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CITY BRIEFS
Test driver takes off with
$53,000 Lincoln Navigator
A black 2004 Lincoln Navigator
valued at more than $53,000 was
stolen from the Michael Jordan
Automotive Group on Monday
during a test drive, according to
Chapel Hill police reports.
The suspect was riding with
Lindsay Graham, 39, a saleswoman
for the company located at 3921
Chapel Hill Blvd. in Durham, when
they stopped on 105 Blue Field Road
in Chapel Hill to look at the vehicle.
The suspect then jumped in
the car, locked the door and drove
away, leaving Graham to call the
police from the nearest residence.
Graham said that in the more than
2,000 test drives she’s conducted
during seven years, an incident like
this has never happened.
The police still are investigating
and have not located the vehicle yet
But they have identified the suspect
and have obtained a felony warrant
for larceny of a motor vehicle.
“We have a suspect, we have a
warrant, we have yet to make an
arrest,” said Chapel Hill police
spokeswoman Jane Cousins.
Armed robbery occurs at
Franklin Street gas station
An armed suspect robbed the
Etna gas station at 1509 E. Franklin
St. on Tuesday in an incident that
might be connected to the Sept. 16
robbery of the BP gas station on
Airport Road, police reports state.
Reports state that the suspect
entered the store at 1:20 p.m. and
purchased gum. When the clerk
opened the cash drawer, the suspect
displayed a gun, grabbed an undis
closed amount of money from the
drawer and left, reports state.
The suspect fled in an older
model gray four-door vehicle, pos
sibly a Nissan or Honda, according
to reports.
The suspect is described as a 20-
to 25-year-old black man, approxi
mately 6 feet tall, thin and with a
dark complexion, reports state.
His hair is parted in the mid
dle, with loose dreadlocks, and he
was wearing a white T-shirt with
“GOT HOOP” printed on it and
baggy blue jeans with patches on
the thighs.
The weapon used was a large
frame pistol, black on top and sil
ver on the bottom, reports state.
Anyone with information on the
case can call Chapel Hill police at
968-2760.
CAMPUS BRIEFS
Kenan concession employee
charged with embezzlement
An employee of the Vincent’s
Pizza stand in Kenan Stadium
embezzled $2,177.80 during the
Sept. 4 football game against
William & Mary, according to
University police reports.
At about 10:30 a.m., supervisors
at the restaurant’s permanent loca
tion in Raleigh gave the suspect
$2,000 to bring to the Kenan con
cession stand, reports state.
Reports state that when the
suspect returned to Raleigh about
8 p.m., he reported that he had no
money from the sales. But sales
receipts indicate that more than
$2,177 was missing, reports state.
Police are investigating the mat
ter further.
Applications now available
for student body secretary
Applications now are available
for the open position of student
body secretary at http://www.unc.
edu/studentgovt.
Interested students interested
must submit a completed application
and resume by midnight Friday.
The position opened after
Bernard Holloway, former secretary,
announced his resignation Sunday.
UNC officials seek input on
revamping Student Central
The Office of the University
Registrar is working with student
government to host discussions
regarding the improvement of the
degree audit and analysis of aca
demic progress functions on the
Student Central Portal.
The sessions will be held from
8:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. today and
Friday in room 209 of the Sonja
Haynes Stone Center for Black
Culture and History.
CALIMDAR
Thursday The Advocates for
Human Rights, a subcommittee
of the Campus Y, and Amnesty
International are hosting a teach
in at 7 p.m. in 8 Gardner Hall.
The event will let students dis
cuss the humanitarian crisis in the
Sudan. Faculty members Julius
Nyang’Oro and Andrew Reynolds
also will speak.
Thursday Vote Carolina will
hold its first volunteer meeting at
7 p.m. in 209 Manning Hall.
From staff reports.
Planners, council stress downtown’s heart
Town pulse focus ofDEDC meeting
BY JON WEINER
STAFF WRITER
The familiar face of downtown
Chapel Hill has long had a small
town feeling.
But a proposal to the Downtown
Economic Development
Corporation pitched by Town
Manager Cal Horton and Chapel
Hill Town Council member Bill
Strom on Tuesday morning could
“Young people and students are great and they have tons of energy.
And we really need them to get out and vote, will Johnson, unc basketball alum, bowles campaigner
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DTH/ALLISON MONEY
Marcus Johnson (left) and Nate Kelly, members of the band People Under the Bridge, play at Local 506 on Tuesday night as part of a
benefit concert for Erskine Bowles, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate. The band was one of five that played for Bowles' campaign.
