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m? Daily ®ar Hrcl J? Volume 102, Issue 16 101 yean of editorial freedom Serving the students and the University community since 1193 IN m NEWS Top stones from the state, nation and world House Agrees to Hold Hearings for Whitewater WASHINGTON Despite Demo cratic reluctance, a congressional probe of Whitewater became a virtual certainty Tuesday as the House joined the Senate in calling for hearings. Special counsel Rob ert Fiske won his first guilty plea in the case bedeviling the Clinton administration. The House vote was 408-15 for legisla tion calling on Democratic and Republi can leaders to work out an “appropriate timetable” for hearings without interfering with Fiske’s work. While dates and ground rules for hear ings remain to be set, the legislation marked a retreat for House Speaker Thomas Foley, who has been under pressure from Repub licans and some Democrats to drop his opposition to hearings. N. Korea Accuses South Korea of Provoking War SEOUL, South Korea Tensions on the world’s most heavily armed border escalated Tuesday, with North Korea ac cusing South Korea of provoking war, and South Korea saying it needs better security to ensure peace. South Korean President Kim Young sam said he would ask China, North Korea’s only major ally, to help ease the nuclear standoff on the divided peninsula. North Korea’s official news agency called South Korea’s plans to deploy Pa triot missiles and conduct military exer cises with the United States “provocative steps ... and a declaration of war.” Tensions have risen sharply in the past week because of North Korea’s refusal to allow full nuclear inspections or to ex change envoys with South Korea. Man Kills Wife, Then Self In South Square Store DURHAM Authorities say an em ployee of Dillard’s department store at South Square Mall was shot to death in a stockroom Tuesday by her estranged hus band, who then shot himself to death. Police identified the victims as John Kendrick, 52, and Susan Kendrick, 41, both of Durham. According to reports, the couple had been separated for a week. An off-duty police lieutenant working as a security guard was summoned by an employee who heard the couple arguing. The officer discovered the two bodies in a room behind the store shoe section. Before Ray could get to the room, At least four shots were fired. Three hit Susan Kendrick in the body, and one struck her husband in the head, Durham police Capt. Eddie Sarvis said. International Fund Agrees To Extend Russian Credit MOSCOW—The International Mon etary Fund has approved a $1.5 billion loan to Russia, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin said Tuesday. The new extension of credit is a key vote of confi dence in the country’s economic reforms and provides a boost to the government, whose commitment to reform had been questioned after the departure of leading reformers in January. The loan had been hung up for months while IMF officials scrutinized 1994 plans to cut spending and reduce the deficit. IMF managing director Michel Camdessus voiced concern Monday about inflation, which totaled about 950 percent for 1993. The IMF already has lent Russia $2.5 billion but held off extending more credit until Moscow showed it was serious about reforming its economy. Bombing of Base May End Khmer Rouge Presence PHNOM PENH, Cambodia The government hopes the loss ofKhmer Rouge headquarters during the weekend marks the end of the once fearsome guerrilla group as a major political player. Pailin, in northwestern Cambodia along the Thai border, was the third and largest Khmer Rouge stronghold to fall in recent months to the government elected in a U.N.-organized vote last May. About 5,000 government soldiers more than half the estimated number of guerrillas remaining in the Khmer Rouge pounded Pailin with artillery and heli copter gunships for two days before over running the base Saturday. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Weather TODAY: Mostly sunny, warm; high lower 80s. THURSDAY: Variably cloudy; high mid-70s. Sokolowski Found Guilty, Gets Life Sentence BY JAMES LEWIS SENIOR WRITER HILLSBOROUGH An Orange County Superior Court jury returned after just more than an hour of deliberations Tuesday morning with a guilty verdict for David Allen Sokolowski in the first-degree murder of his neighbor and friend, Rubel “Little Man” Hill. Sokolowski, 36, was charged with the shooting death of Hill, 35. Sokolowski later chopped up Hill’s body, put the parts inacooler, andbuiltabonfiretotry to bum them. Sokolowski will face another murder trial later this year in the death of his live in girlfriend, Pamela Owens Elwood, whose body also was found on Sokolowski’s farm. Judge Gordon Battle retired the six man, six-woman jury to deliberate at 9:30 a.m. Sokolowski was led from the court room, and he and his attorney, Bill Sheffield, returned at 10:37 a.m. to hear Congress To Vote on DTH Audit BYKELLYNEWTON STAFF WRITER Student Congress will vote tonight