INSIDE:
SPORTS: Where have the
warriors gone? p. 6
OPINION: Dearii penally not ihe best
option p. 2
The Blue
FEATURES: AIDS exhibit at Pack Place
p. 4
COMICS: Soap Summary
p. 8
"We must combine the toughness of the
serpent and the softness of the dove, a tough
mind and a tender heart. ''—Martin Luther
King, Jr.
BANNER
WEATHER: Mostly cloudy
with a chance of light snow.
Highs in 30s. Lows in teens.
VOLUME 23
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE
NUMBER 16
1
Mountain Trace Resident Says Man He Saw Night Of Fire Is Not Accused Murderer
Police: Link Between Fatal Asheville Fires And Mountain Trace Fire Not Ruled Out
Will Rothschild
Staff Writer
A UNCA student and Mountain Trace Apart
ment resident says the man he saw minutes before
a fire broke out in his building Dec. 11 is not Jamie
Lamont Smith, the man Asheville police charged
last week with two counts of murder and arson in
connection with two different fires at local apart
ment complexes.
Asheville police and fire department investiga
tors are yet to charge anyone in connection with
the Dec. 11 Mountain Trace break-in and fire, and
say they are not ruling out any possibilities, even if
Jon Wolfe, a 21-year-old UNCA junior, says the
man he saw just before a fire broke out in his
neighbor’s apartment was not Smith.
Wolfe said he has not been taken to a lineup in an
attempt to identify the man he saw that night, just
moments before the fire broke out. Wolfe did,
however, say he does not think the man he saw that
night was Smith, who was arrested Jan. 27.
“ Do you mean the guy who has been breaking in,
killing and burning to destroy the evidence?,”
Wolfe said Monday. “No, lord
no that wasn’t him. I don’t think
so. I wouldn’t say that... I don’t
think they are [the same per
son] . This guy was a shorter guy
and I only saw him for like ten
seconds and when you’re not
thinking about something you
don’t pay attention. I really
didn’t get a good look at him.”
On Jan. 30, WYFF TV Chan
nel 4 started its 6 p.m. newscast
with a story on the possible link
between Smith and the Moun
tain Trace fire, which occurred
10 days before the first fire Smith
is charged with setting, a Dec.
21 fatal blaze at a Montford
apartment complex.
Asheville police Lt. Ross Robinson, who is head
ing the ongoing Smith investigations, would not
comment in detail on the status of the Mountain
A couple enters Mountain Trace Apartments where UNCA houses some of its
resident students. Plioto hy Kara Merz
Trace investigation.
“Just to be honest with you, I think that [the
Mountain Trace break-in and fire] will be a matter
the DA will address at some future time in front of
the grand jury,” Robinson said Tuesday. “But we
are not through investigating in that neighbor
hood at this point. Until we feel we are at a
completion point in the investigation, there won’t
be any charges filed anyway.”
Robinson also would not confirm nor rule out
Smith or James Damon Davidson, charged along
with Smith in the Dec. 21 fire at Grace Apart
ments on Chestnut Street, as suspects in the Moun
tain Trace fire.
“Our policy and our practice is not to name
suspects,” Robinson said. “I can’t say that they are
suspects and I can’t say that we have eliminated
them either. We are assembling the case prosecu
tion summary now and anticipate that it could go
Please see "Fire," page 10
UNCA Professor's Childhood Friend Is Executed
Chris Small
Staff Writer
UNCA Assistant Professor of Psychol
ogy Pamela Laughon visited with con
victed murderer and rapist Kermit Smith
the Monday before his execution by
lethal injection at North Carolina Cen
tral Prison in Raleigh.
“All of us knew
that there was
something not
right about him,"
said Laughon who
grew up with
Smith, and went to
the same high
school.
Smith, 37, was
pronounced dead
at 2:12 a.m. Janu
ary 24. He was
convicted of the
rape and murder of
Whelette Collins,
who was kid
napped from
North Carolina
Wesleyan College
along with two other cheerleaders, ac
cording to an article in the January 25
issue of the Asheville Citizen-Times.
Smith was sentenced to death in 1981.
Pamela Laughon, Asst. Professor of Psychology
Photo by Christy King
His trial lasted four days, but the ap
peals lasted 14 years, the Associated
Press reported.
“He wasri’t aggressive [in school]. He
was not hitting people, spitting at people,
punching people. Those kids people
will send to a mental health center very
very fast,” said Laughon.
Everyone picked on Smith, but be
cause he made very
good grades, didn’t
show much emotion,
and never retaliated,
nobody was scared of
him or referred him
to treatment in high
school, according to
Laughon.
“He [Smith] took
out his whole lifetime
of anger on one single
innocent victim, and
he said that many
many times over the
last few months,” said
Laughon.
Smith gave permis-
sion for Laughon to
talk to her students about the case, and
about him. He even wanted to talk to
her students personally from prison
somehow, but time ran out before this
could be arranged, said Laughon.
When she came back from Central
Prison she walked them [the students]
through the last two days of his life in
some detail, including the execution.
“Moststudents in my classes were very
mixed about the death penalty, said
Laughon.
“I wouldn’t expect them to have well-
defined ideas about what is a really gray
area.”
Many of Laughon’s students came up
to her later and told her that they had
done much thinking and talking to
people about the issue, and were appre
ciative that they had been prompted to
think about something on a personal
level that they had not thought about
for a long time, said Laughon.
There was empathy from some stu
dents and others were still pro-death,
even after doing much soul searching,
said Laughon.
