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And So it Begins •••
The countdown to Nebraska-Texas II starts with
Frank Solich and Mack Brown grading their teams
going into the Big 12 Championship. PAGE 7
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Dancing Ahead Novem
The UNL dance program looks back on the last
decade and forward to its next one in its fall
concert. PAGE 9 Partly cloudy, high 59. low 34.
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VOL. 99 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 66
Debate rises
from NU use
of fetus cells
ByDaneStickney :
Staff writer
The recent findings revealing the University of
Nebraska’s involvement in the use of aborted fetuses
for medical research is stirring up the abortion debate.
On Sunday, the Omaha World-Herald reported
that the University of Nebraska Medical Center used
brain cells of aborted fetuses in the study of
Alzheimer’s disease.
The fetal tissue was provided free of charge to the
university by Dr. LeRoy Carhart. Federal law pro
hibits the sale of any human body parts.
Carhart operates an abortion clinic in Bellevue
and has been a leader in the pro-abortion rights move
ment.
Gov. Mike Johanns will prepare a letter asking the
University of Nebraska to stop the research, said
“The governor hopes at minimum to establish dia- ?
it logue between the university, the regents, the :|
Legislature and himself on the future of the research,”
Peterson said. “He will formally ask (the university)
to stop later on this week.”
Anti-abortion rights activists see the research as a
victory for abortion, while pro--abortion rights
activists don’t see the research as an issue at all.
Anti-abortion groups have been talking to state
senators about the possibility of stopping the testing,
said Dan Parsons, director of Family First in Lincoln
and an anti-abortion rights activist
Please see FETUS on 3
SCOTT EBKEf a senior communications studies major, loads his gun Saturday morning to go pheasant hunting east of Ceresco
with his 1 -year-old chocolate lah, Bogey. Ebke hunts about twice a week.
Obscene calls prompt arrest
By Jake Bleed
Senior staff writer
After more than two years of
working the phones, University
Police Ofc. Barbara McGill finally
got the call she was looking for.
Sean Robert Francis, a 21-year
old Middletown, N.Y., man, was
arrested Nov. 23 for making more
than 75 obscene phone calls to
women across the country, including
22 to UNL students.
In each of the calls, Francis threat
ened to kill or rape die women, feder
al court documents said.
McGill said she headed the uni
versity’s investigation of the obscene
calls received by UNL students, serv
ing three search warrants on long-dis
tance phone records and helping other
law enforcement agencies across the
country hack Francis down.
• In addition to the calls made to
UNL students, Francis is accused of
making obscen.e calls to women in
Kansas, Montana, North Dakota and
Oregon, according to federal court
documents.
Francis will be tried in federal
court in New York, McGill said. He is
already on probation for aggravated
harassment in New York after alleged
ly making obscene phone calls to
local women.
McGill said Francis allegedly
began making obscene phone calls to
UNL students in April 1997. The calls
were all similar in nature, McGill
said, with the caller threatening to
rape or even kill the woman answer
ing the phone.
An arrest warrant was issued
against Francis by Lancaster County
in August 1998 after McGill was able
to trace several obscene phone calls to
Francis’ home, McGill said.
But McGill said the warrant was a
misdemeanor, making Francis’ arrest
possible only if he were caught in
Nebraska.
But as the phone calls continued,
McGill said, they became increasing
ly violent. Eventually, the warrant
against Francis was upgraded to a
felony crime, making his arrest out
side Nebraska possible.
Many of the obscene calls made at
that time included the caller saying he
could see the victim and that if she
hung up, he would rape her.
“These girls were in fear. I made
contact with a good portion of them.
They thoroughly believed he was
right outside their window watching,”
McGill said.
McGill said Francis suffered from
telephone scatologia, a mental condi
tion that made making obscene phone
calls sexually arousing.
Throughout this time, McGill
said, she worked with other law
enforcement agencies, giving advice
and helping them gain access to
phone records, to help end the calls.
“If someone asked, I’d share as
much as I could,” McGill said. “I’m
kind of the phone-call specialist.”
McGill said she once heard a
radio news report while relaxing at
home after work that several obscene
phone calls had been received in
Lawrence, Kan. From the report,
McGill said she knew what the situa
tion was.
“From what (the radio program)
was saying, it was ‘Oh, I know who
they’re talking about,”’ McGill said.
McGill said she began cooperat
ing with police in Lawrence soon
after hearing the report.
Eventually, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation, working with local
police in New York, took over the
investigation and arrested Francis.
UNL employees’
house catches fire
By Jake Bleed
Senior staff writer
A fire in the north Lincoln home
of two University of Nebraska
Lincoln employees may have caused
up to $60,000 in damages, City Fire
Investigator Don Gross said.
Gross said he was still investigat
ing the cause of the fire, which
burned through the basement of the
home shared by Linda Endres and
Doug Scheffert, both UNL employ
ees.
“The basement was full of stor
age and combustibles,” Gross said.
“The fire itself was limited to the
basement, but the whole house had
substantial heat and smoke dam
age.
Endres, a secretary in the com
puter science department, said she
had worked at UNL for 15 years. She
said her husband, Scheffert, worked
at Love Library and had been with
UNL for more than 20 years.
Lincoln fire and police units
were dispatched to the home at 1046
Charleston St. at 12:59 p.m. Gross
said the fire burned for between 10
and 15 minutes before being put out
Mike Bills, Mike Rohwer and
Jake Veach, all UNL students, live
next door on Charleston Street and
said a Cable Vision repairman told
them about the fire shortly after the
fire began. They said the repairman
also called police.
Gross said Scheffert told investi
gators he’d left his home about 15
minutes before the fire started.
The Red Cross offered to house
the couple for a few days until they
were able to find other housing.
Gross said remodeling work on the
home could take up to five months.
Gross also said damage esti
mates had yet to be confirmed.
Damage to the house’s structure
could range between $30,000 and
$40,000, while damage to the
home’s contents could be up to
$20,0O0.The cause of fire will prob
ably be determined today, Gross
said
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