on bills calling for an audit of The Daily Tar Heel and support for increasing student representation on the chancellor selection committee. The bill about the chancellor search committee requests that Board of Trustees Chairman Johnny Harris, the head of the committee, add more students to the group. “That’s something that, as an issue, should unite students,” said congress Speaker Wendy Sarratt, the bill’s sponsor. “It will affect everyone.” The 22-member selection committee, which will search for Chancellor Paul Hardin’s successor, includes only one stu dent representative—Student Body Presi dent-elect George Battle. A coalition of 21 student groups will be holding a rally at noon today to protest the lack of student representation. The coalition has collected more than 4,000 signatures on a petition. “I’ve been very impressed with the num ber and range of students who have come together for more representation,” Sarratt said. Congress also will consider a bill to night that would direct the student attor ney general to conduct an audit of the equipment in The Daily Tar Heel office. If the bill is passed, congress would allocate SSOO for the audit, which will be conducted by the student attorney general’s staff and the Student Activity Funds Of fice. It will be up to the next congress to decide what to do with the results of the audit. Rep. John Phillipe, Dist. 18, the bill’s sponsor, said he thought the action would be necessary to sever all ties between stu dent government and the DTH. The audit’s motive is “to find out what’s happened to equipment purchased with student government funds,” he said. “Hopefully, an audit will give a reason able estimation of the equipment,” said Phillipe, adding that he knew of no major objections among congress members about the bill. “It seems to me the DTH is trying to get away with something.” But DTH General Manager Kevin Schwartz said congress already had given up all control it had over the student news paper when it approved the charter to form the DTH Publishing Cos. in 1989. The DTH’s current assets are audited by an outside company. Schwartz said congress had access to the financial files of the DTH, and that it was welcome to look through them. Donald Boulton, vice chancellor and dean of student affairs, said he did not think any of the equipment currently in the DTH office had been purchased by student fees. In May, the student newspaper stopped receiving funds and now supports itself solely through advertising revenue. During this year’s campus elections, students passed a referendum that elimi nated all student government appointments to the DTH Board of Directors. The DTH started returning fees in 1989 when a DTH sponsored referendum to defund the paper passed. In other business, congress also will vote on whether to approve Battle’s recent appointments to his administration. Battle has appointed junior Donyell Phillips stu dent body vice president. Finance Committee Chairman Wayne Rash, who ran for student body president, has been named student body treasurer. Nature seem a dissipated hussy. She seduces us from all work. Ralph Waldo Emerson WEDNESD/SJ KcH23J994 the verdict. A mix-up in the spelling of Sokolowski’s name sent the jury back for about 20 min utes while the clerk made corrections to the verdict forms. Sokolowski remained seated at the de fense table, alternately smoothing his hair and looking at his hands. When the clerk revealed the guilty ver dict, Sokolowski showed no change in emotion and had nothing to say before he was given a mandatory sentence of life in prison. Orange-Chatham District Attorney Carl Fox said Sokolowski would be eligible for parole in 20 years. Fox said the murder conviction was one of the fastest he had seen in his career. “The verdict was a tribute to the state’s strong case,” Fox said. “I had anticipated (that if they were going to return a first degree guilty verdict) they would have to decide within two hours." Clifton Byrd, the foreman of the jury, said the jury saw no proof for Sokolowski’s Designer Drives ***** *** jj|i Bglf i|| DTH/ELIZABETH MAYBACH Steve Mooney, a junior from Durham, prepares to putt on the first hole of an art golf course created by an introduction to sculpture class Tuesday morning. This hole, designed by Amy Patrick, is called 'Guardian.' Fraternities Want to Move Into Theta Chi House BYALIBEASON STAFF WRITER Some Greek organizations are inter ested in calling the house at 307 E. Franklin St. home if Theta Chi fraternity decides to end its lease. The house is owned by Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority, which is no longer active at UNC. Four or five groups have expressed in terest in leasing the property since a March 4 article in The Daily Tar Heel, said Bethany Deinas, Sigma Sigma Sigma’s national executive director. Sigma Sigma Sigma is not selling the house, but will lease it if Theta Chi decides to end its lease, she said. Battle’s Transition Team Plans Large Administration BY HOLLY RAMER