'olume 29 Issue 3
The University of North Carolina at Asheville
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February 18, 1999
QNCA freshman pleads guilty to charges
By Amelia Morrison
Managing Editor
Freshman UNCA basket-
player Nick Perkins
eaded guilty to charges in
urt on Wednesday, accord-
to the university public
iformation office.
To the best of my knowl-
, my understanding is that
pleaded guilty to one felony
and one misdemeanor
charge,” said Marianne
Epstein, director of public
information at UNCA.
“It was a felony related to
sodomy and a misdemeanor
related to solicitation of sod
omy,” Epstein said.
At this point, Epstein said
she has not received any offi
cial communication from the
court about Perkins.
“I have not been officially
contacted,” said Epstein. “If
we were offically contacted, I
was not aware of it.”
According to an article in
the Asheville Citizens-Times
(Feb. 4, 1999), Perkins was
charged with nine offenses,
including rape, child moles
tation and aggravated sodomy
in an incident involving a 14-
year-old girl. Perkins, along
with five other Paulding
County High School students,
faced various charges because
of the January 1998 incident.
according to the article.
Following Perkins pleading
to charges, the university will
decide what, if any, actions to
take regarding Perkins’ status
as a student and as a basket
ball player.
“The next step UNCA is go
ing to take is to use profes
sionals to determine whether
Nick Perkins may be a danger
to himself or others if he re
mains on campus,” said
Epstein.
The university administra
tion will meet Feb. 18 to dis
cuss putting the process in
place, according to Epstein.
“When it comes to misde
meanors and felonies related
to off-campus behaviors, most
campuses don’t have a hard
and fast policy,” said Epstein.
“UNCA is like most cam
puses. Therefore, each case is
considered individually,”
Epstein said.
Epstein said that, according
to the UNCA student code,
“there is only one area that
students are automatically ex
pelled for related to felonies
and misdemeanors: traffick
ing in schedule I drugs.”
Perkins’ elgibility to play for
the UNCA men’s basketball
team may also be affected by
him pleading guilty to the
charges.
“He is not playing now, and
he will not be playing the rest
of the semester,” said Epstein.
“My understanding is that he
would continue to not play
this semester.”
Willis Demond Clay, who
was charged with the same
nine offenses as Perkins and
pleaded guilty to charges of
felony statutory rape and mis
demeanor solicitation ofsod-
omyjan. 11, was fined $ 1,000
and sentenced to five years
probation and 30 days in jail,
according to the article in the
Asheville Citizen-Times.
UNCA campus recycling increases by 73 tons
I „ . •, f ,
PHOTO BY TRAVIS BARKER
By IVIeghan Cummings
staff Writer
UNCA has increased its recycling
by 73 tons in the last two years,
according to the school’s recycling
coordinator.
“Grand total recycled and
composted in 1997-98 was 236
tons,” said Lynne Patzig, green
house manager and recycling coor
dinator at UNCA.
The school’s recycling has in
creased by about 45 percent, or
146,000 pounds from the 163.23
tons of material recycled in 1995-
96.
However, the school could still
significantly decrease its waste, ac
cording to Acker.
“It is not enough to recycle more.
We have to decrease waste,” said
Melissa Acker, UNCA’s
landscapting director.
In order to determine how much
recyclable material is ending up in
the trash, Patzig and Acker do a
yearly solid waste analysis of the
campus.
“We have to get bags of gar
bage out of the dumpster and
dump them out on the ground
to see what percentage could be
recycled and also composted,”
said Acker.
“What we found was that two-
thirds could still be recycled or
composted. In other words, we
have people still throwing away
cans, still throwing away bottles,
and still throwing away paper,”
said Acker.
“I’m really pleased with the direc
tion we’re going in,” said Patzig.
The increased participation in
campus recycling is largely due to
the work Patzig has put into the
program, according to Acker,
Patzig’s supervisor.
“Our amounts have gone up tre
mendously in every area since Lynne
started as recycling coordinator,”
said Acker. “They’ve gone up a
tremendous amount in glass, plas
tic, and paper.”
According to Patzig, almost ev
eryone on campus seems to be in
creasingly willing to recycle.
“I think people are participating
more and more,” said Patzig. “For
what minimal contact I have with
each department, people really seem
to have a genuine interest in help
ing with it.”
The school could encourage
more people to recycle by put
ting out more bins around cam
pus according to Vanessa
Harper, vice educational coor
dinator of Active Students for a
Healthy Environment (ASHE,
formerly UNCA’s ecology club).
“I appreciate the glass, plastic,
and aluminum recycle bins
around campus, however they
need to be more prevalent,” said
Harper.
Continuing to educate people
with posters about recycling
could also help increase partici
pation, according to Harper.
“I think the posters they put
up are a very positive educa
tional tool that are really bla
tant about saying ‘recycle this,
don’t recycle this,’ and I think
that’s great,” said Harper.
“I’m not sure if they’re up over
every place where things could
be recycled. If they’re not, they
need to be,” said Harper.
In addition to the posters, Julie
Scott Waring, a UNCA recycling employee, exchanges full recycling bins for empty ones.
