r City postpones water flushing. 8 "All in ihe Timing" opens Oct 4 Temis coach hopes to bring experience SOCCer teHm. fo team. See page 6 UNCG downs women’s 6 The Blue BANNER Volume 24, Number 5 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT ASHEVILLE September 28, 1995 NEWS IN BRIEF ■ Masterplanning underway Renee Slaydon UNCA is preparing to compile a master land use plan that will include input from students, faculty, and staff members. The project, which admin istrators hope to begin in November, will focus on looking at the entire campus as well as sketching out future building sites. “We expect to meet with the master planners for the first time sometime in November to kind of start that project,” said Ron Reagan, director of facilities planing. Those involved in the planning will look at designated open spaces on campus, utilities, phone lines, and drainage. The plan will also plot out areas for potential building sites, such as new adminis tration buildings and prospective dorms. The master land use plan will map out any major structural changes that will occur on the campus in the fu ture. The plan will be a guide to give administrators will a good idea of where to put new buildings, accord ing to Reagan. In addition, project planners will study walking time from different parts of the campus, as well as traffic circu lation. Planners will mark areas for future parking spaces and examine specific traffic problems around the university. “It’s like a comprehensive plan that will hopefully guide our planning ef forts in the future,” said Reagan. The project will offer several oppor tunities for the student body to in clude their own input in the planning process. “I’m not sure if all the committees have been put together. They’ll be made up of students, faculty, and staff,” said Reagan. UNCA’s last master planning project was drawn up in 1986. “It’s really good to do one 10 to 15 years in advance, and upgrade it every five years. We hope to complete it by next summer,” said Reagan. According to Tom Byers, special as sistant to the chancellor, UNCA is currently in the process of selecting a contracting firm to work on the project. Funding for the project has to be negotiated by the state of North Carolina. The project will not actu ally begin until there is a successful negotiation with the firm and the state, Byers said. ■ Marijuana found in student's dorm room Amy Cannon Campus security charged a student with possession ofmarij uana and drug paraphernalia after searching his Highrise room Sept. 11. Security searched David Jason Davies’ room after having reason to believe that he was keeping marijuana there, according to a campus police report. Davies signed a search consent form, and the officers asked him if he had any drugs in his room. According to the police report, Davies told campus security officers that he had marijuana in his safe, but the key was at his parent's home. Davies agreed to let the officers take the safe to the security office until he could get the key. After Davies located the key, the officers opened the safe and found “some green leafy substance, brown ish-green seeds, plastic tube, cigarette paper roller, and a wooden tube pipe,” according to the police report. Multi-million dollar gym only partially accessible Planning director says swimming pool will not be accessible, blames funding Paul Buttles Staff Writer In 1991, UNCA agreed to make modifications to the university after the Office of Civil Rights(OCR) found UNCA in violation of a section of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, according to the vice chancellor for student af fairs. The violation regarded accessi bility of activities and programs to the handicapped. However, Ron Reagan, director of facilities planning said that some sec tions of the Justice Center will not be accessible to disabled students, even after completion of a multi-million dollar renovation project. “I don’t know how much we spent, but I would guess that it was in the $100,000 to $250,000 range to meet the requirements that the OCR placed on us at that time,” said Ericlovacchini. UNCA agreed in 1992 to remedy all violations by completing all modifica tions necessary to make its programs and activities accessible, as required by law, and stated that the Justice Center renovations would make all programs housed in that facility accessible. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 states that handicapped persons can not be excluded from, or denied the benefits of any program or activity which re ceives federal financial assistance. The Rehabilitation Act was replaced in 1992 by the Americans with Disabili ties Act, which extends the stipula tions of the Rehabilitation Act to in clude all public and private businesses. Reagan said the new $5.2 million renovation to the Justice Center, which will feature North Carolina’s longest indoor track, three new basketball courts, four new racquetball courts, and a large weight room, will not have a pool that is accessible to the mobil ity-impaired. “It will not make the pool accessible,” said Reagan. Blaming the pool’s inaccessibility on lack of funding, Reagan said mobility- impaired students would be able to access the building housing the pool and watch swim meets, but would not be able to use the pool themselves. “I don’t understand that,” said lovacchini. “I didn’t know about the pool. You’re telling me something I have not heard. Cost is not one of those things you need to look at. What you look at is how can you get it done, and how can you make the facility accessible.” “I swear, these guys (UNCA admin istrators) get themselves in such trouble,” said Ken Franklin, coordi nator of the North Carolina office on Americans with Disabilities. “If all other students have access to the pool, then it’s a very