STAFF WRITER Student Body President-elect George Battle will begin taking applications later this week from students interested in serv ing on his staff, which his transition leaders hope will be larger than past administra tions. Melvin Davis, director of Battle’s tran sition period, said Tuesday that Battle still was deciding what kind of committees to include in his administration, but that he would make a final decision this week. “We’re still working on it, but it should be done in the next two days,” he said. Although Transition Committee Chair man Ted Teague said he thought Battle had specific people in mind for his chief of staff position, he said the other positions still were open. “There are people who have approached claim of self-defense. “It probably was not in self-defense,” he said. “There was no evidence showing that the deceased had a gun or came to kill him.” Sheffield, who will handle Sokolowski’s appeal, said he regretted that Sokolowski had not testified in the trial. “I would have preferred that he took the stand,” he said. He said Sokolowski decided not to tes tify because he believed the prosecution would “twist” his words. Sheffield said he spoke briefly with his client before he was taken from the court house. “(Sokolowski) was disappointed,” Sheffieldsaid. “... In his own mind, he did notfeelthathehaddone anything wrong. ” He said Sokolowski’s account of the events ofMarch4,l992, was hard to prove without Sokolowski’s testimony. “I believed David because the story he told me was so unusual and would have been extraordinarily difficult to make up,” he said. According to the defense’s version of the incident, an angry Hill, who had just “IfThetaChisdon’tcontinuetheirlease, we would lease to another fraternity or sorority,” Deinas said. She also said Sigma Sigma Sigma would welcome the opportunity to return to Chapel Hill if UNC was open to sorority expansion. Deinas said Tuesday that the national treasurer of Sigma Sigma Sigma had not been contacted by Theta Chi about termi nating the lease of the property. “To our knowledge, Theta Chis have not indicated they want to discontinue their housing there,” she said. Deinas said the sorority received a call from a member of a UN C fraternity colony after an article about the house ran in the DTH. George and me, and there are logical choices of people who have experience, but all the positions are really wide-open at this point,” he said. Teague said he hoped the administra tion would be inclusive and one of the largest ever. “It would be great to have everyone who wanted to be involved be part of a large administration,” he said. “Some people, like (1991-92 SBP) John Moody, went for a more closely knit ad ministration, and there are some advan tages to that.” Although communication within a small administration might be easier, Teague said he envisioned the new administration as being even larger than current adminis tration. The Copland administration is one of the largest ever, with more than 100 stu dents serving on committees, as contacts fought with his wife, went to Sokolowski’s house and threatened him with a gun “be cause Rubel wanted to pawn some of David’s tools so Rubel could buy some drugs,” Sheffield said. “They fought all over the place with that gun,” Sheffield said. Investigators found numerous bullets in Hill’s body. Fox said Sokolowski’s claim of self defense lacked any evidence. “They found all of Rubel Hill’s clothes, and they didn’t find this gun he allegedly shot at David Sokolowski with, ” Fox said. “That’s because he didn’t have one. “He doesn’t go to the police, and in stead chopped up Hill and put him into a cooler and cuts off his ears and saves them for souvenirs,” he said. “And he saves his clothes, and he didn’t save the gun.” Sheffield said Sokolowski believed he was doing Hill, who was reportedly a mem ber of the Hell’s Angels, a favor by chop- Please See SOKOLOWSKI, Page 4 School Board Veteran To Leave Seat Empty BY JOHN BLACKWELL STAFF WRITER A veteran member of the Chapel Hill- Canboro Board of Education announced Monday that she would resign from the board, causing other board members to start the process of finding a replacement. Ruth Royster, a Carrboro resident who has served on the school board since 1987, said at the board meeting Monday night that she would not finish her second term as a member. Royster said she would resign her posi tion to move to Connecticut. She said Tuesday that she expected to move in less than six months, as soon as she could sell her townhouse. “I have a feeling that the time I have left on the board will be much shorter than I had first expected,” Royster said. “The real estate agent has advised me that my property will probably sell very quickly.” Royster’s resignation will leave an open seat on the school board that could be filled by a number of potential candidates, but Chairman Ken Touw said Tuesday that the school system had no specific policy for filling vacant board seats. Touw said school system