SGA
elections
finalized
Kristen Marshall, News Editor
Adam Hillberry, Entertainment Editor
Aaron Dahlstrom. staff writer
Brian Gallagher, staff writer
After officials voided two
IStudent Government
Association elections, adminis
tration continues to investigate
jclaims of fraudulent voting and
Dssible misuse or theft of stu
dents’ Banner numbers.
“We started receiving com
plaints from students that when
hey logged in and tried to vote,
hey had already voted. We
bought it was a software prob
lem, but after further investiga-
ftion with Information
Technology Services, we deter-
nined it voter fraud,” said Bill
laggard, vice chancellor for
femdent affairs. “We have signif
icant evidence to believe that
pomeone had access to student
and Banner numbers and
vas using them to vote fraudu
lently.”
Rather than approach the
boter fraud as identity theft off-
pampus, administrators will
consider the suspect as a viola-
lor of the student code of con
duct.
“We’re investigating it as a
londuct code violation,”
laggard said. “We’re looking at
it in terms of conduct instead of
Mi-OAN W1I.DMAN - S'lAIV PUOTOOKAPHI-R
The needles used for the Asheville Needle Exchange are brand new and are exchanged with intravenous drug users’ old needles to pre
vent the spread of HIV/AIDS. Currently, needle exchanges are illegal in North Carolina, but organizations are waiting on a legislation to
pass that would allow and even fund the programs, which studies show help to decrease the spread of HIV.
Safety for drug addicts
The third election took place
londay and Tuesday, confirm
ing Tristyn Card and Nick Ladd
is new leadership.
After the second election,
lobert Straub and John Noor
lalyzed a report from
iformation Technology depart-
lent, which revealed a pattern
bf attempted logins.
‘We started seeing the same
number typed in,” Noor said.
Then 30 seconds later the only
ling that had changed was the
lie, the two things needed to
)g in to vote. The way that it
was done, because it was alpha-
,1|eiical, just showed that some
one went down the list. We felt
this was someone who got a
hold of a list. There is just no
filing who or what got a hold of
it.”
[Senator hopefuls Ashley
Home, Georgiana Lanius and
“arry Johnson and presidential
ididates Clary Tedford and
»reg Goddard dropped out of
[the elections due to mounting
istrations over the elections
rocess.
[Goddard said he resigned his
mdidacy, citing his passivity
id calling the association dis-
^ganized.
n didn’t want to be part of
bmething so disorganized, and
[fliat’s what the second election
fade me realize. I also dropped
out of the election due to the
feci that I had a very stressful
^eek,” Goddard said. “Being
lorn Virginia, I knew a large
JInount of people that go to VT,
i^just didn’t feel like in the next
Section I would be able to phys
ically and mentally handle it. “
[Goddard said he cast his can-
[dacy for the first two elections
1st to offer competition for the
_ ler candidates and renounced
oGA for disorganization. ,
l“I never really was 100 per-
int into it to begin with,”
iddard said. “It just took a
luple of missed tries to make
ffie realize it wasn’t the thing for
me,”
^he new Card-Ladd adminis
tration will take office for the
imxt academic year.
Local organization awaits new legislation to legalize needle exchange
By Annabolle Hardy
Staff Writer
When
local
a Swananoa pharmacy denied a
man the opportunity to buy clean
syringes because a pharmacist suspected the
man might be an intravenous drug user,, the
man called Michael Harney, co-founder of
the Asheville Needle Exchange.
“North Carolina’s paraphernalia laws pre
vent people without a prescription from
access to needles generally and pharmacists
can use their discretion in deciding who may
or may not purchase nee
dles,” said Hamey, who is ^ ^ -4
also the secretary of the
Two state congressional bills currently in
the House and Senate, HB 411 and S917,
would fund three needle exchange demon
stration programs in North Carolina and take
a step towards legalizing needle exchange
programs across the state, which might allow
outreach workers to reach significantly more
people at risk and help prevent the further
spread of HIV, according to Hamey.
By June 2000, 36 percent of U.S. AIDS
cases reported to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention occurred among
intravenous drug users,
their sexual partners and
offspring, according to
the Drug Policy Alliance.
Approximately 50 per
cent of new HIV infec-
North Carolina Harm nr, , , ■ • .1 . .1 • •
Reduction Coalition. ^ thatJiis is a
Working as an HIV pre-health issue. That s the
vention counselor in the concern, getting people access to tions occur among IDUs,
mid-‘90s, Hamey and co- the means to reduce their risk, their sexual partners and
founder Martin Prairie Moral issues are secondary. offspring,
decided something need- Some people oppose
ed to be done about the Mk^HAEL HaRNEY needle exchange pro
lack of access to clean N.C. Harm Reduction Coalition grams, believing that pro
viding substance abusers
with the means to inject
access
needles that was endan
gering the lives of local
citizens by exposing
them to HIV and Hepatitis C. They began the
work of creating the Asheville Needle
Exchange Program, a conMnunity organiza
tion that collects dirty needles from local cit
izens and replaces them with new, clean nee
dles.
More than 10 years later, Harney
exchanges anywhere from 200 to 500 nee
dles in Asheville each month, even though
the operation is completely illegal.
“What we do is in violation of
Carolina law,” he said.
North
“Only licensed phar
macists are legally allowed to distribute nee
dles.”
dmgs is irresponsible and
promotes increased dmg use.
“An unlimited supply of needles will not
alter behavior patterns of irresponsible and
often psychotic addicts. The best answer for
chronic intravenous dmg users is abstinence-
based and long-term treatment.
Unfortunately, for most intravenous dmg
users, they will not volunteer but must be
coerced into treatment,” said Robert
Miginnis of the Family Research Council.
