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INSIDE
TUESDAY
MARCH 4,1997
Law students question Nakell’s dismissal
BY TERESA KILLIAN
STAFF WRITER
Some School of Law students specu
lated Monday about Chancellor
Michael Hooker’s motivations for dis
charging law professor Barry Nakell.
“The sentiment in the law school is
that things were not done as they should
have been,” said Carrie Meigs, a second
year law student.
“I think that a number of law stu
dents have some questions about the
way things were handled.”
Nakell was suspended in October
after being charged with a misdemeanor
for shoplifting $36 worth of items from
A Southern Season.
Realtors face gripes
about maintenance
BY KATE HARRISON
STAFF WRITER
Reports that some smoke detectors
may have failed to go off during the
recent fire at Kingswood Apartments
have prompted further questions about
maintenance procedures at complexes
owned by Triangle Communities real
tors.
Many residents of the area Triangle
Communities complexes, which include
Kingswood, Royal Park, Estes Park,
University Lake, Booker Creek
Townhouse Apartments and Pinegate
Apartments have complained of lost
maintenance requests, slow response
time and numerous phone calls required
to get maintenance workers to their
apartments.
Lenise Graber, who lived in Royal
Park last year and has since moved to
Foxcroft Apartments, said her new com
plex was much better maintained.
“When we moved in (to Royal Park)
we had a leak in the roof,” she said. “We
called and called, and they looked at it
three or four times and even ripped up
the the ceiling. But at the time we left a
year later it still wasn’t fixed.”
Brooke Small, a graduate student
who has lived in Royal Park since
Franklin Street revelers
cause minimal damage
■ An estimated 300 to 400
fans flocked to Franklin
Street after the Duke game.
BY STEVE MRAZ
STAFF WRITER
Police say the 300 to 400 fans that
swarmed Franklin Street after Sunday’s
basketball victory behaved well.
“The crowd was a good crowd,”
Chapel Hill police Capt. Tony Oakley
said. “We issued no alcohol violations.”
Officers closed off Franklin Street
from Columbia Avenue to Henderson
Street between 6 p.m. and 6:15 p.m.
because of the number of fans celebrat
ing Duke’s 91-85 loss in UNC’s last
home game of the season, he said.
Oakley estimated a maximum of 300
to 400 fans stormed Franklin Street,
which was cleaned and back to normal
by 7:15.
But fans said they still had a good
time.
“It was loud, very loud. Everybody
was screaming and honking there
horns,” said Jennifer Arthurs, a junior
from Gastonia.
“Everybody was running out in the
street and yelling. Toilet paper was
hanging from the trees.”
“It seemed like we won the ACC
Tournament. That’s what people were
acting like.”
Lynn Ward, a junior from San Diego,
also celebrated the victory.
“You could see people coming out of
A hand on your cock is more moral —and more fun than a finger on the trigger.
Lawrence Lipton
Pizzeria partner
sells slice of pie
Pepper's Pizza will not
undergo changes after
the sale. Page 2
Hooker dis
charged Nakell
from his tenured
position Friday,
going against the
recommendation
of a faculty com
mittee.
Mark Nome, a
former student of
Nakell’s who
spoke at his hear
ing, said the issue
was very compli
cated.
Nome said he
thought Hooker
would have
Former School of
Law Professor
BARRY NAKELL.
who was discharged
Friday, will file an
appeal later
this week.
August 1994, said his frustration with
maintenance prompted him to take a
petition around the complex last year
asking residents dissatisfied with main
tenance and rent increases to sign.
“I just made a quick run and knocked
on every door,” he said. “Of the two
thirds who were home, about 80 percent
signed the petition.”
Small said he told his apartment
manager about his complaints and the
petition but she said she did not have the
authority to change things.
Crystal Sorrell, Royal Park manager,
said residents called an individual main
tenance number with their requests so
she only heard about half of the prob
lems.
“Maintenance has been run out of
Durham, but we’re working on Chapel
Hill on-site maintenance. It’s not all
there yet, but it should be in place by
mid-March,” she said, adding that the
move was for convenience rather than a
response to complaints from Chapel Hill
tenants.
Sorrell said she had heard complaints
about maintenance from residents but
would not comment on them.
