baseball downs FURMAN. Sports 9
STEPSHOWj Entertainments
SGA ELECTIONS, Opinion 11
The
Blue Banner
rhe News
n Brief
Officials to
cale down
Jele Chere
Asheville City Council mem-
ers cast a unanimous vote ear-
ier in the week to recommend
lat Bele Chere, the region’s
irgest free street festival, he
caled down.
City officials said they want
jore bands and artists from
festem North Carolina, also
ranting to make vending booths
heaper for these local artists,
ity officials also voted for a
ludget cut of 20 percent, accept-
g feedback from community
Drums. Council members said
be community wants the festi-
al to return to its more humble
Dots, though some stress the
bange must take place slowly,
r Bele Chere may fizzle out
ompletely.
Last year, more than 300,000
eople attended Bele Chere,
ccording to reports. This year,
le festival will occur July 27-
9.
Qie legacy
ives on in
indi Irwin
The work of late “Crocodile
unter” Steve Irwin will live on
rough his eight-year-old
ughter’s new television show,
indi: The Jungle Girl.”
Bindi Irwin began filming
le new cable show with her
It her early last year with the
ope of interesting more chil-
rcn in wildlife and conserva
tion.
The show, which will launch
June on the Discovery Kids'
hannel, features Bindi explor-
g wildlife and addressing her
dience from a tree house in
e rain forest, will also be
aced with guest appearances
om Irwin, according to a state-
ent from the Discovery
'hannel.
Irwin was killed nine months
igo when a stingray barb
ierced his heart. His family
ontinues his legacy of wildhfe
nservation at Australia Zoo in
ueensland, Australia.
Strive Not to Drive event to emphasize environment
By Dylan Schepps
Guest Writer
With the 17th annual Strive Not
to Drive event taking place April
18-29, many still feel there is
room for improving the city’s
assistance in alternative means for
transportation.
“As someone can see by looking
at our transportation network here
in Asheville, there’s not a lot of
bike lanes. Greenways are still
being developed, and the bus sys
tem, even though it’s improving,
still leaves a lot to be desired,”
said Yuri Koslen, UNC
Asheville’s transportation planner.
The Strive Not to Drive program
is a community-driven campaign
which aims to persuade the public
to take part in the effort to cut
back on commuter pollution,
according to Koslen.
This is the first year the city of
Asheville is taking a leading posi
tion in the organization of the pro
gram and the events supporting it.
“It’s a great program that is real
ly giving back to the community,”
said Tiffanie Tatum, UNC
Asheville alumna and intern for
the City of Asheville.
Other events include the fifth
annual Strive Not to Drive film
festival held at 7 p.m. in UNC
Asheville’s Highsmith Student
Union, in Alumni Hall.
There are two contests for film
makers in regards to the festival.
The short film contest invites area
middle school, high school and
college students, as well as inde
pendent filmmakers, to submit
videos based on three alternative
transportation themes listed in the
video contest application.
Last week, officials recognized
Libby Rice, senior mass commu
nication student, and her fellow
group members’ 30-second public
service announcement as the win
ner in the Strive Not to Drive con
test for local filmmakers.
The public service announce
ment will air on local television
promoting the campaign message.
“It’s a good thing,” Rice said. “1
have a Ciu that 1 drive, but I try to
sia; DrivIs pa(;k 21
Elections ruled void after mishap
TrI'Y Bouvii;r - .S'lAi'i- hioiiRiRAi'in*
SGA senators Nick Ladd, Carrie Jordan, Harry Johnson and Andrew Johnson along with vice presidential candidate Erica Little and presidential candidate Greg Goddard sit in on
the meeting Monday. SGA officials made the decision to meet throughout the week and meet finally today to make decisions regarding Ben Walsh, elections commissioner.
Behind the confusion of recent SGA election upheaval
By Brenda Weigel
Copy Editor
After a week of controversy sur
rounding the Student Government
Association election campaigns of
Alex Lanahan/Nick Ladd and
Tristyn Card/Erica Little, Student
Body President John Noor
announced new elections will
completely be re-held and an
investigation will look into allega
tions of bias on the part of the elec
tions commissioner and Elections
Commission.
“Basically, this whole thing is a
big mess and everyone realizes
that, so they’re taking shortcuts to
try and get out of it. They’re mak
ing presumptions of guilt left and
right,” said Ladd, candidate for
vice president and senior environ
mental studies and philosophy stu
dent.
