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@ Volume 101, Issue 125
A century ofeditorial freedom
AmMW Serving the students and the University community since 1893
IN THE NEWS
Top stories from the state, nation and world
N.Y. Gunman's Rampage
Product of Racial Hatred
MINEOLA, N.Y. —The gunman who
turned a commuter rail car into a terror
train brimmed with racial hatred and tar
geted the suburbs because he didn’t want
to embarrass New York’s black mayor,
authorities said Wednesday. All those shot
were white or Asian two of the groups
disparaged in four pages of rambling hand
written notes taken from the gunman after
Tuesday’s killings aboard the 5:33 p.m.
Long Island Rail Road train.
Colin Ferguson, a 35-year-old natural
ized citizen from Jamaica, was held with
out bail Wednesday after his arraignment
on four counts of murder and a weapons
possession count. The heavyset blackman,
his hands cuffed behind him, did not speak
or enter a plea at the hearing. When the
shooting ended, four people were dead, 19
wounded by gunshots and two others hurt.
Clinton Says He Disagrees
With Elders' Suggestion
WASHINGTON President Clinton
declared he was “foursquare” behind
Joycelyn Elders despite their disagreement
over legalizing drugs. The surgeon general
said Wednesday she had “no second
thoughts” about her controversial remarks.
Elders appeared to have weathered the
storm over her suggestion that legalizing
drugs would make America’s streets safer.
Coming in the midst of a White House
crime-fighting offensive, Elders’ comments
clearly took administration officials aback,
and they rushed to disavow them.
But Clinton, who grew accustomed to
the blunt-spoken doctor’s penchant for
controversy backinLittleßock, Ark., made
clear that she still was in good standing as
surgeon general.
NAFTA Recomes Reality
During Signing Ceremony
WASHINGTON President Clinton
signed legislation Wednesday creating the
world’s largest free-trade zone and used
the ceremony to prod other nations to
“seize the moment and close the deal” on
liberalized global trading rules. With con
siderable fanfare and eight pens, Clinton
signed the North American Free Trade
Agreement, which links the United States,
Canada and Mexico into a single market.
“This whole issue turned out to be a
defining moment for our nation, ” Clinton
told an audience of supporters.
And, in a fence-mending gesture to
ward organized labor, which fought the
trade agreement fiercely, Clinton vowed to
send to Congress early next year legisla
tion “to create the world’s best worker
training and retraining system.”
Report Says Radioactive
Fuel Stored Dangerously
WASHINGTON Tons of highly ra
dioactive reactor fuel are being precari
ously stored, sometimes in rusting con
tainers at government weapons plants, the
Energy Department says.
The department in a task force report
said that in one case at the Oak Ridge
weapons complex in Tennessee, an un
known quantity of reactor fuel was buried
but could not be located.
And while the radioactive fuel, most of
it contained in pools of water at weapons
sites in Washington, Idaho and South Caro
lina, might pose no immediate threat, the
canisters, some of them 40 years old, con
tinue to deteriorate.
Psychiatrist Takes Stand
During Seagroves Trial
DURHAM—Michael Seagroves acted
in an understandable way when he shot
teenagers who broke into his garage and
when he forgot critical parts of the event, a
defense psychiatrist testified Wednesday.
“All the alarm signals go off at once,” said
Dr. John March, a Duke University expert
in post traumatic stress disorder."... Mr.
Seagroves was operating under the assump
tion he was about to be killed. ... One
responds automatically ... just does it.”
Seagroves, 37, is charged with man
slaughter and assault in the shootings of
two teens who broke into his garage to steal
a motorcycle and golf clubs.
March said Seagroves’ decisions to get
a .22-caliber rifle and later to fire it were
consistent with reactions to stressful, life
or-death situations.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Weather
TODAY: Mostly sunny; high near 60.
FRIDAY: 40-percent chance of
showers; high near 60.
LaVonda Burnette Not a UNC Student
BYKELLYRYAN
CITY EDITOR
ANDAMYPINIAK
STAFF WRITER
Chapel Hill-Cariboro Board of Educa
tionmemberLaVondaßumette, whobilled
herself as a UNC student during the No
vember campaign, said Wednesday night
that she had not enrolled in a UNC class
this semester.
After receiving a tip from a local resi
dent that Burnette, 23, was not a UNC
student, the University Registrar’s Office
confirmed Wednesday that no record of
Burnette’s enrollment existed in UNC’s
computer files, which date back to 1968.
Burnette said she had called UNC and
DTH/EUZABETH MAYBACH
Ann Greer, a Knightdale resident, helps Santa straighten his beard before his next round of visits from children
Wednesday at University Mall. Playing Santa is Claudio Niedworok, an international storyteller from South Africa.
Housekeepers Continue Legal Battle Against UNC
UNC timekeepers:
A Look at the Men
& Women Who Clean
Campus Buildings
A ttU&ftt? SIMS y
MONDAY: A Job Description 1 .
