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Volume 103, Issue 137
102 years of editorial freedom
Serving the students and the University community since 1593
INSIDE
imSDAf
MBA Student Denied Bail
By Wake Superior Court
■ William Boychuk was
charged with first-degree
murder Tuesday in the death
of his pregnant wife.
BYJAYMOYE
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
The UNC master’s student charged with
first-degree murder in the New Year’s Eve
death of his pregnant wife will appear be
fore a Wake County Superior Court judge
sometime next week.
William J. Boychuk, 33, a second-year
MBA student, appeared in district court
Wednesday. Bryan Collins, Boychuk’s at
torney, said the district judge refused to set
bail for Boychuk.
“The judge decidedthathe would rather
have the hearing handled by a superior
Nursing Home Death Raises Questions
BY ANGELA MOORE
STAFF WRITER
Police and state medical examiners continue to investigate the
unexplained death of an 84-year old woman at Britthaven nursing
home, a facility already under scrutiny by the N.C. Division of
Facility Services. According to police reports, Martha L. Harris
was found dead in her room at 9:45 p.m. Sunday.
“(Britthaven) told us ... she had on a soft waist restraint, ” said
Jesse Goodman oftheN.C. Division of Facility Services. “Some
how she ended up on the floor with the restraint up under her
arms.” A Britthaven employee found Harris dead on the floor
with her back against the bed, Capt. Barry Thompson of the
Chapel Hill Police Department said.
But the employ ee listed on the police report as finding Harris
said Wednesday that he was not the first person to find her. The
Town Wants University To
Delay Tract Development
BY MARY-KATHRYN CRAFT
STAFF WRITER
The Chapel Hill Town Council wants
Chancellor Michael Hooker to reaffirm a
promise made by former Chancellor Paul
Hardin not to de
velop the Horace
Williams property,
a 970-acre Univer
sity-owned tract of
land.
Council member
Joe Capowski said
Hardin wrote a let
ter in October 1994
that stated the
University’s intent
not to develop the
JOE CAPOWSKI
Williams property until a land-use plan
was complete or until 18 months from the
date oftheletterhadpassed. The 18 months
expire in April, Capowski said.
Nimesh Shah, publicity chair of SANGAM, wrestles with hanging a banner near the Union on Wednesday* 1 ” 01
afternoon. The group was advertising an upcoming event at the Carrboro Arts Center.
UfliD Hatty ®ar Ihd
Tar Heels Torch FSU
UNC's men's basketball team beat
the Seminoles in Tallahassee, Fla.,
82-71. Page 11
l*!
court judge,”
Collins said. The
superior court hear
ing will probably
occur Monday, he
said. Collins saidhis
client would plead
not guilty in the
case.
Boychuk, whom
police arrested at his
apartment Tuesday,
remains in custody
at the Wake County
Jail and isbeing held
without bond,
Collins said.
In the initial investigation, Boychuk told
police that he and his wife Karen were
walking across the Cary Parkway bridge
around 7 p.m. Dec. 31 when they were
struck from behind. He said the collision
Mayor Rosemary Waldorf said the
council would like a similar letter from
Hooker. The town specifically wants the
University to promise not to initiate devel
opment north of Estes Drive until all land
use plans are completed. The University
developed three possible development op
tions this fall with the help of an outside
consultant, but it has not chosen to act on
any of those options.
“I am personally convinced that they
(the University) don’t have anything
planned north of Estes Drive in the (near)
future,” Waldorf said.
She said that she had called Hooker but
that she had been unable to speak with
him. She plans to discuss the issue with
him soon, she said.
Hooker did not return a call Wednes
day.
Wayne Jones, vice chancellor for busi-
See HORACE WILLIAMS, Page 4
A Banner Event
The only thing wrong with immortality is that it tends to go on forever.
Herb Caen
knocked him unconscious, police reports
state.
He told police that when he regained
consciousness, he found his wife lying with
out a pulse on the grass embankment be
low the 40-foot bridge. He tried unsuccess
fully to alert passing cars before returning
to his home at the Hermitage at Beachtree
apartment complex for help, reports state.
A manager at the complex reported the
incident two hours after it occurred, and
police found a disoriented Boychuk stag
gering through the parking lot, police re
ports state.
The pathologist who performed the pre
liminary autopsy report on Karen Boychuk
told investigators that she died from blunt
trauma to the head, a condition likely
caused by being struck repeatedly.
In an affidavit, Cary police Detectives
See BOYCHUK, Page 4
MBA Student
WILLIAM BOYCHUK
told police that his wife
was the victim of a hit
and run.
employee would not give further information.
Britthaven representatives did not return a call Wednesday.
