12A Saturday, August 14, 1999 Ashley Stephenson EDITOR Jacob McConnico CITY/STATE Si NATIONAL EDITOR Board Editorials On the Record State law says people need not provide a reason for requesting public records, but chances are agencies will ask foj; one. JULY 8 - The results of a recent test of North Carolina’s public-records access law revealed that residents could expect to be denied one-third of the time when requesting a city or county public record. In addition, the study showed that law enforcement agencies had a higher refusal rate and often violated state law by asking the requester to identify themselves. State law explicitly states: “No person requesting to inspect and examine public records, or to obtain copies thereof, shall be required to disclose the purpose or motive for the request.” The investigation was sponsored by the N.C. Press Association and the N.C. Associated Press News Council and involved reporters from across the state who present ed themselves as average residents seeking access to records that had been deemed pub lic by the state. Most county and city agencies complied Vwth the requests and reports stated that some were very pleasant to deal with. However, reporters ran into the most trou ble when requesting records from law enforcement officials. Some were pressured into revealing their identity, which is against state law. Others were told that the records were confidential. One reporter was threatened with being put in jail and two others had license-tag checks run on their cars. This disregard for state law raises real questions when considering the fitness of the men and women that are expected to protect residents’ rights. It is alarming that police officers, sheriff’s deputies and, in some cases, sheriffs were not aware of the law or did not care about the law. Ashley Stephenson Editorial Notebook Tradition Lost The University's recent decision to integrate Old East and Old West residence halls disrespects a healthy tradition at UNC. MAY 20 - Two hundred and seven years of tradition, community and brotherhood have fallen by the wayside all in the name of equality. The decision to make Old East and Old West residence halls coed starting in fall of 2000, while noble in its goal, will do the University more hurt than help. If women had gotten the short end of the stick on housing, the change would make more sense. But this is not the case. Female students are not all stuck in cramped rooms far from campus. Instead, women enjoy sev eral residence halls with good locations and spacious rooms with sinks. Women are not denied the opportunity to live in some of the best residence halls this University has to offer. The issue is not about the oppression of women; it is about honoring the brotherhood of men. The issue is about showing respect for a longstanding tradition, and there is some thing to be said for that. Residents of Old East and Old West have likened themselves to a fraternity. This sense of brotherhood will clearly be diluted if half of each residence hall is filled with women. This sort of bond ing is what makes these halls so special, per haps another reason why Old East and Old West house some of the most coveted rooms on campus. Women do not want to live in Old East and Old West for the honor and prestige. They want the hardwood floors and unbeat able proximity to Franklin Street and cam ahr Satltj ®ar HaT Professional and Business Staff Business and Advertising: Kevin Schwartz, Mcßryant and Kitra Sheppard, representatives ager director/general manager, Chrissy Beck, director Display Advertising: Katelyn Bottoms and classified Production: Penny Persons. olmarketing; Lisa Reichle, business manager Andrea VanHoever, account executives Customer Service: Jennifer Mackey, Natalie Advertising Production: Beth O'Brien, man Editorial Staff Arts/Features: Carll Jacobs, Copy: Tiffany Foster, Jennifer Helias, Kline, Brooke Roseman, Dan Malanie Kolasa, Justin Marlowe, Mackey, Bart Mojdynski and Danielle Photography: -leather Todd. Simmons and Jason Sugar. Matt Mansfield and Jonah Mitri Wormly. 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Boa 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 3257 Rachel Carter SPORTS EDITOR Verna Kale ARTS/FEATURES EDITOR It is the equivalent of a speeder arguing to a state trooper that he or she was not aware of the speed limit or did not care, therefore the law does not apply to them. The result is that government gets stronger and residents are made weaker. N.C.’s public-access statute was created to provide residents with information about a number of governmental activities. The statute ensures that individuals mov ing to new areas can see crime reports from the neighborhood they are moving to. In addition, the statute makes information available about property taxes, county and city fees and the salaries of officials that were elected by the people. It is time for law-enforcement and other public servants to realize that just because they tote a badge, carry a gun or hold a high ranking position they are not above the law. In our system of government residents are forced to comply with the law whether they agree with it or not. The process provides legal recourse but requires initial compli ance. Law enforcement and public officials should be forced to adhere to the same set of rules. After being denied access to a pistol-per mit application a reporter told Orange County Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass what the public-records access statute stated. Pendergrass replied to the reporter, “Don’t you tell me what the law is. I know what it is. I’m the sheriff.” It is this pervasive attitude that should alarm and outrage residents. Clearly, the message that a statement like this imparts is that law-enforcement view their role as that of law maker and not law enforcer. pus. Sure most anybody would jump at the chance to live there, but in the trade-off a timeless sense of nostalgia and an element of UNC’s history is destroyed. But regardless of sentiment against the change, Old East and Old West will open their doors to women in 2000. In the mean time the University needs to tie up the loose ends surrounding the move. Issues like what floors women will live on and what will happen to current male resi dents preferring a single-sex hall need to be resolved soon. Important decisions by University administrators at this stage of the game could mean victory for Old East and Old West residents and for women itching to live there. There is a way to appease the women who think they are missing out on tradition while maintaining the community that exists in the halls. If housing officials required all women to live in one of the halls, as opposed to mak ing each hall half-full of women, everyone would win. Men would continue to enjoy the sense of community and tradition that exists in the halls, even if it meant only having one hall. Women would be allowed to enjoy the hard wood floors and ideal location while living in a place where history runs deep. But for 207 years UNC men have shared in the tradition of living in the first residence halls at the oldest state university in the coun try. It is their tradition. Letting women live there will not make it theirs too. Editorial (Thi' lath} aar Mwl Established 1893 • 106 Years of Editorial Freedom www.unc.edu/dth Stacey Hartley COPY DESK EDTrOR Lura Forcum COPY DESK EDITOR Chapel Hill, We Have a Problem Get off the streets. That’s right, NASA, we’re talking to you. It’s millennium and everyone is talk ing about the future. When people talk about the future they talk about space. And that is the problem. People, do you every really think we are going to live in space? Lies. This is what NASA has spoon-fed you since day one. Political what? - propaganda. Even Hollywood has jumped into the mix. Countless movies focus on either going to space or going there to stop something from space that will kill us all. Don’t you see? Armageddon, Independence Day, Deep Impact - what do they all have in common? They are all about something hurdling down from space to destroy our planet. And NASA continues to tempt the Earth’s fate. They keep sending people to the moon time and time again. Astronauts are always building useless contraptions with weird names. We personally consider it sacrilege to use Apollo Creed’s name on the side of a space ship. Honor my ass. Children are used as a pawn in this societal ploy to embrace space and NASA. All kids are taught to grow up to want to be astronauts. The only kids who escape the ruse are the ones who wear glasses - everyone knows you need to have good vision to go into space. The ploy is carried even further when NASA created that ridiculous Space Camp. The camp itself is bad enough, but then there was the movie. Kids get shot into space unexpectedly, their leader Kate Capshaw gets knocked out by Readers' Forum N.C. Students Cannot Be ‘Let Down’ By State Efforts for Bond TO THE EDITOR: During the final weeks of the 1999 General Assembly, the staggering capital needs of the University of North Carolina dominated much of the discussion. Legislators in both houses worked diligently to respond to the sobering report that emerged from a comprehensive study deliv ered to the General Assembly in mid- April as called for in a 1997 special provision-of the condition and ade quacy of the capital facilities on the 16 UNC campuses. Prepared by consultant Eva Klein, the report documented an enormous backlog of deferred maintenance, the pervasive need to replace or retrofit outdated science facilities, and the need for new and renovated buildings to manage unprecedented enrollment growth over the next decade. As called for by the legislature, the report also included a detailed capital plan to address identified shortcom ings. The ten-year tally of document ed needs was $6.9 billion, to be financed through a combination of increased state funding, new University-based funding, and increased private giving. The’ House and Senate were unable to agree on a financing approach in this session, but they did reach consensus on two fundamental issues. First, they came to agreement on the reality of the needs and the imper ative to protect the state’s capital investment in the University. Both houses displayed a genuine Cara Brickman PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Thomas Ausman ~ DESIGN EDITOR ■ ASHLEY STEPHENSON & CARA BRICKMAN GUEST COLUMNISTS oxygen tanks, and the teen crew brings the ship down safely all by themselves. Hooray for kids! Hooray for NASA! Nonsense, we tell you. If it was up to us, Kate Capshaw would never get another movie role after Space Camp ... ever. Listen up, starkids. There are three good things about space. One, those satellites floating around bring kids like us sweet, sweet cable. Second is space