SP0BT8 HI
Tata for now Double duty January 1998
The Nebraska football team recieved its 21st verbal commitment Darryl White, a recent addition to UNL’s School
Wednesday from Tony Tata, a 6-foot-3,240-pound defensive tack- of Music faculty, is making a habit out of being GLOBAL
le from Honolulu, Hawaii. PAGE 7 over-occupied. PAGE 9 Mostly sunny, high 45. Pari tonight, low 25.
VOL. 97 ' COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 90
Numbers show
larceny, theft
down in 1997
By Josh Funk
Senior Reporter
While violent crime at UNL hit a
six-year low last year, reported drug
related offenses continued to rise, sta
tistics released Wednesday indicated.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Police Department 1997 crime statis
tics also indicated two of the most
common crimes on campus, larceny
and theft, reached a six-year low of
574 incidents last year, down from
589 in 1996 and 683 in 1995.
The decrease in property crime on
campus is due to the increased vigi
lance of students and thp work nf
community service officers and uni
versity police, said UNL Police Sgt.
Mylo Bushing.
Burglaries were up from 53 in
1996 to 75 in 1997.
Violent crimes such as murder,
robbery and assault also reached six
year lows last year.
Eighty liquor violations were
reported last year, up from 11 in 1996
and one in 1995 and drug violations,
at 24, continued on their gradual
increase since 1992.
Police attribute the jump in these
crimes to two factors: the relatively
small number of incidents overall and
increased student reporting of crimes.
Bushing warned, however, that
statistics of a small number can be
easily skewed.
“If you bust one big party on cam
pus, drug and alcohol violations will
jump,” he said.
Police must rely on reports to
detect crime in the residence halls.
“Individuals are taking a more
active role in reporting things,”
Bushing said.
The presence of community ser
vice officers, starting in 1992, has
become an effective deterrent to
crime in the residence halls and
around campus, Bushing said.
“The community service officers
catch a lot of things during their
rounds in the halls and the academic
buildings on campus,” he said.
CSOs also free police officers to
patrol the streets and respond to seri
ous offenses.
“They have been a lifesaver,”
Bushing said, “especially in the halls.”
With the help of CSOs, University
Police have been better able to respond
to crimes reported on campus.
Police try to prevent crime by
making students aware of the risks.
Larceny and theft are big prob
lems because thieves know students
have the merchandise they are looking
for, and students do not take precau
tions.
“Getting things out of sight in
your car or room makes a big differ
Graphic by Jon Frank/DN
Photo by Michael Warren/DN
OFFICER A.J. CLIFTOR of th* ORL
Police Department takes the name
of a man walking through a parking
lot on campus Wednesday after
noon. Clifton said officers take the
names of people they don’t usually
see on campus as a safety measure
for students and faculty.
ence,” Bushing said.
Police also encourage students to
record serial numbers and model
numbers from all of their valuables, so
they can easily reclaim any stolen
property.
Such measures can help reduce
UNL’s crime numbers for another
year, Bushing said.
V)
o Campus crime has
9- gone up in several
2 H -3b-'
categones, accoromg
• m • to 1997 statistics
** released by UNL
0 Police. Violent crimes
•♦r are at a 6-year low.
° 24 . - •. :
1 ^ -
E
2 Burglary
Liquor Violations
Drug Violations c
*—1-1-1-1-1—T
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 ~
Hostess recall affects
few Lincoln residents
By Lindsay Young
Assignment Reporter
To eat or not to eat?
That is the question many may be asking
about Twinkies and other Hostess products
after an estimated 1 million individual snacks
were recalled this week from 21 states, includ
ing Nebraska.
The snacks may have been contaminated
with asbestos fibers in a suburban Chicago
bakery.
But University Health Center officials said
if students have eaten the creme-filled snacks
affected by the recall, they need not worry.
According to a statement released by the
Lincoln-Lancaster Health Department, 13
Hostess products, including Dolly Madison
cupcakes, could be affected.
Almost all of the snacks have expiration
dates ranging from Jan. 22 through Feb. 6,
except HoHo’s, which have an expiration date
of Feb. 13. All recalled products have the code
number “57” on the package and were manu
factured between Jan. 11 and Monday.
Don Harmon, health center occupational
health physician assistant, said the ingestion of
asbestos in water or food is not considered to
be toxic or dangerous.
In some areas of the country, he said, traces
of asbestos occur in the drinking water.
“We don’t know what the concentration of
asbestos fiber in the food product is,” Harmon
said. “I would be surprised if it was high.”
Only some Lincoln convenience stores
have been affected by the recall.
The new campus convenience store in the
parking garage, QwiKick, is not affected
because it does not stock Hostess products.
Scott Morgaridge, the Kwik Shop area
adviser in Lincoln, said Kwik Shop stores have
had to take the snacks off shelves.
Morgaridge said he had been at a Lincoln
Kwik Shop store Wednesday morning and the
workers only had to take about 10 packages off
Please see SNACKS on 6
New bills would protect
By Brian Carlson
Senior Reporter
Three minutes after his mother was killed
by a drunk driver, Zachary Griesemer was
delivered by Caesarean section.
He was baptized. He received a birth cer
tificate. He lived for nine hours and 12 min
utes before dying of head injuries sustained
in the accident.
But the drunk driver whose car flew out
of control across die median and killed Billie
Griesemer, Zachary’s mother, was never
charged in the death ofher then-unborn child.
Supporters of LB981 and LB987 told
members of the Judiciary Committee
Wednesday that unborn children deserve the
same protection as everyone else in cases of
homicide, manslaughter or other criminal
acts by a third party resulting in death. They
were careful, however, to explain the law
would in no way limit a woman’s right to an
abortion.
“This bill k designed to close the loop
hole we believe caused injury, pain and suf
fering, particularly to a woman who lost an
unborn child, as a result of a third party’s
action,” said Sen. La Von Crosby of Lincoln,
sponsor of LB981.
The two bills would change the definition
of“person” in die descriptions of homicide,
manslaughter and motor vehicle homicide.
Crosby’s bill covers unborn children in
the uterus beginning with conception.
LB987, sponsored by Sen. Jim Jones of
Eddyville, would cover “viable” unborn chil
dren m the uterus.
Billie Griesemer’s mother, Barbara
Lalbrner, spoke at the hearing.
“Please don’t let this continue,” she told
committee members amid sobs. “Please
Please see ZACHARY on 6
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http: / / www.unl.edu IDailyNeb
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