5 bands rock the vote
to benefit Bowles ticket
Local 506 show aims to attract, excite youth
BY DANA BSEISO
STAFF WRITER
Five bands took the stage at the Local
506 on Franklin Street on Tuesday night
at a benefit concert for Democratic Senate
candidate Erskine Bowles.
Rock the Vote and Bowles campaign post
ers lined the stage and the walls of the dimly
lit club.
A table was set up near the entrance with
voter registration forms and a volunteer sign
up sheet for the Bowles campaign. “Rock the
Vote” stickers and pins, as well as Bowles
bumper stickers, also were available.
Will Johnson, former UNC men’s basket
ball player, hosted the event. Johnson, who
$3.4M might be
extra cost of school
Construction costs
to run over budget
BY TED STRONG
STAFF WRITER
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City
Schools Board of Education decid
ed Monday night that it needed to
request additional funds to cover a
budget overrun in the construction
of its third high school.
The board expressed the most
interest in a plan that was $3.4 mil
lion over the original budget
Steve Scroggs, assistant super
intendent for support services,
was set to present four separate
options for dealing with the defi
cit, but the board cut him short
before he could present the final
two packages.
As Scroggs began speaking
about the third option, board
member Nicholas Didow inter
rupted. “There is no need Jar Steve
to present any more information
on three and four because I find
them unacceptable,” he said.
None of the other board mem
bers objected, and the two options
were dropped.
The board said it was familiar
with all the plans but was only
interested in the first two.
Each of the four options cut
costs for the project, but none
could reduce costs back to the
original S3O million price tag
Top News
be a step toward modernizing the
face of Franklin Street.
At a meeting in the Kenan-
Flagler Business School, a four
person team representing the Town
Council presented the DEDC with
an update on the proposed rede
velopments of town parking lots
2 and 5.
Under the plan, parking lot 2,
located behind Spanky’s, and park-
is now a full-time campaign staff member
for Bowles, introduced each band.
Even though none of the songs played in the
dark dub were political, the benefit was geared
toward young voters and getting them excited
about the election as it draws near. Still, the
sls cover charge kept many students away.
Campaign staff members arrived on a bus
from Raleigh and filled the club.
“The 18-to-25 crowd is huge, untapped
potential,” said Leo Kishore, bassist and
singer for the Raleigh band Lamar Jonz.
Reaching out to young voters and urg
ing them to vote is a big part of the Bowles
campaign’s agenda.
“Young people and students are great and
that was allotted to the board
by the Orange County Board of
Commissioners.
The board decided to look into
getting funding from the county
and from funds in the Capital
Improvement Program.
The board also wanted to
explore the feasibility of postpon
ing construction on athletic facili
ties rather than the auditorium,
as was proposed in the rejected
packages.
A report about the progress of
the third high school also was pre
sented to the commissioners on
Tuesday night.
The probable cost of the build
ing jumped by more than $4.5
million after both the costs of
construction and the overall
square footage for the site were
increased.
“Construction costs have soared
in the past year, and it’s going to
cause us some difficulties,” said
Superintendent Neil Pedersen.
The cost of construction
increased from sllO per square
foot to sl2l, and the projected
size of the building increased
from 155,000 to 162,000 square
feet.
During a presentation given
by Thomas Hughes and Steven
Triggiano of Moseley Architects,
the firm designing the new school,
Triggiano attributed much of the
SEE HIGH SCHOOL, PAGE 7
ing lot 5, across from University
Mall, will be converted into mixed
use buildings with new parking
facilities.
There are also plans for a bus
transit center beneath parking lot 2
and additional parking facilities at
the site of the current RBC Centura
bank and at the Wallace Deck, both
on Rosemary Street.
The group that made the pre
sentation to the DEDC which
included Chris Berndt and Phil
Hervey of the town’s planning
they have tons of energy,” Johnson said. “And
we really need them to get out and vote.”
The bands who participated were People
Under the Bridge, Lamar Jonz, Permanent
Darling, The Old Ceremony and Gripweed
Manifold. Other than Lamar Jonz, the bands
hail from Chapel Hill.
The bands that participated said that
they wanted to get involved in encouraging
young people to vote in this year’s election
but that they did not want to make explicit
political statements.
