VOTE TODAY!!!
®lfp Satlu Mwl
£>
Volume 103, Issue 103
102 yam of editorial freedom
Serving the students and the University community since 1593
Deliberations Under Way in Williamson Trial
BY WENDY GOODMAN
CITY EDITOR
AND LAURA GODWIN
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
HILLSBOROUGH —After nearly two
and a half hours of deliberation Monday
afternoon, the jury of nine women and
three men in the trial of double-murder
suspect Wendell Williamson had not yet
reached a verdict. Members of the jury will
reconvene for deliberation today at 9:30
a.m.
Defense attorneys, in two hours of clos
ing arguments, said the former UNC law
student was
clearly insane
when he shot
and killed two
people on
Henderson
Street on Jan. 26.
The prosecution
UNC Gears Up to
Offer Counseling
To Students in the
Wake of the
Williamson Verdict
See Page 2
countered with 45 minutes of closing argu
ments, saying Williamson planned the
shootings and knew his actions were wrong.
“I believe that we have proven for your
satisfaction that Wendell Williamson was
insane,” public defender James Williams
said in his closing argument.
In both defense arguments, attorneys
stressed to jurors that a verdict of not guilty
by reason of insanity would sentence
Williamson directly to a mental institu
tion. However, there is a possibility of
release at intervals during the first year and
then every following year. The defense
also stressed that homicide was “evidence
enough to keep him (committed).”
The jury must look beyond the violence
of the shootings to decide their verdict,
Williams said. “It is a tragedy for the vie-
Local Voters Face Choice of ‘lnsider, ’ ‘Outsider’ Today
BY JENNIFER ZAHREN
STAFF WRITER
Flooding the polls today, voters will determine the direction
Chapel Hill will take in the next four years. Throughout the day,
constituents will be forced to weigh the differences between
mayoral candidates Rosemary Waldorf and Kevin Foy, deter
mining who best represents their needs and goals for the future.
In the race for mayor, the issues of growth and experience have
dominated the campaign trail. Waldorf’s platform touts her
experience and long-time commitment to the community, while
Foy’s first campaign attempt advocates
change in the local government, protection
of the environment and maintenance of
the town’s essence.
“Foy sees himself as a person more . . .
prone to controlled growth,” Chapel Hill Analysis
Town Council member Barbara Booth-Powell said. “Waldorf
has run more strongly on issues of crime reduction and the police
situation in the past. Working with her, I know she looks at issues
carefully and weighs them extensively.”
Council member Joyce Brown said the questions of Chapel
Hill’s future growth and development would be answered at the
polls today. “It is evident in the fervor raised by Meadowmont
that growth is the central issue,” Brown said. “Voters need to
consider who will best manage growth. While the mayoral race
is not a referendum per se, it will represent the direction the
community wishes to pursue.”
“The town needs to see a little restraint on development,”
local political activist Joe Herzenberg said. “Waldorf is part of
the incumbent town government that has seen relaxation in
development standards. We need leadership in the right direc
tion."
See ELECTIONS, Page 2
Bowlin' Buddies
K •' '* ' '
DTH/KRISTIN ROHAN
Robert Mason bowls with his Big Buddy, David Coenen, in the Student
Union on Monday. The program provides friendships for younger children.
T* he Day in Court
4^l'4*s? Excer P ts from the ninth day of testimony in the Wendell
Williamson double-murder trial
■ Defense attorney James Williams told the jury in his closing arguments, "We've
presented to you overwhelming evidence that on Jan. 26,1995, that Wendell
Williamson was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia."
I Defense attorney Kirk Osborn told die jury, The truth leaves unmistakable footprints,
rUlways does. In this case the unmistakable footprints of this whole tragic thing are
I Orange-Chatham District Attorney Carl Fox that psychologists used merely a theory to
determine insanity. He asked members of the jury, "If they (psychologists) are guessing,
why should you base your opinion on their guess?"
■ The jurors retired to the jury room at 2:33 p.m. At 4:50 p.m. the jurors had not
reached a verdict and court was adjourned for the day.
tims, it is a tragedy for the students and
family, it is indeed a tragedy for Wendell
himself,” Williams said. “Please don’t let
the bodies and the horror of what hap
pened blind you to the obvious facts.”
As to Williamson’s state of mind fol
lowing the shootings, Williams pointed to
the taped statement. “Clearly, the whole
tape recording, I think, is filled with (irra
tional actions and thoughts),” he said.
