UNL student wheels her way
into appearance on ‘Fortune’
■ Page Baumbach can’t
reveal how she fared on
the show, but said the
experience was a chance
of a lifetime.
By Amanda Schindler
Staff Reporter
Of all the things that college
students are forced to buy these
days, a vowel is not usually one of
them.
Senior nursing major Page
Baumbach, however, bought her
share and more when she was a
contestant on a “Wheel of Fortune”
episode that will air tonight. The
show will be on Channels 7 and 11
at 6:30.
Baumbach was taped on the
show Oct. 26 at the Buell Theater in
Denver. She was one of 13 contes
tants who spun the wheel during
the daylong taping of five episodes.
Although she can’t disclose the
outcome of the show before it airs,
Baumbach said she fared well.
“I think I was pretty fortunate,
but not extremely,” she said.
Baumbach originally applied to
play on “Wheel of Fortune” in May
1996 when she replied to an adver
tisement in the Daily Nebraskan.
After auditioning with about 60
other applicants in Omaha, she
received notice that she had been
chosen as one of the top 12.
It wasn’t until a year later, how
ever, that she finally was called to
tape an episode.
“It’s about 18 months (from the
time of application) to the show,”
she said.
The day of taping started with a
10 a.m. orientation for the partici
pants and tips for the actual taping,
which began at 2:30 p.m.
Baumbach said the contestants
were advised to buy vowels and
I,
nAAJTFT T .TTK’nPRT/nM
PACE BAUMBACH, UNL senior nursing major, sits before her home com
puter adaptation of the classic TVshow “Wheel of Fortune.” Baumbach
spun the wheel and is expecting to see the show on which she was a
contestant tonight at 6:30 on Channels 7 and 11.
“pick smart letters,” she said.
“It was really nerve-racking.”
Baumbach loved the experi
ence, though, especially the atmos
phere of the event.
“It was very energetic,” she
said. “We got a chance to spin the
wheel and pick letters beforehand,
and watch the audience practice
clapping. Everyone was going
crazy.”
Baumbach was a bit nervous
during the taping of the show, not
only because it airs on prime-time
network television, but also
because it is not edited.
“It just goes on,” she said. “I’m
sure if Pat (Sajak) or Vanna (White)
fell, they would (edit it), but not if,
say, you choose a letter that’s
already been chosen.”
Baumbach played against stu
dents from mostly Colorado
schools, and one University of New
Mexico student.
“When they announced the
schools, I got booed and hissed at,”
she said.
Her mother, Kathie, and brother
were in the audience when they had
a similar experience.
“At first, (the families) didn’t
know who everyone was,” Kathie
Baumbach said. “They booed at
Nebraska, and it was overwhelm
ing. But after dinner we got to
know each other, and then we got
some parents on our side.”
During the day of taping,
Baumbach was able to meet host
Sajak, who got along well with all
of the contestants, she said.
“He’s a funny, short little guy,
and very energetic,” she said. “I
really enjoyed him.”
When the show airs tonight, her
family will be taping it. “We’re
telling everyone we know,” Kathie
said. ffej
Baumbach said the overall
experience was the chance of a life
time.
“I loved it,” she said. “It
brought 12 people together, and we
all just clicked. I wouldn’t change it
for the world.”
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Communications
Williams’ impending
execution day nears
WILLIAMS from page 1
die in the electric chair Dec. 2.
He will become just the third
person executed in the state since
Nebraska reinstated the death
penalty in 1972.
State Penitentiary Director
Harold'Clarke said there was a sim
jple reason for the recent increase in
executions in Nebraska.
“The pace is picking up
because they (the current death row
inmates) have been there for a long
time,” he said. “All of their avenues
are, or have been, exhausted.”
J. Kirk Brown, assistant state
attorney general, agreed, and said
states also are making sure how the
■executions are carried out are now
jconstitutional.
“The states are making sure
[they meet those (constitutional)
requirements,” he said. “And a lot
of the guess work on how to do this
appropriately has been eliminat
ed.”
Clarke added that the pace
could continue.
“A date can be set for any one of
them at any time,” he said.
Tuesday, Williams made his
first attempt to delay his execution
since the date was set by the
Nebraska Supreme Court on Oct.
10.
His attorney, David Domina of
Omaha, filed a lawsuit in U.S.
District Court in Lincoln arguing
that the three jolts of electricity
prison officials use during the exe
cution violated state statutes and
the use of the electric chair violated
basic human decency rights.
Domina did not return calls to
the Daily Nebraskan Wednesday.
Brown said even if the lawsuit
were successful, it would probably
not be enough to keep Williams
alive.
“I don’t believe that is an argu
ment that would keep the execution
from happening,” he said of the lat
est court maneuver.
But past experiences, Brown
said, have him a little reluctant to
feeling absolutely certain the exe
cution-will take place as planned.
In 1995, Williams came within
three hours of death before the
state Supreme Court granted him a
reprieve.
“I’ve gone past being confident
and gone past predicting,” Brown
said. "If it comes off, it comes off.”
If it does come off, Clarke said
it won’t come off just after mid
night on Dec. 2.
To thwart the large and unruly
crowds of death penalty protesters
and proponents who had gathered
outside the prison for the previous
two executions, Williams’ execu
tion is set for sometime between 9
a.m. and 11 a.m., Clarke said.
Prison officials have said they
are banking on people being at
work that Tuesday morning,
instead of out getting drunk and
coming to the prison to protest.
-1
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