Vlhftinirluii
weanesaay
February 21,2001
Volume 100
Issue 112
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NUForce signatures were fakes
■ Rowena Pacquette is disqualified as 35 names
turned in for the party's second vice-presidential
candidate were found to be forged.
BY MARGARET BEHM
A candidate for student government was dis
qualified Thursday after it was discovered signa
tures she turned in to apply for candidacy were
forged.
Rowena Pacquette, NUForce’s second vice
presidential candidate, was disqualified after 35 of
her 200 required signatures were determined
fraudulent After the forged names were subtract
ed from Pacquette’s signature total, she didn’t have
the necessary 200 student signatures to rim for
office.
The disqualification was revealed at a Tuesday
ASUN Electoral Commission meeting in which the
commission took action against the NUForce
party.
The decision comes as another blow to
NUForce, which weathered a scare regarding
Pacquette’s candidacy earlier in the month after
she turned in her signatures to register her candi
dacy a day late.
One of the party’s candidates, Sheila Gathuma,
was disqualified Feb. 13 because she turned in only
30 signatures to apply for Arts and Sciences College
Advisory Board instead of the required 35.
Angela Clements, NUForce presidential candi
date, said Pacquette’s disqualification so late in the
campaign was a real sting to her party.
“A week before the election, this is a devastating
blow for us,” she said.
The Association of Students of the University of
Nebraska’s election is February 28.
Clements said neither she nor Pacquette had
anything to do with the fake signatures.
Pacquette could not be reached for comment
Tuesday and did not return a message from the
Daily Nebraskan.
Clements attributed the forged signatures to a
friend of hers, former UNL student Terrence
Batiste, whom Clements said she asked to gather
signatures for Pacquette in Selleck Residence Hall.
- - - - _ .
Batiste admitted he forged the 35 signatures.
The signatures were due Jan. 31.
“No one knew about it except for me,” he said
in an interview. “It’s all my fault.”
Batiste said he forged the signatures because
he didn’t want to spend the time to gather them.
“I was lazy,” he said.
He said all of the forged names were those of his
friends, which were listed in his Palm Pilot elec
tronic planner.
Batiste said he hasn’t told most of the people
whose names he used that their signatures were
forged. He said he expects them to be unhappy
about it.
“Who wouldn’t be upset if someone forged
their signatures? I would be upset if someone
forged my signature,” he said.
Batiste refused to say who told him his forgeries
had been caught. He said he wrote a confession let
ter on his own without prodding from anyone else.
He submitted and signed the letter Friday in the
ASUN office.
Upon examining the signatures deemed fake,
Clements said she immediately knew who was to
blame.
Said Batiste: "I felt it was my responsibility to
write a letter saying that it was my fault,” he said.
“No one told me to write the letter.”
Batiste was a UNL freshman last semester but
is no longer enrolled in classes.
In the wake of the forged signatures, the
Electoral Commission fined NUForce $100. It also
barred the party from displaying any large banners
on campus.
Commission Chairman John D. Conley said the
party was fined because its candidates are respon
sible for other people taking action-on their behalf.
NUForce’s Clements said the fine was a harsh
penalty, but the real punishment was Pacquette's
disqualification.
Conley warned the candidates at Tuesday's
meeting not to break election rules because the
ASUN election is an official state election.
“If you think this is student council or home
coming in high school, I'm afraid you’re wrong,” he
* Please see NUFORCE on 3
The One Party
presidential
candidate Jaron
Luttidi says he's
the person with
the best grasp of
campus issues
among the
packed slate of
presidential
contenders.
Natewagner/UN
Is Luttidi'The One?
Candidate uses past experiences to bolster presidential appeal
BY SHARON KOLBET
Confident, honest, unafraid: These are the
three words ASUN presidential candidate Jaron
Luttich used When asked to describe himself. t
As the leader of The One Party with a plat
form that includes online teacher evaluations,
Association of Students of the University of
Nebraska election reforms and a desire to ele
vate UNL's academic reputation, Luttich said he
is not afraid to tackle controversial issues.
"Too often I see (ASUN) senators look
around at their friends before voting.
Sometimes they pass on the legislation because
they are afraid of offending someone,” he said.
Luttich said he doesn’t have those fears. He
said his previous leadership experience has
required him to be outspoken.
When he was president of the Chi Phi
Fraternity, Luttich said he adopted a quote to
live by: “The prime purpose of a leader is to keep
hope alive.”
