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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 2000)
Gore presses urgency of decision Nelson sympathizes with Gore from own experience BY BRIAN CARLSON When searching for insight on the presidential election’s stale mate, Sen.-elect Ben Nelson can simply look to his own political past In the 1990 Democratic gubernatorial primary, Nelson defeated Bill Hoppner by a razor thin margin of 41 votes. On Election Night that year, he trailed by about 250 votes. But after several recounts and correc tions of mathematical errors, Nelson came out on top. The recounts extended for more than a month, but the Nebraska Supreme Court finally ordered that Nelson be certified the Democratic nominee. He went on to win the general election and served two terms. “Nobody is more sympathetic to how it is to live under die cloud of an indefinite outcome than I am,” Nelson said. “I understand how important it is to have the judiciary involved in it” For that reason, Nelson is not calling on Vice President A1 Gore to concede just yet, even after George W. Bush’s certification as the winner in Florida. “Keep in mind, Gov. Bush filed the action in the U.S. Supreme Court,” Nelson said. "If you follow the logic, why would you quit before you have the case heard?” On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on whether the Florida Supreme Court overstepped its authority by ordering that hand recounts be considered and extending the statutory deadline for an election certification. Nelson said the court may provide a definitive ruling that brings order to the chaos of law suits, public relations and political posturing that have gone on since Election Day. “There will be enough of a cloud hanging over the presiden cy,” he said “What we need to do is get in a position where we reduce the size of the cloud. The Supreme Court can provide something definitive.” Nelson said he was unsure if there was any way Gore could win in a timely fashion. The court’s rul ing may help decide that, he said. Nelson said he agreed with Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., who said this week if Bush becomes president, he should appoint Democrats to his Cabinet because of the close election results. Nelson also urged the federal government to appoint a com mission, perhaps led by former Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, to study ways to ensure ballots can be understood by voters and counted accurately. He said it was unlikely the Electoral College would go, even if Bush wins the electoral vote and loses the popular vote. But he said all 50 states should consider adopting the systems in Maine and Nebraska, die only two states that don’t award electoral votes on a winner-take-all basis. In those states, the winner of each congressional district wins one electoral vote and the statewide winner earns two. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A1 Gore’s legal filings reverberated with the sense of a race with the dock. Repeatedly his lawyers used the words “emergency” and “urgent" George W. Bush’s attorneys said there was no need for any more recounts. They opposed Gore’s proposals while telling a Florida judge they were hurrying as fast as they could to meet hurry up deadlines for court filings. With time growing ever short er, Gore’s lawyers pleaded with a court Tuesday for speedy hearings and new ballot recounts to be done by judges or court derks. The vice president, too, went on television to stress the urgency and accuse Bush’s legal team of stalling in Florida - at the same time fifing briefs along with Bush at the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. Bush and the Republicans "just want to run the dock out so the votes will not be counted,” said Gore attorney Jeff Robinson. In Tallahassee, Circuit Court Judge N. Sanders Sauls began a hearing late Tuesday to deal with new legal briefs that seemed to arrive almost hourly. A fast-paced schedule out lined by Gore’s lawyers would allow the Florida Supreme Court to hear any appeal and issue an order, if necessary, by Dec. 9, three days before a Dec. 12 deadline for the state to choose its electors. Gore’s team first proposed appointment of a special master to scrutinize disputed ballots. But Robert Hng/Newsmakers A small group of Democratic party supporters gather outside the Stephen P. dark Government Center on Tuesday in Miami to show its support for Vice President Al Gore's request to manually recount 10,000 ballots in Miami-Dade County. when the Bush lawyers objected, Gore’s attorneys came back with a plan for court clerics or judges in Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties to conduct hand recounts of