FALLING SHORT OF THE GOAL
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Husker volleyball emerges from first Big Ten game with two wins in Michigan PAGE 9
friday, september 30, 2011
volume 111, issue 031
DAILY NEBRASKAN dailynebraskan.com
Panel talks cause, effect of modern slavery in state dan holtmeyer daily nebraskan
on duty
William “Woody” Woodruff talks with former students while working the night shift at Amigos on Oct. 1.
For anyone who saw the 2008 film “Taken,” which follows a man’s rescue of his daughter from an international sex slave ring, the words “human trafficking” might conjure mental images of exotic locales in Europe or Asia – something Americans, particularly Nebraskans, don’t deal with. But that’s not reality, said several local officials who attended a lunch panel Friday, drawing more than 100 participants from around the world as part of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Human Trafficking Conference. Human trafficking and slavery are in Nebraska, they said, though knowledge of their prevalence is murky, and local citizens and students can do something about it in a variety of ways.
courtesy photo
Amigos police officer spends nights keeping order in popular late-night restaurant, forges friendships with customers. Story by Cody Elmore
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group of boys walk through the paneglass doors at Amigos on 14th and Q streets, wearing dark-wash blue jeans and tomato-red T-shirts, cackling like a flock of geese. Next to the door stands Bill “Woody” Woodruff. Black khakis and a black windbreaker with a sheriff star sewn next to the pocket cover his tall, broad, linebacker-esque frame. A close-shaven head and thick gray mustache define his police officer appearance. But his words tell a different story. It’s 11:30 p.m. A short, plump woman dressed in a sunshine-yellow skirt, a sandy brown sequined top and gold sandals spots Woodruff sitting in the back of the restaurant. “Woody,” she yelled. “I haven’t seen you (in) years. How you doin’? Still taking care of things around here, I see.” They talk for 20 minutes about her career as a education specialist, her 10-year-old son
and all the things that changed after she graduated. “I’m glad to see you,” Woodruff said. “Take care and, if you ever need anything, you know where to find me.” Starting work as a security guard at McDonald’s in 1988, Woodruff moved to a security position at Shoemaker’s Truck Stop off West Q Street, then to the Lincoln Stars until 2003, when he started work at Amigos full-time. “I worked as an officer at spots around the city for awhile,” Woodruff said. “I used to arrest three drunk drivers a night back when I first got into law enforcement. Now, I’ve settled down a little.” A man with a polished gold front tooth and a black derby hat waves and smiles, revealing more gold on the bottom row of teeth. “I used to play basketball with him at the Y,” Woodruff said. “If he put up a shot there was a 95 percent chance that it was going in.” Woodruff steps out into the
cool, dry night air, spotting a group of screaming kids in the parking lot next to Chipotle. He unleashes a thunderous boom of a voice, stopping the yells and commanding the attention of the kids. He calms the group, soothing their fear with a soft request for them to stop fighting. The group thanks him and walks toward Q Street. “A Lincoln High kid taught me something years ago,” Woodruff said. “He’d been making some noise inside so I tossed him out and he looked me in the eyes and said, ‘You don’t who I am, you don’t even know my name.’ I got a yearbook and found him. The next time I saw him I called him by his first name to get his attention. We talked for a minute and I never had another problem with him.” Inside the restaurant he nestles back into his spot by the door, monitoring the room like a baby sitter in a nursery. Junior film and new media major Molly Heeney walks up to him, wrapping her arms around him
GRAVEYARD SHIFT like a big stuffed bear. “I remember the first time I met Woody,” Heeney said. “My sisters brought me to Amigos and introduced us. I was really intimidated by him at first. It’s funny thinking about being scared of Woody now. I get excited every time I come to Amigos and a lot of it is because I know I’ll get to see him here.” Woody sits down with Heeney and her three friends, calling each one by their first name without hesitation. They talk about how ugly the game was and how Taylor Martinez needs to get more comfortable in the pocket. Woodruff connects with each customer who approaches him,
woodruff: see page 3
Nebraska’s Slavery “People in Nebraska have a really, really limited view of what that (term), human trafficking, means,” said Tom Casady, former chief of police at the Lincoln Police Department chief and current public safety director, and one of the panel’s five members. His view was echoed by Linda Burkle, divisional director of social services for the Salvation Army, who told the crowd she’s had to deal with the belief that there’s no such thing in Nebraska. Human trafficking involves the transport, coercion, violence and exploitation of millions from around the world, not only for sex, but for labor, agricultural and domestic services as well. Even Nebraska is part of this worldwide, multibillion-dollar industry, said FBI special agent Weysan Dun. He works with the FBI’s Innocence Lost Task Force in
