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"Well-done' speech impresses even Republicans
By the Hub Staff
KEARNEY — At about 9:15 a.m. Friday,
the near-capacity crowd in the University of Nebraska at Kearney's
Health and Sports Center leaned forward in their seats as an
official announcement began.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the president
of the ... University of Nebraska ..."
As the 7,000 people in the audience
who had anticipated the arrival of President Bill Clinton let out a
combined groan and giggle, a chuckling NU President L. Dennis Smith
led the Board of Regents onto the stage at the south end of the
center.
The disappointment didn't last long.
Clinton's arrival was announced just moments later, and the UNK Band
played "Hail to the Chief." Following introductions and the
presentation of an honorary degree to Clinton, the president gave a
50-minute speech on foreign policy that thrilled many of the UNK
students, staff and others in attendance.
"It was extremely well-done,"
Kearneyite Jeff Rumery said of the speech, which he watched with his
wife, Christine, and daughter, Kelsey, from the VIP section. "And
that's coming from a Republican."
Rumery said he didn't hesitate when
given the chance at tickets to attend the speech, "and there was no
hesitation in taking (Kelsey) out of school."
The family received tickets because
Christine Rumery works in the office of UNK Chancellor Gladys Styles
Johnston. Members of the chancellor's staff who had put in much
extra work time to prepare for the presidential visit were rewarded
with extra tickets for their families.
Holley Hatt, a UNK senior from
Kearney, was covering the event for campus television station KFTW.
She said that from a journalist's standpoint, it was a "chance to
get a taste of what national media coverage is like. We got caught
up in the excitement. It was a lot of students' dream."
Hatt said the speech should have
appealed to students on several levels. "President Clinton did a
very good job appealing to the younger generation," she
said.
The convocation also was a chance for
students to acquaint themselves with the global society and take
advantage of the opportunities available to students at larger
universities, according to Hatt.
"On another level, it has been good
for UNK to receive the national attention," she added.
"It was a great experience," said
David Hild, a UNK junior from Holdrege majoring in business
management. He enjoyed the program even though he couldn't see much
of it. Seated on the north end of the Health and Sports Center
behind the press staging area, Hild and his friends had to peer
between the legs of people in front of them.
"It was like watching it on TV," he
said, explaining that he had a space about a foot square that he
looked through to see the president.
UNK sophomore Adam Daake of Kearney
also was sitting behind the press platform. He was disappointed by
the vantage point at first, but then accepted it.
What stood out for him was Clinton's
theme of how a few Americans can help change a country for the
better. He said that being at the convocation was something he'll
remember the rest of his life.
Daake said he was embarrassed that
some students got up to leave the center before the president had
left.
Pamela VanNesce of Lincoln stood out
in the VIP section by wearing a red beret. VanNesce said she wore
the beret to show her patriotism and that the beret had no
correlation to a similar one sometimes worn by Monica
Lewinsky.
"Oh, no, I didn't even think about
that," she said. "If I would have thought about that, I would have
worn a blue one."
VanNesce, a Democrat, said she got a
ticket to the president's speech because of her mother's prior
involvement with Nebraska Democratic politics. Her mother also
worked for J. James Exon when he was a U.S. senator from
Nebraska.
VanNesce had not seen Clinton speak
before Friday, but described him as "an excellent speaker. It was
just gripping and just fabulous. I think that he can reach out past
any partisan lines and talk to all people."
Kearney attorney Tom Stewart, a
Democrat, and his wife, Kay McMinn, sat in the VIP section and said
the experience was amazing.
"Without just saying it was pretty
cool, it was kind of awe-inspiring," he said. "You see the image on
the TV all the time but it's a little surreal when you see him in
person."
Stewart had worked on presidential
campaigns while in college and in law school. "This was the first
president I supported that got elected," he said.
Friday was the first time he'd seen a
sitting president. His VIP ticket came as a result of his
association with the Buffalo County Democratic Party.
Clinton's appearance created a stir
outside the center as well, with cars filling nearby parking lots,
protesters walking along Highway 30 and people lining up at the
center's southeast corner for a chance to see Clinton and his
entourage walk to the motorcade.
Linda Vrbsky, an employee at Bob's
Kwik Shop Foods across from the campus, said the speech meant big
business for her store.
"It was 5 o'clock in the morning"
when people started coming in looking for hot drinks and food, she
said.
The store remained busy throughout
the morning. Some protesters came into the store as customers and
were noticed by other shoppers, but Vrbsky said they didn't cause
problems or bother anyone.
The crowd outside the Health and
Sports Center included some people who never got inside to see the
president or hear him speak.
Ord High School students Abby Max,
Krystle Grothe, Naomi Miller and Jackie John had come to Kearney in
hopes of seeing Clinton. They arrived at 7 a.m. and didn't leave the
campus until the motorcade departed around 11:15 a.m.
"We love Bill Clinton," Grothe said,
"we wanted to make his visit here really special." Max said they
even thought about wearing American flag bikinis to UNK.
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