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12 Thursday, November 21,1996 Area stores get early start on Christmas cheer ■ Some local merchants begin the holiday season the day after Halloween. BY ANGELA MOORE ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR Lights twinkle, red and green trim mings abound and a stereo belts out Nat King Cole’s “Christmas Song” in a per fect Holiday scene. Except it’s not Christmas; it’s not even December. It’s mid-November and you’re standing in a department store wonder ing where Thanksgiving went. The holiday season seems to begin earlier every year for merchants who Republicans hold N.C. House in unofficial recount results ■ Democrat Nurham Warwick and Republican Bobby Hall were victorious. BY ANNE HARDEN STAFF WRITER Republicans will keep a slight 61-59 majority in the N.C. House when it con venes in January, unofficial results from recounts in two House races showed Wednesday. Close races in the 12th and 19th dis tricts ended in vote recounts. Unofficial results confirmed the election of Demo crat Nurham Warwick over Republican George Wilson in the 12th District. Re RELIGION FROM PAGE 1 Catholic members, had an interfaith feel and a focus on discussion. “A lot of people on this campus are zealots about Christianity who haven’t read the entire Bible,” he said. “They believe what other people have told them.” Being critical of others’ beliefs has not made Darwin any less religious. He regu larly attends University United Method ist Church and discusses issues with the church’s pastor, an alumnus of Darwin’s fraternity. “ I belie ve in the principles of the Bible, butnotasmuchwordforword,” Darwin said. “I found a lot of contradiction in the .i 1 i j J _ J J { ) j J 1 j PT. PLEASANT ■ I am gt XiANTSizr SUBMARINES &SALADS L 968-0700 A 107 N. Columbia Street Chapel Hill depend on the Christmas shopping sea son for much of their yearly revenue. Garland and lights appear in area stores beginning right after Halloween to at tract shoppers getting an early start on their holiday shopping. Belk-Leggett in University Mall be gan the decorating process the first of November, assistant manager Linda Roberts said. The main reason for put ting the decorations up so soon, she said, was the amount of time it takes to set everything up. “It takes a good while to get all the special Christmas merchandise in, ” Rob erts said. “If we waited until after Thanks giving to put everything up, we wouldn’t be ready for Christmas in time. It’s an ongoing process.” publican Bobby Ray Hall defeated Demo crat Leslie Cox in the 19th District. The State Board of Elections will not release official results until its Tuesday meeting. The recount results upheld those re ported on Nov. 5, giving the Republicans a 61-59 majority in the N.C. House. Dana Simpson, spokeswoman for House Speaker Harold Brubaker, said House leadership would have been in question had results from the 19th Dis trict election been reversed. However, Republicans are confident in press re ports of the recounts and do not fear any shift of power in the House, he said. Warwick said the Board of Elections was waiting to give official notice but had told him there was no reason that he writings, things that don’t apply today.” Finding the missing link She celebrated the major Jewish holi days: Rosh Hashana, Hanukkah and Passover. But Rachael Landau didn’t grow up religious. Landau, who grew up in a Jewish household in St. Louis, said her family identified more with Jewish culture than spirituality. “We were more religious as far as the foods we ate,” said Landau, a senior who now lives in Charlotte. Landau was only 2 years old when her parents divorced, and she stayed in St. Louis with her mother and practiced Ju daism nominally. Before her sophomore year in high school, Landau’s mother However, some stores go to a special effort to keep the holiday season con fined to after Thanksgiving. The Inti mate Bookshop on Franklin Street will not put up decorations until after Thanks giving, night manager Scott Lydon said. “It seems a bit psychotic, personally, to put it up too early,” Lydon said. “It’s really annoying to go into Rite-Aid and see chocolate Santas when it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. “Plus it takes forever to hang the stu pid lights.” Julian’s on Franklin Street will also be waiting until the week of Thanksgiving to put up holiday decorations, owner Missy Julian-Fox said. “That’s the value of a specialty store, ” Julian-Fox said. “You can keep the sea could not consider himself victorious. “I think it’s a done deal at this point,” he said. Warwick is expected to be declared the representative for Onslow, Pender and Sampson Counties onNov. 26, three weeks after the general election. “It’s been an anxious time,” he said. “I’m looking forward to a few days of rest, then I’m looking forward to Janu ary.” “I think we have a lot of work to do in education, in the area of small business and in helping agriculture in this part of the state,” he said. Cox said he was not disappointed with the results of the recount, despite his loss. A first-time political contender in the ring with veterans, he said he his perfor sent her to live with her father in North Carolina, who had since remarried and converted to Christianity. Landau said the lack of a strong Jew ish upbringing couldn’t quiet her curios ity in Judaism. “I realized this was what was missing in me," she said. And when she was looking into col leges, Landau said she knew that being on her own would enable her to explore the role of religion in her life. When