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Thursday, June 21,2001
Jon Harris Editorial Notebook
Futile Actions
Some Chapel Hill residents needlessly insist on opposing University
growth, even with looming opposition from the General Assembly.
Residents of Chapel Hill are finally begin
ning to realize that the University can grow
whenever and wherever it wants to.
With all the concerns over rezoning, bond
projects and other implications of the Master
Plan, Chapel Hill is witnessing a transforma
tion of UNC into the WWFs superstar
wrestler, the Rock.
In addition to laying the smack-down on
the Town, the University has also picked up
one the Rock’s best catch phrases: “know
your role Chapel Hill - know your role and
shut your mouth.”
Like the Rock, the University will have the
right-of-way it deserves, regardless of the
unnecessary limitations placed upon it
Thus far, the Town has relied on the
authority granted to it by the General
Assembly to regulate University construc
tion. Without this authority, the Town is left
with a meager set of tools to stop growth.
Lately, this authority has been threatened
recently by the General Assembly.
The budget “rider” incident should have
finally made it clear to residents that oppo
sition has absolutely no bearing on what the
University wants to do.
Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand pro
posed the rider to the state budget, which
would have allowed the University to over
ride any decision made by the Town Council
to limit UNC’s growth.
Even after the rider’s removal after 11th
hour talks between Chancellorjames Moeser
and Mayor Rosemary Waldorf, Rand told
Orange County Senator Howard Lee that if a
growth conflict between Chapel Hill and the
University ever arose in the future, he would
Jon Harris Editorial Notebook
Old Faithful
Chapel Hill voters need to give the same support they always give to
Jesse Helms in a possible 2002 re-election bid.
Chapel Hill is in for some more bad news.
As if getting slapped around by the
University wasn’t bad enough, Chapel Hill’s
favorite North Carolina Senator may not be
their United States Senator for the next con
gressional term.
Sadly, Jesse Helms, our US Senator for
four consecutive terms, may choose not to
run in the 2002 election.
I know it pains the Town’s residents to
think of someone else besides Jesse Helms
representing them in the US Senate.
Even though it’s a tough sell, Chapel Hill
voters must be convinced to support a re
election bid for ol’ Uncle Jesse.
First, some of the anti-progressive stances
in his past will require some overlooking.
Like the time when he called the Civil
Rights Act of 1964 “the most dangerous
piece of legislation ever introduced into the
Congress.”
Ah yes...so the old Dixiecrat party plat
form may not be progressive enough for
Chapel Hill.
The townspeople will also have to forget
what he did last week.
Helms sponsored a bill to cut federal fund
ing to school districts who bar the Boy Scouts
from meeting at their schools in order “to
combat the organized lesbians and homo
sexuals in the country.”
Okay, so maybe ol’Jesse’s past doesn’t go
too far in winning the votes of the people of
Chapel Hill.
But on top of all those shady incidents
(which are too numerous to list) from the
past, the old Cold War berserker has thawed
out a little bit. Helms has even become an
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make sure that such an event would never
happen again.
The residents now know that any attempt
to interfere with University growth will not
be tolerated by the General Assembly.
It seems like some residents have not got
ten the message and are involved in some
frivolous crusade to halt development on
Mason Farm Road.
It is high time that protesting residents
realize that although this institution resides in
Chapel Hill, the institution still remains the
University of North Carolina. Therefore, the
considerations of the entire state will always
take precedence over a few property owners
in Chapel Hill.
This University is what makes Chapel Hill
what it is. Not only because of the fact that
the University owns some 12 percent of its
land, but from the huge economic benefits
and notoriety Chapel Hill receives from
UNC’s presence.
The University is not stealing land away
from the town. UNC rightfully owns all of
the land involved in the disputes.
Therefore, the Town of Chapel Hill cannot
possibly make the decision to limit any
growth or rezoning plan introduced by
University representatives. From now on, it
does not matter how many Town Council
members line up their votes with residents.
It does not matter how many petitions reach
the Town Council from property owners.
All that matters now is die fact that UNC
can throw around more weight than the
Town of Chapel Hill, especially since UNC
now has powerful friends to call on in the
General Assembly.
advocate for some of the favorite bumper
sticker causes here in Chapel Hill.
For example, he recendy met with U 2
singer Bono to discuss the AIDS crisis in
Africa, international debt relief and landmines.
Then Helms proved his rapport with
Chapel Hill’s young voters by going to a U 2
concert - his first rock concert ever.
