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School copes
in aftermath
of girl’s death
■ Students wrote messages
of support for the family
of Laura Ashley Williams.
BY MICHAEL KANAREK
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
The day after tragedy struck Grey
Culbreth Middle School, officials are
trying to minimize the impact that the
incident will have on students.
Laura Ashley Williams, a 13-year
old seventh-grader at the school, died
Monday afternoon after shooting her
self in a school bathroom.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools
officials said Tuesday that Williams
enrolled at the
school Oct. 1 and
was a member of
the school’s Quiz
Bowl team.
Chapel Hill
police spokes
woman Jane
Cousins said the
only information
currently available
Visitation with
family of Laura ,
Ashley Williams
Tonight
7 pan. - 9 pm
Wafter's Funeral
Home,
120 W. Franklin St.
in the case was that Williams’ injury
was self-inflicted and that she used a
family member’s handgun.
The school sent home a letter with
each student to
give basic
information
about the case
and to outline
School officials
stand behind
security policies
See Page 3
the support system that is in place for
students and families.
Jim Huegerich, supervisor of crisis
counseling for the Chapel Hill Police
Department, said they were trying to
create a “safety structure” for die stu
dents.
“The focus of the day was to make
the day as normal as possible,” he said.
Huegerich said the incident was
more personalized for the children
because it happened at school.
“It makes school a less safe place to
be in their minds,” he said.
More than 60 professionals were on
campus Tuesday to help counsel chil
dren and teachers, and more than 200
people one-third of the entire school—
sought counseling today, he said.
Huegerich said said officials did have
some fear of “copycats” and were keep
ing an eye on some students.
“We have identified some students
who are high-risk,” he said.
Sherron Leplin, coordinator of
exceptional education and students ser
vices for the school system, said they
were helping children feel safe psycho
logically, physically and emotionally.
“It’s a very healthy environment,”
she said.
The kids in the school wrote cards
and poetry of support, which were
See SHOOTING, Page 7
FIGHTING
for a future
Annthfr woman who alcn aclrpH that
Sixteen percent of Chapel
Hill’s population currently
lives below the poverty line.
BY SHELLEY LEVINE
STAFF WRITER
The word “poor” can mean many
things to many people. It’s an adjective,
a noun and, according to many, a prob
lem in Chapel Hill.
For Lendale McCall and Ethelene
Drew, being “poor” means they can only
visit their 6-month-old daughter once a
week because she lives with her grand
mother. It means they sleep on benches
and collect money on Franklin Street,
just trying to get by.
Gerald, who asked that his last name
not be used, doesn’t lack education or
experience. He is “poor” because one
felony conviction keeps him from finding
work. He takes advantage of programs at
the homeless shelter and spends his days
distributing resumes and searching for a
job so he can be independent again.
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Civil rights activist Willena Cannon is currently fighting to release her son, Kwame, from prison. Kwame Cannon was given two consecutive life terms
for six counts of burglary.
Group says laptop plan limits 4 computer freedom’
■ Some UNC faculty have
formed People for
Computational Freedom.
BY PAUL HOBSON
STAFF WRITER
All is not quiet on the technological
front.
Several faculty members have orga
nized People for Computational
Freedom to protest the administration’s
handling of the Carolina Computing
Initiative.
The initiative will require all fresh
men to have laptops in 2000 and all stu
Another woman, who also asked that
her name not be used, sits outside the
shelter, waiting for a bed inside. She was
n’t “poor” until her mother died recently,
leaving her and her two children on the
streets of Durham. Today her children
are being taken care of in Durham, and
she has come to Chapel Hill to look for
work.
“(March 25) was the first night I had
to spend outside,” she said.
The federal government defines
“poor” in Chapel Hill as earning less
than $21,926 to support a family of four.
This figure is higher than in many other
towns in the area because of the high
cost of living in Chapel Hill, according
to information from the Orange County
Economic Development Commission.
Sixteen percent of the population of
Chapel Hill lives below the poverty line,
and those in the worst economic condi
tion are the homeless.
