North Carolina Newspapers

1 Chin chiller Occasional rain this morning with a 50 percent chance of showers this afternoon. High in the low 40s. Call-in show WXYC listeners can call OTH editor candidates John Drescher and Jonathan Rich beginning at 11 p.m. today at 962-SPOT or 962-NEWS. 0m - "r Serving the students and the University community since 1893 Volume 6, Issue p Wednesday, February 3, 1982 Chapel Hill, North Carolina NwsSportsArt 662-0245 BusinessAdvertising 962-11 3 o o 3 New law to aid tax collections By ALEXANDRA McMILLAN DTH Staff Writer A new ordinance may make it easier for Carrboro to col lect property taxes from its student residents in the future. The Orange County Board of Commissioners will require Carrboro apartment complex owners to submit lists of their tenants by Jan. 15, 1983, Orange County Commissioner Don Willhoit said Tuesday. The county tax supervisor will be asked to check those lists against the list of people who have filed a personal property tax, he said. Willhoit said a statute already in effect lets the tax super visor request tenant lists from apartment owners, but that the board passed the new ordinance as requested' by the town. 'Considering the high turnover rate of apartment dwellers in Carrboro, the most efficient way to get the money due is to make a good effort to collect the personal property tax on cars," he said. "But we've asked the tax supervisor to notify the town of Carrboro that we're making an effort to do what they've asked." Because the transient student population makes up a large portion of Carrboro's apartment community, Willhoit said he felt it would be easier to enforce tax payment through lists of vehicles registered in Orange County. Car owners must show proof of tax payment to get a motor vehicle license in Orange County, Willhoit said. This makes it easier to verify payment of personal property taxes on automobiles, he said. "For the small amount of money that the average student would pay in personal property tax, it doesn't seem to make much sense to use the method Carrboro proposes when it is easier and will generate almost as much money to use auto mobile taxes," he said, "But we are making an effort to help." : Carrboro officials could not be reached for comment. FTP 71 Women voters decide important political issues .League By SONYA WEAKLEY DTH Staff Writer The average active member is a she. She has a 79 percent chance of being mar ried with an average of 1.46 children. She is well-educated with an 82 percent chance of having graduated from college and a 48 percent chance of having com' pktsd graduate studies. - t V 'I 'f . y C&na Crown She volunteers about 24.1 hours each month. She has a 42 percent chance of being active in a political party and a 65 percent chance of running for public of fice. There are many political organizations around. Most have pet projects and causes, but few have consistently follow ed current issues, studied them in depth and re-evaluated political positions as issues change. Even fewer groups have provided voters with non-partisan infor mation on political candidates. But the League of Women Voters has been meeting these requirements for 42 years. "When we believe in something, we don't give up," said Diane Brown, presi dent of the League of Women Voters of North Carolina. "We keep working at it. If we get into something, study it and see (that it) changes, we adapt. We continually modify and update." The LWV looks at current issues and decides through a network of com munication from the local Leagues to the national organization and back again what issues to study. The agenda of issues is set at state and national con ventions held in alternating years. Once the members have made their choices, they go to work. Work consists of lobbying legislatures, talking with legislators, distributing infor- A mation about an issue and compiling pamphlets explaining the League's posi tion on this issue. The LWV is looking at prospective issues to address at its national conven tion to be held in Houston this spring. Local Leagues are sending out question naires and information to other Leagues to ask for support on certain issues. The national and state organizations also send out information to determine which issues are on the minds of its members. "It's very much a grass-roots organiza tion," Brown said. "I couldn't see any one of the three levels existing without the other two." The League emphasizes voter service and citizen information. When it began in 1920, the LWV served to help women sort out the issues and vote intelligently with their newly-gained suffrage. Today the LWV continues this function. "We go out of our way to be fair to candidates," Brown said. "We want to emphasize that we are a non-partisan organization." The LWV never endorses political can didates, even though many of its members:lm for office -i. In every local and state, election, the LWVNC sends a questionnaire to each candidate and then publishes the answers in