n^He Campus "Ccfio
No. 12
Published by and for the students of North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carina 27707
February 25, 1981
Bomb threats seize NCCU
Evacuating
a building
correctly
means
never
having
to say
you're
sorry.
' ^ '' ' ^
,ir ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ A
Attention Candidates
The Campus Echo will print your political platform—up to 500 words—in a special
March 6 election issue. All statements must be double-spaced, typed, and turned in to
the Echo office by 5:00 p.m., Monday, March 2. No late papers will be accepted. If possi
ble, include a black-and-white photograph of yourself.
The Echo reserves the right to edit all statements for clarity.
Desegregation case continues
UNC to argue its side
WASHINGTON (UPl) An administrative hearing over the cutoff of federal funds to the
University of North Carolina because of alleged discrimination resumes this week with
UNC telling its side of the story.
The federal government claims UNC has not done enough to desegregate its 16 cam
puses, and to help its five predominately black schools.
But lawyers for the university argue the acts federal officials favor would be
counterproductive. UNC executives also have been describing the case as a battle over
federal attempts to dictate how a state’s school system should be run.
UNC President William C. Friday recently briefed U.S. Education Secretary Terrel Bell on
the case, which involves the possible cutoff of $100 million in federal aid.
Bell told UPl in an interview this month he had not reviewed the specifics of any govern
ment case against states for civil rights violations. But he indicated he though court suits
threatening the loss of the federal funds should be the last resort.
The administrative hearing resumes Tuesday amid some question of whether the new ad
ministration will affect the government’s handling of the case. President Reagan is thought
to be less inclined towards the federal government taking states to court.
Friday recently told a group of legislators that UNC is always ready to talk with federal of
ficials about their dispute but is also just as ready to keep fighting the case in court.
Duinng the government’s part of the hearing last July through October, federal attorneys
argued that UNC has not taken adequate action to speed the integration of the five mostly
black and 11 mostly white campuses.
By Teresa A. Burke
The rash of bomb threats that have plagued Central recent
ly has caused the University to take extra precautions for the
protection of its students.
The closing of the women’s dormitories at 11 pm is one
such precaution. According to Mrs. Shirley Green, residence
operations director, “these security procedures are for the
students’ benefit.”
“The girls can still go out and in—they’re not fenced in—but
we’re taking all the measures we can. Whoever is calling
knows the routine.”
For the last two weeks the campus has been harassed by
more than a dozen telephone calls warning that bombs had
been placed in one of the dormitories or other campus
buildings. So far no explosives have been found and no bombs
have gone off.
There are at least two callers, one male and one female, ac
cording to Campus Security Chief John Smith. Both seem
thoroughly familiar with operations and routines of campus
life.
The callers’ apparent familiarity with campus routine, and
the fact that all the calls have been traced to the University
campus, have prompted theories that the caller or callers are
students, but said Smith, “we suspect everybody.”
According to Smith, the campus security force is doing all it
can to investigate the case. “A lot of people are working extra
to solve this. Campus security is working with the proper
authorities for the handling of calls of this nature, everyone
up to and including the FBI has been conferred with.”
Yet even with the aid of the local police department and the
State Bureau of Investigation, the bomb threats continue.
After a relatively quiet weekend, a call was received on Sun
day that B. N. Duke was to be next. A film audience, many of
whom have had practice in recent days, quickly evacuated
the building. And as the usual no bomb was found.
However, some students are beginning to take their safety
for granted when the threats are made. Not finding any ex
plosive device has caused some to move a little more slowly
and some not to move at all. Smith emphasized that students
should “treat the threats with respect.
“Don’t take it for granted...move away from the building.
Evacuate!”
But the lethargy stemming from the fact that a bomb has
yet to be found has not affected the residents of Eagleson who
along with those of Latham Hall, the Communications
Building, and the Administration Building have gotten their
fair share of bomb threats. “Most of the girls do take the
threats seriously and don’t waste time evacuating the
building,” said Dormitory Supervisor Barbara Dempsey.
“Because they’re heavy sleepers, some don’t hear the
alarms, that’s when the floor aides (marshalls) come in and do
a thorough job.” Carrie Mebane, also a dorm supervisor, add
ed that “security is here everytime...knocking on doors and
getting everybody up.”
The fact that in many dormitories, the side doors are often
propped open for friends and boyfriends to come in is an ex
ample of hazardous conditions students make for
theniselves, added Dempsey. “Anybody can come in a prop
ped door and plant a bomb, assault someone, or anything,”
she said.
Monkey business
no joke to firemen
BALTIMORE (UPl) — NCCU may have its bomb
threats to worry about, but the folks at Johns Hopkins
University have their worries too. Seems they’ve got a
baboon that may be setting off fire alarms.
Johns Hopkins’ spokeswoman B.J. Norris insists five-
year-old Alex the baboon is innocent, that his cage
bumped into the alarm while lab furniture was being
moved. But fire investigation officials say Alex is the
guilty party that pulled the alarm which sent firefighters
scurrying to the prestigious East Baltimore medical
school.
Four fire engines, two fire trucks and a battalion chief
raced to the behavioral medicine building. They say no
flames or smoke—just Alex.
Alex is part of a hearing research project and, until
now, thought to be a law-abiding baboon.
Central players deny Herald statements
NCCU News Bureau
Until this past Sunday, Donald Sinclair and John Bishop
were looking forward to playing in the Central Inter
collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament in
Norfolk.