Britthaven has been accused by former Nursing Director Katie
McAlistair of having an inadequate staff-to-patient ratio.
McAlistair said before Harris’s death that the staffing level at
Britthaven was unsafe.
Goodman and the Chapel Hill police refused to speculate as to
whether Harris’ death might be related to Britthaven’s alleged
shortcomings in staffing. A police report described Harris’ death
as accidental. “The death was listed as accidental because we
didn’t know what the cause of death was, ” Thompson said.
An investigator has been assigned to the case until the cause of
death is determined by the medical examiner, Thompson said. “If
the death is by natural causes, then our job’s done.”
“As of now, we don’t have anything of a suspicious nature to
look into,” Thompson sai<J.
Committee Recommends Dining Overhaul
BY JOHN PATTERSON
STAFF WRITER
A referendum on campus dining moved one step closer to
reality Wednesday, as a Student Congress committee agreed to let
students vote on a plan that would gut Lenoir Dining Hall, raise
student fees and make the University responsible for financial
losses in food service.
The Student Affairs Committee forwarded a bill to congress
that would let students vote on some of the recommendations
generated by the Food Services Advisory Task Force. Congress
will consider the bill at its Jan. 30 meeting. Two-thirds of congress
must agree to place the referendum on the Feb. 13 ballot. The
Board of Trustees must approve any fee increases.
“We think it (the proposal) is very cumbersome and very
difficult to explain,” said Mo Nathan, student body co-secretary.
“The students must, however, be the ones to decide yes or no.”
The most dramatic change in providing food would come from
a task force recommendation to have the University assume the
risk for any profit or loss, a move proponents said would give
students better control over food quality. UNC’s current food
service contract with Marriott —which expires in August—gives
the company responsibility for any profit or loss. If Marriott loses
money on its business here, the University takes no loss.
Task force members propose to write the new contract so that
a food service company makes a constant three percent of the total
profit. If fewer people signed up for meal plans, the University
Chapel Hill North Caroßaa
THURSDAY, JANUARY 25,1996
.
Secretary of the Interior
Bruce Babbitt spoke at Duke about
environmental conservation and
medical research. Page 4
Crime Statistics Contradict FSU Statement
BY ERIC FLACK
STAFF WRITER
In the wake of two December shooting
incidents at Fayetteville State University,
Chancellor Willis McLeod sent a letter to
FSU students claiming that the school is
“one of the safest campuses, with one of
the lowest crime rates in the entire 16-
institution University of North Carolina."
But statistics compiled by the State Bureau
of Investigation show otherwise.
FSU has the second highest per capita
rate of on-campus
violent crimes
among all 16
schools in the UNC
system, according
to the SBl’s N.C.
Uniform Crime Re
port.
The statistics, compiled from 1994 cam
pus crime reports, show that FSU was
second only to N.C. Agricultural & Tech
nical State University in its number of
violent crimes (murder, rape, robbery and
aggravated assault) per capita. The per
capita crime rate is the number of crimes
committed per lOOpeople. FSU’sper capita
violent crime rate for 1994 was 0.9 percent.
UNC-AshevilleandtheN.C. Schoolofthe
*3
Tar Heel Blues
HUf* |
DTH/IASONKDtK
Duke's Kira Orr drives past UNC guard Lori Gear Wednesday at Carmichael
Auditorium. The Blue Devils beat the Tar Heels 86-85 on a last-second shot
mindful of UNC's defeat last year in Durham. See story, page 9.
would take any loss. Student Body President Calvin Cunningham
said guaranteeing a contractor a three percent profit would enable
the University to dictate the quality and variety of food service—
something it has a hard time doing under the current contract.
But the University can’t secure a quality food service company
unless it drastically improves the buildings, kitchens and dining
halls in which a contractor must operate, he said. Cunningham
pointed to outdated kitchen designs, inadequate hot water and
basements that flood as reasons UNC didn’t attract contractors.
Under a $ 12.5 million plan proposed by the committee Wednes
day, the University would gut the interior of Lenoir, knock down
a wall to expand Chase Hall by 2,400 square feet and reorganize
and add to the food area in the Student Union. Seating capacity
would expand by 30 percent. The interior of Lenoir would be
rebuilt to house two above-ground floors of dining.
“Everything negative you think of Lenoir would be fixed, ” said
Christian Chamaux, a task force member. “The new Lenoir will
have nothing in common with the old Lenoir, except for the walls
maybe.”
Under the proposal, construction at Lenoir would begin in
April 1997 and continue until summer 1998. The proposal calls
for the facility changes to be paid for by a 31 cent per semester
student fee increase to begin in Fall 1997. The actual cost of
construction per student is $28.98 per semester over a 20 year
period, but task force members are counting on a 20 percent
increase in business, funds from two reserve accounts and an
existing $lO student fee for food to lower the cost.
