SPORTS
Out of reach
The Nebraska volleyball team fell short of its
goal of a national title with a four-game loss to
Penn State in the national semifinals. PAGE 15
I
A & E
From the gallery
The Student Art League plans to use the
Nebraska Union's Rotunda Gallery to display
selected work from art students. PAGE 17
MON m
January 11, 1999
Shiver Me Timbers
Partly sunny, high 35. Partly cloudy tonight, low 20.
VOL. 98 ' COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 77
Reeves was one of many ‘split feathers’
«
Randy was accepted
by our extended
family and the
community. He was
always one of our
kids”
Don Reeves
Randy Reeves’ adoptive father
By Josh Funk
Senior staff writer
On March 7, 1959, Randy
Blackbird took his first step to becom
ing Randy Reeves.
That night, the 3-year-old boy, who
would later be convicted of murder and
sentenced to die, was taken from his
American Indian family and placed
with a white one.
The practice is illegal now, but it was
quite common in the 1950s when the
Thurston County Sheriff was called to
the Blackbird home on the Omaha
Indian Reservation near Macy.
The sheriff said he was investigating
reports of a drunken brawl and possible
child abuse at the home. \
Then he arrested all of the adults -
Randy Blackbirds' extended family -
and took their six children into protec
tive custody. Before the end of the week,
adoption plans were being made for the
two youngest children.
Randy Blackbird was adopted by
the Reeves family, which lived in
Central City. The family changed his
name from Blackbird to its own.
Randy Reeves was among the 25
percent of all American Indian children
nationwide who were taken from their
families in the 1950s and placed into
adoptive homes - often with horrible
consequences.
Many of the children were taken
because social workers did not consider
the cultural differences, Omaha Tribal
Council Treasurer Amie Harlan said.
“There was no cultural understand
ing on the other side,” Harlan said. “It’s
hard to say to a non-Indian that this is
our culture.”
A study by the University of
Arizona has shown irrevocable, harmful
effects cross-cultural adoptions had on
those who were adopted and their com
munities. After being taken from their -
families and homes at a young age,'
American Indian adoptees have shown
an inability to connect with other people
and a lack of personal identity.
v Though it is uncertain exactly what
effects Reeves' adoption has had in his
life, he now waits on Nebraska's death
row and is scheduled to die Thursday for
the 1980 murders of Janet Mesner and
Victoria Lamm.
After 18 years of litigation, Reeves
has exhausted nearly every appeal.
Today the Pardons Board will consider
Reeves' application for a clemency
hearing, and an appeal is pending in
Nebraska Supreme Court.
Early years
Reeves was bom at the Winnebago
Indian Hospital on Feb. 8, 1956, to 16
year-old Grace Blackbird, who dropped
out of school in the sixth grade. Mother
and son lived on the nearby Omaha
reservation with their extended family.
Please see REEVES on page 8
On the sunny side
Matt Miller/DN
TYLER WOODS reads a book in the Sun Room in the Neihardt Residence Center on Sunday afternoon. The senior computer
engineering major said he left his room because the couch was comfortable, the room was warm, and he wanted to escape
his guitar-playing neighbor.
Funds divide legislators, NU officials
ByIevaAugstums
Senior staff writer
With the Legislature s mcreased focus on
tight-fisted spending, university officials are
working to convince lawmakers their budget
requests are justified.
But heightened concern over state spend
ing may stop the university from receiving
better technology and higher faculty salaries;
officials are worried.
“I sense a strong desire to help the univer
sity,” said University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Chancellor James Moeser. “We are a favored
institution in the state, but we are living in an
era of reduced flexibility. It’s not going to be
easy.”
Last July, the NU Board of Regents
approved the NU 1999-2001 biennial budget
request that asked for a 6.8 percent first-year
increase for the 1998-99 budget of about
S355.9 million.
In February, Gov. Mike Johanns will pre
sent his budget to the Legislature for the next
two years.
Ron Withem, NU associate vice president
for external affairs and director of govern
ment relations, said the university will have to
take into consideration Johanns’ recommen
dation and the Legislature’s thoughts, then act
on its reqyests.
“It's going to be a formidable challenge,”
Withem said. “There is always more needs
Honr! iho Dnil\i AJohrn obr
than dollars to go around.”
The university’s legislative agenda
includes increasing faculty and staff mem
bers’ saktfies, funding for technology and
general inflation costs.
Moeser said faculty and staff members’
salaries are currently 5 to 6 percent below the
midpoint of UNL’s peer institutions.
“We are slipping, and our peers are mov
ing away from us,” Moeser said. “We need
and want to keep our faculty. We need to catch
up.”
But Regent Drew Miller of Papillion dis
agreed.
“I believe in merit pay, not these ideas of
Please, see BUDGET on 6
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Lawmakers
focusing on
spending issues,
aid to schools
By Jessica Fargen
Senior staff writer
Although the business-backed Initiative 413 was rejected
by voters in May, its fallout is permeating the Legislature this
90-day session as legislators from Omaha to Minden seem to
have ideas on how to limit state spending.
State aid to schools and taxes join state spending limits on
the list of issues facing lawmakers this year.
The Legislature will set the budget for the next two years
with a $4.5 billion two-year general fund budget.
Omaha Sen. Pam Brown is proposing a resolution to limit
state spending increases to 3 percent for the next two years.
“It is not a lid,” she said. “It is not anything other than a
verbal contract between the Legislature and the public.”
Brown chose to base the limit on personal income growth,
instead of a national basis such as the consumer price index,
because it may be out of touch with the Nebraska economy.
With the resolution, instead of a bill, appropriation would
be dealt with nearer the start of the session, instead of the end.
saia crown, a memDer or me Appropriations committee, i ne
resolution was introduced Thursday and referred to the
Executive Board for a hearing.
A resolution is quicker to enact than a bill, and it is not
permanent.
Brown said something needed to be done about state
spending growth. A non-permanent, good-faith promise on
the part of lawmakers was a good route to go, Brown said.
“There may be people who are accepting of spending as
long as they understand what the philosophy is behind it ”
Brown said.
“The important part is not what the number is. The impor
tant part is that there is discussion, that there is an agreement.”
Brown is among several senators including Speaker of the
Legislature Doug Kristensen of Minden, Sen. Ron Raikes of
Lincoln and Sen. Roger Wehrbein of Plattsmouth, who have
or may propose some type of spending limit.
As in November’s election, responsible spending and tax
ation continue to be key issues for legislators. <
Please see SPENDING on 6