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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1997)
» P 0 1T S 2 Tiger Tussle . The Nebraska men’s basketball team puts its four game win streak on the line at Missouri. The NU women also play the Tigers tonight. PAGE 7 IAAE I Rock-a-bye, baby I Lincoln’s Lullaby for the Working Class has made I a name for itself. Better yet, they’re playing at I Knickerbockers on Thursday. PAGE 9 WEDNESDAY January 22, 1997 Downhill Slide Partly sunny, high 43. Cloudy tonight, low 15. ' - UNL senior stays i::dtive for pageant By Angela Heywood Staff Reporter . The tapes — she’s seen them a million times before. They keep her focused, so she watches them again and again. Kimberly Weir, the current Miss Nebraska, is preparing to compete against 50 other women for the crown of Miss USA in Shreveport, La., on Feb. 5. She watches tapes from the last three Miss USA pageants to learn how to act and what to do once she is in the pageant, she said. Weir, a senior political science major, was chosen as Miss Nebraska last Oct. 1 in Omaha. Since the be ginning of November, she has been preparing for the 46th annual Miss USA’s swimsuit, evening gown and interview competitions, she said. Wieir has been exercising 2Yi hours daily to get ready for the swimsuit and evening gown com Photos by Jay Calderon/DN TOP: MISS NEBRASKA KIMBERLY WEIR signs autographs at Gateway Mall Saturday afternoon. She will compete In the Miss USA pageant next month. ABOVE: Weir talks with autograph seekers. The senior political science ma|or says she considers herself an advocate for children. petitions, but she hasn’t done much to prepare for the interview. She’s ready for that part. “Who knows me better than my self?” she said. y Weir’s interest in beauty pageants began as a child when her father urged her to watch the Miss Universe pag eant on television, she said. Because Weir is of Cambodian, Chinese and Irish descent, she said, he wanted her to know that women of all races were considered beautiful. > But Weir’s involvement in beauty pageants didn’tbeginnntil Please see PAGEANT oil 6 Washington Jury selection begins By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter Jury selection in the trial of former NU wingback Riley Washington began Tuesday with the judge and prosecu tor questioning preliminary panelists. The defense was expected to ques tion potential jurors today, with open ing arguments soon to follow. Attor neys in the case said the trial would fin ish sometime next week. Washington is on trial for the sec ond-degree at tempted murder of Jermaine Cole on Aug. 2, 1995. Prosecutors claim Washington shot Cole outside of the Kwik Shop at 27th ihe trial had been delayed lor months, originally becabseCole, a re puted gang member, had left Lincoln and could not be found Later, defense attorneys asked that a special prosecu tor be appointed becattse;<j£a conflict of interest in the county attorney’s of fice. Of the 24 potential jurors ques tioned Tuesday, only one is black — all the rest are white. Thirteen of the jurors are men; 11 are women, ^fifteen other reserve jurors were called but not questioned. They were in the court to listen to questioning and are available if attorneys cannot find 12 jurors and two alternates from the pool of 24. Before questioning began, Lancaster County District Court Judge Bernard McGinn told jurors that they would have to ignore everything but the evidence in the case. “It is your duty to determine what the facts are,” he said. McGinn said jurors should not go to the crime scenes, should ignore media reports and should not decide oh die case until it is given to them. Questions from McGinn and Spe cial Prosecutor Ronald Lahners mostly centered on jurors’ relations to parts of the case, including the Husker foot ball team, coaching staff, potential wit nesses and even the attorneys in the case. One question, however, had McGinn and Lahners treading lightly — whether or not jurors were influ enced by media reports of the case. Ten jurors said they remembered reading about the shooting on Aug. 2, 1995. Three asked to be questioned outside the presence of the other ju rors about whether or not they were influenced. _ One juror said he was an avid foot ball fan, which included membership in the Touchdown Club and season tick ets for the last 50 years. He told Lahners that he could be impartial. Other connections jurors had to the case included a female juror being re lated to potential witnesses, a male who had owned a convenience store and had seen verbal gang conflicts in his park ing lot and a male juror who went to high school with a Husker football player. Lahners also asked jurors if they knew anyone who was a victim of a violent crime—four responded yes— and if any jurors knew each other — six said they did. Seating of the 12-member jury and the two alternates was expected to fin ish this morning. Senators propose bills on same-sex marriage 1 By Erin Schulte K Senior Reporter On the issue of same-sex marriage, 29 of Nebraska’s senators are support ing a bill in defense of marriage — marriage between a man and a woman. And one senator is sponsoring a bill in defense of those who he says suffer from discrimination. Sen. Jim Jensen of Omaha proposed a bill that picks up where the federal Defense of Marriage Act left off. The federal law, which allows states a choice whether or not to recognize same-sex marriages from other states, was passed last year by Congress and signed by the president The Nebraska bill, which was co signed by 28 other senators, would not allow same-sex marriages from Ne braska or other states to be recognized. Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha, on the other hand, has proposed a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage in Nebraska. To simply oppose Jensen’s bill during debate isn’t enough, he said. “That’s not good enough for me,” Chambers said. “I don’t put my eggs in somebody else’s basket.” Chambers said he would rather de bate his own bill in the framework he provides, not according to the agenda the Jensen bill follows. >- “They are taking a politically popu lar position which really discriminates against an entire segment of the popu lation,” Chambers said. “It’s busybody, meddlesome legislation supported by people who don’t have enough in their own lives to keep busy. “What such people really need to learn how to do is keep their nose out of other peoples’ crotches.” Sen. Jensen said his bill is not Please see MARRIAGE on 6 Read the Daily Nebraskan on the WbrldWide Web at http:/lwww.unl.edu/DailyNeb ' ' ^ :i • - . •