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OCTOBER 21,1996
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Bus driver charged with
DWI, suspended from job
BY SALLIE LACY
STAFF WRITER
The second Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
bus driver in three months was charged with driving
while impaired on Friday.
Cecil Tony Ingram, 58, of Chapel Hill, was sus
pended from his job for driving his school bus while
under the influence of alcohol. Former bus driver
Michael Ray Ford pleaded guilty two weeks ago to
driving summer school students while impaired.
Ingram said he had been advised not to make
further comments, but he previously told the Chapel
Hill Herald, “I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize
the children’s lives.”
Ingram had a blood-alcohol level of 0.03 two
hours after being removed from the bus.
The legal limit for driving a commercial vehicle is
0.04. Magistrate Arthur Summey charged Ingram
on the assumption that his blood alcohol level was
higher two hours before when he was driving the
bus.
State law says the legal limit for drivers of passen
ger cars is 0.08, but drivers of commercial vehicles
have a lower limit because the vehicles are larger and
can cause more damage in wrecks, said Sergeant Joe
Layton of the Chapel Hill Police Department.
Ingram had taken his first load of students home
N.C. district attorney files brief
in protest of tobacco regulations
BY CHARLES HELLWIG
STAFF WRITER
North Carolina struck back against President Bill
Clinton’s attempts to classify tobacco as a drug by
filing a court brief last week in support of a lawsuit
by tobacco companies.
The motion called on the U.S. District Court in
Greensboro to issue a summary judgment to block
the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed regu
lation of tobacco.
A filing for summary judgment seeks a prompt
ruling from a judge which settles the legal contro
versy without sending the issues to a jury or having
to wait for a lengthy trial.
Philip Morris stated in a press release that the
motion was filed to “prevent the FDA from pursu
ing its illegal assertion of jurisdiction over tobacco
products.”
“Our opposition to the FDA’s rule rests not with
its stated goal, reducing underage tobacco use, a
goal we share,” stated Steven Parrish, senior vice
Family cap policy unfair to women, activists say
■ Already law in N.C., the
family cap policy is drawing
controversy nationwide.
BY ROBIN SMITH
STAFF WRITER
Though opponents argue it infringes
upon reproductive freedom, a controver
sial welfare reform policy known as the
“family cap” is gaining popularity across
the nation as anew federal law has given
states more flexibility in designing wel
fare programs.
Already a law in North Carolina, the
family cap denies additional cash ben
efits to any children bom after a family
has been on welfare for 10 months, elimi
nating the previous standard grant in
crease under the Aid to Families with
Dependent Children program.
“We’re really trying to promote and
support parental responsibility," said
Kevin Fitzgerald, director of Social Ser
vices under the N.C. Department of
Human Resources.
The N.C. family cap provision falls
under Work First, Governor Jim Hunt’s
new welfare reform package. It denies
cash payments for children bom after the
family has been on the program longer
than 10 months.
Beth Ising, executive director of the
National Abortion and Reproductive
Rights Action League of North Caro
lina, said coercive policies such as the
family cap encroached upon a woman’s
personal liberty.
“Women can’t be railroaded into
making decisions about their bodies,”
she said. "They need to be given grid
Fruitful rewards
a.p.p.l.e.s. acknowledged
UNC professors for their
work in supporting student
voulnteering. Page 4
from Ephesus Elementary School and had returned
for a second load when school officials smelled
alcohol on his breath. School officials called trans
portation supervisor Mary Lin Truelove and asked
whether Ingram should be removed from the bus.
Truelove told school officials that Ingram could
continue driving since there were no visible signs
that Ingram had been drinking.
“I have procedures that I have to follow too,”
Truelove said.
A foreman at the bus garage told Truelove that he
had had a long conversation with Ingram before he
left on his route and saw no signs of alcohol.
Ingram was replaced within 20 to 25 minutes of
school officials noticing the alcohol on his breath,
Truelove said. He was arrested at the bus garage and
taken to the police station for alcohol tests, the
police report stated.
Ingram was not removed immediately because of
conflicting information between the foreman at the
bus garage and school officials, said Superintendent
Neil Pedersen.
“I think (Truelove) was trying to be sensitive of
not incorrectly charging the driver in a very public
way,” he said.
The superintendent’s administration will con-
See BUS DRIVER, Page 5
president of corporate affairs at Philip Morris. “We
vigorously object to the FDA’s specious and arbi
trary interpretation of federal law, which the FDA
claims gives it broad powers, including the power to
ban cigarettes altogether.”
