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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 16, 2001)
Tuesday January 16,2001 Volume 100 Issue 83 dailyneb.com Since 1901 Oh, tha days: Karan Drown goM back to her note-passing, , boy-crushing roots ' In Opinion /4 NU defeats a ranked opponent for the first time in a long time In SportsTuesday/10 Kimball Hall once again offers a healthy slate of music over the semester In Arts/8 i Regents Floodwater, traffic plan approved BYJULZEMAN Despite opposition from several community members, the NU Board of Regents voted unani mously Saturday to approve the first phase of a 20 year traffic and floodwater plan that will reshape the UNL campus and downtown Lincoln. The regents’ approval makes it possible for the Antelope Valley project to receive $49 million in federal dollars. The plan was previously approved by the Lincoln City Council and the Lower Platte South Natural Resources District. VNLis not a mediocre university. UNLisa very good univer sity that could be better." Demns Smith NU president All three partners' consent was necessary for the project to receive the federal funding. The plan will create a six-lane road along 19th Street from K to Q streets. The road will run east between the Beadle Center and Malone Center and come back west along an expanded Antelope Creek, diverting the bulk of traffic around the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s City Campus. Vine Street will be rerouted in the project After Antelope Creek is expanded, it will be able to better accommodate floodwaters. To complete the project, the city will need to buy homes, which will displace families close to campus. unl interim cnanceiior Harvey Perlman said the university can benefit greatly from the project. Removing Vine Street from the heart of UNL’s campus will make the university more aesthetic, Perlman said. Hus, the university will be able to build on and utilize land freed from the flood plain, he said. The project also would create building oppor tunities for businesses that want a location close to the university, Perlman said. But Barbara Morley of Lincoln said the plan was flawed because it may not effectively stop floodwa ters in and around campus. Morely also said changing the road structure around campus will not influence the decision of prospective students to attend UNL. “Students go elsewhere not because they have to cross 16th and 17th streets,” she said. “This plan is both misguided in logic and in funds.” Several citizens expressed disdain over the pro posed project, but Regent Charles Wilson of Lincoln said the board needed to focus only on the university's involvement “Even though there are legitimate questions, a number of concerns are not under our control,” Wilson said. f uunng me meeung me Doara aiso aaaressea the recent series in the Omaha World-Herald, “UNL: Confronting Mediocrity.” NU President Dennis Smith said while the essence of the stories is factually correct, he object ed to the headlines and graphics that accompanied it "UNL is not a mediocre university," Smith said, “UNL is a very good university that could be bet ter.” Perlman agreed with Smith, and said he was pleased the series recognized UNL’s advances in die past few years. For example, the freshman learning experience task force was formed, which helped promote freshman learning communities. The Honors Program also has been strengthened. Research at UNL also has flourished, with fed eral funding increasing each year, he said. Despite these advancements, UNL was placed in the third tier of universities by the U.S. News and Please see REGENTS on 5 TIN LUTHER UNCOLNJC MAYTlN 2ND ANNUAL SEjmNG TUBE THEN KINd. jr SITH RALL Y/MARCrt genre betteb j L 'E ^ I HttnwrnlNinmi rft€* TIi# MMoit, Titm Man rii m»<*«»* '' *33«5Ssta«iii -■_i. David Clasen/ DN High school and college students arrive at the State Capitol Monday carrying banners recognizing Martin Luther King Jr.The students marched from the Culture Center, 14th and R streets, to the Capitol to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. ■ Speaker Rev.Thomas asked church-goers to continue to strive for the dream. BY UNDSEY BAKER UNL political science pro fessor Michael Combs leads a double life of sorts, some say. Teaching political science by day and the “word of God" at night, Combs serves as not only a university professor, but also as pastor of Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 3301N. 56th St. Combs’ duties as pastor include giving sermons, visiting the sick and working with youth. “It requires a person who is dedicated and devoted,” he said. That dedication and devo tion carried over to Mt. Zion’s special Martin Luther King Jr. service Monday. - “I am always reminded that every individual is special and a unique person