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Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Vol. 83, No. 33
inapsi nut, North Cerolina, Thursday, October 16, 1975
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Weather, brightly colored
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Supreme Court Associate Justice Don Hughston reads the decision Wednesday
afternoon which upheld the executive order dismissing Mike O'Neal.
by Chris Fuller
Staff Writer
..'Dick Pope resigned Wednesday as Media"
Board chairperson, saying he could not serve
in an administration characterized by
political maneuvering. The Media Board
then selected John Hanford HI to replace
him.
The Media Board also amended its bylaws
in an effort to avoid a Student Supreme
Court law suit filed against it last Thursday
for underrepresenting graduate students.
In a resignation letter dated Oct. 10, Pope
criticized Student Body President Bill Bates
for abandoning friends, such as himself and
O'Neal, to save his political future. Pope said
he could not serve in an administration in
which people "change with the wind" and
"play politics to further their own position."
Pope also said, "I wish my successor . . .
the best of luck, and hope that he can serve
with good conscience and outside the
political sphere."
Hanford, a senior economics major, was
selected over Michael York, a first-year law
student, after Bill Moss, a business
administration major and Media Board
member, withdrew from consideration.
In a resume submitted to the board,
Hanford listed his experience as a member of
the Publications Board (predecessor to the
Media Board), Union Activities Board,
Student "Legislature, and as Union
Recreation Committee chairperson.
Hanford told the board he has no political
ties and has free time to devote to the Media
Board.
Following his selection as chairperson,
Hanford said, "I am very enthusiastic about
the chance to use my time and the experience
I've gained from other activities on campus
to help lead the Media Board through the
current pressing problems and to get us back
on an even keel in dealing with our regular
responsibilities."
The Media Board agreed to recommend
the other candidate for the chair, Michael
. York, as a Graduate and Professional
Student Federation (GPSF) representative
by Jim Roberts
News Editor
Second of a two-part series
As North Carolina moves to establish its
proposed computerized Criminal Justice
Information System (CJ1S), federal
regulations aimed at restricting access to
criminal information are being studied,
implemented and criticized here and across
the nation.
The regulations, filed May 20 and to be
fully effective by December 1977, apply not
only to computer storage of criminal,
information but also to information
manually collected and stored by federally
funded law enforcement agencies.
M uch of the information to be restricted is
now public record in North Carolina,
including individual arrest records, criminal
charges and sentencing and correctional
records.
U ci 8 O S
Stirtf photo by CiiaflM Hartfy
to the Media Board. Board members termed
his resume impressive.
In, other action, the Media Board
amended its bylawsto' "avoid a law suit
brought against then? by Deborah Bloom, a
graduate history student, charging the
board's bylaws with unconstituionality
because they allegedly underrepresented
graduate students.
The bylaws provide that the student body
president make two appointments to the
Media Board. The amendment stipulates
that one of the appointments be a graduate
student and one an undergraduate.
In addition, if the proportion of graduate
students on the board is less than the
proportion of graduate students in the
student body, the GPSF president will
appoint, with GPSF senate approval, as
many graduate students as necessary to fill
the requirement.
The amendment was approved in an effort
to conform the bylaws with Article IV,
Section 6 of the student constitution which
says the Media Board "shall contain a
number of graduate and professional
students in proportion to the number of
graduate and professional students in the
student body . . ."
Although the amendment is similar to an
agreement reached earlier between Bloom's
and the Media Board's attorneys, the
original agreement did not provide for one
presidential appointment to be an
undergraduate, nor for GPSF senate
approval of the GPSF appointment.
In her suit. Bloom had requested the court
to declare the board's bylaws
unconstitutional and void. She asked that
new bylaws be written and the present board
be prevented from conducting business.
She also requested the court to order the
present Media Board chairperson and
treasurer to handle the financial affairs until
a new board could be formed.
Prosecuting attorney Ben Steelman said
Tuesday if an agreement that satisfied all
involved parties could be reached, he would
probably withdraw the suit.
The crime computer system will include
this information since it combines the
computer systems now maintained by the
police, motor vehicles division and
corrections system with one being studied
for use in the courts system.
The federal regulations do not restrict
public access to chronologically maintained
police blotters and court records, published
court records, wanted persons notices,
traffic records and executive clemency
notices.