Omaha. For example, Dun said, Interstate 80 is an ideal conduit for traffickers moving through the heartland. Major events like the College World Series in Omaha also spark traffic, particularly in sex-trafficking victims, often from out of state, Dun said. The state is also a hot spot for refugees and other immigrants, a population growing by “leaps and bounds,” said Karen Parde, state refugee coordinator in the state’s Department of Health and Human Services. People fleeing from other countries are vulnerable to alienation, distrust of local law enforcement and economic hardship, she said. “In the cases that I’ve had, Hispanic males were the majority trafficked, usually for agriculture or labor,” Parde said. “It’s not just women and children.” The Beginning of Local Solutions As for what Nebraskans and Lincoln residents can do, Casady had a straightforward formula: First, increase awareness of the issue. Second, provide support for the victims. But that second step of support, which includes legal, financial and psychological support for trafficking victims, is in particular trouble. Local organizations face the ax of a tough economy’s string of smaller budgets, he said. Tom Barber, board member of the People’s City Mission, a local homeless shelter, and the conference’s final board member, said his organization is facing the problem of human trafficking on the streets. About 350 people stay there each night, he said, 80 of whom are children.
trafficking: see page 3
Jury to hear libel Homecoming theme celebrates Big Ten suit against DN Frannie SProuls Daily Nebraskan
Frannie Sprouls Daily Nebraskan
The libel lawsuit against the Daily Nebraskan will come to a jury trial on Tuesday, Oct. 4. Former University of Nebraska Regent Robert Prokop filed the lawsuit in October of 2007 and seeks $700,000 in damages for a staff editorial published Oct. 24, 2006. “The gist of the editorial was that regents should be held to a higher ethical standard,” said Dan Shattil, general manager of the Daily Nebraskan. In the lawsuit, Prokop states the Daily Nebraskan made “false, scandalous, illegal, defamatory and malicious” statements in the editorial. He also stated the article caused him “not to be elected to the Board of Regents.” The last Board of Regents election occurred after the editorial was published in October. The editorial talked about
jones page 4
two instances in which student regents had lost their positions over plagiarism. One paragraph said Prokop, when he was regent, plagiarized an article about homosexuality as a disease in the 1970s, said Shattil. There will be a jury present at the trial to determine if there is sufficient evidence that the editorial was libelous. Shattil said Prokop will have to prove that the editors at the time knew what they were printing was untrue. “Other than his own word, which so far is unsubstantiated, I have seen no evidence that he did not plagiarize in the 1970s and no evidence that we knew in 2006 that we knew he did not plagiarize,” Shattil said. Adam Morfeld, chairman of the publication board,
libel: see page 2
Monday marks the start of the University of NebraskaLincoln’s homecoming week. “Students can look forward to many unique opportunities throughout the week,” said Garrett Mardock, the 2011 homecoming coordinator and junior political science major, in an email. “Homecoming combines Nebraska tradition with new events that encompass student organizations, greek houses and residence halls. Students can expect a traveling sea of red across campus all week.” The homecoming theme for 2011 is “New Kids on the Block - Big Red in the Big Ten.” “This theme brings together Husker prowess and dominance, with recognition of the entry into the new conference,” Mardock wrote. Various events throughout the week include a campuswide blood drive, a parade and Monday Night Live. Mardock wrote that Monday Night Live is modeled after NBC’s Saturday Night Live.
Matzke page 5
Organizations spend weeks preparing skits, which are presented at the Lied Center for Performing Arts. “We have sold out the Lied Center two years in a row now, so we encourage students to arrive early for seating,” Mardock said. The philanthropic element of the week is the blood drive. Last year more than 6,000 units of blood were donated, the largest number of donations in school history, Mardock wrote. Mardock said he looks forward to matching that amount again this year. More than 100 students applied for Homecoming Royalty this year, said David Lopez, the 2011 Homecoming Royalty coordinator and a senior business administration and psychology major. After narrowing down the applications from 100 to 40, 20 men and 20 women were interviewed by a panel of eight judges. Lopez said selecting
homecoming: see page 3
lauren vuchetich | daily nebraskan
football page 8
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