Richard Fox, regional manager of
Triangle Communities, said the group
sent out frequent management ques-
the bars and coming from all over,
migrating to Franklin Street,” Ward
said.
Fans stood around a small fire, burn
ing mostly paper and a piece of wood,
on the street in front of Nationsßank,
yelling out cheers.
“Everybody was chanting ‘Wojo
(Duke guard Steve Wojciechowski)
sucks,”’ she said.
Scott Lydon, the night manager for
the Intimate Bookshop, said that when
he saw flames in the street, the store put
up a sign that read “Closed because
you’re drunk.”
Other Franklin Street businesses
accepted the masses with open arms.
“We had a lot of people in here hav
ing a good time,” said Scott Maitland,
owner of Top of the Hill. “There were a
lot of UNC fans pumped up over the
win.”
Maitland said his fondest memory of
the night involved a couple of crazed
fans of Ed Cota.
“After it all died down, these six
dudes all covered in blue paint were
walking down the road chanting, ‘Cota,
Cota,”’ he said. “They came in and lead
a cheer from the balcony.”
Jeff Tsipis, owner of BW-3, said his
restaurant had to cut people off at the
door because it was filled to capacity.
“After the game, people stayed in
here and hooted and hollered. We were
even busier after the game,” he said.
“We had to call in extra bartenders.
“Everybody was celebrating. It’s typ
ical Carolina when they win a big
game.”
Please sir, can I
have some more
Student telemarketers
target alumni for fiscal
donations. Page 4
4ir
received pressure politically and from
the press if he had decided not to dis
charge Nakell.
The three weeks Hooker took to
make the decision after receiving the
committee’s recommendation reflected
the difficulty of the decision, Nome
said.
A first-year law student who asked
not to be identified said Hooker’s deci
sion was good.
“I think it is just applying the law
equally,” she said. “It is only fair that we
hold a professor to the same standards
that we expect from students. After all,
professors are role models.”
She said the law school emphasized
the importance of abiding by the law
DTH FILE PHOTO
The Feb. 22 fire at Kingswood Apartments destroyed 12 units. After a resident said her smoke alarm didn't go off,
residents at Kingswood and complexes owned by the same company revisited various complaints about maintenance.
tionnaires and had gotten fairly positive
responses.
“Of course nobody’s perfect,” he
said. “We have reports on occasion of a
missed call or one of our men may make
a mistake fixing a leaky faucet, but in
general the responses were good.”
Norman Latva, area service director
at Triangle Communities, said mainte
nance usually got about 30 to 40
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After the UNC men's basketball team upset No. 7 Duke, excited fans stormed
Franklin Street. Chapel Hill police said property damage was minimal.
Watching one
slip away
Three late runs helped
UConn clip UNC in
baseball. Page 7
Ms
from the start.
“You can be disbarred for so many
things.”
But Troy Page, a third-year law stu
dent who testified at Nakell’s hearing,
disagreed.
“From the things I heard at the hear
ing and from what I know of Professor
Nakell, the decision was not in the best
interests of the University,” Page said.
The anonymous student said she
understood that Nakell had mental
problems, but she questioned the kind of
message not discharging Nakell would
send to students.
Nakell’s attorney, Daniel Pollitt, said
his client suffered from dysthymia, a
depressive neurosis.
requests from the Chapel Hill area each
week.
“We try to get out to them in 72
hours," he said, adding that he thought
residents were pretty satisfied with the
response times.
“I’m not going to say we’re 100 per
cent,” Latva said. “Nobody’s 100 per
cent, but if you take your car in to get
fixed or have Sears or someone come
Today's
Weather
Mostly sunny;
mid 70s
Wednesday Showers: 68.
Nome said mental problems had dif
fering levels of danger.
“I view Professor Nakell’s problem as
a disability,” Nome said.
A first-year law student who asked to
remain unidentified said Hooker’s deci
sion set a good precedent for faculty
expectations.
If you give faculty members too
many chances, they will assume they
can get away with too much, the student
said.
Pollitt, a Kenan professor emeritus in
the law school, said he expected to file
an appeal when Nakell returned from a
trip Friday.
The Board of Trustees will have 45
days to respond.
out to work on it, it’s probably going to
take them longer than it takes us.”
However, Clarissa Lloyd, a
Kingswood Apartments resident, said
dissatisfaction with maintenance
response time had played a part in her
decision to live elsewhere next year.
