The Daily Tar HeelFriday, September 27, 1 9913 TA1TBRI 'N.C. eighth-graders lack basic math skills RALEIGH More than half of North Carolina's eighth-graders lack basic math skills, and fewer than 10 percent can handle the type of problems they should master before they enter high school, a study says. The report was issued by the Na tional Assessment Governing Board, a group of educators, employers, schol ars and others trying to produce a set ot national standards for what students need to know. Most national tests report student scores relative to other participants. The board is trying to measure what stu dents know against a standard.The News & Observer of Raleigh reported. For example, the study says, a test might ask eighth-graders: "What is the value of x5 when x3?" The board says students with basic math skills should be able to answer that question. Based on that approach, 57 percent of North Carolina's eighth-graders lack basic skills. Parent testifies for son in Little Rascals trial FARMVILLE A father testified Thursday that he didn't connect his son's fear of bathrooms to alleged sexual abuse until he was convinced some thing happened at a day-care center. Randy Hollowell, whose son was an alleged victim at the Little Rascals Day Care Center, said his child avoided bath rooms so much that he seemed to forget his toilet training. "He had a lot of fear of going in the bathroom," Hollowell said. "He would use the closet in our bedroom, the linen closet." Once, he caught his son urinat ing in the garage, he added. The low-key testimony wrapped up the sixth week in the trial of Robert F. Kelly Jr., 43, who is charged with 1 83 counts of sexually abusing 22 children at the center. N.C. taxpayers to learn about appeal rights RALEIGH Revenue Secretary Betsy Justus announced Thursday the development of the N.C. Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, designed to inform tax payers of their rights and avenues of appeal in the state taxation system. "I'm very pleased to announce the development of this brochure, which will help educate our citizens about their rights as taxpayers," Justus said. "It is our goal to apply the tax laws consistently and fairly so that taxpayer rights are protected and to ensure that our citizens pay only their fair share of North Carolina tax." The taxpayers' bill of rights covers concerns in the areas of confidentiality, examinations, representation, appeals, collections, penalties and assistance. '. To receive a free copy of the bill of rights, call (919) 733-5327 or write: Revenue Public Affairs, P.O. Box 25000, Raleigh, N.C, 27640-0001. Woman got first kiss from Andy Griffith MOUNT AIR Y Long before Andy Griffith's alter ego met Ellie the drug gist or schoolteacher Helen Crump.there was Jessie Pruett Jones. Jones recalls it was around 1940when Griffith grabbed the kiss her first. "We were probably 13, and there was a party going on next door and Andy walked me home," she said. He grabbed her by the cheeks and "really planted" a kiss on her lips, she said. "He just grabbed a kiss and ran." As he j umped off her porch, he landed on a hydrangea bush and flattened it. "Mother walked around in the yard for a week with a rolled-up newspaper after every neighborhood dog that strayed near our house, to punish them for breaking our 'Snowball Bush.' I walked on air for days and days." The Associated Press Towns prepare report on federal housing money By Amie Lane Staff Writer The Chapel Hill Town Council will hold the first public hearing Monday night on a community housing plan that will allow governments countywide to improve low-income housing facilities. Housing authorities in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and the rest of Orange County now are assessing their overall housing needs for the next five years. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is requiring Chapel Hill to prepare a Comprehensive Hous ing Affordability Strategy before re ceiving any funds for housing assistance. Chapel Hill is the only governmental body in Orange County with this re quirement, but local governments in Orange County also are preparing such documents. Officials from area governmental bodies decided there would be a better chance of receiving housing assistance funds if the CHAS document was con solidated to include the low-income housing needs of the entire county. "We are working at a way to send off one consolidated document," said Tina Vaughn, director of housing and com munity development for Chapel Hill. "The whole document, whether con solidated or not, is to address housing needs and to outline proposed means to try to address those needs." Information hotline to provide campus updates to students By Jenny Mclruiis Staff Writer Confused about registration? Want to know more about campus groups? Angry about construction? Students who have questions, con cerns or comments about the Univer sity can call student government's new information line, 962-INFO, beginning Tuesday. The line will serve as a centralized information source for the campus, said Ann Thornton, director of the informa tion line. Anyone can call and ask for help, complain about problems at the Univer sity or receive information such as tele phone numbers, she said. Student Body President Matt Heyd proposed the idea of a centralized infor mation source during his campaign, Thornton said. The information line phone, which will be located in Suite C of the Student Union, will be staffed by volunteer students. "They can volunteer for as many or as few hours as they want," Thornton said. 