No one knows the exact number of
homeless people living in town on a par
ticular day. A continuous shift of home-
See POOR, Page 5
Wednesday, April 1,1998
Volume 106, Issue 23
dents to have them by 2004. Financial
aid will be available for students in need.
Morehead Planetarium Assistant
Educator Michael Neece, who helped
form the group, said he feared UNC
would limit freedom of choice in com
puting.
“I’ve heard great rumors about the
University limiting us to a single vendor
for computers,’ 1 he said.
Neece said the group supported the
initiative but didn’t approve of UNC’s
choosing a PC vendor to provide aU
computers to incoming freshmen.
“We’re not anti- anything, just pro
freedom of choice,” he said.
Planetarium worker Drew Gilmore,
who formed the group about two weeks
..UmLfi Ftw
DTH/LORRIE BRADLEY
Lendale McColl and Warren Steele sit on their usual bench on Franklin Street. McColl collects change from
passersby, and he said that people in Chapel Hill seem friendly.
Action is eloquence.
Shakespeare
“We're not anti- anything,
just pro-freedom, of choice.
There's definitely room
for more than one platform
on this campus."
MldlAHL MtBM
Morehead Planetarium employee
ago with pediatrics research technician
Jackie Kylander, said the University
should not proceed on a PC-only basis,
as the initiative stated it would. “There’s
definitely room for more than one plat
form on this campus,” he said.
Neece said the initiative could ulti
mately cost everyone a lot of money.
“University departments have invest
ed great gobs of money in computer sys
tems,” he said. Neece said many stu
dents and faculty didn’t use PCs.
But Student Body President Mo
Nathan said the initiative would not
restrict what type of computers students
used.
Nathan said the University would not
continue to buy Macintosh computers
for general computing, such as word
processing and using the Internet in
computer labs, but it would for pro
grams or departments that needed them.
It’s uncertain whether current
machines will be phased out, he said.
News/Feanires/Ara/Sponi: 9624245
Business/Advertising 962-1163
Qupel Hill, Nonh Carotin*
C 1998 DTH Publishun Carp.
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BY BRADY DENNIS
ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EOTOR
Willena Cannon has never been the
type of person to sit and watch life pass
her by.
Since the 19605, she has spent most
of her waking hours working, as she
puts it, to erase injustice anywhere she
sees it. She worked in the civil rights
and labor rights movements in
On the trail
Justice
the event and t‘.e
march itself
Greensboro.
“I was actually
part of the sit-ins
in ’63,” she said.
“I’ve always want
ed justice, and
they showed me a
way that I could
actually fight for
it”
From that
beginning, she
has been organiz
ing ever since, to
the point where
she became a
known activist in
the Greensboro
community by the
19705.
She was instru
mental m organiz-
ing a protest against a 1979 Ku Klux
Klan march in Greensboro, a march
she now calls the “1979 massacre.”
During the heated conflict, a shooting
broke out, leaving five demonstrators
dead at the hands of the KKK.
Cannon saw each offender go to
court and be acquitted.
Life was not easy for her following
the Greensboro march. Because she
had helped organize the protest of the
rally, Greensboro residents were afraid
to be in her company.
“After ’79,1 was really blacklisted
See MOTHER, Page 7
Nathan said many classes and
departments needed non-PC systems
like UNIX and Macintosh and would
continue to use them under the initia
tive.
People for Computational Freedom
hopes to organize its platform and
spread interest at a meeting Thursday at
11:45 a.m. at Silent Sam.
Nathan said he would attend the
meeting to hear the group’s opinions.
“I don’t believe I agree with them, but
I need to hear what they have to say,” he
said. Academic Technology &
Networking Executive Director John
Oberlin said he had not heard of the
new group but said he supported dia
logue on ffie computing initiative.
INSIDE
Healing touch
Senior of the week Paul
Howell will attend the
UNC School of Medicine
after graduation. Page 4
Today's weather
Showers likely;
High 70s
Thursday Partly cloudy
mid 70s
H
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