WEEKLY SUMMER EDITION ,
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Volume 102, Issue 48
101 yean of editorialfreedom
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
New Evidence Could Reopen Doctor’s Sexual Assault Case
BYTHANASSIS CAMBANIS
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
A UNC doctor who pleaded no contest
to a sexual assault charge last month may
have his case reopened after his accuser
told her boyfriend that she had been lying.
Stephanie West Brown of Asheboro told
her boyfriend when he confronted her last
week that she made up the charges against
Jose Diaz, a UNC Hospitals pediatrics
resident, and offered him half of the settle
ment if he kept quiet.
“I told her at that point I’d turn her in,”
said Darin Reinolds, a prison guard from
Asheboro. “I told her she had 30 days to
leave the residence."
Brown then disappeared with all of
Assembly Still
Debating UNC
Salary Hikes
BYKELLYRYAN
EDITOR
University staff, faculty and adminis
trators are holding their collective breath
this week as the N.C. General Assembly
hammers out just how much state employ
ees stand to gain in salary hikes.
And because of a united lobbying effort,
the University may get more money for
salaries than it asked for, although UNC
leaders say it still won’t be enough.
The assembly is scheduled to adjourn
before July 1, which means that it’s crunch
time for House and Senate representatives
who don’t concur on how much the state
can afford to pay its employees.
Although the House and Senate’s pro
posed budgets both allowforpay increases,
state employees—especially teaching fac
ulty —stand to gain more from the House.
“With respect to faculty salaries, the
House’s budget is better for us, but there
are some parts of each we don’t like, ” said
D.G. Martin, vice chancellor for univer
sity affairs and the UNC system’s chief
lobbyist. “We try to be a help to legislators
and continue to point out how important
staff and faculty salary increases are."
Martin said one disappointing compo
nent of the budget was that the House
budget didn’t include money for Univer
sity capital improvements.
In the Senate, University employees will
earn a salary increase based on an average
of 4 percent, distributed on the basis of
merit and other discretionary factors.
The Senate budget proposal adds a one
time, 1 percent bonus and, for teaching
faculty, a 1.5 percent hike based on merit.
But the House budget plan calls for a 1
percent across-the-board hike and a 3 per
cent merit-based raise. State employees
would also earn an average bonus of S4BO.
The icing on the cake for University
lobbyists is an additional 2.25 percent pay
increase for teaching faculty.
“We’re looking at the increase in order
to move into a more comprehensive posi
tion and to improve comparable peer
rankings,” Rep. Anne Barnes, D-Orange,
said Monday. “The faculty members I’ve
talked to have made their case. Even the
2.25 percent will not bring them all up.”
Journalism Professor Jane Brown,
whose term as chairwoman of the Faculty
Council begins Friday, said the salary ef
fort had been successful because all 16
campuses had worked together.
“It won’t even catch us up, but it’ll put
us in the right direction,” she said Wednes
day. “That means we have a little bit more
money to work with to keep people who
might be wooed away to other universities
that can pay more.”
The Faculty Council has been writing
letters, phoning legislators and meeting
with appropriations committees from both
houses to focus its lobbying efforts. Brown
said that by getting to know the local del
egation, the relationship between Univer
sity officials and legislators could steadily
grow.
Please See SALARIES, Page 7
Editor's Note
Welcome to second summer session. The
Daily Tar Heel publishes every Thursday until
the end of July and needs your help during its
last few weeks.
Interested writers, photographers and
copy editors are needed. Applications are
available in the DTH office, Union Suite 104.
No experience is necessary, but enthusiasm
is a must.
If you have any questions, please contact
Kelly Ryan, DTH editor, at 962-0245. See
you next week.
Reinolds’ possessions in a rental truck that
she rented under a false name, and war
rants are out for her arrest. The truck was
recovered in Kentucky.
“We do have an idea where she’s at,”
Remolds said. “Once they’ve got her, the
local authorities will extradite her.”
