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INSIDE
TUESDff
DECEMBER 3,1996
MUUNG THE MOUNTAINEERS
DTH/BEN MCALLISTER
UNC forward Natasha Davis (52) battles Mount St. Mary's Nikki Schroyer
for a rebound Monday in the Tar Heels' 84-41 win. See story, page 9.
Council’s year productive despite inefficiencies
BY KATE HARRISON
STAFF WRITER
UNC students learning that the most
effective democracies are inefficient can
look at the Chapel Hill Town Council’s
past year as an illustration of slow-paced
government.
Approaching the year’s final meeting
County commissioners
select new chairman
■ Bill Crowther was chosen
to head the Orange County
Board of Commissioners.
BY STACEY TURNAGE
STAFF WRITER
HILLSBOROUGH Fellow board
members denied 12-year Orange County
Board of Commissioners veteran Moses
Carey a ninth year
as chairman at
Monday’s meet
ing, the first of the
new term.
Bill Crowther, a
two-year member
of the board, was
elected to serve as
1996-97 chairman.
Crowther re
ceived three com
missioners’ votes,
while Commis
sioner Alice Gor
don received the
other two votes.
Crowther’s first
served as chairman of
the Board of
Commissioners for
eight years, but lost his
position Monday night.
action as chairman was to thank Carey
for his years of service as the chairman of
the Board of Commissioners. “I would
like my first words as chair to be ones of
appreciation to Moses Carey’s leader
ship shown here over the past years,”
Crowther said.
Crowther said he hoped board mem
bers would be patient with him. “It is
Beginning to look a
lot like Christmas
Chapel Hill organizations
get geared up for the
holidays. Page 2
Wednesday, Chapel Hill Town Council
members say they have made progress
on many significant issues during the
past year. But they have been frustrated
by overly lengthy discussions, postpone
ments and long, numerous meetings.
“One feature extremely discouraging
to me is the number of times we ’ve had to
meet and the recurring tendency for meet
going to take some getting used to, but I
plan to serve this position to the best of
my ability,” he said.
He also said that even though he
planned to run the board in a similar
manner as Carey, he did intend to make
a few minor changes in the way meetings
are conducted. Crowther said these pro
cedural changes would be discussed at a
later meeting.
The commissioners also elected Com
missioner Stephen Halkoitis as 1996-97
vice chairman for the new term with
three votes. Commissioner Margaret
Brown, elected in November to her first
term on the board, received two votes.
“I plan to uphold the responsibilities
to the best of my ability,” Halkoitis said.
“I want to be a support system to the
chair.”
Crowther offered his congratulations
to Halkoitis. “I hope that you will be able
to add continuity to the board, ” Crowther
said.
In another matter discussed, board
members paid tribute to board member
Don Willhoit’s years of service to Or
ange County. Willhoit lost a re-election
bid in this year’s primaries to Margaret
Brown and Moses Carey.
“It has been a privilege working with
you the last two years,” Crowther said.
“You have my utmost admiration.”
Carey also presented Willhoit with an
album that contained various pictures,
letters and comments from Willhoit’s co
workers and friends. Willhoit said, “I
take a lot of satisfaction in knowing that
I am leaving the county in good hands.”
Tis the season
for holiday jobs
Retailers are seeking
workers to help with the
Christmas rush. Page 5
f
SBP race snags leader from Cabinet
BY SHARIF DURHAMS
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
AND JAMIE GRISWOLD
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
The annual student elections races
startedlastweek—not with a candidate’s
official announcement or a campaign
speech, but with a resignation.
External Relations Committee Chair
woman Rachel Fuerst resigned at a Cabi
net meeting last week from a position she
said she enjoyed and thought she made a
difference in. But Fuerst said she left the
position for the excitement of running
candidate Mohan Nathan’s campaign
for student body president.
“Every year people leave student gov
ernment and different student organiza
tions to work on campaigns,” she said.
N.C. AIDS rate grows
faster than area states’
BY TIFFANY CASHWELL
STAFF WRITER
North Carolina had the highest num
ber of new HIV infections of any of its
neighboring states in 1995, according to
a statewide AIDS report released Mon
day.
