sports- a * e- MONDAY
Too much KU Big draw February 3, 1997
The Nebraska women blew a 12-point lead to lose The Friday re-release of “Star Wars” had some
to No. 12 KU 67-59 Sunday. The NU men lost to fans standing in line all day for tickets, but most GROUNDHOG In Need Of
- the No. 1 Jayhawks 82-77 Saturday. PAGE 8 agreed the film was worth the wait. PAGE 7 Cloudy, high 40. Rain or snow
VOL. 96 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 m~92
‘It’s a relief off my shoulders. I can say that much.’
Riley Washington
former NU wingback
31
- ->q
Daniel Luedert/DN
FORMER HU FOOTBALI player Riley Washington leaves the Lancaster County public defender’s office Friday after the jury acquitted
him of attempted second-degree murder.
Washington to focus on son,
classos following acquittal
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
Riley Washington is a winner.
His athletic acclaims loom large: one foot
ball national championship as a wingback,
two school track records as a sprinter—one
in the 55-meter indoor, one in the 100-meter
dash.
But on Friday, Washington won a differ
ent kind of contest, where the winner goes
free, and the loser goes to prison. Acquitted
of second-degree attempted murder and
weapons charges, he walked out of court a
happy and free man.
It took an eight-man, four-woman jury ex
actly three hours to announce the not guilty
verdict. When the verdicts were read, Chief
Public Defender Scott Helvie hugged Wash
ington.
“It feels good,” Washington said to re
porters Friday as he walked out of Helvie’s
office. “That’s all I can say right now.”
Since Aug. 2, 1995, the day he turned
himself in to the Lincoln Police Department
for the shooting of Jermaine Cole at 27th and
W streets, Washington’s name was almost al
ways mentioned in the same sentence as the
charges.
As the delays in his trial mounted, so did
bad press for a football program eyed by the
national media microscope.
During his life under the cloud of felony
charges, Washington told the Daily Nebras
kan, he tried to keep himself busy and keep
his mind off the case.
In August 1996, he graduated with a
bachelor’s degree in communications stud
ies from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
He had a job set up for September, but, be
cause of the trial, he could not take it.
Washington had no job and an infant son
to support. He told jurors when he took the
stand Thursday that he had to sell his foot
ball jersey, his national championship ring, his
bowl-game watches and his football jacket
to get by.
“It was kind of disappointing, but I don’t
really regret it,” he said Saturday. “With the
money that I got for it, I took care of my
son.”
Washington said his 1-year-old son, whom
he fathered with former girlfriend Darcy
Roloff, is more important to him than his foot
Please see ACQUITTAL on 3
Literacy policy
to incorporate
UNL students
By Kimberiy Swartz
Staff Reporter
Imagine not being able to read the label on a
medicine bottle, write a letter to a friend, or fill
out a job application.
For 23 million Americans, illiteracy is an ev
eryday reality.
But University of Nebraska-Lincoln work
study students may stop a new generation of il
literacy through a $2.75-billion program pro
posed by President Bill Clinton last August.
The five-year program called America Reads
is a national, bipartisan effort to ensure that all
children can read well and independently by the
end of the third grade.
Clinton announced the reading initiative af
ter the 1994 statistics in the nation’s Reading
Report Card showed 41 percent of fourth-grad
ers were reading below grade level, as were 31
percent of eighth-graders and 25 percent of high
school seniors. ... -.....
Clinton also proposed to otter federal funds
to local, state and national programs to teach
parents and volunteers to help children read. He
will challenge 1 million Americans to volunteer
to tutor young children in reading.
The program also would finance individual
tutoring for children in kindergarten through
third grade.
Many of the volunteer tutors will be college
students involved in the federal work-study pro
gram to finance their education.
America Reads is not mandated by statue or
regulation, so universities are not forced to par
ticipate, although many institutions have already
shown their support.
John Beacon, director of the Office of Schol
arships and Financial Aid, said that UNL will
likely participate if the program passes.
“America Reads is a program that the com
munity really needs,” Beacon said. “It would help
a lot of people, and is a worthwhile community
service.”
Twenty-three work-study students at UNL
will be selected as tutors for America Reads.
Each student will have to commit 10 to 15 hours
a week reading to children at local preschools
and elementary schools.
Beacon said Congress appropriates $830
million to the federal work-study program for
1997-98, which is a 35-percent increase over
last year. He said Clinton’s goal was to have that
increase go toward the America Reads program.
UNL received a 10-percent increase in fed
eral work-study funds, Beacon said, which
means the university could dedicate $46,390 to
Please see READS on 6
UNL professors to teach new science techniques
By Sarah Baker
Staff Reporter
Nebraska elementary and high school science
teachers are bound for summer school at UNL
this year.
Thanks to recent grants, chemistry and phys
ics professors at the University of Nebraska-Lin
coln will help teachers learn interactive class
room techniques to improve science curriculums.
The Coordinating Commission for Post-Sec
ondary Education gave the grants to the depart
ments last month. The commission governs pro
grams and funds at all Nebraska public colleges.
Paul Kelter, associate chemistry professor,
is in charge of Operation Chemistry Program, a
week-long summer workshop for 50 teachers.
“We bring in award-winning teachers and
middle-level teachers to teach lower-level teach
ers,” Kelter said.
Treating the teachers as professionals is a
critical part of the workshop, Kelter said.
“We respect the intelligence and experience
of the teachers and treat them with dignity,”
Kelter said.
“It creates leadership with the participants
as well as leadership within the UNL chemistry
department.”
Thephysics department also sponsors a pro
gram for teachers called Physics Infomall. Phys
ics and astronomy professor Robert Fuller said
the program is the first of its kind.
The Infomall is a complete physics resource,
including 19 books with 35,000 pages of phys
ics information, Fuller said.
The workshop will teach teachers how to use
this information in their physics classes.
This new concept was developed at UNL
with help from Kansas State University.
“The workshop is a training event,” Fuller
said, “and it is a great experience for isolated
community teachers to have use of this tremen
dous resource.”
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http: / / www.unl.edu IDailyNeb
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