UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ASHEVILLE
The Blue
anner
hursday, April 10, 2008
v\ ww.thcblucbaniuT.iu't
\ol. 18, Issue 10
Law enforcement squares off on drug legalization
Carolina Fry
Staff Writer
CMFRV'@UNCA.EDU
Buncombe C'ounty ShcnlT Van
Duncan and Major Earl Baniett,
former Greenville C.ounty Sher
iffs Officer, debated marijuana
legalization and the IJ.S. prison
population in a Lipinsky audito
rium discussion April 2 in front of
approximately 40 students.
“We have been in the so-called
■\\mr on Drugs’ for the past 40
years, and if it is a real war, then I
have to say that we've lost in alxiut
every community in the countiy
Barnett said during the debate.
“Drags and drag dealers have infil
trated every state, city and county
in our countiy. This makes me
question whether or not publie pol
icy and cnminali/alion are the bc'st
approaches."
Barnett went on to cite the bil
lions of dollars the I '.S govern
ment spent during the V'ar on
Drugs, w hich was implemented b\
President Nixon in the late PXitfs
to decrease illegal drug trafficking
into the coiintn.
The |xilicy has resulted in hun
dreds ot thou.sands of drtii> related
arrests, according to Barnett.
"W hat ha\e we gained fioiii
the War on Drugs? We haven't
substantialK decreased the cost
of drags so (X'ople can’t alford to
bii\ them, nor luive we reduced the
number of users or increased their
chances of being arrested. ” Barnett
said. ’’.M) self and man\ others fa
vor education and rehabilitation
other than criminal enforeement ’’
1 ,egali/ation of drugs is not the
correct ]xitli to t;ikc, according to
Duncan. Instead, a balanced ap
pnxtch consisting of piviention,
enforcement and treatment should
lx“ used to combat illegal ilrug ii.se
'Illegal drugs ate illegtil Ik
cause thev arc liariiilul, ” Duncan
said "'fhe legali/.alioii of drugs
w ill Icael to an increased level of
drug use as well as a higher level
’r
.laiict Cone
-Whi^tic Director
UNCA
submits
plan for
new track
By Ben Smith
Editor-in-Chief
8LSMITH@UNCA.6DU
The athletic department has
submitted plans to the State
Construetioii Office for the $2
million Karl Straus project.
The plan includes a new
track, field event facilities and a
stadium with bleachers.
“The plans were sent back
to us with corrections and our
architechs are now correcting
those,” said Athletic Director ,1a-
iiet C.one.
■fhe State
Construction
Office has to
approve all uni
versity building
projects. Ixical
finn Cainille-
Allxirice Archi
tects will adjust
the plans before
the university
resubmits the
plans to the state.
The athletic department set
several tentative dates since
launching the UNCA Track
Pledge Web site to raise money
for the project. In .November the
athletic department said the proj
ect would start early this year.
“We’re moving along, we’re
about on schedule,” Cone said.
"We’ve been working on getting
the plans ajiproved for six to
eight weeks now. The state has
to go through projects with a fine
tcxith comb and make sure ev
erything is in accordance to state
regulations with plumbing, elec
tricity or fire codes. It’s not un
common that they send the proj
ect back to fix a few things.”
When the plans are approved,
the university will put the proj
ect to bid for a construction con
tractor.
The university has raised
around $1.2 million for the
project, including $5(X),000
from Brniconibe County, which
is awaiting approval for the
2(X)8-2009 budget set to come
out in .lune.
An anonymous donor has
pledged another $500,000 but
is waiting until the county ap
proves their funding to finalize
the donation.
I’he ciment track is over 25
years old and does not meet
-NCAA standards for competi
tion. Two athletes on the team
have stress fractures. Natalie
Pearson has a pulled hamstring.
Many athletes attribute the in-
.juries to the track’s unrelenting
surface.
For information on the UNCA
Track Pledge, visit uncatrack-
pledge.com
FREE
Trey Bouvier- Staff Photographer
Top, Glen Edward Chapman sits in Carmichael Hall on Friday. Chapman came to UNCA to meet with students, faculty and others instumen-
tal in his exoneration from death row last week. Bottom, Chapman walks with litigation specialist Pam Laughon on the UNCA campus.
After 15 years on death row, Glen Edward Chapman is finally free
Lisa Gillespie
Contributing Visiter
l.VGIU.ES@UNCA.EDU
It starts to rain as Glen Fdward
Chapman walks from the library
steps to the Highsmith University
Union.
While the rest of our group of
four complains, “Bd” quietly relish
es the small token of freedom.
“I can’t get enough of it,” he
says. ‘They used to make us go in
side when It started raining.”
Chapman spent 15 years in pris
on for a murder he did not commit
until District .Attorney .lay Gaither
di.smissed the charges a w'eek ago.
The decision comes after a court
ruling to retry the case in November.