In the summer of 1999, Luttich said UNL’s
Chi Phi chapter was in a rather hopeless situa
tion. When the university began taking action to
close the fraternity because of financial con
cerns, Luttich spoke to the University Housing
office and convinced its director, Doug
Zatechka, along with Chi Phi alumni, to allow
the fraternity to remain open.
Luttich said the incident demonstrated his
ability to lead people with diverse opinions to a
consensus.
"I think one of my strengths is my ability to
bring people together,” he said.
In referring to his goal to give UNL students
a Web site to post teacher evaluations, Luttich
said he already has spoken to faculty members
about the idea. Luttich said he believes he can
construct a program that will work for both stu
dents and professors.
Though he feels strongly about enacting his
campaign platform ideas, Luttich said if elect
ed, he'd want the first bill of his term introduced
by a senator.
“I want people to know that if they have a
good idea, I will support them," he said.
In speaking about the platforms of the four
other parties, he said he commended NUForce
for bringing diversity to the center of the ASUN
debates. But Luttich said there was a larger issue
at hand.
“The real problem is not so much about hav
ing a diverse senate as it is about having a
diverse campus," he said.
Luttich, a marketing major in his third year
at UNL, has served on the Judicial Board, the
University Program Council and the Arts and
Sciences Advisory Board. He considers one of
his most positive experiences at UNL to have
come from his work with New Student
Enrollment.
Please see LUTTICH on 3
School funds
next on list
of priorities
BYGWENT1ETGEN
Recalculating how schools receive funding for
students in poverty and how the state dishes out
funding to schools sat on the plates of Education
Committee members Tuesday.
Providing additional funding for students
under extreme poverty is the goal of a bill intro
duced by Sen. DiAnna Schimek of Lincoln.
The bill would provide more funding to schools
whose student enrollment is made up of more than
35 percent of students in poverty.
Under the bill, schools would receive funding
by multiplying the number of poverty-level stu
dents enrolled by two
tenths.
Those schools who “Why are W€
qualify for the additional fundina one
funding would be required 1 unuiny
to submit a school improve- group (Of
ment plan in which the students) SO
school outlines how the *
additional funds are being much
used. differently
Schools would be .. ..
required to have academic man me
and family support pro- Other
grams and to,address the /nrnur>c nf
needs for developing teach- {yruups u\
ers and staff. students)?”
In particular, the bill
would increase funding for Ron Raises
the state's tour American Linc0,n senator
Indian reservation schools. -;
"We know the needs are
substantial,” said James
Cunningham, executive director of the Nebraska
Catholic Conference, when he cited the many
problems that exist with American Indian educa
tion.
Cunningham said the additional funding
would help better the education American Indian
children receive.
But LaVon Stennis Williams, an attorney with
Stennis and Associates, said the extreme poverty
plan wouldn’t work based on her experiences with
the current educational gap that exists between
blacks and whites in the Omaha Public Schools.
Williams said additional funding is needed to
be given on a case-by-case basis.
“Districts should not be given additional fund
Please see STATE AID on 3
t
Under 18? Bill would make tattoos taboo
BY GEORGE GREEN
They can’t vote.
They can’t smoke.
And if a bill introduced to the Legislature
passes, minors won’t be able to get tattoo,
body or ear piercings either.
LB264 would prohibit minors from get
ting body decorations unless their parents
attend the procedure or send a notarized let
ter along with their child.
Misty Wendt, a legislative aid to Sen.
Elaine Stuhr of Bradshaw, who introduced the
bill, said most tattooers and piercers already
avoid minors or ask for parental permission.
“Most of you reputable tattooers already
do this,” she said.
This bill will hinder the sketchy, under
ground artists who use dirty tools, she said.
Stuhr introduced the bill after hearing
complaints from parents about their 13-year
old daughters coming home decorated with
tattoo, Wendt said.
These parents did not give their children
permission, but had to deal with the tattoo'
permanent consequences, she said.
Instead of requiring tattoo and piercing
parlors to get state licenses like barbers and
nail salons, Wendt said, Stuhr decided it
would be more effective and cheaper to sim
ply bar businesses from garnishing minors.
Regulating the parlors through licensing
would add another responsibility to already
over-burdened regulatory agencies, Wendt
said.
Carrie Masters, owner of The Ozone Body
Please see TATTOOS on 3
Steven Bender/DN
Andy Grubb, 24, works as a tattoo artist at Guns 2 Roses at 33rd and Holdrege streets.