State housing offices get Surprise’ grant
By Jake Bleed
Senior staff writer
The U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development awarded
$822,431 to public housing authori
ties throughout Nebraska Tue^iy to
fight drugs and drug-related crime.
Lincoln’s Housing Authority
received a $70,381 grant.
Sen. Bob Kerrey’s office
announced the grants Tuesday.
Kerrey’s communications director,
Michael Tucker, said the senator’s
office helped push the grants through
HUD.
“We worked to shepherd the
applications through the process,”
Tucker said. “It’s really a paperwork
process.”
Anti-drug money is often sent to
urban public housing programs,
Tucker said, leaving rural public
housing neglected.
“It’s not just a problem in
Nebraska: It’s a problem all across the
country. Many times rural areas are
overlooked,” Tucker said.
. - The grant money was provided as
part of the Public Housing Drug
Elimination Program.
Lincoln’s Housing Authority
received the grant even though the
public housing organization’s direc
tor said he never applied.
A HUD representative said the
grant money required an application
to be sent by Oct. 14.
Larry Potratz, director of the
Lincoln Housing Authority, said the
grant was “a bit of a surprise” and did
not know what it would be used for.
“We’re really on a blank page
right now as to what we’re going to be
doing with those dollars,” Potratz
said. “It’s kind of an automatic grant
right now.”
Drugs are not a large problem in
320 federally subsidized homes in
Lincoln, Potratz said.
“We have a zero tolerance policy,
and we enforce that,” Potratz said.
“We aren’t without problems, but
they aren’t major.”
The grant money will probably go
to pay for stronger security at an
elderly housing unit in the Havelock
neighborhood, Potratz said.
Sharon Meier, director of the Hall
County Housing Authority, said she
did not apply for the grant and that
she was first informed of the $86,437
gift the authority received from an
article in a local newspaper.
“No one has formally notified us
other than through the newspaper,”
Meier said. “It’s kind of embarrass
mg.
Meier said the money was needed
and would be put tc good use. It will
probably go to increase security
around Hall County’s 392 federally
subsidized homes, Meier said.
The Omaha Housing Authority
Jury deliberates Jasper case
JASPER, Texas (AP) - The jury
in the case against the third white
man arrested in the dragging death of
a black man began deliberating
Wednesday after a prosecutor
ridiculed Shawn Allen Berry’s claim
that he was just a horrified bystander.
Prosecutor Pat Hardy disced
Berry’s claim that he wasn’tdrrying
when James Byrd Jr. was dragged
behind a pickup truck down a country
road. And Hardy said Berry knew
exactly what his friends had in store
for Byrd.
“If I sound blase about some of
this, please don’t think I’m not dead
ly serious about this case,” the prose
cutor told the all-white jury. “It’s hard
to keep from getting that way when
you’re lied to, and it’s easy to see.”
He added: “A progression of
events ... show Shawn Berry knew
what was going on.”
Jurors met for about 9 1/2 hours
after attorneys presented before retir
ing for the night. The panel was
sequestered at a local motel.
Berry, 24, could get the death
penalty if convicted in die murder and
kidnapping. Byrd, 49, was chained by
the ankles and dragged to pieces last
year in one of the nation’s ghastliest
racial crimes in decades.
u
This was Mr. Berry's show as much as the
others. That man right there was the worst
t of the bunch.”
'jg\ '*■ --i.
Pat Hardy
prosecutor
Two friends of Berry’s, avowed
racists Lawrence Russell Brewer and ;
John William King, were convictecf
and sentenced to die in separate trials
earlier this year.
In closing arguments, defense
attorney Joseph C. “Lum” Hawthorn
said Berry made “terrible” decisions
after the killing - not calling the
police, washing off his truck and th£
chain, and lying to investigators. ^
But Hawthorn said: “The two
people who killed James Byrd have
been tried, convicted and have been1
given a death sentence.” f'
On the witness stand Tuesday,
Berry testified he tried to stop the
attack but backed off when King
warned him that a “nigger lover”
could meet the same fate that awaited
Byrd. Berry said he Jpas so scared
that he wet his pants and made no fur
ther attempt to intervene.