serious problem. The fact is that the U.S. Justice Depart ment has made it clear that there would be almost no circumstances that they could conceive of where a government entity would be able to justify an un due financial burden. If they can solve the accessibility problem now, they’re going to be a whole lot better off than if a complaint is filed.” Last week, David Bornman, a mobil ity-impaired UNCAstudent, met with campus officials to discuss accessibil- , ^ VIOLATION conf. on pg. 10 Plioto by Marti Parson Mobilily-impaired student David Bornman cannot access the basketball court in his wheelchair. Although Bornman will be able get to the court after the renovations, the swimming pool will still be inaccessible to him. Record number of students run for SGA freshman senate James Hertsch Staff writer A record number of stu dents are running for stu dent senate positions in this semester’s October fresh man senator elections, ac cording to election organiz- Eleven freshmen have ap plied to run for the vacant seats, said Robbie Combs, SGA vice president. “This is the most people we’ve had running for senator that I can remember in a long time,” said Wes Morrison, a junior senator. According to Combs, the freshmen running for senator are Joshua Littlejohn, Kevin Briggs, William Matthews, Alisha Jackson, Hillary Leon, Derek Edwards, Tiffany Drummond, Alphonso Donaldson, James Bunn, ManzoTiya, andjohn Hodges. “They seem like they really want to make a difference, be cause none of them knew they were going to get paid (a schol arship) for the job,” Combs said. “I think it shows just how interested the freshman class is in SGA.” Currently, the post of elec tions commissioner is vacant, but Combs is in charge of run ning the freshman elections. Jonathan Byers, a sophomore chemistry major, was former president Denise Tomlinson’s appointee, but declined the post, according to Dhaval “Doc” Patel, student body president. Patel appointed Combs to run the freshman senatorial elec tion, citing Comb’s previous experience as elections com missioner two years ago. “He (Combs) has experience in running an election, and I have given that job to him as of right now,” said Patel. “People within SGA will help during the polling on Oct. 3 and 4, and sit at the polling sites.” Byers said because he is trying to obtain an open sophomore senator position in the student senate, SGA rules do not permit him to hold the position of elec tions commissioner. Patel said other vacancies in SGA include commuter and se nior senator positions in the sen- SGA cont. on pg- 10 UNCA acquires archival property, prepares to renovate Renee Slaydon Staff Writer UNCA could soon begin renova tions on the Kellogg Center, a 48-acre piece ofproperty in Horse Shoe, N.C., which will be used for a multi-purpose meeting space. According to Tom Byers, special as sistant to the chancellor, UNCA will use 1995 appropriation funds to reno vate the facility. Currently, UNCA is in the process of having negotiations signed with contractors. Construction should be gin around November, according to Ron Reagan, director of facilities plan ning, and will be about an eight-to- ten-month project, depending on weather conditions. UNCA plans to add about 2500 square feet to the existing2000 square feet of the Kellogg home. The house on the Kellogg property is a one story wood frame house with a living room, dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and laun dry facilities. The existing two bed rooms will become meeting rooms, and the living room area will be turned into a large meeting room. “The addition will have an even larger meeting space for up to about 80 people for small retreats and small confer ences,” said Reagan. According to a recent article in the Asheville Citizen-Times, Michigan na tive Kathryn Kellogg left her vacation home for public use after her death 26 years ago. Kellogg at first left her home and grounds to Wake Forest Univer sity. However, university officials thought that the property was too far from its Winston-Salem campus to be of any use. North Carolina State University later gained control of the land, giving it up in the mid-1980s. “The property was given to N.C. State for use as a 4-H club installation and a center for related activities,” said Reagan. When the land came under control of the UNC Board of Governors, chairman Sam Neill began planning for UNCA to take over in September of 1986. “I know that Mr. Neill was a leader in saying ‘This is state property. We ought to make effective use of it. We ought to do something for the public with this great public resource’,” said Byers. Plans for the Kellogg Center include a separate area for UNCA’s College for Seniors, as well as meeting spaces for various community projects. “The idea is that we could use it for some university programs to be offered in that area,” said Byers. The proposed Kellogg Center will include a large meeting room, a small food preparation area, and dining and office areas for conferences, meetings, and retreats. The state approved funds for the center in 1991, but took them back because of a budget deficit, ac cording to Byers. In addition to conference facilities, UNCA hopes to open up a separate area displaying regional crafts on the Kellogg property. According to the article in the Citizen-Times, the craft museum could display talents of local artists in the Asheville area. UNCA will not be directly respon sible for the facility, but the university’s name will’be associated with it. “The archival facility is intended to have an affiliate status with the univer sity,” said Byers. The property’s location should ben efit members of the communities sur rounding Hendersonville. “This is located on the west side of KELLOGG cont. on pg. 10

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