In the second closing argument, defense
attorney Kirk Osborn called the case “a
clear example of what paranoid schizo
phrenia can do to someone.” Osborn said
Williamson’s ability to plan the attack does
not indicate that Williamson was sane. “If
somebody is mentally ill, they can plan, it’s
just a mentally ill plan,” he said.
“He had 600 rounds of ammunition.
Now how crazy is it to believe that you can
get 600 rounds of ammunition, walk all the
way up Henderson Street, dodge bullets
and get to the Botanical Gardens and re
load?”
Mason Farm Precinct Q
Precinct Q ”
* ZTB LiBCOIn Precinct 0
punatLo, East franklin Rrecinctol *****
Cbapal Hill, North CmoKh
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7,1995
Inclosingfortheprosecution, Orange—
Chatham District Attorney Carl Fox said
the psychologists called by the defense
continually referred to their conclusions as
their best guess. “Membere of the jury, if
they are guessing, why should you base
your opinion on their guess?”
Fox told jurors Williamson knew what
hewasdoingand was ready to carry through
his actions. He pointed to the fact that
Williamson very “meticulously packed”
for his shooting spree.
Fox also explained that in making their
decision, the jury should consider state
ments Williamson made after the attack to
decide if he knew right from wrong. Ac
cording to testimony, he told police, “You
will come up with some excuse not to
(execute me), like mental illness.”
Williamson said in his statement that he
stole the rifle and that he parked where he
wouldn’t get a ticket. Fox asked jurors why
the defendant would be so careful if there
was nothing wrong with the manner in
Campus Voting Sites
Home Makes Trek From Africa to Meet UNC Officials
BY SHARIF DURHAMS
STAFF WRITER
Gerald Home, the activist and scholar
recommended to be the next director of the
Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center, ar
rived at the University on Monday to meet
with faculty and students as part of the
review process for gaining appointment to
a third tenured professorship.
Home met with history professors and
members of the Department of History
committee that is evaluating him in order
to make a recommendation on whether or
not to grant him tenure. Home also met
with graduate students to discuss issues in
African-American and U.S. history, his
tory Professor Genna Rae McNeil said.
“He’s had an opportunity to interact
with the committee,” McNeil said. “The
small groups (of faculty meeting with
Home) allow the faculty to get to know
him.”
Home talked about his current research
projects during a 90-minute session in
Hamilton Hall. Faculty and students lis
tened to Home discuss politics in Zimba
bwe, the role of organized crime in Holly
wood during the 19405, the political life of
Shirley Dußois and his current project
chronicling the life ofMalcolm X foryoung
adult readers.
“He is a very broadly read man with a
The ballot is stronger than the bullet.
Abraham Lincoln
J^|j
—I
44 4 g 1 * 1
p. .. , . MEDIA POOL PHOTO/BIU. WILCOX
Double-murder suspect Wendell Williamson glances at his parents before
opening statements begin in Orange County Superior Court on Monday.
which he was acting.
Following closing arguments, the two
alternate jurors, who sat through nine days
of testimony with the rest of the jury, were
dismissed from the proceedings. Diane
Riggsbee-Raynor, one of the alternates,
said she thought the testimony made the
jury’s job difficult.
“He’s had an opportunity to
interact with the committee.
The small groups (offaculty
meeting with Horne) allow the
faculty to get to know him. ”
6ENNA RAE MCNEIL
History Professor
wide range of academic experience,” said
Richard Soloway, chairman of the history
department.
Tera Hunter, history professor and mem
ber of the tenure committee, said she
thought the department would benefit from
the addition of Home. “His work is very
interesting," she said. “The department
would benefit from him because of his
diverse interest.”
Home also impressed members of other
departments with his range of knowledge.
Walter Spearman Professor of Journal
ism and Mass Communication Chuck
Stone said he was impressed with Home’s
ability to relate three seemingly separate
research projects with the common theme
of race relations.
See HORNE, Page 7
“I honestly feel like Wendell has a men
tal problem,” Riggsbee-Raynor said. “But
it is frightening to me to realize that if he is
found not guilty by reason of insanity there
is a possibility of release.
“There is nothing in my mind stopping
me from believing he has a mental illness.
But you know he killed two people.”
