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Volume 28 Issue 9
November 5, 1998
Accident
hospitalizes
student
By Shaun Cashman
staff Writer
Sunday at approximately
6;40 p.m., Roberto Mera, a
sophomore atmospheric sci
ence major, was taken to Me
morial Mission Hospital after
failing off the back of a mov
ing truck and hitting his head.
Mera spent Sunday night in
he neuro-trauma intensive-
care unit (ICU). He has gone
(lirough several surgeries to
reduce the pressure in his head.
As of Wednesday, a spokes
person for Mission-St.
oseph’s Health System said
Mera was still in critical con
dition.
Mera and his roommate,
Colin McCandless, an unde
clared sophomore, caught a
ride on the back of a 1992
ioyota truck up the South
Ridge Residence Hall service
entrance. Midway up the hill,
while standing on the bumper
and holding onto the roof of
the truck camper, Mera lost
his grip and fell to the ground.
Although the truck was re
portedly only going about five
miles per hour, the driver, fel
low kudent Mark Ebert, an
undeclared sophomore, has
been issued acitation for reck
less driving, according to the
incident report obtained from
UNCA public safety.
Ebert was unavailable for
comment.
On Sunday night,
McCandless parked his car in
the South Ridge parking lot,
and then he and Mera began
to walk back up to South
Ridgp, where they live. While
walking up the back entrance,
Ebert drove up beside the two
students and offered them a
ride.
A bicycle and a small mat
tress were taking up most of
the truck b-’d’s interior, and
since it was such a short dis
tance up the hill, McCandless
and Mera decided to ride on
the rear bumper.
According to the incident
report, Ebert said he did not
know either of the boys, and
the trip up the hill was calm
and slow until he heard
McCandless yelling for him
to stop.
In the report, McCandless
said that Ebert was playing
around and weaving the car
back and forth and revving
the engine.
However, McCandless said
that Mera did not fall because
of Ebert’s driving, but because
they had nothing to hold on
to on the back of the camper.
Mera fell 28 inches from the
bumper to the ground and
struck his head. He was bleed
ing from the head, ears, and
mouth.
Ebert drove the rest of the
way up the hill and called
911. He and McCandless fol
lowed the ambulance to the
hospital.
Cards and balloons can be
sent to Mera and his family
at Memorial Mission Hos
pital. No flowers, please.
Thieves ignore bike locks
Bike theft increases
despite use of locks
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TRAVIS BARKER/ MODEL JOHNNY ZIEM
Students use chains and locks to secure their bilges to the bike racks. In
the recent string of bike thefts, the locked chains have not stopped
thieves.
By Shaun Cashman
staff Writer
Four bicycles and one bike
tire have been stolen from
the UNCA campus since Au
gust, mostly from around the
Highsmith Uni\crsit)' C^cn-
ter and Foin.ders Hall areas.
“We have not had much of
a problem with it until this
semester,” said Jerry Adams,
investigator and shift super
visor for UNCA public
safety.
“People are probably tak
ing them to sell and make
money,” he said.
No suspects have been ap
prehended in any of the thefts
so far.
“We’re doing the best we
can with increasing patrols
in these areas,” said Adams.
“It’s possible that some stu
dents are doing it, but right
now, we don’t have any evi
dence to that effect.”
All of the bicycles stolen
were chained and locked to
bike racks, but a pair of bolt
clippers were used to cut
through the chains.
“There’s not much defense
when somebody cuts the
chain with bolt cutters,” said
Adams.
When a bike is locked to
the bike rack, the best way to
keep thieves away is to run
the chain through the frame
as well as through the front
tire, and that way certain
parts of the bike can’t be
stolen, he said.
In a theft last month, a
bicycle was secured to the
bike rack outside Highsmith,
with the chain running
through the frame.
The owner found that dur
ing the night, someone had
tried to break the lock to
steal the bic)'cle, and being
unsuccessful, the thief then
removed and stole the front
tire instead, according to an
incident report obtained
from public safety .
In another theft at the end
of August, a bicycle was
locked by the front tire to
the bike rack outside Aycock
Hall in Governors Village.
The owner later returned
to find only the front tire
locked to the rack, and the
rest of the bike had been
stolen, said an incident re
port .
The bicycle was later found
and returned to the owner.
“The best way to really help
us do what we need to do in
case your bike gets stolen is
to record the name, the
model, the size, the color,
just a general description of
it, and also record the serial
number,” said Adams. “That
would increase your
chances of us finding it and
getting it back.”
“H ave that information
saved somewhere, so that
you can get to it in case
your bike is stolen,” said
Adams.