Even though he said it was the noisiest
thing he ever heard, nobody that old goes to
a rock concert unless they are in tune with
the younger generation.
Here are a few other reasons why Chapel
Hill should urge Helms to run in 2002:
1. He defends the weak.
For example, he now allows Cuba to trade
with the US on a limited basis because
“every dollar spent on American products is
one less dollar spent on terror and repression
(of the Cuban people).”
2. He single-handedly prevented world
domination of the United Nations.
3. He risked sedition to speak his mind.
Once, when former President Clinton was
going to visit North Carolina, Helms warned,
“he should make sure to bring a bodyguard.”
4. He is helping developing countries to
the road of economic success by giving them
sound advice.
Helms told Mexican President Vicente
Fox to “stay away from the media, the
Marxists, and the US State Department.”
The people of Chapel Hill have probably
not forgotten the time Helms called Chapel
Hill a zoo. So when 2002 rolls around, I
expect a fiery grass roots campaign here in
Chapel Hill in support of our loyal dinosaur.
I mean senator.
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Editorial
FBI Needs to Get Its Act Together
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has
been in the news a lot recently. First
was the bad news that one of the FBl's
very own agents, Robert Hanssen, had spied
for the Soviet Union for over 15 years.
Then came the real bombshell: turns out
that the FBI ignored a court order to turn
over all of its documents in the Timothy
McVeigh case, withholding thousands of
pages of evidence from the defense.
Here was a guy who had blown up a build
ing in broad daylight and then confessed to
his crime in a national bestseller.
Yet unbelievably, the FBI managed to mess
things up. This is your tax dollars at work
ladies and gendemen: an FBI that is so inept
that it can’t even tag all the bases after hitting
a home run. The evidence in the McVeigh
case was overwhelming. McVeigh himself was
the remorseless, self-confessed perpetrator of
the bombing and the FBI still dropped the
ball.
The surprising thing is that people are actu
ally surprised.
Despite its carefully crafted public image --
who could hate the guys on the X-Files team,
the ones who beat the mob with Elliot Ness
and Company, the impeccably dressed G-
Man keeping the world safe from evil -- FBI
screwups are the rule instead of the exception.
Robert Hanssen and Tim McVeigh are
only the most recent examples.
There’s Waco and Ruby Ridge - two
events that Tim McVeigh says led him to
commit the Oklahoma City bombing.
Whether the actions of the FBI were criminal
in these cases is debatable, but most people
seem to agree that the situations could have
been handled better.
The FBI lied about the use of incendiary
devices at Waco and bulldozed the site in an
attempt to make sure no one could contradict
them. The FBI killed an unarmed woman and
an infant at Ruby Ridge, adding to the body
count of a 14-year-old boy and a U.S.
Marshall.
This isn’t paranoid right-wing militia fanta
sy material - you can get this stuff right off
the pages of the New York Times or
Washington Post. The siege at Ruby Ridge
was even made into a network movie, starring
Kirsten Dunst as white separatist Randy
Weaver’s daughter.
Readers' Forum
Alumna’s Attitude
Draws Criticsim from
Current UNC Student
TO THE EDITOR:
Ruby Sinreich's letter to the editor
in regards to voting against the entire
budget really has me up in arms.
You are so callous!
This university has been in des
perate need for these funds and I am
ashamed of all the alumni who have
taken what they needed to better
their lives, and then left the universi
ty behind to be forgotten once they
get theirs.
You don’t even deserve to be an
alumna.
If that’s your attitude toward this
school, to bite the hand that fed you,
then your degree should no longer be
valid.
You are not worthy of it
Every year this campus provides
Karen Williams
DESIGN EDITOR
Jonathan Harris
EDIT PAGE EDITOR
■
BILL HILL
STREET NAME = GRAPPA BOY
The fact is that the FBI comes out smelling
stinky if you take a hard look at either of these
events.
Anyone remember Eric Rudolf? He’s the
guy implicated in bombings throughout the
south, including the Olympic Centennial Park
bombing during the Atlanta Olympics. After
one of the largest manhunts in FBI history,
the mad bomber remains at large, probably
somewhere right here in North Carolina.
How's that for our state's tourist image?
Hundreds of man-hours notwithstanding,
the FBI has not yet been able to catch one of
America’s Most Wanted.
Did I mention the Olympic bombing?
