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(Thr latlu ®ar J? Volume 102, Issue 85 101 years of editorial freedom Serving the students and the University community since 1893 IN THE NEWS Top stories from the state, nation and world Iraq Says Forces Will Pull Back From Kuwaiti Border KUWAIT Hours after U.S. soldiers landed in Kuwait on Monday, America’s determined effort to protect the emirate appeared to pay off: Iraq declared an end to its menacing five-day buildup and said its troops would withdraw. TTie tens of thousands of Iraqi soldiers sent to the border had revived memories of 1990, when Iraq swept aside Kuwait’s army and seized the oil-rich country. It was seven months before a U.S.-led coalition ousted the occupiers. This time, Washington was determined to send a firm signal—invade Kuwait and the United States will respond. Washing ton began amassing a force of nearly 70,000 in the region, 54,000 already assigned plus 15,000 on standby. The first contingent of3oo U.S. soldiers arrived in Kuwait City on Monday. Hours later, Iraq’s ambassador to the United Nations, NizarHamdoon, said Iraqi forces would withdraw from the Kuwaiti border and “are already on the move. ” He said they would be sent to a site north of Basra. In Baghdad, Foreign Minister Mohammed Saeed al-Sahhaf said troops would be deployed to “other locations in the rear” to finish military exercises. He told the official Iraqi news agency the withdrawal had been ordered in re sponse to appeals from “friends” and “in view of the fact that the troops’ presence might be used as a pretext to maintain sanctions.” The crushing U.N. sanctions were im posed after Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. Iraq has aggressively sought to have the sanctions eased. Cedras Steps Down From Haitian Military Authority PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti Raoul Cedras kept the people cowed for three years with his terror campaign. On Mon day, Haiti’s masses rose up and drowned him out. The once-omnipotent Cedras seemed small in the entrance way of the clapboard army headquarters as he announced he was resigning as military leader and quit ting the country for its own good. Cedras was dwarfed by crimson-bereted U.S. military commander Hugh Shelton, whose 19,500 soldiers played a large role in finally driving out the Haitian coup leader. Asa sort of final indignity, the camou flage-uniformed American occupying troops had to protect Cedras, firing warn ing shots when a rock-thrower shattered the windshield of his departing car. Israeli Leader Recognizes Need for Syrian Security JERUSALEM lsraeli Prime Minis ter Yitzhak Rabin promised security and dignity to Syria and its people Monday as a terrorist attack and Iraqi troop move ments shadowed the start of anew round of diplomacy by Secretary of State Warren Christopher. Christopher pledged that the United States would stand firmly with Israel against terrorists he said wanted to kill the peace process as well as innocent civilians. The terrorist attack here that left two dead and 13 injured, including an Ameri can diplomat, underscored Israel’s obses sion with security, and Rabin, in a gesture to Syria, recognized its importance to the Arab country as well. He said the peace Israel seeks is one that “brings about normalization and security to both our countries, and it has to be done maintaining the dignity of our peoples and our countries together.” Police Say Leader of Cult Died Alongside Followers LAUSANNE, Switzerland Joseph di Mambro, a mastermind of the dooms day cult at the center of last week’s death of 53 people, died with his followers, Swiss police said Monday. A statement from Valais state police said di Mambro was among 25 people whose bodies were found last week among the rubble of fires that destroyed three chalets in the Alpine village of Granges- Sur-Salvan. The fate of the cult’s other leader, Luc Jouret, remains a mystery. Swiss experts began autopsies today to find out if Jouret was among the dead. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Weather TODAY: Mostly sunny; high 60-65. WEDNESDAY: Mostly sunny; high 60-65. First Domestic Partners Register Today BY SARAH CORBITT STAFF WRITER Today, Carrboro residents Mary O’Melia and Wendy Weber plan to for malize a commitment they already had made to each other. O’Melia and Weber will be the first couple to register their relationship under Carrboro’s domestic partnership ordi nance, which the Board ofAldermenpassed Sept. 20. “Wendy and I were planning on regis tering, but through conversations with our friends we realized that someone had to be the first,” O’Melia said in an exclusive interview Monday night. “We wanted to express our apprecia tion for the passing of the ordinance. A lot of people’s work, time and effort went into the passing.” Professor Wins Nobel For Medical Discovery BYLEAHMERREY STAFF WRITER Dr. Martin Rodbell, UNC adjunct pro fessor of biochemistry and a Chapel Hill resident, received the Nobel Prize in