“The story I presented was a biased
story. It was just his story," said
Laughon.
“I tried to be real careful with my
students that I was not whining for the
criminal, that I fully understood there
was another story, but the only access I
had was to the criminal’s side of the
story.”
Laughon stayed with Smith’s mother
Please see "Execution," page 10
A Time To Remember Heritage
Christin Hall
Staff Writer
UNCA has numerous events planned
in celebration of African-American
Heritage Month, which lasts through
out the month of February. All of the
events, which range from lectures to
musical performances, will take place
on campus, and most are free for anyone
to attend.
Angela Mahdi, president of the Afri-
can-American Student Association
(AASA), said the importance of Afri
can-American Heritage Month is to
educate people about a part of history
that is often neglected.
African-American Heritage Month
exists “because we get no African-Ameri-
cah history in the public education sys
tem,” said Mahdi. “We all need to
remember the purpose of Black History
Month and study the history.”
Tim Martin, a senior, said it is valuable
for African Americans to remember their
roots and the struggles of their ances
tors.
“Black History Month is important
because it helps you realize what people
before us had to go through to get to
where we are now,” said Martin.
Carolyn E. Briggs, UNCA’s coordina
tor of multicultural affairs, said the first
upcoming event is scheduled for Feb.
17. David DuBois, son of the late
W.E.B. DuBois, will speak about the
life and legacy of his father, Briggs said.
The lecture will be held in Lipinsky
Auditorium at 7 p.m.
W.E.B. DuBois was an influential pro
tester for racial equality during the early
twentieth century, according to The
Humanities: Cultural Roots and Conti
nuities, Volume Two. In an excerpt from
his The Souls of Black Folks, DuBois
wrote about the goals of many of the
people African American Heritage
Month commemorates.
“He [the black man] would not
Africanize America... He would not
bleach lys Negro soul in a flood ofwhite
Americanism... He simply wishes to
make it possible for a man to be both a
Negro and an American,” DuBois wrote.
Briggs said the purpose of African-
American Heritage Month, also called
Black History Month, is “to celebrate
and focus on contributions of black
Americans.”
According to Briggs, the origin of Af
rican American Heritage Month dates
back to 1925 or 1926, when Carter G.
Woodson, known as the “Father of Black
History,” received official approval to
designate a Negro History Week. Over
tirhe, Briggs said, Negro History Week
Please see "History," page 10
THEFT AND VANDAUSM IN NEW PARKING GARAGE ROB STUDENTS' SECURITY
Andrea Lawson
Staff Writer
Four Cars were broken into in the new parking
deck and one in a campus parking lot last Mon
day. Several students blame a lack of security for
the incidents.
“It’s not a matter of where you park here, it s the
fact that there’s no security at night and there s
nothing that can be done about it, said Richard
Evans, a senior and literature major. It s in no
way the security’s fault, it s a lack of security.
The break-ins began Monday afternoon in park
ing lot seven, located across from the Ramsey
Library construction site. According to UNCA
public safety reports, Jennifer Davis, a sopho
more accounting major, discovered that her car
window had been broken and a portable compact
disc player had been stolen.
The parking deck break-ins began late Monday
night. Evans said that he left his car in the deck at
around 2:00 p.m. and was notified of the crime at
11:30 p.m. Public safety reports stated that dam
ages to the vehicle included a broken driver’s side
window and window frame. Approximately $2900
in property was Stolen, including a stereo system
and $260 cash.
“It [the break-in] was done in a manner that
would take time to do,” said Evans. “It s not just
like going in there and ripping out a stereo. It had
to take at least 20 to 30 minutes.”
Evans said that he thinks the person responsible
for the crime was traveling on foot.
“They stole my wallet out of my car, but they
threw it under somebody s car, said Evans. That
means they were on foot for at least part of the
distance.”
Items also were stolen from a vehicle belonging to
Chris Brooker, a freshman. A passerby noticed a
broken sliding door window in Brooker s van at
around 11:30 p.m. ACB radio was stolen from t^ie
vehicle, as well as the knobs from the van’s radio.
“This has happened to me before, not here, so I
really didn’t get that mad,” said Brooker. “It’s just
a major inconvenience.”
Brooker said that the security officers were help
ful, but additional security is needed.
“The security was more than helpful, but there
just wasn’t enough of it,” said Brooker. “If the guy
who was taking my report wasn’t out on the streets,
who is? It’s a shame that they build a $5 million
building and they can’t afford to put in a couple
thousand dollars worth of cameras to protect the
cars. Unless they put cameras in there. I’ll never
park in there again.”
Two other students’ cars also sustained damage.
Cathleen Braddock, a junior psychology and phi
losophy major, was informed around 11:30 p.m.
that her passenger side rear window had been
broken and the convertible top damaged. The
other student was informed around 1 a.m. that his
passenger window had been broken. Nothing was
stolen from the vehicles.
Jeffrey Van Slykei director of public safety, said
that a man was seen running out of parking lot
seven towards Sevier Street at about 1:00 a.m.
According to public safety reports, a white male,
6’0", 180 pounds, medium build, wearing a white
ball cap and a blue-green jacket was seen by two
witnesses. The area was searched by an officer, but
no one was found. Van Slyke said that the descrip
tion “could fit just about anybody.”
Van Slyke said that public safety officers patrol
campus every night, but it is easy for break-ins to
occur.
“Even as much as we monitor [the campus] at
night and patrol, they obviously could be hiding
anywhere and know our whereabouts to know
exactly when to strike.”
Please see "Theft," page 10