TUESDAY: The Fight Agamsf the System
WEDNESDAY: The Money Factor
Hitchcock Leads Others
In Secondary, Black
Community’s Straggles
BY MICHAEL BRADLEY
STAFF WRITER
1993 has been a good year for Jimmy
Hitchcock.
He’s seen the Sonja H. Stone Black
Cultural Center win its struggle for a free
standing building, and he’s seen the UNC
football team produce one of its best sea
sons in years. In both successes, Hitchcock
played a big role.
Asa starting comerback for the football
team and a leader of the movement for a
free-standing BCC, Hitchcock attacks so
cial issues just as he does opposing ball
carriers head-on and with enthusiasm.
Hitchcock first gained the University
community’s attention as a student activist
last fall. With teammates John Bradley
and Tim Smith, Hitchcock formed the
Black Awareness Council, a chief voice in
the advocacy of a free-standing BCC.
But this fall, Hitchcock gained head
lines on the field. When Lawrence Winslow
went out with an injury early in the season,
Hitchcock moved in as a starter —perma-
nently. The junior from Concord is tied for
Chapel Hill. North Carolina
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9,1993
Chapel Hill High School to request that
her records be restricted after she discov
ered that members of Putting Children
First, a parents’ watchdog group, had been
asking for her high school records.
Assistant University Registrar Kathy
Allen said any student or former student
had the right to restrict the release of direc
tory data, which was normally public in
formation.
But if someone sought restricted infor
mation, the registrar’s office would not say
that no file existed, Allen said. “(Instead,)
the caller is told that the information is
restricted and cannot be released without
the student’s permission."
Every student who has enrolled at the
University since 1968 is in the University’s
computer files, Allen said. The only excep
Is This Thing Real?
BY JAMES LEWIS
SENIOR WRITER
Members of the UNC Housekeepers
Association, whose movement for racial
equality on the job is nearing its third year
in litigation, say they plan to continue their
fight.
In 1991, members of the UNC House
keepers Associa- SPECIAL
tion first filed a _ v m
grievance with ASSIGNMENTS
the University,
alleging racial discrimination with respect
to pay, training and supervisory practices.
The grievance then was heard and denied
at the first three steps of the University’s
grievance procedure.
the team lead in solo tackles with 53 and is
one of UNC’s hardest hitters.
“I think I’ve asserted myself as one of
the best comers in the league,” Hitchcock
said. “I haven’t given up any touchdowns
the whole year. I haven’t given up much of
anything on the weak side.”
Hitchcockandfree safety Bracey Walker
anchor a UNC secondary that has played
extremely well in recent games after being
burned for big yardage early in the season
by lesser competition. Hitchcock’s bone
jarring hits and speed in running down
defenders have helped energize North
Carolina’s defense in recent routs of Geor
gia Tech, Tulane and Duke and the shut
out against Clemson.
“We’re a great defense,” Hitchcock said.
“1 think we show up when the great games
come about.”
Hitchcock is outspoken off the field as
well. During the BCC debate, the involve
ment of athletes in campus politics
prompted national media attention as well
as a visit from filmmaker Spike Lee.
Please See HITCHCOCK, Page 2
Nobody shoots at Santa Claus.
Alfred Emanuel Smith
tions are those who have only taken corre
spondence courses through UNC, she said.
Burnette confirmed during a telephone
interview that she had not been enrolled in
a UNC class this semester but had been
sitting in on an English course. She repeat
edly declined to reveal the course title or
instructor of the class.
“I wasn’t assigned a class,” she said. “I
didn’t sign up for it. After talking to folks,
they recommended that I start sitting in,
and I bought the books, and I participated
and what-not.”
In an earlier interview Wednesday,
Burnette said the name of her teaching
assistant was Jeff Jones, whom The Daily
Tar Heel contacted. Jones, who was not
fisted in the University phone book, said he
taught an English 12 section in which
This fall, Judge Brenda Becton of the
Office of Administrative Hearings was
scheduled to be the first person outside of
UNC to hear the case. But before Becton
could hear the case, the University ap
pealed a pretrial motion.
Last month, a Wake County Superior
Court judge said Becton had no jurisdic
tion to hear the dispute and dismissed the
case.
Members of the UNC housekeepers
movement have appealed the decision to
the N.C. Court of Appeals, and they ex
pect the case to be heard this spring.
In the meantime, members of the group
have said they will not be silent.
Marsha Tinnen, a housekeeper and
member of the UNC Housekeepers
SPECIAL TO THE DTH/ NATHAN DARLING
Jimmy Hitchcock's enthusiasm on the sidelines and on the gridiron carry over
into his duties as co-founder of the Black Awareness Council on campus.
Burnette was enrolled.
