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Os
of
■ The former football
coach spoke before the
Education Committee,
lending his support to a bill
supporting youth guidance.
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By Jessica Fabgen
Senior staff writer
Former NU Football Coach Tom
Osborne told senators that youth
mentoring programs could save trou
bled youth from prison, welfare and
teen pregnancy at a hearing Tuesday.
UNL senior marketing major
Eddie Brown told senators how a
mentor elevated him from an uncer
tain future as a 15-year-old to the
ASUN second vice president at UNL.
Osborne and Brown joined mid
dle-school students and forma men
tors Tuesday in front of die Education.
Committee to show support for
LB653.
The bill, sponsored by Omaha
Sen. Jon Bruning, asks for $2 million
a year to set up a statewide youth
mentoring program for at-risk stu
dents.
If the bill is advanced, Bruning
will make it his priority bill.
Osborne started such a program
in 1991 with 25 NU football players.
Through the program, athletes par
tially take the place of parents and
help kids who are struggling in
school, have single-parent homes or
are at risk of joining a gang.
“A mentor is one who affirms,
one who supports, one who has a
vision of what that young person
a
All of the research we reviewed showed the
greatest wound kids fear and face and
experience is isolation ”
Dr. Andrew Mecca
mentoring proponent
might become,” Osborne said
“Bom to lose” is the most com
mon tattoo Osborne sees on Nebraska
prison inmates because that’s how
they see themselves. Youth mentoring
corrects that view, he said
The problem will be convincing a
fiscally tight Legislature, Osborne
said He pointed out that, at $22,000 a
year to keep someone incarcerated,
this bill was a cost-effective preven
tion measure.
Dr. Andrew Mecca of California
urged senators to spend a small sum
of money now instead of a large
amount later when forgotten kids get
pregnant, use drugs, join gangs and
drop out of school.
“All of the research we reviewed
showed the greatest wound kids fear
and face and experience is isolation,”
Mecca said.
California is a gleaming example
of a successful mentoring program,
he said, jumping from 70,000 volun
teers four years ago to 300,000 now.
Support from the state in the pro
gram’s beginning helped spade me
interest of private industry, which
brought in more funds. ^
Lyndsey Clewell, an eighth-grad
er at Irving Middle School, slid her
mentor was instrumental in helping
_ - “ •• .*
improve her self-esteem and grades.
She brought her report card as proof.
Perhaps die most striking testimo
ny came from UNL’s Brown, Who
reflected on how surprised he is when
he looks back on his accomplish
ments.
“If you told this young man he
would be (second) vice president of
UNLs student government, he would
be excited, but wonder, ‘Why him?’”
Brown said.
Brown listed his accomplish
ments at UNL such as being chosen
to study in the Nebraska at Oxford
(University in England) program and •
being selected as a member of the
Chancellor’s Leadership Class.
When Brown, his four siblings
and mother moved from Detroit to
Lincoln, Brown saw his brothers,
who were already involved with
drugs in Detroit, succumb to drugs
here.
Brown chose a different path.
Along with his mother, his mentor
was a guiding force in that choice.
• “It would have been v^y easjfcfar
myself to go down thatioad
and wrongdoings,” he said*,
“Without tjfis mi
gram, I really don’t know
today.”
Council helps pave way for soccer complex
By JoshKnaub
Staff writer
The Lincoln City Council voted
5-2 Tuesday to give the YMCA per
mission to build an outdoor soccer
complex near 84th and O streets,
despite last-minute objections from
area property owners.
A neighborhood association rep
resentative cited unanswered ques
tions about drainage and asked for a
week to work out a better compro
mise before a final vote.
He said at least one more face-to
face meeting between neighbors and
YMCA officials was needed before
any decisions could be made.
Council member Jerry Shoecraft
pressed for a quick decision.
Fan* an from Lincoln, each wqr based on a RT
purchase Fan* do not hictuda tanas, which can
total between $1 and CM. Inti Student IO map be
required. Fans an valid for departures In March
and an subject to change. Restrictions apply. Call
br our taw domestic fans and fans to ocher
Don* forget to order your Eurailpass!
\Travel ^
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“I respect the views of theneigb
borhood and the YMCA, but there
will never be a consensus,” Shoecraft
said. “We need to move forward^
A motion to delay finafTOte on
the measure was defeated 4-3<- ^|
A YMCA representative told the
council that both sides workeddose
ly to come up with a compromise. He
said the YMCA was confused by the
late request for a delay.
The council amended die resolu
tion to reflect compromises made by
the two groups. The final resolution
provided for four soccer fields,
instead of five, maintenance of an
existing tree row and no ligfis on the
fields.
Council member Cindy Johnson
spoke in support of the measure.
“I trust that the YMCA5drifi do
what it has promised,” she
Council member Linda Wilsgp
said she could not support the mgp
sure as proposed.
“I cannot vote for this measure at
this time,” die said. % w
“Questions still need t|* be
answered.”
Coleen Seng, another council
member, joined Wilson in votings *
against the measure.