Not Your Average Grocery
Wellspring Grocery caters to A
customers who like their food
natural, pure or recycled. Page 2
Arts had the lowest violent crime rates,
with no violent crimes committed at either
school in 1994.
Henry Ghee, FSU’s vice chancellor of
business and finance, said he was shocked
to hear statistics that represented FSU as
an unsafe campus. Ghee claimed that the
only numbers he had ever seen indicated
that FSU was one of the safest schools in
the UNC system. “The data I had seen
certainly doesn’t show that we are next to
last,” Ghee said. “We were nowhere near
midstream with the data we used. When
we report data we don’t come out any
where near the bottom of the stack.”
Property crimes (burglary, larceny and
motor vehicle theft) also plague the FSU
campus. Fayetteville State reported the
third highest number of property crimes,
13.3 per capita, in the UNC system. The
School of the Arts had the highest number
of property crimes, and UNC-Wilmington
came in a close second. Ghee said compar
ing a small school like FSU to larger insti
tutions like UNC can be problematic. When
you consider a school like UNC, some
smaller crimes might be overlooked,
whereas at a smaller school they are not, he
said. “There are things that go on at Chapel
Hill that wouldn’t raise an eyebrow, that
wouldn’t happen here.”
News/Features/Arts/Sports 962-0245
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Today's Weather
Sunny, high near • 40s.
Friday Partly cloudy,
high mid-40s.
Stricter
Control of
Bars?
■ A public hearing
concerning the licensing of
bars will be held on Feb. 26.
BY VICTOR D. HENDRICKSON
STAFF WRITER
The Chapel Hill Town Council decided
late Monday evening to consider enacting
a proposal to monitor more closely the
operation of local alcohol-serving estab
lishments.
The proposal calls for the council to be
more active in screening applicants for
initial alcohol sales licenses and for chang
ing the town code so the council can review
those bars in violation of Alcoholic Bever
age Commission laws.
“New businesses need a state permit,
and the state in
vites local gov
ernment com
ment,” Town
Man fights Open
Container Law
See Page 3
Attorney Ralph Karpinos said. “Histori
cally, the council hasn't taken a very active
role.
“There is a provision where the council
would have the opportunity to review a
business license renewal if it is found in
violation of ABC laws in the prior year,”
Karpinos said.
The council is holding a public hearing
Feb. 26 to draw public comment.
Spencer Everett, who submitted the pro
posal and is an adviser for a University
fraternity, said the only way the numerous
Chapel Hill ban made a profit was by
serving alcohol to minors.
“There are so many liquor-dispensing
establishments in Chapel Hill that the only
way they can survive and do well is to
break the law, so they do,” Everett said.
“They have created a problem for the Uni
versity and the community.”
Changing the town code so the council
could review ABC law violators would
further the public’s involvement, Everett
said. “This is designed to get input from the
community,” he said.
One of the largest problems surround
ing the issue was the enforcement of alco
hol-related laws, Everett said. “We do not
need to necessarily toughen the laws, but
consistently enforce them,” he said. “We
also need to monitor and control new es
tablishments so they don’t perpetuate the
problem.”
The proposal was aimed more at bar
owners than students, Everett said. “I am
not a prohibitionist,” he said. “I am not
seeking to eliminate drinking in Chapel
Hill, but I am appalled at the attitudes and
behaviors of bar owners.”
Everett said his “eyes were opened” to
Chapel Hill’s alcohol-related problems
through some of his experiences with fra
ternity members, and he said he hoped the
proposal would pass.
He said, “Hopefully this will make a
difference, so we can avoid situations like
last spring with Jamie McGhee, ” referring
to the student who died in an alcohol
related fall from the roof ofPhillips Annex.
Violent Crime Statistics
UNC system schools by the number of
on-campus violent crimes committed
per 100 students
1) UNC-Asheville 0
2) N.C. School of the Arts 0
3) Pembroke State University .01
4) Winston-Salem State .1
University
5) UNC-Chapel Hill .2
6) Western Carolina University .2
7) UNC-Charlotte .2
8) Eastern Carolina University .2
9) UNC-Wilmington .27
10} Appalachian State University .4
11) N.C. State University .5
12} Elizabeth City University .7
13) UNC-Greensboro .7
14} North Carolina Central .75
University
15) Fayetteville State .9
University
16} N.C. Agricultural 6 Technical
University 1
SOURCEISTATE BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION CRIME IN NORTH
CAROLINA UNIFORM CRIME RETORT, 1994