The Justice Department was required to
issue the regulations by the 1973 Crime
Control Act. The regulations were intended
to ensure the security and privacy of all
criminal history information while
preserving "legitimate law enforcement need
for access to such records," the regulations
state.
But criticism has been raised recently in
North Carolina over the restrictions on
public access to information. Sam H. Long,
Student Supreme Court renders decision
requiring O'Neal to obey dismissal order
by Art Eisenstadt
Staff Writer
The Student Supreme Court has
unanimously decided to uphold Student
Body President Bill Bates' Sept. 30 firing of
former Student Body Treasurer Mike
O'Neal.
In a 1 3-page decision released Wednesday
by Associate Justice Don Hughston, the
court ordered O'Neal to obey Bates' order of
dismissal.
Bates had fired O'Neal Sept. 30 for
allegedly overstepping his authority as
treasurer by lobbying against Bates'
administration policy to executive staff and
Campus Governing Council members.
O'Neal had said the treasurer could be
removed only through CGC impeachment,
but Bates maintained that his power to
appoint implies the power to fire.
Although the court upheld the firing, it did
not do so for Bates' reason.
"The Court has not attempted to base this
interpretation on the popular phrase that the
'power to hire is the power to fire," the
decision, written by Hughston, said. "This
simply is not the case, although
pragmatically considered the result is the
same. Instead this power is enjoined by the
(Student Government) Constitution to the
Executive branch and thereby the President
of the student body"
All four justices who heard the case
endorsed the opinion. The court decided that
the treasurer is an executive officer
subordinate to the president, impeachment
was not an issue in the case, a separation of
powers exists in Student Government and
, the treasurer's power derives from the
president.
In a news conference following the
decision, Bates said the court "judged and
agreed with us that a student body president
does have the power to remove an appointed
official of the executive branch." He added,
"We are pleased thatlhe court has resolved
thrsrnsuc so that "w'nn6w"cdntinue"to'"
function to serve the students."
After the court hearing, O'Neal said, "The
treasurer's office is now irrevocably
established as a political patronage job. I had
hoped that this could have been solved
earlier through negotiation or compromise,
but the principle of fighting for an
independent treasurer's office was the most
important thing only for me, but for all of
Student Government."
The three CGC committee chairpersons
Ben Steelman, Bill Strickland and Dave
Rittenhouse were co-plaintiffs in the suit.
Wallace gets CCH endorsement
Five board candidates speak to coalition
by Bob King
Staff Writer
As expected. Citizens for Chapel Hill
(CCH) endorsed North Carolina State
University professor James C. "Jimmy"
Wallace for mayor Tuesday night, as
recommended by its Executive Committee.
The motion was passed by the
approximately 50 members attending the
meeting, with one dissenting vote.
In addition, the conservatively oriented
political coalition heard three-minute
presentations from five of the six candidates
it has endorsed for Board of Aldermen seats
and indicated it may endorse others in the
14-candidate race before the Nov. 4
municipal elections.
In his endorsement statement, CCH
Chairperson George Coxhead, a local
insurance agent, said "Jimmy Wallace was
born and raised in Chapel Hill and has lived
here for 30 years. He believes in free
enterprise and the profit motive; he has long
been a champion of student and minority
rights."
the governor's legal aide who has studied the
regulations, has said the state, rather than
the federal government, should be able to
determine the accessibility of criminal
information.
Elmer Oettinger, a professor at the UNC
Institute of Government, said last week the
regulations violate the traditional balance in
North Carolina between privacy and access
to information.
Oettinger is secretary of the News Media
Administration of Justice Council of North
Carolina, an ad hoc committee which acts as
a liaison between courts, bar associations,
news media and law enforcement agencies.
The council is currently preparing a policy
statement on the criminal computer system.
"We've had better relations than most
states between the courts and the media," he
said. "There is less reason to feel we have to
be so restricted."
Access to criminal history information
will be limited to criminal justice agencies.
Steelman said, "We resigned ourselves to
the decision, and we don't expect any
immediate reprisals. If we wanted to, we
could make the rest of Bill Bates' career hell,
but that would destroy Student
Government, and we consider ourselves to
be bigger people than the opposition."
