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ivcHby Angele Mainhart
ail ■ Staff Reporter
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SEE BRIEFS, PAGE 2
Locals protest ofF-campus student housing project
by Sarah Schmidt
Staff Reporter
ampus Crime
Campus Police took two
Ishman to the Buncombe
[unty Detention Facility,
jording to Campus Police,
fficials held the students on
lure bonds after Campus
ice searched their dorm,
ding several bags of mush-
ms, liquor , hydrocodone
marijuana Feb. 3, according
he police report,
hcsc events occurred after
student told a supervisor at
[t\ Market he had a gun when
supervisor refused to return
One Card. The student’s
mmate tried to use the One
rd prior to the incident,
ording to the police report.
late
Ifficials demoted a female
ruber of the National Guard
litary Police Unit from
figh for indecent exposure
ig a mud-wrestling party in
The 105 th unit from
iheville started a party at
mp Bucca after replacing the
3th unit from Florida,
icials demoted Deanna
en. 19, from specialist to pri-
Mc first class, but she remains
;uard at the camp. Several
relators from her unit
eived counseling, according
%ieAP.
i thrift store customer discov-
u $1,227 in the pocket of a
she wanted to purchase at
m Pretty consignment shop
Hickory Feb. 4. Carol Wolfe
ded the money over to the
nei of the store who then
uraed it to the original owner.
ation
Ifficials charged a woman
capital murder for the
iths of her three children in
intsville, Ala. Feb. 5, 2004.
athshay Yvonne Ward
mitted to starving her chil
li to death.
datives and workers from
Alabama Department of
man Resources tried to visit
home several times before,
!'■ Ward refused to allow them
enter. The officers found the
ies several days after the
|ildren died.
fficials captured a couple
used of abusing and starving
adopted children in Utah
4. Linda and John Dollars
>f Tampa abused five of their
^en adopted children,
hey beat the children with
blric shock, beatings with
mers and pulling out their
nails with pliers,
he Dollars favored the other
*0 children, who remained
armed, according to the AP.
he Department of Children’s
It' ices began investigating the
liars after an ambulance
ihed one of the children to the
''Pital with severe injuries
21.
he couple adopted the chil
li in the ‘90s, and Linda
'tne-schooled them. Officials
lied the Dollars with warrants
aggravated child
Montford residents protest an
off-campus student housing com
plex after discovering the con
struction company violated its
zoning permit by clearing land that
residents used as a buffer.
“People in Montford have
expressed concern that • the city
council doesn’t really care what
happens to Montford,” said Dee
Eggers, environmental studies pro
fessor and Montford resident.
“Montford residents are hopeful
that the city council will push for
some kind of solution and not just
let the developers break their word
to council.”
Campus Crest, the developers
building “The Grove” student
apartments at the comer of Zillicoa
Street and Montford Avenue, vio
lated their permit when they
cleared too much vegetation from
the property borders. The permit,
issued by the Asheville City
Council, required developers to
keep a 15-foot buffer of trees and
bushes around most of the proper-
ty-
“During the city council meet
ing, there was a statement made by
the developer that the existing veg
etation on the border would remain
untouched for a depth of roughly
80 feet,” said Scott Shuford,
I»IU
. hr
CHRIS BUBENIK/ Staff Photographer
This Montford resident posted signs of protest for the Campus Crest construction site.
“The university
does not have a
position on the
buffer situation.”
Nancy Williams
director of Housing and Student
Life
Asheville Planning Director.
“When they got onto the site
after that meeting, they ended up
having some topographic chal
lenges in terms of where the build
ings were located and where the
site was that they did not antici
pate. This made them unilaterally
decide that they wanted to
encroach into that buffer.”
Once the council learned of the
violation, they spoke at a public
work session with Shuford about
what the developers could do.
Shuford and the council said that,
with the damage already done, the
Campus Crest developers should
meet with Montford residents to
decide what the developers could
do to minimize the impact on the
conununity.
Eggers and another Montford
representative spoke with develop
ers and city planners about negoti
ating options for the community.
“What the community is going
“It will probably
affect Reed Greek
and the river.”
Dee Eggers
professor of environmental studies
to do is talk about what we would
like the city council to require the
developer to do as a way of miti
gating the negative impact of the
loss of that buffer,” said Eggers.
In addition to this, the council
required the Campus Crest devel
opers to replant the buffer to the
original permit specification of 15
feet. In response, the developers
put in several fast-growing ever
greens and will add more when
spring arrives.
“In trying to figure out if there
had been a violation at this point,
we looked at what some of the dis
cussion was at this meeting, and it
basically said that there would be a
complete visual barrier between
Montford Avenue and the build
ings on the site,” said Shuford.
Although this project affects stu
dents, UNCA maintains a neutral
position. Though the student popu
lation continues to grow and the
university considers building new
dormitories, UNCA neither con
tracted with Campus Crest nor
became involved in the buffer dis
pute.
“The university does not have a
position on the buffer situation,”
said Nancy Williams, director of
Housing and Student Life. “It
sounds like there are plenty of
positions without ours being added
SEE CREST PAGE 2
UNCA alumna sells her skin on eBay
by Leah Shellberg
Staff Reporter
A UNCA alumna auctioned her body as
advertising space to protest the American legal
system and pay court fines.
