The Daily Tar HeelMonday, February 10, 19923 I rjiygf Town parking amnesty to begin Saturday Chapel Hill's parking ticket amnesty program will begin Saturday. The program will give residents a chance to pay outstanding parking vio lations with 50 percent off any late fees that have compounded. Individuals must Till out an amnesty request card to receive information on the status of their parking violations Violators must send the cards to the town of Chapel Hill by March 1. The town then will send violators instructions on how to pay thedebt. Violators must pay outstanding fines by March 1 5. The town then will inten sify its collection efforts and will file civil claims or refer cases to a collec tions and processing agency. To be eligible for the program, an individual must have received a park ing citation from the town of Chapel Hill prior to Jan. 1, 1992. Individuals may not receive amnesty for moving violations, warrants of ar rest, bench warrants or other non-park ing tickets. Amnesty request cards may be picked up at Chapel Hill Town Hall, police headquarters, the transportation depart ment. Chapel Hill parking services of fices, the Piirks and Recreation Depart ment, the Hargraves Center or the Com munity Center. Violators also can call the town at (919) 932-2912 and request that cards be mailed to them. Foradditional informationabout the program, contact Eric Luther at Chapel Hill Parking Services at (9 1 9) 968-2835. Chronicle Holocaust ad focus of local debate The Chapel Hill-Carrboro chapter of the N.C. Civil Liberties Union will hold a moderated panel debate titled "The Campus Press, Free Speech and the Damnable Lie: The (Duke) Chronicle and the Ad Denying the Holocaust" on Tuesday, Feb. 1 1. . The debate will be held at 7:30 p.m. at The Community Church of Chapel Hill, located at 106 Purefoy Road. The panel will address such ques tions as: Does the first amendment pro tect ads promoting inflammatory and degrading interpretations of history? Who is to decide what is historically truthful? How do these issues relate to other issues of campus free speech? Members of the panel will include moderator Ferrel Guillory, a columnist for The News and Obsewer; Margo Crawford, director of the University black cultural center; Rabbi Frank Fischer of the Hillel Foundation; Ann Heimberger, editor of The Chronicle; Professor David Lange of Duke Law School; Professor Chuck Stone, Walter Spearman professor of journalism and mass communication at the University; Kim Thornton, editor of The Echo at N.C. Central University; and Jennifer Wing, editor of The Daily Tar Heel. Individuals seeking more informa tion may call Walter Bennett at the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chapter of the Civil Liberties Union at 962-4107. Dance to aid speech and hearing projects The Meridian Sertoma Club will sponsor a Valentine's Day Benefit Dance at the Omni Europa Hotel Fri day. .The Embers will play live music for the dance. The dance will be held from 8 p.m. until midnight, and proceeds will be donated to area speech and hearing projects. Tickets for the dance are $16 and may be bought at Vaughn Independent Pharmacy on Weaver Street in Carrboro or by calling 1-800-487-3767. Federation to discuss interfaith relationships : The Durham-Chapel Hill Jewish Fed eration and Community Council will present a series of workshops discuss ing interfaith relationships. The six workshops, titled "One Couple Two Faiths" will be held at Hillel House, 210 W. Cameron Ave. The workshops will begin February 27 and will meet from 8 p.m. until 9:30 p.m. Couples interested in the workshops should contact Brenda Ginsberg at the Jewish Community Service at 929-67 17. Council might ask feds to alter cable laws . The Chapel Hill Town Council may pass a resolution tonight asking the U.S. Congress to give local governments more control of cable service in their areas. Council members will vote onareso lution that would urge Congress to change the Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984. ; According to a memo from Town Manager Cal Horton, the act allowed the cable industry to become monopo lized and cable operators to increase rates and reduce services nationwide. ; The National League of Cities has adopted policies that support restoring regulatory authority to local govern ments and increasing competition among cable companies, the memo states. Congress denies STV referendum spot By Shannon Crownover Staff Writer Student Congress voted down a bill Wednesday that would have created a referendum to increase student activi ties fees by 85 cents for Student Televi sion. Geoff Newman, STV business man ager, said STV needed the money to buy new equipment. "The majority of the equipment we use is old and is always breaking down," Newman said. "The shows are not get ting out on time." But congress members said they had tried to be conservative and had not approved any referendu lis for the stu dent ballot that request ;d an activities fees increase. Playing in the dark Bassist David Connell of the Connells performs Friday night