policy would allow the board to appoint a replacement member to serve until the next election in November 1995, but said there was no defined selection process the board must use. “We haven’t even thought about that yet,” Touw said Tuesday. “What we need to do is come up with some possible pro cesses and decide on the best one.” Touw said he would meet with school administrators sometime this spring and The student inquired about buying the house, but it is definitely not for sale, she said. Deinas said the article in The Daily Tar Heel and the call from the UNC student were the first things she had heard about the situation. Lee Rapach, national housing director for Sigma Sigma Sigma, is in charge of the lease agreement for the house in Chapel Hill. Rapach refused to comment Mon day. Martin Y ount, president of the board of directors of the UNC chapter of Theta Chi, would not comment on whether the frater nity was considering terminating the lease. “This information is fraternity business, ” he said. “The disposition of the lease is with the administration or in other ap pointed positions. “We can get the best of both worlds by having good leadership and a closely knit group of cabinet leaders,” Teague said. Teague said he didn’t think the struc ture of Battle’s administration would be “radically different” from Copland’s ad ministration. “I’ve been involved in looking at the way we setup the administration,” he said. “There will be a committee structure, similar to the one Jim (Copland) had.” But while the essential structure will remain the same, Battle’s administration could involve fewer committees than Copland’s, Teague said. Teague cited Copland’s special projects committee as one that had been debated. Although Teague said the committee served as an effective “trouble-shooter,” he was exploring other alternatives other News/Features/Am/Sports 962-0245 Business/Advertising 962-1163 01994 DTH Publishing Coip. All rights reserved. District Attorney CARL FOX said David Allen Sokolowski would be eligible for parole in 20 years. recommend selection methods to the school board. The board probably would decide to take applications or to select anew member from the candidates for school board in last November’s election, he said. “The board members could sit down at a meeting and pull names out of our heads and then make a decision,” he said. “But that’s pretty unlikely without public input being involved. “We might decide that the best thing to do is take the next highest vote-getter in the last election.” Touw said the method for selection would be published before the board made its decision on a replacement. “It will work better if we give the board and the public options to consider in ad vance,” he said. A replacement will not be chosen until Royster is certain exactly when she will leave the board, Touw said. He added that he hoped the board would make a decision on the selection method before summer vacation but wait until school began next fall to choose a replacement. “I would rather wait until a time when every one is here, but that’s really the board’s decision,” he said. Touw said he did not know whether the board would decide to hold a public hear ing on the replacement selection. “We’ll certainly try to ascertain public opinion,” he said. Royster said the recent controversy sur rounding LaVonda Burnette had “abso lutely nothing” to do with her decision to leave the board. “I really feel some anguish in leaving Please See ROYSTER, Page 4 between the Theta Chi board and (Sigma Sigma Sigma).” Yount said changes in the lease agree ment did not involve the active chapter. “The charter is not in jeopardy,” he said. Deinas said Sigma Sigma Sigma had not had any indication that Theta Chi had been unhappy with the lease agreement. John Roberts, vice president of rituals of Alpha Kappa Psi, said the business fra ternity had been interested in buying the house earlier this month. “Someone did (call) and (Sigma Sigma Sigma) said it wasn’t for sale,” Roberts said. Roberts said Alpha Kappa Psi no longer was interested in Sigma Sigma Sigma’s house. “We’re more interested in purchas ing a house than in leasing a house.” than a separate committee. Some existing committees also might be changed into subcommittees, Teague said. “We’ll still cover the same issues, but there may be a different structural organi zation,” he said. Battle already has made key appoint ments to his staff. He named junior Donyell Phillips as vice president and Student Congress Fi nance Committee chairman and former student body president candidate Wayne Rash as student body treasurer. Battle also appointed Lee Conner, who worked in the Copland administration, and Kathryn Scheffel as student body sec retaries. Current Student Body Treasurer Kevin Hunter has been named chieflegal counse lor and will assist Battle in his Student Code revisions.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 23, 1994, edition 1
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