5 P ORIS
On the return
Joe Walker battles to rehabilitate his knee so he
can return to return kicks for the Nebraska foot
ball team next fall. PAGE 12
A & E
A Lev story
I UNL art student Lev Schieber has culled inspiration
I from his ancestors’experiences in a concentration
| camp. PAGE 9
April 6, 1999
Bright Potent!/ i
Mostly sunny, high 60. Cleo ; night, low 45.
NO. 132
m&mm
Candidates discuss public safety
■ Three of the five mayoral
hopefuls, including Wesely and
Johnson, support plans to
augment the Lincoln police force,
but their numbers differ.
By Eric Rineer
Staff writer
As five mayoral candidates await the final
results of today’s primary election, each one
vows, if elected, to work harder on ensuring pub
lic safety in Lincoln neighborhoods.
Three of the five candidates support plans to
hire additional police officers over the next four
years.
Front-runners Don Wesely and Cindy
City Elections
Johnson both support cop plans. Wesely, the lone
Democrat in the race, said his plan was to add 45
new officers to Lincoln’s police force.
Republican Johnson’s plan would add about half
that.
Lincoln, with a population of about
209,000, has an average of 1.39 police officers
per 1,000 people.
According to 1997 FBI statistics, Lincoln’s
police average ranks at the bottom of U.S. cities
between 160,000 and 260,000 in population.
Des Moines, Iowa, for example, averages
1.77 law enforcement officers per 1,000 in popu
lation, while Madison, Wis., averages 1.8.
Omaha’s ratio is 1.94 per 1,000 people.
Wesely said he was shocked that Lincoln’s
police ratios have fallen next to last among the 38
similarly sized U.S. cities.
“The police tell me that’s dangerous,” he
said. “It’s hard for them to keep up with calls and
get to where they need quickly.”
Hiring 45 new officers, he said, would raise
Lincoln’s average and ensure safer streets.
“I think public safety is a priority,” said
Wesely, who acknowledged that hiring new offi
cers would be difficult to fit into the city’s bud
get.
“We’ll have to phase in more police over
time,” Wesely said. “My hope is that we can get
up to 45 more police in four years.”
Wesely said he was amused by Johnson’s
plan, which would raise the average number of
officers from 1.39 to 1.5 per 1,000.
“That’s why (the police) are not endorsing
her,” Wesely said. “They’re endorsing me.”
The Daily Nebraskan was unable to contact
Johnson, who did not return several phone calls
over the past few days.
Republican candidate Terry Kubicek, a self
employed farmer and an attorney, was quick to
shoot down Wesely’s plan.
“It’s a budget buster,” Kubicek said.
Wesely’s plan would put the city $1 million
over the budget, Kubicek said.
“If you start hiring 12 officers per year, by
the year 2002, we’re millions of dollars over the
lid.”
Rather than hiring new officers, the city
should invest more money in creating programs
to deter people who are at risk of becoming crim
inals, Kubicek said.
One potential program, he said, would be
building several recreation centers for at-risk
children or students.
“I think there’s an opportunity to look for
Please see MAYOR on 6
Legislature
Senators plan
public services
for Schellpeper
By Brian Carlson
Staff writer
Legislators are planning a public ceremony later
this week to honor the late Sen. Stan Schellpeper,
whose death Sunday of a heart attack already is being
mourned with state flags flown at
naii-stan.
Schellpeper died Sunday on
the farm, 11 miles north of
Stanton, where he was born and
raised. He had spent the weekend
celebrating Easter with his family,
including three children and eight
grandchildren. He was 65.
He was walking on the farm
with two of his grandchildren
Schellpeper
wnen ne sunerea a neart attack and
collapsed. He died shortly there
after.
Funeral services for Schellpeper are scheduled for
Thursday at 10:30 a.m. in the gymnasium at Stanton
High School. The Legislature plans to honor
Schellpeper on Friday afternoon in a public ceremony
in the George W. Norris Legislative Chamber.
Schellpeper was elected to the Legislature in 1986
and was re-elected in 1990, 1994 and 1998. He was
chairman of the General Affairs Committee and a
member of the Agriculture and Revenue committees.
Bom Jan. 27,1934, in Hoskins, Schellpeper was a
farmer and livestock feeder. He held several rural and
agricultural leadership positions, including stints as
secretary-manager of the Stanton County Fair Board,
president of the State Fair Board and president of the
Nebraska Rural Electric Association.
On Sunday evening, Gov. Mike Johanns ordered
the state’s flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of
Schellpeper.
In a telephone press conference Monday, Johanns
praised Schellpeper for his professionalism and pas
sionate concern for the needs of rural Nebraskans.
Please see MEMORIAL on 6
T HIGHER ■
Learning
RELIGION
MANY STUDENTS AND PROFESSORS said reli
gion plays a role in the classroom, whether
the class focuses on religion or on a secular
topic.
101
Story by
Ted McCaslin
Photo illustration by
Ryan Soderlin
Spirituality plays role in classes
Editors note: This is the first in a
four-part series examining the rela
tionship between religion and higher
education.
The bumper sticker reads: “As
long as there are tests, there will be
prayer in schools.”
Aside from any political connota
tions of the sticker, it speaks a simple
truth.
The University of Nebraska
Lincoln is not a religiously affiliated
school. However, for some, religion
still is very much a'part of the class
room.
Classes listed in next semester’s
schedule of classes mention religion
in the their titles, including English
341: Judeo-Christian literature and
Music 451/851: Music and the
Church.
These classes are part of the inter
disciplinary religious studies pro
gram, which offers a minor.
“There is no religious advocacy;
it is purely a descriptive study,” reli
gious studies chairman John Turner
Please see RELIGION on 7
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