medi cine Monday. Rodbell and scientist Alfred Gilman won the Nobel Prize for their joint discov ery of G proteins and their role in turning signals from light, hormones and some chemicals into action within cells. Rodbell retired this year from his posi tion as scientific director of the National Institute ofEnvironmental Health Sciences (NTEHS). He and Gilman will share a $930,000 prize. John Peterson, NIEHS public affairs spokesman, said Monday that Rodbell and Gilman’s discovery would significantly impact the study of human illnesses. “The signaling pathways of these cells have some importance in understanding human dis eases and will shed some light on illnesses such as cholera,” Peterson said. Rodbell was unavailable for comment. Dr. Richard Wolfenden, Alumni Dis tinguished Professor of Biochemistry and a colleague of Rodbell, said Monday that he was proud to have Rodbell on the UNC staff. “I think he did a wonderful piece of work," Wolfenden said. “This discovery affects all aspects of biological regulation. It’s the biggest thing that’s happened in regulation mechanisms.” Rodbell has been an adjunct professor ofbiochemistry at UNC since 1987. “He’s been a great contributor to the depart ment,” Wolfenden said. Dr. Kendall Harden, a UNC professor of pharmacology, explained on Monday the importance of a G protein. “Hormones, neurotransmitters and growth factors com municate among cells by binding to pro teins, or receptors,” Harden said. “The G protein talks to the cell.” 1 Until Rodbell and Gilman’s break through, the interaction between the neu- Council to Continue Discussing Williams Tract at End of Month BY GRETCHEN HOFFMAN ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR The discussion concerning rezoning the Horace Williams tract will be deferred until Oct. 24 so the town can gain additional information and reword the proposal, the Chapel Hill Town Council decided Mon day. Town Manager Cal Horton said he thought the proposal should include spe cific references to a letter the town received last week from UNC Chancellor Paul Hardin. Hardin’s letter asked that the town hold off on rezon ing the 970-acre tract until the Uni versity had devel oped a long-range plan for its use. Because the town had limited knowledge of con cerns such as pos sible water and sew age problems and air quality, town council member Joyce Brown sug gested that the deci sion on rezoning be deferred tempo- JOYCE BROWN thinks the council should get more information before making any final decisions on the land. rarily. The amended proposal should pay specific attention to community concerns, such as possible building uses and neigh borhood and environmental impacts, coun cil member Rosemary Waldorf said. Brown said, “Then, when we’ve got the My girlfriend says I never listen to her. I think that s what she said. Drake Sather Chapel Hill, North Caroliaa TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11,1994 As gays and lesbians around the nation celebrate National Coming Out Day, O’Melia and Weber will celebrate at Carrboro Town Hall, the site of the state’s first domestic partnership registration. Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. The ordinance was proposed by Mike Nelson, an alderman and die only openly gay elected official in North Carolina. Under the clause, domestic partners of town employees are eligible for certain privileges, such as health insurance and tax benefits, which were previously al lowed only to married couples. “We want people to know we’re appre ciative of the ordinance,” Weber said. Weber and O 'Melia will commemorate their registration by going to breakfast. O’Melia and Weber both said they had long known they were meant for only each other. O’Melia emphasized that their rela Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Martin Rodbell. an adjunct research UNC Department won the Nobel - Prize in Medicine for his co-discovery ; of G-proteins. retransmitter and the cell itself had been unclear, Harden said. “It’s been sort of a holy grail: how does the neurotransmitter on the outside of the cell signal the inside to change its activity?” Harden said it was Rodbell’s work with GTP, a molecule found in all cells, during the 1970s that had led to his and Gilman’s eventual discovery of the G proteins. “Rodbell was the first to show that GTP was involved,” he said. The GTPs bind to the G proteins, Harden said. “[The G protein] is sitting there as an on-off switch. In a way, the G proteins turn on the signal that die neu rotransmitters bring to the cell.” Harden explained the G proteins’ rel evance to human disease. “Some diseases might cause a malfunction of the switch. There are a restricted number of cancer cells that can irreversibly turn on the G protein,” he said. Harden said Rodbell’s research during the 1970s was a catalyst for the further search for the existence of the G protein. “ Rodbell knew that the GTP was neces sary, but he didn’t immediately realize that it had a protein that bound it, or