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UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ASHEVILLE
Blue Banner
Men’s Basketball
Bulldogs go undefeated so far
this season,
see page 4.
Travelogue
Grab a croissant and
read about a student's
trip to France.
see page 11.
compited by SaixJy LaCorte aixl Gina Douthat
THUR. 51 17 FRI. 52 52 SAT. 55 50 SUN. 57 55
Thursday, November 15, 2007
WWW.
■.uiica.edu/banner
\bl. 17, Is.sue
THE
NEWS
IN BWEF
Wildfires
inspire new
e-mail scam
A new e-mail scam soliciting
donations to California wildfire
victims emerged in the wake of the
tragedy, the Internal Revenue
Service warned Friday. The
( scheme, known as “phishing,”
attempts to lure recipients to a fake
IRS Web site, where users enter
their personal and financial infor
mation.
The e-mail could also contain
malware, or malicious software,
which steals passwords and other
’private information from the vic
tims computer, the IRS said.
Landmark
court case
remembered
I Today UNC Asheville hosts
j“Brown v. Board of Education:
Fifty Years Later,” a one-man per
formance by award-winning actor
Mike Wiley.
In the performance, Wiley trans
forms himself into multiple char
acters, recounting the court case,
f the judge’s decision and the conse-
tquences of the ruling. The per
formance counts as a Humanities
I Cultural Event credit and takes
place from 12:20 to 1:20 p.m. in
Lipinsky Auditorium.
Suspects
tracked to
ECU campus
Authorities charged Charles
Frederick Collins and Justin
Benjamin Graham with first-
degree murder Sunday for the
murder of a Hendersonville
woman and her son.
Authorities found the suspects
on the East Carolina University
campus, where they fled in their
car to a nearby cemetery where
they abandoned the car.
compiled by Aaron Dahlstrom
Asheville climate ignites concern
Af T - - I I
’ ' Jessica Hi.Y'nn: - Stam-PHonKiKAPHi'R
Asheville city firefighters work to clean up the rubble after Ashley Furniture Store burned to the ground last Monday. No one was hurl in the lire on Patton Avenue, but
nearly all of the city’s fire trucks reported to the scene to try to squelch the blaze that started around 9:30 p.m. and continued to burn well into the night. Ollieials said
the fire only reminded them of the country’s ongoing drought problems.
Water shortage brings attention to dangers of statewide drought
By Jon Waiczak
Staff Writer
Severe wildfires, similar to the ones recently seen in
California, might one day burn in the million acres of pub
lic forests and lands surrounding UNC Asheville, according
to Gary K. Cornett, Asheville Fire Department assistant
chief of operations
“I don’t know if we would ever be as severe as
California, but the potential is here for devastating fires,”
Cornett said.
Dozens of wildfires scorched California over the past few
weeks, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of
people. Southern California is more prone to massive wild
fires than Western North Carolina because of a higher con
centration of dry, combustible brush and also because of
the Santa Ana winds, which helped the fires rapidly
expand, Cornett said.
“It’s just two different topographies and climates,” he
said. “But under the right circumstances, we can have fires
of that nature.”
Asheville, like much of the Southeast, suffered from the
effects of a blistering drought in recent months, raising the
likelihood of wildfires.
“We are included in what’s called an extraordinary
drought,” Cornett said. “That’s the most .severe drought
classification there is.”
To prevent wildfires. Governor Mike Easley enacted a
statewide ban on open fires, except camp fires or cooking
fires within 100 feet of an occupied structure, Cornett said.
The City of Asheville also enacted a burning ban.
The Asheville Fire Department recently fined Nick
Heling, senior literature student, for starting a small fire in
his backyard.
“It was a small wood fire in an enclosed pit intended for
grilling,” Heling said.
He was previously unaware of both the state and city
bans on open burning, according to Heling.
“My backyard seemed appropriately damp at the time,
but closer inspection and consideration proved me wrong,”
he said. “My fire was indeed in a pit, but knowing what I
now know, 1 no longer experience the sense of comfort that
1 once did. I have been humbled by the dangerous power of
fire without having to get (physically) burned.”
The official brush fire season in Western North Carolina
began Oct. 15, and ends May 15.
“It progressively gets worse as the winter goes,” Cornett
said, “When we get complete leaf-fail, it will get worse.
The absolute worse time for brush fires in Western North
Carolina is around March, when it starts warming up and
we get a lot of winds and low humidity.”
The most common cau.se of brush fires in the Asheville
area is carelessly discarded cigarettes, Cornett said.
To conserve water, the City of Asheville requested that
citizens voluntarily reduce their daily consumption and be
mindful of wasteful activities, such as washing cars or
watering lawns.
“The last I heard, those restrictions, voluntary ci)nscrva-
tion, have saved about a million gallons a day,” Cornett
said.
UNC Asheville also implemented voluntary measures,
asking both students and faculty to do their part to conserve
water, according to Vollie Barnwell, director of Housing
Operations. A recent e-mail to students included sugges
tions on how to save water.
