SPORTS
Flown away
The winning streak for the Nebraska men’s bas
ketball did just that, but the Huskers look to
regain the magic Saturday. PAGE 7
A & I
Words that heal
Having gone through a troubled childhood himself.
Lincoln author Tom Frye now writes stories to help
other young people handle growing pains. PAGE 9
MONDAY
February 25, 1999
Cloudy But Goodie
Mostly cloudy, high 50. Misty tonight, low 30.
VOL. 98 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 110
Judge dismisses sex lawsuit as frivolous
By Josh Funk and Shane Anthony
Staff writers
A Lancaster County District judge
Thursday dismissed a lawsuit dealing with
teen-agers, sex and parental responsibility.
“I'm going to be frank with you,” Judge
Jeffre Cheuvront said before dismissing the
suit. “In more than 25 years as a judge, this is
one of the weakest - if not frivolous - cases I've
ever been involved in.”
Doug Detmer, of Lincoln, sued Dawn
Bixler, also of Lincoln, alleging she was negli
gent, because she knew her son, Dallas Mills,
had sex with his daughter, Leanne. Leanne
Detmer became pregnant in early 1997. Her
father sued on her behalf for SI 1,371 to cover
the cost of an abortion and counseling for her.
The case may have been the first of its kind
in the United States.
According to court testimony, Mills and
Leanne Detmer started dating in the fall of 1996
and became sexually active a few months later.
In April 1997, Leanne Detmer learned that
she was pregnant, and her parents made her
have an abortion.
In 1998, Cheuvront dismissed Mills from
the lawsuit, because the two teens had consen
sual sex 15 to 20 times during the relationship.
After the judge's Thursday ruling, one of
Detmer’s lawyers, Kirk Wolgamott, said a tech
nical problem prevented attorneys from enter
ing medical bills into evidence.
Doug Detmer filed the lawsuit on behalf of
his daughter, Wolgamott said, but he was not
listed as a party. Leanne Detmer’s bills were in
her father's name, he said, making them irrele
vant.
He said he did not know what, it anything,
would be done, but Doug and Sharon Detmer
are upset.
“They still believe that some responsibility
should be taken by Dallas Mills,” Wolgamott
said.
During testimony Thursday morning,
Leanne Detmer talked about conflict with her
parents and an open attitude at Bixlers home.
“There were no rules, and we could do what
we wanted,” she said.
Please see SUIT on 2
Lane Hickenbottom/DN
AMY MARTIN, a senior art major, said she paints as therapy to combat an eating disorder she acquired when she was in her early
teens. An estimated 4 million to 5 million Americans suffer from eating disorders.
Eating disorders present lifetime battle
‘7 was confused as to
what was going on.
a There came a point
where I wanted to stop
losing weight, hut I
just couldn’t.”
Jennifer Schulte
senior dietetics major
By Sonja Hegge
Staff writer
You're fat. Look at those thighs. You are dis
gusting.
These are just a few of the thoughts continu
ously running through the minds of the 4 million to
5 million Americans who suffer from an eating dis
order, according to the Eating Disorders awareness
and prevention organization brochure.
Laura Schweer, a senior psychology major,
knows first-hand what it is like to hear voices inside
her head. Schweer has struggled with an eating dis
order since the fourth grade.
“I remember running in gym class and the boy
behind me uttered ‘boom, boom, boom’ as my feet
hit the pavement,” she said. “I wasn’t fat, but I
remember thinking if 1 looked like my petite friend
the boys would like me "
Starting that afternoon, she began to nde her
bike along her dad’s 3-nnle jogging route every day.
By fifth grade, Schweer was subjecting herself to a
pattern of restrictive eating, keeping mental notes
of how many calones she consumed.
“1 remember reading in a book that a girl my
age should have 2,000 calories per day,” Schweer
said. “So I told myself I could have 1,000.”
In eighth grade she fit comfortably into kid
size clothing. She was pale and remembers passing
out several times during class.
Schweer s mother, a registered nurse, reacted to
her daughter’s weight loss by trying to force her to
eat. Schweer then used laxatives to purge herself of
Please see DISORDERS on 2
Read the Daily Nebraskan on the World Wide Web at dailyneb.com
Justices
question
purpose
of court
ByIevaAugstums
Senior staff writer
Hear ye, hear ye, student court is now in ses
sion for no apparent reason.
Anyone who would like to bring business for
ward to the court, please do so.
Although it has power to hear minor student
dispute cases, ASUN Student Court has not ruled
on a case in more than four years.
Student justices are concerned and are ques
tioning the court’s purpose.
“It’s crazy,” said Don Arp, an associate justice
and a junior history major. “I cannot imagine stu
dents not having concerns or issues they would
like resolved. Maybe students don’t know we
exist.
Established in 1965 by the Association of
Students of the University of Nebraska, the stu
dent court's role and duty is to provide a forum for
the student body to contest actions of their peers.
Jurisdiction of the court extends to ASUN
impeachment proceedings, constitution interpre
tation, contested elections and any other matters
concerning student and university organizations.
Marlene Beyke, ASUN director of develop
ment, said because there have not been any court
cases, student court members have had to be cre
ative and think up projects for themselves.
“It would be nice to think everyone is happy
and student court's services are not needed,
Beyke said.
One project student justices developed was
ASUN impeachment proceedings.
ASUN senators approved the impeachment
procedure Wednesday.
Chief Justice Craig Strong, a second-year NU
College of Law student, and Christina Shields, an
associate justice and a biology graduate student,
developed the impeachment proceedings.
“We were looking for relevant work, because
we knew case loads were not going to be full. So,
we decided to create projects for ourselves,”
Strong said.
Strong said the proceedings could be used to
impeach ASUN executives and senators, as well
as student court members.
Please see COURT on 2