Christine Jones, junior history student, said
a needle exchange makes sense because it’s
a step towards keeping people from being at-
risk of HIV.
Megan Wildman - Staff Phot(x;rapher
Michael Hamey, with the North Carolina
Harm Reduction Coalition, helps ran the
Asheville Needle Exchange.
“It’d be great if people just stopped using
the dmgs all together, but for some people,
that’s not possible,” Jones said. “And those
people don’t need to have HIV on top of all
their other problems.”
According to the Center for AIDS
Prevention, the majority of current research
shows needle exchange programs do not
increase the rate of intravenous drug use.
The report also said needle exchange pro
grams have the potential to reduce the rate of
Eating at your favorite restaurant
has never been so beneficial until
now, when more than 90 Asheville
restaurants will donate a portion of
their proceeds to Dining Out for
Life, a program to benefit the
Western North Carolina AIDS
Project.
“Last year’s event raised $100,977
to assist WNCAP in their mission of
providing compassionate care to
area men, women and children
affected by the AIDS virus and
increa.se awareness to at ri.Sk indi
viduals through their education and
prevention programs throughout 19
counties of Western North
Carolina,” said Harry Brown, spe
cial events chairperson for WNCAP.
Dining Out for Life takes place in
43 other cities across the United
States today. Asheville’s participa
tion stretches across Buncombe,
Haywood and Henderson counties to
include restaurants in Black
Mountain, Brevard, Hendersonville,
Maggie Valley, Saluda, Waynesville
and Weaverville, according to
Brown.
The participating restaurants will
donate 33 percent of their profits
from breakfast, lunch and dinner to
WNCAP’s local AIDS service agen-
eies, which help to assist those suf
fering from the effects of AIDS in
the region.
“Each participating restaurant will
be part of an intense marketing cam
paign to increase traffic on that day
and to introduce people to new din
ing experiences,” Brown said.
Ambassadors greet diners at par
ticipating restaurants to thank them
for their participation and to answer
any questions they have about
WNCAP.
“Eating out is not something
painful or hard work. Eating out is
something we do anyway as
Americans on a fairly regular basis,
so why not go out on this particular
day and indirectly make a donation,”
said Lizzie Pearson-McLaughlin,
sophomore student.
This is Dining Out for Life’s fifth
year in existence, and Brown said
the program’s success has every
thing to do with the sponsors and
participants.
“Last year, thanks to the generosi
ty of our sponsors, expenses were
only 5.4 percent netting us an
incredible $95,000, a fundraising
record,” Brown said.
Many UNC Asheville students
said they will participate in the
event.
“Everyone goes out to eat, so why
not on Thursday? Eat some good
food and give back by helping the
AIDS community,” said Brooke
Barefoot, freshman student.
Ian Hayes, freshman student, said
he plans on participating in Dining
Out for Life.
“I love food, and I love helping
people, so it’s a great event for me to
join in,” Hayes said. “What a great
combination of my two favorite
things.”
SEE Exchange page 21
For participating
restaurants, visi
www.wncap.org
Judge speaks about bettering N.C. education
By Ashley Horne
Copy Editor
^^*“I’m happy there’s finally a
f|(Nolutton, and I hope that stu
dents will respect the new
^ministration,” Card said. “I
regret the inconvenience suf-
%ed by the student body due to
our lengthy process, but it is a
■•ocess, one that has been given
■wery opportunity to work in the
best interest of the students.”
North Carolina Superior Court
Judge Howard Manning Jr.
defended his controversial deci
sion in the Leandro Case, which
forces the state to provide equal
amounts of money to all school
systems, to UNC Asheville stu
dents Friday.
“Our Supreme Court translated
the (N.C.) constitution to mean
that every single child that walks
into a school is entitled to an equal
opportunity to obtain a sound,
basic education,” Manning said.
“Some people are not going to get
it, but you have got to have the
resources that enable the children
to have the opportunity to do so.”
The Leandro
case began in
66
99
Dolly
Mullen,
Jenkins-
political
1994 in Hoke^^ science department
district where f ^^thool IS entitled to an
student Rob equal opportunity to obtain a member.
Leandro did not sound, basic education.
have access to a
Howard Manning Jr.
N.C. Superior C>)uit Judge
proper science
program and
was denied
equal access to
educational extras.
The North
Carolina Supreme Courts gave
Manning the case in 1997 and told
him the case would require the rest
of his life.
The case is important because it
acknowledges the disparity found
within the state, according to
“People do not
want to talk about
the disparity that
exists with these
different funding
levels,” Jenkins-
Mullen said.
In 2004, North Carolina provid
ed districts with $4,726 per stu
dent, according to the state’s
expense report.
Districts were left to raise prop
erty taxes in order to supplement
this number, leaving many poor
districts
with the
minimum
amount of
funding.
The
Leandro
decision
requires
the state
t o
increase
its cur-
r e n t
Judge
expend Howard Manning
diture, which many opponents see
as an unfunded mandate from the
courts, according to Jenkins-
Mullen.
Jenkins-Mullen said while she
supports the Leandro decision as
an acknowledgement of the di.spar-
ity, many educators dislike the
decision as it forces some wealthi
er districts to get rid of some extras
they offer within their schools as a
way to create an equal opportunity
for all students, according to
Jenkins-Mullen.
“It does threaten what is in place
already,” Jenkins-Mullen said. “If
you have schools with arts and sci
ences and you spend money on
nice athletic stadiums or advanced
placement programs or any num
ber of extras that have worked well
for the students in the city and
your funding comes down signifi-
sEE Manning page 21
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