Reinolds said he planned to travel to
Chapel Hill on Friday and give a deposi
tion to Diaz’s attorney, Syd Alexander.
Once he has the deposition in hand,
Alexander said he would file a motion to
have the charges against Diaz dismissed.
“I think it certainly gives us enough to
put the case back in court,” Alexander
said.
During the trial in May, Diaz main
tained he was innocent but pleaded no
DIN/KATIE CANNON
Jennifer McKnight and Scott Dupree sort through clips that will be archived
once the Alumni House is vacated. The building is to be demolished to make
room for an expansion of the Carolina Inn.
Trial Testimony Focuses on Confrontation Leading to Slaying
BY JAMIE KRITZER
CITY EDITOR
HILLSBOROUGH Testimony
heard Wednesday in Orange County Su
perior Court in the murder trial of a man
who feared for his son’s life centered on the
events that transpired the evening of the
murder.
Witnesses indicated that the 19-year
old man shot to death last June at a Canboro
Burger King might have been trying to sell
a rock of crack cocaine moments before he
was gunned down by another man alleg
edly seeking to protect his son.
Defense attorneys tried to paint a vio
lent portrait of the slain youth. Nickens
was known by police from both Carrboro
and Chapel Hill as a troublemaker. He had
more than 40 previous charges against him
for breaking the law. They included pos
session of cocaine with intent to sell, com
University Tries to Dismiss Employee Grievance
BYVIDAFOUBISTER
STAFF WRITER
University attorneys are trying to halt a
civil suit filed against UNC by a former
medical school administrator before it
comes to trial.
Attorneys for the state have asked Or
ange County Superior Court for a sum
mary judgment in a suit filed July 7,1993,
by Kirk Aune , the former associate dean of
information systems.
The University claims that there are no
disputable facts in the case, and thus no
case for Aune.
“Dr. Aune has made some complicated
and serious allegations, and we don’t think
there is any merit to them,” said Assistant
Attorney General Tom Lawton, who is
handling the University’s case.
If UNC’s attorneys win the summary
judgment, they will win the case and no
trial will be held.
The trial, which was originally sched
uled for July 5, was postponed to October
3 following the resignation of the
University’s attorney, David Parker.
Aune was hired by the School of Medi
cine as the director of the Office of Infor
mation Systems and a research associate
professorofbiochemistry on Sept. 1,1986.
In spring 1993, Stuart Bondurant, dean
of the School of Medicine, decided not to
renew Aune’s contract, which terminated
MOL Marik Carolina
THURSDAY, JUNE 30,1994
contest to get on with his life.
Brown accused Diaz of entering her
hospital room where she was recovering
from a hysterectomy, fondling her breasts
and trying to kiss her.
Diaz was convicted of one count of
misdemeanor sexual assault and sentenced
to two years probation and 100 hours of
community service. He was also ordered
to enroll in the state’s Physicians’ Health
Assistance Program for counseling.
After Alexander collectsßeinolds’ depo
sition, Brown will probably surface and
also give a statement, the attorney said.
Assistant District Attorney James
Woodall, who originally prosecuted the
case, said Wednesday that his office would
still prosecute the case if it were reopened.
mon-law robbery and various traffic viola
tions.
George Holman Jr. of 501 Old School
Road, Canboro, was arrested and charged
with first-degree murder last June after he
allegedly shot to death Kevin O’Bryon
Nickens, a man who had said he would kill
Holman’s son.
Canboro police investigators who later
searched Nickens’ green Cutlass retained a
rock of crack cocaine worth about S2O,
according to testimony by Canboro police
investigator Joel Booker.
Holman was terrified that the son he
was so proud of would be killed at the
hands of a man who threatened his boy’s
life repeatedly, once by shooting at him,
according to defense attorneys.
Orange-Chatham Distnct Attorney Carl
FoxarguedtothejuryTuesdaythatNickens
was unarmed and running away at the
time of the shooting. “He did not have a
in April 1994.