some 13,000 disputed presidential ballots. The action in Washington, meanwhile, involved a challenge brought by the Republicans to overturn a Florida Supreme Court ruling that came down on the side of recounting votes beyond a deadline in state law. A hearing before the high court was set for Friday. Gore's team asked the high court to avoid interfering in Florida’s presidential recount dis pute, saying the issue “does not belong in federal court” Bush attorneys told the jus tices in their brief that it was the Florida Supreme Court ruling that was “inconsistent with federal law” In Tallahassee, Gore is contest ing Florida’s certification of Bush as the winner of the state and its decisive 25 electoral votes. “The need for the judiciary to transcend mob action in Miami is clear and urgent,” the state court motion said, reiterating a claim that the canvassing board stopped counting ballots there because of intimidation by Republicans. Bush attorney Fred Bartlit said there was no such intimidation. A different judge meantime set a Dec. 6 trial date for chal lenges to results in Seminole County, where a Democratic activist has accused Republicans of tampering with absentee ballot applications and wants more than 15,000 votes thrown out It would cost Bush nearly5,000votes. " ' - v • ' ■ x Dew cans'ad promotes NUtodo.com BYJH1ZEMAN A can of Mountain Dew could give students mote than the usual dose of caffeine and sugar. Cans in die Lincoln area are now displaying an advertisement for a UNLWsb site, wwwNUtodo.com, which offers alternatives to drinking. The promotion is funded by Pepsi, a sponsor of the Web site, and NU Directions, a group that aims to reduce high-risk drinking, said Linda Major, NU Directions coordinator The advertisement shows the Web site address, as well as a brief description of its purpose. The NUtodo Web site lists activities in the Lincoln area, such as concerts, art shows, plays and restau rants. Major said student response has been positive so far, but many agreed the site should have more activ ities listed The Web site was created in October 1999, and its layout hasn't changed since then, she said. Major said she didn’t know if the Web site has received more hits since its inception. This is because the group is focusing more on making the site as stu dent-friendly as possible, she said But NU Directions planned to add more and more to better suit the students, Major said. “We’re continually working to improve it,” she said. A University of Nebraska-Lincoln advertising class made suggestions to improve the Web site, and Major said NU Directions will take the ideas seriously. “We're not going to heavily promote this site until we’re confident students will have a good experience (accessing it),* she said But the Mountain Dew cans should drum up some interest in the site, said Tom Workman, NU Directions spokesman. The cans were just recently distributed but were manufactured in November, he said Workman, who designed the panel for the cans, said they will be available until the supply runs out The special NUtodo cans will be distributed in nine counties, he said "Wfe’re excited that we’ve been able to expose (the Web site) to so many people,” he said TODAY TOMORROW Partly cloudy Showers high 42, low 28 high 48, low 28 £><z#j'Nebraskan rjlll L1 c . _ . Questions? Comments? Managing EcHtOR BrtM&s A^forthe.ppmprtrte^ion ^ihor^ Associate News Editor Kimberly Sweet „ Opinion Editor Samuel Mdtewon " «*n@unl.e«Ju Sports Editor Matthew Hansen Arts Editor Dane Stickney General Manager DanShattil Copy Desk Co-Chief: Lindsay Young Publications Board Russell Willbanks, Copy Desk CoOtief: Danell McCoy Chairman: (402)436-7226 Photo Chief: Heather Glenboski Professional Adviser Don Walton, (402) 473-7248 Art Director Melanie Falk Advertising Manager Nick Partsch, (402) 472-2589 Design Chief: Andrew Broer Assistant Ad Manager Nicole Woita Web Editor Gregg Steams Classified Ad Manager Nikki Bruner Assistant Web Editor Tanner Graham Circulation Manager Imtiyaz Khan Fax Number: (402) 472-1761 World Wide Web: www.dailyneb.com The Daily Nebraskan (USPS144-080) is published by the UNL Publications Board, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St, Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly during the summer sessions. The public has access to the Publications Board. Readers are encouraged to submit story ideas and comments to the Daily Nebraskan by calling (402)472-2588. Subscriptions are $60 for one year. Postmaster Send address changes to the Daily Nebraskan, 20 Nebraska Union, 1400 R St, Lincoln, NE 68588-0448. Periodical postage paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 2000 __DAILY NEBRASKAN High court hit with briefs