Friday, March 16, 2007
On Friday, March 16, Ladd pur
chased chalk and went to the Quad
with the intention of chalking the
library steps for his and Lanahan’s
campaign.
Little and Harry Johnson, com
muter senator candidate, appeared
on the Quad as well, also with the
intention of chalking the steps, but
for the Card-Little campaign. A
short time later. Card arrived, and
Card and Ladd came to an agree
ment, deciding they would split
the stairs down the middle, accord
ing to minutes from an SGA hear
ing.
According to Ladd, he began to
outline letters on the steps with the
intention of filling them in at a
later date.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
On Saturday, Card and Little
decided to chalk the entirety of the
steps, discovering the library steps
is a non-reservable space, aecord-
ing to Card.
At this time, Anna Lange, com
muter senator candidate, Johnson
and Steven C. Quinn, resident sen
ator candidate, were all present,
according to minutes from an SGA
hearing.
According to Card, neither she
nor Little, Lange, Johnson or
Quinn were aware of Ladd doing
any chalking or campaigning on
siii; SGA pa(;k 31
llderly crime victimization trend hits home
By Trevor Worden
Staff Writer
In recent months, the Asheville
'‘■’olice Department received
eports that a man and woman tar-
;eted three elderly people in the
Asheville Mall area.
There are two or three cases of
•ickpocketing in town. These two
ndividuals work as a tag team.
woman talks and engages the
'ictims, taking all of their credit or
kbit cards. The man immediately
ses all of the cards with the
Honey on them before the victims
■''en know that their things are
tolen,” said Lieutenant Kevin
^est, who works in the criminal
vestigations sector of APD.
The pair of thieves work so
uick, senior citizens lose every-
ling by the time they realize their
allets are gone, and the depart-
Hent does not have much of a lead
the two suspects other than a
ew photos, according to West.
We actually have pictures of
hose folks and are actively
ngaged in searching for them,”
Vest said.
John Dankel, APD’s public
iiformation officer, said there
could be a problem with criminals
targeting the elderly as victims, but
he said it is impossible to tell how
much these crimes affect people.
—^T don’t have any information
that senior citizens are victimized
at a higher rate than the average
citizen, but when they are victim
ized, it is much harder on them,”
Dankel said. “Fraud, theft and
other crimes are harder for elderly
people to cope with because they
have to deal with insurance claims
and so forth. Particularly, if a per
son is quite old, it makes the
process even more difficult, so
while it may be true that they are
not victimized at a higher rate,
they are affected much worse.”
These crimes follow a growing
trend, brought to the media’s atten
tion earlier in the month when a
mugger attacked a 101-year-old
woman with a walker and snatched
her purse after punching her sever
al times in the face in New York
City. A nearby surveillance camera
caught the entire attack on tape,
and the event sparked a citywide
manhunt for the attacker, accord-
SEE Elderly page 21
@1
Conference highlights
queer studies and
growing community
7
Megan Wildman - Staff Photcwrapher
Donna Hackney, two-time UNC Asheville alumna and and active
member in the Reuter Center, plays bridge with fellow students.
By Annabelle Hardy
Staff Writer
Over 150 people from 17 col
leges and universities attended
“Queer Today, Where
Tomorrow?” the 2007 Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender
and Queer Studies Conference
held at UNC Asheville last week
end.
“This conference is good for
UNC Asheville because we are a
liberal arts university and queer
studies is the most interdiscipli
nary field. Classics, philosophy,
the sciences - all these subjects
have links to queer studies,” said
Sophie Mills, eo-chair for this
year’s conference and chair of
UNC Asheville’s classics depart
ment.
Students and alumni from UNC
Asheville and other institutions
presented scholarly research on
topics like queer identity in the
South, aging in the GLBTQ com
munity, ancient sexuality and
queer representations in film. In
addition to topics discussed, the
conference included several film
screenings, a drag king perform
ance and other performance art.
“It’s great for people to be
exposed to queer studies through
performance and academics. I
think the performance aspects of
the conference make the informa
tion more accessible for people,”
said UNC Asheville sophomore
Casey Ellingsworth, conference
intern.
UNC Asheville hosts the
GLBTQ conference every two
years and attendance this year
nearly doubled since the last
event in 2005, according to Mills.
‘This event has a stronger sense
of community than other confer
ences I’ve been to. The university
and the community both seem
represented. There’s a real sense
of place,” said Brooke Campbell,
SEE Conference page 21
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