Pearson, former president of the
ecology club, suggested another
way to educate students about
the need to recycle.
“One suggestion we came up
with was to make a video about
what can be recycled and why it
is important to recycle that we
can show to freshmen during
orientation,” said Pearson.
However, according to
Harper, recycling is only part of
the solution to the problem of
waste and recourse depletion,
especially in the case of paper.
“Really, the overall thing that
I think needs to be changed is
the plan of attack,” said Harper.
“They need to go more towards
the root of the problem instead
of continuing with these Band-
Aid solutions. It’s all good and
great that we are trying to re
cycle, and we should recycle
what we have. However, first it
is more important to address
consumption and what types of
products we are buying.”
The school needs to make sure
that it buys products that can
be recycled within the system,
according to Candice Carr,
president of ASHE.
“Those Styrofoam cups that
you buy drinks in at Dante’s
and Cafe Ramsey can be re
cycled,” said Carr. “They are
number six recyclable, but the
problem is we do not recycle
number six, so they just get
thrown away. They should make
sure that what they purchase
matches up with what can be
recycled.”
Buying products that are made
from recycled materials is just
See RECYCLE page 10
Student charged with possession of firearm
By Mike Bryant
staff Writer
UNCA police officials charged a fresh
man student with a felony offense on
Feb. 15.
“Justin Lane Donaldson was served with
4 warrant for his arrest for the possession
of a handgun on school property, said
Jerry Adams, an investigator for public
safety at UNCA.
“Possession of such a weapon on cam
pus by a student is considered a felony by
the state of North Carolina and UNCA,
according to Adams.
The gun was discovered in the student s
room on the morning of Feb. 10 follow
ing an anonymous report to Nancy Wil
liams, assistant director of housing and
residence life, according to Adarris.
“Donaldson cooperated fully with cam
pus police during the investigation at his
dormitory room, said Adams. At my re
quest, the suspect showed me where he kept
the gun in his room.
“Upon inspection of the weapon, I discov
ered it was folly loaded. After unloading the
gun, I took the suspect and weapon to the
public safety office on campus and filed an
incident/investigation report,” said Adams.
Adams described the confiscated evidence
as a type of small handgun.
“The weapon is a Jennings .22 caliber semi
automatic handgun,” said Adams. “It was
loaded with six rounds of .22 caliber ammu
nition (hollow point).
This is not the first incident of weapons
beingdiscovered or reported on campus prop
erty, according to Adams.
“There have been a couple of other cases
involving weapons over the last few years,”
said Adams. “Students and non-students need
to know that UNCA has a zero tolerance for
the possession of weapons on school prop
erty.”
The possession of a weapon by a student on
campus grounds is automatically a felony
offense, according to Adams.
“The state of Nonh Carolina and UNCA
have deemed the possession of a weapon by a
student on university property to be a serious
crime,” said Adams.
“Felony convictions can carry a potential
penalty of more than ayear in prison. UNCA
policy does not allow for the lesser charge of
a misdemeanor, as in the past. It is very
important that students realize the serious
consequences ofviolating this policy, Adams
said.
Donaldson’s first appearance in 2nd Dis
trict Court was scheduled for Feb. 16., ac
cording to Adams.
The suspect is free on an unsecured bond
pending the outcome of the initial court
hearing.
An explanation of the charge, the suspect s
right to legal representation and a trial date-
will also be addressed at the hearing.
The suspect, Donaldson, refused to com
ment on the specifics of the incident at this
time.
“I do not wish to make any statements about
the incident until after this matter has been
brought before the university conduct sys
tem,” said Donaldson.
The suspect’s fiiture status as a UNCA
student and housing resident will be consid
ered following a university conduct system
hearing, according to Williams.
“Whether or not the suspect will be permit
ted to remain at UNCA as a student or
housing resident may be determined at the
student conduct hearing,” said Williams.
Many students expressed strong opinions
that weapons should not be permitted on the
campus for any reason.
“I am against any kind of weapons on
campus,” said Carol Billings, a senior biology
major. “The atmosphere on a college campus
should be one of learning. Students should be
able to feel secure anywhere on campus.
“I am very sure that Donaldson would not
have used the gun in any threatening man
ner,” said Thad Eckard, a junior philosophy
major and Donaldson’s roommate.
“I do not think a college campus is a place
for guns. I am not sure why he had a gun in
the room. I do feel very badly for him. I just
do not think he realized the consequences,
Eckard said.
Campus police agree that Donaldson does
not appear to be a reckless or irresponsible
individual, according to Adams.
“The suspect said he had the gun for his
protection only,” said Adams.
“The student said he felt very safe on
campus, but he carried the gun with him
on trips to downtown Asheville at night,
according to Adams.
Regardless ofthe reasons, university policy
does not permit any type of weapon on
campus, according to Adams.
The UNCA student guide for 1998-99
states that “violation of the firearms/fire
works policy is defined as the possession of
weapons on the campus or other areas used by
the university.
Firearms, ammunition, fireworks, gasoline
or other combustible or explosive materials
are not permitted in the residence halls. Knives
other than those used as kitchen tools are also
prohibited in the entire residential area.