4
Daily Tar Heel/Thursday, February 4, 1993
Changes in lieutenant governor post not top legislative priority
By Stephanie Greer
Staff Writer
Despite discussions in the N.C. Gen
eral Assembly concerning new legisla
tion to modify the duties of the lieuten
ant governor’s office, no action has
been taken or is expected soon, accord
ing to members of the General Assem
bly.
“Next to crucial issues, this is not
something that would take the highest
priority right now,” said N.C. Sen.
Howard Lee, D-Orange.
Lee previously had introduced a bill
that called for the creation of a constitu
tional commission to review, among
other things, the facets of the lieutenant
governor’s duties, and to recommend a
change in those duties if necessary.
“1 think the position (of lieutenant
governor) has changed drastically since
1988 ... the duties and responsibilities
have been reduced, and it doesn’t jus
tify the money spent on it,” Lee said.
Lee said he had not decided what his
position would be on the issue.
Paintball
find out more about the sport.
A game of paintball, which usually
lasts about half an hour, isn’t all that
complicated or drawn-out and gives a
player a good workout to boot, Murphy
said.
But there is a slight drawback to the
game: cost.
Playing on a professional paintball
field, which has evolved into a place of
business like a bowling alley or a min
iature golf course, can take its toll on
one’s wallet.
Even if paintball fans can find some
one who will let them use some lightly
wooded land, they might have to pay.
A number of indoor paintball fields
have sprung up in recent years too,
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“I’ll see over the next few weeks
where I want to go on it ... I’m just
going to have to take it as it comes. I
have not put a schedule on it yet,” he
said of the bill.
The suggested changes included re
defining the duties of the lieutenant
governor, combining the position with
another governmental position, elimi
nating the office or cutting the position
down to a part-time job.
The lieutenant governor’s post was
not made a full-time position until 1972,
said Bob Phillips, press secretary for
N.C. Lt. Gov. Dennis Wicker. Some
bad feelings resulted between the Sen
ate and the lieutenant governor in 1988
when the Democrat-controlled N.C.
Senate stripped the new Republican Lt.
Gov. Jim Gardner of his ability to ap
point committees and assign bills, he
said.
Phillips called the recent controversy
concerning the powers of the lieutenant
governor “mainly political” and “a con
tinuation” of the 1988 unrest between
Gardner and the Democratic Senate.
Murphy said. Even his hometown of
Huntington, W.V., has one. But ironi
cally, he has never played there, he said.
Equipment costs too.
A basic paintball gun, powered by
carbon dioxide canisters, costs about
SSO. Top-of-the-line models may cost
S3OO or more, Murphy said.
Besides the gun, another essential for
playing the sport is the paintball itself, a
round plastic capsule about the size
of a pinball filled with brightly col
ored, water-soluble paint. The average
range of a fired paintball is 50 yards,
Murphy said.
Players also need carbon dioxide to
power the gun, and many buy accesso
ries such as bulk loader attachments and
Rachel Perry, press secretary forN.C.
Gov. Jim Hunt, said the disagreement
about the lieutenant governor’s posi
tion had been going on since 1972. “The
question of the lieutenant governor’s
power is not anew one,” she said.
Phillips said the lieutenant governor’s
position was necessary as. a “bridge”
between the House and the Senate.
“The House and Senate are said to
have not as good a working relationship
as they should have ... (Wicker) looks
at his job as a policy trouble-shooter,”
he said.
Both sides of the issue have received
a certain measure of support from the
general public.
Phillips pointed out that since Wicker
was elected by more than a million
votes, “talk about eliminating his job
will bother a lot of people.”
Lee also said he had encountered
strong support for the creation of the
constitutional commission from mem
bers of the N.C. General Assembly,
noting that “there are many questions
that need to be looked at.”
from page 3
carrying cases.
The absolute essential for the game is
a pair of goggles, Murphy said.
“Y ou can’t just wear, like, your little
chemistry goggles. You have to wear
something that can sustain a direct hit.”
Players who want to avoid getting a
fat lip also wear something to cover
their mouths, he said.
Paintball enthusiasts usually order
equipment from one of several maga
zines, such as Paintball Sports or Ac
tion Pursuit Games, that are devoted to
the sport.
Murphy, who has been playing the
game on and off for the past four years,
said he hoped interest in the sport would
gain enough momentum at the Univer
sity so that paintball teams could com
pete intramurally or against teams from
other universities in the area.
A paintball team generally comprises
10 to 15 players, he said, but sometimes
teams can number as few as two people.
An intense version of the game, called
speedball, is played in a smaller arena
with barricades and lasts only about
five minutes.
Regardless of how many people play
on a team or what version is being
played, paintball has a universal appeal,
Murphy said.
“It’s mostly just the adrenaline rush.
It’s something that appeals to the kid in
us cowboys and Indians, cops and
robbers,” he said.
“And there ’ s always that bit of insan
ity in us that makes us want to shoot
people.”
