminal pen
alties for crimes motivated by bigotry. Colum
bus Sen. Jennie Robak sponsored the bill.
“I implore you to think about what could
have happened to me that evening—what con
tinues to happen to people all over the state —
and toughen the penalties for those who act out
of hate” Job said.
Robak’s bill would punish those who physi
cally or verbally intimidate people based on their
race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin,
political affiliation, sex, sexual orientation, age
or disability.
If convicted, Robak said in her testimony,
the offender would be punished in line with the
next higher penalty classification for the crime
committed.
“The victims of hate cannot change their skin
color, their national origin, their age or sex,”
she said.
But even supporters of the bill said it could
use some amendments.
Jean Durgin-Cl inchard of Lincoln asked for
more law enforcement training to better iden
tify hate crimes, inclusion of hate crimes in
crime statistics, and clarification of some of the
unclear language in the bill.
“Penalty enhancement is appropriate for hate
crimes,” she said. “Whole groups of people are
impacted when such crimes go unrecognized
for the terrorism they intend.”
Bob Wolfson, regional director of the Anti
Defamation League, told the committee that
hate crimes had more profound potential im
pacts on the community than other types of
crimes.
“The damage ,done by crimes of bias can not
be measured,” he said. “For that reason, biased
crimes deserve special response.
“Clearly the time is right for this kind of leg
islation in Nebraska.”
Committee chairman John Lindsay of
Omaha asked the difference between his being
assaulted for being a Husker fan or for being a
See Hate on 7
Campaigns look to attract students’ votes
By Julie Sobczyk
Senior Reporter
The average student isn’t too inter
ested in the 1996 election, one UNL
professor says, but campaign manag
ers say they want to target student vot
ers.
Kevin Smith, a University of Ne
braska-Lincoln political science pro
fessor, said the average student didn’t
show enough interest in the campaigns
for president and U.S. Senate.
“Research says not a lot of students
are politically aware, and they don’t
vote a lot,” Smith said.
According to the Lancaster County
election commissioner’s office, during
the November 1994 election, 12.8
percent of registered voters were be
tween 18 and 25 years old. The high
est percentage, 38.7 percent, com
prises those between the ages of 41
and 65.
Because students traditionally have
low turnout in the polls, most cam
paigns won’t target them, he said.
“If you are a rational politician
seeking votes, you’ll want to pay at
tention to those who vote more,” Smith
said.
As people age, they tend to vote
more because political issues affect
them directly, he said.
Increasing interest rates and taxes
become more of a concern after col
lege, he said, and as people get older,
they want their voices to be heard
about those issues.
“They’re concerned about their fu
tures and their children’s futures,”
Smith said.
But, he said, students should keep
their futures in mind and listen to cam
paign messages.
“What the government does affects
you,” Smith said. “Education issues
and student loans should be of inter
est to students ”
As the U.S. Senate race comes
closer to the primaries, two campaign
managers say they want the student
vote.
Steve Thomlison, Attorney General
Don Stcnberg’s campaign manager,
said student votes were necessary for
a successful campaign.
“Students can have a big impact,”
Thomlison said. “Student involvement
can make a difference as to whether
or not we have a Republican senator
See VOTE on 7
Youth vote ^
Percentage of age group registered (1992)
18-24
25-64
65+
Election turnout (November 1994)
Electoral Registered Number Percent
Group Voters Voting Turnout
Lancaster County 120,580 75,723 62.7%
Precinct 3D* 9BB1 1,733 , 362 20.9%
*Precint 3D includes the UNL City Campus
Source: Lacaster County Election Commissioner Aaron Steckelberg/DN