(The Uatlu ®ar Heel
INSIDE
TUESDAY
APRIL 8,1997
BOG could choose UNC-system president Thursday
■ Chairman C. Cliff
Cameron announced a
special meeting Monday.
BY SHARIF DURHAMS
STATES NATIONAL EDITOR
Board of Governors members could
discuss their nominees for anew UNC
system president at a special meeting
Thursday afternoon.
BOG Chairman C. Cliff Cameron
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Robert Parrish receives enthusiastic applause from the audience at Monday night s Chapel Hill Town Council
meeting. Parrish, a member of the Black Public Works Association, spoke about equitable wages.
BPWA asks for 3-percent raise
to approach town’s living wage
BY MEEGANP. SMITH
STAFF WRITER
Black Public Works Association members presented their
Freedom Budget, which called for a 3-percent increase in town
employees’ salaries, to the Chapel Hill Town Council on
Monday night.
Employees speaking at the public forum said their main
concerns were wages, employee treatment, advancement
opportunities and workplace democracy.
BPWA Steering Committee Chairman Steve England asked
the council to consider the living wage level when allocating
funds to be given to public workers.
He said workers’ main complaint was the unfair gap
between the average salary of the lowest-paid workers and the
cost of living in Chapel Hill.
“We just can’t afford to live here anymore,” England said.
England asked the council to increase the town employee
salary toward the living wage in Chapel Hill, determined by
the town to be $30,420.
More than 80 percent of black Public Works employees
earn less than the living wage, according to the BPWA.
To do this, England said the BPWA proposed a plan giv
ing all town employees a base raise of 3 percent. Any employ
Congress members oppose resolution
■ The resolution would
condemn a lawmaker’s vote
on late-term abortions.
BY FORREST ANDERSON
STAFF WRITER
A proposed Student Congress resolu
tion that would reprimand Rep. David
Price, D-N.C., for opposing a late-term
abortion ban could face opposition.
Student Congress Rep. Dan
Thompson, Dist. 13, plans to introduce
a resolution at the Congress meeting
Wednesday that condemns Price for his
no-vote on the House bill.
Thompson said Student Congress
members at times have to vote on then
conscience, and it was his conscience
that prompted him to propose the reso
lution.
Life in the
fashion lane
A designer and UNC
graduate gave a talk
about fashion. Page 2
asked officials to call board members
Monday afternoon to request they
attend the meeting to discuss a person
nel matter.
Joni Worthington, UNC-system
assistant vice president for communica
tions, said she heard about the meeting
just before 5 p.m. Monday.
“The chairman had asked that a spe
cial meeting be called Thursday,” she
said.
Sam Poole, a BOG member on the
search committee to find anew system
president, said he could not talk about
ee currently earning less than the living wage should get an
additional 2-percent raise.
England also said town employees were not rewarded for
long service to the town.
BPWA member George Parrish said he worked 20 years for
the town without an appropriate increase in salary.
“It’s heart-breaking ... to work like that and not get any
thing for it,” he said. “It’s pitiful. It doesn’t make any sense.”
The BPWA also addressed employees' concerns about a
lack of workplace democracy. Members said they lacked input
in management decisions.
BPWA member Lonnie Degraffenreidt said he felt super
visors made decisions without considering an employee’s con
cerns. “They don’t quite see what we’re going through,” he
said.
BPWA member Marion Lyde said he hoped the BPWA’s
appeal would be reflected in the town budget. “Hopefully, we
can eliminate some of the problems we have this year so we
can have a better working place," he said.
Town Manager Cal Horton said he would review the pro
posals presented Monday night and present a recommended
1997-98 budget to the council at its April 28 meeting. Several
other special interest groups appeared before the council to
request funds.
I
“There are
many religious
and political
groups that
undoubtedly have
stances on this
issue,” Thompson
said.
“It’s a way for
(Congress) to
speak out against
this gruesome pro
cedure to (David
Price).”
Speaker of
Student Congress
James Hoffman
said Student
Speaker of Student
Congress
JAMES HOFFMAN
said Student Congress
did not need to
involve itself with
such an issue.
Congress did not
need to involve itself with the issue.
“There is no need for us, with the lit
tle bit of power we have, to take up the
issue of abortion,” Hoffman said.
It s a full-time job just trying to decide how to spend all this money.
Arthur C. Clarke
The waiting
game
Carrboro police are still
in the dark about their
headquarters. Page 4
what would hap
pen at the meet
ing, which is
closed to the pub
lic.
“(The meeting)
is to discuss a per
sonnel matter,” he
said. “It’s not for
discussion.”
Holding a
meeting of the full
board the day
before a scheduled
BOG members could
discuss a replacement
for C.D. SPANGLER.
Rep. Alex Bass, Dist. 15, said partial
birth abortion involved a gruesome
process and is illegal in North Carolina.
“Therefore, if it is illegal in the state,
how can it affect the University?” he
said.