'This is a great way for freshmen to get involved and learn a lot of things about the campus." Student Body Secretary Jennifer Ravenel said campus groups also can benefit from the line. "Any groups or organizations can advertise their group when they answer the phone," she said. The service will be free to students and will be available 24 hours a day. An answering machine will be used when the line is not staffed by volun teers, Ravenel said. Students who leave their numbers on the answering machine will be con tacted when a volunteer arrives, she said. This is the first time the information line has been used at UNC, Thornton said. "We are excited to see what kind of questions will be asked and what it's going to turn out like," she said. Elections, turmoil in Russia cause cancellation of visit Staff report Local elections in the Soviet Union and the after-effects of the September coup have caused the Chapel Hill Saratov sister cities delegation to can cel its trip. Chapel Hill Mayor Jonathan Howes, Carrboro Mayor Eleanor Kinnaird and Soviet sistercities program leader Dirk Spruyt had planned to travel to Saratov the first week of September, but So viet officials denied the delegation's request for visas because of the coup. The group then planned to go in mid-October, but scheduling conflicts caused the committee to reconsider. UNC history professor Don Raleigh, who arrived in the Soviet Union at the beginning of the coup, recently re turned and advised the delegation to wait until the spring, Howes said, Ra leigh will return to Russia at that time. "Don Raleigh came back a week ago with some stories about it," Howes said. "His opinion was it would be more productive afterthe dust settled." Howes also said local elections in Saratov woulddisruptanOctobervisit. "The mayor, who is a good demo crat, with a small 'd,' wouldn't be available while we would be there," Howes said. Howes, who is not running for re election this year, said he was looking forward to visiting Saratov before the end of his second term. "I was disappointed we weren't going in September,"he said. "It would have been exciting to have been there during that time. I also would have liked to have been there to observe the elections. ... It's also disappointing to me personally not to go as mayor." Howes said he hopes to remain a part of the delegation, though he will step down in December. "I hope to stay involved with the sister cities program," he said, adding that the next mayor will decide who travels to Saratov in the spring. Rape from page 1 we do not feel it would be appropriate for Carmen to represent the University and its athletic program. Coach (Bill) Lam and I have therefore decided to suspend him from our wrestling team until the situation has been settled." Lam said in the release that he had discussed the matter with Catullo. "I have talked to the young man and even though he is a non-scholarship athlete and maintains his innocence, he understands he cannot represent our program until the matter is resolved," Lam stated. Tara Fikes, director of housing and community development for Orange County, said that in the past, much of the money for housing in the county has come from the state. "I think if we can get funding directly from HUD, it might be more benefi cial," she said. CHAS isacomprehensivedocument that requires local governments to esti mate housing assistance needs of low income, handicapped, disabled and homeless people for a five-year period. It is a new requirement resulting from the adoption of the National Affordable Housing Act of 1990. CHAS replaces the Housing Assis tance Plan and the Comprehensive Homeless Assistance Plan. The preliminary draft of CHAS for Chapel Hill estimates 2,234 "very low and low-income families" in need of rental housing. "The availability for low-income housing is diminishing," Vaughn said. "It's difficult for low-income people to find housing in Chapel Hill they can afford." Jacquelyn Gist, a board member on the Orange County Community Hous ing Coiporation, said the low and mod erate housing issue is important. In Carrboro, it is estimated that 3,483 citi zens, out of almost 1 1 ,000, fall into the low-income range bracket. "It's an issue we have to constantly be addressing," said Gist, a