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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 20, 1996)
Blls) li isk1 k l kM wrtits?«l • „ ij •■ , ~ 1 „ j' *■ , -T- ' 1 t T ^ ■ /v f.v f* r* ^ l' ' *-- t /’ v r< fJ , •;* ^ ,'•* t 5 1 , * I V, .7 I ^ ^~ .,'■ ICwf Wit) IM msiMiT;k»*w M <*f I If NHOniHgittiHM ■ '"It When you neea uiclj; It*s worth the trip! Garden County attorney 1 i quits; to head own practice OSHKOSH (AP) — The Chappell lawyer who has held the Garden County attorney’s job during a nearly two-year legal fight over the elected county attorney’s status has quit to concentrate on his private practice. Doug Palik, appointed to the {tost after a judge ousted elected County Attorney Kelly Hogan, told the North Platte Telegraph that the resignation will be effective Monday. Oshkosh, about 85 miles west of North Platte, is the Garden County seat. Palik has been Garden County’s part-time prosecutor since District Judge Brian C. Silverman of Alliance ousted Hogan in June 1995. County commissioners, who first retained Palik as legal counsel, later appointed him to finish Hogan’s term. The Nebraska Supreme Court on Dec. 5 will hear oral arguments in an appeal of Silverman’s ruling. Silverman upheld a complaint filed by Oshkosh lawyer Eugene Hynes, who was defeated by Hogan in the 1994 election. Hynes claimed Hogan, who lived at Ogallala in Keith County when elected, couldn’ t take the post because he didn’t live in the county as required by law. The Nebraska Court of Appeals overturned the ruling in July, saying Silverman was wrong in ruling that Hogan’s residency status constituted “official misconduct.” Palik said the continuing dispute over Hogan’s status had nothing to do with his decision to quit If Hogan is reinstated, Palik’s tenure as county at torney would end anyway. Palik said he has been stretched too thin since former law partner William Luben moved to Casper, Wyo., in March as a deputycity attorney. “So that left me with the entire civil practice and the Garden County prac tice,” he said. “I just couldn’t keep up.” County Board Chairman Pat Custy said commissioners will start looking at applications for successors to Palik. The term to which Hogan was elected in 1994 expires in January 1999. Bank shareholders reject plan for corporation’s sale OMAHA (AP) — For the second year in a row, Commercial Federal Corp. shareholders rejected a proposal calling for the sale of the bank. About 89 percent of the 250 share holders attending the annual meeting Monday voted against the sale, which was proposed by Mentor Partners, a New York investment group. Mentor owns 340,000 shares of Commercial Federal Stock. William Fitzgerald, chairman and chief executive officer of Commercial Federal, said the performance of the company and the price gain of its stock wfcre factors in the proposal’s rejection. “Obviously the rest of the share holders felt comfortable with where it’s going at this time,” Fitzgerald said. This was the second year in a row that shareholders considered a non binding resolution calling for the com pany to be sold. Commercial Federal’s board has said that it believes share holders will benefit most from long term growth by an independent com pany. A sale of the company could jeop ardize hundreds of jobs, especially at Commercial Federal’s 700-employee Omaha headquarters. Last year, over objections by the company’s board and management and an intense campaign to win votes, shareholders approved a similar reso lution and elected two pro-sale share holders to the company’s board of di rectors. Fitzgerald said Commercial Federal’s stock price gain was among the 12th best among all U.S. stocks since 1990, rising $2.75 a share to $45.37 1/2 at the close of trading Mon day. ^kV^J