at Memorial Hall as the band's logo shines behind him. Adoring Area schools emphasize multiculturaUsm all year By Christy Hardee Staff Writer February has been designated African-American History Month in Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools, but local educa tors are striving to emphasize the im portance of multicultural education throughout the year. "We have been tackling the problem of integrating multicultural programs into the yearlong curriculum for the past three years," Chapel Hill High School teacher Burmandeane George said. George said several teachers spent the summer developing a multicultural curriculum for system schools. Programs with a multicultural em phasis have been designed for all grade levels, George said. Chapel Hill High School's English department has integrated more works by black authors into its curriculum, and black history is being taught in the school for the first time this year, she said. "We are trying, but there are still more things we can do," George said. GPSF hopeful Harrell targets grad concerns about fees, insurance By J. Michael Bradley Staff Writer T r a c e y Harrell, candi date for Gradu ate and Profes sional Student Federation presi Harrell dent, wants to work for wider GPSF recognition and increased graduate student involve ment. "I really want to make (the federa tion) a strong graduate student organi zation," Harrell said. Harrell, a second-year law student from Tarboro, said she would work to make GPSFmore recognized "among administrators, students and the pub lic." GPSF is a graduate student-run or ganization designed to address con cerns and ensure fair treatment of graduate students. Harrell said another goal was to make sure that a higher percentage of student fees would come back to gradu ate students. Only 15 percent of gradu ate student fees now come back to . 1 Rep. Kelly Karras, Dist. 14, said: "Nobody had anything against STV. It wasjustamessage that congress doesn't want any fee increases." Rep. Scott Maxwell, Dist. 15, said students often were uninformed about referendums and could not make a wise choice. More than one-third of students do not have the option of receiving STV, because they do not have cable television, he said. "Congress needs to protect the unin formed," he said. "Something like this can't be explained in two or three sen tences on the ballot." Maxwell also said STV had not ful filled their promise to student govern ment to raise $8,000 this year. He said they had raised $300. "(STV) shouldn't come to the stu - r if ' "We are not going to just bury our heads in the sand." Carrboro Elementary School princi pal Randy Marshall said multiculturaUsm had become a system wide theme. "We have integrated a lot of black history and multiculturalism into the regular cur riculum." Carrboro Elementary staff members will participate in a workshop this month called "Valuing Diversity Within the Classroom," he said. The program is designed to help the staff understand cultural boundaries students bring to the classroom. Kindergarten students will study Kwanzaa, the Chinese New Year, In dian celebrations and Native American celebrat ions, Marshall said, adding that teachers presented this unit for the past couple of years. Charley Stewart, principal of Grey Culbreth Middle School, said each middle-school grade focused on a dif ferent aspect of multiculturalism. The seventh-grade curriculum focuses on issues such as stereotyping and preju dice. GPSF President graduate departments, she said. She also wants to increase involve ment in the federation. She hopes to make graduate students more active in Student Congress by gaining more graduate congress seats, she said. The federation should concentrate more on graduate student activities, she said. Harrell said she believed concen tration on pertinent graduate student issues would increase GPSF involve ment. These include insurance poli cies for medical students, Odum Village's fate and fees, Harrell said. Service as a GPSF senator repre senting the law school motivated Harrell to run for president, she said. Each graduate department is repre sented by a GPSF senator. "I saw an opportunity to work for all graduate students, as opposed to as a senator, you mainly look out for the interests in your department," Harrell said. dents looking for a handout," Maxwell said. But Darryl Grissom, congress mem ber and sponsor of the ST V bi 1 1 , said the conservative trend in congress was tak ing power away from students. Students should be able to decide what to do about their activities fees, he said. Bryan Tucker, assistant producer of STV's "Off the Cuff," said he was dis appointed by congress's decision but could understand members' reasons. He said STV provided a greater benefit than congress believed, because it gave students experience in producing tele vision programs. "We haven't heard the student voice," Tucker said. "If congress would have allowed it to be on the referendum, DTHEvie Sandlin fans of the Raleigh-based group danced to a mix of old favorites and new songs and