■. i
April 22, 2004
NEWS
IRIEFS
by James Richards
Staff Reporter
>US CRIME
Campus Police received a call
a Mills Hall resident saying a
1 of unidentified people en-
her room without her knowl-
/Vpril 20. Campus Police are
abating the incident as a non-
i entry burglary.
]ampus Police investigated an
16 vandalism of a Housing
behind Founders Hall. The
Mazda’s passenger window
_ leen smashed with a cinder
|k.
|l Campus Police reported a
k and forgery case on April 15
■\ iriE two unidentified residen-
lljtudents. The case remains un-
[nnvestigation.
^ILLE
■ I'he two finalists interview-
Asheville police chief met
dl police officers Monday after-
« [ in a private session at the
ville Civic Center.
,111 City Manager Jim Westbrook
decide between Rocky Mount
We Chief William Hogan and
' iijel, Md., Police Chief David
‘ [core to replace retired ChiefWill
farino.
ILEIGH
. 1 Even though he’s out of the
;esidential race, John Edwards
; on North Carolina’s first-ever
■ Jwide Democratic caucus.
CiHofficial results from 100
lunties gave Edwards more than
ffeixent of the total vote among
(e|candidates, according to the
BOciated Press.
;;Massachusetts Senator John
jm'was second with 27 percent.
April 17 vote will determine
h candidates get delegates for
emocratic National Conven-
^^CIGALPA, HONDURAS
M Honduras announced April
would withdraw its 370 sol-
fe from coalition forces in Iraq,
iduras cited spiraling violence
iressure created by Spain’s de-
m to remove its forces as rea-
for leaving.
uin commands troops in Iraq
other Spanish-speaking na-
is in the coalition: Honduras,
i^lvador, Nicaragua and the Do-
p|can Republic, according to the
^iciated Press.
Stationed in central Iraq, Hon-
®3n soldiers performed peace-
®ing duties including clearing
opes and providing medical care.
After days of negotiation, the
pS'-led coalition in Iraq agreed
rtl 19 to end the military stand-
Falluja, if civic leaders can
^ade insurgents to turn in their
y Weapons. Sporadic violence
Hues despite the fragile truce
lluja, west of the Iraqi capital
dad.
* President Bush announced
pi 19 he would nominate John
Negroponte, now the U.S. am-
jador to the United Nations as
jassador to Iraq when sover-
is turned over to Iraqis June
,'.1 he U.S. Senate must confirm
'^/lomination.
An electronic processing
service s computer
malfunctions caused
thousands of overcharged
Wal-Mart customers
nationwide who paid with
Visa or Master Card.
However, the Wal-Mart on
Tunnel Road in Asheville
(right) is yet to receive any
reports from customers
affected by the malfunction.
Malfunction overcharges Wal-Mart customers
A computer problems result in 800,00 overcharged transactions
BY Terri Fisher
Staff Reporter
The electronic processing service, First
Data Corp., encountered a computer mal
function that overcharged more then
800,000 transactions at Wal-Mart stores na
tion wide between March 31 and April 2.
Transactions were initially double or triple
charged when customers used their debit or
credit cards.
“Anyone who conducted a transaction
with a Visa or MasterCard on March
31- should check their statements,” said
Staci Busby, spokesperson for First Data.
By April 19, the cause of the malfunc
tion had not yet been identified, but the in
vestigation continued, according to Busby.
“People need to check their bank and
credit card statements regularly,” said Busby.
“We hope that the problem is cleared up so
that nobody is overcharged and nothing
shows up on their statements.”
Wal-Mart employees were forewarned
about the possible overcharging, according
to Denita Gallion, a senior management stu
dent and Wal-Mart employee.
“The credit card issue began around
March 31 and April 1. They sent the cash
iers a notice saying that some customers may
be over charged if they used a Visa or
MasterCard,” said Gallion.
“They said that it wasn’t a Wal-Mart prob
lem, that it was the credit card company.
They also said that it wasn’t only at Wal-
Mart.”
Immediately after the overcharges. First
Data opened a new fiscal week with stock
prices actually rising. Greenwood Village-
based First Data shares rose 24 cents on the
Monday following the malfunction, to close
at $43.29 per share.
As one of the largest electronic commerce
and payment services worldwide, First Data
serves approximately 3.5 million merchant
locations, 1,400 card issuers and millions
of consumers, providing the ability to pur
chase goods using virtually any form of pay
ment.
“Personally I don’t know of any particu
lar customers that were affected,” said
Gallion.
Representatives from the Wal-Mart on
Tunnel Road were not able to say whether
any of their customers were affected. Man
agers said they have no record of complaints.
Why Spain blamed the Basque
BY Lauren Abe
Staff Reporter
After the bombing of commuter
trains in Madrid in March, the
Spanish government regarded the
Basque terrorist group responsible,
according to the Economist.
“When I heard about the bomb
ing of the commuter trains in
Madrid, I was scared it was the
Basque,” said Liz Laxague, a junior
French major. “However, the people
arrested have no connection to
ETA.”
