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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 18, 2000)
s" Daily Nebraskan Alin the day of NU Crosscountry: triumph, defeat frustration in Sports/9 __. Ben Harper delivers mesmerizing jam session Friday in Kansas City In Arts/5 Article triggers investigation of clubs BY JOSH FUNK Lincoln strip club patrons may have been dis appointed this weekend after a Daily Nebraskan investigation into sexual contact prompted a prudish reaction. Thursday’s article also prompted an undercov er police irivestigation into violations of state liquor laws and the city’s no-contact ordinance. But Lincoln Police found that the owners of The Night Before Lounge and Foxy Lady had also been reading the paper, and both clubs had taken action to bring themselves into compliance. “It would seem that the Daily Nebraskan article sent ripples through (Lincoln’s) topless entertain ment,” Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady said. Officers reported that both businesses had posted signs, which looked brand new, warning customers to avoid contact with dancers, and con tact was being closely regulated by club employees Thursday night. The owner of The Night Before was unavailable for comment when the Daily Nebraskan called Friday evening. An employee of the Foxy Lady said Friday the club’s owner was out of town. Casady said that after he read the article, which detailed multiple instances of sexual contact between dancers and customers at both clubs, he ordered two undercover officers to each club to investigate. State liquor laws ban any physical contact "involving any kissing or any touching of the breast, buttock or genital areas” in liquor-serving establishments. And a city ordinance passed last spring bans similar contact in businesses that don’t serve liquor. Thursday’s undercover police investigation did not find any violations. Instead, the club employ ees seemed extra vigilant to avoid contact, Casady said. One officer saw a bartender at the Foxy Lady Please see BARS on 3 James Klein dimbs down the stairs that wrap around the inside of the Ralph Mueller Tower on Friday. The bell tower was built in 1949 after George Kuska, an architecture student at the time, won a design competition. Bell tower tolls differently for everyone It’s a bit like a time capsule. On one side of the tiny octagonal room with the blue-tiled floor and white-bricked walls sits a small wooden table. On a dust-lined shelf inside the table lies an odd array of fading papers and books. One is a book called “Ear lYaming and Sight Singing.” Another is a 1977 edition of the Daily Nebraskan. A cracked, white plastic chair sits in front of the table, and a mop stands propped against the white brick of the wall nearby. There is a keyboard still clad in bubble wrap lying in the comer. Inside the Ralph MuellerTower, there is nothing other than that, old sheet music and a trapdoor that leads to the top two levels of the bell tower. But there is more to the old tower than meets the eye. James Klein, a university maintenance electri cian, has taken care of the bell tower for the last 30 years. He is the only one who ever goes in the little room anymore, he said. Klein said he didn’t even know if students or faculty members noticed thd bell tower. But he said that doesn’t matter to him. Every hour, Klein makes sure the bells are ring ing, and at 25 minutes after the hour, he makes sure the music is playing. The tower, nearing 51 years old in November, is now worth $456,126, said Richard Hoback, director of building operations and maintenance. It was built in 1949 for $83,800 - money donated by Ralph Mueller. Thirty years ago, Klein said he had fun with the tower. Back then, the bells were actual chimes. The . rest of the sound system consisted only of speakers and an amplifier. This primitive form of music gave Klein the opportunity to tinker with switches and relays, the things he loves, he said. “When I first started here, working on it was fun,” Klein said. “I liked the mechanics of it.” Now, the tower is on its third sound system, and some of the fun of working in the tower is gone. There aren’t as many electrical problems to deal with anymore. The songs that can be heard coming from the speakers behind the top windows of the tower orig Please see BELL TOWER on 3 Vedral found innocent ■ The Nebraska linebacker returned to football practice Saturday after he was found innocent of first-degree sexual assault. BY JOSH FUNK After the jury’s verdict resolved four months of uncertainty Friday, NU linebacker Marie Vedral’s fam ily was overcome by emotion. The Lancaster County District Court jury deliber ated for a little less than three hours before returning the not guilty verdict and clearing Vedral of First degree sexual assault In the first row of