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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1998)
—SMILIi— All-WEDNESDAY Submerged Radio, radio March 4,1998 With a record-breaking swim at the conference Radio King, a local rockabilly band with a pen meet, NU freshman swimmer Shandra Johnson chant for all things aged, will bring its swank style SAME #&?@ DIFFERENT DAY has jumped into the Big 12 spotlight. PAGE 7 and sounds to the Zoo Bar Thursday. PAGE 9 Mostly cloudy, high 32. Chance of snow tonight, low 20. VOL. 97 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 N0.115 Accused murderer deemed unfit for trial Suspect in the killing of a UNL student may still he found competent By Josh Funk Senior Reporter The man accused of brutally mur dering a UNL student in 1995 was found incompetent to stand trial for the crime Monday. Lincoln Regional Center staff deter mined that Gregory Gabel was unfit to stand trial for the July 25, 1995, stab bing death of 18-year-old Martina McMenamin, but the court will have the final say in determining Gabel's compe tency. Lancaster County Attorney Gary Lacey did not return calls to the Daily Nebraskan on Tuesday, but he has said he would contest the Regional Center’s evaluation. A team of Regional Center psychi atric staff evaluat ed Gabel on 20 separate criteria to determine compe tency, said Jim Mays, director of forensic mental health. Evaluators use a series of several different tests to determine if someone can stand trial. Mays said. The 20 areas of a competency eval uation are used to make sure defendants understand the charges and procedures they face and that they can assist in their own defense, he said. Gabel had been diagnosed as schiz ophrenic by the Regional Center before the arrest when he lived in a Lincoln housing program for mentally disabled residents. The court now will take the Regional Center’s recommendations into consideration at an upcoming com petency hearing where either side can contest the findings, said David Babcock, Health and Human Services chief legal counsel. If Gabel’s competency is chal lenged, he will be reevaluated by anoth I er court-appointed psychiatrist. “Lacey’s challenge is understand able with the importance of this case,” Babcock said. But the Regional Center is confi dent its findings will be upheld. In 18 competency evaluations last year, the Regional Center’s recommen dations were never overruled, Mays said. “We welcome second opinions,” Mays said, “because clinical profession als must evaluate patients on the same criteria we use.” If the court also finds that Gabel is unfit to stand trial, he will be committed to the Regional Center where he will be treated, Babcock said. But therapists do not start from scratch, Mays said. “We work on specific areas a patient is deficient in to restore competency,” Mays said. Gabel could stand trial at a later date if his psychiatric state changes, but there is no set timetable for his reevaluation, Mays said. However, if a patient does not respond within a certain time frame, the Regional Center would make additional recommendations to the court on the likelihood 6f the defendant regaining competency. The Associated Press contributed to this report Burger war under way By Ieva Augstums Assignment Reporter The King could still reign. Somebody might say McDonald's. But not if Grandma has her say. Student preference will help decide if Burger King, Runza or McDonald's will occupy the Nebraska Union's largest fast food spot, Nebraska Unions Director Daryl Swanson said. Swanson told the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Union Board members Tuesday a survey should be conducted to serve the university's and restaurants’ best interests. “The most important criteria in deciding something like this is student preference,” Swanson said. Swanson said a random sam ple of about 300 students will be surveyed over the telephone by UNL's Bureau of Sociological Research. “We have used student survey s before for food selection in the union,” Swanson said. “Scientific surveys always seem to be the best way to determine what a large pop ulation wants and likes.” The survey will include ques tions regarding brand recognition, cleanliness and sanitation prac tices of the restaurant, restaurant performance and sales, food qual ity and service and taste. Union Board will give the results strong consideration in the final selection, but it still will con sider the total amount of the bids, regardless of the survey s results. “What it comes down to is comparing their projected sales,” Swanson said. “This will be hard.” Swanson said the total amount of rent each restaurant pays is determined by its annual gross sales. If gross sales were based on S900.000, Runza would be the highest bidder, followed by Burger King then McDonald's, he said. Union Board President Saad Alavi said the board needs to look at how much money each restau rant will make. However, the comparison between Runza’s “home town” sales to two national chains' sales is not equal. Jeff Barwig, public relations chairman, agreed and pointed out that Runza does not serve break fast, while Burger King and McDonald’s do. Swanson said Runza acknowledged in its bid that it does not include a breakfast menu, but it will look into provid ing one, he said. After the survey is completed, the results will be reviewed by Union Board. The ultimate deci sion, however, rests with the NU Board of Regents. Traffic projects discussed ByIevaAugstums Assignment Reporter The UNL Academic Senate agreed Tuesday that shared gov ernance is needed to open up the doors of communication between faculty and administration. President James Ford said the Academic Senate Executive Board brought the idea of shared governance to University of Nebraska-Lincoln administra tion, which was “generally recep tive and supportive of the issue.” However, senate members flooded Chancellor James Moeser with questions, wanting to know why there was no shared governance in the Antelope Valley development project. Don Jensen, a professor of psychology, asked who decided to carry out the project that will help aid Lincoln s growing prob lems with floodwater manage ment and UNL traffic control and safety. “I am just concerned about who were the deciding bodies with this project,” Jensen said. Moeser said panels with fac ulty representation examined the flow of traffic through campus and identified areas of concern. “Sixteenth and 17th streets are a major safety concern for the university,” Moeser said. The Antelope Valley plan was ideal, he said, because it would block off those two streets and carry local two-way traffic instead. Jensen said he did not see the point in making 16th and 17th streets two-way when the current one-way traffic is safer. Susan Hallbeck, an industrial and management systems engi neering professor, agreed. “I work in Nebraska Hall and cross 16th and 17th streets daily,” Hallbeck said. “I feel comfort able crossing these streets - more than some two-way streets in Lincoln.” Hallbeck said she hasn’t seen or heard about any traffic injuries on 16th and 17th streets because of the one-way traffic. Please see SENATE on 2 It’s crunch time Scott McClurg/DN SEN. CURT BROMM of Wahoo, left, discusses an amendment to a public school finance bill on the floor of the Legislature Tuesday as Sen. Ardyce Bohlke of Hastings prepares to do the same. Senators are running out of time to move bills with only four weeks left in the 1998 session. 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