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The Blue
Banner
Features
Outlaw country brings mullets and
songs
■ see page 3
Sports
Bulldog baseball prepares for opening
day
■ see page 4
Volume 37 Issue 1
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UNCA students march in peace protest
Beth Wyche
News Reporter
“This protest was pretty ominous
ind everyone there knew we were
>oing to war anyway,” said Katie
vlorris, an undeclared fresman. “It
ist felt kind of hopeless. This was
last, desperate attempt. I don’t
think we can change what other
iple think, but we’re just stand-
^ up for what’s right.”
Estimates of the crowd size varied,
5^ing from 30,000 to 50O,OOO,
;aid The Washington Post.
Despite the controversy over
;rowd size, UNCA students dotted
the largest protest held in the
ipitol since Vietnam, ac-
:ording to The Washington Post.
Over 500 people from Asheville”
participated in the protest, esti-
Lted Jim Brown, a member of the
Western North Carolina Peace
Coalition’s steering committee.
really peaceful and there
even many cops there,”
said Cyrus Tashakkori, a senior
environmental science major. “Ev-
:rybody was just vibrant and were
■eally there to take a stand on what
they think is right.”
The WNC Peace Coalition orga
nized five charter buses to attend
the protest, each carrying 57 pas
sengers. The protesters left on Fri-.
day and returned on Sunday, said
Brown.
“Asheville was really well repre
sented,” said Tashakkori. “There
a lot of Ashevillians up there,
and a lot of people from North
Carolina in general. I thought it
awesome turnout especially
considering how cold it was. I was
“Asheville was re
ally well repre
sented. There
were a lot of
Ashevillians up
there, and a lot of
people from North
Carolina in gen
eral’'
-Cyrus Tashakkori
senior environ
mental science
major
Take our online
poll and tell us
how you feel!
“Do you think the
US should go to war
with Iraq?”
The question will
be on our Web site
by 5 p.m. this Friday.
Let your voice be
heard!
COURTESY OF MELISSA ENGLER
People from across the nation converged on the nation’s capital to protest posible war with Iraq.
really heartened, to see all those
people there.”
The organization ANSWER (Act
Now to Stop War and End Racism)
largely organized the protest. Anti
war protesters began Saturday by
gathering in front of the Capitol
building where a.variety of speakers
argued for alternatives to war to
address the problem of Saddam
Hussein and Iraq, said the CNN
Web site.
“[It] doesn’t mean these marches
for peace are supporting Saddam
Hussein. It’s the contrary,” said
Professor Elmoiz Abunura, direc
tor of UNCA’s Africanna studies
program.“They are opposing
Saddam Hussein and opposing his
policy, but they are calling instead
of a rush to war, maybe we need to
give peace a chance and give the
inspectors more time to disarm
Protesters marched towards the
Washington Navy Yard.
“The point of a march is to spread
it across the city, so you’re not
contained in one place, to count
the crowd, and to give the people
something to do,” said Morris. “Its
kind of a nice feature to get the
media to cover it.”
Protest organizers called the gath
ering the largest modern-day
grassroots protest assembly, accord
ing to the ANSWER Web site.
“It was incredible to see that many
people that believe enough in some
thing to come from all over the
country,”said Bridget Nelson, a
senior chemistry and biology ma
jor who also attended the pro-
Nelson’s two children, ages
seven and four, also participated
in the protest, “for political educa
tion purposes.”
“For me personally, I feel like I’m
required in my life to follow what I
believe in and to continue to demon
strate out loud and try to articulate
what I feel is the difference between
right and wrong, not just to my
children, but to other people,” said
Nelson.
. The protest coincided with the
Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday
weekend and large crowds also pro
tested in San Francisco, other
American cities and Europe, ac
cording to the CNN Web site.
“It’s very inspiring. It shows me
that people are really concerned
enough to speak out for peace,”
said Brown.
While many praised the protest’s
successful turnout, some doubt its
ability to impact the current Bush
administration’s decisions on war
February 6, 2003
Reported
drug use
escalates
Kristen Ruggeri
News Reporter
See PROTEST Page 8
Space shuttle Columbia and crew lost
Dearborn McCorkle
News Reporter
The space shuttle Columbia dis
integrated in the skies above Texas
killing all seven astronauts onboard
Feb. 1.
“Columbia’s lost. There are no
survivors,” said President Bush in
an address to the nation. “These
astronauts knew the dangers, and
they faced them willingly,
knowing they had a high and
noble purpose in life.”