The report also identified women,
blacks, heterosexuals and young people
as leading candidates for HIV and the
AIDS virus.
“We hope the index will heighten
awareness to the extent of the problem in
the state,” said Daniel Reimer, chairman
of the N.C. AIDS Advisory Council,
ingstogoonandon,” Chapel Hill Mayor
Rosemary Waldorf said.
The council did not vote, for instance,
to give a 4.5 percent salary increase to the
town manager and town attorney last
week until the proposal’s fourth time on
the agenda, and discussions on sprinkler
installation requirements went on for
months before a decision was reached.
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DTH/MARGO HASSLEMAN
Ashley Reddy, 3, tries to climb an Umstead Park slide Tuesday. She and her
twin brother Andrew spent the afternoon playing on the park's jungle gym.
He who laughs last didn’t get the joke.
Unknown
’Cats crushed
UNC's men's basketball
team notched its third win
of the season Monday
night, 106-62. Page 9
4^
1996 studeni body
president candidate
LEE CONNER said
elections were too
exciting for Cabinet
members to resist
Although candi
dates cannotyet of
ficially announce
their candidacy or
begin the process of
preparing for elec
tions, rumors are
bustling about po
tential candidates
and Cabinet mem
bers are re-examin
ing their roles.
Fuerst said she
left her position be
cause of a rule bar
ring Cabinet mem
bers, which include
Student Body President Aaron Nelson’s
appointed officials and committee heads,
but not committee members, from work
ing on campaigns. She said she would
which sponsored the N.C. AIDS Index.
The index includes county-by-county
statistics of HIV and AIDS, detailed in
formation on medical care, support ser
vices, prevention, research and educa
tion. The information comes primarily
from previously published government
reports.
“It is also our hope that it will receive
widespread review and motivate people
to take action,” he said.
The report’s purpose is to provide in
formation to state policy makers so they
can determine priorities in HIV preven
tion and treatment.
The findings outdated the widespread
Council member Pat Evans said the
council had held 50 percent more meet
ings for 29 percent more time in the last
four-month period than previously.
“I think sometimes that because we
have a representative form of govern
ment, council members are uneasy mak-
See COUNCIL REVIEW, Page 5
Today's
Weather
Mostly sunny;
high 50s.
Wednesday: Sunny low 50s.
remain on the External Relations Com
mittee while working for Nathan.
“It’s very possible to work on a cam
paign and on a committee depending on
your commitment,” shesaid. “Icanstand
back and be objective, but I can be a part
of (the committee).”
Lee Conner, a Cabinet member in two
administrations and a student body presi
dent candidate last year, said elections
were too exciting for Cabinet members to
resist becoming involved. “One of the
things y ou leam very quickly is that cam
paigning is more fun than governing.”
Conner said administrations he
worked for pulled together during elec
tions to keep focus on their goals.
“They had targeted goals, and people
went out and did things,” he said. “They
didn’t just waver, and the Cabinet didn’t
just sit there and watch the election.”
AIDS in North Carolina
The North Carolina AIDS Index takes a look at the epidemic in the state and lists
statistics for different age, racial and high-risk groups. The number of cases
reported in 1995 in Orange County is significantly less than those in neighboring
Durham and Wake counties.
Anonymous
County HIV infections AIDS cases positive cases
Alamance 8 4 0
Chatham 5 3 0
Durham 72 45 30
Moore 2 1 0
Orange 15 7 2
Wake 87 78 35
SOURCE: 1995 N.C. AIDS INDEX DTH/EILEEN RUSSELL AND MARKWEISSMAN
belief that homosexuals were the main
victims of the disease. The number of
homosexuals infected has declined. The
report identified less than half of infected
Area director breaks silence
to educate others about HIV
■ Laurie Aaronson will talk
about living with AIDS
tonight in Memorial Hall.
BY DAVID SILVERSTEIN
ASSISTANT FEATURES EDITOR
By the year 2000, every person will
know someone who is HIV positive or
has AIDS. But many at the University
won’t have to wait.
