Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / March 1, 2000, edition 1 / Page 5
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COVER STORIES C March 1,2000 • the Seahawk w Women’s issues addressed New campus organization formed by ADONICALQNG Staff Writer A new group on campus will focus its efforts on drawing attention to the issues that challenge and celebrate the contemporary woman. Women Act In Liberation (WAIL) is an interest group designed to bring men and women together to discuss issues that are important in the lives of today’s women. Eating disorders, equality of men and women, political issues, and women’s health are just a few of the topics the group would like to focus on. After transferring to UNCW this semester, the group’s organizer, sopho more Michele Lefler, recognized a need for a women’s interest group on campus. “Last semester at UNC-Asheville I was involved with a similar group. When I came here I realized that we did not have one, so I decided to begin one here,” said Lefler. “This is a group where men and women are free to discuss any and all issues relating to women...it’s not a male-bashing group.” WAIL currently has five members, but Lefler hopes that membership will grow as more people learn about the organization. Members of the group are planning to advertise on sidewalks, put up fly ers, and broadcast the information over the campus radio station to help inform students and faculty. Senior Lauren Pollack, a WAIL member, said she feels that the organi zation is an excellent addition to UNCW. “I feel like women don’t get enough representation. Women need to join together to make a difference. There is power in numbers,” Pollack said. WAIL plans to participate in events sponsored by the National Organiza tion of Women (NOW). One upcom ing event is “Love Your Body Day . The celebration is intended to help raise awareness of the issues of eating disorders and proper health care. “A group like this would focus on helping women to realize it’s okay to be 5’4” and weigh 1501bs,” Pollack said. WAIL will hold its first official meeting March 21 at 7:30p.m. The lo cation will be announced at a later date and is open to the student body. URRICANE. from oaae 1: the coast and we have a lot more po tential for damage,” he said. Jarrell stressed the importance of making people realize that all tropical storms are dangerous and that even weak storms can cause damage. He also stressed a need for school systems to pre pare for hurricanes as some systems an ticipate bad weather by setting aside “snow days” so that there would not be so much pressure to get students back to classes. “My prediction is that in the next 2000 years over half the population will be unprepared for natural disasters,” he said. Jarrell also addressed the question of whether there could ever be a “catastrophic hurricane event” in the United States. He said he envisions two possible scenarios. One event that has the potential to lead to a catastrophe is if a traffic jam gridlocked, and trapped people in their cars when a hurricane made landfall. “The way to solve this problem is to control the evacuation. Only people who are running from the water should run, you can hide from the wind,” Jarrell said. “The last place you want to be when a storm hits is in your vehicle.” The second scenario could occur if evacua tion routes were unsafe and people chose not to evacuate, thereby placing themselves in the path of the storm Jarrell believes that each of these potential di sasters can be avoided if areas “overprepare” for storms, start evacuations early, and improve evacuation routes. This “overpreparation” would allow people to secure their property and them selves. He said that while the country has virtu ally eliminated fatalities during storms, property “The way to solve this problem is to con- tndt]i£evacuati(Hi. Only peq[rite who are nm- ning firom tte water shouM nui, y(m can hide from the wind,” Jarrell said. “Thelastplace you want to be when a storm hits is in your vehidte.” damage remains high because warnings are not timely enough. “The tenens we’re using to save lives is ‘drop what you’re doing and run’ ...we’re telling people to abandon their property to save their Uves,” he said. “What we neoi to do is give people more warning, earlier warning so that they can [pro tect] both.” Correcting Problems at the State and Local Levels Panelists for the conference’s final two lectures focused their discussion on improving evacuation, assistance, and recovery procedures fortheCapeFearRegion. TomHengleand David Kelly of the state department of crime and public safety and Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary David McCoy focused their discussion on general preparedness issues and statewide ef forts to help in evacuation and disaster relief McCoy emphasized the fact that there is a need to coordinate evacuation responses between North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia because of the potential congestion on 1-95 and I^. He said that during Hurricane Floyd, the DOT had prepared to deal with a wind event by build ing barricades and fueling chainsaws. However, neither the department nor drivers were prepared for the floodwaters that closed many roads. THIS YEAR A LOT OF COLLEGE SENIORS WILL BE GRADUATING INTO DEBT. Under the Army’s lx)an Repayment program, you could get out from under with a three-year enlistment. Itach year you serve on active duty reduces your indebtedness by one- third or $1,5(K), which ever amount is greater, up to a $65,000 limit. The offer applies to Perkins Ix)ans, Stafford b>ans, and certain other federally insured loans, which are not in default. And debt relief is just one of the many benefits you’ll earn from the Army. Ask your Army Recruiter. ARMY. BE ALL YOU CAN be: www.goarmy.com 791-1883 McCoy emphasized that it is extremely dangerous for anyone to attempt to cross a road covered by water. “You never know what’s under that water.. .1 can’t tell you how disheart ening it is to hear that someone drowns after you tell them ‘don’t go out on that road, it’s not safe, stay at home’,” McCoy said. Local panelists included Director of New Hanover County Emergency Management Dan Summers, New Hanover County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bill Caster, Carolina Power and Light General Man ager Lee Mazzocchi and Doug Bowers, division engineer with the DOT. Caster said that the Board of Commission ers, who announces the official evacuation call, has “complete faith’ in Summers’ recommenda tions. Summers addressed many issues pertaining to the evacuation during Hurricane Floyd, focus ing in on the importance of waiting to make the call until daybreak. “We have to evacuate the public during day light hours. Had we elected to make that evacu ation call the night before, compliance would not have been as good [because] it takes longer to mobilize the public at night, and we had a greater risk of change in the forecast scenario,” Sum mers said. “As inconvenient as 1-40 and College Road were, we still did the right thing with the right timing.” One of the major topics of debate between the state and local representatives was the idea of temporarily rerouting 1-40 so that all lanes of traf fic would flow west. McCoy said that the above scenario was nearly enacted during the Hurri cane Hoyd evacuation. He said the DOT is now looking into the prospect of reversing traffic on both I^ and Highway 74-76 so that 74-76 could accommodate eastbound traffic. Summers said the Emergency Management Office is opposed to re-routing I^ because it would be very difficult to get emergency vehicles to the site of an accident if there was single-flow traffic. “That is a real borderline situation in terms of emergency response. We would rather stagger evacuation time.. .we would rather take the criti cism of evacuating someone early rather than counter-flowing 1-40,” he said. Summers said the proposal would put a strain on neighboring counties and hinder the process of bringing in disaster resources. He suggested that the DOT looked into expanding the shoul der of the westbound lane of 1-40 to accommo date three lanes of southbound road. W \i,K 10 S( IKK) COLLEGE GREEN APTS. & SecM Pooi&Teoiiis Eicdk&tStiuljEsTiroom»it GOMdilnAi rBiMO-wtJW
University of North Carolina Wilmington Student Newspaper
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March 1, 2000, edition 1
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