HIGH HOLIDAYS
WITH HILLEL
First services held on
campus
» PAGE 4
GETTING ‘HAIR’-Y
Behind the scenes of the fall musical
»PAGE 10
THE Pendulum
ELON, NORTH CAROLINA j WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2011 1 VOLUME 37, EDITION 23
www.elonpendulum.com
TRACY RAETZ ( Staff Photographer
Jerome Frasier, an inmate at Guilford County Prison Farm, waters the mums that are sold to local buyers. The prison larm generates about $200,000
in revenue each year. There are 50 full-time inmates who serve their time by working at the Prison Farm on weekends.
NC prison farm faces budget woes
Facility rehabilitates inmates^ provides revenue for county
Caroline Hood
Reporter
The only prison farm in North
Carolina, located about four miles
from Elon, is in danger of losing
funding from Guilford County and
possibly being shut down.
Guilford County Prison Farm is a
correctional facility where inmates
provide labor and offset costs for a
county through landscaping public
property and growing and selling
crops.
County budget cuts last year put
the prison farm in jeopardy of closing
its doors, but funding for the facility
was restored, at least for now.
“As long as the economy continues
to be in the shape it’s in, we’re on the
front burner for being cut,” said Sgt.
David Atkins, detention officer, who
oversees work programs at the prison,
such as woodworking and automobile
repairs.
Atkins said the prison is trying
to make more money for the county
by starting beekeeping and selling
the honey to the public. Inmates also
planted vineyards about two years ago
and make jelly from the grapes they
harvest.
The prison farm provides many
services for Guilford County,
something unique from other prisons
in North Carolina. The prison farm
generates about $200,000 in revenue
for the county each year. Lt. Bill
Ledford, the commander of the prison
farm, estimates the prison offsets
another $250,000 in indirect costs by
providing landscaping, mowing and
other services to the county.
There are about 50 full-time
inmates and 35 men who serve their
sentences on the weekends. Most
inmates have been convicted of
misdemeanors and are serving a 30-
too 90 day sentence.
The 800 acres of land are used
for growing plants, vegetables and
flowers. There is also a woodworking
See PRISON FARM I PAGE 2
Honor Board
student roles
revamped
Rebecca Smith
Managing Editor
The Honor Board is getting a face
lift through a new student-oriented and
proactive approach.
In past years, the Honor Code has
been presented to students through
activities including the Call to Honor
ceremony in the fall, posters in the
classrooms, conversations during
orientation and Elon 101 courses.
Students also receive emails from
Smith Jackson, vice president and
dean of Student Life when dangerous
behavior that breaks the Honor Code
has occurred.
“We have not been doing a lot of
proactive programs,” said jodean
Schmiederer, assistant dean of
students. “There is also not a lot of
peer-to-peer activities. We are hoping to
make it so there is a part of the Honor
Board that is more student-led.”
Many upperclassmen do not attend
the Call to Honor and all events about
the Honor Code are lumped together in
the fail semester, which left room for a
new event in the spring, Schmiederer
said.
“We are talking about doing an
integrity week in February,” she said.
“What we would also like to see is
students going to Elon 101 classes,
campaigns that are student-run with
what the four tenants mean to them and
creating a website that is specifically
for the Honor Code.”
Integrity Week will most likely
consist of forums concerning the four
principles of the Elon Honor Code along
with information at events like College
Coffee. There is also the possibility of
having speakers discuss how the issues
of integrity apply to college students,
said Grant De Roo, senior Honor Board
member.
There are currently 11 students
serving on the Honor Board. Some
student members are elected by the
See HONOR BOARD i PAGE 2
Elon resident: ‘Even New York City has Central Park’
Locals, university officials differ on coifimuntty impact of Station at Mill Point
Anna Johnson
Editor-in-Chief
Elon resident Mary Marshall watched
her kids play on the Firehouse Fields
for years. Now, the former grassy site
is home to red dust, bulldozers and
the eventual site of Elon University’s
Station at Mill Point, a residential area
tor juniors and seniors.
“We are not happy about it,” Mary
Marshall said. “When we first came
here, it was a green space and it was
undeveloped. People would ride dirt
Dikes out there, and our kids would
play there. And then it was a field, and
It Was fun seeing the band practice and
tailgating. We really enjoyed that.”
Mary Marshall and her husband,
Ob. live adjacent to the construction
area on Ball Park Avenue.
Elon University has owned the
Firehouse Fields, across from the Elon
Fire Department, for decades and even
offered the property to the town of Elon
to build a county library in 2008. But
with the university’s 10-year strategic
plan. The Elon Commitment, the idea
to build additional housing for seniors
was finalized.
The Elon Board of Aldermen
approved the site plans for the
upperclassmen housing in March in a
4-0 vote.
“I haven’t heard any concern from
citizens," Elon Mayor Jerry Tolley said.
“(The university) came to the town to
seek approval and went through the
planning board and town approval
^ The board members were concerned
with an increase of traffic on Williamson
and Ball Park avenues, Tolley said, but
the town would have to monitor the
traffic to see how it impacts the area.
“It seems to be a good thing for the
university, and usually all things good
for the university
is good for the
town,” he said.
The university
responded to
suggestions
from the public
and the town
on how to best
buffer the town
residents from
the senior village,
said Gerald
Whittington,
senior vice
president for
business, finance and technology.
“I don’t know of any issues that
haven’t been addressed already as
“It just seems like, I hate to
even use the word greed
but that's what it's like.
(Elon University) should be
helping the community.”
-Bob Marshall
ELON RESIDENT
part of the public hearing and with the
Board of Aldermen,” he said.
Students living in the senior
residential area will
not be allowed to
drive to classes, and
Mary Marshall said
she is worried about
students crossing
the railroad tracks
at the intersection
of Williamson and
Lebanon avenues.
A $2.2 million
pedestrian tunnel,
completed last year,
was built to increase
students’ safety as
they crossed the
train tracks. The tunnel and fence
See MILL POINT I PAGE 2
T ELO