State attorneys filed a motion May 23
for a summary judgment hearing on the
grounds that there are no “genuine facts”
in the suit filed against them by Aune.
A summary judgment can be filed by
either party in a civil law case if they feel
they can demonstrate that their facts are
indisputable.
Aune’s attorneys do not think UNC
will be able to win summary judgment.
“What they (UNC) have to show is that
there is no dispute to any of the facts by
law, ’’ said John Stuart, who is representing
Aune along with local civil rights attorney
A1 McSurely. “We have said there are a
zillion facts that are in dispute.”
The summary judgment hearing is pres
ently scheduled for July 25. But this date
could change because Stuart will be out of
town.
Stuart said Aune’s contract had been
terminated because of University politics.
“They say it was because he wasn’t
doing a good job,” Stuart said. “He’s say
ing it’s because he was a whistle blower.”
Aune said the University had offered
him a settlement during mediations in
March but the amount offered had been
too small to compensate him for the many
damages he had sustained since his con
tract was terminated.
He refused to disclose the dollar amount
offered.
Truth is not a diet, hut a condiment.
Christopher Morley
“That’s just an ex-boyfriend making a
bare allegation,” Woodall said. “If that’s
all there is I guess we would prosecute it.”
Woodall said he spoke with Brown on
Tuesday and that her whereabouts were
“not a big secret.” If a judge rules to have
the case reopened, Woodall said that at
that point he would confer with Brown.
The N.C. Medical Licensing Board will
hold a hearing in July to determine whether
Diaz can continue to practice medicine.
Meanwhile, Diaz is applying to other medi
cal schools for anew residency. “The pub
licity was so adverse that Memorial will
not take him back,” Alexander said. “He
will not be going back there.” For now
Diaz is maintaining his public silence.
Brown’s boyfriend said he now felt guilty
Alumni House to Meet Wrecking Ball
BYVIDAFOUBISTER
STAFF WRITER
As part of the Carolina Inn renovations,
in early August, a wrecking ball will de
molish Alumni House, a building located
at the southeast comer of the inn.
Its current tenants lament the loss of the
last building on campus to have a toilet and
sink for almost every office.
Doubletree Corp., the company operat
ing the inn, plans to begin construction on
a three-story, 56-room guest wing shortly
after the demolition of Alumni House is
completed.
“The reason that we are tearing it down
is because we need to add to the inn,” said
Carolyn Elfland, UNC’s associate vice
chancellor for business. “It is impossible
financially to operate the inn without the
addition. The only place the addition can
go is where the Alumni House is.
“So either add to the inn, or we close it.
That’s the bottom line."
The new wing will help to increase the
ratio of sleeping rooms to meeting rooms,
Elfland said.
The building was an apartment house
until 1969, when it became the headquar
ters of the General Alumni Association.
In January 1993, the GAA moved into
the George Watts Hill Alumni Center. “A
gun. He was not coming on to Mr. Holman.
In fact, he was running away from Mr.
Holman,” Fox argued.
Fox said that Holman had chased
Nickens around the fast-food restaurant,
shooting at him from his vehicle.
Public defenders James Williams and
Robert Trenkle emphasized that although
Holman fired the shots that killed Nickens,
it was not first-degree murder because it
was not premeditated and deliberated.
Several police officers said that about an
hour before the shooting Holman and
Nickens had been seen in a confrontation
on North Graham Street in Chapel Hill, a
supposed hot spot for drug traffic.
“Nickens said, ‘I got to take him out,”’
said Nancy Cellner, an officer with the
Chapel Hill Police Department. “Holman
said, ‘You don’t have to take him out. He’s
just a kid.’”
Near midnight, June 3, Holman drove
Aune claims the decision not to reap
point him was made in retaliation for Iris
reports to administrators that a School of
Medicine employee was steering Univer
sity business to computer software compa
nies in which he held a financial interest.