Despite the differing opinions, noth
ing new has happened concerning the
issue, said N.C. Sen. Donald Kincaid,
R-Caldwell. Kincaid also said he did
not expect to see any changes within the
office of the lieutenant governor.
“I don ’ t think we need to create more
bureaucracy,” he said.
Kincaid also said public reaction to
the issue had been unremarkable.
“The people don’t give a tinker’s
damn either way,” he said.
More U.S. women buying firearms
By Jerry McElreath
Staff Writer
American women are buying more
guns than ever, but gun industry experts
and gun control advocates disagree
about why women are purchasing the
firearms.
An increase in gun ownership by
women has been noticeable since about
1983, said Ed Klecka, a National Rifle
Association media coordinator. The is
sue came to the forefront in 1989 when
Smith and Wesson introduced its
Lady Smith gun line.
Ken Jorgensen, a Smith and Wesson
public relations manager, said the com
pany had discovered a niche for women
in the gun-buying market in 1983, when
a Gallup Poll estimated that eight mil
lion women were considering buying
guns. By 1988, that figure had jumped
to 15.5 million.
The increase in purchases of fire
arms by women generally has been at
tributed to a desire for personal protec
tion, but some experts question whether
the guns provide real security.
Shawn Taylor, communications as
sistant for Handgun Control, Inc., said
marketing guns as a means for women
to protect themselves was an attempt to
Issues
“lt is a harsh reality for many women
on campus,” she said. “It is something
that people have to realize that these
don’t just happen to other people.”
Lloyd said she would call for major
reform of the UNC Honor Code to help
victims of sexual assaults bring their
assailants to justice. Victims of sexual
assaults currently are “treated no differ
ently than the victim of a robbery,” she
said.
Lloyd said she personally did not like
the 24-hour lockup in the residence
halls, but would support it if students
did. She said she would like to see
residence halls operate on a system in
which the doors were locked at night
and only one door was open during the
day.
Lloyd also said she would support
altering residence hall room doors so
that they would lock automatically.
Copland: Will use experience to
make campus safer
Jim Copland said he wanted to draw
on his experience with the Rape Aware
ness Week and his work on the Campus
Y’s Rape-Free Zone project to improve
campus safety as student body presi
dent.
“I will be a voice for campus safety,”
he said.
Copland said he wanted to improve
University safety by adding lights and
security call boxes and by expanding
the Point-to-Point program.
Copland, who cited his experience
working against date and acquaintance
rape, said he wanted to continue to be
active in fighting assaults and rapes.
Copland’s strategy involves increas
ing campus awareness about rape and
educating students about prevention.
He said he wanted to review the UNC
response plan for rape and streamline
the polic to fit the needs of today’s
campus.
“I want to take a look at the plan and
make sure it includes enough on educa
tion and awareness,” he said.
Clark: Safety is top priority in
campaign
Carl Clark said his top priority if
elected student body president would
be to improve safety on campus.
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Wicker already has assumed some of
his duties as lieutenant governor, in
cluding being sworn in as a member of
the N.C. Board of Education and the
N.C. Board of Community Colleges.
During the next year, Wicker is ex
pected to keep a “high profile” in educa
tion and small business issues, Perry
said.
Phillips said normality will reign
during the lieutenant governor’s term.
“Wicker will go about his job as he
play on women’s fears of rape and as
sault.
“I think it’s just a false sense of
security,” Taylor said.
Taylor said that, in spite of gun manu
facturers’ claims, guns were not an ef
fective means of personal protection.
She said it would be difficult for a
woman to reach her gun if she were
assaulted.
But officials in the gun industry said
they thought women were now discov
ering other uses for their firearms.
Jorgensen said many women who
initially bought guns for personal pro
tection now were becoming interested
in shooting as a hobby.
“We have found a lot (of women)
buy the handguns and become inter
ested in competitive shooting and hunt
ing,” Jorgensen said.
Don Beamon, manager of the Colo
nial Gun Shop in Hillsborough, said
most of his female customers were buy
ing guns for reasons other than personal
protection.
“There are more women enjoying
shooting, rather than just buying guns
for personal protection,” Beamon said.
The Lady Smith line, marketed spe
cifically for women, differed from Smith
and Wesson’s other handguns in a num
and 90 percent of them said safety on
campus was their highest concern,” he
said.
Clark said that the University needed
to provide security for students attend
ing night classes and that he believed a
“Safety Shuttle” would help them to
stay safe.
“This will be an extension of the
Point-to-Point shuttle and will run con
secutively every 30 minutes in areas
where students are taking classes. Stu
dents will not have to call for the shuttle,”
he said.
Clark also wants to install car-level
phones in parking lots and around cam
pus. “This will allow students to call for
the Point-to-Point service from within
their cars, and then park and wait for the
shuttle in their cars,” he said.
“I want to expand the Point-to-Point
shuttle service to off-campus residents.