In other business, the council
heard comments from the public on
widening east O Street.
Current plans call for improve
ments between 52nd Street 4nd
Wedgewood Drive, including
improving two intersections at Cotner
Boulevard and 56* Street.
Debate focused on the plan’s
impact on businesses in the area.
jfp *
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Graduating college seniors are invited to apply for the 26th annual
Pulliam Journalism Fellowships.. We will grant 10-week summer5
internships to 20 journalism or liberal arts majors m the August 1998
June 1999 graduating classes.
’
Previous internship or part-time experience at a newspaper is desired.
Winners will1 receive a $5,250 stipend and wiH work at either 7]te
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Republic.
Entries must be postmarked by March 1,1999.
To request an application packet, write: Russell B. Pulliam
Fellowships Director
The Indianapolis News
; P.O. Box 145
(
Women’s conference
to be held next week
- .J* ■ ' -
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By Veronica Daehn
Staff writer
Not only will women be given
the opportunity to learn more about
their leadership abilities next week,
but men will benefit as well.
The sixth annual Women’s
Leadership Conference, which will
be held Feb. 27 in the Nebraska
Union, will focus on issues sur
rounding women in politics, the
workplace and their communities.
“It’s a good experience that
offers men and women the chance
to see how their leadership affects
people,” said Scott Peterson, co
coordinator of the Conference.
Lincoln’s first female mayor,
Helen Boosalis, will be the keynote
speaker at die conference.
Boosalis, who served as mayor
from 1975-1983, also was a guber
natorial candidate in 1986 and now
serves on several organizations,
including the Nebraska Comm
unity Foundation and the Cons
umer Advisory Council.
Six workshops will take place
during the conference, which runs
from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
The workshops will focus on
gender and other diversity issues,
Peterson said.
Jan Deeds, assistant director of
Student Involvement for Gender
Related Programs, said women
should take advantage of the con
ference, titled “Brick bfy Brick:
Women Building a Community of
Empowerment”
“This is really an opportunity
for women to think about them
selves as leaders and focus on
themselves,” Deeds said.
.-v~ Several student organizations
.'and Jjfeademic departments con
"j&the event Peterson said.
PPpHPPj^k, president of Allies
-
tt
It’s hard as a
woman to be a
leader A lot of
women feel alone,
and by learning
from each other,
they could do
better”
' * * ' " ^ i ^ ~
. Jill Matlock
Registration and Recognition
committee member
— ! V
and a member of the Registration
and Recognition committee for die
conference, said it was important
for women to address leadership
issues.
“It’s hard as a woman to be a
leader ” the junior University of
Nebraska-Lincoln student said. “A
lot of women feel alone, and by
learning from each other, they
could do better.”
Registration will begin at 8:00
a.m., but students and faculty can
register in advance for $3 at Student
Involvement, 200 Nebraska Union.
Registration the day of the event
is $5 for students and faculty, and
$7 for nonstudents.
JefFNicolaisen, chairman of the
conference planning committee,
said this conference was unlike
most others.
“Traditionally, (conferences)
focus on leadership styles of men,”
he said. “But this one gives women
the opportunity to learn more about
their own teatfership Stytes ”
Lincoln man, 48, arrested
for stripping in restaurant
Police arrested a 48-year-old
Lincoln man Monday^ after he
stripped in a restagf^jHgthe 1300
block of L Street: ;
the manJeft the restaurant nude'
man returned to tierestau
rant, she said, and the Owner asked
him toieave. After putting on his
underwear, he did.
A police officer lata: noticed the
man standing on die steps outside his
home in his underwear, Finnell said.
The rest of his clothes and the keys to
Ms apartment \
fhntbood
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'and jail'
Man nearly runs down
officer, hits 2 vehicles
Lincoln police arrested a 23-year
old Lincoln man Monday after the
man nearly ran over an officer.
Finnell said the officer was
stopped on Capitol Parkway just west
ofNinth Street about 12:30 p.m. when
he clocked a 1979 Chevy Caprice
Classic traveling faster than the posted
speed limit of 35 mph.
When the officer tried to wave the
vehicle over, she said, die driver sped
up and swerved, forcing the officer to
dive out of the way to avoid being hit
The driver continued to the stop
light at Ninth and K streets, police
said, where his car struck a stopped
vehicle, a light pole on the intersec
tion’s southeast comer, a pickup truck
and another pole on the north side of
the street
The suspect’s car finally came to
rest when it crashed into the south side
of a business on the comer of 10th and
K streets, police said.
The man then fled on foot, she
said, and the officer - who arrived on
the scene after the series of collisions
- apprehended him on L Street
between 10th and 11th streets.
Finnell said the man was cited and
jailed for second-degree assault on an
officer, numerous traffic offenses and
driving under a suspended license.
The collisions caused $2,000 dam
age to the first vehicle, $600 damage
to the pickup and $7,000 damage to
the arrested man’s vehicle, she said.
No one was injured.
Compiled fay staff writer Shane
Anthony