In addition, he reported that an OIS
employee had taken a roll of computer
cable for personal use.
In his complaint, Aune alleges his re
port of these offenses, which is required by
state law, caused him to lose his position in
the School of Medicine.
“There is evidence to suggest a tainted
review and an extreme attempt to change
the terms and conditions of my contract,”
Aune said.
If he wins the civil suit, Aune hopes to
get monetary compensation for the dam
ages to his health, employment options
and emotional state caused by the loss of
his job.
“You have to recognize they caused
health failure, great emotional stress and
long-term financial loss,” Aune said.
What Aune said he found most offen
sive was that he had no place to go for
internal counsel. Bondurant, who was
Aune’s supervisor until October 1991, is
married to Susan Ehringhaus, the
University’s senior legal counsel.
Because of the divisive aspects of his
Please See AUNE, Page 2
for helping “to ruin” Diaz’s life. “I want to
do anything I can to help him get his
license back,” Reinolds said. “I’m going to
do what I can do to help this guy.”
Reinolds said Brown had moved in with
him more than a year ago, but he never had
suspected during Diaz’s trial that she might
have been lying.
The most obvious motive Reinolds could
see for his girlfriend to fabricate the story
was money. After Diaz pleaded no contest
to the charges, Brown was entitled to file
for compensation. However, his attorney
made it clear that if Diaz lost his medical
license, he would have no money to pay for
a settlement. “She told Janet Ward Black,
her attorney, that she wanted Diaz to get
his license back just for her to get civil
lot of nostalgia, a lot of charm, but not very
functional for the services we were trying
to provide for nearly 200,000 alumni,”
said Doug Dibbert, director of alumni af
fairs and executive director of the GAA.
A colorful history will end when the
wrecking ball starts its work in August.
The Alumni House was completed in
1939 as part of the Carolina Inn. “It was
planned to be an apartment building with
long-term tenants,” said John Sanders, a
professor at the Institute of Government.
Betty McCain, N.C. secretary of cul
tural resources, has many fond memories
of the times she shared with her roommate,
LilaPonderFriday, in Alumni House when
it was called Bryan Apartments, from 1953
to 1955. “We had a grand time,” McCain
said. “We loved being there in the middle
of everything.”
The building continued to change uses.
After the alumni association moved out,
several different offices, including the Bi
centennial Observance office, Publication
and Design Services, and the Program in
the Humanities, have been located in the
building.
“It is my understanding that the offices
must be moved out by July 15,”saidTerry
Murphy, general manager of the Carolina
Inn.
The Bicentennial Observance office,
by Burger King, spotted Nickens outside
the restaurant and fired at him with a .380-
caliber gun and a .22-caliber gun. Nickens
died at UNC Hospitals later.
The feud arose when the younger
Holman, known as “GJ,” dated a 16-year
old former girlfriend of Nickens’ while
Nickens was in prison, according to
Trenkle. “Unfortunately for ‘GJ,’ the lady
had previously dated a man named Kevin
Nickens, a convicted felon,” Trenkle said
during opening statements Tuesday.
The elder Holman had become scared
when he learned from other sources that
Nickens had a reputation for carrying guns
and leading a gang, Trenkle said.
A few days before the murder, the elder
Holman swore out a warrant against
Nickens. The magistrate agreed to rush the
warrant to the sheriffs office because the
magistrate said Nickens was dangerous,
Trenkle said.
Burnette Abandons Lawsuit,
Demands Paid Legal Counsel
BYLYNN HOUSER
CITY EDITOR
The LaVonda Burnette case took an
other turn this week when the controver
sial school board member dropped her
lawsuit against the Chapel Hill-Canboro
Board of Education and then asked the
board to pay for a
new attorney for a
July 7 hearing.
Burnette filed the
lawsuit June 16,
saying the statute
cited by the state
superintendent in
April as requiring
the board to hold a
hearing to investi
gate charges against
her was too vague.