I don’t care where they live they all
need safe transport.”
Clark said a Campus Watch Pro
gram, modeled after the Neighborhood
and Community Watch national pro
grams, would help to improve safety on
campus. “This will help prevent crime
by coordinating student volunteers,” he
said. “A part of this program is the
Adopt-a-Cop program, in which cam
pus police are assigned to various
dorms.”
Campus checkpoints, which would
allow students to walk safely from one
part of campus to another, also were on
Clark’s list.
Cox: Has personal experience with
safety problem
David Cox, who was mugged last
year, said students need to take a more
active role in ensuring campus safety.
Cox has proposed that the University
give one hour of credit per semester to
students who participate in student pa
trol groups on campus and in the com
munity.
“We should have students who work
on a volunteer basis and get University
credit,” he said. “The University ought
to see that it is a very good proposal
because safety is going to be a huge,
huge improvement over what we have
now and all they have to give up is one
hour of credit.
“That’s not too much to ask consid-
promised in the campaign,” he said.
Both Perry and Phillips stressed the
excellent working relationship between
Hunt and Wicker and noted that the two
would work as a team for the next four
years.
Perry said,’’Governor Hunt has a great
deal of confidence in (Wicker’s) ability
... (Hunt) believes that legislative lead
ers, the lieutenant governor and the gov
ernor are all elected to carry out the
wishes of the people.”
ber of ways, Jorgensen said. He said
Smith and Wesson had received input
from women while they were designing
the gun.
“The (Lady Smiths) have a satin,
stainless steel finish that does not mar.
The revolvers have rosewood grips and
they have been rounded a little bit so
they don’t snag on things,” Jorgensen
said.
He said the improvements made the
gun more appealing to women and made
it easier to carry in a purse.
Jorgensen said the gun had sold
briskly, with sales doubling between
early 1991 and late 1992.
Many of the guns’ early sales were
attributed to men buying guns for their
spouse’s protection, Jorgensen said. “I
think women are buying more on their
own now,” he said.
The NRA has seen an increase in
women’s enrollment during the past
few years, Klecka said. He also said the
number of women enrolling in personal
protection programs was rising.
Klecka said the NRA had personal
protection programs tailored specifi
cally for women. The programs teach
firearm safety and marksmanship and
discuss general measures women can
take to protect themselves.
from page 1
ering what you get in return.”
The program would be a cheap solu
tion to the University’s growing secu
rity problems, Cox said. “I’m trying to
focus on where we can make improve
ments without spending money,” he
said.
He said that while attempts to install
more emergency phones on campus and
better lighting were important, they cost
money.
Cox said that he thought the Univer
sity was doing a good job in handling
the security problem and that the stu
dent patrols would only improve cam
pus security.
“We have some good security in
place, he said. “I think the main thing
we need to do is to have more visible
security.”
The 24-hour lockup, implemented
last fall after an increase in assaults, is a
good policy, Cox said.
Benefits of the policy outweighed
the inconveniences, Cox said. He said
students could always use the phones
outside the residence halls to call the
student they want to visit.
Patillo: Students must get involved
in safety effort
Adrian Patillo said students should
come up with new ideas for security
instead of just complaining about the
safety problems on campus.
He said that the Point-to-Point shuttle,
which has received a lot of criticism for
its unavailability, needed funding and
new ideas to help it make more work
able schedules.•“lt was good in theory,”
he said. “A lot of people have been
hacking away at it. Don’t just bring
problems to the table bring some
solutions.”
Patillo said the major problem with
shuttle and other campus security ef
forts was the lack of funds.
“I think the problem is money
they don’t have the money to operate
the way that they can," he said.
He said students should not expect
the state to fund Point-to-Point. “I think
it would be naive of us to think that the
state is going to give us money for that,”
he said.
Citing the low turnout at the Student
Environmental Action Coalition candi
dates’ forum Tuesday, Patillo said his
top priority was getting more students
involved in planning solutions to major
problems such as campus crime.
Ginsberg: Will consult with experts
for crime-fighting strategy
Kevin Ginsberg said that while safety
was a high priority in his campaign, he
would work with experts in the field to
come up with a specific plan for tack
ling crime.
“I think some improvements were
made (last semester), and I would like
to support the new programs,” he said.
“I would also like to talk to the others in
charge.”
Ginsberg, a junior from Columbia,
S.C., said that if elected, he would work
through an appointed liaison with all
safety groups —and all major student
groups to identify campus safety
problems.
“The great thing about these groups
is that they have worked on their own
(on the problem),” he said. “With my
liaison, they can tell me more about
what the students want.”
Ginsberg said he would wait until he
was elected and had gotten the input of
campus organizations to form a con
crete safety policy.
Ginsburg did say that it might be time
to give the 24-hour residence hall lockup,
imposed last semester in the wake of
several assaults on campus, another
look.
“At the time it was necessary, but
there are otherplans that couldbe made.”