Although Jones would not give the
course section number or his supervising
professor’s name, he said Burnette was an
excellent student.
“She is an excellent student —very
opinionated and outspoken in class, ” Jones
said.
But Susan Stedman, program assistant
for the composition program in the De
partment ofEngfish, said Wednesday night
that there was no Jeff Jones teaching any
section ofEngfish 12.
“I’m the one who puts them on the
payroll,” Stedman said. “There is no Jeff
Jones on the payroll.”
Burnette said in a later interview that
Please See BURNETTE, Page 2
Panel Chooses Wake
County for Dump Site
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH A storage facility that
would take radioactive waste from eight
Southeastern states for 20 years should be
built on the western edge ofW ake County,
a state panel decided Wednesday.
The Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Management Authority voted 14-0 to seek
a license for the Wake County site rather
than a site in Richmond County.
Richmond County opponents of the
facility were relieved but cautious.
“We can enjoy the holidays for the first
time in four years,” said Bobby Quick of
FORCE, the Richmond County opposi
tion group.
“We’ve been through heck for the last
four years, so it’s really hard for me to
applaud.”
Quick said opponents in Richmond
County couldn’t afford to let down then
guard.
“Suppose they get up here and find it’s
not licensable?” he said, referring to the
Wake County site. “Where are they going
to go? Back to number two.”
John Mac Mill an, the authority’s ex
ecutive director, said the agency would
concentrate on getting a license for the
Wake County site, but Richmond County
still could be selected if trouble developed.
“The authority selected the preferred
site,” he said. “It has not eliminated Rich
Association’s steering committee, said that
despite the legal setback, the group would
continue to work toward its goals.
“(As blacks) we’ve always been used to
being turned down on something,” she
said. “And it’s not like, just because we
can’t have our way that we’re going to
throw a tantrum.
“We understand exactly sometimes how
administration is and how slow making
progress is.”
Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancel
lor for facilities management, said the
University was in a continual process of
trying to provide a high-quality house
keeping organization.
Please See HOUSEKEEPERS, Page 6
News/Features/Arts/Sports 962*0245
Business/Advertising 962-1163
C 1993 DTH Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
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School board member LaVONDA
BURNETTE ran as a UNC student in
the November election.
mond County, but it has put it on a shelf, so
to speak. That (moving to Richmond
County) is a potential contingency plan
Gov. Jim Hunt said the most important
work, that of determining the site’s safety,
would begin now.
“My number-one concern is safety, and
I will only support a site that will protea
the public’s health and safety,” Hunt said.
Wake County opponents will seek help
to fight the facility, said Pat Dragstedt of
Ground Zero, a Wake County group op
posed to the projea.
“We’re going to call in other environ
mental groups, the national groups that
had indicated they would help us. This is a
big decision to us. We’ve been accused that
no one cares. But now that it’s a reality,
people will.”
Matt McConnell, an environmental
activist who fives about seven miles from
the site, said the fight was only beginning.
“There was no justice today,” he said.
“... This was the skirmish. The battle is yet
to come.”
Protesters waved dollar bills as each
vote was recorded. When the authority
members finished voting, the protesters
chanted, “Not here, not there, not any
where.”
Please See WASTE, Page 5
Good, Bad
Solutions for
Exam Stress
BY CHRIS GIOIA
STAFF WRITER
Stressed out? Just skip that biology exam.
That’s Danny Lloyd’s solution to end
of-semester stress. Lloyd, a sophomore
from Hillsborough, explained that study
ing wasn’t always the answer when it came
to final exams.
“My philosophy is that by the time final
exams come around, then if you haven’t
learned (the _ ....
course work), Library
then you’re not Schedules
going to learn it See Page 5
before finals, so
why prepare for it?” he said. “My advice is,
don’t bother studying. It doesn’t help.”
One semester, Lloyd attended only two
of his exams. “That’s why I’m a sopho
more,” said Lloyd, who said he’d spent
enough time in college to be a senior.
Not everyone is laid-back about exams,
though. Sophomore Ryan Williams de
scribed experiences in past exams. “We
were in the Math lOexam, andthis guy just
flipped. He started yelling, ‘I can’t do it! I
can’t do it!’
“In Chem 11, a guy screamed and
slammed his head against the desk a couple
of times, really hard. Then he turned in his
paper and left.”
While “camping out” in the Under
graduate Library last semester, Williams,
Please See STRESS, Page 5
Editor's Note
This is The Daily Tar Heel’s last regular
issue of the semester. Tomorrow, look for the
special Holiday Gift Guide, complete with
extra crossword puzzles to tide you through
exams.
The DTH office will close at 5 p.m. Friday
and reopen Jan. 4. If you need to reach us,
please call 962-0245 or 962-1163 and leave
a message, and we’ll get back to you as soon
as possible.
The DTH will resume publication Jan. 7.
Happy holidays and good luck on exams!