SPORTS
The future’s so bright...
Nebraska gymnastics coaches and athletes all are
optimistic for next year and the future of the pro
gram as this season closes. PAGE 6
A ft E
Rock ’n’ roll legends
The magazine is as famous as the faces it boasts.
Rolling Stone’s 30-year cover anniversary tour is
at the Nebraska Union until Thursday. PAGE 9
TUESDAY
April 27, 1999
I
Days of Times
Storms possible, high 65. Cloudy tonight, low 45.
VOL. 98 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 147
Sandy Summers/DN
SARA WRIGHT DOESN’T LET overcast skies stop her from playing a game of fetch with her two dogs, Tetley, a bull mastiff, and
Willie, a boxer, Monday afternoon at Pioneers Park. Weather forecasts call for continued cloudy skies for the rest of the week.
Senators, friends remember Hruska
By Jessica Fargen
Senior staff writer
Roman Hruska, a former Republican U.S.
senator, had a hand in a lot of judicial legislation
in this country. He was respected by Democrats
and Republicans alike and known for his
staunch conservatism.
“He was quite a guy,” said former Gov.
Charles Thone. “He truly believed that public
service was a trust, and he was a hard worker.
My oh my, oh my, I never saw anyone who
could work as hard as he did.”
Hruska died Sunday at Clarkson Hospital in
Omaha, where he was recovering from a hip
injury several weeks ago. He was 94.
Thone, who was Hruska’s administrative
assistant in the 1950s, knew Hruska as a friend
and a colleague.
“We usually had the same philosophy and
approach to things in government,” Thone said.
Former Democratic Gov. Frank Morrison
may have held different political philosophies
than Hruska, but that did not affect the 50-year
friendship he had with Hruska.
“We were on different sides of a number of
issues during our time, but I always admired
him,” said Morrison, who is 93. “He was an
effective spokesman for his point of view.”
Friends and colleagues especially admired
Hruska’s work on federal judicial reform.
Hruska, a David City native, held a seat on
the Judiciary Committee, which allowed him a
significant role injudicial reform, Thone said.
“He had his fingerprints on all of the legis
lation regarding the whole area of federal judi
cial improvement,” Thone said.
Hruska had a role in the institution of laws
such as the Omnibus Crime and Safe Streets
Act of 1968 and the Bail Reform Act.
Hruska served on the Douglas County
Board from 1944-1952.
He was elected to the U.S. House of
Representatives in 1952, but resigned from that
post in 1954 to finish out the remaining four
years of the term of the late U.S. Sen. Hugh
Butler. He served in the Senate until his retire
ment in 1976. An Omaha federal courthouse
under construction is named after him.
After retirement, Hruska practiced law and
remained active in the Republican party, advis
ing Republican candidates.
‘ ‘He was sharp until the very end - mentally
sharp,” Thone said. “He stayed very interested
in government, both in Nebraska and the feder
al scene.”
New farmer
income tax
bill advances
to final round
By Brian Carlson
Staff writer
To reverse the trends of population loss and the
decline of the small farmer in rural Nebraska, the state
must encourage beginning farmers to go into business,
Sen. Roger Wehrbein said Monday.
The Plattsmouth senator successfully urged senators
to advance LB630, which would provide income tax
//_ credits for farmers who rent
their land to beginning
It S TlOt @K fb Although some senators
, j called the bill a quixotic
SCiy the nival attempt to reverse the inex
orable trend toward corpo
aVeaS can rate farming, the
.. . Legislature advanced the
continue to bill to the final round of
/ debate.
lOSe Wehrbein said the
” income tax credits, worth 5
population. percent of the owner’s
rental income, would
BOB WICKERSHAM encourage retiring farmers
Harrison senator to rent their land to begin
— ning farmers rather than
sell it to large corporate
farms that could outbid those beginners.
The start-up costs for land and machinery, often in
the range of $500,000 to $1 million, simply make it too
difficult for beginning farmers to buy their own land,
Wehrbein said. A rental arrangement, he said, would
allow beginning farmers to continue a successful farm
ing operation, acquire new assets and possibly buy the
land eventually.
“If you want the population of rural Nebraska to stop
losing people or be ©populated, you’ve got to have
young farmers going into business, or we truly will have
a totally industrialized agricultural economy,” he said.
To be eligible for the tax credits, farm owners would
have to enter a three-year rental agreement with a farmer
who qualified as a beginner. At the end of three years,
Please see FARM on 3
Week to honor victims rights
By Josh Funk
Senior staff writer
In a week commemorating the
rights of crime victims to be heard,
some victims say they have been
silenced.
On Monday, state and law enforce
ment officials recognized those who
worked with crime victims and their
families at a ceremony in the Capitol
rotunda to mark the start of National
and Nebraska Victims’ Rights Week.
“Initially the only right victims had
was to be silent,” said Lt. Gov. Dave
Maurstad as he proclaimed April 26-30
Victims’ Rights Week.
“Now victims have the right to be
heard at every critical step of the
process.”
But Audrey Lamm, who tried to
address the Nebraska Pardons Board
on behalf of her mother’s killer in
January, said some victims, such as her
family, had been denied.
“I think it is important to remind
people that there is a contingency of
victims that have been ignored by the
system,” Lamm said. “We’ve become
victims not only of crime, but of the
system put there to help us.”
At tiie ceremony, Attorney General
Don Stenberg honored TerrrDawn
Stroud, 24, with the Crime Victims’
Rights Award for her testimony against
Mike Morosin at a March Pardons
Board hearing.
“It is never easy to recognize the
suffering of those who are victimized
by crime, but it is uplifting to be able to
recognize the strength and courage of
those who work diligently to protect
Please see Victim’s on 3
The FBI compiles “Crime Clock” data yeasty. It
afK^ repodad erime toy indicating the
occurence of reported illegal activity, t*
represent a ratio of crimes to fixed tffrit
on national statistics. ^ ^ ......
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