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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 28, 1998)
SPOUTS Goals galore The Nebraska women’s soccer team racked up 18 goals in two victories this weekend to improve to 6-2 for the season. PAGE 10 A&E More Pleasant-ness Singer/songwriter Wally Pleasant returns to Lincoln with more lyrical satire and acoustic based wit. PAGE 12 MON IAY September 28, 1998 What The Thunder Brings Rain possible, high 88. Cloudy tonight, low 63. Seeing red Matt Miller/DN BRIAN ROTE, left, a junior business administration major, roars intensely as the Cornhuskers take the field at Memorial Stadium for Saturday’s football game against the University of Washington. Rote and some other members of Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity painted their faces and chests in a show of Husker spirit. States on guard against terrorism By Todd Anderson Senior staff writer When it comes to securing protection from terrorist attack. Americans can breathe easy know ing a bevy of local, state and federal agen cies has been recruited to maintain security in the United States. But for the city of Lincoln, that means coor dinating the actwities of more than 10 federal, state and local agencies that all have a role in defending the country against deadly biological and nuclear weapons. Responding to a recognized security risk. Congress passed the Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act of 1996. which autho rized the Department of Defense to train the first responders nationw ide how to respond to a terrorist attack threatening the population's health and safety. In 1997 the Chemical Biological Rapid Response Team sent out groups from its train ing grounds in Maryland to eight U.S. cities to work directly with police officers, firefighters and health and hospital personnel. Although Lincoln and Omaha help make up the list of 120 cities the Department of Defense aims to visit, neither has received training, and only Omaha has a training v isit scheduled for February 1999. But the gap in training from Army experts has been filled by regional and state efforts to prevent an attack and prepare a timelv response to save lives and property. In 1997 Nebraska. Kansas and Iowa worked together to train specialists in how to handle weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear and biological weapons. And m 1996, a commission appointed by Gov. Ben Nelson was giv en the task of putting together a plan to work with Nebraska's com munities. War at home According to a 1997 FBI report, the number of domestic attacks, such as the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. and international terrorist Please see TERRORISM on 3 Award named for professor’s contribution By Kim Sweet Staff writer Retired UNL English Professor Louis Crompton remembers very clearly another “coming out” besides his own. Standing in front of an audience that packed a small room and the adjacent hallway in December 1973, Crompton gave his historic pre sentation entitled “Gay Literature” at the annual meeting of the Modem Language Association. The speech prompted the audience to form the gay and lesbian caucus of the MLA. That historic event led the association to giv e an award annually in the name of Crompton and co-founder, Professor Dolores Noll. The national award, which is in its 19th year, is given to the writer of the best essay in lesbian and gay studies. “The award is for essays that graduate stu dents would be writing for a scholastic journal,” Crompton said. The professor emeritus said he gave his pre sentation after attending a past annual meeting and seeing among the topics a gap that needed to be filled. “I didn't know anyone else who was interest ed in gay literature at that time,” Crompton said. “1 didn't know a single other gay or lesbian teacher at that time." But after the professor gave his speech in the crowded room, it was obvious Crompton was not alone in his interest. Those who attended the speech were ready to form, Crompton said. “It was obvious that 1 pushed a button,” Crompton said. “It took practically no effort to attract a large number of people to get orga nized." Though it was easy to form the group within the MLA, bringing gay literature and history Please see AWARD on 3 Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at http:/ / www.unl.edu /DailyNeb Validity of state probe questioned ■ Tribes ask for a federal inquiry into the university’s handling of American Indian remains. By Lindsay Young Senior staff writer Tribal representatives discussed Friday their request for a federal investigation into whether UNL researchers violated an act protecting American Indian remains. The group finished its two-day meeting at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln by dis cussing investigations and reburial procedures and planning a training session on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990. The group was formed at the request of UNL to discuss details of the repatriation of about 1.700 remains. Chancellor James Moeser signed an agree ment Sept. 1 stating the university would return affiliated and unaffiliated remains. The State Patrol and a university-hired attor ney have separate investigations under way to determine whether the universitv v iolated NAG PRA. Randy Thomas, co-founder of Grassroots NAGPRA in Lincoln, expressed doubt about the validity of a Nebraska State Patrol investigation, citing state connections to people within the uni versity system. Several tribes have said the university stud ied and mishandled American Indian remains without tribal permission. That would be a viola tion of NAGPRA. The Omaha Tribe of Nebraska updated the group on the progress of preparations for rebur ial of the remains. The group hopes to hav e the remains reburied before winter. The tribe said it would accept about 670 remains not linked to any specific tribe. The remains will be reburied by all tribes involved with the repatriation effort. A tribal spokesman said the remains would be reburied near Homer, but officials don't know how large to make the site because the amount of space the remains would take up is unknown. The spokesman said no members of the news media would be allowed on the site and the univ ersity would cov er costs of reburial. At the meeting, the group also discussed a five-day training session for tribal representa tives. During the session, the group would review the NAGPRA act of 1990, review regulations and discuss strategy and how to w rite a repatria tion request, said Sebastian LeBeau, the preser vation officer for the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe. LeBeau will lead the training next month. The tribal group will meet again in South Sioux City during the week of training. Vice Chancellor for Research Priscilla Grew' said she was pleased with the progress made at the meeting. “(The group) resolved a number of issues,” she said. “They’ve been very helpful.” Tribal leaders ask university for respect in the handling of remains. See page 7.
