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Volume 29 Issue 9
April 8, 1999
UNCA's student meal plan may extend
By Meghan Cummings
staff Writer
The Student Government Asso
ciation (SGA) has proposed a meal
plan that will enable students to
purchase food anywhere on cam
pus rather than restricting student
meals to the Dining Hall.
“1 think we should be able to use
itanywhereatany time,” said Amy
Moon, an SGA senator. “Ifyouare
a resident on campus, it is required
that you buy a meal plan, and the
only place you can use it is the
cafeteria. We are trying to make it
so that you can use your card at
Dante’s or Cafe Ramsey.”
One of the main motivations be
hind the bill is that students often
miss meals because they do not have
enough time to eat in the dining
hall if it is busy, according to Moon.
“A lot of people have classes sched
uled right on top of each other,”
said Moon. “If you have one class,
and then you only have 30 minutes
until the next one, you really don’t
have time to run all the way down to
the dining hall for lunch, and then
back up to campus, especially if it is
really crowded.
“Sometimes after big lectures, it
gets so crowded down there you
can’t even find a table,” said Moon.
The bill has strong support from
residential students, according to
Moon.
“A lot of students have mentioned
this,” said Moon. “A lot of people
say they wish they could have more
options with their meal plan.”
If it is impossible to use the meal
card because of time restraints, stu
dents often end up spending extra
money at other dining places, ac
cording to Brianna Barker, fresh
man.
“My schedule doesn’t work with
the dining hall hours, and a lot of
times it is difficult to find time to
eat,” said Barker. “I have to spend
a lot of extra money outside the
cafeteria trying to find food.”
However, allowing students to use
their meal card in Dante’s and Cafe
Ramsey could cause those two
places to get over-crowded, accord
ing to Ken Barefoot, director of
dining services.
“Right now Ramsey couldn’t
handle it, and Dante’s really
couldn’t handle it,” said Barefoot.
“Could you imagine going into
Dante’s at noon when there are 1 50
people there? It is just not designed
for that kind of business.”
The lack of dining facilities to
handle an increase in people could
make it difficult to allow students
to use their meal card in other cam
pus dining places, according to Bare
foot.
“It would be great if we had the
facilities that would allow us to do
it, but right now it would be diffi
cult,” said Barefoot.
However, according to Moon, an
extension of the meal card to
Dante’s and Cafe Ramsey would
not cause overcrowding problems
in those places.
“I don’t think that would hap
pen,” said Moon. “I think there
would be an equal amount be
cause a lot of people do like to eat
in the cafeteria. It is mostly a mat
ter of time, and just to be able to
get something different once and a
while.
“This would probably just be an
See MEAL PLAN page 10
Campus visitor
almost cost stu
dents liundreds
By Krystel Lucas
staff Writer
Residents of Aycock Hall were relieved
of a $625 collective assessment following
the arrest of a campus visitor last week.
“An investigation was conducted, and
we were able to determine who had the
biggest part in doing damage to a fire
i alarm panel,” said Jerry Adams, UNCA
1 safety investigator. “The collective as
sessment was removed once we were able
to determine who was responsible.”
Approximately $625 worth of damage
was done to the fire alarm panel on the
night of March 17, according to Nancy
Williams, assistant director of housing
and residence life. If no suspects had been
found, there would have been a collective
assessment for the students living in
Aycock.
A warrant was served to Christopher
Haskins of Asheville on April 2, accord
ing to Adams. Haskins was then arrested
and taken to the Buncombe County De
tention Center. Adams said he was
charged with injuring or tampering with
a fire detection system.
Haskins was visiting his friend and
. UNCA student, Sean Garner a junior
environmental studies major on March
17, according to Adams. They admitted
i to being under the influence of alcohol
! when the vandalism occurred,
t “I don’t remember anything about that
: night, and I don’t remember seeing Chris
do damage to the fire alarm,” s^id Garner.
“Alcohol was a part of that. I am not
saying there is any excuse. I should have
been sober enough to stop anything from
going on.”
Garner will not have to appear in state
court for his involvement. However, he
will have to appear before the university s
Student Conduct Board to answer for
drinking on campus and throwing his
computer monitor down a flight of stairs.
“There is no law against destroying your
own property, but he will appear before the
Student Conduct Committee to answer
for his actions,” said Adams.
Haskins said that although he confessed,
he was not given many options by public
safety officials.
“I confessed to them what I did,” said
Haskins. “I would think they would be
happy to have the thing paid for even
though I did not do everything they said I
did. I was not given many options in the
situation.”
“I think this could have been resolved
without anyone being arrested,” said Gar
ner. “Once Chris found out about the
damage, he was willing to pay, but they
went ahead and charged him.”
Some of the Aycock residents were upset
about the possibility of a collective assess
ment charge on their accounts if no sus
pects were found, according to Aycock
resident Laura Fox, sophomore.
“I think charging the entire building is
absolutely ridiculous,” said Fox. “It is like
an elementary school teacher keeping the
whole class in from recess for what two kids
did.”
