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Monday
November 27,2000
Volume 100
Issue 65
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■The Republican candidate
called for the vice president
notto challenge the result of
Honda's latest certification.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Texas Gov. George W. Bush
said Sunday night he was “hon
ored and humbled" to have won
Florida’s contested election, and
he asked A1 Gore to reconsider
his decision to contest the out
come.
The Florida certification,
Bush said, "gives us the needed
electoral votes to win the elec
tion” and the White House.
In late-night remarks deliv
ered from the Texas state capitol,
Bush said he and running mate
Dick Cheney would “undertake
the responsibility of preparing to
serve as America's next president
and vice president”
Earlier Sunday, Florida’s sec
retary of state certified Bush the
winner over A1 Gore in the state’s
near-deadlocked presidential
vote - but court challenges left in
doubt which man will be the ulti
mate victor and 43rd president of
tiie United States.
Moments after Republican
Katherine Harris declared Bush
the winner of Florida’s 25 elec
toral votes at a ceremony in
Tallahassee, Sen. Joe Lieberman,
tiie Democratic vice presidential
nominee, said she had certified
"an incomplete and inaccurate
count” and he and Gore had no
choice but to contest the elec
tion.
If the certification of a 537
vote Bush margin stands, the
Texas governor would win 271
; electoral college votes - one
more than necessary for victory -
to 267 for Gore.
Harris said Bush had
2,912,790 votes and Gore had
2,912,253. That gave Bush the
537-vote lead out of 6 million
cast, although Harris rejected
partial returns from Palm Beach
County. An unofficial AP tally
including recounted Palm Beach
County votes showed Bush
ahead by 357.
The secretary of state's for
mal declaration set off GOP
cheers outside the Florida capital
and at the state capitol in Austin,
Texas Gov.
George W. Bush
addresses the
nation from the
state capitol in
Austin after
Florida
Secretary of
State Katherine
Harris
announced that
he won the
state's 25 elec
toral votes. Bush
said Democratic
Presidential
candidate A!
Gore should end
his legal chal
lenges now that
Florida certified
Bush as the win
ner.
Texas.
“Accordingly, on behalf of the
state elections canvassing com
mission and in accordance with
the laws of the state of Florida, I
hereby declare Governor George
W. Bush the winner of Florida's 25
electoral votes,” Harris said.
Lieberman said: "The
integrity of our self-government”
could be cast into doubt without
Democratic steps to get the most
complete and accurate count
possible. Gore’s lawyers were to
file their challenge in the courts
of Leon County, site of the state
capitol at Tallahassee, on this
morning.
James A. Baker III, the former
secretary of state speaking for
Bush, said drat count already has
been delivered, repeatedly.
He said Bush “won this elec
tion” under the rules set by law
before Election Day, Nov. 7 - and
under rules changed after the
election. Baker denounced
Gore’s lawyers for what he called
an extraordinary resort to the
courts - although Bush has his
own set of lawsuits, including the
appeal to the U.S. Supreme
Court, which hears oral argu
ments on Friday.
“At some point, there must be
Please see BUSH on 4
The Associated Press
Democrats question accuracy
WASHINGTON — A1 Gore
believes he could yet be the
nation’s 43rd president if courts
reopen the vote count in a hand
ful of counties in Florida. The
Democrats will contest these
results in court as early as today.
Florida Secretary of State
Katherine Harris, a Republican
and Bush campaigner, certified
Bush’s 537-vote lead and
declared him the winner of the
state’s decisive 25 electoral votes
- even as the vice president
vowed to challenge the results in
state and federal courts.
“This is not some forlorn
hope,” said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.
“This is not just acting out. They
are, in fact, close to overcoming
Governor Bush’s lead.”
Indeed, some Republicans
fear election returns could yet be
reversed.
“I'd be lying if I said I wasn’t
nervous,” said Florida GOP Vice
Chairman Jim Stelling regarding
a Democratic challenge to
returns from Seminole County.
Gore won the nation’s popu
lar vote Nov. 7 by about 200,000
ballots out of more than 100 mil
lion cast, but stalled short of an
electoral majority with Florida’s
electors providing a winning
margin to either candidate.
Rushing before TV cameras
Please see GORE on 4
DN: Student records
should not be secret
■Newspaper tries to gain
access to the results of certain
disciplinary proceedings.
