Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1997)
| IP°IT*-I ** e _ TUESDAY Little leader Don’t cry for her January 14,1997 t Point guard Tyronn Lue battles through a knee Madonna defies her critics to turn in a potentially ' injury to lead Nebraska to a pair of important vie- award-winning performance in the title role of SlOW LAUGHING tones. PAGE 7 _ Alan Parker’s new film, “Evita.” PAGE 9 Snow today and tonight, i 15. !_ . ■?.- - ________ By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter - i ' — The Lincoln City Council voted Monday to accept a $200,000 settlement in wrongful-death civil suits filed by the family of a man who died one day after a scuffle with police. In a meeting held before the council’s regu | lar session, Lincoln City Council Chairwoman Cindy Johnson said members unanimously ap « proved the settlement of the Francisco Renteria i case, which does not require the city and the | University of Nebraska-Lincoln to admit any % wrongdoing. The settlement ends all legal actions from the | Renteria family against the city and the univer ? sity. 1 “It is not an acceptance of guilt,” Johnson said. “It’s the way our legal system works. “It’s the best for the taxpayers. It’s a busi | ness decision, not a legal decision.” Decision ends Renteria family legal actions against Lincoln and university police Renteria died Oct. 1, 1994, one day after a struggle with Lincoln and University of Ne braska-Lincoln police. Renteria, a 28-year-old Spanish-speaking immigrant who did not speak much English, was stopped by University Police officer Charlotte Veskma for questioning in connection with a dis turbance in the area. After Renteria’s death, police found he was not involved. Four men were indicted fortheir involve ment, inqjpdyig Police Chief Tom Casady, two other police officers and a Lincoln fire captain. Casady’s indictment was later dropped. A jury acquitted LPD officers Luke Wilke and Stephen Schellpeper, who responded to Veskma’s call for assistance when Renteria re fused to stop, of misdemeanor charges. A judge ruled that Lincoln Fire Capt. Danny Wright did not violate protocol in his treatment of Renteria. Wrongful death civil suits against the Lin coln Police Department and the Lincoln Fire De partment, filed hy Renteria’s brother Jos6, were scheduled to start in U.S. District Court Mon day. Another wrongful death suit was filed against the University Police department by Jos6 Renteria. The suits claimed Renteria died as the result of excessive force and negligent medical treat ment after the scuffle. An autopsy revealed Renteria died from asphyxiation due to vomit inhalation and compressions of the neck. With Monday’s vote, the city council gave the Lincoln city attorney’s office the go-ahead to enter into an agreement. NU General Counsel Richard Wood said Fri day the University of Nebraska would be in volved in the settlement and would contribute financially. He said the university’s involvement would satisfy the civil suit pending against it. Wood said the university does not believe any employee acted negligently in the case, but the settlement allowed NU to avoid the costs of fighting the suit. He declined further comment until the agreement was made public. Dorothy Walker, the Renteria family attor ney, said that short of signatures on the docu ments, the city council vote was the last hurdle to settling the suits. Now, she said, Jos6 Renteria and Maria Vega, Francisco’s mother, must sign the agreement — something Walker expected to be done in the next week to 10 days. “The settlement is not in any form or fashion representative of their loss or the value of Please see RENTERIA on 6 ComDuters tor Lefflslatt»e dea By Erin Schulte Senior Reporter Senators in the Nebraska Legislature are wired — and it’s not because of too many cof fee breaks. Fifty-six Panasonic CS41 laptop computers were purchased for the legislative chambers for about $350,000. The money for the new technology came from the legislative budget and a reserve fund. The computers will allow senators to ac cess copies of bills and e-mail electronically. That means they can shove thick, cumbersome books that contain hundreds of bill copies off their desks and replace them with the slim computers. And that’s a lot of paper for about 900 bills expected to be introduced in the Legislature this year. The computers operate with a touch screen — a $600 feature — instead of a mouse, leav ing even more desk space open. Sen. David Maurstad of Beatrice said the new computers were invaluable. The best function would be the computers’ portability, he said. Eventually, instead of boxes brimming with documents, senators will be able to take the com iZT 3" puters home. They can then use a toll-free num ber to access their legislative office through a dial-in modem. Now, only 12 senators list e-mail addresses. Other legislatures across the country have chamber automation, Maurstad said, and it was time for Nebraska to move ahead. “It’s not the future. It’s now,” Maurstad said. Other senators are not so ready to ditch their hard copies for hard drives. “I’ve made a deliberate effort not to get in volved with computers,” said Sen. Roger Wehrbein of Plattsmouth, who hires people to do computer work for him. “But I suppose in 10, maybe even five years, we’ll never even give it a thought.” Sen. Elaine Stuhr of Bradshaw said the computers would be helpful for sorting through all the e-mail she gets during the lat ter part of the session, when floor debate prompts lots of mail. “They’re going to be very helpful,” Stuhr said. “I get quite a bit of e-mail during the ses sion, and I even get mail asking me if I could encourage other senators to make their e-mail address available.” Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http:/ / www.unl.edulDailyNeb : W. : - ■ : I