ho w broad an impact that had,” he said. “None of us had any idea how many of these G proteins there were,” Harden said. There are 17 G proteins, each of which has a specialized job. Rodbell came to NIEHS in 1985 as scientific director. In 1989, Rodbell as sumed the role of chief of the section on signal transduction of NIEHS. basic information we need to make our decision, we’ll go ahead.” Hardin’s letter to the council asked for a delay on the rezoning of the property for either 18 months or for 90 days after the adoption of a land-use plan and its presen tation to the town board. It stated that the University would not submit a plan for the land use within the 18 months. Some council members have said they want to rezone the land so that the Univer sity would not have as much freedom for development on the Horace Williams tract as it does on the central campus. Univer sity officials, however, are worried that rezoning no w would hamper their plans to use the land. “I believe that the chancellor does not plan to build on this spot in the next year, but that is not the issue,” town council member Mark Chilton said. The current zoning of the land, Office- Industrial 3, was created in 1956 and is obsolete because it is almost no zoning at all, Chilton said. “It was a shortsighted zoning district that gave UNC special treat ment as a landowner,” he said. “Now is our chance to do away with the longstanding error.” The proposed zoning, Office-Industrial 2, would establish stricter maximum build ing heights and buffer codes and would require developers to present their plans to the town council for approval. Some council members argued that re zoning the land was designed to be an Please See COUNCIL, Page 2 tionship was typical of many gay and les bian relationships. “We want our families to be recognized for what they are,” O’Melia said. “There is a need to let the people who may not know what lesbian couples look like. Domestic partnerships are a step in the direction of recognizing the respect our relationship deserves.” O’Melia, a Carrboro native, will join Weber, who is originally from Florida, in a contract that states the two share the common life necessities. “What’s true is that the gay and lesbian relationships are equivalent to heterosexual marriages,” she said. “I’m thrilled to be in a relationship with Wendy. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’m a veiy fortunate woman.” O’Melia and Weber said that for them, Wishing for a Title H Jg | Mm i . j pI(Y p m I Cll DTH/CRAIG JONES It was basketball and birthdays Monday at the Smith Center, as the Indiana Pacers celebrate the 23rd birthday of rookie guard Steve Woodbury and the 28th birthday of forward Derrick McKey (blowing out candles). The Pacers are in town this week for minicamp before they head back to Indiana. Before the cake break, there was basketball to be played as the Pacers ran two intrasquad scrimmages. Pacers coach Larry Brown monitored practice from the sideline, and UNC head coach Dean Smith also sat in. BOG Committee, Grad School Dean Work to Boost TA Benefits, Stipends Better Stipends, Benefits May Attract More Qualified Graduate Students as TAs BY JULIE CORBIN STAFF WRITER The graduate school and the Graduate and Professional Student Federation hope to increase UNO’s competitiveness as a research university by attracting more quali fied graduate students to the University. Graduate School Dean Thomas Meyer, vice chancellor for graduate studies and research, said he was working to obtain health insurance coverage for teaching as sistants as state employees. Meyer also said he was working to in crease graduate teaching stipends and to raise the level of financial support avail able for graduate students. Ramesh Krishnaraj, president of the GPSF, said the graduate school would suggest that the UNC-system Board of Governors ask the N.C. General Assem bly to consider TAs and research assistants as state employees and to re-evaluate gradu ate student stipends. The BOG Committee on Budget and Finance met Monday to discuss the possi bility of boosting TA salaries and benefits. Krishnaraj said graduate school and GPSF administrators and members were trying to show the BOG and the legislature the registration was not anew commit ment. Instead, O’Melia said, “It is a recog nition of a commitment that already exists between us.” Weber and O’Melia met a year ago at the American Social Health Association. Both had missed a session of in-services, which is ongoing training for ASHA. During the make-up training, they met and struck up a “terrific conversation." They now reside together in Carrboro. Weber, who is presently a doctoral can didate in English at UNC-Greensboro, makes a 94-mile commute three times a week. She graduated from the University of Florida with an English degree in 1989. O’Melia, who graduated from UNC in 1982 with an English degree, got her law degree from the University in 1988. During her freshman year, O’Melia the unique situation of TAs and