Homecoming
applications
due by May 7
■ The Homecoming
steering committee
changed the deadline
in response to student
concerns last year.
By Kim Sweet
Staff writer
UNL students from next fall’s
senior class who want a chance to
reign over the 1999 Homecoming
celebration will have to think fast.
Potential kings and queens need
to pick up their applications and turn
them in before they leave for summer
vacation May 7.
The decision to begin the appli
cation process a few months early
was made by a couple of die mem
bers of the Homecoming steering
committee in response to concerns
received last semester, said Matt
Boyd, Homecoming royalty coordi- *
nator.
we had some complaints, so we
decided this would be a better way of
doing it,” Boyd said. “But we have to
get the word out so people know to
pick up the applications.”
Traditionally the applications
have not been available until
September, just a few weeks before
Homecoming actually takes place.
This year students will hand in
their completed applications in May.
Finalists will not interview until next
semester, however.
The king and queen will be
crowned during Homecoming,
which will take place during the
week of Oct. 3.
In order to apply, applicants must
have a 3.0 GPA. Their application
must be accompanied by an evalua
tion form completed by a university
faculty or staff member or communi
ty member.
The evaluation form will rate
applicants based on one of three cat
egories: contribution to athletics,
community service or campus
involvement.
Boyd said he felt setting the new
timeline was responsive to the com
plaints people had, and would ulti
mately encourage more people to
apply.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to
appease a few more people this way,”
Boyd said.
Chris Linder, Homecoming
coordinator for next year, agreed.
Instead of trying to get the word
around in the fall when classes are
new, and many things are unfamiliar
and overwhelming, Linder said, get
ting the word out now would be easi
er.
“(This time of year) is just not
quite as crazy as it is the first couple
weeks of school,” Linder said.
Because Homecoming is earlier
next year than it has been traditional
ly, moving the date up would also
help to get the process going right
away next year, Linder said.
If moving the date up doesn’t
work this year, the decision can be
reevaluated, Linder said.
Applications can be picked up at
various points on both City and East
campuses.
Some of those places include the
student government office, Multi
cultural Affairs, the Culture Center,
106 Canfield Administration
Building and the Student
Involvement office in the Nebraska
and Nebraska East unions.
NATO strikes continue
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -
NATO launched its most active day of
airstrikes in its assault on Yugoslavia,
pummeling refineries, bridges and
dozens of other targets Sunday in what it
claimed were “highly successful” oper
ations.
Air-raid sirens sounded early
Monday in the Yugoslav capital and
other major Serbian cities, warning of a
26th night of NATO strikes, aimed at
making Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic halt his offensive in Kosovo
and agree to a political settlement for
the Serbian province.
Yugoslav media reported several
powerful detonations around Novi Sad,
Serbia’s second-largest city, shortly
after the alert was sounded. There were
no reports of casualties, but the damage
was reportedly “great.”
Three missiles also struck in the
town of Paracin, 90 miles southeast of
Belgrade, the state-run Tanjug news
agency said. Tanjug also reported
attacks around Kraljevo, 75 miles south
of Belgrade, and in Sremska Mitrovica,
40 miles west of the capital.
. Four large detonations were report
ed in the village of Baric, where Serbian
authorities had warned of a major eco
logical catastrophe if NATO strikes a
chemical plant Authorities lit the facto
ry with floodlights so the allied planes
could clearly see it
Earlier, foreign journalists were
taken to the factory, 10 miles west of
Belgrade.
Slobodan Tosovic, a Belgrade
health official, said the factory is pro
cessing components for washing deter
gents and there are 180 tons of highly
toxic hydrofluoride in the factory sys
tems.
If NATO strikes the factory, a cloud
with a lethal dose of the acid would
spread in a 20-mile radius, while a cloud
with a toxic dose could reach up to 60
miles away, probably engulfing neigh
boring states, Tosovic said.
Along Kosovo’s borders, ethnic
Albanians fled the province Sunday at
the rate of a thousand an hour. An esti
mated 40,000 refugees either left
Kosovo over the weekend or were at its
borders preparing to leave, international
officials said.
Albanian soldiers swarmed around
the Morini border station early Monday
and ordered reporters not to approach
the frontier. International monitors
described the situation as tense and said
it was unclear how long the crossing
would be closed.
A car carrying a family across the
border to Albania early Sunday struck a
Serb land mine planted at the edge of a
narrow mountain path, killing three
children, their mother and grandmother.
Yugoslav troops have heavily mined
the area along the road to guard against
crossings into Kosovo by either fighters
of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army or
by NATO troops.
NATO said that while the KLA
retained only a small amount of terrain,
the rebels were “far from defeated,”
reporting fighting in central, eastern
and northern Kosovo.
NATO forces will soon be bolstered
by 24 U.S. Apache helicopter gunships
sent to attack Yugoslav army and special
police forces. The first Apaches were
expected in Albania from Italy by
Monday, however severe rainstorms
delayed deployment at least another day.
Reflecting tensions over the
stepped-up military activity in Albania,
Yugoslavia severed diplomatic relations
with its southern neighbor on Sunday,
the Albanian Foreign Ministry said.
Despite growing calls for NATO to
send in ground troops, NATO
Secretary-General Javier Solana insist
ed there were still no such plans.
But Solana said in a television inter
view with the British Broadcasting
Corp. that “if the moment comes when
(a ground force) is necessary, I’m sure
the countries that belong to NATO will
be ready to do it”
The alliance’s jets flew more than
500 missions in the 24-hour period end
ing Sunday afternoon - a total that a
NATO military spokesman said was the
highest number yet
Thick black smoke mixed with
choking fumes rose above an area tar
geted by a NATO attack on an oil stor
age depot and nitrogen fertilizer plant in
Pancevo, just six miles northwest of
Belgrade. State media warned residents
of the capital to cover their mouths with
handkerchiefs as a precaution against
hazardous fumes, but a storm prevented
any chance of diem reaching die city.