The Basque are a group of Span
ish people who live in the northern
part of Spain and the southern part
of France. In 1959, Basque activists
against the Francisco Franco’s dic
tatorship formed the ETA, which
stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna, ac
cording to the Council on Foreign
Relations.
“When two hundred people died
in the March 11 train bombings, the
Spanish government blamed it on the
Basque,” said John Gant, assistant
professor of Spanish. “Most of the
Spanish knew the Basque were not
responsible for the bombings because
the Basque never kill that many
people at a time.”
The ETA is the military wing of
the Basque independence movement.
It is considered a terrorist group as it
resorts to kidnappings and bombings
targeted at police forces and govern
ment officials in a pursuit for inde
pendence, according to the Council
on Foreign Relations.
“The Spanish people knew that
this is not how the Basque operated,”
said Gant. “The Spanish people re-
Liz Laxague
sented the president’s
actions, so they voted
for the socialist party.”
The Spanish gov
ernment blamed the
ETA for the train
bombings. However,
evidence surfaced indi
cating that an Islamic
terrorist group, such as
al-Queda, may be re
sponsible for the at
tack, according to
CNN.
“The terrorists at
tacked Madrid because
the former president
supported Bush and
sent Spanish troops to
Iraq,” said Gant. “A lot
of the other countries
in Europe did not support Bush.”
The newly elected Socialist
Tim Love
LAURA COWAN
STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
leader, Jose Luis
Rodriquez Zapatero,
criticized former Prime
Minister Jose Maria
Aznar’s support for
Bush and the war in
Iraq and decided to pull
the troops out of Iraq
because coalition forces
are not placed under
U.N. control, according
to CNN.
The historical
Basque community
consists of seven prov
inces, four in Spain and
three in France. The
Basque have their own
language, culture, icons
and heroes. Their goal
is to unite under a com-
See basque on page 10
—™
'■Mi
•: •
UNCA proposes
new parking lot
I
aSSt *
■':
MAX TAINTOR/photo editor
UNCA held a meeting April 20 about plans to clear out the area near
the corner of WT Weaver and Broadway (above) for a new parking lot.
Many students and locals attended the meeting and shared their
concerns about destroying the forested area.
BY Adam McMullin
Staff Reporter
Nearly 200 concerned
students and UNCA neigh
bors met April 20 to discuss
a parking lot the university
proposes to build on school
property near the corner of
WT Weaver and Broadway.
“We’re trying to solve
some of our short term
parking issues that are com
ing to a head,” said Stephen
Baxley, Director of Facilities
Management and planning
at UNCA.
The University must ad
dress the lack of parking,
due in part to construction,
as soon as possible, accord
ing to Baxley.
“We also have the burden
of success,” said Baxley.
“Last year we had the larg
est freshmen class and pro
jections are still on to have a
good size class this year and
we’re trying to get ahead of
some of our parking prob-
See parking on page 10
U.N.
inspectors
investigate
Iran
BY Amanda Edwards
Staff Reporter
U.N. nuclear inspectors entered
Iran April 12 after weeks of delay
attempting to verify whether the
country’s nuclear program serves
a legitimate purpose or if it is in
position to create atomic weapons.
“The United Nations should be
in there,” said Joe Telegen, a jun
ior creative writing major. “It is im
perative that the United Nations
know what weapons exist and
where, but Iran should not be held
up to a higher standard than coun
tries that we have to try to get
along with for political reasons. No
one knows exactly what capabili
ties any of those countries have.
Any country, including the United
States, with nuclear capacities and
an aggressive government is auto
matically a threat to the world.”
A month ago, Iran barred in
spectors after the United Nations’
regulatory agency for nuclear is
sues, International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), released a report
stating that Iran had not lived up
to its reporting requirements re
garding the use of its nuclear pro
gram.
Iran’s failure to report the ma
terial facilities and activities in
question concerns U.N. inspectors
most, according to the report.
Iran’s IAEA Safeguard Agree
ment requires the country to pro
vide the agency with information
“concerning nuclear material sub
ject to safeguards under the agree
ment and the features of facilities
relevant to safeguarding such ma
terial.”
Iran claims that they use their
nuclear program solely for the pro
duction of energy, but uncertain
ties about Iran’s program increased
last year when the IAEA reported
that inspectors found radioactive
uranium particles that are enriched
to a weapons-grade level, higher
than what Iran requires to fuel a
nuclear reactor. Enriched uranium
can be used for either atomic en
ergy or to make bombs.
“There is no room for error with
atomic weapons,” said John
Mitchell, a senior history major. “If
the world waits for these weapons
to fall into the wrong hands, the
consequences could be greater
than we can conceive.”
The U.N. team will be focus
ing the inspections on the Natanz
Uranium Enrichment Plant and
the Isfahan Nuclear Technology
Center. A series of meetings with
Iranian officials will also take place.
Earlier this year, Mohammed El
Baradei, director of the IAEA, vis
ited the Natanz facility and discov
ered that the plant had been
equipped with 160 new gas cen
trifuges, accor4ing to an IAEA re
port. Centrifuges are rotating de
vices that can selectively separate
See IRAN on page 10