SPORTS ARE
Diving in Woo, boogie boogie! October 24,1997
The Nebraska men’s and women’s swim teams If that doesn’t freak you out, Halloween activities
kick off their season today and Saturday at the that will are aplenty in Lincoln for those who BRIDAL SHOWERS
Bob Devaney Sports Center. PAGE 7 dare venture out. PAGE 9 Cloudy, high 50. Windy and rainyytonight, low 38.
Senator resigns
to lobby for NU
By Brad Davis
Assignment Reporter
Ron Withem has been serving the
people of Nebraska for more than 14
years as a senator in the Legislature.
Next month he will begin a new
chapter in his life of public service
when he becomes the chief lobbyist
for the University of Nebraska.
Withem, who will resign as
speaker of the Legislature Nov. 24,
replaces former state Sen. Lee Rupp
as the director of NU governmental
relations. He also is resigning from
his position as executive director of
the Mechanical Contractors
Association of Omaha.
The speaker from Papillion leaves
the Legislature in the middle of his
two-year term, which requires Gov.
Ben Nelson to name a replacement
for the Sarpy County senator.
When the Legislature reconvenes
Jan. 7, members wiifiiave to elect a
new speaker of the Legislature to
replace Withem, a senior member
who had been called one of the most
influential members of the body.
Sen. David Landis of Lincoln said
he would place his name in the run
ning for speaker asji replacement for
Withem.
Other senators who have been
named as possible contenders for the
speaker position include Sen. Ardyce
Bohlke of Hastings, Sen. Kermit
Brashear of Omaha and Sen. Doug
Kristensen of Minden.
Landis said he would run for
speaker because he had watched the
legislative process for a long time,
and hoped to “bring attention to find
ing a common ground” to the job of
speaker. >1
Landis said Withem’s resignation
would cause the Legislature to
scramble for a replacement, but
would not put them in “too much of a
bind.”
With Withem’s resignation, how
ever, the Legislature will be losing a
“very good thinker,” Landis said.
“Withem was a visionary thinker
and a good tactical defender of his
positions. We will be diminished by
his absence,” he said.
Withem said his most important
work in Legislature involved public
school finance reform, economic
development and property-tax
reform.
He may have some reservations,
he said, about leaving a position that
he had held since March 1983, but
the lobbying job presented him with
the opportunity to further serve the
public.
“I can’t have been a member of an
institution that I loved as much as I
loved the Legislature and feel 100
percent good about leaving, but I’ve
been able to live my dream of serving
in public office. <,
“There comes a time when you
have to move on to bigger and better
things,” Withem said.
Moving on has been the focus of
several groups that oppose public
officials’ alleged use of their elected
status to become lobbyists or further
their personal careers.
Withem said one of the reasons he
was selected for the NU lobbying
position was because of his knowl
edge of the Legislature.
“During my 14 years, I’ve devel
oped an understanding of what it
takes to get stuff passed,” he said.
Frances Mendenhall, executive
director of Common Cause
Nebraska, said her organization
opposed public officials’ using their
“insider knowledge” to become lob
byists.
Please see WITHEM on 2
Lane Hickenbottom/DN
ROBERT HILLESTAD, professor emeritus of textiles, clothing and design, will display new work and will have
agaHery on East Campus dedicated to him Sunday. The shew will ran through Dec. 5.
Professor’s unique textiles
serve as both art, clothing
By Brian Carlson
Assignment Reporter
Robert Hillestad’s textile art does more than catch
the eye.
It grabs the eye, excites it, pulls it closer, confuses
it, teases it and amuses it - and leaves it blinking for
more.
Beginning Sunday, the University of Nebraska
Lincoln community will have a chance to view 18 new
samples of the former UNL professor’s unique work.
In a ceremony starting at 2 p.m. Sunday, the Robert
Hillestad Textiles Gallery on the UNL East Campus
will be dedicated. “The Dance of Textiles,” a show fea
turing all-new work by Hillestad, will open Sunday and
run through Dec. 5.
Hillestad was a UNL professor of textiles, clothing
and design from 1965 until his retirement last year.
Internationally known for his art, Hillestad’s work was
displayed in Paris this summer and is on display in
South Korea.
In his art, he uses traditional methods of textile
design that, for many other designers, have gone by the
wayside in an era of mass production.
Using long strands of yam, rayon bias tape and var
Please see TEXTILE on 3
Video game junkies get chance to compete
By Josh Funk
Assignment Reporter
So you’ve spent six hours a day
hard at work in front of the Sony
PlayStation, studying all.the plays and
building up the callous on your button
finger.
Now is your chance to test yourself
against the best competition campus
has to offer in the EA Sports NCAA
Football ’98 Interactive Tournament.
Electronic Arts and the NCAA
Football Campus Tour will be at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln in
front of the Campus Recreation Center
from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today.
“If you drink you’ve got game, then
show up and prove it,” said Jonathan
Kerr, a representative of the Athletic
Licensing and Sales Department.
The first four hours are filled with
activities such as sumo football, the
quarterback challenge, an obstacle
course and a field-goal competition,
Kerr said.
Participants will also have the
opportunity to play different Electronic
Arts video games on a Sony
PlayStation in an interactive van.
At 3 p.m. the individual tourna
ment will begin with head-to-head
competition.
Players who do well in the tourna
ment will win an all-expenses-paid trip
to the Orange Bowl to compete in the
national tournament, Kerr said.
Also, the tournament winner will
receive a miniature Sears Trophy worth
about $400, Kerr said.
Last year’s winners from UNL
went on to win die national tournament
and find an internship with EA Sports.
“We have to find someone to
defend the championship for us,” Ken
said.
The champ
Jeff Luhr, a junior in general stud
ies, realized one of his childhood
dreams last year because he was good
at a video game.
His performance at the EA Sports
Tournament last year helped him get an
internship as a product tester for
Electronic Arts video games.
Luhr found out about the tourna
ment on the Electronic Arts Web page
and decided to enter the two-on-two
tournament with his roommate Jerry
Kuhl.
“We practiced for hours every day,”
Luhr said “We played video games so
much, it’s a wonder we passed any
classes.”
In the campus tournament Luhr
and Kuhl made short work of their
opponents and found themselves in the
finals facing their two other room
mates.
“We played them all the time at
home and never lost,” Luhr said.
Then after winning the campus
tournament Luhr, Kuhl and three other
teams were flown to the Sugar Bowl in
New Orleans for the national tourna
ment.
“We had a great time down there
with New Year’s and the football
game,” Luhr said.
The Nebraska team blew away the
competition at nationals, Luhr said.
It was during the national tourna
ment that Luhr made some contacts
with the marketing department, which
led to his internship.
“I was real lucky to get the oppor
tunity to work for them,” Luhr said.
“And now that I have my foot in the
door it is up to me to capitalize on that.”
Luhr plans to go back this summer
to work on the development of next
year’s game.
Although Luhr was disqualified
for this year’s tournament because of
his roll in the development of the game,
Kuhl will compete in this year’s tourna
ment.
“Jerry’s my pick to win it this year
because he has been there before,”
Luhr said.
But Luhr offered some inside
advice for this year’s competitors.
It is tough to play ‘D’, so you have
to score every time you get the ball
and go for two,” Luhr said.
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http:/ lwww.unl.edu/DailyNeb
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