But Thompson said past Student
Congress sessions had passed resolu
tions commemorating events, such as
the 50-year anniversary of the United
Nations, and had set a precedent for his
resolution.
Kristen Sasser, speaker pro tern, said
the bill does not affect the student body’s
everyday lives.
“This is not a bill that should even be
going through Student Congress," she
said. “This issue is not something stu
dents are actively participating in.”
Thompson said his previous employ
er, former N.C. Rep. Fred Heineman,
stands to gain nothing from the resolu
tion.
Hands in the
cookie jar?
An N.C. group claims
legislators spent money
inappropriately. Page 7
Q#
meeting is more than a rarity. Several
BOG members and staff in the UNC
system General Administration said
they could not remember the last time a
BOG chairman had called a meeting
with such short notice.
“A called meeting is not a typical
(one),” said search committee member
John Cecil. “I don’t know when the last
one was called.”
Committee members have avoided
discussing details about their progress
throughout the search process.
The BOG charged the committee,
Carrboro police: public forum
on alleged racism unnecessary
BY STEVE MRAZ
STAFF WRITER
Carrboro officials are unwilling to
publicly discuss the facts from a
February arrest of five black males in
which racism was believed to have
played a factor.
Junior Anthony Burrow and his
father, James, said they wanted a public
forum to shed light on the facts of the
Feb. 26 arrest.
The five men were held at gunpoint
and handcuffed by Carrboro police at
Highland Hills Apartments after a
woman called police at 4:30 a.m.
because she believed the individuals
were breaking into a car.
A rash of car break-ins in the area a
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DTH/MATTMARKO
Tarheel Taxi driver C.C. Tann, who has been in the taxi business for 14 years, said more people have called for
his service since DWI laws became stricter. Tann says his driving philosophy encourages good conversations.
BY AMANDA GREENE
STAFF WRITER
At 7 p.m. on a Friday, calls stream
into Tarheel Taxi from all corners of
Chapel Hill, signaling another night
of busy driving and passenger-listen
ing for taxi driver C.C. Tann.
“You wouldn’t believe the things I
hear driving these streets,” Tann says.
The veteran driver, who has been in
the taxi business for 14 years, said he
had encountered some “crazy stuff”
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school year.
Make a difference in the way the DTH
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Today's
Weather
Sunny; mid 60s
Wednesday partly sunny
low 60s
headed by former N.C. Gov. Jim
Holshouser, to review candidates to
replace retiring President C.D. Spangler.
Spangler said last August that he
wanted to retire by June 1.
Some BOG members said Sunday
that they did not expect to vote on a
presidential candidate this week because
no one had told them names might
come up for a vote.
UNC-system Secretary Rosalind
Fuse-Hall said that under legal provi
sions, BOG members could discuss can
didates at Thursday’s 4 p.m. meeting.
“This is not an issue you
have a public forum about.
We have offered to sit down
with them ... and discuss
the issue.”
808 MORGAN
Carrboro Town Manager
few weeks before had prompted the
caller to report the males to the police.
However, the caller was later found to
have been mistaken, but the men still felt
they had been victims of racial discrim
ination.
Town Manager Bob Morgan said the
“Tve seen any
thing from a cou
ple making out in
the back seat to
stoned customers
who don’t feel
like paying their
fare,” he says.
“Once, when I
was going to pick
ho ur®
up this lady, I saw a light in the dis
tance, and as I got closer, I saw that it
was a bunch of Ku Klux Klan burning
Gearin' up for
111
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Find out the between a
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From to
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Wednesday's DTH.
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AH rights reserved.
“That (legal) provision allows for
that,” she said.
The meeting could be about any per
sonnel matter. But BOG members said
last year that having anew president
selected by their regular April meeting
on Friday would help make it easier for
Spangler to introduce him to students,
faculty and staff at the 16 UNC schools.
Cecil said he could not discuss
whether he knew the purpose of
Thursday’s meeting.
Cameron could not be reached for
comment Monday.
town attorney told him a public forum
with the men would not be appropriate.
“This is an administrative matter that
has personnel overtones to it,” Morgan
said. “This is not an issue you have a
public forum about. We have offered to
sit down with them as a group or indi
vidually and discuss the issue.”
Morgan said the personnel issues
have to deal with the protection of the
officers involved. “I’m not interested in
getting into a debate-type issue,” he said.
“Hopefully, we’ll get this thing wrapped
up in 10 days to two weeks.”
James Burrow said if the town did
not agree to a public forum, he and his
son would take alternative measures. “If
See BURROWS, Page 7
a cross,” Tann says. “I had to drive
through it to pick up the lady so she
could get to work.”
Responding to his first call of the
night, Tann pulls the “taxi-van” up to
a residence, where he greets the group
of regular riders.
“We ask for C.C. nearly every- time
we need a taxi because he’s known on
campus,” says Donald Lane, a 25-
year- old Chapel Hill resident.
See TAXI, Page 7