“Maintenance definitely had some-
See APARTMENTS, Page 6
Officials mark deadline
for Fran debris pickup
BY MEEGANP. SMITH
STAFF WRITER
The N.C. Department of
Transportation will make its final pick
up of Hurricane Fran debris Sunday.
Any remnants from the destruction
of the September storm should be
placed roadside by Orange County res
idents to ensure efficient pickup by the
DOT.
Since the hurricane, cleanup crews
have been collecting the debris form
around the county.
Orange County maintenance engi
neer Chuck Edwards said most of the
debris had already been picked up.
“So far, we’ve picked up 113,000
cubic yards. This is vegetative material
blown down as a direct result of the hur
ricane,” Edwards said.
“In Orange County alone, we’ve
spent about $2.2 million (on cleanup),”
Edwards said. “The Federal Emergency
Management Agency will pick up a
large percentage of that (cost). The state
will pick up the remainder.”
The debris picked up by the DOT is
delivered to the landfill located on
Eubanks Road in Chapel Hill.
Gayle Wilson, landfill administrator,
said Hurricane Fran greatly impacted
residents and businesses across the
county. “The storm generated more
debris than all other storms combined,”
he said.
But Wilson said the cleanup was sur
prisingly quick, and that residents
responded well to the need for relief
work. “They did a marvelous job coor-
104 yean of editorial freedom
Serving the studenta and the Unnenity
community once 1893
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Volume 105, Issue 7
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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AI rights reserved
Rail system
gets mixed
responses
■ Local leaders support
the mass-transit plan, but
disagree on its urgency.
BY DAVID COENEN
STAFF WRITER
The Triangle could be connected by
a rail system within 13 years, but area
governments don’t necessarily share this
same connection on the importance of
getting the plan under way.
The Triangle Transit Authority intro
duced a plan last week to connect
Raleigh, Durham, Cary and Chapel
Hill with a $450 million rail system.
Some local officials praised the
TTA’s plan.
“We’re delighted, and we want the
TTA to do well,” Chapel Hill Town
Council member Joe Capowski said.
“We recognize that mass transit in gen
eral is a top priority.”
Capowski said the town strongly sup
ported the transit authority’s plan
because of the traffic congestion and
pollution.
Chapel Hill Town Council member
Pat Evans said the council wanted to
introduce the TTA plan into the N.C.
General Assembly.
“This is one of our top priorities,”
Evans said.
Cary Mayor Koka Booth said the
town government supported the pro
posal.
“In principle, we are solidly behind
it,” Booth said.
Raleigh City Council member Stacy
Miller said the plan made sense for
Raleigh economically and environmen
tally.
“I feel like we’re pretty excited about
the plan,” Miller said. “I’d like to see it
go through.”
Some Triangle government officials
said they liked the plan but didn’t put it
at the top of their agendas.
Cary Town Council member Bob
Godbold said, “I support the plan, but
it’s not necessarily a top priority.”
Cary has already built a train station
and depot which has the TTA’s support
See TRANSIT, Page 6
dinating collections and pickups," he
said.
Wilson said the DOT was currently
the largest hauler of vegetative waste.
Edwards said the DOT had been very
successful in removing remains of the
hurricane destruction from the county.
“I think we’ve made great progress.
The vast majority of the material has
been removed and disposed of,” he said.
Chris Peterson, public works director
for Carrboro, said the expense of the
hurricane relief effort placed a burden
on the town. “Total costs ... were easi
ly over $100,000,” he said. Peterson said
most of Carrboro’s expenses will be
reimbursed by the state.
Although their mid-February dead
line for DOT pickup was earlier than
those of other towns, Peterson said most
residents had already disposed of most
of their debris.
“Since the first of January we just
have not seen... any major storm debris
out at the roadside," he said.
Bruce Heflin, Chapel Hill public
works director, said estimates of the
cleanup’s total cost in Chapel Hill were
hard to make. However, he said the
town had not yet spent all the money
allocated from FEMA.
Heflin said the cleanup was taking
about as long as he had expected.
“We’re really at the mercy of the people
to bring (the debris) out," he said.
“When the weather dries up, we will get
more.”
Residents who have not yet compiled
their storm debris can make deliveries to
the landfill directly.