VOL. 99 COVERING THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN SINCE 1901 NO. 70
SPORTS
Diggin it up
Nebraska moves on to the regional semifinals in
Palo Alto, Calif., with a three-game victory over
San Diego. PAGE 6
UE
■ ' •
Getting Real
As technology makes social interaction less of a
necessity, theater professionals predict a revital
ization of live theater. PAGE 8
IIAMTIAV
December 6, 1999
Baby,
Partly sunny, high 50. low 20.
NateWagner/DN
Santa and Mrs. Claus at the end of the Star City Parade on
Saturday aftemeen. Daring the lighting ef the Lights downtown ea Friday night, Rachel gave
SmtaaCiiristiRas tie aid Mr. Ctattsamt. She sahlstN wanted to givi then presents
because they always give than but never get then. PHASE SEE BACK PAGE FOR STORY.
Hudson Foods, executive
acquitted on lying charges
By Jake Bleed
Senior staff writer
After deliberating for less than two hours, a
Federal District Court jury acquitted Hudson
Foods and one of its former executives Friday of
charges they lied to investigators after die nation’s
hugest recall of E. coli-iainted meat
Michael Gregory, Hudson’s former director
of quality control, hugged his lawyer, J.R. Hobbs,
after the verdict was delivered.
“I feel like a huge burden is offof my shoul
der,” Hobbs said. “It’s been a long two years.”
Judge Warren Urbom dropped charges
against another Hudson executive, Brent Wolke,
early last week after deciding the charges against
him lacked substantial evidence.
Federal prosecutors argued the men lied to
investigators to limit fee amount of beef recalled.
Defense attorneys responded by saying
Wolke and Gregory gave investigators all the
information they had available at the time.
The recall began in 1997 after 15 people were
sick after eating hamburgers processed by
Hudson’s plant in Columbus. Twenty-five million
pounds of ground beef were eventually recalled.
Defense attorney Peter Romatowski said the
charges should not have been brought against
Gregory and Wolke and that the government
Please see HUDSON on 3
Research-stopping
efforts worry faculty
By Kimberly Sweet
Senior staff writer
Members of UNL’s faculty are concerned
about the effects stopping research on fetal tissue
at the university’s medical center may have on aca
demic freedom.
In a letter sent Friday to the governor, the attor
ney general and the speaker of the unicameral, 10
faculty members chided officials for threatening
budget cuts if the university did not discontinue the
research.
“It is a dangerous exercise of political power to
threaten the whole university or any one of its sites
with punitive budget cuts based on such volatile
issues as are present in this case,” wrote English
Professor James McShane on behalf of nine other
faculty members - all winners of the James A.
Lake Academic Freedom Award.
McShane wrote the letter in response to threats
last week by state senators to cut university fund
ing after it was reported in the Omaha World
Herald that the University of Nebraska Medical
Center performed research on aborted fetal tissue.
McShane said he defends the university for the
research it does.
“The last time I heard, abortion was legal,” he
said. “The University of Nebraska has a board to
determine what is ethical and so does the federal
government.”
In his letter, McShane stated that the research
in question is funded by some of the nation’s most
distinguished institutions.
Stopping research done by the medical center
would lead to a climate that inhibits research at the
university, McShane said.
The only official to respond to the letter on
u
The University of Nebraska
has a board to determine
what is ethical and so does
the federal government ”
James McShane
English professor
Friday was Attorney General Don Stenberg.
Stenberg included a detailed explanation of
partial-birth abortion, taken from Dr. LeRoy
Carhart, the doctor who provides UNMC with the
fetal tissue.
Stenberg also raised questions about academic
freedom to McShane and the other professors.
One of the questions was:
“Since the university is concerned that fetal tis
sue not go to wastev would academic freedom sup
port an animal nutrition study in which human
fetuses were made into dog food and its nutritional
value studied (with the consent of the mothers of
the fetuses)?” Stenberg wrote.
Mc Shane pointed out that the medical center
didn’t use cells from partial-birth abortions in its
research.
On Friday, William Bemdt, UNMC vice chan
cellor for academic affairs, said the medical center
has never used tissue from partial-birth abortions.
Because he didn’t receive Stenberg’s letter as
Please see RESEARCH on 3
Fiesta Bowl to bring
double dose of dej a vu
By Samuel McKewon
and Joshua Camenhnd
Staff writers
Nebraska will revisit a few fond memories this
bowl season.
The Comhuskers accepted a bid to the Fiesta
Bowl on Saturday after its 22-6 win over Texas in
the Big 12 Championship.
Held in the Tempe, Ariz.-based Sun Devil
Stadium, the bowl was the site ofNU’s 62-24 win
over Florida after the 1995 season, which was a
second-straight national title.
NU’s opponent in the Jan. 2,7 p.m. game is
familiar as well. Tennessee, a 42-17 loser to NU in
the 1998 Orange Bowl, accepted the bid to play the
Huskers. At 9-2, the Volunteers won die national
championship last season before losing by two and
four points in losses.
“It’s a great city and tremendous bowl,” said
NU Head Coach Frank Solich.
NU finished third behind Florida State and
Virginia Tech in die Bowl Championship Series, as
expected.
Florida State was first with 2.24 points, Tech
second with 6.12 and Nebraska third with 7.42.
Ultimately, the one loss to Texas and the polls
doomed the Huskers’ chances. FSU and the
The Book on the Vols
9-2
lessee To Seers
Florida 23 - 21
Arkansas 28 - 24
Tee Martin 165 305 2,.317 12 7
Mi* e«. mm
Jamal Lewis 182 807 7
■edema lee. mm
Cedrick Wilson 57 rec. 827 4 TD.
Testltos Fiesta BMrf
Date: Sunday Jan. 2,2000
Where: Sun Devils Stadum in Tempe, AZ
Time: 7 p.m.
Tickets: $75 each, with Nebraska receiving
an allotment of 15,000 tickets and 6,500 being
available to thew public
V___ '_/
Matt Haney/DN
Hokies will meet Jan. 4 in the Sugar Bowl.
Solich wasn’t completely unhappy with the
result.
“We don’t see it as a disappointment,” he said.
“We see it as a season where we had one loss. It
Please see BOWL on 3
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