Justice Center receives $500,000 for renovations
By Mat Peery
staff Writer
UNCA received $500,000 from
the state this week for renovations
to the 30-year old Justice Center as
part of the North Carolina state
budget.
The General Assembly passed the
state’s 1998-2000 budget on Mon
day, and the bill was signed by
Governor Jim Hunt Wednesday.
The $500,000 for renovations to
the Justice Center was included in
the $12 million budget as part of
capital expenditures for the UNC
system.
“To make a long story short, the
university got its regular funding,
and, in addirion, this money was
appropriated,”saidTom Hun nicutt,
director of athletics.
Chancellor Patsy Reed said the
money for the Justice Center was
“outside of our priorities. It wasn’t
something that we asked for offi
cially.
“It was something that was seen as
a need and was provided to us,”
Reed said. “We are happy to have
it.”
According to Representative
Wilma Sherrill, who sponsored the
appropriations bill for the money,
the state legislature has the power
to obtain funding for “anything it
wants to.”
Sherrill said she had a conversa
tion with Hunnicutt and Eddie
Biedenbach, men’s basketball head
coach, about things that “were
needed at UNC-Asheville.”
Sherrill said she had the support
ofCovernor Hunt to acquire funds
for Justice Center.
Biedenbach said that Governor
Hunt had toured the facility while
on campus for a meeting last year.
“He and 1 looked around the facil
ity here for a little bit, and he real
ized that there were some needs,
that we were quite behind the other
schools in the university system in
our facilities, ” said Biedenbach.
Sherrill also said that she intro
duced a bill in the House of Repre
sentatives for the $12 million for
renovating and expanding the
Highsmith University Center,
“We definitely have $ 1 million for
Highsmith, but I think that is go
ing to grow to $3.5 million,” Sherrill
said.
Sherrill said that the additional
money for Highsmith might be di
verted from funding for the Blue
Ridge Destination Center, an eco
nomic development project for the
Blue Ridge Parkway.
Sherrill said she put a provision in
the bill funding the destination cen
ter that said if the matching “fed
eral funds did not materialize, then
that $2.5 million would be diverted
to UNCA’s Highsmith Center. “
“The federal funds did not come
-through, but that would be after
Dec. 31,” she said.
Although the budget only allo
cated $1 million for the renova
tions, Reed said she hoped that the
rest of the funding for the student
center would be approved at some
time.
Planned improvements to thejus-
See JUSTICE page 10
Collision on Division?
PHOTO BY TRAVIS BARKER
Drivers often cross into the lane of oncoming traffic while trying to
navigate the curve on the new Division Street.
Consultant reviews facilities
By Samantha Hartmann
staff Writer
A Virginia-based higher edu
cation consultant, Eva Klein,
visited UNCA in September
to generate discussion on
UNCA’s facility needs.
The UNC Board of Gover
nors hired the consultant to
do a comprehensive study of
facilities on all 16 UNC cam
puses.
“The General Assembly has
asked the universities to un
dertake a study of their total
physical facility needs,” said
Tom Byers, special assistant
to the chancellor. “The Board
of Governors made a decision
to carry out that mandate by
engaging a ronsultant.”
“The purpose of (Klein’s)
initial visit was to listen and
hear our thoughts,” said Byers.
“What we found was she had
some very definite concepts
about the future. She also had
a good grasp on what our par
ticular facility requirements
might be for carrying out a
good liberal arts program.”
According to Tom Cochran,
assistant vice chancellor for
academic affairs, funding is
often based on the size of the
university.
“They are doing what I call a
‘comprehensive facilities
study,’” said Cochran. “Tra
ditionally, in the state fund
ing model, funding is driven
by how much you will con
tinue to grow.
“A liberal arts college needs
to be small in order to have
the personal contact we’ve
been trying to build for the
last 25-30 years,” he said. “It
has been difficult to get spe
cial funding for that.”
In discussions with Klein,
Byers said UNCA officials
stressed the importance of
maintaining smaller classroom
settings.
“One of the distinctive things
about UNCA is the faculty
and student interaction that
takes place in relatively small
groups,” said Byers. “As a lib
eral arts institution, we have a
need for smaller spaces.”
In an article published in
The News and Observer (Ra
leigh, N.C.) on Sept. 20, Klein
said she believed that many
classrooms across the system
are under-utilized because of
poor scheduling.
“Faculty want to teach from
9 to 1, and I say, ‘too bad,”’
said Klein in the article. “Stu
dents don’t want to go to
school in the afternoon, they
want to play pool. I say, ‘too
bad.”
Neno Bojic, a senior man
agement major, does not see
See FACILITY page 10
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