Steelman predicted that CGC would soon
consider legislation defining the treasurer's
position.
Bates' former executive assistant, Billy
Richardson, who at one time filed suit
against O'Neal to force him to leave office,
said of the decision, "Naturally, I'm pleased.
I just hope Student Government will get
onto the more pressing matters at hand."
O'Neal had claimed he could not be fired
because he was a constitutional officer. The
court indicated that the treasurer's post is
important enough to be listed in the
constitution, but that it is part of the
executive branch.
Citing Article III, Section I of the
constitution, which says, the student body
president "shall have the assistance of
a.. .Treasurer of the Student Body," the court
emphasized the word "assistance" saying the
treasurer should be an aide to the president.
"Complete authority is not given to the
assistant. It is the function of the Treasurer
to HELP the President, not rule him or in
any way govern him, in the context of the
Executive branch," the court said.
Another of O'Neal's contentions was that
Runoff in District VIII
smoking ban leads in
by Nancy Mattox
end
- "- -rVemoit Lceb - --- - -
Staff Writers
Morehead Confederation Co-Governor
Eric Locher and Campus Governing Council
Speaker Dan Besse will face each othsr in a
runoff election to be held Oct. 29.
Neither candidate had a majority of the
votes cast Wednesday in the race for on
campus undergraduate CGC District VIII.
Locher, who announced his candidacy as
a write-in Monday night, collected 249 of
some 560 votes cast, the largest write-in
support ever gained by a single candidate in a
Most of the meeting was devoted to the
endorsed candidates' speeches. William
Bayliss, a 52-year-old attorney and former
city commissioner in Kalamazoo, Mich.,
said he sees Chapel Hill as a "different town
with a different group of people," but that
the town's problems are still the same as
those of Kalamazoo.
Bayliss cited relations between
Kalamazoo and Western Michigan
University and busing management as two
major areas of concern during his tenure on
the Kalamazoo commission.
Charles Beemer, a 1974 UNC law
graduate and practicing attorney, attacked
"the 99 per cent increase in local taxes since
1970" and questioned whether the town has
received a similar rise in town services and
community benefits.
N.C. State business law instructor and
UNC doctoral economics student Doug
Holmes said, "The federal government, in its
almost bankrupt state, can't afford (to fund)
Chapel Hill and other communities like it,
who leech off it." '
Incumbent Alderman R.D. Smith said the
government units needing such records to
implement criminal conduct statutes and
government agencies investigating
individual employment.
News reporters needing information
contained in law enforcement records will
not be allowed access to complete records.
Instead they can only make specific inquiries
"as to whether a named individual was
arrested, detained (or) indicted..."
Reporters' inquiries must also be
"reasonably contemporaneous with the
event to which the information relates."
"This means to the press that the reporter
must know the answer to his question before
he goes in there," Long said.
Reporters and other persons could also
obtain information through a court order.
The regulations would severely restrain
reporters needing local criminal
information, Oettinger said. Locally,
reporters have had a history of good
relationships with law enforcement agencies
"
only CGC could remove the treasurer, by
impeachment. O'Neal maintained that both
the president's nomination and two-thirds
approval of CGC are necessary to confirm a
treasurer, and impeachment was the only
explicit mention of dismissal in the
constitution.
The court said O'Neal had apparently not
committed an impeachable offense "He has
satisfied all that was required of him and
possibly a little more. But what happens
when the Treasurer, though doing no
Constitutional wrong, is no longer wanted to
fill the position that he was appointed and
confirmed for?"
Another argument made by O'Neal's
counsels was that there was no clear
differentiation between the Student
Government executive and legislative
branches since the president is a voting
member of CGC,
The court rejected this contention because
the president serves on CGC only by nature
of his office, not vice versa.
Finally, the court said that although at any
given moment the treasurer is upholding
CGC law, he has that power because he is an
executive branch member.
"The position of the Treasurer is clearly
defined as an 'assistant' position, and
although its power tenacles reach beyond the
confines of the Executive branch, its own
power is chronologically and
Constitutionally derived from the Office of
the President," the court said.
student election, Elections Board
Chairperson Brooke Bynum said
- - Other candidates received a total of ,26
votes.