Robbie Lane, Gripweed Manifold’s
manager, coordinated the show with his
wife, Tammy, who works for the Bowles
campaign.
He said their goal is to try to appeal to
SEE CONCERT, PAGE 7
Square’s facelift nears completion
Project will finish
early neoct year
BY EREN TATARAGASI
STAFF WRITER
After two and a half years of
construction at University Square,
officials said Tuesday that the final
touches should be completed by
early next year.
The Chapel Hill Downtown
Economic Development
Corporation discussed Tuesday
morning the progress of several
downtown retail developments,
including the ongoing renovations
at University Square.
The meeting gave merchants a
chance to show the corporation the
ways they are trying to reinvigorate
downtown with their development
projects.
University Square’s renovation
project included adding new side
walks, adding greenhouse spaces
between stores and updating store
fronts.
The project’s developer, Mark
Moshier of Graham Associates,
said he is pleased with the project,
and University Square prides itself
on being one of the few shopping
centers on Franklin Street with its
own parking.
Betty Kenan, DEDC board
member and owner of University
Square, said the renovations have
been handled well.
She said the retail center’s
officials have tried to accommo
date shop owners by making sure
there were parking spaces for
the customers and easy access to
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2004
department, as well as Horton
and Strom stressed that the
downtown area always has been
the heart of the Chapel Hill com
munity.
“Chapel Hill has always been
in the process of change,” Horton
said. “The town has always been
willing to take what was needed
yesterday and shape it to meet the
needs of today.”
After the council’s presentation,
questions arose from the DEDC
about the level of input current
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DTH/BRANDON SMITH
University Square's renovation project should be completed by early next
year. The center has experienced two and a half years of construction.
entrances.
But Moshier said there have
been problems with noncus
tomers taking up the parking
spaces.
A security staff was put in place
to survey the lot 24 hours per day,
making sure spots are used accord
ingly.
Although the renovations have
been done piece by piece so as not
to disturb business, some shop
keepers said it has not been an
easy transition.
Tina Fantich, assistant manager
at Kilwin’s of Chapel Hill, a choco
late and ice cream shop, said the
whole project has taken too long.
Kilwin’s opened in University
residents would have in the plan
ning of these projects.
Strom responded to concerns by
stating that the plans were devel
oped with citizens in mind and that
the opinions of residents would be
welcomed as plans continue to
develop.
“Citizens have been involved in
the downtown planning process
since 1997,” he said.
“We’re working together to
SEE DEDC, PAGE 7
Carrboro
to extend
wireless
network
Board says plan
will connect area
BY JARRETT SAIA
STAFF WRITER
Laptop users in downtown
Carrboro soon will be able to use
the town’s free wireless network
from Town Hall to the Century
Center without losing their Internet
signal.
The Board of Aldermen accept
ed Tuesday night an update to the
downtown wireless Internet proj
ect, known as tocwireless.net.
The current phase of the proj
ect aims to install new hardware
for generating wireless capabilities
downtown, which will connect the
Carr Mill Mall and Century Center
area with the existing wireless zone
at Town Hall.
“The idea is to create a kind of
dumbbell configuration,” said Andy
Vogel, information technology
manager for the town. “We want to
(grant wireless access) to the core
downtown area of Carrboro, the
very large area around the Town
Hall and about a third of the area
in between.”
The adopted budget sets aside
$5,000 to continue the work begun
in creating a wireless downtown
area. Vogel said the $5,000 will go
toward the purchase of new hard
ware.
Six public wireless access points
and specialized antennas will
be installed in various locations
around the Weaver Street Market
area.
Weaver Street Market is allow
ing wireless users within range of
its location to have access to any of
its unused bandwidth.
“(The downtown wireless net
work) is a great thing, and it fits
with our mission of creating a
vibrant, stable community,” said
Scott Morningstar, manager of
information systems for the mir
ket.
The donation of bandwidth from
Weaver Street Market should save
the town of Carrboro about SSOO
SEE WIRELESS, PAGE 7
Square June 25 to attract custom
ers while construction was con
tinuing.
Fantich said that the store
had problems getting a sign up
to advertise its opening and that
they still are waiting for customer
benches to be installed outside the
store.
Another newcomer to the cen
ter, custom jewelry store William
Travis Jewelry, decided to come
to the center because of the reno
vations.
Owner TYavis Kukovich said it
was his primary reason for coming
to the area. “If it wasn’t happening,
SEE SQUARE, PAGE 7
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