The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, November 18, 1996, Image 1

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Complex. The Nebraska soccer team beat Minnesota 3-2 in sudden-death overtime in a first-round NCAA tournament game. Please
see coverage on page 10. * ‘
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By Matthew Watte
Senior Reporter
-
I
John Snowden letsouta wry smile
when asked about his style — he
f - claims he’s traditional and orthodox.
J The University of Nebraska-Lin
Since then, Snowden said, Con
gress has reduced sovereignty further
and further, through homestead laws
that took land from the tribes and laws
that restrict actions the tribes can take.
But die tribes, survive.
Snowden said his class is about the
federal government’s laws governing
die tribes. Each tribe has laws and cus
toms separate from the federal laws.
Each semester, he takes students to
some of Nebraska’s reservations.
“It always feels good to get back
to Indian Country,” 1m said. “There’s
just a different vibration in the air.”
Snowden’s allegiance to the tribes
comes out of their history.
“The history of my people as it re
lates to the people (rf this continent has
been shameful,” he Said. “In particu
lar, the tow regarding Indian sover
racism and coillhiuesinthat.”
Each time a tribe finds a way to get
ahead — such as the current battle
between Nebraska’s Santee Sioux
; over casino gam
>wden said the gov
doosshut.|Jf||§
But Snowden believes that what
ever the government does, tribes will
survive wed into die future.They have
already endured centuries of genocide.
•The race is neither to the swift or
the strong but those who will survive.”
State’s judges
losing support,
records show
OMAHA (AP)—If election records are any
indication, Nebraska’s judges are losing favor
with voters.
The approval ratings of judges has dropped
steadily since the 1960s, when judges typically
received 70 to 80 percent of the vote.
“In recent years, it has been pretty well ac
cepted that a judge is going to get 25 to 30 per
cent no votes,” said Darwin Severson, admin
istrator of Douglas County District Court for
20 years.
Legal expats say they are not sine why die
no votes are increasing. They surmise, though,
that rulings on particular issues, extensive pub
licity about high-profile cases and the public’s
lack of knowledge about the justice system may
be factors, the Omaha World-Herald reported
Sunday.
Election records coniirm the trend — Ne
braska Supreme Court judges generally received
approval ratings of 81 to 87 percent in the 1960s,
78 to 85 percent in the 1970s, 71 to 83 percent
in the 1980s and 68 to 76 percent in the 1990s.
Six Nebraska judges have been removed
from the bench since the retention system was
implemented in 1962.
The American Bar Association Journal, in
thfeCounfry have coble dtfder attack for deci
sions in particular castes. '
Douglas County District Judge Mary Likes,
who was opposed by the Omaha Police Union
before the Nov. 5 election, said the labeling of
judges by special-interest groups is disturbing.
She retained her seat with 59 percent approval
of voters.
Judge Likes said the union’s criticism will
not cause her to veer from judicial standards.
“It would never even occur to me to do any
thing different than what I’m charged to do, and
that is to be fair and impartial,” she said.
Woman dies in fire;
smoke inhalation
is cited as cause
By Chad Lorenz
Senior Reporter
A 61-year-old woman who was apparently
smoking in bed died Friday morning in a fire
that destroyed her apartment.
Firefighters carried Leona Greenfield out of
her garden-level apartment at 5505 S. 31st St
and tried to resuscitate her, Lincoln police Capt
Stephen Imes said.
She was later pronounced dead cm arrival at
Lincoln General Hospital.
Firefighters found Greenfield lying in her
bathfeom, Lincoln fire Capt. Dustin Morton
said She apparently died of smoke inhalation,
hesaidL
Greenfield was the only victim in the fire.
Other occupants evacuated the building.
She might have had trouble getting out of -
the apartment because of a recent hip injury,
Mortop said.
“ft was difficult for her to get around in the
first place,” he said
Greenfield had smoke detectors in die apart
ment, but investigators had not yet determined
if they sounded or were working, Morton said.
Although Morton’s engine company was
dispatched at 7:22 a.m., Greenfield’s neighbors
smelled smoke about an hour before, he said
The neighbors apparently didn’t call the fire '
department because they thought the smell was
burning food. t fpi
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