Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 1

-ry- inside FootbaliDr eview Offseason changes to the coaching staff and the structure of the team have the Huskers hoping for a rebound in 2003. A tough schedule awaits. Special section. 102 70 'Details, 6B J. TMPm XT SUNDAY, AUGUST 24, 2003 LINCOLN, NEBRASKA Journafv Star www.journalstar.com 1 1 Sunday Special Gothenburg's 15-year mystery lister afl Dim to) -vs.

i mimM iis Bremer says terrorists won't slow Iraq's reconstruction. BY STEVEN R. HURST The Associated Press BAG1 IDAD, Iraq The death toll among coalition forces rose Saturday when three British soldiers were killed in a guerrilla attack in southern Iraq. Also, U.S. troops killed two Iraqi Turkomen who opened fire when soldiers arrived to quell a bloody ethnic clash in the north.

Despite continuing violence, sabotage and terror attacks including this week's suicide bombing of U.N. headquarters the American administrator for Iraq said the U.S.-led coalition would not slow efforts to rebuild the country, shattered by war and 3 years of U.N. sanctions. "We have never hidden the fact that we have security problems in Iraq," Paul Bremer said in a news Conference. Also in Baghdad, U.N.

workers who had not left Iraq after Tuesday's attack resumed work in a cluster of tents set up at the battered Canal Hotel compound, former home of U.N. offices. Investigators and soldiers searched piles of debris for human remains and clues in the truck bombing that killed at least 23 people, including top U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, whose memorial was held Saturday in his native Brazil. One of the envoy's dying wishes was for the United Nations to remain in Iraq and continue work to establish democracy, U.N.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan told mourners. "Let us respect that," Annan said. Sergio, who has given his life in that cause, find a fitting memorial in a free and sovereign Iraq." Back at work, U.N. staff embraced each other. See IRAQ, Page 2A Connie Stanley (left) holds a picture of her daughter, Christi Jo Nichols, who disappeared in 1987.

Christi Jo (top) is pictured with 3-year-old daughter Lindsey in this undated family photo. Lindsey is now 19 and has a daughter. Mark Nichols (above), Christi Jo's husband, is the only suspect in her disappearance. LEAH THORSENLincoln Journal Star Foul play is still suspected, but never was proved, in the state's oldest missing-persons case. The disappearance of Christi Jo Christi Jo Nichols was last seen Dec.

10, 1987, in Gothenburg. If you have any information about her disappearance, contact Sgt. Robert Frank of the Nebraska State Patrol at (402) 471-8637. Bom: Sept. 6, 1965 Education: Graduated Overton High School, 1983.

Married: Mark Nichols, 1984 Children: Daughter, Lindsey, born December, 1984. Son, Preston, born April 1986. UNLgrad among those killed in blast give Christi Io a proper burial. "1 want people to remember this," Stanley said. "I want people to think about it." Rumors of Christi Jo Nichols' whereabouts still circulate in this Dawson County town of a little more than 3,000 people.

Maybe she lies beneath tons of concrete and sand in an overpass that runs through town. Maybe she's in one of the dozens of empty wells that dot the central Nebraska countryside. Maybe lye reported stolen from a nearby fanners co-op around the time she disappeared was used to destroy her remains. This much is known: Christi Jo was last seen alive on Dec. 10, 1987, with her husband, Mark, who reported her missing the next day.

Mark Nichols has said Christi Jo left during the night. See CHRISTI JO, Page 6A BY LEAH THORSEN Lincoln Journal Star GOTHENBURG If she's alive, Christi Jo Nichols will be 38 on Sept. 6. She's a grandma, but it's likely she does not know that. Her family hasn't seen her in more than 15 years.

The Nebraska State Patrol is investigating her 1987 disappearance as a homicide. In the files of the patrol's "cold case" division, she is the only missing adult presumed dead. No grand jury has been convened, and no one has been arrested. Nichols' blood was found in the trunk of her husband's car and on the floor of their bedroom. Despite exhaustive searches and national attention, her disappearance remains unsolved, tormenting her family and frustrating investigators.

Her mother, Connie Stanley, wants her daughter found. If Nichols is indeed dead and most everyone believes she is her mother would like to BY TOBY MANTHEY Lincoln Journal Star Reza Hosseini told his sister he'd be safe in Baghdad. His 6-year-old daughter prayed for him every day. He felt safe, in God's hands. Life was hard in Iraq, but his work made people happy.

Don't worry, he told Effie Hosseini. Worrying turned to mourning this week when Reza Hosseini, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln graduate, was among at least 23 people killed in a truck bombing Tuesday at the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. He was 42. A U.N. humanitarian officer, Hosseini was working in Baghdad with Sergio Vieira de Mello, chief of the U.N.

effort in Iraq, family members said. Vieira de Mello of Brazil also died in the bombing. See LINCOLN ITE, Page 2A luoinereay A new series on unsolved cases The 1987 disappearance of Christi Jo Nichols from Gothenburg is one of the socalled cold cases on Nebraska law enforcement books. On Sept. 2, the Journal Star will begin a series of updates on such cases.

The stories will run the first Tuesday of each month and will highlight unsolved crimes. Most will come from the Nebraska State Patrol's cold case division. Watch for the first of the cold case files a week from Tuesday in the Lincoln Journal Star. Four years later, there's still no word help find my daugli Mr .....1.0 Jdtiri LlMT. CCTTHENRliRO (API Tmt nam a4 wan ago WwdaY.

draft Ja N- ntjgtod Mr itvmni ha Mr iu TftrFW taikMWwr turn torn, aa Jionu vl fcar Hi'tmti tub PMrat fair." far amwnt. (MfaArmlinMtla High spirits, solid crowds launch Nebraska State Fair If you go fairgoers took advantage of cool morning temperatures to check out their favorite attractions. Over at the 4-H Youth Complex, purple, blue and red ribbons mounted on winning entries of roses, marigolds and black-eyed Susans, provided a profusion of color for the occasion. "We are all about re-energizing the Nebraska State Fair," said Pat Lloyd, in his second year as manager. "Last year was our initial start.

This year represents, with the energy the new board has put into this year's production, our first effort of reaching the goal of taking the Ne BY ART HOVEY Lincoln Journal Star If some sort of gremlin has the Nebraska State Fair in its grip, it is having a great deal of trouble keeping a 135-year-old tradition down. Past problems with revenue and attendance seemed far away Saturday as Gov. Mike Johanns and 8-year-old Manny Rivera used garden shears to cut a red ribbon at the fair's 17th Street entrance. As the fair and "Tradition with a Twist" began its 10-day run, buses bearing bands from Blair and Gibbon rolled through the gates and a steadily thickening stream of braska State Fair to the level that it deserves. "That kind of energy excites other people." Manny Rivera was called upon to help with opening ceremonies after he made it known to a Journal Star reporter in July that he was saving his money from sales at a summer vegetable stand for use at State Fair Park.

Johanns presented Manny with "a mega pass ride ticket" Saturday and took a lot of pressure off a boy's budget. "You can ride the rides until your heart is delighted," Johanns said. See FAIR, Page 2A What Nebraska State Fair When: Through Sept 1 Admission: Adults, ages 6-12, under 6, free Parking: $3 Resutts, complete schedule and mora Information: www.statefair.org "TFD KiftK Juurnai Star Tina Jensen of Denton figures out a way to avoid the sun white attending the Nebraska State Fair Saturday. 926 Prairie Lane: Beautifying an area that many homeowners overlook: The right cf waylG i i. i 1 1.

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