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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1999)
Anti-death penalty groups hold forum By Veronica Daehn Staff writer In a forum held by Amnesty International Monday, Nebraskans Against the Death Penalty representative Nelson Potter said special circumstances should lead to die commuting of a death row inmate. Potter said Nebraska death row inmate Randy Reeves’ case was unique, and that the death penalty should not be an option. “The idea that he’s a violent person under normal circum stances is just not true,” Potter said. Reeves, who was sentenced to death in 1981 for the murders of Vicki Lamm and Janet Mesner, has an appeal pending in the Nebraska State Supreme Court. Potter said Reeves would not have committed the crime if he had been sober. He should suffer some conse quences, Potter said, but capital punishment is not the solution. Amnesty International Co President Beth Lawson agreed. “Not that he shouldn’t be pun ished for it,” she said, “but he should not be put to death for it.” Reeves’ attorney Paula Hutchinson and Lamm’s daughter, Audrey, were scheduled to appear at the forum but were unable to attend. Potter spoke on their behalf. He said the criticism sur rounding Audrey Lamm for opposing the death of her mother’s murderer was unfounded “(Audrey Lamm) believes the way to honor her mother is to take the same viewpoint her mother would have taken,” Potter said. Then 2 years old, Audrey Lamm was asleep in her house when Reeves killed her mother, and remembers nothing about the incident. Amnesty International’s Lincoln chapter Co-President Scott Lindberg said the death penalty was arbitrarily applied and could not be used as a justifiable means of punishment. On March 1, 1972, the Supreme Court declared the death penalty cruel and unusual punish ment and outlawed it as unconsti tutional. Four years later, the Court ruled to reinstate the punishment. “In 1972, most people seemed to agree there wasn’t any rhyme or reason as to why (the death penal ty) was applied in the cases it was,” Potter said. “The jury had no guid ance as to whether to oppose it or not.” Potter said although the eighth amendment to the Constitution forbade cruel and unusual punish ment, it was not designed to out law the death penalty. It was supposed to eliminate torture executions that were preva lent in Europe at the time, he said. “We’ve evolved to such a point in society now,” Potter said, “that we should interpret the death penalty as being cruel and unusual punishment.” * ——————————■——I I ■ ■ ■ ■ 17th &‘N’ '• ■ ■ I No Appointments Necessary [476-9466 • «6 Off ! I ■ %)il Change Service m w—- * ■with UNL student ID. I ; Now Only $19.79 [ ^reg. $25.70, Environmental disposal fee included) - • Oil & filter change (up to 5 qts.) ft Lubricate zerk fittings ■ ft Check & fill fluids: ■ ft»rake, power steering, battery, washer, and § automatic transmission fluid only _ • Check antifreeze, air filter, wiper blades, Tmd tire pressure ■ ft Vacuum interior & wash windows ■ ■ Best Service in ■ i Just 10 Minutes B B Most brands available B Expires 05-31-99 Open Mon-Fri, 8-6 • Sat, 8-4 t »• t ft. * li : 4 ■*' . ( .» ■: Jk ) * m B Snowball incident prompts a flurry of protest, apology By Brad Davis Managing editor About 90 people attended a forum Thursday to discuss a snowballing incident that occurred Wednesday afternoon in front of die Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity. The fraternity members accused of the snowballing will face university and fraternity sanctions, officials announced at the forum. Due Tran, a senior business major, said he was targeted by five fraternity members throw ing snowballs while parking his car in front of die fraternity house across from the Nebraska Union. One snowball hit Tran in the leg, he said. Though he was not harmed physically, Tran said he thought the snowballing was racially motivated. JJ3. Goli, president of Phi Gamma Delta, said the snowball throwing was not racially motivated. He announced the five members involved in the snowballing would face several sanc tions. Each must, by the end of the semester: ■ apologize to Tran ■ write a letter of apology to the Vietnamese Student Association and the Asian Student Alliance ■ attend three cultural events ■ sign up for the diversity retreat. To ensure the fraternity sanctions are carried out, James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs, said in a letter that the five fraternity members would be charged with disturbing the peace under the Student Code of Conduct. S' Lincoln Likness, who spoke for himself and the other four snowballers, said the group apologized for an “immature act that was all in good fun.” “We never meant to hurt anyone - if we did, we’re truly sorry,” he said. 'V'VL A_,_ The Womyn of tlrbraska Past, Prrsrnt and fcbruary 24-Z\flfth 1Q ’ Women Students An hxiubit Women'* Center S40 Nebraska Union - 3 “becoming the Womyn We Admire Wfimj-fl wt «tmu* urffc arxmi hem they txKxmt who they am, end u* eupkx* trur mm u&t****** --mJ 7 (MB. Nebrwit* Vtartr AudttnrHtm t Ah a*i it Streets 1 fdculty Women v Reception "toBow Strident*, faculty. admintaratar* and naff are invited to honor the contributions of women faculty member*. StaSpja. Ntantk* l.rw.