Thursday
January 25,2001
Volume 100
Issue 90
dailyneb.com
Since 1901
Where art thou? Yasmin McEwin (
iskx>king in aH the right pieces (
In Opinion/4
A look at wrestling and
cutting weight
In SportsThursday/10
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Commentary: Music has v
become a cover for silence j ^
in Arts/5 X. § sP,
'Black history is U.S.story'
■UNL sponsors a full month of film
festivals, speakers and workshops to high
light black contributions to society.
BY LINDSEY BAKER_
This February, university students will
have a chance to get in touch with America's
roots.
A month-long series of events on cam
pus will celebrate Black History Month,
established originally as Negro History Week
by Carter G. Woodson in 1926.
"He and a cadre of other black scholars
began doing work to make sure African
Americans were not forgotten,” said Venetria
Patton, an associate professor of English and
African American and African studies.
Patton said Woodson set out to ensure
blacks received credit for contributions to
the United States and to the world. The week
eventually expanded to a month, Patton
said, because a week wasn’t sufficient time to
celebrate black contributions to society.
Walter Rucker, an associate professor of
history, said the month should be a learning
experience for people of all colors.
“There’s a general stereotype and mis
conception that African Americans have not
done much,” Rucker said. “African American
history at its base is American history.”
He said the wealth the United States has
today stems from that gained through slav
ery.
Woodson, Rucker said, intended for the
commemoration to eradicate racism and
remind all Americans of African-American
contributions.
University events include a month-long
film festival, where free, historical films will
run every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Specific dates, times and locations will be
posted in the Nebraska Union.
Patton said the films are sequential,
beginning with blacks in Africa and moving
to blacks in the United States.
“We provide a number of different times so
we hit a wide (number of people)," Patton said.
Career Services is sponsoring a network
ing workshop on Feb. 5 to prepare partici
pants for the Fourth Annual Students of
Color Recruiter Reception, which will be
held Feb. 13.
“The reception gives (students) a chance
to meet businesses and employers looking to
diversify,” Patton said.
Feb. 12-16 brings a bit of love to the
Nebraska Union with “Black Love Week," a
series of love-related, brown-bag lunch dis
Please see HISTORY on 3
{Bridging the African Diaspora Conference
m February 23,24
IH Visit the Web site for more information and registration.
^0 http://www.unl.edu/unlies/symposium/symposium.html
“Black Love Week”
Sponsored by the Office of Multi- Cultural Affairs
February 12-16 *
| brown bag lunches with guest speakers
Melanie Falk/DN
Legislature
Bill
targets
booze
BY GEORGE QRBEN
Sen. Mark Quandahl of
Omaha aims to stop underage
drinking by slapping guilty
minors with stiffer penalties
that suit their crimes.
But some law enforcement
officials and students caution
disarming thirsty minors isn’t a
simple or easy task.
LB114, introduced by
Quandahl, would allow police to
arrest minors who have been
drinking and are in the proximi
ty of alcohol even if they don’t
have booze in their immediate
possession.
The bill also ensures guilty
youths face beefed-up penal
ties, including a driver’s license
suspension, a hefty fine and a
note to mom and dad explain
ing their violation.
Quandahl said his bill seals
off a legal loophole, which lets
minors drink their fill without
fretting over legal conse
quences.
Police officers can arrest
minors for possessing alcohol,
but not for drinking it.
Quandahl said he hopes the
new legal requirements and the
extra penalties will deter young
drinkers.
"The current penalties aren’t
working. This is a different
approach,” he said.
Mylo Bushing, assistant
chief of the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln Police, said
he hadn’t had an opportunity to
take a close look at the bill.
Based on what he has heard,
though, he said the bill, if
Titus Childers
checks IDs at the
door of Buffalo
Wild Wings, bet
ter known as
BW-3,1328PSt
A newly intro
duced legisla
tive bill is aimed
at changing
laws associated
with minors and
alcohol.
Derek Lippincott/DN
passed, could discourage
would-be drinkers.
But, he cautioned, young
and ambitious drinkers will
continue to party no matter how
much the state threatens them.
“Minors are still going to
take their chances," he said.
If the state's potential threat
becomes a reality, Bushing said,
he doesn’t anticipate police hav
ing to write more tickets.
Officers still will have to
obey the letter of the law, which
forces them to have probable
cause to confront an individual,
he said.
Assistant Chief John Becker
of the Lincoln Police
Department said the bill has the
potential to have a positive
effect on police workloads.
A bill like Quandahl’s, Becker
said, helps citizens make
informed decisions about their
behavior.
“They’ll know that if you do
it, something bad will happen to
you,” Becker said.
He said he hoped informed
minors would steer clear of
alcohol and sidestep potential
legal problems while allowing
the police to focus on more seri
ous problems.