she came to UNC, she had little awareness of Jewish tenets and the meanings underly ing many of its practices. “I didn’t even know what keeping Kosher meant," said Landau about the Jewish dietary practice that dictates the separation of meat and dairy products, among other restrictions. NEWS son appropriately. “It seems to me malls and larger shop ping establishments are dusting off their decorations so much earlier in hopes of capitalizing more,” she said. A Southern Season, atEastgate Shop ping Center, has already put up most of their decorations, but that’s purely out of necessity, manager Merwyn Vamado said. “Like all businesses, we’re concerned with Thanksgiving being so late,” Vamado said. A Thanksgiving later in the month like this year’s shortens the holiday shopping season. “However, we don’t want to make Christmas too commercial. We’re not lighting anything until the day after Thanksgiving." mance pleased him. “To come within 70,75 votes of serv ing in the General Assembly is simply amazing. We’re real positive, real up beat,” he said. Cox said he was not ready to com ment on whether or not he would make a second bid for political office. “That’s kind of like asking your wife if she wants to have another child while she’s in the delivery room,” he said. “We’re going to strategize and keep our options open,” Cox said. If he were to run a second time, he said, he would make the decision next December or January. Wilson could not be reached for com ment. At press time, Hall was in Hawaii and could not comment. But Landau soon became involved with N.C. Hillel, the campus Jewish group, assuming leadership roles and at tending Friday evening worship services. “When junior year rolled around, it wasn’t a question of where I’d be on a Friday night,” said Landau, who cur rently serves as Hillel president. Landau said the small Jewish pres ence in North Carolina renewed her in terest in Judaism. “Living in the South, you’re more conscious of religion,” she said. “If you want to be Jewish, you make the effort.” Armed with a greater understanding of the religion she grew up with but never knew, Landau has plans in April to make a Bat Mitzvah —a ceremony that marks a child’s entry into adulthood. Jewish children traditionally take part in this rite at age 12 or 13, but Landau never did. “I thought a Bat Mitzvah would be a great culmination to my college career and the rediscovery of my Jewish iden tity.” MORMON FROM PAGE 1 Regardless of the outcome, most of us know who these people are. But few of us understand exactly what they do. Six Mormon missionaries all males are currently stationed on or around the University campus. The missionar ies all represent the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. “We basically just want people to know about our beliefs,” said Tonya Rust, who returned five years ago from her mission in Argentina. She currently works with the Mormon Church in the Chapel Hill Ward Bishop’s office. The missionaries on the UNC campus, like other Mormons, are in the process of completing their “mission,” a two-year stint dedicated to spreading the beliefs of the Church. Elder Aurich, “Elder” being the title all missionaries as sume, said the missionaries wanted to help people by introduc ing them to the Mormon gospel. Aurich, a missionary from Las Vegas, said that students held misconceptions about the Bible and about Mormonism and that the missionaries aimed to answer people’s questions in order to clarify such issues. “We definitely don’t want to annoy people,” he said. “We don’t want to push them, either.” While taking a mission is highly encouraged for both men and women, it is not mandatory, said Christina Stevenson, a freshman from Louisburg. Though she was brought up Mor mon and each of her brothers and sisters has taken a mission, she has chosen not to devote two years to the cause. “It’s your own personal choice,” she said. Many of the missionaries have interrupted their own college educations to do missionary work. Most spend their freshman year at a university and then resume their studies after having completed a mission with the Church. Elder Johnson, a missionary in Chapel Hill, said his major goal was to teach people about Jesus Christ, the Bible and the Book of Mormon. “We are trying to bring forth different ideas and beliefs and share about the savior Jesus Christ,” he said. In addition to their on-campus work, the Chapel Hill mis- ADVERTISEMENT a a SPORTSWEEKend a 22 r~ 23 r 24 Min's basketball/v women's Voluybau/v Turkey Trot/I vs. Arizona Basketball./V acc tournament front steps of Hall of Fame vs. William A Mary Atlanta. CA Carmichael auditorium. Tip-off Classic Carmichael Auditorium MEN'S / pm AT SPRINGFIELD. MA FIELD WRESTUNO/V FIELD Vollstball/V HOCKEY/V at East Stroudsburg HOCKEY/V ACC Tournament N caa final four Open NCAA Final Four ■ . AT “. NT *\ CA ... AT CHESTNUT HILL. MA ALL DAY AT CHESTNUT HILL. MA MEN S WRESTUNO/V FOOTBALL/V VOLLEYBALL/V AT EAST STROUDSBURG AT DUKE ACC TOURNAMENT onN Atlanta, ca ALL DAY Let NIKE know the time and location of your events for next month. Reach NIKE at: sports.paße@nike.com CLIMATE FROM PAGE I “I think it does impact students’ abil ity to learn, especially if they are binging frequently during the week,” Heartford said. “Students have to see that there are negative consequences.” Duke implemented a policy in 1993 to curb drinking and bolster academics. It reduced the availability of alcohol. In an attempt to curb underage drink ing, the policy restricted common con tainers, limited the amount of alcohol students could have in their