latlu ®ar ~£nl
INSIDE
FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 14,1997
Candidates ponder delays
in Congress vote returns
■ The Elections Board said
some results should be
available today at 5 p.m.
BY KAREN JOYCE
STAFF WRITER
Student Congress hopefuls are still
waiting for election results three days
after the polls closed. And candidates
who face a runoff race, including two
senior class teams, will face a week delay
from the scheduled runoff on Tuesday.
While most results were released
unofficially Tuesday after hand counts
of the ballots, Student Congress candi
dates will have to wait until 5 p.m. today
for their results to be posted.
The results of the races for 23 open
Student Congress districts and the vote
on referendum No. 3 have been left
undecided since the University’s only
Scantron machine broke during the
counting of election returns.
Some Student Congress candidates
said the Elections Board did not treat
them as seriously as other candidates.
“I feel like the Student Congress race
was pushed aside like it’s not as impor
tant as the others,” said James O’Neal,
Local road crews battle icy weather
STAFF REPORT
The Triangle was under a winter
weather advisory last night as an icy
storm blew through the state and kept
local crews on all-day alert.
Ron Humble, a meteorologist for the
National Weather Service in Raleigh,
said there was the possibility of icing
overnight as temperatures hovered
around the freezing point.
“We’re expecting less than a fourth of
an inch of ice to develop, but it’s still a
time for caution,” said Humble.
He said conditions would be progres
sively worse in the northern and western
sections of the state.
Richard Terrell, field operations
superintendent for the Chapel Hill
G E S
BYERINGUILL
STAFF WRFTER
Many people complain that the gap
between the haves and the have-nots grows
wider every year.
But one UNC professor is trying to
build a
bridge in
Durham
to help
urban youth catch up with their peers who
have had more opportunities.
Dr. James Johnson Jr., a professor of
geography and business, is working to gen
erate support for educating inner-city
youth through the Durham Scholars
Program and an honors seminar at the
University titled, “Building Educational
Bridges for Our New Urban Students.”
The program, which began two years
ago, targets children in grades six through
12 from Durham’s six most economically
distressed neighborhoods.
The goal of this after-school, weekend
and summer program is to give children
positive alternatives to idleness, drugs or
crime along with a range of opportunities
that most middle-class families take for
granted, Johnson said.
Upon graduation, Durham Scholars
participants receive a scholarship to con
tinue their education at any N.C. college
or technical school.
Are you their
type?
A bone marrow-typing
drive will be held
today. Page 2
Dist. 15 candidate.
“The whole sit
uation has been
hard to deal with,”
said O’Neal. “It’s
been a long wait
ing period.”
District 17 can
didate Edward
Shipley agreed
that the delay was
frustrating. He
also said he
“wished they
would have done
some type of unof
ficial count” for
Student Congress
Elections Board
Chairwoman
ANGE DICKS
said results for
referendum No. 3
might also be
available today.
as well.
“It was kind of weird that they count
ed student body president so quickly,
and we have to wait three days,” Shipley
said.
Rep. Kristen Sasser, Dist. 19, said “I
think it’s ridiculous the way they treat
(Student Congress) as compared to
other offices.”
Referendum No. 3, concerning the ex
officio powers of the student body pres
ident and student body treasurer, is also
waiting for the Elections Board’s official
posting of results.
Public Works
Department, said
crews worked
around the clock
monitoring the
weather conditions
on local roads.
“We’ve checked
streets and bridges
in town to see how
the situation was
progressing,”
Terrell said.
“People travel-
Weather and class
information
Select die "
weather and
disaster option on
Caroline
962-UNCI
or check out the
World Wide Web
ing the roads should definitely use extra
caution in the morning.”
Dave Poythress, street superintendent
for the Carrboro Public Works
B -'v. • h
v \% : y y‘ i : i;
DTH/MARGO HASSELMAN
Dr. James Johnson admires the perfect score that Holton Middle
School student Tequilla Barkley got on a math test.
• c?
“I feel like the
Student Congress race
was pushed aside like
its not as important as
the others
JAMES O'NEAL
District 15 Student Congress candidate
Once the results are posted, Student
Congress candidates who face runoffs
will face further delays.