The Columbia broke up into
flames approximately 200,000 feet
over North Central Texas shortly
before its scheduled landing at
Kennedy Space Center in Florida,
according to CNN’s Web site.
NASA officials lost contact with
the shuttle around 9 a.m. EST.
“This is, indeed, a tragic day for
the NASA family, for the families
of the astronauts who flew on STS-
107, and, likewise, tragic for the
nation,” said NASA Administrator
Sean O’Keefe in a press conference
Feb. 1.
Ground controllers noticed a rise
in temperature and pressure in the
shuttle’s left-side landing
gear before losing data from
three temperature sensors in
the shuttle’s left wing at approxi
mately 8:58 a.m., according to
CNN.
At approximately 9 a.m., mission
control lost all vehicle data and
contact with the crew.
Witnesses on the ground in
Texas and Louisiana reported loud
noise and flashing lights as the
shuttle moved towards the earth
traveling about Mach 18, or
12,500 mph, according to CNN’s
Web site.
Teams of federal investigators ar
rived in Texas and Louisiana Feb. 2
to begin the process of determining
the cause of the break up of the
space shuttle Columbia, according
to CNN.
“Investigators have determined
that something happened to make
the temperature on Columbia’s
left side increase significantly
faster than on its right side,”
said Ron Dittemore, NASA’s top
shutde program manager in a news
COURTESY OF GOOGLE.COM
The crew of the space shuttle Columbia died when the shuttle broke apart during its return descent.
conference at Johnson Space Cen
ter near Houston, Texas, Feb. 2.
Investigators will also examine
the role of the heat resistant tiles
damaged when foam fell off the
external fuel tank during liftoff,
according to CNN.
“We’re going to provide all the
information in our internal investi
gation and let the facts speak to
what happened,” said O’Keefe dur
ing a news conference Feb. 2. “And
we’re going to correct it and move
on and be sure that we fly safely, as
is our commitment, each and every
time we launch and each and every
time there’s a landing.”
Recovery efforts for pieces of the
shuttle and any human remains
Public safety has issued four state
citations and three campus cita
tions for marijuana usage since Jan.
13.
“To have that many in such a
short period of time.. .that’s a lot
for us,” said Sergeant Jerry Adams.
Public safety typically lists theft
and vandalism among its most fre
quent violations, but said reported
marijuana usage has occurred fre
quently this semester. Public safety
usually encounters approximately
seven marijuana violations during
an entire semester, said Adams.
The reason for so many recent
marijuana busts probably has more
to do with people reporting suspi
cion than increased marijuana use
or public safety doing a better job
patrolling the campus, said Adams.
“More people are aware of what it
smells like and they are aware that
they should call us if they do sus
pect marijuana use,” said Adams. “I
think that contributes to more
people calling in and more people
taking note of it.”
Student Services Manager Melanie
Rhodarmer said 50 percent of the
students call the housing of
fice to report their peers using mari-
Many other students do not want
o be held responsible for getting
someone in trouble so they make an
anonymous phone call or tell their
residents assistant, who calls the
residence life coordinator, who then
makes a call to public safety.
‘Those who call in range from
resident assistants to resident direc-
to the next-door neighbor,”
said Adams.
Jesse Dail, residence life coordina
tor, said almost all the marijuana-
related calls he Jeceives are anony-
“You follow the guidelines and
report it. I mean, that’s just doing
your job,” said Alex Williams, a
residence assistant in Mills Hall.
“It’s not just us associated with
the investigation of marijuana,”
added Williams. “There are a lot of
other factors. A lot of times people
associate RAs with being snoopy
and gunning to bust people and
that’s really not how it is. We do
our job. We’re supposed to enforce
the policy as it’s written.”
Students complete satisfaction
surveys about once every two years,
said Rhodarmer. According to the
survey results, an overwhelming
majority of students do not want to
live in residence halls with students
using marijuana.
But Max Abbott, a sophomore
history major, said he would not
mind living in a dorm where some
one used marijuana.
Although there are probably a lot
of people who smoke marijuana on
campus, Abbott said he does not
necessarily think of it as a problem
and would not report anyone for
using marijuana.
“I would not report it because I
think its just people having a good
time,” said Lindsey Stack, a sopho
more biology major. “That’s what
they want to do and I shouldn’t be
See COLUMBIA Page 8
See DRUG USE Page 8
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