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Volleyball wins two Big South matches
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Volume 34 Issue 8
The University Of North Carolina At Asheville
Also inside:
Features
An evening with “Futureman” Wooten
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Opinions
“Solutions to an ongoing issue,”
by Justus D’Addario
■ seepage 3
October 25, 2001
in
UNCA public safety investigates thefts
Lori Brenner
Staff Reporter
Drea Jackson
Contributing Reporter
UNCA’s public safety depart-
nent has issued two arrest war-
ants after two recent series of
hefts on campus.
One student and four others are
)eing investigated in connection
vith seven vehicle break-ins that
)ccurred on campus from Oct.
7-21.
Approximately $3000 worth of
terns were taken from seven ve-
licles in different areas on cam-
_ will definitely make sure my
:ar is locked before I go to class,”
aid Laura Robinson, a sopho-
nore history major.
Three of the seven cars were con-
ertibles. The soft-top had been
;ut through to gain access to the
■rseWehicles.
jCampus officials bel ieve the per-
,cal werrators used a device similar to a
oat hanger to gain access to three
if the other vehicles, and one of
he vehicles was unlocked.
Four of the break-ins occurred
n the Founder’s Hall parking lot
inderneath the cafeteria; one was
n the Zageir Hall parking lot; two
)ccurred in the parking lot below
South Ridge Residence Hall; and
me was in the West Ridge Resi
lence Hall parking deck.
“Walking around campus, I feel
safe, I feel that this campus is one
)f the safer ones in the system,”
said Robinson.
Radios, stereos, speakers, and cell
shones were j ust some of the items
taken from the vehicles.
A few of the stolen items have
been recovered and are being held
as evidence before they are re-
urned to their owners.
To avoid becoming a victim, all
;xpensive items in students’ ve-
licles should be hidden, and stu-
A\
lan
DREA JACKSON/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Sergeant Jerry Adams displays the stolen items recovered by UNCA public safety after the recent thefts which have occured on campus.
dents should lock their car doors
and keep the windows rolled up,
according to Sergeant Jerry Adams.
Undeclared freshman John
Jacobs, undeclared junior Shawn
Westin and undeclared freshman
Nathaniel Capps reported items
stolen from their vehicles, accord
ing to public safety incident re
ports.
Public safety officers managed to
trace some of the stolen items to
local pawn shops, and those items
will be returned to their original
owners, according to Adams,
For the Oct. 17 break-ins, warrants
were issued for the arrests of Jonathan
Marbois-Segall, a freshman at
UNCA, and Michael Jonathan Sharp,
who gave a 540 Old Marshall High
way address.
A UNCA public safety officer
stopped a suspicious-looking car in
the Founder’s Hall parking lot under
“I will definitely make sure my car
is locked before I go to class ”
-Laura Robinson,
sophomore history major
the cafeteria on the evening of Oct.
21. The officer found three men
that were not students and several
of the stolen items in the vehicle.
Charges are being filed against those
three men, according to Adams.
More warrants are expected to
be issued in the next week, pend
ing an ongoing investigation, ac
cording to Adams.
Employees help charitable organizations in wake of attacks
Rae Stephens
Staff Reporter
UNCA employees, as part of the
State Employee Combined Cam-
)aign, raised money for over 1,000
lumanitarian organizations that
lave decreased in funds siiice the
Sept. 11 disaster.
Last year, 40,010 state employ
es donated over $4.5 million. A
otal of 6,203 employees donated
letween $120 to $149 in 2000.
Our goal is [to raise] $36,000...
ind [have] 100 percent participa-
ion [from UNCA employees],”
aid Ellie Marsh SECC Co-chair
>tUNCA. “You never know if you
ire going to reach a goal or you’re
;oing to pass it, but why not aim
ligh. My grandmother used to
■ay. Aim high. You might only
land on a tater hill, but at least you
iimed high?’ I think that is true.”
As of Oct. 22, only 22.8 percent
of the UNCA employees had do
nated.
The school employees have raised
$23,566 since the beginning of this
campaign on Sept. 25.
“We won’t hit 30 [percent] this
year, not unless something really
turns around,” said Marsh. “That’s
a disappointment, but that is just
the way it is. I am hoping people
just haven’t turned in their pledges
yet.”
