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.