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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.
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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
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