a voter's guide. The LWVNC distributes pamphlets about voting and registration and periodi cally publishes a handbook on state government operation. In the most recent gubernatorial election it .sponsored de bates between the candidates. Though the national league takes a stand on worldwide and national issues, the state and local Leagues have their own matters to handle. "School bus safety has been a quiet winner on the local level," said Gerry Guess, president of the League of Women Voters of Chapel Hill. The LWVCH has been working with the local school board to prevent school bus accidents, Guess said.; It has worked for better pay for drivers! and a reward system for drivers with good records. The organization has also tried to raise the average age of school bus drivers. - Although hazardous waste is also studied at the national level, state and local Leagues have taken a closer look at North Carolina's hazardous waste pro blem. . The LWVCH recently received a $2,000 grant through the national League from the Department of Energy. The grant was used to finance forums about uranium mining in North Carolina, said LWVCH member Arlene Spilker, author of the grant proposal. The forums featured speakers from Duke Power Co. and several university professors, Spilker said. The LWVCH sets voter service and citizen information as a priority. In Oc tober 1981, the League conducted forums to let citizens hear the candidates for Town Council and other races. The group has also published handbooks on the workings of Chapel Hill government and offered training in counting and cer tifying ballots for election workers. "I'd like to do something constructive, and I like educational situations the League is definitely educational," said Guess, who has belonged to Leagues in California and New Jersey, "1 enjoy meeting people and have met some fascinating citizens through the League. It has made local politics come alive for me," she said. The LWVCH has 97 members, in cluding two men, she said. . Bev Kawalec, a former LWVCH presi dent and a second-term Town Council member, credits the LWV with helping her get involved in local politics. "I became interested in town govern ment after working in the League to in fluence it," she said. "I gained education and inspiration there. It is excellent train- ' Kawalec said she got involved in the League in 1967 with a study of land-use planning. She was president from 1975 to 1977. i 0, "f r ? v.v.,.VujO. : ----- - .viSkMor. . j 5- - .-f ' Garry Guoss The state League was formed in 1951 when delegates from seven local Leagues, including Chapel Hill's, gathered for a convention in Durham. It has a 15-member board of directors and a statewide membership of about 1,400, in cluding 35 men, Brown said. She en--courgaed college-age and minority women to join, calling the League a "learning experience." S m panels intern debate nn redi4Fietaim By PETER JUDGE DTH Staff Writer Though a legislative panel was unable to come up with a new state House reapportionment plan in Tuesday's session, action -was taken to split Guilford County into four districts as deli beration over the state's legislative map continued. The House Legislative Redistricting Committee voted Tuesday to divide Guilford County into four separate districts with seven representatives. Portions of Forsyth and Randolph counties are to be included in the districts as well. Today, a joint House and Senate committee will meet to con sider a new congressional district proposal to move Durham County from the 4th District to the 2nd District. Orange County is in the 2nd District. Committee members are meeting in Raleigh this week to draw up a contingency map for congressional district lines should an appeal to the U.S. Justice Department fail. North Carolina's congressional redistricting plan was rejected recently by the U.S. Justice Department, along with proposed plans for the state House and Senate district lines. "The first time we talked with the legislature, way back at the start of all this, we told them we felt uncomfortable with the House and Senate plans," James Wallace, special deputy state Attorney General, said this week. Wallace said the congressional plan, however, seemed reason able. "We felt safe with the plan for redrawing the congressional lines," he said. - 1 "We (the state attorney general's office) made a decision to go forward and ask the Justice Department to review their deci sion to reject North Carolina's redistricting plan," he said. Wallace said if members of the General Assembly decided not to appeal the decision, it was not too late to back off. "Let me stress that we have not done it, yet," he said. Rep. J.P. Huskins, D-Iredell, co-chairman of the joint com mittee on congressional redistricting, said Tuesday plans were being prepared to draw new lines in case the Justice Department did not reverse its decision. "We decided to come up with an al ternate plan while the case is pending," Huskins said. "By asking the Justice