the court gallery, where Vedral’s icuiiuy iidu bdi uuuugauui me o Vfc-day trial, they openly wept when the verdict was announced. They then embraced as the jury of eight women and four men left the room. Vedral remained composed while the verdict was read, but a few moments later when he Vedral nuggea ms parents ana oromers over the 3-foot-tall retaining wall, his emotions start ed to show. “I just want to be with my family right now,” Vedral said and refused to make any other comments. While waiting for an elevator on the third floor of the Iincoln-Lancaster Hall of Justice, Vedral’s family called friends and relatives to share the news. B Mark Vedral "It’s OK. It’s over now,” Vedral is back on the said. field with the The woman who accused Nebraska Vedral of rape was not present when the verdict was read. football team. On Saturday, Vedral rejoined page 10 the University of Nebraska football team on the practice field, but the charges will not soon be forgotten. Vedral had been suspended from the team since he was charged with raping a woman on the morning of May 6. The woman went to Vedral’s house with one of his roommates, Chris Kelsay, for a graduation party. Vedral’s lawyer, John Sohl, said that the accusa tion had sullied his client’s name and forced the sen ior business administration major to put his life on hold. “From the start, his (Vedral’s) name was drug through the mud, and now he's finally had the chance to have the case heard by 12 of his peers,” Sohl said. “Fle’s ready to get on with his life.” Vedral could have faced up to 50 years in prison if convicted. . ,u--...i’ff&liv: Tire woms said that she awoke to find^ .dRhatdng sex in the early] been ajt Vedral^;: with Kelsay. Vedral tes} woman and ki: started having Lancaster G verdict meant beyond a reaso; was being truthl ^, “I have no reasbri to belieVp anything, but that i$ pot the st , said. “We have to pppye everything beyopdialf^son abledoubt” i,!' ’,r ■ A representative from the Rape/Spouse Abuse Crisis Center said she was disappointed with the way the victim had been portrayed in the trial. “I was real upset by the projection that she was making this up,” said Carrie Davis of the crisis center. “No one would put themselves through that.” Stenberg called key to GOP Senate control BY BRIAN CARLSON OMAHA - Don Stenberg could be the key to the Republicans’ quest to maintain control of the Senate, a leading GOP senator said Saturday. “Frankly, control of the Senate may be decided by this race iqjNebraska,” said Sen. Don, (iJKljqkles, R-Okla. "If ($teh#ef$j'loses, I’m afraid Ted Kenneldyis going to be running the Senate.” Keiii^dy, a Democrat who has represented Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate since 1963, is one of the Senate’s most liberal members. Nickles, the assistant major ity leader in the Senate, came to Nebraska over the weekend to 'W campaign for Attorney General Stenberg, who is facing former Democratic Gov. Ben Nelson in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Bob Kerrey, a Democrat. He is the second U.S. sena tor to campaign for Stenberg in Nebraska this past month. New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici appeared with Stenberg in late August. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is scheduled to appear with him on Saturday. Nickles recalled visiting Nebraska in 1996 to campaign for Chuck Hagel, who defeated Nelson in that year’s Senate ipce. “I haven’t regretted it,” he said. “It would be nice to have someone in the Senate who would complement him, not cancel his vote. “A vote for Don Stenberg is a vote for greater freedom. A vote for his opponent is a vote for Ted Kennedy to be running the place.” Hagel appeared with Nickles and Stenberg at a press confer ence at Eppley Airfield. They urged voters to elect GOP presi dential candidate George W. Bush and a Republican Congress, saying they would rebuild the military, cut taxes, reform Social Security, provide a prescription drug benefit and defend local control of educa tion. “What this election is about is the need to send people to Washington who will work together for the good of our state and our nation,” Stenberg said. Stenberg accused Nelson of misrepresenting many of Stenberg’s positions in a recent fundraising letter. Contrary to Nelson’s claims, Stenberg said he does not sup port reducing Nebraska’s fund ing from the Department of Education. He said he also does not support raising the retire ment age for Social Security recipients, raising payroll taxes or reducing benefits. Please see STENBERG on 2 JoshWolfe/DN ON THE STUMP: Democratic Senate candidate Ben Nelson walks in the Applejack Festival parade Saturday afternoon in Nebraska City. Nelson was on the campaign trail most of the day, stopping in Beatrice in the evening at a machinists union meeting.