supporting Brandon BY JOSH FUNK The Nebraska Supreme Court has been flooded with briefs in support of Teena Brandon’s mother’s appeal of a judgment against the sheriff in die county where Brandon was murdered The state high court may hear arguments in the case in early December Nineteen local and national groups have filed briefs in support of Brandon, and more may be entered before the case is heard Brandon’s mother, Joann, argues that the $17,000 negligence judgment against the Richardson County Sheriffistoolow. The county judge assigned 14 percent of the responsibility for Brandon’s death to Sheriff Charles Laux and die county. Eighty-five percent of the blame went to the two men convicted of Brandon’s murder, and 1 percent was assigned to Brandon herself. Laux responded with an appeal arguing he should not have been found negligent for his investi gation into rape allegations made by Brandon shortly before her death. Additionally, Laux argues that if he is found negli gent, it should only be for the 14 percent liability assigned by the lower court The case has garnered national attention, and two movies have been made about the circum stances of Brandon’s life and death. Brandon was living as a man in Falls City at the time of her death. At her murder trial prosecutors argued that Brandon’s lifestyle was part of her killers’ motives. John Lotter and Marvin Nissen were convicted of murdering Brandon, 21, lisa Lambert, 24, and Philip DeVine, 22, in a farmhouse near Humboldt in 1993. Lotter is on Nebraska’s death row for the murders, and Nissen is serving a life sentence. Teena Brandon was murdered one week after she reported to Laux that Lotter and Nissen had raped her, according to arguments submitted by the Lambda Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a national equal-rights group representing Joann Brandon. Laux informed the rapists of the allegations against them and took no steps to protect Brandon, said the Lambda lawyers, who are working with Lincoln attorneys Michael Hansen and Herb Friedman. The tide of one of the sub-sections of Brandon’s appeal compares the sheriff’s actions to “pouring vinegar into an open wound.” Laux argues that his investigation into Brandon’s rape allegations was reasonable and that he was not obligated to tell Brandon he did not plan to arrest LotterandNissen. “Sheriff Laux discharged his duty to protect Teena Brandon by conducting a reasonable investigation of her rape,” according to Lame's brief. The 19 friend-of-the-court briefs filed by outside groups in this case address a child’s value to a parent, law enforcement’s blame-the-victim approach to rapes and the rate of violence against transgendered people ASUN, Academic Senate tackle records i LAWSUIT from page 1 Inc., have campaigned to make sure campus police and univer sity disciplinary records are not hidden as part of a student’s educational record. “Students need to know about crime on campus, whether it is handled by police or the disciplinary office, so they can make informed decisions to avoid being a victim,” said Daniel Carter, Security On Campus’ vice president. Security On Campus was founded in 1987 by Connie and Howard Clery after their daugh ter Jeanne was beaten, raped and murdered in her residence hall room at Pennsylvania’s Lehigh University. After Jeanne’s murder, the Clerys learned that 38 violent offenses had been reported on the Lehigh campus in a three year period. But the university had failed to warn students about any dangers, according to the Security On Campus Web site, www.socontine.org. Carter said for a university’s disciplinary system to be effec tive, students must know how the cases are being handled. “(Students) need to know how justice is being adminis tered and whether potentially violent students may be on campus,” Carter said. “They may not be able to trust people as much as before.” University of Nebraska Lincoln policy states that disci plinary and counseling records should not be released unless required by law or if the safety of others is involved. Earlier this fall, the Daily Nebraskan requested that UNL release the results of discipli nary actions involving crimes of violence and sex offenses out of concern for campus safety. The newspaper also was concerned the Office of Judicial Affairs was not being held accountable because the records remain confidential. The campus newspaper asked for the information under Nebraska's open records law because a 1998 revision to the federal Higher Education Act makes it clear that crimes of vio lence and sex offenses should not be protected as educational records. UNL and the state Attorney General rejected the Daily Nebraskan’s requests. An exception to the state open