But, he said, the state keeps
countless laws on record with a
variety of penalties, and it still
wrangles with crime problems.
Rooting out crime takes a
concerted effort by more than
just the cops, he said.
Please see DRINKING on 3
Students say no to MIP bill
BY MARGARET BEHM
The debating grounds of the student senate
floor were silent Wednesday evening as bill after
bill was passed without discussion.
The first bill that passed by acclamation will
send a Government liaison Committee lobbyist to
fight LB 114. The legislation proposes changes to
the laws on alcohol violations by minors.
Urrvano Gamez, ASUN special topics chair
man, said the bill passed without debate because
senators had already made up their minds.
“I feel it was a pretty clear-cut issue," he said.
“Many senators saw that it would have a negative
effect on students.”
LB 114 was presented to the Legislature by Sen.
ASUN
Mark Quandahl of Omaha. According to the bill, to
be charged with MIP, two factors need to be pres
ent.
The first factor is that someone under 21 has to
be within the proximity of alcohol. What qualifies
as proximity will be at the discretion of the police,
he said.
The second factor is that a person would have
to exhibit signs of consumption of alcohol, also
determined by police, he said.
Shelley Stall, head of Student Legal Services,
Please see BILLS on 3
UNL students delegate, manage funds
BY MARGARET BEHM
It’s all about the Benjamins to a committee
that right now is engaged in the process of allo
cating student fee money to student groups.
The Committee for Fees Allocation is the
major deciding factor in how much money
some on-campus groups receive, said Brent
Stanfield, its chairman.
“CFA is the deciding body on how student
fees will be allocated - on how much student
fees will be collected,” said Stanfield, a junior
economics and political science major.
The committee makes decisions about stu
dent fees - what every student is charged each
semester to fund services and student groups.
Students taking seven or more credit hours pay
$270 each semester in fees.
CFA is composed of 11 students. Five are
members of the Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska. One student is from a
residence hall, two are from Greek houses and
three live off-campus.
ASUN members who serve on CFA cannot
vote on the recommendation for student gov
i
emment’s budget
James Griesen, vice chancellor for student
affairs, said it’s rare among colleges for stu
dents, instead of administrators, to serve on
this type of committee - one that divvies the
fees that students pay each semester.
“We are the most democratic campus that I
know of in terms of having a representative stu
dent group be the primary body that assigns
the appropriations of student fees,” he said.
CFA meets once a week during the first
semester, Griesen said.
Stanfield said during the first semester, stu
dent members study the services provided by
student fee-funded groups, such as student
government, the University Program Council
and the Daily Nebraskan.
“We learn as much about the fee user as we
can,” he said.
During second semester, CFA holds hear
ings on budgets, Griesen said.
Student fees come in two parts: Fund A fees,
which total $11.74 each semester, are used to
fund student groups, including ASUN, the
Daily Nebraskan and the University Program
Council, whose funding includes UPC pro- *
gramming and Lied Center student discounts
forevents.
Fund B fees are used for bond payments
such as those to pay for the Nebraska Union
renovations, staff salaries and operating costs
for student services, including those at the
Campus Recreation Center and the University
Health Center.
Students can ask that all or part of their
Fund A student fees be refunded, Griesen said.
The refund was allowed in 1978 by the
Board of Regents so students wouldn’t be
forced to financially support groups they might
disagree with, he said.
But if a student requests a refund, he or she
won’t be able to use the services that student
fees pay for, Griesen said.
“If you take your ASUN refund, you are not
entitled to use Student Legal Services,” he said.
After CFA determines a group’s budget, that
group can have one chance at appealing the
amount determined for it to receive.
Please see FUNDS on 3
Families distraught
over Reeves decision
BY JILL CONNER
In May, Randy Reeves could
face the death penalty for the sec
ond time in his life
Reeves, 44, will step into the
Lancaster County Court for sen
tencing once again, two years
after being just days away from
the electric chair before the
Nebraska Supreme Court stayed
his execution.
The Supreme Court ordered a
re-sentencing last January after
declaring Reeves’ 1991 death sen
tence invalid.
Reeves was first sentenced to
death for the 1980 murders of
Vicki Lamm and Janet Mesner. He
murdered the two at the Quaker
meeting house in Lincoln.
V
Reeves will appear in the
Lancaster County District Court
on May 29 to be sentenced
Papers filed by Lancaster
County Attorney Gary Lacey's
office cited aggravating circum
stances in the murders that could
lead Lacey to seek the death
penalty.
“I talked to family members
who favor and do not favor the
death penalty,” Lacey said. “I've
concluded we should favor it in
the sentencing."
Mildred and Ken Mesner, par
ents of Janet Mesner, spoke to
Lacey last December about
whether he would decide to push
for the death penalty.
Please see REEVES on 3
*
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