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Nelson wins re-election in Carrboro
■ Mike Nelson defeated
Judy Anderson and David
Collins to remain mayor.
BY HUGH PRESSLEY
STAFF WRITER
After months of campaigning that
culminated in winning yesterday’s race
for mayor in Carrboro, Mayor Mike
Nelson said he planned to do one thing.
“Sleep."
Nelson won
the election with
1,491 total votes,
591 more than
the next closest
candidate, David
Collins.
Candidate Judy
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Anderson received 207 votes.
Nelson said he was pleased with the
results of the election but was taking it
all in stride.
Carrboro mayor
HI
' i
I
Mike Nelson
54.6% of votes
1,491 votes
O
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David Collins
32.9% of votes
900 votes
Judy Anderson
7.6% of votes
207 votes
SOURCE; ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS
(AS OF PRESS TIME)
3 incumbents, Foy win spots
on council; Franck loses seat
BY NICOLE WHITE
STAFF WRITER
Voters returned three incumbents to
the Chapel Hill Town Council and sup
ported one newcomer in a race domi
nated by growth and environmental
issues.
Joyce Brown, Edith Wiggins and Lee
Pavao will return to their seats on the
council. Kevin
Foy will join
them for his first
term as a council
member.
Only one
incumbent,
Richard Franck,
lost his seat.
ELECTIONS
Pavao said he was excited to be
returning to the council and would
focus on representing all of Chapel Hill.
“I think the voters feel comfortable
with returning three incumbents to the
board,” Pavao said.
“When you assume a responsibility
such as this, you have to keep the whole
community in mind,” he said. “You
Chapel Hill winners
Chapel Hid Town Council
■Joyce Brown
56.2% of votes
4,375 votes
■Tm
Kevin Foy
52.6% of votes
4,095 votes
m
Edith Wiggins
55% of votes
4,285 of votes
SOURCE ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS (AS OF PRESS TIME)
All free governments are managed by the combined wisdom and folly of the people.
James A. Garfield
“Winning an election doesn’t neces
sarily make you popular,” he said.
Nelson based his re-election cam
paign platform on his experience as
mayor and his involvement in local
issues.
A 10-year resident of Chapel Hill,
then a member of the Carrboro Board
of Aldermen from December 1993 to
December 1995, Nelson said he was
surprised by his convincing win.
“I’m overwhelmed with the size of
the victory,” he said.
“I’m touched with how much sup
port the people of Carrboro have shown
to me as mayor.”
Besides sleeping, Nelson said he
planned to spend the next few days
reading the election results and figuring
out the margin of victory.
As for his goals for his second term,
Nelson said he would begin to work on
the problem of affordable housing in
the area.
Candidate David Collins said despite
losing the election, he had a valuable
experience in participating in the race
for mayor.
He said he would continue to sup
port Nelson.
“It has been fun,” Collins said. “The
only regret I have is not winning.
“I congratulate (Nelson) on a job
well done.”
Collins said he had some issues he
would like to see Nelson focus on dur
ing his second term.
“I’d like to see him concentrate on
the recruitment of business to Carrboro
and on remembering the old Carrboro,”
Collins said.
“Those are the folks we’re in danger
of losing to high-priced development.”
Collins said he was very pleased with
how the candidates ran their campaigns
and how Carrboro handled the elections
in comparison to Chapel Hill.
“What you see in Carrboro is the
way elections should be run,” he said.
“It never got personal like it did in
See MAYOR, Page 2
DTH/ROBIN SPOONER
Lee Pavao, winner of a seat on the Chapel Hill Town Council, celebrates
with his friend, Dick Matthews.
can’t just concentrate on one group
because now you represent all the peo
ple.”
Foy said his election was a statement
Chapel Hill mayor
Rosemary Waldorf
63.2% of votes
4,921 votes
Lee Pavao
46.6% of votes
3,630 votes
Richard Franck
41.1% of vote*
3,200 votes
Wednesday, November 5,1997
Volume 105, Issue 104
V
*4 '/ v '
__s ..._
DTH/ANDY DREWRY
Carrboro Mayor Mike Nelson celebrates his victory with friends Tuesday night. The incumbent received
more than 54 percent of the vote.
from the voters.
“The voters said, ‘No, we don’t like
the way things are going so we’re going
to replace the old with someone new,”’
Foy said. “Voters want a different direc
tion, and they’re going to get it.”
Wiggins said she was looking for
ward to her first full term on the coun
cil. “I had a wonderful experience learn
ing about serving the community this
past year,” Wiggins said. “Now I’m
happy to be serving as the result of win
ning an election.”
Wiggins was appointed to fill a
vacant council seat in November 1996.
“Now I am happy to be serving as
the result of winning an election,” she
said.
Wiggins had the second-highest vote
tally in the council race.
“I had no idea I’d run as strongly as I
have,” she said. “I thank all of the vot
ers who supported me. I’m just ready to
do the best I can in the next four years.”