records law states that a student's personal records do not have to be released, but the law does not prohibit their release. Expert: Dairy farms, laws harm water COWS from page 1 Martin, who was an expert witness in die Verdigre trial, said Nebraska has several glaring problems with its system to guard the environment "If I were a Nebraskan, I would be highly concerned,” she said. Nebraska s environmental laws are vague and general, she said. The laws also are more lenient and are easier to comply with than laws in other states, she said. In states such as Oklahoma, regulations explicitly mandate how farms have to guard against environmental disasters, such as waste seeping into streams, she said. “Nebraska has not specifically defined these areas,” she said. Furthermore, Martin said, the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality “has not embraced the problem” that feedlots pose. For example, Martin said, she did an independent evaluation of a hog farm in Hayes County that already went through a depart ment inspection. When she arrrived, Martin said, she found a 39-foot dam in a creek that had been filled with cow manure. Such an arrangement is not environmentally sound, she said. Matin also said some mem bers of the Department of Environmental Quality may have conflicts of interest Dennis Heitmann, who works for the department, also worked for a committee charged with enticing dairy farmers to come to Nebraska, she said. Heitmann would not com ment on Martin’s allegations. Several private businesses and government committees have been enticing dairy farmers to come to Nebraska. They cite Nebraska’s low land and feed prices as reasons to relo cate to Nebraska, Borer said. The possibility of an environ mental disaster spreads beyond Heitmann's conflict of interests, Martin said. Martin said she met with the Department of Environmental Quality’s board of directors earlier this year to propose changes to Nebraska laws. During this meeting, she said, the board was disregarding the possibility that feedlots may be polluting area streams “I was highly disappointed with their attitude,” she said. Speaker addresses justice, democracy JUSTICE from page 1 “judicial romanticism” - the idea that criminal pros ecutions can solve the world’s ills, Forsythe said. Sometimes, he said, a nation can make an easier transition to democratic peace if it forgoes criminal prosecutions or pursues them cautiously. If NATO peacekeeping forces had aggressively sought to capture indicted war criminals shortly after the 1995 Dayton Accords that ended the fighting in Bosnia, they probably would have suffered casualties while pursuing them. This may have caused Western support for peacekeeping to collapse, and Bosnia may have been engulfed by ethnic warfare once again, Forsythe said. Likewise, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic’s indictment by the Hague criminal court in the spring of 1999 may have delayed his fall from power. Had he been offered immunity, the West might have negotiated his resignation from power far earlier than this fall, when he lost in a democratic election. In some situations, as in South Africa after the fall of apartheid, the solution has been truth and recon ciliation commissions. In these cases, officials who have violated human rights are granted immunity if they confess their deeds and express remorse. “Unfortunately, truth commissions come very close to situations of impunity, which is very frustrat ing for victims and their relatives,” Forsythe said. “But on balance, a truth commission may be a way of making the best of a bad situation. If truth commissions could be combined with fair trials, you might have the best of both worlds. Alas, that situa tion rarely presents itself” Other approaches include reparations and apologies. Some have suggested the U.S. govern ment owes both to black Americans and other groups whose human rights have been violated. Forsythe said he supported an official U.S. apolo gy for slavery and racial discrimination. The federal government should make reparation payments, not to individuals, but to non-governmental organiza tions that promote causes like improved education for blacks, he said. “The U.S. attempt to lead on human rights issues will ring hollow unless we face with brutal honesty our own history,” he said. The desire for criminal justice will continue to butt heads with political reality, Forsythe said. Because of that fact, the international community must consider a range of responses to cases of geno cide, crimes against humanity or other atrocities, he said. “The decision on how to respond to atrocities and deal with the demands for justice after injustice is no easy matter.”
