SPORTS
Dear Mama
NU sprinter Vince Brown runs for glory, and his
mother, as he tries to grab the Big 12 and nation
al crowns. PAGE 12
A&E
Regional realist
With stories about ruined families, ugly relation
ships and dark histories, playwright Robert Vivian
startles readers - including his parents. PAGE 9
THURSDAY
February 18, 1999
Gather Round the Fire
Blustery today, high 40. Cloudy tonight, low 25.
Flaming good fun
Sandy Summers/DN
JACK HOWARD HOPKINS, a junior art education major and member of the UNL Juggling Club, juggles fire batons outside of the University
of Nebraska-Lincoln Culture Center. Hopkins said he enjoys juggling because of “the chaos you’re in the middle of.” The club’s president,
Jeff Dixon, said veterans and beginners alike are invited to juggle with the club every Sunday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Culture Center.
Concealed weapons examined
«
Even if 1 percent more
guns are out there on the
street, that's 1 percent
more guns I have to
worry about."
Steve Grabowski
Fraternal Order of Police representative
By Jessica Fargen
Senior staff writer
Children finding handguns as they forage
through their mothers' purses for candy and car
thieves stealing guns from vehicles were several
scenarios put forth Wednesday by opponents of
a bill that would allow Nebraskans to carry con
cealed handguns.
But supporters of LB476, sponsored by
Nickerson Sen. Ray Janssen, told the Judiciary
Committee that fears of increased violence have
not been realized in the 43 other states that allow
concealed weapons.
Under the bill, certain places, such as restau
rants, could elect to prohibit gun-toting citizens
from entering. People would not be allowed to
carry concealed weapons into places such as
courtrooms, prisons and schools.
Stanton Sen. Stan Schellpeper, who spon
sored a similar bill in 1996, said the bill was
much safer than laws m other states.
“This bill should be called a safety bill,” he
said. “No other state has as rigorous a bill as LB
476,” he said.
The bill would require people who apply for
Please see GUNS on 2
Legislature weighs merits ol arena bill
By Brian Carlson
Staff water
A bill that would assist commu
nities seeking to build convention
centers would benefit not just
Omaha, but towns across
Nebraska, supporters of LB382
said Wednesday.
While supporters of a proposed
convention center in Omaha have
been promoting the idea for some
time, other communities could
receive financial assistance for
convention centers tailored to their
needs, supporters told the
Legislature's Revenue Committee.
“If we don't do something like
developing a convention center in
Nebraska so we can compete with
cities like Kansas City, St. Louis
and Denver, we might just have to
forget about it,” said Omaha Sen.
Dan Lynch, sponsor of LB382.
“Others will beat us to the punch.”
The bill would authorize the
state to support communities’ con
vention centers by “turning back”
tax revenues, Lynch said.
By attracting conventions
whose delegates spend money in
the community - for lodging,
meals and other purchases - con
vention centers could provide an
economic boost and additional tax
revenue, supporters said.
A state board would estimate
how much additional tax revenue
was generated by convention center
activities, then return a portion of
those revenues to convention cen
ters to help defray debts and other
expenses.
The formula is based on an
Arkansas law. Barry Travis, execu
tive director of the Little Rock,
Ark., Convention Board, said state
support had allowed Little Rock to
build and operate a successful con
vention center.
“The convention center's suc
cess has been very good for the city,
Please see ARENA on 2
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at dailyneb.com
Chi Phi
Fraternity
sanctioned
■ The university levels 12 sanctions
after finding the fraternity violated the
student code of conduct.
By Erin Gibson
Editor
Chi Phi Fraternity has lost half its members and will
face 12 disciplinary sanctions because of events leading
to a drunken sophomore falling from a third-floor win
dow of its house on Jan. 31.
“We have put in place sanctions - a dozen of them -
that we know will work,” said James Griesen, UNL vice
chancellor for student affairs, at a press conference
Wednesday.
The sanctions are “as severe as (the university) can
go” without closing the house, Griesen said. Sanctions
resulted from house violations of the student code of con
duct’s alcohol and unlawful acts policies.
The sanctions are mtended to help the 100-year-old
chapter rebuild and to help reduce its chances of future
violations. The last of the sanctions, including a universi
ty-employed graduate assistant living in and monitoring
the house, will expire in May 2001. Chi Phi and its alum
ni chapter will repay the university for the assistant’s
salary and will pay his room and board.
Thirty-seven of the chapter’s 79 members will be
allowed to remain members and live in the house. Two
other members will continue to live off campus with fam
ily members.
Those excluded from the house, including UNL
senior Jason P. Hardy, who was Chi Phi president at the
time of the incident, did not pass a membership review
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during the past two weeks.
The remaining members are committed to following
university rules and rebuilding their fraternity, Gnesen
said.
Sanctions followed university and Chi Phi national
office investigations into the fraternity's role m events
leading to the Jan. 31 falling injury of 20-year-old UNL
sophomore Kara Bliven of Red Oak, Iowa.
Bliven had been drinking with her boyfriend, UNL
freshman Andrew Devault, at the fraternity's initiation
party held off campus at a house on the 600 block of
South 28th Street.
A 21-year-old Lincoln man has been charged with
buymg three kegs of beer for minors at the party. Griesen
said chapter funds paid for the alcohol, and Chi Phi mem
bers acknowledge violating university alcohol policy and
state and local laws.
Bliven returned to Chi Phi with her boyfriend after
the party and fell out of a third-floor window shortly after
2:30 a.m. She had been vomiting out of the window.
A Community Service Officer found Bliven lying on
the ground outside the house around 3:20 a.m. She was
hospitalized for several days and treated for broken ribs
and a broken arm and pelvis. Doctors also removed her
spleen.
Bliven, who lived in a UNL residence hall, is now
recovering at home in Red Oak.
All Chi Phi activities were suspended after her fall,
pending completion of the university’s investigation of
the chapter.
Griesen said he was pleased with the men remaining
in Chi Phi and believed they were committed to changing
the culture of their house.
Please see SANCTIONS on 8