Department to review their previous decision, we start the clock running again," he said. The Justice Department has 60 days in which to respond. "If they choose to wait 60 days and then reject the plan, that would put us into the first part of April without a suitable redistricting plan," he said. Huskins said the General Assembly would be forced to call another special session to propose a new map. "Don't forget we have primaries coming up this spring," he added. Gov. Jim Hunt is expected to call the General Assembly into a special session beginning Feb. 9 to adopt new reapportionment plans and to reschedule the state primaries from May 4 to June 1 . Huskins said the Justice Department objected to the confi guration of the 2nd Congressional District, saying it was "shaped strangely." "The number of blacks in the 2nd District decreased from the 1971 plan," Huskins said. "This new plan, they (Justice De partment) said, diluted the voting strength of blacks." Attorneys for the state held several informal conferences with members of the Justice Department, Huskins said. But federal officials 'did not say whether they would uphold the ruling. "They suggested that alternative plans would be beneficial," he said. John Wilson, public affairs officer for the U.S. Justice De partment, said: "If we were asked to reconsider it (the congres sional plan) and if North Carolina were to present evidence which we had not considered previously, sure we could reverse the decision. "It would have to be pretty good evidence, though. Our deci sion was based on careful study of the facts that had been pre sented to us," he said. , "We have some darn good arguments in favor of our con gressional redistricting plan," Wallace said. "Our attorneys are prepared not to submit new information, but put some facts in a different perspective." . The new House and Senate plans, drafted in legislative com mittees last week, were shown to officials of the' Justice De partment on Friday. "We made it clear when we presented the plans that they still required some fine tuning," Wallace said. "They did make a few suggestions for changes. All in all, it was a pretty beneficial dialogue." . Wallace said he did not know if they would object to the re- -vised" House and Senate plans. "It is hard to say when you are dealing with' an agency that does not have to say 'No, because...' but 'No,' and usually tends to do it that way." The Justice Department is not bound to help the state or give any explanation for its decisions, Wallace said. He said he did not know whether the state would take the case to court if the " Justice Department rejected the revised plans. "We (the state at torney general's office) are lawyers; we do what we are told," he said. "If the state wants us to take this to court, we will." A public hearing on the congressional and legislative reappor tionment plans will be held at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the legislative auditorium in Raleigh. Three explanations 6 By DAVID ROME DTH Starr Writer "I'm a Tar Heel born! I'm a Tar Heel bred! Angnhen 1 die, I'll be a Tar Heel deadP' in the Revolutionary War. British troops under Gen. Cornwallis crossed a river near Rocky Mount in which the colonists supposedly had dumped .turpentine to avoid their being by the British. Every student aiMJmows he is a Tar Heel, but noboclyCs to know exactly why. The nanV-suggests an ' historical event or situation, unlike nicknames like Wolfpack or Blue Devils. Most Tar Heels think they know where the name comes from, but there seem to be as many explanations as there are Tar Heels. Consensus is lack ing, even among historians about the identity of the first Tar Heel and the reason the term became associated with the University and state of North Carolina. Historical materials focus on three particular legends of the Tar Heel name's origin. But nowhere is it sug gested that a Tar Heel might be a species of ram. Louise Booker, in Historical and Traditional 'Tar Heel' Stories, tells the story about North Carolina troops V rrm fi cm fH TheiaHj ik to the bottom of the river ana isiuck to tne teet ot tne British soldiers. When the British sur rendered at Yorktown, some of them still had tar on their feet from their march through North Carolina. . The SCrffimagazine reported a se- betore tee (LvQ) war, people who ed near thVvgimshCarolina state employed pahxlf to keep their slaves from roaralQMhe countryside for visiting, courting or running away. "When a Carolina patrolman caught a Virginia slave he would turn him over to the Virginia patrolman and vice versa. The patrolman would return the errant slave' to his master for punishment, the - penalty in Virginia for violating the curfew was a severe flogging; the penalty in North Carolina was to tar the heels. .T . 