Poll Site Key
0 Mason Farm: Vote at
Community Church
Building, Purefoy
Road
A Country Club: Fetzer
Gym, South Road
Q Westwood: Frank
Porter Graham
School
A Greenwood: UNC
General Administra
tion Building
A Lincoln: Lincoln
Center Administra
tion Building
0 East Franklin: The
Lutheran School
■ Polls open at 6:30 a.m.
and close at 7:30 pm
■ For a full list of
candidates, please see
page 2
Probable BCC Director Discusses
Current Research Projects, Plans
BYSHARIF DURHAMS
STAFF WRITER
University of California at Santa Bar
bara Professor Gerald Home told a group
ofUNC history professors Monday that he
thought the black community needed to
focus on the problem of racism on an
international, rather than just a national,
level.
“It is difficult for me to be optimistic,
because the black leadership is not looking
internationally,” Home said. “Until the
black community considers race as not a
national issue, but an international one, I
will be pessimistic.”
Home, who visited UNC to be reviewed
for a tenured professorship in the Depart
ment of History, discussed his current re
search, which he is conducting in Zimba
bwe. He is exploring that country’s civil
war between 1965 and 1980 and U.S. in
volvement in that conflict. Home has been
in Africa for the past year as a Fulbnght
Scholar.
He said he was exploring the role of
Newt/Features/Aits/Spom 962-0245
Business/ Advertising 962-1163
C 1995 DTH Publishing Coip. All rights reserved.
Future of
Israeli Peace
Pondered
■ In the wake of Rabin’s
assassination, locals wonder
whether accords will last.
BY ANDREW PARK
STAFF WRITER
On a day of tremendous grief, Jews
around the world confronted a frightening
new obstacle on the way to peace in Israel:
violent right-wing extremism.
Until the assassination of Prime Minis
ter Yitzhak Rabin, Israelis did not know
how far a few fanatics in their country
would go to deter peace negotiations in the
Middle East. In a part of the world that has
seen terrorism
between Arabs
and Jews and
Palestinians and
Israelis, many
Leaders, Citizens
Attend Funeral
See Page 4
were shocked to see a young Jew from a
privileged family take the life of his own
country’s leader.
Yigal Amir, a 25-year-old law student
from Tel Aviv, confessed to killing the
primeminister Saturday. He said he wanted
to keep his country from ceding disputed
territories to the Palestinians, a vital ele
ment of peace accords championed by
Rabin.
As Rabin was buried in a funeral at
tended by President Clinton and other
world leaders, Jews vowed to build on
Rabin’s historic achievements. Ratherthan
be deterred, they will now adopt his death
as a symbol for peace, observers said Mon
day.
“If the process stops now, the extremists
will have won, ” said Darin Diner, interim
director of N.C. Hillel. “What kind of
tribute would it be to Rabin to let things
stop now?”
Observers were quick to point out that
few Israelis would condone the assassina
tion despite a heated debate recently over
the correct path to peace. In emotional
opposition rallies, Rabin had been called a
murderer and a traitor and seen his picture
burned by demonstrators.
“What has happened in the past few
months is that the vocabulary and the
emotions are much more raw,” said Jack
Sasson, UNC professor of religion. “It is
easy for people to be infected by these
ideas.”
Others agreed that the strong rhetoric of
the past months may have influenced the
assassin, who reportedly acted alone.
“I was not surprised by the assassina
tion,” said Henry Landsberger, a UNC
professor of sociology. “I am cautiously
optimistic that it may mean that this rela
tively small group of resisters will be more
isolated than they have been in the past.”
A devoutly religious man, Amir prob
ably felt he was elected by God to take
Rabin’s life, Sasson said. He is among a
minority of Jews who believe handing over
land to the Palestinians is against God’s
will, and that killing Rabin was thus justi
fied. The majority of Israelis who opposed
Rabin only opposed his plan for Palestin
ian self-rule, Sasson said.
See RABIN, Page 4
mercenaries in Zimbabwe. This research
on class and gangs is important in under
standing the economic and social condi
tions in Zimbabwe and throughout Africa,
Home said.
“It’s high time we had a
reconceptualization of the role of gangs in
theeconomyofAfrica,”hesaid. “Weneed
to consider how gangs played a role in
racial cleansing. The whole prospect of
mercenaries presents a threat to African
politics because (the government in many
African countries) is so weak. I don’t think
the phenomenon can be dismissed quickly
or easily.”
Home said he was also examining the
relationship between the Cold War and the
See PROJECTS, Page 2
Weather
TODAY: Cloudy, windy; high in the
60s.
WEDNESDAY: Breezy; high near 60.