SPORTS
Ace In The Hole
NU sophomore Sarah Sasse led the Huskers to
the top of the pack through the first day of com
petition at the Big 12 Preview. PAGE 8
Hi
Small City, Big Art
The Wagon Train Project, founded by Amy
Lamphere, brings cutting-edge art into Lincoln
and into our hearts. PAGE 11
TUESDAY
September 14, 1999
Gray
Mostly cloudy, high 67. onight, low 43.
VOL. 99 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901
Homicide study moves toward start
By Matthew Beermann
Staff writer
Lawmakers may gain a new under
standing of Nebraska’s death penalty
with a massive homicide study commis
sioned by the Legislature.
Members of the Nebraska Crime
Commission met Monday to hammer
out the details of the study, which will
start in 2000.
When completed, it will be the first
ever comprehensive survey of homicide
cases in Nebraska.
The committee appointed to carry
out this task includes Lancaster County
Attorney Gary Lacey, Department of
Corrections Director Harold Clark, as
well as Phyllis Anstine and Steve Exon,
both part of the 18-member Crime
Commission.
The study will look at the demo
graphics of those convicted of homicide
and details of how the homicide cases
were handled. The study outline should
be finalized later this month, when it
will be made available to the public and
voted on by the full commission.
The commission will then contract
with an outside individual or agency to
gather and compile the data.
Allen Curtis, director of the com
mission, said he hoped a contractor
would be chosen and data gathering
started by Jan. 1,2000.
Seeking balance
The study is the result of LB76 and
its companion bill, LB76A, passed by
the Legislature this spring.
The bills instructed the crime com
mission to study “the race, gender, reli
gious preference and economic status of
the defendant and victim; the charges
filed; the results of the trial; and the sen
tence imposed” in all homicide cases
since 1973.
During the study, a moratorium on
the death penalty would have been put
into effect.
But Gov. Mike Johanns vetoed
LB76 and its moratorium, along with
the companion bill, LB76A, which
appropriated $160,000 for the study.
Senators unanimously overruled his
veto on LB76A, the part that appropriat
ed $ 160,000 for the study.
This left the Crime Commission in
an unusual position: They had been
given the money to implement a bill that
didn’t pass.
After consulting with Attorney
General Don Stenberg, the commission
elected to go ahead with the study,
Curtis said.
“We decided to use the original text
of the bill as an outline, and then solicit
u
Even if the results of the study point toward
a disproportionality, they probably won’t be
statistically conclusive.”
Allen Curtis
director of the Nebraska Crime Commission
..— ii V"
athers’ opinions on the scope of the
study,” said Curtis.
The committee held a pair of meet
ings this summer to gamer public input.
These meetings, held Aug. 3 in Omaha
and Aug. 5 in North Platte, included ■
senators, attorneys and citizens.
Gary Piccolo, president of the
Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorney’s
Association, stressed the need for fair
less in the study.
“Justice is often displayed as a bal
ance,” Piccolo said at a hearing. “And so
should be your study, a balanced study,
me that considers both sides of the
equation concerning the death penalty.”
Professor Michael Radelet, chair
nan of the sociology department at the
Please see DEATH on 6
house stays,
renovation
plans grow
By Veronica Daehn
Staff writer
Sara Miley said her fellow Alpha Chi Omega
Sorority sisters love their house just as much as she
does.
And because of this, they all breathed a sigh of
relief this summer after finding out they won’t have
to give up the house.
Because of the master plan the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln released a year ago, Alpha Chi
Omega’s house was to be destroyed to make way for
a pedestrian-friendly grassy mall.
Miley, Alpha Chi Omega president, said the uni
versity decided to let the sorority keep its house.
“We love our house,” she said. “There is an aes
thetic feeling of having an old house on greek row.”
The grassy mall was to extend from Memorial
Stadium to the Beadle Center, cutting off traffic at
14th, 16* and 17* streets.
Alpha Chi Omega, located at the comer of 16*
and Vine streets, was in the way of the proposed mall,
as was the vacated Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity
house.
Miley, a junior exercise science major, said soror
ity members were shocked when the university told
them of the plans to move their house.
“It was hard for us to be prepared to handle ques
tions (die next day),” she said. “We were just as clue
less as everyone else.”
Sorority members were frustrated with the deci
sion Jo destroy the house, Miley said, and were upset
because they thought there was nothing they could
doaboutit.
At the time, members were unaware that die plan
still needed approval from the NU Board of Regents.
Members and alumni decided to see what their
options woe.
A task force was formed, and a lawyer was hired.
Please see SORORITY on 6
ByEricRineer
Staff writer
Just four months after becoming the new
boss of Student Judicial Affairs, Rosemary
Blum is already collecting high praise from
her colleagues.
“She Is very supporting, understanding anc
encouraging,” said Tonda Humphress, assis
tant director of Student Judicial Affairs.
“Rosemary seems to work well with every
body.”
Blum, who took over as director in May,
replaced Charles Green, who now serves as
student ombudsman in the office of Student
Affaire.
Blum was previously the ombudswoman.
Humphress, and others, say Blum has
adjusted well to the new position.
Chuckvan Rossum, special assistant to the
vice chancellor for student affairs, said Blum
was an excellent choice for the position.
Van Rossum said he’s known Blum for
about eight years and has seen her progress
tremendously.
His relationship with Blum has grown
stronger since the two met at Southern Illinois
Univer^y in 1991, be said.
Then a graduate student, Blum worked
Please see BLUM on 6
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