An immense fire also sent pillars of
smoke into the sky after a strike on a
refinery in Novi Sad. Tanjug said eight
people were injured, and reported a 3
year-old girl was killed when a bomb hit
a school in Batajnica, northwest of
Belgrade, where a military airfield is
located.
NATO officials said the bombing
knocked out 13 military vehicles, hit
two MiG-21 fighter jets on the ground
and struck supply lines. Serbian media
said they also struck several bridges,
including one near the southern Serbian
town of Raska that serves as a major rail
link to Kosovo.
NATO spokesman Jamie Shea
called it “a highly successful day of air
operations,” particularly focusing on
army and police targets.
The claimed military gains come
against an increasingly grim backdrop
of expulsions and alleged killings and
other atrocities. NATO officials said
Saturday that refugee reports suggested
more than 3,000 people had been killed
by Serb forces in Kosovo since
airstrikes began March 24.
NATO officials said Sunday they
had graphic evidence, including film
taken from allied aircraft and refugee
accounts, that Serb forces had assem
bled Kosovo Albanians into grave-dig
ging “chain gangs.” NATO identified 43
separate graves.
“We understand they are being used
by President Milosevic to dig graves for
their countrymen killed by Serbian eth
nic cleansing,” Brig. Gen. Giuseppe
Marani said.
Lincoln remembers, honors Holocaust survivors
By Aimee Green
Staff writer
The Holocaust may have occurred
more than 50 years ago, but it lias not
been forgotten.
That was the message given at the
Nebraska Holocaust Commemoration
held Sunday in the Rotunda of the State
Capitol.
For more than an hour, speakers
took turns talking about the impor
tance of remembering the Holocaust.
The mayor and governor declared
April 12-18 as “Days of Remembrance
of the Holocaust.”
In front of an audience of about 150
people, Lincoln Sen. Chris Beutler
gave the opening remarks.
“When the enormity of the evil was
revealed, our parents and grandparents
said, ‘Never again,’ and they meant
‘Never again.’”
Rabbi Stanley Rosenbaum of the
Congregation Tifereth Israel agreed.
“Righteous behavior is always a
choice,” he said.
Following Rosenbaum’s invoca
tion, Gov. Mike Johanns said it was
important to remember the Holocaust.
“Memories of the Holocaust will
forever bum in our hearts of what can
happen if we don’t fight back,” he said.
Johanns stressed that remembering
the Holocaust was not just remember
ing human beings at their absolute
worst but also at their absolute best.
History Professor Geoffrey Giles
of the University of Florida in
Gainesville said it was important to
teach Holocaust studies.
He told of his many trips to the con
centration camps in Europe and the
ignorance to the reality of the
Holocaust many Americans still have
today.
In remembrance of Holocaust vie
tims, nine survivors or relatives of sur
vivors each lit a candle. Then, Lt. Col.
Paul Adams of die Tuskegee Airmen lit
a candle in remembrance of those who
fought for the survivors and victims.
Civil rights activist Lela Shanks
and Croatian refugee Ivana Jelavic
each lit a candle for hope.
After the candle lighting, Mayor
Dale Young addressed the crowd, say
ing people must work to destroy big
otry, hatred and injustice: the roots of
tragedies like the Holocaust.
Lincoln Northeast High School
Concert Choir performed two songs,
including “Medley from Schindler’s
List.”
The commemoration finished with
the reading of four poems by Lincoln
middle school students and a benedic
tion led by Rev. Norman Leach of the
Lincoln Interfaith Council.
The Nebraska Holocaust
Coordinating Committee, along with
several community groups, sponsored
and organized the event.
Johanns said humans can learn
from the tragedies of the Holocaust and
others like it and triumph over evil.
“From this grief and despair, we
can take pride and believe in the
future.”
Ma -no Questions? Comments?
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-GH|
RHA votes in new speaker
By Bernard Vogelsang
Staff writer
Mike Butterfield beat two other
candidates to become the new RHA
speaker Sunday night.
The Residence Hall Association
Senate favored Neihardt Residence
Center President Butterfield, a sopho
more civil engineering major, over
Cather Hall President Tiffany Quinze
and Selleck Hall President Mandy
Hollida.
RHA President Jadd Stevens
declined to say how many votes
Butterfield got because he was chosen
in a secret election.
Mike had a clear majority,
Stevens said.
Butterfield said as speaker he will
clearly explain the content of proposed
bills to the senate.
“This will prevent confusion,” he
said.
Stevens said he was glad that
Butterfield is the new speaker, and that
Butterfield always volunteers when
somebody needs help. Stevens also
said Butterfield is very involved in the
Neihardt Residence Center govern
ment.
“Mike is an outstanding senator,”
he said.
Butterfield succeeds Dave Bums
as speaker. Bums left RHA after he lost
I
the presidential election against
Stevens on March 31.
In other news, Stevens said an
RHA diversity lecture attracted very
few students - three to be exact -
Thursday in Harper/Schramm/Smith
Hall.
RHA paid the speaker, C.J.
Johnson, $350 to talk about leadership.
“That’s an awful lot of money,”
Stevens said.
Because of the low attendance,
Johnson promised to give RHA a free
performance in die fall.
Stevens said insufficient advertis
ing was a cause for the low attendance.
“But,” he said, “that is only one of
the dozen things that went wrong.”