What about Richard Jewell, the hapless
security guard who made the mistake of actu
ally warning the crowd at the Park that he had
found a bomb.
His reward for helping move people away
form the blast and save lives?
A grueling three-month investigation from
the FBI, publicly naming him as the prime
suspect in the bombing. While he was eventu
ally cleared, it wasn’t before the FBI had
tricked Jewell into making incriminating state
ments about himself.
Speaking of prime suspects, let’s talk about
Wen Ho Lee, a man that the FBI once
described as “one of the most dangerous
threats to national security that our nation has
ever seen.”
Lee was kept in jail for nine months in part
due to the testimony of an FBI agent -- an
agent who later recanted his testimony
because he “repeatedly erred” when he origi
nally convinced the judge of Lee’s danger.
These “errors” were so egregious that the
judge in the case eventually apologized to Mr.
Lee for the way that he’d been treated.
The apology from the judge took place the
affordable miracles and changes lives
and destinies. I’ve been almost
embarrassed at the altered conditions
on this campus in the recent past due
to a previous lack of funds from the
General Assembly.
But I was elated when the majori
ty of citizens of the state of North
Carolina voted to support our sys
tems of higher education in this state
by voting yes to last year’s bond ref
erendum.
Your “so be it” would be a vote
against future generations who have
not yet had your now obviously
undeserved privilege to benefit from
all UNC has to offer.
I have news for you.
Your shallow, insensitive, and
ungrateful opinion are not going to
setback any of the admirable steps
taken by the voters of North Carolina
who outnumber you in their benev
olent decision.
They are in their right mind and
Brent Clark
PHOTO EDrTOR
Jonathan Miller
ONLINE EDITOR
day Mr. Lee got out of jail.
He was released as part of a plea bargain
because the FBI couldn’t prove its case.
Louis Freeh’s FBI couldn’t be bothered to
polygraph whitebread Robert Hanssen to see
if he was a spy, and instead throws an Asian
man into solitary for nine months because
they “think” he might be selling secrets to
China.
Here’s the punch line: it turns out that they
got the wrong guy. While the FBI was out on
a veritable hate-crime holiday against Wen
Ho Lee, it was really one of their very own
that was the spy. Go figure.
This type of behavior is as much a part of
the FBl’s institutional history as Carolina Blue
is here in Chapel Hill. Just look at the discred
ited COINTELPRO operations of the ‘6os
and ‘7os - operations where the FBI blatandy
disregarded the Constitution to infiltrate and
destroy suspected “radical” groups.
Jailed American Activist Leonard Peltier is
another example of an FBI gone wrong.
Peltier and two of his friends were accused of
killing two FBI agents on the Pine Ridge
Indian reservation in 1975. Peltier fled to
Canada and fought extradition, while his two
accomplices were tried here in the U.S.
After Peltier’s co-defendants were acquit
ted, the FBI produced a fake affidavit to
secure his return to the U.S. Between the trial
of his friends and Peltier’s trial, the FBI mirac
ulously found new evidence, evidence which
more strongly linked Peltier to the murders.
The only problem is that the evidence was
falsified by the FBI. Worse, the record strong
ly suggests that the FBI encouraged false testi
mony from fake eyewitnesses at Peltier’s trial.
Peltier was convicted and his appeals have
been exhausted. He has served 24 years in
Federal Prison for a crime that he did not
commit. And, as in the McVeigh case, the FBI
has withheld thousands of pages of documents
from Peltier’s defense. Yet unlike the McViegh
case, the FBI continues to hide over 6,000
documents, including ballistic evidence that
might prove Peltier’s innocence.
Louis Freeh may be leaving, but I’ll bet
money that the FBI doesn’t change a bit.
Bill Hill’s e-mail is now monitored by the FBt
Stand up to “the Man" and reach him at
wbhill@unc.edu.
have shown they place a priority on
this University so much that they are
willing to take this bond upon them
selves. And you are not going to
deprive UNC of that.
“Vote against the entire budget?”
You should be ashamed of your
self.
I am.
It is wonderful people like the
voters in the past who made this
institution what it is today. And you
have those supporters to thank your
self.
I trust the Mayor of Chapel Hill to
handle the University’s upcoming
rezoning requests in a much more
reasonable fashion.
Teri Austin,
RDH Student,
Post Certificate
Completion of
Bachelors in Dental Hygiene
The length rule was waived.
Wqt irniy <Har MM
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