sports a & e WEDNES (AY
Adjustment Acting globally September 24, 1997
Jaime Pauli is adjusting to the transition of col- Seeing Shakespeare performed a la Globe
lege life after coming from a small town in South Theatre isn’t unusual — unless these Virginia- KEEP THOSE RUBBERS On
Dakota to run cross country for NU. PAGE 7 based troupers are doing the acting. PAGE 9 Scattered showers, high 66. Clearing tonight, low 47.
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VOL. 97 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 ~ NO. 22
Iraqis convicted
of sexual assualt
i
Seat yourself
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
After filling out a sex offender registra
tion form Tuesday afternoon, two Iraqi men
who fled war and the murder of family in the
aftermath of the Gulf War started yet another
new chapter in their troubled lives: prison.
Latif al-Hussani, 35, and Majed al
Tamimy, 29, had to be told by a translator that
they were going to spend at least two years in
prison for first-degree sexual assault of a
minor. Both men sat dejected, their dark eyes
staring at the wood-paneled table.
Their attorneys claimed the two did not
know they were doing anything wrong at the
time they had sex with their arranged wives,
who were 13 and 14 at the time. A judge saw
differently Tuesday.
The men were sentenced to four to six
years in prison by Lancaster County District
Court Judge Karen Flowers. Both men will be
eligible for parole in two years, and will have
a mandatory release date three years, six
months and 23 days from Tuesday.
In a case that has sent ripples throughout
the country and had defense lawyers crying
culture clash, the sentencing of the two
refugees ends a saga that resulted with three
in jail, the girl’s parents in counseling and two
teen-agers in state custody.
The sentence, one attorney said, could
have struck a blow for understanding for two
men ignorant of American law. Terrell
Cannon, who represented al-Tamimy, said the
judge didn’t show “very damn much” mercy.
“These two individuals have suffered a
hell of a lot,” he said. “Neither of them knew
they were doing anything wrong.
“If you don’t know you are doing anything
wrong, that should count for something.”
Flowers, in delivering her sentence, dis
agreed.
While the two men did not appear to be at
risk of more criminal behavior, Flowers said
giving the two men probation for a crime car
rying a maximum penalty of 50 years in
prison seemed an affront to the victims.
“The tragedy that occurred here is one
that didn’t have to happen,” she said. “And it
need not happen again.
“There are only two victims here, they
were 13 and 14 years old when this occurred.”
Flowers said the men forced their brides
to have sex, despite their refusals.
“If I put the defendants on probation, I
would be excusing that behavior. I cannot.”
The two men fled Iraq and were settled in
refugee camps in Saudi Arabia before coming
to America. They were settled in Lincoln with
115 other Iraqis.
On Nov. 9, 1996, al-Hussani and al
Tamimy married the two young girls in a
wedding performed in a Lincoln home
packed with other Iraqis settled in Lincoln.
When the girls ran away from their hus
bands a week later, they told police that they
were married and that their husbands had
forced them to consummate the marriages.
Al-Hussani and al-Tamimy were arrested
and charged with first-degree sexual assault
of a minor. The girls’ father, mother and the
older girl’s 20-year-old boyfriend were also
Please see SENTENCING on 2
UNO develops plans
for residence halls
Scott ]V1cClurg/DN
JUNIOR CORI MCDILL takes time to sign an autograph for 9-year-old Jessica
Zimmerman of Lincoln. Zimmerman’s family was one of the many attending the make
your-pick night for the Nebraska women’s basketball team, where season ticket hold
ers were able to pick their seats for the ‘97 season.
By Erin Gibson
Senior Reporter
The University of Nebraska at Omaha will
seek the NU Board of Regents’ approval this
November to build its first residence halls on
campus, university officials said Tuesday.
The university hopes to complete the resi
dence halls by fall 1999 on its main campus at
60th and Dodge streets, said Dave Castilow,
UNO director of business services.
Castilow said the university is considering
six proposals from private companies to join
the university in building and running the new
residence halls.
The university is also considering two
extreme proposals - one for a private business
to run the entire project independent of UNO
and one for the university to build and run the
halls with outside help.
The all-private business approach would
relieve the university from all financial risk or
responsibility for the project, Castilow said, but
the residence halls would still be built on uni
versity property.
According to the proposals under consider
ation, the residence halls would accommodate
about 600 students and would open between
fall 1998 and fall 1999.
Consultants hired last fall to gauge demand
for the residence halls speculated that more
than 1,700 students might apply for a room, but
“there was an unequivocal, can’t-fight-it
demand for 600 beds,” Castilow said.
The proposals include charging students
about $300 each month to live in the residence
halls, but that cost could easily change and does
not include meals, he said.
The university must provide students with
meals outside the residence halls under some
proposals that don’t include building kitch
enettes or a cafeteria in the halls, he said.
UNO’s nearby student center could provide stu
dent meals, he said.
UNO must also decide where students liv
ing in the halls would park, Castilow said,
which would require land off the residence hall
building site.
One private company that submitted a pro
posal also asked for more land than provided by
the site on which to build the halls, he said.
Please see UNO on 6
Brooks to break records
Five-show stint longest in Lincoln history
By Ted Taylor
Assignment Reporter
Few can argue that until Elvis resurfaces
and goes on tour, there will be no bigger musi
cal event in Lincoln than this week’s appear
ances by Garth Brooks. His five-day, five-show
stint kicks off tonight.
But even a resurrected king of rock ’n’ roll
might have trouble selling out the Bob Devaney
Sports Center five nights in a row.
“This is huge. This is major,” said Dave
Marsh, music director at Lincoln’s KFGE-FM
98.1 Froggy.
“When I mentioned to industry people I’ve
talked with that he was playing five shows in
Lincoln they said ‘What? Are you kidding
me?”’ he said. “For him to stay here and play
five days is a pretty big deal.”
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Devaney Center attendance record that was
held by Kenny Rogers. “The Gambler” played
two Devaney Center shows during the 1980
state fair in front of a combined 27,442 people.
That same number of Brooks’ tickets sold in
the first 30 minutes they were put on sale Sept.
15. More than 62,000 tickets were sold in four
hours.
Total ticket sales for the five shows make it
the second top selling musical event ever in
Lincoln. Farm Aid III, featuring Willie Nelson,
Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Lou Reed
brought more than 70,000 music fans to
Memorial Stadium on Sept. 19,1987.
Butch Hug, UNL director of events, said he
was a bit surprised just how excited fans were to
see the Recording Industry Association of
Please see BROOKS on 6
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http:/ lwww.unl.edu/DailyNeb