The suit also stated
that board members
had not treated
Burnette properly.
BURNETTE is asking
the school board to
pay for her counsel at
a hearing July 7.
In a July 7 hearing, the board will inves
tigate charges that Burnette lied about her
educational background during her cam
paign and that she continued to lie and
conspired to cover up her lies after the
election.
News/FeMures/Ara/Sports
Business/Advertising
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action,” Remolds said.
Black would not return repeated calls to
her office on Tuesday, although she was in
the office working.
Reinolds began to suspect something
strange was going on with Brown when he
found some jewelry in her closet. Jewelry
worth sso,ooowas missing from Gordon’s
Jewelry Store in Asheboro where Brown
had worked for three months.
During the original Diaz trial, the de
fense had mentioned that feet, but Reinolds
dismissed it at the time as slander. When
he found the jewelry in the closet, he began
to doubt his girlfriend. “I asked her, if she
‘lied about that, what’s the deal with Dr.
Diaz?”’ Reinolds had her sign an agree
ment to leave his home within 30 days.
which was located on the first floor, will
not officially be moving. “Our office is
actually closing (on July 1), and our staff
are all taking otherjobs,” said Steve Tepper,
Bicentennial Observance director.
Tepper and Scott Dupree, the Bicenten
nial Observance office communications
director, will spend the next six weeks
gathering information for a book about the
Bicentennial. Tepper said they didnotknow
where they would be assigned office space
to conduct their research.
The building has a lot of character,
Tepper said. “It’s the only office I’ve ever
been in that has its own bathroom for just
about every room.”
The Program in the Humanities, which
is located on the third floor, will be moving
July 5 to a house on Bolin Heights Road.
Susan Landstrom, the humanities pro
gram business manager, said she was not
happy about the move.
“It’s nice being on campus, ” Landstrom
said. “It’s going to be a little awkward, as
we do a lot of programs on campus.”
Publication and Design Services, which
has been occupying the second floor, will
move to another house on Bolin Heights
Road on July 6. “We would prefer to stay
on campus, ” said Scott Jared, coordinator
of publication services. “We hope it won’t
have an adverse effect on what we do.”
Testimony heard Wednesday centered
around the evening of the murder. One
woman who drove with a friend to the
Burger King said she had had a discussion
with Nickens that had lasted up until the
time he was shot.
Nickens got out ofhis car to talk to Josie
Edwards, who had pulled into the parking
lot at Burger King. They spoke for five to
10 minutes, Edwards said. Then another
car pulled up next to Nickens. “A car came
and pulled up, ” Edwards testified. “Kevin
asked him ‘What are you doing, man?’ and
at that time two shots were fired.”
Edwards said that Holman, whom she
has known since about 1975, told hertoget
back when he fired the first two rounds.
Several of the rounds went into the van
Edwards was driving. Edwards stayed in
her car during the shooting and got out to
yell at Holman after Holman had pulled
around the Buiger King chasing Nickens.
School Board Attorney John
McCormick said he thought she had
dropped the lawsuit to leave herself the
option of suing the board if she was re
moved from office.
“My guess is that she doesn’t want a
judge to tell us before the hearing how to
hold the hearing because then if she is
removed from office, the board would be
insulated from criticism because it would
have followed the judge’s instructions.”
Neither Burnette nor her current attor
ney, Alan McSurely, could be reached for
comment Wednesday.
Burnette has asked Chapel Hill attorney
Adam Stein, an experienced civil rights
lawyer, to represent her if the board will
provide funding. Stein said McSurely had
been looking for someone to represent
Burnette at the Rearing.
“ A1 McSurely had been saying all along
that he did not want to represent her be
cause he had become too close to her and
was too involved in the case,” he said.
Burnette’s request for paid counsel is
based on a state statute that says school
boards “may” provide legal representation
for board members involved in lawsuits
due to activities as a board member.
Please See BURNETTE, Page 7
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