coaxed two encores from the group. Carrboro Elementary assistant prin cipal Settle Womble said: "We try to get away from putting our focus on the month of February. That was important for a while to make people aware of the African-American culture and contri butions, but now there is enough infor mation that we try to incorporate it throughout the year." Seventh-grade teacher Susan Armstrong said rather than having one big program for African-American His tory Month this year, Grey Culbreth teachers teamed up to conduct programs for each grade. "The seventh grade team is going to read African-American literature, po Carrboro company searching for cable pirates By Wendy Perrell Staff Writer Cablevision Industries (CVI) will launch an investigation this month to crack down on Carrboro cable pirates, but violators have a three-month am nesty period to turn themselves in. Kim Elderkin, a site manager for CVI, said the company would give un authorized cable users a chance to come forward and pay for the service they have been using. "Right now we're just notifying cus tomers about the audit and giving people a chance to come forward," she said. CVI also will begin an educational campaign this month to inform cable users and abusers about the upcoming investigation of illegal cable use. Elderkin said cable stealing includes illegally tapping into cable boxes and Conservatives fiscal conservatism. "Most congress members have a good opinion of what their constituents feel or stand on things." In past years congress members paid more attention to special-interest groups than to their constituents, Moore said. "I think students have a strong voice this year." Clark agreed congress was more con servative this year. "We've really worked with each other, and that's helped to create a conservative per sona," he said. Many groups are aware that congress is more conservative this year, and these groups expect to have their budgets cut, he said. Some congress members said they didn't want to elim inate funding for any of the more than 30 groups requesting fees. But they plan to streamline bud gets if the groups can't prove that they need all requested money. Moore said it was important during budget hearings that congress not dis tribute all the money allotted for student groups because many organizations students could have told us what they thought." The timing of STV's request also contributed to its failure, some congress members said. Rep. Ron Swift, Dist. 7, said. "Sev eral members of congress felt that if (STV) really needed this money, they should have come earlier." Rep. Kevin Hunter, Dist. 14, said most referendums were taken care of before Winter Break. Congress did not have time to debate comprehensively the bill and place it on the ballot in time for the Feb. 1 1 election, he said. "It was brought up at a very poor time," Hunter said. "The meeting was rushed and everybody wanted to go to the bars and go to the (Duke-Carolina) game." Residents petition protesting wellness floor site By Valerie Holbert Staff Writer After being notified last week that the second floor of Ehringhaus Resi dence Hall would be reserved for a "Living Well" program next year, resi dents have circulated a petition hoping to find a way to keep their second-floor rooms. The goal of the petition is not to eliminate the wellness program, but to have it implemented over a two- to three-year period, said Tom Sander, second-floor president. Residents who want to stay would remain and live with wellness program participants, he said. But Kris Brockmann, Ehringhaus area director, said such an alternative would not work, because the wellness program must be a community. "It is total immersion," she said. Brockmann said she understood that students were upset. But it is hard to talk with students about the program, when they don't really know what wellness is, she said. "It's not just jogging every day," she said. "It's balance and being whole." etry and short stories," Armstrong said. Students also will learn about his torically significant black people. School board vice chairwoman Ruth Roystersaid African-American History Month was not new to the school sys tem. "We do this every year," Royster said. "It keeps fresh in our minds that this is an issue in our schools." George said Chapel Hill High School's theme for African-American History Month was "Celebrate the Spirit". "This means we will celebrate the spirit of unity, brotherhood and peace that unites all humankind," George said. using service that was supposed to be disconnected but was not. If a person moves into a new resi dence and uses cable that was con nected by the previous tenant, that per son is a cable thief, she said. "There's no such thing as free cable," Elderkin said. "They're (illegal users) not paying for it, but our subscribers are having to pick up the costs." As many as four CVI inspectors will visit cable users to determine whether they are receiving the services they are supposed to have, Elderkin said. Violators turning themselves in will not be prosecuted during