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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 1997)
h SPORTS [|| All WF1T1 Homecoming Exhibiting excellence October i, 1997 Former Nebraska volleyball player Allison The fiber arts of Nebraska 4-H youth adorn the Weston returned to the NU Coliseum Tuesday wall%of the Textiles, Clothing & Design Gallery night to have her jersey retired. PAGE 7 on East Campus. PAGE 9 Sunny and warm, high Br - B y r* I, . ___ VOL. 97 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 27 Man killed in home; i police arrest son, 17 . Reports say victim threatened wife i - By Matthew Waite Senior Reporter Through a solid oak door, across a porch with potted plants neatly arranged, a slain father was carried out of his home Tuesday afternoon. More than 14 hours prior, John E. Dunagan, 56, was found dead in his living room with 12 gauge shotgun wounds. His 17 year-old son, Matthew, was ip Dunagan arrested shortly -f ^after police began their investiga tion. Matthew Dunagan was jailed on suspicion of first-de|ree murder. Crime scene technicians and investigators spent the day at 4425 Browning Place, surrounded * by homes not old enough to have shade trees in the affluent neigh borhoods of southeast Lincoln. Lancaster County prosecutors spent Tuesday night reviewing rejspftS) trying to determine what charges would be filed today. Lincoln police were called to the home at 12:40 a.m. by a 911 -call from Kathryn Dunagan, John’s wife and Matthew’s moth er. When officers arrived at the home, they found John Dunagan lying on the living room couch with shotgun wounds. At a morn ing press conference, Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady refused to say how many gunshot wounds the man had received, but an affi davit filed in Lancaster County Court stated that Matthew dunagan fired three times. The shotgun was found in the home. Paramedics were called to the home, but John Dunagan was pro nounced dead at Jb£ scene and not moved. Mother, father and son were home when the shooting occurred, Casady said. He refused tb release details of the incident, but only said the investigation is continuing. , The affidavit said John Dunagan had been threatening his wife and had done so several times before. Two hours later, as the elder" Dunagan was lying on the couch, police claim Matthew Dunagan shot his father. Matthew Dunagan, a Lincoln Pius X student, is being held in the Lincoln Attention Center for Youth. , Lancaster County Chief Deputy Attorney John Colborn said Matthew Dunagan will not be charged until after prosecutors get all the investigative informa tion. He said an autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday, and he did not expect to charge the boy until today. Under Nebraska law, Matthew Dunagan can be charged as an adult. ^ “After we reviewYhe reports, we will make that decision,” According to Casady, neither father nor son had a previous criminal history, and the Lincoln Police Department had never been called to the home. Most of the neighborhood was aslfeep during the incident. Those who were home Tuesday after npopsaid the family was nice, but they didn’t know them well. The death is the fifth homicide in Lincoln this year. More than 80 percent of all homicides in Lancaster County this decade are domestically related, according to law enforcement records. ——jti rrn rrrrcrr rrn, •--— Lane Hickenbottom/DN — MORTICIANS REMOVE John Dunagan’s body from his home on 4425 Rrowning Place. His 17-year-old son, Matthew Dunagan, is being held on suspicion of first-degree murder. , Hoppner, McFarland announce gubernatorial candidacies | ■ The two Democratic hopefuls l say their campaigns will focus on education, tax values and Nebraska’s resources. By Brian Carlson Assignment Reporter After months of questions and doubt as to who would fill the Democratic void in the gov ernor’s race, the party now has two candidates.' Bill Hoppner, a former staff worker for U.S. Sens. Jim Exon and Bob Kerrey, and Jim McFarland, a former state senator, have announced their candidacies for the 1998 Democratic nomination for governor. Hoppner’s 1998 campaign will be his sec ond bid for governor. In 1990, he lost the Democratic primary by 41 votes to Ben Nelson, the eventual winner in die general elec tion and two-term governor. Hoppner said he reached his decision after consulting with his family and weighing his statewide support. “I think I have the character, ability and experience to be a very good governor for 1 _: Nebraska, especially as we approach the 21st century,” he said. Hoppner said as governor, he would seek to address the issues of the entire state. Education, efficient government and an equitable tax sys tem are important, he said. “Basically, the race for governor should be a discussion about the values we all share as Nebraskans,” Hoppner said. McFarland, who represented Lincoln’s 28th legislative district from 1986-91, said he began considering a bid after Lt. dov. Kim Robak in June announced she would not run. When no other Democrat stepped forward, he said, the idea became more serious. McFarland said his campaign message would be to protect and develop Nebraska’s human and natural resources. Tax breaks for businesses and other forms of “corporate welfare” havfc failed to lure large corporations to Nebraska, McFarland said. He said the state should focus on churning out its Please see DEMOCRATS on 2 Education professor dies By Erin Gibson Senior Reporter ..-.. ■ ■■ ■ Webster Robbins, an assistant professor considered a father of multicultural educa tion programs in the Teachers College and at the University of Nebraska-Lineoln, died at 7 p.m. Monday, after suffering a heart attack while driving his van south on 13th Street. He was 60. Robbins, a vibrant man who had a histo ry of heart problems, also championed defeating stereotypes of American Indians in Lincoln and was the first American Indian doctorate at UNL in 1976. Robbins said “education was supposed to prepare one for life,” in a 1986 interview with the Lincoln Journal Star. And he devoted his 21 years at UNL to teaching and talking with students both in and out of the classroom to make sure each graduated as an informed and considerate adult, said Beth Franklin, chairwoman of the Center for Curriculum and Instruction. Students’ parents often called Robbins and thanked him for the personal attention he gave their college-aged children, Franklin said. She often saw him sitting outside in Funeral services for Robbins will be at 11 a.m. Friday in the Lutheran Student Center, 535 N. 16th St. front of buildings for hours after his classes were over, talking to students, she said. “The students just really, really respond ed to him,” she said. “They loved him, and they felt that he made a difference in their lives.” He gave Teachers College students direc tion in life by teaching them to deal with their own ethnic background, affirm their own culture and beliefs, and then realize how to teach their students respect for one another, Franklin said. But his greatest contribution to educa tion at UNL was his ability to inspire stu dents through his fluid and entrancing story telling, she said. He colored his lectures with stories about his and others’ lives in order to impress the effects of racism and acceptance upon students. Unlike any other professor, he was able to get these concepts across, Franklin said. Indeed, Robbins introduced the UNL ■*. Please see ROBBINS on 3 Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http://www.urd.edu/DailyNeb *