-« Hutiaae Aottot MUt «ad It Srrwa Matt* Students honor King Hussein ■ Jordanians remem ber their lifelong leader after his death from can cer in February. By Brian Carlson Staff writer For three Jordanian UNL stu dents, the death of King Hussein on Feb. 7 brought sadness and a time to reflect upon the king’s efforts for Jordan during his 46-year reign. “I’m still reacting,” said Rakan Khirfan, a University of Nebraska Lincoln sophomore who has not declared a major. “I can’t tell you when I will stop reacting to this. I was bom into this world under him.” Khirfan and his friends Bakr Dirani and Rami Nabulsi remember King Hussein as a man who cared deeply for the people of Jordan, brought prosperity and a place on the international stage to his country and became an indispensable figure in the MiddleEast peace process. King Hussein, who died of can cer, was crowned in 1953. He ruled Jordan during Middle East wars in 1967 and 1973 and was heavily involved in peace negotiations in the 1990s that resulted in Israeli Palestinian and Israeli-Jordanian peace accords. Heads of state from around the world attended his funeral. Khirfan, Dirani and Nabulsi said King Hussein was a very personal ruler who connected with his people. “He was always there for us,” said Dirani, a sophomore business admin istration major. “He wasn’t just a king. He was always between us, - walking in the streets among us. You feel you love him as a person.” Khirtan recalled a time when King Hussein, seeking to learn what people thought of his reign, dressed up as a taxi driver and drove around the city, asking passengers what they thought of the king and his policies. This desire to be in touch with the people and their concerns made King Hussein a great ruler, Khirfan said. “For me, he is like a father,” he said. It is difficult to imagine Jordan without the man who ruled the coun try for so long, said Nabulsi, asopho more electrical engineering major. “Jordan was King Hussein, and •- King Hussein was Jordan,” he said. “Jordan won’t be the same without him.” Nabulsi said he was confidant King Hussein’s son and successor, Abdullah, would carry on his father’s work for Jordan. “But it won’t be an easy task,” he said. “King Hussein was a great man.” . All three students gave credit to King Hussein for his efforts for peace in tire Middle East. In 1967, when Jordan went to war against Israel, it lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem. But in the 1990s, King Hussein came to embrace the peace process as the best hope for the future of Jordan and the Arab world. “He took peace because it was best for Jordan,” Dirani said. King Hussein remained an important fig ure in the peace process. In the fall of 1998, the king left his sickbed at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to travel to Wye Plantation, Md., and participate in a peace conference between Israel and the Palestinians. After the Wye accord was reached, President Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Yassir Arafat all said King Hussein had played an important role in the negotiations. With King Hussein’s death, the three Jordanian UNL students said they were concerned the peace process could be set back for a while. “I hope his memory will be with the leaders who negotiate and inspire them to,keep on going with that,” said Nabulsi. King Hussein stirred controversy during the Gulf War of 1990-1991 when his country provided food, medicine and other nonmilitary sup port to Iraq, an action that led to tem porary U.S. sanctions. Khirfan said King Hussein took these actions to help the beleaguered people of Iraq, not to support Saddam Hussein’s war effort. “You can’t punish a whole coun try because of a mistake of its leader,” he said. Drawn by kinship to his fel low Arabs, King Hussein did not want to see the Iraqis suffer unduly, Nabulsi said. He didn t want to see Arabic people fighting in front of us,” he said. “He knew the people would be the only victims of war.” Khirfan, Dirani and Nabulsi said King Hussein’s legacy would influ ence Jordan for generations to come. “His legacy was as a man who was proud with his ideas, religion, culture; who loved his people, worked hard for them and achieved the best of the best for them,” Nabulsi said “His life was a continuous service to the people.” The three students said they wished UNL had done more to com memorate King Hussein’s life last month. Although the university sent each of them a letter of condolence, the students said they would have appreciated a speaker who could have told about King Hussein’s life, or at least a book for students to sign in the Nebraska Union in King Hussein’s memory.“He is someone who will never be forgotten,” Khirfan said. “He is more than a legend.” V • . - • ' ' ;• •- ■ •• • ' - Mwuwtnr9 iiittrMt Atctti Sirvim find us ats http://www.navix.net I Check these sites out at http://dailyneb.coiii |