i
Excellence Through Truth and Dedication
JXCW
Volume LI. Number 21
www.theseahawk.org
February 16. 2000
Inside
rrhis
Issue..
Time to break ground
Senior class clocktower gift will
e erected by May / 8
Wibnington art scene
North Fourth Street Gallery
offers a feast for the eyes/15
The boys of...sunimer?
UNCW falls to UNCG on a very
cold Saturday afternoon /19
INDEX
Campus News....
University
6
i OPiD
Classifieds
.... 10
[a &
The Scene....
....16
[Sports.................
Safe ride program nearing completion
SGA spearheading effort to promote students’ well-being
by HEIDI BING
News Editor
Designated riders
Betow are four routes for the Sate RkJss program proposed Iw ur4CW*s Student Government Assodation, Buses woukl shutBe students between
ca^npus and downtovim Wifrnin^Dn or Wnghtsville B^ch on Thufsday. Friday and Setfurday nights. This proposal is meant to deter drinking and
drivirtg.
Downtown
Red line
Blue line s ■ ■ • •
Wrightsvllle Beach
Yellow line « ^ «
Green line mmmmmm
The Student Government Association
(SGA) is currently developing a Safe Ride
Program that will provide transportation
to students who go downtown and to
Wrightsville Beach at night during the
weekends. The program is an effort to
provide free transportation to students, to
protect students from walking alone at
night, and to curb incidents of students driving after they
have been drinking.
“We wanted to cut down on student spending and give
students a safe way to get out and back home,” said SGA
representative Skipper Mervin.
The program is one of the SGA’s main goals for the year.
The University Affairs Committee began working on the
proposal in October, and they are hoping to get the Safe
Ride Program started by the beginning of the fall semester.
“We took the idea and made it into our own individual
goal,” said committee chairwoman Jeanette DeRenne.
Under the Safe Ride Program, buses will travel the uni
versity campus and apartment complexes within the one-
mile parking zone and pick up students to travel either down
town or to Wrightsville Beach. The buses will run to and
from these destinations between 10:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m.
on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
“We know that student drinking is inevitable because a
large part of the student body is of the legal drinking age,”
Derenne said. “Also, if something unforeseen happens to a
student like they lose their ride or have car trouble, they
will have a safe way to get home.”
Although the program has not been widely advertised yet,
the committee is already receiving student responses.
“So far we’re getting lots of great feedback from the stu
dent body,” Mervin said. “Everyone I’ve talked to says
W-^
.Wnghtsville
John Murphy/ Morning Star Copyright 2000, Morning Star. Used tjy Permission
The SGA’s proposed safe-ride program is being designed to bring
students safely back to the UNCW area from the downtown and
Wrightsville Beach areas on Thursday through Saturday nights.
they’ll take advantage of the program.”
“I absolutely think there is a need for the program,” said
sophomore Alecia Mitchell who works as a bartender at King
Neptune at Wrightsville Beach. “I have seen many people
who have been left by friends and can’t get a ride home. You
always see ‘stragglers’ who are still there at three and four in
the morning.”
Mitchell said she recently left the bar and saw a girl who
was in a nearby phone booth crying because she could not get
a ride home. Mitchell ended up taking the girl to her house,
but voiced concern about other students in similar predica
ments.
“It’s really hard to get a cab here late at night and even if
you get one the price can be higher than usual,” she said.
Mitchell said that the only time King Neptune gets slow on
weekends is during exam times, reflecting the fact that the
See SAFERIDE, page 5
UNCW cracks down on
illegal paridng decals
UNCW Auxiliary
Services, which ad
ministers parking
privileges on cam
pus, is investigating
many cases of stu
dents obtaining
parking decals by
fraudulent means.
The amnesty period
for such decals to
be turned in without
penalty ended last
Wednesday.
Staff Graphx/The Seahawk
by SOMER STAHL
Staff Writer
Parking on campus still remains a major issue, nearly one
ryear after the enactment of the one-mile radius. The Parking
Administration is aware of the false documentation being used
to purchase parking permits on campus and has issued a state
ment that they are aware of who exactly is in violation.
Wednesday, Feb. 9 marked the end of an amnesty period
given to students who have illegal permits.
“As of today [Thursday, Feb. 10] we have not had anyone
turn in anything, we’ve only received a few phone calls,” said
Administrative Assistant of Auxiliary Services Betty
Gurganus.
If caught with a forged sticker, students will face a $105
fine and referral to the Dean of Students Office for dis
See STICKERS, oage 5