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®li? latlu ®ar Mnl News/ 0 Am, its ycin of editorial freedom Serving the students and the University community since 1893 Girl dies from self-inflicted gunshot wound ■ School officials have not yet released the name of the middle-school student. BY MICHAEL KANAREK ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR A seventh-grader who shot herself in a Grey Culbreth Middle School bath room died Monday afternoon, Chapel Hill-Canboro City Schools officials announced. The 13-year-old girl, whose name is not being released until her entire fami ly can be notified, died at 1:55 p.m. at UNC Hospitals, a hospital spokesman said. According to police reports, the girl went into the school bathroom at about 11 a.m., where she shot herself in the head. School system Superintendent Neil Pedersen expressed sympathy after the incident. “Our condolences go out to her fam ily, her friends, to all who know her,” Pedersen said. Officials would not comment on any of the student’s possible motivations and did not know if the girl had previ ously sought any kind of counseling. DTH/ELYSSA KOMANSKY 'i iiijiHM . - UUMUv ffe ii . [, ' . il bi r //, - I; I I p || *■? H —sly, ........ - DTH/IOHN KEDA A police officer talks to a parent of a Grey Culbreth Middle School student after police released news of a shooting inside the school. Malfunctioning parking meters lead to tickets downtown BYTONYMECIA SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS EDITOR When Karin Hughes parked her white Mercury Capri on Franklin Street last week, she made sure to pump two quarters into the meter. She’d been burned before. “I’ve experienced a lot of tickets,’’ Hughes said. “There’s some (meters) on Henderson Street if you put in a quarter you’re supposed to get, what, 15 minutes? And you get 12 minutes.” The Daily Tar Heel tested downtown parking meters on Franklin Street and found that several expired too soon. An analysis of town parking ticket records suggests that the town has ticketed cars parked at these meters. The DTH tested the 26 meters on Franklin Street between the courthouse and Spanky’s Restaurant in October and retested them March 22. In both tests, the DTH inserted 50 cents in the meters, which should have bought 30 minutes. In both October and earlier this month, five meters expired before 29 minutes. Three meters numbers 76, 61 and 4 expired too soon in both tests. The town issued 106 parking tickets to cars at those three meters between October and the end of February, according to figures from the town’s parking database. At $lO a ticket, that’s $1,060 flowing into town coffers from faulty meters. Robert Godding, Chapel Hill’s trans Pedersen said there were no known witnesses to the shooting, and school system spokeswoman Kim Hoke said a teacher had discovered the girl. Chapel Hill Police Department spokeswoman Jane Cousins said that while they knew the girl had used a handgun, there was little other informa tion available. “From our point, it’s still early,” she said. “Our focus today has been helping the school." Chapel Hill police blocked the entrance to the school after the incident, only allowing parents of students onto school property. “We needed to make sure we could provide the best environment possible,” Pedersen said. Pedersen said many parents heard about the death through the media since they could move information faster than the school system. After hearing reports, many parents picked up their children from the school. Some parents and students were vis ibly distraught as they left the school. “It seems like such a waste,” said Ben Waugh, a parent of a student. Rita Burnette, whose son attends Grey Culbreth, said she had rushed to the school after hearing about the shoot ing on the radio. “I just dropped everything and ran right here,” she said. Eddie Jones, the husband of a coun selor at the school, said he hurried to the scene because initial reports were not specific about the nature of the shoot ing. “I’ve spent 25 years here, and this is probably the first time something like this has happened in Chapel Hill.” Miles Parker, a sixth-grader at the “Theres some on Henderson Street if you put in a quarter you're supposed to get, what, 15 minutes? And you get 12 minutes." KARIN HUGHES Chapel Hill motorist portation director, said parking enforce ment officers do not intentionally give citations on busted meters. “If the meter’s broken, they won’t write a ticket on it,” he said. “If there’s an indication there’s a problem with it, then we’ll get it fixed.” The town does not check whether a meter works unless a citizen complains about a particular meter, Godding said. Drivers who thought they received a ticket unfairly could appeal their cita tions, he added. In the DTH tests, the digital meters all worked correctly. The faulty meters were all the older, mechanical version. In the October test, seven meters did net work at all they were jammed or otherwise broken. Those seven were repaired by March. In the March test, one meter was jammed. Chapel Hill parking officers write tickets on expired meters between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday, excluding holidays. Although some meters expire too I’ve had a lot of experience with people smarter than I am. Gerald Ford Tuesday, March 31,1998 Volume 106, Issue 22 - llpl .1 ■ { ■-> r-^iP I DTH/IOHN KEDA A weeping student, distraught over the news of a shooting, is consoled while being led away from Grey Culbreth Middle School. school who said he heard the gunshot, gave an account of the events following the shooting. “Everybody was going kind of School officials, parents praise response BY ROB NELSON CITY EDITOR Despite the shock surrounding the Monday death of a Grey Culbreth Middle School student, parents and offi cials say the school responded well to the