“A memo went out from Residential Education last
week,” Barnwell said. “All resident students received it in
addition to the flyers that were put up in the residence
halls.”
Suggestions include reducing shower time by two min
utes, not flushing toilets multiple times and turning off all
si'i; Water pa(;k 3 I
Antibiotic-resistant infection spreads from hospitals to students
By Caroline Fry
Staff Writer
A bacterial infection resistant to
antibiotics has made its way to
Western North Carolina, according
to the Buncombe County Health
Center.
“MRSA usually infects people
who are in hospitals or long-term
oare settings, but over the past 10
years it has become more of a
problem outside of health care set
tings,” said Dr. Steve Swearingen,
medical director at Buncombe
County Health Center. “This type
of MRSA is becoming more wide
spread throughout the nation, and
IS a real issue affecting communi
ties everywhere.”
MRSA stands for Methicillin-
resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
Swearingen said a MRSA infec-
'ton is dangerous because
resistant to certain antibiotics.
Staphylococcus aureus,
stnph, is a common bacteria, . .
common that 25 to 30 percent of
ns have it living on our skin at any
time,” Swearingen said.
MRSA is a less-common variety
of staph that isn’t affected by com
mon antibiotics, such as
cillin.”
According to Swearingen
•t
CDC does not require MRSA
cases to be reported by physi
cians to local health depart
ments, so no data has been col
lected about this infection.
However, three cases were
recently
County
reported in Buncombe
schools, and the
Buncombe County Health
Department sent out letters con
taining information about
MRSA to parents of school chil-
1* . _ t. ^
dren.
it is
or
so
according to Deborah
Gentry of the Buncombe County
Health Department.
Students are at a higher risk for
contracting MRSA, according to
Linda Pyeritz, a specialist in col
lege health nursing at UNC
Asheville’s Student Health
Services.
“MRSA infections are becoming
more common in community set
tings, including schools,” Pyeritz
said. “Staph and MRSA infections
are spread by direct contact, as
seen in athletic teams and residen
tial facilities.”
The most common symptom ot
MRSA is a small red bump that
looks like a pimple or spider bite,
•ed, swollen and painful to
the touch, according to
Swearingen. He said MRSA may
MRSA infections are becoming more
common in community settings,
including schools. Staph and MRSA
infections are spread by direct
contact.
Linda Pyeritz
UN(] Asheville Smdent I Icalth Services
peni- but is red
be hard to recognize because it can
appear like a normal skin infec
tion, but it can be dangerous if
gone undiagnosed.
“Some infections can become
more serious and cause pneumo
nia, or other hard to treat infec
tions,” Swearingen said.
“Anyone with those symptoms
should see a health care provider
immediately.”
MRSA is spread by direct physi
cal contact with the bacteria, or
through contaminated items such
as shared towels, razors or gym
equipment. Infections occur only
when the bacteria gets into a break
in the skin, and cannot be spread
through the air. Students who live
in college dormitories are at a
higher risk for getting MRSA
because it is easily spread in places
where people have close contact to
each other, according to Pyeritz.
“Factors associated with the
spread of MRSA include close
skin-to-skin contact, open cuts or
abrasions on the skin, contaminat
ed items and surfaces, crowded
living conditions and poor
hygiene,” Pyeritz said.
Athletes are especially at risk
for contracting MRSA and there
fore should be especially on the
lookout for symptoms of the
infection, according to
Swearingen.
“In Buncombe County and
throughout the country, most
outbreaks of MRSA in schools
have involved athletes,”
Swearingen said, “Athletes are
more likely to have broken skin,
which gives the bacteria an easy
way into the body. They arc also
likely to share personal items
like towels in locker room situa
tions or come in direct contact
with other athletes who may
have open or draining wounds
on the playing field.”
Aarika Converse, a senior lit
erature student, was diagnosed
with MRSA during the past sum
mer.
“I was diagnosed in June and
had not successfully gotten rid of
the MRSA or the symptoms until
August or September,” Converse
said. “I was on multiple oral
antibiotics for weeks at a time.
According to the health clinic, I
had probably been suffering from
MRSA for about a month, the
symptoms escalating over that
time period.”
Converse believed she got the
bacteria while spending a semester
in Hawaii, after getting her car
pierced and spending time in a vil
lage contaminated with polluted
water. She had never heard of
MRSA until she was diagnosed.
“MRSA is deadly and easily
contracted,” Converse said. “It is
also expensive to treat and has the
potential to kill. Individuals on
campus and in the community at
large should watch open cuts and
sores for any development of
infection and keep their bodies
clean.”
Practicing good hygiene is a
vital way to stop the spread of
MRSA, according to Swearingen.
He recommended not sharing
items such as towels, sheets and
clothing that might be contaminat
ed with the bacteria. He also rec
ommended covering up any open
wounds with a clean and sterile
bandage.
“The most important thing you
can do to reduce the spread of
MRSA and a lot of other infections
like the flu and the common cold is
to wash your hands thoroughly and
often,” Swearingen said.
If you have questions or con
cerns about MRSA and its
symptoms, contact Student
Health Services at 251-6520.
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