member of the Carrboro Board of Aldermen. After the public hearings on CHAS have been completed, the towns of Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and the rest of Orange County are expected to recommend that the documents be incorporated into a final document. The deadline for submitting the final docu ment to HUD is Oct. 31. In addressing the needs of low- and moderate-income housing, the law re quires local jurisdictions to provide public hearings for generating citizen participation in developing strategies. Carrboro has set a hearing for Tues day, and the Orange County Commis sioners will listen to public comment Wednesday. The Hillsborough Town Board has planned a public hearing for Oct. 22. I Comix relief Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Doug Marlette drives home his point during the fall 1 991 Reed Sarratt Lecture Wednesday night UfHGram Hjlvenon in Howell Hall. Marlette is the creator of the syndicated strip "Kudzu" and draws cartoons for New York's Newsday. UNC offers graduate school advice By John Broadfoot Staff Writer Potential graduate students now have an established source of information and help as they begin planning for graduate school. The Office of Pre-graduate Advising was created in January to help juniors and seniors prepare to enter arts and sciences graduate programs. Robert Kirkpatrick, head of the ad vising office, said he was concerned that students were not aware of fellow ships and other financial aid available to graduate students. "We have found that our seniors are not aggressively competing for the graduate fellowships at UNC as well as universities all across the country," Kirkpatrick said. "Thus, last yeartheseniorcjass presi dent set up the pre-graduate advising office to make students aware of dead lines for the Graduate Record Exam, fellowship applications and other op portunities," he said. The pre-graduate advising office held an information forum in April at which the graduate school dean, the honors program dean, a representative for the Fulbright scholarship and others fielded questions from potential graduate stu dents. The office wants to set up similar sessions this year, Kirkpatrick said. Students who plan to enter business, law or medical schools should seek advice from advisers in those depart ments. One source of information for cur rent graduate students is the Graduate and Professional Student Federation. Jane Roper, GPSF president, said she thought the organization was an excel lent resource for graduates in all fields. "We give out announcements during the Senate meetings, and the represen tatives relay the announcements to their respective departments," she said. "In addition to the meetings, the GPSF pub lishes an announcement sheet, which is posted in each department." Laser printing service has low student turnout By Peter B. Smith Staff Writer The student government executive branch plans to continue offering laser printing at the Phoenix office despite the lack of student turnout the first week. Phoenix Editor Charles Overbeck said he thought students would take advantage of the service as soon as they heard about it. "We've had people come in at differ ent times of the week wanting to use it," he said. "People don't know when it is available." The service, which started last week, is open Fridays from 8 a.m. tp noon. The Phoenix office is located in the back of the Student Union. Josh Siegel, student body treasurer, said publicity was not the problem. "I think peoplejust haven't worked it into their schedules yet," he said. "We' re advertising it in (The Daily Tar Heel's) Campus Calendar, and the Phoenix has run ads for it in last week's magazine." The service allows students to laserprint documents such as resumes or term papers. A lab assistant is in the Phoenix of fice during the specified hours to help with the printing. Students are charged 50 cents per page, but the service is free for any student organization. The executive branch is paying for the lab assistant, the paper and the printer's toner cartridge. But easier ways exist to provide laser printing for the campus, he said. "You could put one in the library and hook it up to an ID card reader," he said. "There it could be ready all the time." The agreement between the Phoenix and the executive branch is working well, Overbeck said. "As long as the student government holds up their promise, everything should be all right." WE'LL TRY ANYTHING I ! J A Unlvrlty Squt Chnpcl HIM 967-8935 HAROLD Has a Secret! Harold is a Hemophiliac. But thanks to people like you and the folks at Sera-Tec, Harold can camp, swim, run and play just like any other child. You Make The Difference! Hemophiliacs need a special clotting agent found in blood plasma. Now, you can donate your plasma to help a child like Harold. Earn $51 every two weeks. Call Today and Find Out More!!! 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