They knew the tournament was a showcase for CIAA
players, a gathering site for professional basketball scouts
at least since 1950, when NCCU’s Harold Hunter became
the first black college player signed by a major professional
team, the V^ashington Capitols.
Pro basketball was and still is their dream, and is still a
possibility. Sinclair, a 6-4 forward, boasts a 54 per cent
shooting average from the floor and a 19-points-per-game
average. Bishop is the league’s second highest scorer
(23.5 points per game) and has an 82 per cent free throw
average.
An indirect quotation in Sunday's Durham Morning
Herald caslj gloom on the tournament for the two players,
and had a similar effect on David Binion, the league’s
leading rebounder, a 16-points-per-game forward, and the
holder of a 155 per cent shooting average from the floor.
“Binion, Sinclair, and Bishop say they would trade a
30-point gpme at Central for a night on the bench at
Duke,” wrote the newspaper’s Ron Morris.
Bishop and Sinclair know, they insist, that they said
nothing of the sort. They weren’t listening when Binion was
interviewed, but they doubt that he said it either, and Bi
nion is emphatic in his denial.
They know NCCU hasn’t the same claim to “big-time”
status as Duke, across town from NCCU. They play pick-up
games frequently with Duke’s Gene Banks and Vince
Taylor, and they’ve watched their friends on television and
perhaps wished they had some TV exposure as well.
But to sit on the bench at Duke...well...
“If you’re a ballplayer, and you’re dedicated to playing
the game,” says Bishop, “you’re not going to want to sit.”
Sinclair is a bit more emphatic: “No way,” he says with
emphasis, “no way we could enjoy playing for Duke by sit
ting on the bench.”
They thought when the interview started that they were
finally getting an opportunity for the publicity they missed.
The reporter quoted Duke’s Banks as saying that his
NCCU friends “could play in the ACC.”
Sinclair and Bishop said they tried to boost NCCU in the
interview.
“I wanted to say that it’s all right to be here. Even though
we didn’t go to the ACC or anything like that, it was all right
for us to be here. Sure, 1 would like to play in the NBA, but
See BASKETBALL, page 6
Another Atlanta child missing
search for killer continues; White House announces task force
Atlanta (UPl) Police said Tuesday they are investigating the disap
pearance of a 14-year-old Atlanta boy, but the case has not been turned
over to a special task force investigating the cases of 20 slain or missing
black children.
Police released a photograph of Mario Andre Kirk, who lived in south
Atlanta, site of most of the disappearances and killings. He was reported
missing by his mother last Thursday, the same day Curtis Walker disap
peared. Walker’s name was added to the official list of slain and missing
children last Friday.
Officials said they still considered Kirk a runaway but would intensify
their search anyway.
The boy’s mother,-Jimmie Nell Kirk, said the boy rarely attended Col-
umbis High School, where he was enrolled, and had runaway “off and
on" for the past year.
She said she thinks her son may be in Decatur with a man bh had
heoped repair cars, but police have been unable to locate the man.
Mayor Maynard Jackson, meanwhile, said he is pleased to get federal
assistance in social and technical areas in the'hunt for the child killer,
but his hope of getting what he really needs—$1.5 million in cash—is
fading.
Jackson, who met Monday with the newly assigned federal services
liaison in the cases of the missing and dead children, said he believed a
meeting with President Reagan was still being considered, but the pro
spects of receiveing money looked dim.
"My optimism is beginning to dwindle, but we have not given up,”
Jackson said.
A spokesman for Jackson said the mayor was grateful for the latest
federal effort—to assist by providing counseling to those affected by the
deaths of 18 black children and the disappearances of two others.
“The mayor is very happy to get this,” spokesman Angelo Foster said.
“But that doesn’t mean that’s all there is.”
Spurred by the personal concern of President Reagan, the White
House announced Saturday establishment of a federal task force to help
find the child slayer who has terrorized Atlanta’s black neighborhoods
for the past 19 months.
“The president expressed his deep concern about the continuing wave
of deaths and disappearances,” deputy press secretary Larry Speakes
said in Santa Barbara, Calif., where President Reagan spent the
weekend.
The bodies of 18 black children have been found in the last 19 months
and two other children, 13-year-old Curtis Walker and 10-year-old Dar-
ron Glass, are missing. Walker disappeared from his low-income
neighborhood Wednesday night and his name was added to the grim list
Friday, while Glass hasn’t been seen since September.
Walker’s disapperance spurred the 19th consecutive weekend search
Saturday and Sunday for clues in the slayings.
Authorities are still searching for a “witness” they want to question in
the cases after apparently ruling out a 24-year-old suicide victim who
resembles the man being sought.
The suicide victim, Victor Todd Bartoletti of Atlanta, was found dead
Saturday of carbon monoxide poisoning in a friend’s car in the city’s nor
thwest section.
A police composite drawing of the witness being sought a white man
with straight, scraggly hair and a mustache was published Saturday in
Atlanta newspapers.
But late Saturday, officials in suburan DeKalb County said Bartoletti
was not the man they want to talk with in the death of 11-year-old
Patrick Baltazar, one of the latest black children to be found dead.
ATLANTA: Distraught classmates of Jeffrey Mathis, the
16th victim of Atlanta’s children slayings, carry his coffin to
the gravesite Feb. 21. UPl photo.