The proposed regulations would ban billboards
within 1,000 feet of schools and playgrounds, as
well as vending machines, except in nightclubs and
other places off-limits to minors. Advertising in
publications with young readerships would be lim
ited to black and white text only.
The rules would also end distribution of free
samples of cigarettes, brand-name sponsorship of
sporting events and the placement of cigarette names
on hats, T-shirts, gym bags and other products.
N.C. Attorney General Mike Easley agreed with
Parrish, saying the FDA has crossed the boundaries
of its legal jurisdiction.
“Congress has always been responsible for plac
ing health and advertising restrictions on tobacco
See TOBACCO, Page 4
ance, support and the freedom to make a
decision.
“If a woman is already receiving assis
tance, she’s struggling in some way. If
she didn’t even have the information or
the self-esteem to prevent the pregnancy
and hasn’t been given the support she
needs and has another child, now there
won’t even be food stamps the child
will suffer.”
However, Fitzgerald said the food
stamps would increase for an additional
child and Medicaid would provide trans
portation for the child’s doctor visits.
He noted that the family would still
receive AFDC cash benefits, but the ben
efits would not increase by about $25 a
month as before.
“We’re all responsible for our behav
ior,” he said.
But Ising said a family cap was not the
answer. “What the family cap punishes
is the child bom into the family, not
behavior."
“Promotingßeproductive Choices: A
New Approach to Reproductive Health, ”
published by NARAL, stated, “Policies
that increase access to reproductive health
care, including prenatal care and contra
ceptive services, will promote respon
sible reproductive decision-making more
effectively than government coercion."
Although Work First officially began
on July 1, 1995, it took another year
before tougher sanctions, such as work
requirements, time limits and the family
cap could be implemented. Because pro
visions such as these conflict with federal
AFDC requirements, states had to get
approval through waivers granted by the
U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services.
As of Aug. 22, however, anew federal
True success is overcoming the fear of being unsuccessful.
Paul Sweeney
Tall cool ones
PlayMakers' production of
Edward Albee’s Three Tall
Women' opened this
weekend. Page 5
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DTH/BRAD SMITH
UNC center Serge Zwikker launches a set shot Friday during the
Tar Heels' annual media day at the Smith Center. See story, page 14.
Part one of a four part series:
REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM
law, the Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act
of 1996, relieved states of requiring fed
eral approval in designing their welfare
reform programs.
While some states have chosen to only
implement the family cap in certain coun
ties, North Carolina has made it a state
wide provision.
Ising maintained that current policies
were not addressing the problem. “Little
solutions like the family cap and the
Teaching Abstinence until Marriage law
won’t work. The combined effect is that
we lose, lose, lose nobody is getting
enough information.”
Ising emphasized the need for educa
tion on the issues. “International and
domestic family planning programs are
important, but they’re being slashed,”
she said.
Ising also said the myth of “welfare
queens” made people think the family
cap would drastically reduce the number
of welfare recipients.
“The fertility rate is actually higher
among women not on welfare,” she said.
Michael Kharfen, director of public
affairs under the Administration for Chil
Head of the class
First lady Hillary Clinton ▲
addressed Yale students on ”
her huband's plan for
education reform. Page 6
• M
dren and Families in the U.S. Depart
ment of Health and Human Services,
said although some states might have
chosen to implement the family cap in
order to reduce the number of births,
others were trying to mirror the main
stream work environment.
“Decisions and choices about having
more children are choices made with
economic consequences and with no re
ward,” he said.
Kharfen added that since the setting of
benefit levels had always been the state’s
decision, the rationale behind the family
cap should also be left up to the state.
Fitzgerald said the verdict on Work
First had been positive, but it was too
soon to measure the success of North
Carolina’s family cap provision.
In New Jersey, the family cap has
been law since 1993. According to Gov
ernment Accounting Office reports, no
significant difference between birth rates
of AFDC mothers who were subject to
the family cap in New Jersey. The find
ing was regarded as preliminary since the
analysis was based on limited data.
Ising said statistics also showed that
there was an increase in New Jersey’s
abortion rate. However, Kharfen said
the evidence was inconclusive.
“The Catholic church has argued
against the family cap because they be
lieve it will lead to more abortions,” he
said. “There is a lot of emotion that goes
into this argument, as well as logic.”
The New Jersey family cap has faced
great opposition, generating a July 1995
case in the U.S. District Court, followed
by a hearing in the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Third on Aug. 9, 1996. Both
See FAMILY CAP, Page 5
Today's
Weather .
