Monday
December 11,2000
Volume 100
Issue 74
dailyneb.com
Since 1901
ZM/yNebraskan
hand in lie float
judging
in News/5
The stS unbeatable
Nebraska voleybal team
Bneaaea Toinerviai roui
In SportsMonday/12
As the year draws to a "
dose, we look back at its
best movies, music
In Arts/8
Regents
Recruiting
blueprint
requested
BY VERONICA DAEHN
In response to a presentation on undergradu
ate student recruitment at the University of
Nebraska, the Board of Regents on Saturday
demanded a plan that would outline a specific
focus and a budget.
Susanna Finnell, director of admissions at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, spoke to the
board about several ways recruitment at NU
could be improved.
But after the presentation, Waterloo Regent
Nancy O'Brien said she was disappointed the
board hadn't been given a detailed plan on how
the university could catch up with its peers.
Without that, the focus is too large and
recruitment won't be as effective, she said.
The university needs to focus on getting in
touch with prospective students early, O’Brien
said. And that should be done on a personal basis,
not with mailings.
NU President Dennis Smith agreed. He said
personal contact in recruitment was the top pri
ority.
“There ought to be ways in which we can con
tact every potential college student early on,"
Smith said.
Now, the crux of UNL’s recruitment effort is
direct mailings to students.
UNL representatives also visit high schools
and work with guidance counselors, Finnell said.
Papillion Regent Drew Miller said the current
scope was too broad.
“There is no focus," Miller said. “You are cast
ing the net too widely."
Miller said the board needed to decide if the
university’s recruitment efforts should focus on
in-state or out-of-state students.
If NU can keep more of the top high school
students in-state, the university's ranking will
likely go up and the recruiting job will be easier,
Miller said
Please se« REGENTS on 7
Family asks
to speak
for Reeves
BY OWEN T1ETGEN
A murder victim’s husband and daughter contin
ued their fight for a chance to address the Nebraska
Board ofPardons before the Nebraska Supreme Court
on Friday.
Paula Hutchinson, lawyer for the victim’s family
Gus and Audrey Lamm, said in her opening oral argu
ments that the high court needs to let the Lamms do
what the Nebraska Constitution says they have the
right to do.
Hutchinson said the Lamms have the right to
voice opposition to the execution of Randy Reeves
under the Nebraska victims protection amendment,
which they were denied at a Jan. 11,1999 Pardons
Board meeting.
Nebraska’s constitution states that crime victims,
which include a victim’s family members, have a right
to address proceedings dealing with the sentencing
or release of the criminal. The Lamms argue they were
denied that right.
“All we want is an opportunity to address the
Board ofPardons in a public forum,” said Audrey
Lamm, who was 2-years-old when her mother was
murdered.
In 1981, Randy Reeves was sentenced to death in
die electric chair for the 1980 murders ofVicki Lamm
and Janet Mesner at the Quaker meeting house in
Lincoln.
Vicki Lamm was the wife of Gus Lamm and the
mother of Audrey Lamm.
Reeves, 44, came within two days from dying in
the electric chair when the state Supreme Court
stayed the execution on Jan. 12,1999. Last January,
the court vacated the death sentence and ordered a
re-sentencing, which is still pending in Lancaster
County District Court.
Please see REIVES on 7
No. 50
for the 42nd
president
Scott Mcdurg/DN
TOP: President Bill Clinton shakes hands with those who came to see him speak Friday at OfVutt Air Force Base in Bellevue. Clinton said he visited more military bases during his presidency than any
president before him. ABOVE: Clinton speaks about foreign policy in the University of Nebraska at Kearney Health and Sports Center during the president's first visit to the state.
Clinton: World affairs affect all citizens
BY BRIAN CARLSON
KEARNEY — Because America’s
future at home will be tightly linked with
events abroad, all citizens have a respon
sibility to pay close attention to world
affairs, President Clinton said Friday.
In his first trip as President to
Nebraska - the only state he had yet to
visit - Clinton called for active U.S.
engagement in the world during a 52
minute address titled “A Foreign Policy
for the Global Age,” at the University of
Nebraska at Kearney's Cushing Health
and Sports Center.
l came here today not just to keep my
promise to visit Nebraska,” Clinton said,
“but to keep working on something at the
very end of my term I have been trying for
eight years to do, which is to persuade
ordinary, hard-working American citi
zens in the heartland of America that you
should be concerned about what goes on
beyond our nation’s borders and what
our role in the rest of the world is.”
