By Chad Lorenz
Senior Reporter
A 2 1/2 year legal battle came to an end
Monday when former Nebraska football player
Tyrone Wiliams pleaded no contest in District
Court to reduced charges for a 1994 shooting.
One of two felony weapon charges was low
ered Monday to third-degree assault — a mis
demeanor.
Wiliams was originally charged with vio
lating the state’s drive-by shooting law and use
of a weapon to commit a felony for a January
1994 incident.
The plea bargain led to Williams’ convic
tion on the day his long-awaited trial was sched
uled to begin.
Wiliams was accused of firing a .22-cali
ber handgun at a car occupied by then-Ne w York
Jets player Kevin Porter and a UNL student near
17th and L streets.
Joe Kelly, Deputy Lancaster County Attor
ney, said after the hearing that he lowered the
charges in order to “save everybody the time
and expense of a trial.”
Wiliams made no statements during the
hearing.
Sean Brennan, Wiliams’ attorney, later said
Wiliams wa&grateful to the county attpraaffe
The incident was Wiliams’ only run-in with
the law, Brennan said. He added that people
shouldn’t judge the former Nebraska comerback
based on the shooting.
During Wiliams’ career at UNL, he proved
he was a hard-working student and athlete,
Brennan said.
“He developed into someone who is a first
class person,” he said.
The third-degree assault conviction didn’t
mean that Williams intended to hurt anyone,
Brennan said, only that he threatened the victim.
The county attorney’s office couldn’t have
convicted Williams on the original felony charge
without showing intent, he said.
“They didn’t have evidence that Tyrone
meant to hit people in that car,” Brennan said.
The case swayed in and out of Williams’
favor during its 31 -month history.
At Williams’ first arraignment, he argued
that charging him with both felonies was double
jeopardy — trying him twice for the same act
— and violated his constitutional rights.
He appealed the charges to the Nebraska
Supreme Court, which refused to review the
case in March. Before that, the next lowest court,
the state Court of Appeals, ruled Williams could
not appeal until he was convicted.
Brennan said Williams will focus on his ca
reer with the Green Bay Packers now that the case
is behind him. He said Williams probably would
not be suspended from playing for the Packers.
“I don’t think they’re worried about him
getting into any more trouble,” Brennan said.
NU Football Coach Tom Osborne released
a statement saying he was “glad to see there
has finally been some closure” in Williams’ case.
‘*t^rone"hsB not bee® in trouble before or
since this incident and we hope he is able to
move on with his fife and continue to be suc
cessful,” Osborne said.
Green Bay Packers representatives had not
prepared a statement by Monday evening.
Williams will be sentenced on Nov. 19. He
faces a maximum penalty of six years in jail
and an $11,000 fine.
Guide to help communities
prevent juvenile delinquency
By Todd Anderson
Staff Reporter
In an effort to direct community support and
keep juveniles out of trouble, Gov. Ben Nelson
announced a planning guide for communities
across Nebraska.
During a conference call Monday from
North Platte, Nelson voiced his support for the
“Partners in Planning” Community Planning
Guide for 1996 to 1998. The guide is intended
to promote and preserve families and to pre
vent juvenile delihquency.
The guide is provided by the Nebraska Crime
Commission to assist communities in develop
ing a comprehensive and specific plan to address
juvenile justice and other community issues.
The guide is part of the “Partners in Plan
ning” process.
“This comprehensive planning approach
brings community leaders together with statewide
assistance teams to identify local problems and
implement solutions that are tailored to the needs
of that particular community,” Nelson said.
Through the program, a coordinator, a state
wide assistance team and a network of people
will help the communities.
These “Partners in Planning” team members
are trained to introduce community leaders to
the plan, identify and mobilize a local planning
council, develop and carry out a plan and find
funding, said Jeff Hart, the Crime Commission’s
Juvenile Justice Planning Specialist.
The original planning guide was released in
1993 and is used by more than 50 communi
ties, Hart said. It was revised using input from
45 Nebraska communities.
Five hundred planning guides will be dis
tributed this month, Hart said. \'
.-NLiUr.
Scott Bruhn/DN
RICHARD DURSX new dean of UNL’s College of Fine and Performing Arts, held
the same position at the University of Minnesota-Duluth for seven years before
coming to Lincoln.
New arts dean: Students
shouldn’t be so modest
By Erin Schulte
Senior Reporter
Students from Nebraska are just too mod
est.
That’s what the new dean of the College
of Fine and Performing Arts thinks. And if
he has his way, that’s something that is go
ing to change.
Richard Durst started as the college’s new
dean on Aug. 1, after spending seven years
at the University of Minnesota in Duluth
(UMD) as dean of the School of Fine and
Performing Arte,
“In Minnesota, we called it ‘Minnesota
nice,’ Durst said. “Everyone was so modest”
. But convincing arts students to come to
UNL and getting donors to help fund the
Please see DURST on page 3
Hagel, Nelson downplay contributions from tobacco PACs
By Matthew Watto
Senior Reporter
In a campaign climate stacked
against both tobacco and special-inter
est money, Nebraska’s Senate candi
dates are not worried about the appear
ance of campaign donations from ciga
rctte companies.
According to information released
by die Federal Election Commission,
Democratic Gov. Ben Nelson has
tafcec $3,000 in tobacco political ac
tion committee money duringthe 1996
election season. IBs opponent, Repub
lican businessman Chuck Hagel has
reported taking $1,000 from tobacco
PACs.
But Hagel campaign staffers are 1
quick to point out that Nelson has taken
in mote than $15,000 in tobacco PAC
money since 1990, when he first ran
for governor.
Hagel said he was against smok
ing and that he tells everyone he
knows who smokes to stop. But he
also said government should be care
ful when getting involved in tobacco
issues.
“This is not a risk-free society,”
Hagel said. “We need to go bade to
exercising some personal responsibil
ity and discipline
§p
This is not a risk-free society ”
Chuck Hagel
Nebraska Senate candidate
I__
interests in Nebraska away from to
bacco. He used &JR Nabisco as an
example. The tobacco giant also makes
food products.
During his time as governor,
Nelson said, he has tried to get tobacco
companies to voluntarily move ciga
rettes behind counters and move vend
ing machines to places where minors
can not get access.
The .governor also echoed Hagel,
by saying government’s role in regu
lating tobacco should be limited. Per
sonal responsibility, Nelson said,
should be stressed. '
“It’s a very delicate balance/to
make sure government isn’t oveneajbh
ing,”he said.