possession and required university-sanctioned bar tenders for all kegs. Marta Perez, assistant dean of student development and a recent Duke gradu ate, said when she was a student there were hardly any restrictions on alcohol. Although the new policy made getting alcohol more difficult, Perez said drink ing had not changed that much. But, she said, students are more vocal about alter natives to drinking and more accepting of those who choose not to drink. But questions have been raised con cerning how effective this policy will be in the long run. Sarah Mitchell, a sophomore at Duke, said at the beginning of last year that freshmen were not welcomed at parties on main campus because of the new policy. But as students became accus tomed to the policy, the level of drinking began to increase, she said. “It took adjustment at first, but now that people are comfortable with it, drink ing is going up again,” Mitchell said. Residential Life To improve the intellectual atmo sphere of campuses, many universities have gone straight to the place students spend much of their time—the residence halls. For example, two years ago, Duke placed all freshmen on the east side of campus, which was alcohol-free, He’s a self-described former drug fiend who gave it all up in search of spiritual satisfaction. More than a year ago, Marc Irvine left his family and college life in Wisconsin to join the Hare Krishnas at their temple in Hillsborough. “I never really converted from one belief to another," said Irvine, who cur rently calls himself Murdidahara. His new name means “Player of the Flute.” Murdidahara said he was raised a “loose Catholic,” although he attended church every week. In high school, he devoured literature on karma and rein carnation, but he had little knowledge of Hare Krishnas at that time. “I didn’t know the difference between a Hare Krishna and a Jehovah’s Wit ness,” he said. At the University of Wisconsin, Murdidahara studied comparative litera ture and Russian with plans ofbecoming a professor. But his interest in the Hare Krishna faith only intensified. He de cided to give up eating meat, one of the | UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA Strohbehn said. “It created a sense of unity, with (the students) getting to know each other bet ter," Strohbehn said. He said it was important for students to develop a sense of community by liv ing with the same group of people instead of moving from one hall to another. * At N.C. State, the First Year College Program, for freshmen who have not decided on a major, encourages an aca demic environment by placing academic advisers’ offices in the residence halls. The First Year College also includes a student mentor program in which stu dent tutors live in the residence halls. “It makes the advisers much more accessible since they pass students on a daily basis,” said Janice Odom, the program’s director. The program also has affected how students behave in residence halls, as incidents of vandalism are down. “You make studying a norm, so when freshmen come in, they see that,” she said. Although Heartford currently works atUM, she attended UNC for her under graduate and graduate studies. She said there were parallels between the two schools, but the atmosphere at Michigan was more serious. Heartford attributed this to Michigan’s large num ber of out-of-state students and the large number who planned to pursue advanced degrees. “Michigan’s students tend to be more focused nationally,” she said. . - ; Pamela Conover, who heads the Chancellor’s Task Force on Intellectual Climate, said although the University used comparable public schools like the University of Califomia-Berkeley and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor as models, UNC was trying to create its own sense of identity. “Our aspiration is that UNC would be the leader among public universities,” she said. “We want others to look at us and say, ‘We want to be like UNC.’” four basic principles of the Hare Krishna faith. Followers also abstain from gam bling, intoxication and premarital sex. Murdidahara said he had no problem living as a vegetarian. And since he had not yet turned 21, gambling wasn’t an issue either. But he did say as “a regular college student” he had some trouble adhering to the other two tenets. Since joining with the Hare Krishnas, Murdidahara no longer communicates with his grandfather, who rejected him for leaving Catholicism. But his parents have been more supportive, actually showing an interest in their son’s reli gious endeavors. “They started incorporating the man tra into their prayers,” he said. Put a Christian, Jew and Hare Krishna together and you’ll be hard-pressed to find an abundance of shared beliefs. But if there was one thing all three agreed on, it was the sense that their religious jour neys had only begun to take shape. sionaries work the surrounding neighborhoods, knocking on doors and talking to residents. They also spend time studying scripture. Missionaries spend two years in one region, but specific locales change every four to six months. Maijorie Carr, secretary atthe Mormon Institute ofßeligion in the Triangle, has a son in California working on his two-year assignment. Carr said the University campus was an ideal place for the missionaries to be stationed since students were in a transitional time. Bizarro WHAT Will You bT'N'J l EATIN6 ToPaY,Sir? J KrWoroS...s- , 5 V \\ Your Hat. A95 — ■\s. Crow. 5.95 /X m I Sally (Tar Uppl
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Nov. 21, 1996, edition 1
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