ice cream, perhaps the great est invention since Flowbee. Three is David Bowie.. .mmm, space oddity. But that is it. UNC students, we put it to you. The inven tion of NASA and all its endeavors are part of a political ploy to make all humans live in space because the Earth will blow up at the turn of the century. You think all these wacky words like millen nium and Y2K don’t mean something? It’s no accident John Glenn went up in space again. NASA wanted to see if old people would sur vive space, since Florida will also be destroyed desire to help the University, even though they differed sharply on the appropriate size and timing of that support. And second, everyone acknowledged that business as usual relying on money left over at the end of the session to fund capital projects could not begin to address problems of this magnitude. These two important outgrowths of the Klein report give the General Assembly and the University a solid basis for moving forward to find a workable solution. In light of these widely held con clusions, it is all the more disappoint ing that the urgent needs of the University were overshadowed by political pressures related to the 2000 elections. Faced with Klein’s findings, State Treasurer Harlan Boyles proposed a financing strategy that would have used non-voted bonds to provide a substantial, immediate infusion of funds to begin implementing the University’s capital plan. The approach was sound, fiscally prudent, and unquestionably within the authority of the General Assembly. But while two-thirds of all public debt in North Carolina is issued without a vote, the political issue of requiring a vote of the people on the proposed UNC bonds - par ticularly following the failed Wake County school bond referendum and the ensuing threats of negative cam paign ads in the May 2000 primaries - polarized this legislature. All efforts at compromise failed. We are grateful to Treasurer Boyles for lending his expertise and counsel and for the extraordinary commit ment demonstrated by the leadership of both the Senate and the House. Allison Burns ONLINE EDITOR Ted Basladynski GRAPHICS EDITOR when the Earth detonates. It all fits together. The earth is going to explode and, conve niently, NASA will come to our rescue. Oh, we can live on Mars or on a spaceship or on all the other planets that are completely inhabitable for humans. Thanks, NASA. Our heroes, indeed. Does it disturb no one that we are actually paying NASA to kill us? Everyone gets all jacked up whenever a shut tle rockets into space. But, that’s just because people naturally get excited about any event preceded by a countdown. You could tell some one that he or she has ten seconds to live and they would die happy chanting, “10, 9, 8...” Let’s all go down with our Mother planet. Make a list of things you would like to accom plish before we all go up in smoke. For instance: 1. Shower 2. Get laid ... twice. 3. Rinse, repeat Well, that’s about it for us, but feel free to establish your own goals. You can reach for the stars, young bucka roos, but don’t go up there and live with them just to escape annihilation. Mothers, don’t let your children grow up to be astronauts. Thank you, good night. Ashley Stephenson and Cara Brickman are senior journalism and mass communication majors from Charlotte, except Cara, who majors in English and is from Indian Trail. Reach them at ashley2l@email.unc.edu. Their reign of terror is over. We also are heartened by the countless University supporters throughout North Carolina-trustees, students and parents, alumni, busi ness and community leaders, editori al writers, and others-who in recent days urged legislators not to adjourn without addressing UNC’s most crit ical needs for this two-year budget period. But in the end, too many legisla tors could not set aside political dif ferences about long-term financing approaches in order to agree on a short-term solution for the current budget cycle. Asa University and as a state, what do we now say to the middle school and high school students of North Carolina? They represent the future of this state. They deserve an opportunity to gain an affordable university educa tion that will prepare them for 215- century jobs. And without a well-educated work force, how can North Carolina hope to sustain the vigorous economic growth it has enjoyed over the past two decades? For family after family, a UNC education has provided the ticket to a better life. Each and every week, I hear these heartfelt accounts in communities all across North Carolina. I hear from students on our campuses-students who are the first in their families to attend a university. They are full of promise and inspired by the opportunity to attend a UNC institution. This state cannot let them down. Molly Broad •UNC-System President Sally (Tar Mrrl © & The Daily Tar Heel wel comes reader comments and criticism. Letters to the editor should be no longer than 400 words and must be typed, double-spaced, dated and signed by no more than two people, Students should include their year, major and phone number. Faculty and staff should include their title, department and phone number. The DTH reserves the right to edit letters for space, clarity and vulgarity. Publication is not guaran teed. Bring letters to the DTH office at Suite 104, Carolina Union, mail them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 or e-mail forum to: dth@unc.edu.