UNCA uses collective assessment far less
than other schools, according to Williams.
The State Housing Professionals Confer
ence meets once a year to discuss collective
assessments and other housing policies.
“I don’t think collective assessment is fair,
but it is legal,” said Williams. “Some schools
do not p6st damages to people’s accounts.
They want the people to come in them
selves and pay. We haven’t done that be
cause we haven’t used collective assessment
that much. Charging the account gives
students time to come up with the money.”
“I pay enough money living in Governor’s
Village without them charging me for some
thing I didn’t do,” said Fox.
Sometimes direct payment is fair because
See AYCOCK page 10
Protest ignites violence
I
PHOTO BY TRAVIS BARKER
Police officers arrested five protesters downtown Tuesday during a bicycle rally promoting clean air
Bikers arrested
during rally
By Emma Jones
staff Writer
A bicycle rally for clean air ended in
violence in downtown Asheville on Tues-
day. Those who witnessed the incident
said some of those participating were
UNCA students, but could not name
anyone specifically.
“Yesterday, 50 people, in accordance
with their rights, rode for the message of
safety and clean air,” said Andrew Jorge
of Asheville. “Instead of being protected
by the people who are supposed to be
traffic cops, the riders were brutalized
and attacked.”
Captain Thomas Aardema of the
Asheville Police Department, who is
over the investigation, could not be
reached for comment Wednesday.
(m
PHOTO BY TRAVIS BARKER
Some protesters were restrained by police.
The bicycle nders were participating in
a rally for the Critical Mass campaign, an
international group that advocates biker
safety and opposes vehicle-produced pol
lution.
“The idea is to get as many bikers on the
streets to show how biking and traffic are'
completely incompatible,” said Jorge.
“When you get bikes and cars together in
dangerous situations, you get serious
injuries.”
The protesters rode down Merrimon
Avenue toward downtown on Tuesday
afternoon, blocking rush hour traffic
near the Vance Monument. This re-
See PROTEST page 9
Construction worker arrested for stealing
By Emma Jones
Staff Writer
Nearly $3,000 in construction
“quipment was stolen during day
light hours from the West Ridge
parking deck site on March 14.
This was a major theft,” said Jim
V^oung, construction supervisor for
the site. “It is the only felony theft
'''e’ve had up here. Until this hap
pened, the problems we had were
''ery minimi.”
Public Safety Officer Darrell
P^athburn spotted a car leaving
pUN CA via the old service road shonJy
after noon on March 14 with a gen
erator in the trunk, according to an
investigator.
“The officer fell in behind the car as
it pulled a way, and he turned on his
blue lights to stop him because it
looked suspicious, saidjerry Adams,
UNCA public safety investigator.
“The vehicle sped up and ran the red
light at Division Street. The suspect
wrecked into a ditch near the
Montford Avenue intersection. The
driver got out and ran away. There
was a female in the passenger seat of
the car and the officer was able to take
her into custody.”
The suspect, 33-year-old Darryl
Dean Cannady, was apprehended
and arrested at his apartment later
that afternoon. More tools were found
in the car.
“There is a storage trailer over there
where they store their tools,” said
Adams. “We had evidence that he
had broken a lock and gotten the
tools out of their storage trailer.”
“He stole a generator that was rented,
and two power tools, a ram set and a
heavy-duty hammer drill,” said
Young.
Cannady and the woman taken into
custody, 39-year-old Verna Cheryl
Wilson, were charged with felony
breaking and entering and larceny.
“They both have pretty lengthy
criminal histories,” said Adams.
Cannady was an employee with
Young’s crew on the construction
site.a few weeks before the incident,
according to Adams. Young was
unaware of Cannady’s extensive
criminal past.
“He seemed to be a fine worker,”
said Young. “I didn’t have any prob
lems with him on the job. In the
new-hire paperwork packet, there
arequestions that ask about any crimi
nal records. It is pretty apparent this
gentleman didn’t answer the ques
tions truthfully.”
After a short period of time with the
work crew, Cannady left, claiming
family illness, and did not return to
work.
“He worked for me for about two
weeks. He told us hehadayoungson
that went into a coma,” said Young.
“I kept his job open for him for about
two weeks. I told him to take care of
his family, and when he got better to
come back to work. He came and got
his checks, and he never did come
back to work.”
Cannady’s attempt to steal the
materials from the site failed due to
his own mistakes and theconvenient
presence of a public safety oflicer,
according to Young.
“You have to be pretty stupid to do
this, especially in the middle of the
day,” said Young. “Security does a
good job of patrolling, and they’re
very visible. Typically, you don’t
get fortunate like we did here with
security. They did a really good job,
and I’d like to commend them on
that.”
“The oflficer just happened to be in
the right place at the right time,”
said Adams. “It was a good job by
Officer Rathburn.”
Though applicants for Young’s
crew are questioned about their
criminal record, they are not obli
gated to give proof of their answer.
“You have no way of checking
their record without going out and
See ARREST page 10