Mostly sunny, high "
60s.
Tuesday: Sunny, high 70s.
County to pay
$3,500 to fix
botched ballot
■ The referendum stated that the current
rate was 35 cents, which is the maximum
rate allowed by the new property tax.
BY ANGELA MOORE
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
A mistake in the wording of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City
Schools district tax referendum on November’s ballots will cost
the county $3,500 in reprinting costs.
The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted Tues
day night to reprint the county’s ballots, most of which had
already been printed, rewording an initiative that would ex
pand a special district property tax. School officials want the tax
money to be used for capital needs like building new schools
instead of only funding operating costs, what the tax is cur
rently used for.
James White, UNC professor emeritus and a member of the
local government watchdog group Tax Watch, first noticed the
mistake in the referendum’s wording. The referendum had
stated that the current district property tax rate was 35 cents,
which is actually the maximum rate allowed by the tax. The
current rate is 19 cents.
“I thought it would be best to change the wording,” White
said. “It was really misleading. It was an error in fact.”
White said residents might have thought that the district
property tax could not be increased. He said the referendum left
open the option of increasing the tax from 19 cents but would
mislead voters by saying the taxes would not surpass the current
level. The referendum actually meant taxes would not exceed
the limit of 35 cents.
White first went to the state board of elections with his
concerns, which told him nothing could be done since absentee
ballots had already been sent out.
Still believing the error was too important to pass over,
White turned to the local media. After articles about the
wording mistake appeared in two newspapers, County Attor
ney Geoffrey Gledhill brought the matter before the board.
Gledhill gave the board the option of reprinting the ballots or
throwing out the referendum altogether.
Commissioner Bill Crowther said the commissioners “took
the high road” by voting to swallow the $3,500 cost and the
effort of reprinting the ballots.
“Itwasunanimous,”Crowthersaid. “We simply wanted the
school board’s initiative to get to the people.”
White said he was glad the commissioners had voted to
correct and reprint the ballots. “A referendum statement should
be done correctly,” he said. “It wasn’t done correctly. Some
body certainly would’ve objected to it after the vote.”
The money lost in the faulty ballots will probably come from
the board’s contingency fund, money set aside for emergencies,
or the cost would be included in next year’s budget.
Crowther said that new copies of the ballot would be sent out
to absentee voters, even though some have already turned in
their completed ballots.
Scuttlebutt razed following
52 years of feeding students
■ Poor conditions and high
repair costs contributed to
the snack bar’s demise.
BY JAMIE GRISWOLD
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
A University landmark that catered to
more than five decades ofUNC students,
faculty and staff met its demise during
Fall Break at the hands of a wrecking
crew.
The Scuttlebutt, a popular University
snack bar that was closed after it was
declared structurally unsafe in April 1995,
was demolished Thursday morning. The
Board of Trustees voted to destroy the
building last March.
John Jones, director of Student Stores,
said the Scuttlebutt was leveled because
it was in poor condition and repair costs
were prohibitive.
“The Scuttlebutt had gotten so run
down that it had to be demolished," he
said. “It’s sad, but that’s the way it is.”
Jones said it would have cost any
where from $150,000 to $200,000t0 reno
vate the building, which was located on
the comer of Cameron Avenue and South
Columbia Street.
“It didn’t have the business to justify
the renovations," Jones said.
The Scuttlebutt, completed in 1943,
was originally used as a canteen by the
Navy Pre-Flight School during World
Warn.
"It was built when there were a good
many military personnel on the campus
103 years of editorial freedom
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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for training,” said John Sanders, profes
sor emeritus and a 1950 graduate.
The Scuttlebutt, turned over to UNC
in 1945, was used as a snack bar for 50
years until its 1995 closure.
“It was a place where people stopped
to grab coffee ora doughnut on their way
to class,” Sanders said.
Ryan Vann, a junior from Boonville,
said he was sad to see the Scuttlebutt
razed.
“It made things a lot more convenient
in terms of getting Scantrons and blue
books,” said Vann, a resident of Granville
Towers for the past three years. “If you
wanted something to eat or drink, you
didn’t have to walk all the way to Student
Stores.”
Talk to us
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On Oct. 30 the paper will be sponsoring
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The discussion will take about an hour.
Any interested readers should come by
the DTH office, Suite 104 of the Student
Union, and sign up for this opportunity.
Any questions? Call Staff Development
Director Robin Berholz at 962-0245.