graduate students. “At this level now, they are trying to convince the legislature of the problems,” he said. Paul Ilecki, administrative assistant to the dean of the graduate school, said the pay raise given to UNC employees last year did not apply to TAs. Members of the UNC faculty are state employees, but because TAs are hired by the University on a contractual basis, they are not considered state employees, Ilecki said. TAs do not receive the benefits state employees have, including health insur ance. Although their student fees provide coverage by Student Health Service, their health needs are not met by this coverage, Ilecki said. Many TAs are unable to afford health insurance coverage, Krishnaraj said. Although graduate students can obtain health care at SHS, spouses and children do not pay student health fees and thus cannot receive treatment. “Many graduate students have depen dents you can’t take a sick child into SHS,” Krishnaraj said. TAs at UNC are paid using funds from lapsed faculty salaries, meaning faculty positions budgeted by the state are left vacant and the funding is used to pay teaching assistants, Ilecki said. In order to be eligible for reduced tu ition rates, or tuition remission, TAs must News/Features/Arts/Sports Business/Advertising O 1994 DTH Publishing Corp. All rights reserved. came out. She served as a co-chairwoman of the Carolina Gay and Lesbian Associa tion (CGLA), the organization that even tually became B-GLAD. She said the time she spent with CGLA and its outreach program had been “a tremendous growing experience.” O’Melia said her parents had been “uni formly very supportive.” She said some people in her family were comfortable with her activist past and some were not. “My family cares deeply about how I am,” she said. Weber has not yet come out to her parents. She said she was apprehensive about the press the couple would receive but not terribly worried. She said that if her parents did find out, she would go ahead and have the conver sation with them she planned on having in January. Ehringhaus Evacuated After Fire BY JENNIFER FREER STAFF WRITER Ehringhaus Residence Hall gave Fire Prevention Week its first test early Sunday morning as local fire officials were called to respond to a fire in a TV lounge. The Chapel Hill Fire Department re ceived a report at 5:41 a.m. that the auto mated fire darm was going off at the dorm, Chapel Hill Fire Marshal Joe Roberson said. The theme for this year’s Fire Preven tion Week, which began Sunday, is “Test Your Detector for Life.” “There was heavy smoke and fire in the TV lounge, and an estimated report of $6,000 worth of damage,” Roberson said Monday. Officials determined that a burning ciga rette left on the foam couch in the sixth floor TV lounge caused the blaze, Roberson said. Ehringhaus Area Director Mark Rank said smoking isn’t allowed in the common area. “The fire was confined to the lounge and kitchen, and the door was kept shut, which seemed to help control the dam age,” Rank said. “The damage is enough to keep the lounge closed indefinitely, but students were allowed back on the sixth floor as soon as it was safe.” The dorm was evacuated while firefighters controlled the blaze. Firefighters extinguished the fire in about 10 minutes, but the heavy smoke which resulted took longer to control. Roberson said that after about two hours the fire was completely out and controlled. No residents orfirefighters were injured, but officials had some problems with evacu ating students. Firefighters had to go through the halls and make sure everyone Please See EHRINGHAUS, Page 5 be hired by their department for a mini mum of $2,000 per year, Ilecki said Mon day. Out-of-state TAs pay in-state tuition, but in-state students cannot receive tuition remission, according to Ilecki. Students hired as research assistants and students with research grants are not eli gible for reduced tuition rates, he said. Tuition remission rates have not changed since the mid-1980s, Ilecki said. Since then, the state has budgeted the Uni versity for 1,120 full-time TAs each year, he said. Meyer said the effort to increase TA salaries was the beginning of a major cam paign for graduate student support at UNC. The graduate school will seek funding for graduate student support from a variety of sources, including the state, individuals, corporations and foundations, Meyer said. “We are falling behind our competitors in stipends for graduate students,” Meyer said. Other state-supported research univer sities, such as the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Virginia, offer health coverage and higher stipends to graduate students over several years, said Steve Hoffmann, vice president of the GPSF. UNC often cannot make this guaran tee, Ilecki said. “Often times, we can only offer our students one year of support their first year.” 962-0245 962-1163
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Oct. 11, 1994, edition 1
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