BY JOSH FUNK
The UNL student code of con
duct outlines academic and
behavioral standards to preserve
an "educational environment”
and make campus safe.
The university publishes its
crime statistics twice a year in its
schedule of classes to make all
students aware of crimes the
campus police have investigated.
Yet the actions of die campus
body tasked with enforcing the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s
student code of conduct remain
secret “We’re bound by the code
(of conduct), which says these
records are confidential,” Judicial
Affairs Director Rosemary Blum
said.
Blum saysher office’s primary
mission is educational and the
most-common offenses are alco
hol-related.
The office of Student Judicial
Affairs is responsible for adjudi
cating simple charges of academ
ic dishonesty, but it is also respon
sible for more serious charges of
f hazing, rape, assault and other
crimes.
Earlier this fall, the university
denied the Daily Nebraskan’s
request for access to the results of
disciplinary actions involving
allegations of crimes of violence
and sex offenses.
Now the Daily Nebraskan is
considering legal action to make
the records public because it is
important for a safe campus, and
the newspaper disagrees with the
university’s reasons for keeping
the records secret
The newspaper argued that
the records should be released
because 1998 changes to a federal
law allow their release and
Nebraska's public record’s law
requires it
The Daily Nebraskan believes
that keeping these records confi
dential presents a substantial
safety concern to University of
Nebraska students, and it jeop
ardizes the fairness of Judicial
Affairs proceedings because stu
dents have no guarantee they will
receive a similar penalty to stu
dents convicted of the same
offense.
Critics of this secrecy charge
that campus court officials are
handling any number of non-aca
demic criminal cases that are
never referred to law enforcement
officials. Under the current sys
tem, UNL students will never
know if rapes, assaults and other
crimes are happening on campus
and going un-prosecuted.
Additionally, UNL students
prosecuted by Judicial Affairs
have no way to know if another
student prosecuted for the same
Please see LAWSUIT on 4
Trail planned to connect campuses
BY GEORGE GREEN
If construction plans stay on track, stu
dents will be able to bike between City and
East campuses using a new bike trail called
the Husker Link.
Rich Rodenburg, the president of the
Great Plains Trails Network, a trail advoca
cy group, said the Husker Link will add
another great pathway to Lincoln’s trail
system.
The link will start at Peter Pan Park near
33rd and X streets and head west along a
recently abandoned railroad line between
X and Y streets, he said. The trail will end
“It's going to be a vital
connection
Rich Rodenburg
Great Plains Trails Network president
on the City Campus, Rodenburg said.
Along the way, the trail will go over 27th
street using a new bridge, and it will have
off routes to East Campus, he said.
"It's going to be a vital connection," he
said.
At Peter Pan Park, Koaenburg said,
Husker Link will merge with the MoPac
trail. The trail travels east out of Lincoln to
Elmwood. The trail will eventually jump
the Platte River near South Bend and con
tinue to Omaha after a bridge is built,
Rodenburg said.
In addition to the trail, the city of
Lincoln wants to spruce up the area
around the 27th-street bridge with recre
ation areas, said Nancy Loftis, a Great
Plains Trails Network member.
Despite these grand plans, she said, the
See TRAIL on 4
Student found dead
BY JOSH FUNK
The death of a University of Nebraska-lincoln
freshman whose body was found Wednesday
afternoon in his parents’ Lincoln home remains
unexplained pending laboratory test results.
Funeral services will be held today at St.
Patrick’s Catholic Church at 10 a.m. for Brett
Romberg, 18.
Romberg's mother found him lying in his bed
in the family’s 7720 Ali Dr. home just after 4 p.m.
Wednesday, and he did not respond to his mother,
Lincoln Police Capt. David Beggs said.
Romberg lived in Abel Hall, but he was home
Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday.
There was no indication of physical trauma on
Romberg’s body, Beggs said, and preliminary
autopsy results released Friday did not indicate
what caused his death. Police are investigating the
death because of Romberg’s age.
Now police must wait two to three weeks for
the results of toxicology and other tests to deter
mine the cause of Romberg’s death.
Romberg graduated from Pius X High School
last spring.
i
David Qasen/DN
Amber Beekman, 16, of Beatrice, plays with her nephew Nathan Michaels, 14 months, of Omaha, Sunday at
The Lincoln Children^ Museum. The Museum, located at 1420 P Street, reopened October 21