Rilling suspect may
have used back door
NORFOLK (AP)—A man sus
pected of killing a psychiatrist in his
office at a state-run mental hospital
might have entered through a back
door, a state senator said Sunday.
Leland Klein of Battle Creek
said an employee at the Norfolk
Regional Center told him that is
what happened. Klein said the sus
pect apparently walked unimpeded
up to the second-floor administra
tive offices Friday.
The suspect carried two pistols,
a gym bag full of ammunition and
several 12-inch road flares. A 69
year-old Ohio man has been ar
rested in the case, but no formal
charges have been filed.
The acting director of the De
partment of Public Institutions,
James L. Wiley, told the Omaha
World-Herald that the suspect
walked into the second-floor offices
and asked to see Dr. George
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who was clinical director at the cen
ter, agreed to see him, Wiley said.
Wiley could not immediately be
reached Sunday about security at
the regional centers, including cen
ters in Lincoln and Hastings.
A spokeswoman feu* the Norfolk
center said none of the live en
trances to the center were locked
during business hours before
Bartholow was killed. Linda Span
said all but the main entrance have
been locked at all hours since the
incident.
Span said guards were posted
after the incident, but had not been
used before.
The regional center treats some
court-ordered patients and others
who come in for help, Sparr said.
Patients are monitored, and their
stay at the regional center becomes
less restrictive as doctors track their
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status, she said.
Klein declined to name the em
ployee he spoke to, and Klein said
he had not checked with authorities
about what the employee told him.
Klein said he was concerned about
security at the centerand hoped to
find out more at a meeting Sunday
at the center.
“I think when you’re a psychi
atric ward you might want to have
more security,” Klein said.
Gov. Ben Nelson, police, center
officials and Klein planned to meet
to discuss those issues.
Span* said she could not com
ment directly on how the suspect
entered the building. Nebraska State
Patrol spokesman Jeff Hanson said
the state patrol was investigating
and would turn its findings over to
Madison County Attorney Joe
Smith. Smith could not be reached
for comment Sunday.
Meanwhile, the suspect’s ex
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husband suffers from schizophrenia
and manic depression.
Yvonne Keylor, 68, said in a
telephone interview from her home
in Girard, Ohio, that her husband
had been treated for mental illness
in Nebraska. She said they divorced
more than 20 years ago and the last
she knew her husband had been liv
ing in Toronto, Ohio.
She said when he does not take
his medication, his condition wors
ens. She said her ex-husband had
been a heavy drinker, and that might
have triggered his mental illness.
A daughter of Bartholow’s,
Debra Loucks of Omaha said she
had been told the suspect might
have been one of her father's pa
tients years ago in Omaha at a Vet
erans Administration facility.
*
Neighbors conduct cleanups
Grand Island pays for waste disposal, gives advice to residents
GRAND ISLAND (AP)—It took
awhile, but residents of a Grand Island
neighborhood have pulled together in
a cleanup effort.
“There were flowers planted in the
summertime that were never seen
blooming before,” said Belinda
Wessels, co-chairwoman of the neigh
borhood homeowners association.
The city has supported neighbor
hood cleanups by paying for hauling
and disposal of waste and providing
technical advice.
City Attorney Charlie Cuypers said
such cooperation has helped the city
learn what residents need and residents
learn what the city plans to do.
“You develop a cohesive group that
can express a common idea of what
- they want their neighborhood to look
like,” Cuypers said.
The bail started rolling in Wessels
Indian Acres neighborhood on the west
edge of Grand Island after a burned
out trailer that had been in the area fi
nally was moved out. Volunteers
cleaned off the lot and sold the land.
“It was an eyesore,” Wessels said.
The property had been vandalized and
a number of junked cars had been aban
doned on it.
66
I don’t know why they picked our area,
hut I’m glad they did.”
Belinda Wessels
Grand Island resident
Cuypers attended the September
1995 town hall meeting that planted the
idea of forming the Indian Acres
Homeowners Association. He said sev
eral code violations were consistent
around the neighborhood, and resi
dents shared some common concerns.
Since then, Cuypers has attended
nearly all of the association’s monthly
meetings.
Wessels credited the city for call
ing the town hall meeting that led to
the association’s formation.
“I don’t know why they picked our
area, but I’m glad they did,” she said.
Wessels said residents hoped to
continue working with the city on
projects.
“Paving and sewer are big items
that would help the area look better,”
she said.
Neighbors also encourage each
other to pick up their property and cor
rect code violations, but the city has
the association’s backing if it needs to
enforce its laws, Cuypers said.
“If we had other neighborhoods in
town that have an interest in doing this,
our office would be tickled pink to help
them,” he said.
Other activities sponsored by
neighborhood associations in Grand
Island have included candidates fo
rums for City Council and the legisla
ture and benefit suppers for families
facing financial hardship.
High winds wreak havoc in Nebraska
From The Associated Press
A winter storm that threatened
Nebraska’s Panhandle never material
ized, but tornadoes and high winds
wreaked havoc over the weekend be
fore the weather settled down Sunday.
Southerly winds gusting to 51 mph
blew tree limbs into power lines in
Omaha on Saturday, causing more than
350 scattered power outages. Downed
tree limbs blocked about 25 streets.
Trees and power lines also fell as a
result of high winds in Lincoln. One
, tree tore ahole into ahouse. Siding was
stripped from the top of Memorial Sta
dium, but the big red “N" was spared.
The wind sent flames across a corn
field near Lincoln and Seward.
Fillmore, Jefferson and Saline counties
reported similar brush fires.
A tornado on Saturday demolished
and damaged buildings near Spencer
Dam on the Niobrara River north of
O’Neill, and power outages occurred
in the same area. A separate tornado
near Bassett knocked a pickup truck
off a hill, with the sole occupant emerg
ing bruised and shaken.
Nebraska’s forecast called for
partly sunny and warmer conditions
Monday with highs in the 50s and 60s,
the National Weather Service said. The
extended forecast called for a chance
of rain TUesday with highs in the 50s,
and dry conditions in the west Wednes
day but a chance of rain in the east.
Highs Wednesday were expected to be
in the 30s in the west to the 40s in the
east- /
A chance of snow in the west was
expected to return to the forecast
Thursday, with a chance of rain in the
east. Highs were expected to be in the
lower 30s in the west to around 50 in
the southeast.
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