Brown brought in the most votes of
any candidate, a victory she attributed
to her views on growth, environmental
See COUNCIL, Page 2
Four out of five bonds pass
Fifty-six million dollars in bonds passed in Tuesday's elections. Only the public building
bond failed to pass.
I**ue Passed Percentage of Votes Result
Schools 58.4% Forty-seven million dollars will be
used for present and anticipated
problems including the construction of new schools and renovation of current schools.
p ar k s / 54.6% Six million dollars will be allocated
to purchase new land and build
new facilities as well as renovated the exisiting facilities.
B Id' \/ 44% The $4.6 million dollars to build a
9 rS, new senior citizens center and
other county buildings will not be part of the bond package.
Housing / 53.8% Families and individuals with less
* than 80 percent of the median
income of the area will be eligible for part of the $l.B million available.
Sewer System / 55.2% The Efland Community Sewer
System will be expanded to central Efland with the $1.2 million bond.
SOURCE; ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS (AS OF PRESS TME)
Public building bond
falls short in election
■ Voters passed $56 million
in bonds for schools, parks,
housing and sewer work.
BY REYNOLDS RICHTER
STAFF WRITER
Orange County voters reached into
their pockets to support four bond ini
tiatives worth $56 million.
Bonds allocating $47 million for
schools, $6 million for parks and recre
ation, $l.B million for affordable hous
ing and $1.2 million for the Efland
sewer system were passed.
Over 17,000 Orange County resi
dents voted on the bonds.
Alderman Hank Anderson said he
was pleased with the outcome of the ref
erendums. “The park and affordable
housing and school bonds were the ones
I was most concerned with, and those
came through.”
Newly elected Chapel Hill-Carrboro
Board of Education member Roger
Waldon said he
applauded the
approval of the
$47 million
school improve
ment bond. “If
they would have
failed, we’d be in
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a heap of trouble, with very serious
overcrowding in tire next five years,” he
said.
Alderman Jacquelyn Gist, who was
re-elected Tuesday, said the affordable
housing bond could have been bigger. “I
wish there was more money allotted to
the low-income housing bond, but it’s a
decent start,’’ she said.
Only one bond out the five on the bal
lot failed to pass Tuesday night. The
$4.6 million public buildings bond was
voted down by 1,907 votes.
Town Council member Edith
Wiggins, also successful in her re-elec
tion bid, said she was disappointed the
bond failed. “I supported all of the
See BONDS, Page 2
News/Features/Am/Spans: 962-0245
Business/Advertising: 962-1163
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
C 1997 DTH Publishing Carp.
All rights reserved.
Major power
loss places
UNC in dark
■ The blackout left several
students stuck in elevators
and darkened traffic lights.
BY B. FORREST ANDERSON HI
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
AND TONY MECIA
SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS EDITOR
A blackout hit much of campus for
about an hour and a half Tuesday night,
causing minor disruptions at a polling
site, knocking out traffic lights and
stranding several students in elevators.
The power outage, which lasted from
about 5:50 p.m. until about 7:10 p.m.,
was caused by a fallen power wire near
Boshamer Baseball Stadium. Many
South Campus residence halls were left
in the dark.
Danny LaDuke, service supervisor at
Chase Hall, said he had just walked out
the back of the building with a co-work
er when he saw a flash above the base
ball field.
“I heard a boom, or a crash. We
could see the big glow from what it
was,” he said. “It just looked like a bolt
of light hit it, and then there was a
glow.”
LaDuke said he let students eat for
free during the blackout because juice
and soda machines were not working.
They ate by candlelight, he said.
The outage appeared to be caused by
the primary power line that crossed the
baseball field, said Physical Plant
employee Everett Newton. The line fell,
causing sparks to ignite the side of the
transformer and blow the fuse, he said.
“Oil is on the side of the transformer,
(which) looks like it’s been leaking for
a while,” he said.
It appeared the transformer had not
been checked for some time, he said.
Jen-y Lloyd, a Physical Plant super
visor, said said power was out between
Ridge Road and Stadium Drive.
“We just got it isolated so we could
get the main sector (Ridge Road and
Stadium Drive) back on,” he said.
During the power outage, students
studied by hallway emergency lights in
Morrison Residence Hall, where stu
dents were stuck in elevators for almost
an hour before firefighters freed them.
Zephyr Mays, a freshman from
Chapel Hill, was riding an elevator with
two other people after returning from
Air Force ROTC exercises at about 5:50
p.m.
“I thought it was stopping at the fifth
floor and then zumphf the lights
went out, and we’re like, ‘lt’s not sup
posed to do that,”’ he said. “I was in my
ROTC uniform, and I was dying to get
out of it.”
Friends told Mays jokes through the
elevator doors until firefighters pried the
See POWER, Page 2
IwIM
Students hit the polls
Students
made
their
voices
heard
Tuesday
in the local elections. They voted on
the Chapel Hill and Carrboro mayor
and town government seats. Page 2
♦
High-tech health care
East Carolina University is one of sev
eral places taking advantage of video
conferencing to improve
efficiency and patient care. Page 5
Today's weather
Partly cloudy;
upper 50s
Thursday: Mostly cloudy:
mid 50s