worthy of Please see CHURCH on 6 David Clasen/DN Margarette Smith, a Lincoln resident, walks past Bennett Martin Library, 14th and N streets, Monday afternoon. Festivities celebrate King's life BY LINDSEY BAKER Hands of all races joined together to the swelling of joyful music in the Nebraska Union at Monday afternoon’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration “Continuing the Civil Rights Movement for All.” Audience members - both university students and Lincoln community members - con cluded the day’s events with a rendition of “Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand,” sung by Lincoln Northeast High School’s Voices 'N' Harmony. “(King’s) dream has not come to fruition,” said Charles H. Bowling, the director of Voices ’N’ Harmony. He encour aged people to step outside of their comfort zone and talk to different people. jno man is an tsiana, ne said. That sentiment was the message of the day. Students and community residents felt a sense of togetherness through out the morning and afternoon events, which included renew ing UNL’s partnership with Louisiana’s Grambling University, a historically black college, and the presentation of the chancellor's “Fulfilling the Dream” Awards. “I think they did a really good job celebrating the day and what it means, bringing everybody together, no matter what color or what religion or who they are,” senior horticul ture major Dusti Duffy said. Assistant Director of Student Involvement and Martin Luther King Jr., Day Committee co chairwoman Karen Wills said she was pleased with the turnout for the events. Around 150 people attended the morning events, she said, and close to 600 meal tickets were handed out in the after noon. Reeling me positive energy was amazing,” Wills said. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Committee co-chairman Robert Hicks said he hoped everyone who attended were moved to carry on King’s dream. “The goal of the program was (for people) to come and get a true meaning of what Martin Luther King stood for, and hope fully to Carry out in their daily lives the things that he hoped and died for,” Hicks said. “It’s not just for one day. Please remember in your hearts what we’re here for.” “Fulfilling the Dream” award-winner Paulette Jones, who has served on more than 40 organizations since moving to Lincoln in 1979, emphasized the importance of living King’s dream through giving back to the community. “Martin Luther King gave his life,” she said. “I watched my mother give back to the com munity in the projects of Please see KING on 6 Attorneys take dispute of settlement in Brandon case to state's high court BY CHARLIE KAUFFMAN Attorneys representing Joann Brandon and Richardson County argued in the Nebraska State Supreme Court Friday over the settlement result ing from the wrongful death of Brandon's daughter Teena, whose December 1993 rape and murder formed the story for the movie “Boys Don’t Cry.” Herbert Friedman, who represents Brandon, alleged that then-sheriff Charles Laux did not act quickly enough to stop Brandon’s murder after her initial rape. "(Laux) knew these people were brutal, he knew they were vicious," Friedman said. “Instead of the long arm of the law assisting her, what they ended up doing was brutalizing her all over again.” \ Brandon, who was born a woman, lived as a man under the name Brandon Teena and moved to Falls City in 1993. Shortly after Brandon’s true sexual identity became known, she was raped by Thomas Nissen and John Lotter, both of Falls City. Despite threats made by Lotter and Nissen, who told Brandon they would kill her if she told anyone about the rape, Brandon notified Sheriff Laux, naming her attackers. According to Friedman, Laux not only notified Lotter and Nissen, but failed to arrest them after the rape, allowing them to find and murder Brandon several days later. In 1995, both men were convicted of first-degree murder. Nissen was subse quently sentenced to three consecutive life sentences, and Lotter was sen tenced to death. Richard Boucher, who represents Richardson County, argued that the investigation could not have proceeded any faster and that Brandon was not entirely compliant with the authorities. “How can you protect someone who doesn’t want your protection?" Boucher said. “She was not completely candid concerning the events of that night.” Boucher said Brandon indicated she was headed for Lincoln, so the sher iff’s department concluded that the ele ment of immediate danger was with drawn, although Brandon never went to Lincoln. Boucher pointed out that no federal statute exists requiring law enforce ment officials to make an arrest based on probable cause. Boucher also said Laux made suffi cient efforts to help Brandon after the rape. “The first night of the interview, he PleaseseeTEENAon5 V