He recalled a saying by Harry Truman:
"We are in the position now of making the
world safe for democracy if we don’t crawl
in a shell and act selfish and foolish.”
Clinton’s speech at UNK was the first
event of his daylong trip to Nebraska.
Afterward, he toured the Great Platte
River Road Archway, the monument that
spans Interstate 80 two miles east of
Kearney and commemorates the coun
try’s westward expansion.
Then Clinton hopped on the plane
designated as Air Force One and flew to
Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, where
he appeared with Sen. Bob Kerrey and
Sen.-elect Ben Nelson. Later, he attended
a fund-raiser for the Nebraska
Democratic Party at Omaha business
man \Tnod Gupta’s home.
Clinton arrived late at UNK because,
during his motorcade ride from Kearney
Municipal Airport, he decided to stop
twice and shake hands with schoolchild
‘local conflicts can become
worldwide headaches if
they’re allowed to fester.
Therefore, whenever
possible, we should stop
them before they get out of
hand. ”
President Bill Clinton
ren lining the road in frigid temperatures
to watch the president pass by.
An estimated 6,500 people, mostly
UNK students, packed the gym to hear
Clinton. As the UNK band struck up “Hail
to the Chief,” the crowd rose and
applauded the entry of Clinton, Gov.
Mike Johanns, UNK Chancellor Gladys
Styles Johnston and Casey L. Mendez, a
UNK junior political science major cho
sen to introduce the president.
Those four speakers and the NU
Board of Regents sat on stage ahead of a
blue backdrop bearing three UNK
insignia. The podium was emblazoned
with the seal of the President of the
United States.
"Can't you feel the electricity?”
Johnston said as she began the convoca
tion. She applauded Clinton’s visit, saying
he had helped bring about a “golden age”
for higher education.
“It is appropriate that we pay homage
to President Clinton as the education
president,” she said. “The president has
always understood the power and wis
dom of education as a national treasure."
Smith and Johnston presented
Clinton, who wore a black gown and a
white stole, with an honorary UNK
Please see KEARNEY on 2
A cold Offutt crowd
warms to president
■Some Nebraskans waited
for more than five hours to
hear Clinton speak.
BY BRADLEY DAVIS
OFFUTT, AFB — About
10,000 people braved the cold -
some for more than five hours -
to catch a glimpse of President
Bill Clinton at Offutt Air Force
Base on Friday.
In a state known for its
Republican leanings, some
might have thought conserva
tive hearts had thawed to
Clinton by looking at the throng
of people gathered in the frigid
December air.
But a good number of peo
ple couldn’t have cared less
about Clinton, the man. They
wanted to see Clinton, the
leader of the free world.
Two students from an
Omaha Westside High School
government class attended the
event as a part of a select group
that got to view the president up
close - they were escorted to the
front of the crowd.
Ian Rennels and Chris
Frerichs, two 17-year-olds with
the school group, said they
weren't particularly thrilled with
Clinton as a person. Nor did
they think Clinton really wanted
to be in Nebraska - “He puts on
a good front,” Frerichs said.
But they were charged to see
such a powerful man.
Clinton’s appearance was
enough to warm the heart of
Omahan Catherine Sorbello,
though.
aaiu uie uemoerauu party
stalwart: “He’s the most brilliant
person we’ve had around in a
long time.”
Clinton rewarded those who
had waited patiently, holding
signs and donning hats that
declared the president had
“Saved the Best for Last,” with a
10-minute speech.
He reiterated the points he’d
made on foreign policy earlier
in the day to an audience of
6,500 at the University of
Nebraska at Kearney.
Clinton encouraged
Americans not to squander the
unprecedented economic and
social prosperity they now enjoy
by ignoring their duties abroad.
“The world is getting small
er,” Clinton said. “Information
and people are crossing bor
ders” - that’s why it’s important
to care about what’s going on
beyond your own backyard, he
Please see OMAHA on 2