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The University and Towns
In Brief
Police Chase 2 Men
Through Granville
Police officers were led on a chase
Wednesday night after two men failed
to stop when an officer attempted to
pull the car over for reckless driving.
Officers followed the men into the
parking lot near Granville Towers
South, where the assailants then fled
south on foot.
The police eventually apprehended
the men on Merrit Mill Road. Officers
said the charges would most likely
include reckless driving and failure to
pull over.
Fire Alarm at Lenoir
Interrupts Cleanup
A fire alarm in Lenoir Dining Hall
went off at 9 p.m. last night, as a result
of steam from the building’s dish room.
“We were cleaning up at the time,”
said Debra Dobbelaere, service manag
er for the hall’s main floor, which is not
yet completed. “We had been having
fire drills every night about this time. I
just thought it was a regular drill.”
She said about 30 employees were
working at the time.
Play Makers to Conduct
Auditions for New Play
Play Makers Repertory Company
will conduct local auditions for its 1998
production of “Gross Indecency: the
Three Trials of Oscar Wilde” by Moises
Kaufman. Roles are available for men
only.
All auditions take place by appoint
ment in room 103 of the Graham
Memorial Building. Auditions will be
held Sunday, Aug. 23 from 2 to 5 p.m.
Actors should prepare a two minute
monologue of their choosing. Sides will
also be available from Play Makers after
Aug. 20 in room 104. Callbacks are
scheduled for Aug. 24 from 3:30 to 4:30
p.m. To schedule an audition, call
Maura Murphy, General Manager, at
962-2489.
UNC Study Says Ticks
Cause New Illnesses
Dr. Lynn Fordham, a UNC medical
scientist, said people should be aware of
anew tick-borne infection called ehrli
chiosis, the cause of which in the United
States was not recognized until 1986.
In studies on three N.C. children
who contracted ehrlichiosis, including
one who died in 1996, Fordham dis
covered the illness shows up on chest X
rays as increased fluid in the lungs. The
finding may help doctors diagnose the
condition earlier and, as a result, possi
bly treat it more effectively.
Managed Care Difficult
For School of Medicine
Jeffrey Houpe, dean of the UNC
School of Medicine, said the medical
school’s biggest challenge was managed
care. The changing world of medical
care means the medical school and
UNC Hospitals must secure their
patient base through new and innova
tive relationships with doctors and prac
tices across the region and state.
Coaches Needed for
Fall Youth Programs
The Carrboro Recreation and Parks
Department is accepting applications
for volunteer coaches for the 1998
Youth Fall Girls Fast Pitch Softball
Program and the Youth Fall Baseball
Program. The softball program serves
youth from fourth to sixth grade and the
baseball program serves youths 13- to
14- years-old.
Coaches must exhibit the ability to
organize team practices and communi
cate effectively with players, parents
and the department staff. They must
also be able to teach softball skills, fun
damentals and sportsmanship.
Those interested can apply until Aug.
31 by contacting the department at 968-
7703.
Arthritis Classes Help
Sufferers Ease Pain
The Arthritis Foundation and the
Thurston Arthritis Research Center at
UNC will offer classes to give arthritis
sufferers self-help tips.
From Sept. 2 to Oct. 7, classes will
cover topics such as strategies to
decrease pain, relax and deal with stress
and depression.
Also, participants will also learn good
nutritional habits and problem-solving
techniques.
The classes cost S3O, which is to be
paid in full at the first meeting at the
Chapel Hill Senior Center.
To register, call Deb MacDonald at
966-9954.
From Staff Reports
Mixed-Use Project Fills Hole
The Rosemary Street hole is
being filled by a four-story
office and condominium
building.
By Andrew Guiteras
Staff Writer
After years of negotiations and set
backs, the infamous “hole” on
Rosemary Street is being transformed
into a ground-breaking new develop
ment.
Construction on The Fountains, a
four-story complex that will contain
office areas and
condominiums,
began in May.
The develop
ment, which is
expected to be
completed in
April 1999, will
be located in
between Pantana
Bob’s and
Breadmen’s.
“This is a mixed-use
complex, meaning that
there will be room for offices
and living space. ”
Josh Gurlitz
GAA Architect
Work on The Fountains actually
began in 1990 but was suspended when
one of the major partners in the project
died unexpectedly.
The unfinished construction left a
giant pit in the ground which has since
Bookstore Files Monopoly Lawsuit
The Intimate Bookstore, Inc.
charged several bookstores
and book publishers with
unfair business practices.
By Anne Fawcett
Staff Writer
The Intimate Bookshop, Inc., an
intellectual leader in North Carolina for
the past twenty years, has now become
a leader on another front
On August 5, the bookseller charged
Bames & Noble, Borders, Amazon.com,
and several book publishers with unfair
business practices in a class action law
suit.
The lawsuit states at least 14 ways that
some publishers have given special
advantages to the defendants, including
giving them free or non-invoiced books,
special allowances, and volume dis
counts on a secret schedule.