February, March or April, she said. Under N.C. law, illegal cable users can be fined $500 or sentenced to 30 days in jail, Elderkin said. Violators will be prosecuted if caught after the three-month amnesty period, she said. would ask congress for funds during the year. A group of representatives set up the Student Fees Task Force this year in an attempt to scrutinize the way groups spend fees. Members made reports about the groups and presented them to con gress so representatives would be better informed about the groups requesting money. The task force's chairman, Scott Maxwell, agreed that congress was fis cally conservative this year. "Congress is financially conserva tive in the sense that we are watching the money that is being handed out more carefully," Maxwell said. Past congresses funded groups with out looking into their budgets to make sure the money was spent responsibly, he said. "This year congress is checking to see how student groups used the amount of money appropriated last year before giving out any more," Maxwell said. Rep. Andrew Cohen, a finance com mittee member, said some groups in the past had asked for much more money Newman said although STV would' not receive money from activities fees. ' they would be able to maintain the four' to five shows on their schedule. But the quality of STV programs will not be as professional as they could be. ' he said. "With betterequipment.you can have " better shows," Newman said. "And bet-' ter shows lead to bigger audiences." Newman said STV was organizing a ' fund-raising campaign that would be gin next semester. ' STV crew members will be willing' to f i Im campus or town events for a fee. ' he said. "We are going to .try to generate' some of our own money, so we can try for the referendum again next year," ' Newman said. circulate The program would provide a struc tured setting offering residents an envi ronment that would promote and ex tend opportunities for better health and well-being, Brockmann said. Sander said most residents did not oppose the program itself, but they were angry that their community was being disrupted. "We're not against the program," he said. "They want to keep the wellness community together, and we want to keep our community together." Many residents said they believed officials should have given them more notice, since the program would have such an effect on their community. Belinda Whitaker, a second-floor resident, said: "We had no say whatso ever. It would have been better if we had been able to vote on this and talked about it more." Shajuana McMillan, also a second floor resident, said moving to another floor or dorm would mean having to leave behind a place in which she had lived for two years. "I feel I ike this is my See WELLNESS, page 7 Several assemblies are planned throughout the month at Chapel Hill High. WTVD's Miriam Thomas will speak about "Keeping the Dream Alive" Feb. 1 8. A group from Raleigh's Enloe High School will perform the play "Dark Testament" Feb. 2 1 , and Beverly Jones, head of the history department at N.C. Central University, will conduct an edu cational forum examining reasons for observing black history month Feb. 24. Carrboro Elementary will display an art exhibit by Charles Lilly in its media center Feb. 10-14. Lilly's art depicts black Americans who have made out standing contributions to society. Elderkin estimated that cable thefts cost the company thousands of dollars a year. The CVI investigations will give the company a more accurate idea of how many people are stealing cable locally, she said. More service is stolen at apartment complexes, because it is easier to access boxes on the sides of buildings without being noticed, Elderkin said. Candy Poole, assistant manager of Pinegate Apartments in Carrboro, said the complex had not had any problems with their tenants illegally using cable. "It's hard to access here, because we have wall cable, and it's not as easy to hook up," she said. At least half of the residents in the complex's 289 units have cable, Poole See THIEVES, page 7 from page 1 than congress could give them because they had anticipated cuts in their re quests. The task force was set up to prevent overly large requests, he said. Other groups, aware that congress will scrutinize their requests carefully, come with a detailed budget, he said. "CGLA (Carolina Gay and Lesbian Association) has been virtually impec cable," Cohen said. "There is no fat, and so nothing was taken away." Rep. Michael Kolb, Dist. I, said he agreed that CGLA had been careful not to ask for too much in past years, but I. listed it among the controversial groups that raised debate during previous hear ings. The Black Student Movement, Phoe nix and Yackety Yack are other groups that have raised debate, he said. BSM asked for a large amount of money last year but received only a fraction of its request. The group got more funds than many other groups but still complained, Kolb said."Many con gress members took that to be a slap in the face."

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view