1 SPOUTS
|
Kubik magic
I Nicole Kubik led a spirited Husker group to a 60
I 55 win over Texas in the second round of the Big
| 12 Tournament. PAGE 9
ASE
He keeps going
Everlast, who has recovered from a heart attack,
appears this weekend in Omaha with Sugar Ray
and 2 Skinnee J’s. PAGE 12
THURS: >AY
March 4, 1999
Sun-Off Vote
Partly cloudy, high 48. Cloudy tonight, low 25.
Chambers
fails to get
bill to floor
By Jessica Fargen
Senior staff writer
Mandated insurance coverage of contraceptives got a
quick second look Wednesday on the floor of the
Legislature after an all-male committee killed the bill 7
0 last week.
But after an hour of passionate debate, senators,
including seven of the
11 women legislators
present, voted down
It is the worst 29-10 a motion by
Omaha Sen. Ernie
example of male chambers.
r J The motion would
arrogance I have voided the
0 Banking, Commerce
have seen.” and Insurance
Committee’s vote and
Sen. Ernie Chambers brou£ht L^845, which
would make insurance
companies cover birth
control prescriptions,
to the mil Legislature for debate.
“For an all-male committee knowing about Viagra
and its coverage by insurance to treatthis in such an
insensitive manner is inexcusable,” Chambers said. “It is
the worst example of male arrogance I have seen.”
Omaha Sen. Deb Suttle, who introduced the bill, said
the committees vote was symbolic.
“The committee spoke volumes to the women who
must spend their hard-earned wages to buy birth con
trol,” she said.
But Hastings Sen. Ardyce Bohlke said she failed to
see bias in the committee s vote.
“I am not convinced that if it had been four women
on the banking committee that it would have been any
different," Bohlke said.
The veteran senator also said she would not vote to
pull LB845 out of committee because she was against
that practice philosophically.
Lincoln Sen. La Von Crosby also discounted the con
tention that the committee s vote was gender-based.
“I can't vote for a bill this morning on the basis that
men are my enemy,” Crosby said.
Lincoln Sen. David Landis, chairman of the commit
Please see INSURANCE on 3
r?" ' -
Matt Miller/DN
ASUN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE PAUL SCHREIER, left, Beth Lee, campaign manager Andy Faltin and Joel Wiegert discuss what they
will tell Focus supporters after finding out neither party was a clear victor on Wednesday night. Faltin and Schreier told about 150
supporters at Main St. Cafe that everyone must continue to work hard on the campaign until the runoff election next week.
The votes are in
President, 1st V.P.
VOICE
FOCUS
Others
2nd V.P.
Unofficial results from
Wednesday night.
Jon Frank/DN
Too close to call
Runoff to be held next Wednesday
By Veronica Daehn
Staff writer
What was supposed to be a climactic
end to months of campaigning will have to
wait another week.
A runoff election for the ASUN offices
of president, first vice president and second
vice president will be held next Wednesday.
No candidate received enough votes to
officially win this year’s,Association of
Students of the University of Nebraska
- election.
According to election guidelines, an
executive candidate must receive a majori
ty - at least 50 percent - of the total votes
cast. No candidates garnered 50 percent of
the vote.
If a majority is not achieved, the candi
dates are victorious only if their vote total is
higher than their opponents’ by at least 10
percent of the total number of votes cast.
A total of 2,709 votes were cast
Wednesday.
Voice party executive candidates Andy
Schuerman and Rachelle Winkle received
1,320 votes, while Focus candidates Paul
Please see RUNOFF on 8
\
Galligo takes stand in Schmader murder trial
By Josh Funk
Senior staff writer
Tony Galligo took the stand in his own defense
Wednesday and told a very different story of the
1995 murder of Michael Schmader.
The other man implicated in the murder,
Timothy Hopkins, testified that Galligo had an
active role in planning and carrying out the murder.
But subsequent testimony conflicted with
Hopkins' account of events.
Hopkins said he and Galligo killed Schmader
because he stole their cigarettes, but Galligo said
that is not the case. „
"Hopkins was saying that Schmader was
bisexual,” Galligo said when asked what was
Hopkins’ motive.
Galligo’s jury will have the chance to resolve
the conflicting testimony after closing arguments
this morning.
Galligo said he had no idea Hopkins was going
to attack Schmader that night.
Hopkins, 20, who confessed to the murder in
September 1997, testified against Galligo, 19, as
part of a plea agreement he signed June 24,1998.
Hopkins pleaded guilty to manslaughter and
the use of a weapon to commit a felony. In
December, he was sentenced to 15 to 20 years in
prison for the weapons charge, and he will be sen
tenced for manslaughter after Galligo s trial.
But on the stand this week, both Hopkins and
his lawyer said that he is guilty of first-degree mur
der, not manslaughter.
Lincoln Police Detective Greg Sorensen, who
was the lead investigator in the case, said he never
considered Galligo or Hopkins suspects until
Hopkins confessed.
But Galligo’s involvement in the murder was
hardly mentioned until Hopkins was negotiating a
plea agreement.
On Oct. 18,1995, Schmader was brutally beat
en and stabbed to death in an Antelope Creek
storm-drainage tunnel under 48th Street.
Schmader's body remained buried in the
storm-drainage tunnel until two other teen-agers
uncovered the body Dec. 22,1995.
At the time of the murder, Hopkins, Galligo
and Schmader all lived in the same south Lincoln
group home along with six other boys.
But Hopkins and Galligo differ in their por
trayals of the events leading up to - and including -
the murder.
Hopkins said that he and Galligo decided to
kill Schmader because he stole cigarettes from
them the day of the murder.
But Galligo and another teen-ager who lived in
the group home testified that the cigarettes were
stolen several days before the murder.
“The cigarettes were not a big deal to me,”
Galligo said. “I could always go get more.”
And Galligo said that by the day of the murder,
Please see GALLIGO on 3
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