The Elections Board has postponed
the runoff election until Feb. 25, rather
than the scheduled Feb. 18 date. This
delay is in the event that some Student
Congress districts might need runoffs.
“The delay will allow both the senior
class candidates and the possible
(Student Congress) candidates to have
time to prepare their campaigns,” said
Ange Dicks, Elections Board chair
woman.
Dicks refused to comment further.
“Right now I’m just putting (the
Student Congress delays) out of my
mind,” said Ryan Schlitt, Dist. 21 can
didate. “We have no control over it, but
everyone is just a little frustrated ”
Department, said difficulties due to the
weather were expected to be minimal in
comparison to last year’s storms.
“This is not something we’re taking
lightly, but we don’t foresee much of a
problem at this point,” he said.
Poythress said he put 10 workers on
standby last night to monitor roadway
conditions and police reports.
The crews won’t be relieved until
morning.
Rising temperatures before daybreak
could help melt any ice that formed,
Humble said.
He said, “People should still be care
ful if they have to drive.
“Most accidents happen because of
the small patches of ice you can’t see.”
I’d rather be in jail than in love again.
from 'Hear My Song'
Together
we save lives
A bill proposes new
regulations to increase
seat belt use. Page 6
New high school raises concerns
about racial, social inequalities
BY RACHEL SWAIN
STAFF WRITER
Racism. Classism. Equality. Three
popular topics high school students nor
mally don’t contend with on a daily
basis. But when East Chapel Hill High
School first opened its doors in August
1996, these hot issues entered the mod
em facilities alongside the students.
Today, students at both East Chapel
Hill High School and Chapel Hill High
School are still wondering just how the
two schools compare.
“A lot of people say this school is
racially imbalanced.” ECHHS freshman
Leslie Talbott said.
Peter Russell, a CHHS senior, agreed.
“East Chapel Hill High School has a
way larger majority of white students
than black students,” he said.
Statistics in the annual high school
profiles support Talbott and Russell’s
claims. According to the profile, black
students make up 17 percent of CHHS’s
student body and 12 percent of the
newer school’s student body.
Chapel HiU-Carrboro Board of
But the program does not stop there.
This spring’s honors seminar, which will
become a year-long program in the fall,
was developed to complement the pro
gram. Each of the students is required to
work with children for about 70 hours dur
ing the semester.
Since many Durham Scholars partici
pants are used to spending less than 15
minutes on homework each day, the stu
dents work one-on-one with them to help
them stay focused on their assignments.
“It closes the gap between the haves and
the have-nots,” Johnson said. “And the
result is learning on both sides.”
Monte Allen, a sixth grader who has
been in the program for two years, said:
“They don’t just let you come in here and
do your homework. If you are doing bad
in something, they help you do better.”
Allen is one of about 60 children who
meet in Durham four days a week for aca
demic, social and cultural enrichment.
The children benefit from the individual
attention and support while University stu
dents gain a valuable look at different
lifestyles, Johnson said.
Succeeding academically presents a big
challenge for many of these children, but
the real obstacle, according to Johnson, is
social interaction.
The program tries to teach the children
what Johnson calls “code switching,”
meaning the ability to change their behav
ior to fit a particular situation. What may
be appropriate on the streets will not help
them get a job later, he said.
“The challenges these children face are
gargantuan," Johnson said. “You may
have a child who is 30 years old in experi
ence but in an 11-year-old body.”
Jill Feldstein, a sophomore from York,
Pa., is one of the students in Johnson’s
class who tutors students at Union Baptist
Church. She said she enrolled in the class
See JOHNSON, Page 5
Streaking UNC
to tackle Tech
The men's hoops team
goes for its fifth win in
a row Saturday. Page 7
DTH/MARGO HASSELMAN
Donetta Evans (left) and Lucy Tinnen, both first-year students at Chapel Hill High School,
work on a computer-drawing project for their Foundations of Technology class.
Education members said they recog
nized the problem. “Everyone is com
mitted to having schools racially bal
anced,” Board member Bea Hughes-
Wamer said. “In order to achieve racial
balance, we would have had to have
done some fairly extensive busing of
kids.”
