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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1997)
spouts_ * * e_ THURSDAY Happy to be here Keep it short April 24,1997 NU backup quarterback Frankie London wanted The Masquers will present its annual one-act play to leave Lincoln. Now, after a good spring, Lon- festival starting tonight in the Temple Building’s All F06GED Up don said he is glad he stayed. PAGE 9 Studio Theatre. PAGE 12 Fog early, high 60. Cloudy tonight, low 40. | > ---- ---- | VOL. 96 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 145 \ Nebraska Wesleyan officials warned of possible serial rapist weeks ago By Erin Gibson Senior Reporter The University of Nebraska-Lincoln has in creased some security measures to protect the campus from a suspected repeat rapist, UNL Po lice Chief Ken Cauble said Wednesday. But some members of the UNL community said they are upset students were not warned of the threat sooner. Cauble said police have evidence that one suspect may be responsible for a string of rapes this spring in the Midwest. Those possibly con nected rapes occurred at Union College in Lin coln, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and at four small colleges across Wisconsin, Minne sota and Illinois. As a result, University of Ne braska-Lincoln police have changed some of their schedules and ways they make their rounds on campus, Cauble said. Police also have alerted university staff who work during the night and evenings to the situation, he said. ‘We’ve made what we feel are contacts im portant to heighten the safety of campus as far as this individual is concerned,” he said. Cauble said he now plans to contact Judith Kriss, UNL Women’s Center director, and put together fliers for distribution around campus and information on the UNL police department’s web site to better alert the entire campus com munity to the threat of a repeat rapist. But other campuses may have done more, faster, to caution their members about the pos sible safety threat. Nebraska Wesleyan University distributed fliers Tuesday to update its campus on the threat, and included a police composite sketch of the suspect in the rapes on the fliers. The flier said the suspect was described as a black male in his mid-20s to early 30s, between 5 feet 8 inches and 6 feet tall. Mike Tobias, Wesleyan news services direc tor, said the university has been alerting its stu dents and staff for two weeks that the suspected rapist may be in their area. Lincoln police warned university officials of die threat about two weeks ago, he said. Please see ALERT on 6 — N* . . - ^ THIS POUCE COMPOSITE SKETCH of a man suspected in several local tapes will be on fliers to be distributed across campus soon. ASUN alerts students about serial rapist By Brad Davis Staff Reporter Informing students of the possibility of a se rial rapist being in the Lincoln area was a prior ity at Wednesday’s meeting of the Association of Students of the University of Nebraska. Campus Life Committee Chairman Kelly Hoffschneider was told Wednesday afternoon that a man suspected of raping college women in Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa might now be in the Lincoln area. The chairman immediately took action, putting members of ASUN in charge of informing students of the possible dangers by word-of-mouth and with fliers posted around campus. A flier produced by Nebraska Wesleyan Uni versity that includes sketches of the suspect based on victims’ descriptions will be re-made Please see ASUN on 7 Fair celebrates Earth Day with food, fan, booths By Amy Keller Staff Reporter Aluminum cans, a three-foot-long wooden mallet, hemp T-shirts, free bagels, bikes for sale and bags of trash cluttered greenspace Wednes day. From 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, • environmentally concerned groups put up booths for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Earth Day festivities. Aluminum cans flew across the lawn as about 170 students took turns smashing them through i out the day with a huge mallet at the Student Opportunities and Services project booth. For a dollar, anyone interested could have w two swings with a mallet to smash a can flat enough to fit through a slit in an Earth-shaped piece of cardboard and win a prize. The money collected from can-smashing went to SOS, a new UNL organization for low income students and those who are the first in their family to go to college, said Diane Podolske, an SOS Advisory Board member. Sixteen Lincoln businesses who advocated Earth Day donated the prizes, including Jiffy Lube, Taco Bell, the Tanning Zone and the Hair Care Place. Further down the lawn, members of UNL Norml/Hemp, a group that informs the public about hemp and its uses, sold hemp products and literature as they talked with students about die Earth’s environmental future. Food Not Bombs, an organization in Lincoln that provides food for those in need, passed out free bagels and information sheets about the Please see EARTH DAY on 8 DANIEL LUEDERT/DN .jgislative chambers Wednesday. A tribute to Senators pay tribute to Warner’s life By Brian Carlson Staff Reporter Colleagues of the late Sen. Jerome Warner remembered him Wednesday night as an en ergetic but prudent public servant committed to the best interests of his state. The Legislature paid tribute to Nebraska’s longest-serving senator in a ceremony in the Senate chambers of the Capitol. Warner, a Waverly farmer who represented the 25th dis trict for 35 years, died of prostate cancer Sun day at age 69. Spectators watched solemnly as Warner’s casket, draped with a Nebraska flag, was car ried into the chamber under full military es cort. Speaker of the Legislature Ron Withem of Papillion spoke of Warner’s monumental accomplishments and passion for tackling dif ficult issues. Please see WARNER on 6 Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http: / / www.unl.edu/DailyNeb