Laurie Aaronson, the Spencer Triad
area director, will speak tonight about
her experiences living with HIV as part of
World AIDS Week events.
“I don’t want to
be the Joan of Arc,
the crusader, what
ever,” she said. “I
want people to
know that it’s OK
to not be silent.”
One World,
One Hope
Extravaganza
7 p.m.
Memorial Hall
In 1992, as a senior in college,
Aaronson, a native of southern Califor
nia, was infected with the virus after
being the victim of sexual assault.
Three months passed before she de
cided to get tested for HIV. And when the
test came back positive, she didn’t allow
herself to deal with the results for a while.
But between graduation and the time
she left for graduate school in South
Carolina, Aaronson tried to leam all that
she could about HIV and AIDS. “It be
came a whirlwind of going to the li
brary,” she said.
Her exposure to HIV issues didn’t
begin in 1992, though. When she was 18,
a close friend died of AIDS. Before he
died, he gave Aaronson a red ribbon to
wear. Aaronson, now 28, continues to
wear a red ribbon to this day.
As an undergraduate, Aaronson
worked as an educator, informing other
students about HIV. She also involved
herself in sexual assault prevention.
“I guess potentially I never thought it
would be me,” she said, noting a cruel
irony in her situation. “That’s probably
one of the reasons it took me so long to
get tested."
When she came to UNC last Decem
ber, only her supervisor knew that she
was HTV positive. Though she had not
103 years of editorial freedom
Serving the students and the University
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Volume 104, Issue 121
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
© 1996 DIH Publishing Cop.
All rights reserved
During last year’s elections, Fuerst
was on the other side of the table. A
member of her committee, Michael
Farmer, resigned to run for student body
president. “He was a loss because he had
done a wonderful job,” she said.
Nelson said Fuerst was the only Cabi
net member who had left his administra
tion and that he did not expect any other
Cabinet members to leave. “I think that
the candidates realize what we are trying
to do and haven’t come after the folks
that are in our office,” he said.
Nelson said he would respect the deci
sion of any Cabinet member who left his
administration. “What we ask of stu
dents in the Cabinet is that they be dedi
cated to serving the student body. Some
times they leave to accomplish that mis
sion. I think anyone that leaves does so
out of a desire to reach that end.”
males in the state as homosexual.
Women and blacks, on the other hand,
See AIDS INDEX, Page 5
previously announced her HIV status to
her colleagues, she spoke on living with
the virus at a conference, which was
attended by some of the area directors.
She said the news probably filtered back
to the rest of the area director group.
“It’s almost one ofthose silent things,”
she said. “People keep the personal at
home.”
But she said the separation of profes
sional and personal lives did not reflect
lack of concern or care. She said the
department had been very supportive.
Wayne Thompson, an assistant direc
tor in the Department of University Hous
ing, has worked with Aaronson on nu
merous projects. He said he had known
that she was infected for several months.
He said it was difficult to put the emo
tions he felt into words.
“It’s an overwhelming sadness," he
said. “It’s anger in terms of someone
so young as having to struggle with the
issues of life and death and some of the
hard realities that come along with being
HTV positive.”
Only recently did Aaronson tell her
resident assistants. Bridle Kelly, an RA
in Kenan Residence Hall, called her an
incredible motivator.
“She creates this really productive
workplace regardless that she carries this
disease with her,” Kelly said.
Though Aaronson no longer remains
silent on campus, her family apart
from her father—does not know that she
is infected with the virus. Her family is
not close-knit, she said.
“I tell people if I think they need to
know,” Aaronson said. “I haven’t lost
anyone as a result (of my HIV status), but
the relationships have certainly changed. ”
She said her only concern in speaking
tonight was how the students would re
act. And that also seems to be a primary
concern for Thompson and Kelly.
“Ever since she said she was going to
tell, I’ve been kind of anxious about the
response,” Kelly said.
Thompson thinks the reaction on cam
pus will be very mixed, he said.
“I think there will be those who will be
veryjudging,”hesaid. “And there will be
those who will be very compassionate.”
See AARONSON, Page 2