Chapman and his mediation special
ist Pam I.aughon, also the chair of
the psychology department at UNC
Asheville, drove to Hickory to see
Chapman’s father after leaving C.fen-
fral Prison in Raleigh.
“We’re standing on the back
porch at my Dad’s house and I hear
a tree branch brash against the house
and 1 got real spooked,” Chapman
said. “For so long 1 was inside, so
now the sounds of crickets and trees
are out of the ordinary.”
Over the past five years, Cfiap-
man had seven hearings, and the
press never showed up, according to
laughon. Things have changed. In
recent weeks. The New York Times
and the Los Angeles Times have fea
tured stories on Chapman’s exon
eration within the past week.
‘There was no interest in lid,”
I.aughon said, “He’s not fnnn a
wealthy family, he grew up in the
projects, he’s black, he wasn’t edu
cated. My sense of it was that people
did care about him much at the time.
Every'oue w'as white and he was
black. They knew his family, but it
was a bunch of white folks that were
investigating the murder."
Chapman spent 15 years in prison
after being arrested for the murders
of Betty .lean Ramseur and Tenene
Yvette Conley in 1992. The lead
police investigator, Dennis Rhoney,
is now on paid administrative leave
and suspended from his job at the
Burke County Sheriff’s Office after
.fudge Robert C. linrin found tliat
Rhoney gave lal.se testimony and
withheld evidence.
‘There was so much nxire in lid’s
case that was faulty,” said Frank
Goldsmith, Qiapman’s lead attor
ney based out of Marion, ”11 wasn I
a found flaw in the system that freed
him, but officers wlxi concealed evi
dence. I don’t know how you legis
late against that.”
.Since 2(K)2, district attorneys
in North Carolina have reheard -48
,sr I Chapman Pagi: 2 I
of addiction It would make acces
sibihty easier, and it is the wixuig
course of action ”
Duncan aqx'atedl) cited a Drug
linfoR'eincnt .\gency dix'ument
entitled ‘‘Sumnuirv of the Top 10
Facts on I .egali/.ation.’’ which
states tlwt significant progress has
Ix'cn made in lecent \ ears concern
mg the fight again.st illegal drags.
Sti Drugs P-va- 2 I
Obama
campaign
takes root
in Asheville
Dylan Schepps
Staff Writer
DCSCHEPP@UNCA.EDU
Illinois .Sen Barack (lhanui’s
cam|)aign for the presidcuey in
spired many of .Xshevillc’s ]xi
liticall) minded to gel involved
in lire closest race I’oiThe Demo
cralic Party's nomination in re
cent memory, Olximii siip|X)t1
ers said.
‘'file depth of eommilinent
(Irom Obiima supporters) is
something I’ve never seen lx-
fore,” said 69-year old volunteer
.Andrea Williams. ”His charac
ter shines through and 1 think
)X'0|)le are just grasping for that
kind of leadershij) ”
Others descrilx- Asheville’s
eullure as a ix-rfecl frt for Obama
stipixirtcrs
“.Asheville is such a pnigres
sive little jxKket here in the
moimlains and I totally ex[X'cl
ed a lol of support for Obama,
bill I’m sure there are plenty of
('linton supporters in other areas
of this stale,” senior sixiiology
sliideni Kylie Black .said.
Obama eunenlly leads ('lin-
toii .51) jxircent to .AT percent in
North Oarolina, according to a
recent Rasmussen Reports |X)1I.
I’hough Obama is strength
ening his lead in .North ('aro-
lina, ('linton leads 47 percenl to
42 percent in Pennsylvania, ac
cording to Rasmussen.
I’cnnsylvania holds its pri
mary .April 22. ()lhcr stales yet
to hold primaries are North Oar
olina, Kentucky, Indiana, .South
1 >akola and Oregon,
Obanui is campaigning hcav
ily in North Oarolina and estab-
lished an Asheville office at 107
Merrimon ,Ave. The office is a
bustling one stop fixation for
Obama sii]i]X)rters and curious
voters, according to its volun
teers
The office sells stickers, but
tons ami other Obama memo
rahilia. In addition, il provides
voter regi.stralion sign-up fonns,
helpful volunteers and an assort
ment of refrcshnxmts.
“Aside from voting. I’ve nev
cr paiticipated in an election or
a eanijiaign in my life and I am
just so excited alxnit this man,”
Williams said
Williams, a licensed psychol
ogist in Maryland and an artist
in Asheville, volunteered and
they ])Ut her at the front desk to
answer questions, answer phone
calls, sell merchandise and lake
donations.
“Tve got no prior training,
bul liave gotten it here on the
job and it furs just been a lot of
fun,” Williams said.
Visitors flixiked to the office
this past weekend. Some came
in wishing to donate nxmey and
others simply wanted a button
or a sticker.
‘T’he push right now is to get
Sht Obama Page 2 I
QJ
Arts, Etc.
Tclepalh rock The Or-
■ |.7„TMr •ATTpp Peel with Middle-
Eastern jams.
Full story on page 8
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