tragic circumstances. School administrators, Red Cross personnel and members of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools’ Crisis Prevention teams were at the school to counsel both students and faculty throughout the ordeal. “It was my understanding that within five minutes of being notified of the inci dent, the superintendent, the two assis tant superintendents and other person nel were on site," school board member Nicholas Didow said. “Everything I’ve heard is that the Culbreth teachers and Culbreth parents DTH/SEW BUSHES The Daily Tar Heel tested parking meters on Franklin Street and found that several expired too soon. Some motorists have complained that they have been ticketed unfairly. soon, others give too much time. In the March test, six meters expired several minutes after the 30-minute mark was reached, including two meters that were stuck on 60 minutes. crazy,” he said. Parker said teachers moved students into the cafeteria where the windows had been covered so the children could “We believe it is important for students to have as normal a schedule as possible. We believe it is important to provide stability." NflLKMtti Superintendent of schools handled the situation in a very reason able and effective way.” In an effort not to alarm students, school officials did not suspend classes following the incident. Superintendent Neil Pedersen said it was necessary to keep the situation rela tively under control. “We believe it is important for stu dents to have as normal a schedule as Drivers aren’t complaining about those. As Deirdre Norton crossed Franklin Street near Henderson Street, she looked at the windshield of her gray Ford not see the scene. The children were not allowed near the bathroom, he said. See SHOOTING, Page 4 possible,” he said. “We believe it is important to provide stability.” Assistant Superintendent Ann Hart said the Crisis Intervention Team at the middle school went into action immedi ately and district personnel and resources were later brought in. Hart said there would be more than 40 support people on hand today during classes to help with students, adding that a counselor was also on duty at the school until 6:30 p.m. Monday. She praised both the Chapel Hill police and fire departments as well as county personnel who had been con tacted for help. “We believe we’ll be able to draw on this community,” she said. Ben Waugh, whose 13-year-old daughter attends the school, said he was pleased with the response from officials. “They handled it well,” he said. “They See REACTION, Page 4 Taurus and breathed a sigh of relief no ticket. “I’ve been gone for an hour and it’s gone down 10 minutes,” she said. “Maybe it is broken.” News/Features/Am/Sportt: 962*0245 Business/Advertising: 962-1163 Chapel Hill, North Carolina C 1998 DTH Publishing Carp All rights reserved. Transfer GPA requirements set to change ■ Junior transfers entering in fall 1999 must earn a 1.5 GPA to maintain eligibility. BYLESANAGY STAFF WRITER Junior transfers entering UNC in fall 1999 will have to earn a 1.5 grade point average during their first semester to maintain eligibility, half a point up from current standards. The Faculty Council approved the higher GPA requirement on Friday. Bobbi Owen, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, said the increase would make it easier for junior transfers to enter their senior year and graduate. Anthony Passannante, chairman of the council’s Educational Policy Committee, said he supported the increase because it was almost mathe matically impossible to pull a 1.0 up to a 1.9 in one semester. “It makes it harder for students who do badly but still maintain eligibility to graduate,” Passannante said. Owen said she proposed the GPA requirement increase not to punish junior transfers, but to allow time for junior students to catch academic prob lems before it was too late. Both “native students” students who enter UNC their freshmen year —and junior trans fers need a 1.9 GPA to enter their senior year and a 2.0 to graduate. “What we are doing is telling stu dents to ‘slow down, fill the pothole, and proceed,”’ Owen said. The increase also resulted from the disparity in requirements for “native” students entering their junior year and junior transfers starting their second semester a difference of one grade point. “Native” students must earn a 2.0 while junior transfers must earn a 1.0. Jean Girtman, assistant director for Undergraduate Admissions, said the lower requirement for junior transfers did not accurately reflect the pool of admittants, who average a 3.0 GPA upon admittance to UNC. In addition, transfer students must take courses at the community colleges that correspond to courses at UNC and must meet the same high school require ments as students who entered their freshman year. Owen also said the current GPA requirement did not reflect the majori ty of performances of junior transfers once they reached UNC. According to a transfer student performance report, See GPA, Page 4 INSIDE High and dry The number of students joining fraternities this year rose, which Director of Greek Affairs Ron Binder attributed to dry rush. Page 5 i More about the candidates Read more about the two people who want to be editor of The Daily Tar Heel next year. Leslie Wilkinson and Sharif Durhams share their plans for the newspaper. Page 2 Today's weather Partly cloudy; Wednesday: Showers likely Get published! Got a great idea for an indepth story? K so. submit a proposal for the Joanna Howell Fund. The Daily Tar Heel will publish the winning pro posal at the end of the semester. Competition will be fierce, so get your applications in as soon as possible - by April 3. Questions? Call 962-0245 for more details.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 31, 1998, edition 1
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