He said he watched his two
friends kick Byrd, spray-paint his
:jfpce and chain his feet to the back of
the truck. Berry said King drove die
truck while the black man was being
^dragged. ;;
^Nb/The prosecutor, however, said it -
%waS Berry who convinced Byrd he
had nothing to fear as they rode in the
truck. Hardy also reminded the jury
that prints from the shoes of King and
Brewer were found in the dirt on the
passenger side of the vehicle, mean
ing that Berry must have been dri
ving,^ jjj'
“This was Mr. Berry’s show as
much as the others,” Hardy said.
“That man right there was the worst
of die bunch.”
..." .. ■■■ ■ " " "■■■ ~~—~——1
-..
^ I
66
We re really on a blank page right now as to
what we re going to be doing with those
dollars. Its kind of an automatic grant right
now.”
Larry Potratz
director of the Lincoln Housing Authority
has received anti-drug grant money
for three years, Director Dave
Odenius said.
Omaha received the lion’s share
of Nebraska anti-drug public housing
money with a $595,397 grant.
The money will also pay for bicy
cles for Omaha police, Odenius said.
Housing authorities in Douglas
County, North Platte and ScottsblufF
also received anti-drug grants.
Odenius said the majority of the
money would go to pay off-duty
police officers to patrol public hous
ing complexes in Omaha. Although
violent crime is rare in the complexes,
other crimes, such as vandalism and
domestic abuse, are problems,
Odenius said.
“They are not issues that are nec
essarily life threatening, but they are
issues that need to be worked on,”
Man dies in train accident
' From staff reports
A man was killed Wednesday
afternoon after being hit by a railroad
car in northwest Lincoln, Lincoln
Police Capt. A1 Soukup said
Union Pacific employees were
changing rail cars on a track near the
intersection of N.W. 12th and W.
Adams streets at 12:42 p.m. when the
man was struck by the car, cutting
him in half, Soukup said.
Police are not releasing the man’s
name or age until his relatives can be
notified of the accident.
Three student groups OK’d
By Veronica Daehn
Staff writer
Committee reports took up the bulk
ofWednesday night’s ASLJN meeting.
The body also approved three new
student groups.
.Vice President Raphelle. Winkle
urged senators to attend the electoral
commission meeting Friday at 3:30
p.m. in the Association of Students of
the University of Nebraska office.
Winkle said the electoral commis
sion will be proposing changes this year
that senators will vote on at their next
meeting Dec. 1.
After a year without party names on
the ballots, Winkle said the electoral
commission will recommend they be
added again.
The commission will also change
the wording on die ballots to read he/she
and him/her instead of he and him.
Second Vice President Trisha
Meuret told senators that there would
be a parking meeting this Friday at 3
pm
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
staff members will be asking for lower
priced parking rates because they are
not paid as much as faculty members,
MetjSiiaid. ^
Communications Committee
Chairman Heath Mello said he and Arts
and Sciences Senator Natalie Hoover
recently met with members of the
Mexican American Student
Association.
MASA members told Mello that
ASUN is not visible enough on cam
pus, and it needs to do more to reach out
to students.
In new business, ASUN approved ‘
the recognition of three student organi
zations by acclamation.
The Neihardt Council, Sigma
Alpha Agricultural Sorority and
Extreme Devotion were approved for
recognition.
Presentation explores history
of cross dressing in America
By Dane Stickney
Staff writer
The UNL Committee on Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgendered
Concerns is sponsoring a presenta
tion about the history of cross dress
ing women in Western America today
at Love Library.
The presentation, titled “Cross
Dressing Women of the West,” is the
first in a symposium series aimed at
educating the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln and the city about
GLBT issues.
Lisa Pollard, a UNL graduate stu
dent in history, will be presenting sto
ries about women of the West who
dressed and lived as men.
Barbara DiBernard, a UNL
English professor and organizer of
the symposium series, said Pollard
will present the cross-dressing issue
with a humanitarian view.
“She’ll present a lot of stories and
pull as many photographs as she can
find,” DiBernard said. “It will be
really neat because she will be using
the women’s real voices and lives
instead of staying within an academic
frame.”.
DiBernard said Pollard will tell
stories of women who lived a good
portion of their lives as men. Many
women posed as male ranchers and
cowboys in the early days of the
Western Frontier.
The presentation will be at 3:30
p.m. in Love .Library.
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