Hughes-Warner said that during the
redistricting process the board had met
with parents of the black students who
would have faced the long bus rides to
the new school. “None of them wanted
to do the busing,” she said. “We don’t
anticipate any bigger long-term prob
lems after the next redistricting. The
minority percentages will come closer.”
The next redistricting will take place
in four or five years, she said.
John Gillepsie, an ECHHS English
teacher who taught at CHHS last year,
said he didn’t think the race issue was
particular to ECHHS. “Both (schools)
are wrestling (the racial) issue in an
active way,” he said.
“Speaking with minority students,
they have some issues with the school
system,” Gillepsie said. “(Racial bal
Greek houses could get
lowered sprinkler rates
BY KATE HARRISON
STAFF WRITER
The Orange Water and Sewer
Authority will consider reducing or
eliminating sprinkler fees for fraternity
and sorority houses as a part of its rate
study program.
At an OWASA board of directors
meeting Thursday, members discussed
revising fire protection charges.
OWASA Executive Director Ed
Kerwin said there
was a general con
sensus that fire
protection rates,
including sprin
kler charges for
Greek houses,
were too high. But
the board is still
looking at rates,
he said.
Service fees
range from $23.60
to $318.70 a
month, depending
on the connection
line size.
Linda
Faulkner-Vaughn,
OWAS A’s director of customer and con
sumer affairs, said the typical Greek
house would be low on the scale.
“(Our consultant) will evaluate a
number of different alternatives from
leaving it the same to having no charge,”
he said. “All we’re committing to is hav
ing our consultant look at not changing
or what impact changing would have on
our customers.”
103 years of editorial freedom
Serving the studegts uMUhe University
community *93
♦ News/Features/Alts/Spom: 962-0245
Business/Advertisns£ . 962-1163
Volume 104',Issue 152
Chwef Carolina
C 1997DTK Publishing Corp.
AH rights reserved.
Today's
. Weather
* Mixed precipitation;
mid 40s
Weekend: Cloudy; mid 50s.
ance) is one of the most profound issues
facing both schools.”
Students at both high schools also
focus on the economic makeup of their
school. Hayley Hoffman, an ECHHS
freshman, said some students from
CHHS taunt them at sporting events
about being rich.
“Everyone’s calling us rich punks,”
she said.
Hughes-Warner said the location of
the new school had a lot to do with both
the racial and economic imbalances.
“Ultimately, we let geography dictate a
lot of the redistricting,” she said.
“The geography of (ECHHS) is in a
high-income area of town.”
Russell said he had noticed the stan
dards drop at CHHS since the new
school opened. Most noticeably,
ECHHS got more attention this year for
an act of vandalism than CHHS, which
faces similar problems, he said.
“Spray painting is all over CHHS and
(officials) haven’t said anything about
that,” he said.
“It’s been there all year. It doesn’t
seem fair to me.”
OWASA attorney Robert Epting said
he had no problem working with the
University, but questioned UNC-system
President C.D. Spangler’s comments
that rates were too high
“Sometimes he goes beyond the
scope he is supposed to serve,” he said.
In a telephone interview Thursday
afternoon, Spangler said he was con
cerned about safety issues considering
the May 1996 Phi Gamma Delta frater
nity house fire, which killed five people.
“Every roadblock put in front of dor
mitories, fraternities and sororities
increases the chance of future tragedies
like the one which happened on gradu
ation day,” he said. “We have to look at
safety, not revenue.”
Chapel Hill Fire Chief Dan Jones
said he thought any unfair burden
placed on OWASA to find a different
source of revenue if it reduced the fire
protection rate was outweighed by the
benefits of increased fire safety.
“What’s unfair is the tremendous
water costs from putting out full-blown
fires. It also disrupts the community and
puts firefighters at risk,” Jones said.
Jim Goldstein, OWASA steering
committee member, said he thought
rates should not be reduced. “These fees
are very reasonable,” he said.
Barry Jacobs, chairman of the board
of directors, said OWASA would have
to adjust its contract with the University
before it could legally reduce the rates.
“Mr. Spangler can say it would be
nice if we reduced the fees. But having a
position or interest isn’t the same as the
University being willing to let it hap
pen.”
UNC-system President
C.D. SPANGLER
said OWASA should
reduce its rates for
sprinkler systems at
fraternity and sorority
houses.