_ Matthew Waite/DN
LINCOLN FIRE INVESTIGATOR BILL MOODY is helped out of his bomb suit Thursday morning. Moody set up the water
> -cannon that destroyed a box believed to be a bomb.
Bomb hits mansion
No explosives
found in box at
governor’s home
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
A mysterious shoe box topped with a na
ked baby doll bearing satanic markings was
destroyed outside the governor’s mansion
Thursday morning by Lincoln Fire Depart
ment bomb technicians.
The message “Sometimes they only tell
LIES” was scrawled in black marker on the
box’s side.
One day after Gov. Ben Nelson closed
an anti-terrorism conference, the package
was found in the mansion’s southwest park
ing lot along 14th Street by staff members
coming to work.
Authorities treated the device as a bomb,
and used a cannon to shoot water into the
box to disable any potential explosive de
vice.
The device was a box wrapped in duct
tape with a plastic tube extending 14 inches
from the carter of the box.
Pentagrams were etched on the doll’s feet
and an inverted cross was on its head. Both
are considered satanic markings.
The box was placed near a hedgerow
more than 50 feet from the west side of the
house. An aaxa the size of one city block was
evacuated.
Nelson was not in the mansion at 14th
and H streets Thursday. Dara Troutman,
Nelson’s spokeswoman, said he spent
Wednesday night in Omaha and had several
appearances thoe Thursday.
None of Nelson's family were in the
Matthew Waite/DN
THE BABY DOLL that topped the mysterious box had pentagrams on its feet and an
inverted cross on its head.
house, but several staff members were. They
were moved to the east side of the state
owned mansion.
Investigators at the scene speculated that
the message on the box related to abortion.
. The device was found the mining after
fcftancesKissl w*.
night
Last spring, a Lincoln Archdiocese order
prohibited Catholics from associating with
pro-abortion rights groups or face excom
munication.
Also on Wednesday, the Food and Drug
Administration said approval of the French
abortion pill RU-486 was likely by the
middle of 1997.
“(The message onthebox) is a sad-com
ment with everything that’s going on of late
in the news,” said Deputy Fire Chief Ron
Kennett, who made reference to the abortion
issues.
Troutman said the message on the box
was a “strong anti-abortion” view. She said
whoever put it there did not know the
governor’s anti-abortion rights stance.
Troutman said the state has increased se
curity in all its buildings, but there was only
so much it could do. The parking lot near
the mansion is open and public sidewalks run
next to the building.
“Not only is it a public sidewalk, it’s a
public residence,” she said. “We’re comfort
able with the security of the governor.”
Lincoln Fire Investigator Bill Moody
approached the device wearing a large pro
Please see SCARE on 3
Some clinics
to evaluate
abortion pill
The French drug RU-486 is
given tentative FDA
approval, and Lincoln
women’s centers will start
reviewing the option.
By Erin Gibson
Staff Reporter
Despite opposition from Nebraska Right to
Life, the controversial French abortion pill RU
486 could be available in Lincoln soon, but not
at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Several Nebraska women’s clinics an
nounced they would evaluate providing the pill
to women after the Federal Drug Administra
tion Wednesday tentatively approved the pill for
use in the United States.
The FDA said the pill was safe and effec
tive when used under a doctor’s supervision.
Final approval was withheld pending informa
tion on marketing and labeling of the drug.
Final approval is expected in mid-1997. ,
Peg Blake, director of the University Health
Center, said that the center had not discussed
using the drug.
“We would not consider using it at this time,”
Blake said.
John Keller, director of patient services for
Planned Parenthood of Lincoln, said Planned
Parenthood would most likely offer the drug
after final FDA approval is received.
Planned Parenthood has offices at 2246 O
St. and 3705 South St. in Lincoln.
Please see PILL on 3
GQ writer
challenges
Osborne
By Esin Schulte
Senior Reporter
An “epic character” was how Tom Junod,
writer for GQ magazine, described Tom
Osborne when he met him four years ago.
Now, he claims the head Comhusker foot
ball coach may in fact be a deity.
Tom Osborne is God
That’s how Junod blasphemously begins his
stark, nine-page profile of a stoic, weather
beaten, wise Osborne in the October issue of
GQ magazine, which will hit newsstands Oct.
1.
He doesn’t mince words and say “God of
me,
fom
Osborne was God,” Junod said. “And I don’t
mean that in an ‘Oh, gee whiz’ type of way, I
mean the way I think of God is the way I think
of Tom Osborne.”
Junod, who lives in Atlanta, spent about
three weeks in Nebraska researching the
Osborne article, “What if Tom Was One of Us?’
for GQ. He also spent two days on the road with
Osborne visiting Comhusker football recruits.
Recruits who will someday come into
Please see GQ on 2