Nonprofit organizations have
been suffering due to a severe de
crease in donations since the disas
ter of Sept. 11, according to an
Oct. 8 Washington Post article by
Jacqueline L. Salmon.
Fewer people have been attend
ing fundraising events, and groups
have asked donors to expedite
checks so their employees can be
paid.
Various organizations had to slash
budgets and cut staff
“Many groups either decided to
cancel or delay their fundraising or
have retooled their messages along
the lines of, ‘Yes, give to the Sept. 11
disaster funds, but please don’t take it
out ofwhat you would ordinarily give
us,’” said Salmon.
Organizations like the Brady Cam
paign, a gun violence prevention or
ganization, have suffered badly.
“The Brady Campaign... reduced
its workforce 20 percent by laying off
14 people, the first layoffs in its 27-
year history,” said Brendan Daly,
spokesman for the Brady Cam
paign.
Financial donations to Habitat
for Humanity have also dropped
significantly due to the postpone
ment of its September mail appeal.
“Direct mail accounts for one-
fourth of the group’s $250 million
yearly revenue. Habitat was forced
to lay off 35 people last week, and
ask major donors to accelerate con
tributions,” said Daly.
High participation percentages
is the goal for UNCA this year to
help suffering organizations .
The campaign, from Sept. 25 to
Oct. 26, includes flat donations
in cash or check, or a five-dollar
minimum payroll deduction for
See DONATIONS Page 10
Air pollution
gets worse
Lana Coffey
Staff Reporter
UNCA donation history during the past three years:
1998 (42.96%
employee participation)
1999 (37.71%
employee participation)
20 00 (22.92%
employee participation)
$30,742
$37,191
$28,785
Pollution in Buncombe County is
not only causing visibility problems
but health problems as well, accord
ing to Richard Maas, chairman of
the environmental studies depart
ment.
“The biggest pollutant that we have
in terms of its health affect is ozone,”
said Maas. “When you breath it, it
burns your lungs and kills lung tis
sue. It weakens your lungs and that
makes you susceptible to lots ofother
respiratory diseases, whether it be a
cold or bronchitis or emphysema.”
There are some serious air pollu
tion problems in Buncombe County,
according to Maas.
The first problem is visibility, ac
cording to Maas. This problem is
caused almost entirely by sulfates.
The majority of the sulfates causing
the problem come from coal burn
ing power plants, according to Maas.
Most of the power plants that con
tribute to the problem come from
outside of Bimcombe County.
“The majority of it is coming from
old TVA (Tennessee Valley Author
ity) plants to the west of here that
have not put on good pollution con
trols,” Maas said.
The visibility problems have got
ten worse in Asheville, according to
Maas.
“The natural background visibility
before we started burning a lot of
coal was probably on the order of 90
to 100 miles and now our average
visibility is more like 20 miles.”
Not only are sulfates harmful to
visibility, but they also have some
health effects, according to Maas.
“The biggest pollutant that we have
in terms of its health effect is ozone,”
said Maas.
Ozone is formed by three things:
Nitrogen Oxide, also known as
NOX, hydra-carbons and intense
sunlight.
More than 80 percent of all NOX
in Buncombe County originated
from outside the county, according
to Maas.
Intense sunlight causes NOX and
hydra-carbons to react together to
form ozone, according to Maas.
“The hotter you burn something,
the more efficient it turns out to be,
like a motor or engine. When we
wanted to make our cars more en
ergy efficient, we gave them smaller
engines and had the engines burn
really hot,” said Maas.
The same idea applies to the power
plants. The hotter the boiler runs,
the hotter the steam is made, and the
more electricity can be produced,
according to Maas. This causes harm
ful NOX emissions.
State-wide about half of NOX is
produced by power plants and half is
caused by automobiles, according to
Maas.
“We are seeing real health effects in
Western North Carolina because of
ozone,” said Maas. “We can see that
here in Western North Carolina, we
have a higher rate of respiratory prob
lems than almost any place in the
country. Air quality is very bad here.”
According to Maas, approximately
25 percent of children in Buncombe
See POLLUTION Page 10
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