Should Besse or Locher choose not to run
in the runoff, he has 24 hours to notify the
Elections Board. But both Besse and Locher
said Wednesday night they are anxious to
continue campaigning.
Locher, who announced his candidacy
Monday night in an Aycock dormitory
meeting and began an active campaign using
posters and fliers, said he was happy with the
results. "I thought it was an interesting race,
and I'm ready to get back into it," Locher
said. He added he has no definite plans for
town needs to improve parks, traffic flow,
summer job opportunities, cooperation
between town, University and county
authorities and bus transportation.
William Thorpe, a State Employment
Office veteran's advisor, said the people of
Chapel Hill need easier access to the
aldermen and to various committee
members "because many times, the people
don't know exactly who to go to with a
problem."
A member of the recently disbanded town
charter commission, Thorpe advocated a
full-time personnel director and a full-time
transportation expert.
The sixth candidate endorsed by CCH,
Jonathan Howes, a member of the Charter
Commission and Planning Board, was
unable to speak because of a previous
engagement.
Of the six aldermanic candidates endorsed
by CCH, only Beemer and Holmes are
members of the group.
The group has maintained that it would
not endorse a slate of candidates
and have been able to get information from
these units.
But under the federal regulations local
police departments and corrections units
would be just as restricted from releasing
such information as the CJ1S computer
bank.
To get the information they need,
reporters may have to violate the
regulations, Oettinger said. "I don't want to
see people in the position of having to violate
the law to do their jobs."
The federal rules allow each state to
determine whether or not information
obtained in investigations should be
restricted. The CJIS master plan excludes
such information from restrictions.
According to the federal regulations,
individuals whose criminal history is
included in police records will be allowed to
review information about themselves
provided that the review does not burden the
na
Staff photo by Charles Hardy
Student Body President Bill Bates reads
a statement prepared in response to the
Supreme Court ruling on the Mike
O'Neal case at a press conference
Wednesday.
Oct. 29;
early tally
campaigning.
Besse, who collected 254 votes, said he had
- expected a tight race. He added that he was
pleased with the heavy turnout.
Candidate Bill Long said he was pleased
with the turnout. Long announced Monday
that he would advise his supporters to back
Locher. Janet Morgan of Cobb, an early
opponent who dropped out of the race
Tuesday, also advised her backers to vote for
Locher.
In other election action, with six of 19
polling places reporting, students
overwhelmingly approved a proposed
classroom smoking ban 548 to 158.
Dormitory residents, with five of 15
polling places reporting, approved a $1 per
semester increase in dorm social fees, 513
208. Results from Granville Towers, which
last spring played a major role in defeating a
similar social fee increase, had not been
reported at press time.
Three referenda to amend the Student
Government Constitution, with five of 19
polling places reporting, were approved by
wide margins. The amendment stating that
all bylaws, charters and constitutions of
CGC supported groups were subject to CGC
approval each yearwas approved, 590 to 89.
The amendment to alter CGC's approval
power of the student body secretary and
treasurer received a 572 to 87 approval, w hile
an amendment prohibiting co-office holding
in Student Government's executive and
legislative branches also gained easy
approval, 578 to 99.
However, the wrong section of the
Constitution was amended because of an
error on the ballot.
CGC Rules and Judiciary Committee
Chairperson Ben Steelman said Wednesday.
"I'm going to advise (CGC Election Board
Chairperson) Brooke Bynum to proceed on
the assumption that the amendment passed.
If someone wishes to challenge, let them. If
challenged, the possibility of voiding the
referendum would exist."
Full election results will be printed in
Friday's DTH.
police agency.
To comply with the federal guidelines,
each state must submit a plan for approval to
LEAA by Dec. 16, whichoutlines the state's
plan to limit criminal record access. All
procedures outlined in the state's approved
plan must be implemented and operational
by Dec. 31, 1977.
Failure to comply could bring a $10,000
fine and a cut-off of federal Law
Enforcement Assistance Administration
funds going to the state's criminal justice
system.
But even though the guidelines seem to
indicate only one option available to North
Carolina, Long said the governor's office
will attempt to have the regulations modified
through executive and legislative action.
If the governor chooses to challenge the
federal guidelines. North Carolina would
stand to lose approximately $14 million
annually in federal law enforcement funds.