If II IS
Boomer Sooner
The NU women beat Oklahoma 87-39 Sunday
afternoon after the Nebraska men lost to the Soon
ers 84-77 Saturday in Norman. PAGE 7
A A j
Quacking up
More than 400 people attended the 17th Annual
Quack-off in Avoca Saturday. Proceeds go to
the Avoca Volunteer Fire Department. PAGE 9
ONDAY
January 27,1997
Ww Cmu.
Blowing snow, high 3. Light wind tonight, low -13.
VOL 96 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901
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Tearln’ It up
Daniel J. Leudeht/DN
CONSTRUCTION CREWS pull out the remaining pieces of Broyhlll Fountain from the Union
Plaza Friday morning. Renovation of the Nebraska Union, which Includes the expansion
of the union Into the middle of the old Union Plaza, will continue until 1998.
.J
Witness’s account of shooting
varies Sum previous claims
By Matthew Watte
Senior Reporter
The pace of Riley Washington’s second-de
gree attempted murder trial is going slowly, the
special prosecutor said Friday, and will go a few
days longer than expected.
Ronald Lahners, appointed to the former NU
football player’s trial, said he had planned on
finishing his case Friday but now was not sure
when he would call his last witness.
Washington, a former wingback for the
Huskers, is on trial for the shooting of Jermaine
Cole outside a Kwik Shop on 27th and W streets
Aug. 2, 1995. He is also charged with using a
firearm to commit a felony.
Washington’s defense continued to mount its
reasonable-doubt defense Friday, pounding awa>
at a witness who had said several times he could
not positively identify the shooter, then said he
could.
* For more than four hours, defense attome>
Kristi Eggers cross-examined Harold Bernard
Stewart about several court hearings where
Stewart said he could not identify Washington
as the gunman.
Stewart was with Cole the night of the shoot
ing. When a scuffle broke out among several
football players—including Abdul Muhammed
Willis Brown and Washington — and Cole.
Stewart was one of several men trying to break
it up. He testified that he was standing a few
feet from Cole when shots were fired;
KV’ Please see TRIAL on 3
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Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http: / / www.unl.edu /DailyNeb
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Fraternity ritual
raises controversy
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
A fraternity ritual designed to show unity has
UNL’s Sigma Chi house in the center of contro
versy after Lancaster County Sheriff’s deputies
found members about to bum a cross.
Lancaster County Sheriff’s Department Sgt.
Norman Monroe said Sunday that deputies were
dispatched Thursday night about a suspicious
party half a mile south of Hwy 33 and SW 58th
Street.
When the deputies arrived, they found 30
white males who were members of the Sigma
Chi fraternity holding a private ritual. Officers
saw several Civil War-era items, including Con
federate flags, uniforms, sabers and rifles.
Officers also saw a 6-foot tall wooden cross
that was to be burned later in the ceremony.
One member was ticketed for drinking alco
hol in a wildlife area. Since no other laws were
being broken, die officers left the scene.
^ri^anca&terCounty SherifflterryWagner said
the ceremony seemed to have racial undertones.
“The explanation I’ve gotten from members
of the fraternity is that this is a historical cer
emony that has been going on for years,” Wagner
said. “But the connotation this brings up is one
of racial bigotry.”
Curt Denker, the Sigma Chi house corpora
tion president who talked to several media out
lets Friday, refused comment to the Daily Ne
braskan Sunday.
There was no answer at Sigma Chi house
president Craig Vasek’s room. Calls attempting
to reach Chapter Adviser Rich Rice were un
it
The connotation this
brings up is one of racial
bigotry.”
Terry Wagner
Lancaster County sheriff
successful.
Denker told reporters on Friday that the ritual
was a skit which symbolized the unity of the
fraternity since the Civil War. He said crosses
were carved into soap bars, they were put in a
large metal cross, and the cross was heated to
melt the soap into one.
Denker said he knew nothing about a
wooden cross to be burned.
The burning of a wooden cross is most com
monly known as a Ku Klux Klan ritual, symbol
izing purification.
Phyllis Larsen, a spokeswoman for the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln, said Sunday that
administrators had looked into the incident on
Friday and found there were no violations of
the university’s student code of conduct.
Larsen said, however, that greek affairs ad
ministrators were still looking into the matter.
The Associated Press contributed to this
report.
Bill would allow vendors
to sell liquor until 2 a.m.
By Erin Schulte
Senior Reporter
Barhoppers will be able to celebrate one hour
longer if a bill introduced in the Nebraska Leg
islature passes.
Sen. John Hilgert of Omaha last week intro
duced LB242, which would give city councils
the opportunity to extend liquor sales until 2 a.m.
Hilgert said he is not catering to college stu
dents who want to party, however. Hilgert rep
resents the Old Market district of ^jknaha, and
said gambling in Iowa is luring customers away
from the Old Market.
“A lot of people are losing business in
Omaha,” Hilgert said.
The bill iS one in a package of bills Hilgert
introduced to try to keep nightlife rolling in
Omaha. To complement the liquor bill, other bills
would cut expenses and taxes for bingo opera
tions, and allow video monitors that look simi
lar to video lottery machines to dispense pickle
cards.
Although the bill was introduced because of
problems in Omaha, it would apply to the whole
state. Hilgert said the idea of keeping bait open
Please see LIQUOR on page 6