2u "Hence, North Carolina slaves call ed Virigians Sorebacks; Virginia slaves , called North Carolinians Tar Heels." A third, ' and probably most popular, explanation comes from the Civil War. Booker wrote that during a . crucial battle "a passing column of troops from another state had been driven from the field of battle, while the North Carolina troops held fast." "When the groups met again, the deserters, who wished to minimize their own action by an insulting reference, to a distinctive t North olina product, yelled 'Anymorear in the Old North State, boys?' Not a bit,' came the reply; 'Old Jeffs bought it all up!' '"Is that so? What's he going to do with it?' n" 'He's going to put it on your M4ls so that you'll sticftSerin your SpxtJSght-" OQ JV Te?79 North CarolinvWehil saysXpbert E. Lee heard Tow uicidenji said, "God bless theTar Heel boys," and the name stuck. BM, EFC deliver camdlMate emdlFe2meint4 Uzrk Ccncdy In forums Tuesday the Interfraternity Council endorse Mike Vandenbergh for student body president and John Drescher for Daily Tar Heel editor, and the Black Stu dent Movement and Black Greek Council endorsed Mark Canady for student body president and Jonathan Rich for DTH editor. The BSM endorsement came after a two-hour meeting Tuesday afternoon that included questioning the candi dates a second time. BSM members had earlier ques tioned the candidates at a forum Monday night. "We endorsed Mark Canady not because he was black, not because he was the former BSM chairperson; but because we feel he will not only be sensitive to the needs of the student body but also has a rapport with the general student body," BSM Chairperson Wende J. Watson said. Watson said the BSM endorsed Rich for DTH editor because the editorship was a position of management, not writing, and because Rich would be best for that job. The BSM also supported Rich because he was commit ted to University news, she said. . Watson said after the meeting that she did not want to name the two candidates, one for DTH editor and one for student body president, who were accused at the BSM forum Monday of making racial slurs during their campaigns. "I really wish people would not blow this out of pro portion," Watson said. The 21 -member Central Com mittee of the BSM, which voted to endorse the candi dates, was not told which candidates had been accused of making racial comments. The BSM also endorsed John Rossitch and Joanna Cruz for senior class president and vice president. Rossitch and Cruz are write-in candidates who made their first forum appearance before the BSM Monday. The IFC endorsed Vandenbergh because of his views on food service, IFC President Jim Maynard said after the foruni Tuesday night. "His views were consistent with ours 'his ideas about the managerial aspects for example." "Drescher's ideas about gfving more coverage to or ganizations and looking for more stories was the reason we supported him," he said. The IFC represents 27 fraternities; 21 were represented at Tuesday's forum. Canady, Vandenbergh, Summey. Orr and Tim Smith spoke at the forum, each stressing what he would do if elected president. Canady said he would use his marketing approach to try to attract students to positions in Student Govern ment. "Fraternities and sororities have different needs than other students on campus," Canady said. "It's impor tant for Student Government to be receptive to these dif ferent views." Orr said Student Government needed to be more service-oriented. "If the Student Government doesn't have services that students can see, it loses touch with the stu dent body," Orr said. Compiled by Katherine Long, Ken Mingis and Bill Peschel. Smith said he wanted student organizations to meet every three weeks or once a month to discuss issues on campus. "It's time Student Government stopped being crisis-reactive and started planning ahead for problems that come up." Vandenbergh said he would have one person manage the food service on campus. "There's too much compe tition with Franklin Street, not within itself," he said. In addition to their campaign platforms, DTH editorial candidates Jonathan Rich and John Drescher mentioned their ties to the Greek system. "As far as coverage of Greek events," Rich said, "I think the problem is we're not giving enough positive coverage to events, everything from Derby Day to Mile of Pennies to the Beat Dook parade. These are things that contribute to the positive things on campus." The addition of investigative writers and an editor in charge of contributions to the back page would also help, he said. . "I think we agree that Greeks haven't got fair and balanced coverage in the DTH as thev should. Drescher said. "I am a Beta, and I think that gives me a different perspective from some of the editors we've had." Copies of Drescher's editorials on the Greek sys tem were passed out during the forum. Answering a question about a column he wrote about fraternity hazing, Rich said that he had talked with several fraternity members and said that he had used John Drescher as an anonymous source. After Rich finished talking, Drescher said that anony mous sources were supposed to remain anontnoa. v r i r it ifjt ! -' t Jonathan Rich