“It was more of a statement and then it kind
of blew up into a huge publicity event,” said
Bowen. “You have to prostimte yourself out in
a manner of speaking, because there is no other
recourse.”
Officials charged Jenny Bowen, former stu
dent body president and vice, president. Board
of Trustees member and current AmeriCorps
volunteer at Albright College, with purchasing
alcohol for a minor.
Bowen attempted to auction her body as
advertising space for a month in order to cover
the $1,700 in court fees, but mostly as a
protest, as her yearly stipend from AmeriCorps
was not enough to cover the court fines and her
yearly cost of hving.
“You can’t get another job (while working
for AmeriCorps). The socioeconomic base of
these fines versus your income makes it
impossible for you to pay the legal fees.”
Bowen’s statement caught the eye of produc
ers of the Larry Elder Show, who asked Bowen
to fly to Los Angeles Feb. 9 to film a show.
“The Larry Elder Show called me up a cou
ple nights ago,” said Bowen. “First, they didn’t
Lmally tell me who they were. I thought it was
just somebody that was interested in actually
being a bidder and wanted to make sure the
story was legit. So, they talked to me for about
10 minutes and asked me all kinds of questions.
PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNY BOWEN
UNCA alumna Jenny Bowen wanted to
sell her skin on eBay for ad space to pay
for court fees.
I told them the whole story.”
Bowen spoke with the Larry Elder Show
producers, answering every question about her
story. The producers then offered to pay for her
to go to Los Angeles and tape the show.
Reactions posted on the auction page ranged
from requests for pictures of Bowen’s body to
accusations that her story, which she posted on
the auction page, was untrue. One man posted
if they had the money to bid, they would have
Bowen advertise the fact that she supplied an
underage person with alcohol.
“I think that if there’s any justice in this
world, eBay should be putting money towards
her auction to pay her to advertise for eBay on
her body,” said Leo Klausmann, senior envon-
mental studies student.
More than 21,000 people viewed the auc
tion, and five days of bidding remained. The
auction ended with nine bids. Christopher
Summerville, Bowen’s friend and a UNCA
alumnus won the highest bid of $100.
“Jenny is a very intelligent young lady who
had a moment of weakness,” said
Summerville. “It happens to everyone because
no one is perfect.”
Summervile said he bid because of his
friendship with Bowen, and he hoped to get
the auction going so she could raise the money
she needed.
“It was me making a statement about the fact
that America, or the western world, has come
to the point where we are prostituting off parts
of our bodies for mass media and capitalism,-”
said Bowen. “But it’s also about the fact that
the legal system got out of control, and I dedi
cate my entire life to personal service and civic
service, making a difference in people’s lives.
I made a mistake. I bought a 20-year-old a beer.
I think it just got out of control.”
UNCA students seemed more impressed with
Bowen’s attempt to raise money for the court
fines and not as concerned about the charges.
Crystal Rattazzi, senior multimedia arts and
science student, expressed interest in Bowen s
SEE AUCTION, PAGE 2
Iraqi
voter
turn out
increases
by Justin Wagner
Staff Reporter
Shiite muslims .succeeded the
country’s new national assem
bly with high Iraqi voter
turnout during the Jan. 30 elec
tions.
Insurgent attacks claimed the
lives of at least 50 Iraqis despite
initial predictions of more
widespread violence on voting
day.
“What 1 saw was a remark
ably high turnout, which sug
gests the passing of legitimacy
the establishment of a legiti
mate government,” said
William Sabo, political science
professor.
Initial election results indicat
ed that the United Iraqi
Alliance, a coalition of Shiite
political groups, gained 72 per
cent of the recorded votes.
The Iraqi List, a Shiite-domi
nated coalition headed by cur
rent Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad
Allawi, placed second with 18
percent.
Certain UNCA students
believe the elections will lead to
positive developments in Iraq,
despite reservations about
remaining religious and ethnic
divisions in the country.
“1 strongly believe that the
Iraqi elections are a step in the
right direction, albeit a very
small one,” said John Post,
sophomore history student.
“It will be a long time,
though, before any legitimate
government takes power. II the
Sunnis voted in larger numbers.
I’d probably feel better about
the situation,” Post said.
Sunni Muslims, a minority
that held privileged status under
Saddam Hussein’s regime,
turned out in far fewer numbers
at the polls.
Most analysts attribute this to
Sunni voter apathy, instability
or threats of violence against
voters in Sunni-populated
insurgent strongholds in north
ern and central Iraq, according
to an article in the New York
Times.
Some students question the
process of the Iraqi elections
taking place under the backdrop
of threatened ethnic and reli
gious violence.
“The gift of democracy hard
ly allows the Iraqis to build a
national consciousness that
isn’t at once shot through with
sectarian violence,” said
Matthew Wheatley, junior liter
ature student. “It’s all a sham.”
Nine suicide bombers died in
attacks during election day as
sporadic violence persisted
tluoughout the country.
Security forces in Iraq, how
ever, managed to avert the type
of large-scale violence against
voters that Islamic militants,
such as, Abu Musab al-
Zarqawi, called for during the
weeks preceding the elections.
Most observers hope that vio
lence will decline in the after-
math of the elections, although
SEE ELECTION, PAGE 2