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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 24, 1997)
IS P 0 B T S Record setting The Nebraska women’s gymnastics team set a school-record team score of 196.625 in the I Master’s Classic on Sunday. PAGE 7 | a a e Strike two “Empire Strikes Back,” part two in the “Star Wars” trilogy, returned to die big screen Friday and was _ welcomed by millions nationwide. PAGE 9 MONDAY February 24, 1997 SKCtfMurNwr Decreasing clouds, high 30. Clear tonight, low 12. Lane Hickenbottom/DN NIGHT MANAGER Tom Soukup closes the leer aisle at Sapor Kmart. Becaasa of city ordinances commoaly called “Woo laws,” stores wRMn Uscoln city HmHs are set allowed to sell packaged liquor on Sandays. \ I--~--------— No sales on Sunday j mean blues j Editor’s note: This is the first in a five part series about beer: when to drink, where to drink and how to make your own. We promise, this won’t give you a headache the next day. . ; " ' i By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter If the Saturday-night drinking binge j didn’t hit hard enough and you’re still thirsting for a mug of beer with Sunday \ brunch, you’ll be taking a Sunday drive I to get it j Selling beer in Lincoln stores on Sun- j j day is illegal, and has been since 1957. Under state law, no city is allowed to sell packaged liquor on Sundays, but Lin coln Assistant City Attorney Joel Pedersen said the law does allow cities to f j pass an ordinance that would allow pack aged sales on Sundays. Lincoln just hasn t done so, ne said. 1 Stores just outside the city limits and in j other cities such as Omaha, Grand Island, j Scottsbluff and Norfolk do allow some 1 packaged alcoholic beverages to be sold on Sundays. Kearney and Fremont do not The state law Lincoln follows is the. j Liquor Control Act. It restricts the time j and place of sale and the alcohol vendor. | Though popularly known as a “blue law,” Pedersen said that nickname is a misnomer. Blue laws .were mostly used j in the Puritan northeast and aimed at stop ping all business on Sundays because of religious reasons, he said. Lincoln isn’t all dry on Sundays. In 1984, the Lincoln City Council f passed an ordinance that allowed restau Please see SUNDAY on 6 ______•.. I Although one regent voiced minor disap proval, the NU Board of Regents Saturday ap proved six new projects in a $95-million, 16- . *' project plan for renovations on NU campuses. Approved projects included Love Library South renovations at the University of Nebraska Liticdln and renovations on two other campuses. Three other projects, including renovations to Richards Hall, were approved last June. Regent Drew Miller of Papillion suggested some renovation expenses to Love Library were \ unnecessary, and materials housed in the library [ could be stored in space-saving computers. The university could save costly renovation I dollars by improving virtual university efforts, he said. NU could then sell or demolish some I buildings because all building space would not be needed if students could access courses and | library holdings via computer, Miller said. | “I’m on the side of bytes, not bricks,” Miller said. I definitely don t want us expanding our library space.” 1 James Van Horn, NU vice president for busi- - ^ J ness and finance, said die 16 renovation projects would eliminate $76 million of the university’s about $100-million deferred maintenance back log. \ Many NU structures are not in compliance with die Americans with Disabilities Act and fire safety codes. There are dangerous problems in Love Library South, he said. / Van Horn showed slides of outdated electri cal panels, tangled wires, water-stained asbes tos ceilings, tom carpet and steep stairs inac cessible to wheelchairs to illustrate the mainte nance problem. I Regent Don Blank of McCook said the back log should be called, “ignored maintenance rather than deferred maintenance.” i The university should be determined not to let such hazardous maintenance shortcomings Please see REGENTS on 6 Violent-suspect policy creates tension for police V . ' : By Matthew Watte Senior Reporter Z From the ashes of the death of a Hispanic man in police custody more than two years ago, a new battle pit ting Lincoln police and paramedics has risen over handling people who use extreme measures to resist arrest. A violent encounter last week called into question an Emergency Medical Services Board decision made a day before regarding the transput of com bative suspects to jail. Without consen sus of Rural-Metro Ambulance Ser vices and the Lincoln Police Depart ment on the recommendation, tensions erupted. Lincoln Police were called Thurs day to the Moose’s Tooth, 4007 O St, on reports of a man who was speaking incoherently in the store. When officers arrived, they found 25-year-old Enrique Mecillas, 140 E St., pacing back and forth with a screw driver, a fire extinguisher and a Ouija board. He was speaking both Spanish and English incoherently. One of the employees reported the man took a stab at him with die screw driver. Another employee had locked herself in the bathroom. Mecillas resisted arrest, and it took six officers — two Lancaster County Sheriff deputies and four Lincoln po lice officers—to handcuff him. Officers later found that Mecillas was involved in a stabbing incident outside his house earlier that day. He was arrested and jailed for felony first degree assault, third-degree assault, disturbing the peace, failure to comply with a lawful order and resisting arrest When the six officers finally sub dued him and put him in a police cruiser, Mecillas started kicking a win dow. Officer Todd Groves then rolled the windows down to keep Mecillas from breaking them and hurting him self. Mecillas, his feet and wrists in shackles, climbed out of the cruiser window. Officers then had to follow Lincoln Police Department policy and call Rural-Metro Ambulance Services. Medical restraints Police Chief Tom Casady said Fri day the department’s policy is to call an ambulance when a suspect is ex tremely combative toward officers. He said that after paramedics and officers strap a suspect to the gurney, the am bulance takes the person to jail under the watch of an officer and a paramedic. Casady said calling ambulances for people who resist arrest became more Please see TRANSPORT on 3