The suit is based on the Robinson
Patman Act, which
was designed in
the 1930’s to stop
the Rockefeller
monopolies from
taking advantage
of their suppliers.
The Robinson-
Patman Act states
that products must
be sold to all buy
ers at the same
“Publishers are (the) victims
forced into giving excessive
discounts to the other
defendants. ”
Carl Pearson
Attorney for The Intimate Bookshop, Inc.
price, which has not been the case
between booksellers and publishers
recendy.
However, the publishers are not the
major targets of the lawsuit, said Carl
Pearson, The Intimate Bookshop, Inc.’s
attorney.
He said publishers gave special ben
efits to large stores because they were
afraid of losing the volume of business
these chains provided.
“Publishers are (the) victims forced
into giving excessive discounts to the
other defendants,” he said.
Because they have to sell some books
at such low prices, they must raise the
rates for other smaller booksellers.
Booksellers have little sympathy for
the publishers’ plight.
“It's a lot better bind to be on that
side of it than that of a small business,”
said Tom Teide, owner of a used book
store in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Teide’s business has not been affected
by the growth of large chain bookstores,
but he has seen the effects on sellers of
Key to Computer Safety in Laptop Locks
By Laura Stoehr
Assistant University Editor
Keeping students’ laptop computers
safe has emerged as a major issue as the
countdown to the implementation of the
Carolina Computing Initiative draws
closer.
The intiative, a project introduced by
Chancellor Michael Hooker, will
require all incoming freshmen in the
year 2000 to purchase laptops.
Student Stores has already taken the
initial step of providing students that
purchase initiative-package laptops with
a bicycle cord style lock.
The Kensington Microsaver lock, a
University k City
been referred to by locals as the
Rosemary Street Hole.
Josh Gurlitz of GGA Architects,
developers of The Fountains, said the
project was revived two years ago when
the company resumed negotiations with
contractors and the town.
“This is a mixed-use complex, mean
ing that there will be room for offices
and living space,” Gurlitz said. “This is
one of the first projects of its type in the
Triangle.”
Gurlitz said many were skeptical of
the mixed-use idea at first, but warmed
up to it when one of the foremost plan
ning experts in the country said
Rosemary Street was ideal for a mixed-
use complex.
“Mixed-use com
plexes are good
because they allow
people to five and
work in the same
area. It will cut
down traffic,”
Gurlitz said.
Robert
Humphreys, execu
tive director of the
Chapel Hill Downtown Commission,
said the complex would be a valuable
addition downtown. “Rosemary Street is
ripe for this sort of thing,” he said.
“We are happy to see the hole filled
up. Low-key commercial space and liv-
new books. With the recent arrival of
Bames & Noble in Charlottesville and
Borders scheduled to come soon, he
watched a 20-year-old bookstore close
its doors.
The same fate may await The
Intimate Bookshop, Inc., which is the
reason owner Wallace Kuralt decided to
file his suit against Borders and Bames
& Noble.
Two years ago, The Intimate
Bookshop, Inc. had a profit of $ 11.5 mil
lion from 12 stores. Today, most of its
stores have closed and its annual profit
is $500,000.
“(The lawsuit) needs doing if the peo
ple here are to survive with certainty,”
he said.
“We were the first ones they came at
and they certainly managed to destroy
us.”
Before the large chains arrived in
Charlotte, The Intimate Bookshop, Inc.
was the prominent bookstore in the city,
totalling 35,000 square feet of floorspace
and drawing customers from the sur-
rounding areas.
Then Media
Play, Bames and
Noble, and
Borders arrived,
swamping the store
with 300,000 total
square feet
Kuralt said the
bookstores seemed
to have specifically
targeted The
Intimate Bookshop, Inc.
“For them to assume they could
come in with that much firepower and
make a profit was ridiculous,” he said.
He hopes to prevent this from hap
pening to other booksellers with his law
suit
He has invited members of the
American Booksellers Association to be
a part of the class action, but he under
stands the risks that joining the suit
holds for the surviving stores.
“We simply couldn’t survive, given
the terms we were handed,” he said.
The failure of small bookstores such
as The Intimate Bookshop, Inc. is a
tragedy, said LuAnn Horstman,
Person’s paralegal.
“If Bames & Noble loses a bookstore,
do they care? But what if it happens to
the read thing, (the small bookstore), the
real information? That, you can’t get
back.”
The State & National Editors can be
reached at stntdeskOunc.edu.
wire plastic-coated cord that connects
into the computer and is secured to the
machine with a key, can be wrapped
around a table leg or other secure object.
The lock can also be purchased sep
arately from Student Stores.
Jason Saunders, a junior from
Charlotte who works in the Ram Shop,
said an increasing number of students
had asked about securing their comput
ers. He said there were not many
options available for securing machines
and a person with wirecutters could cut
through the initiative-standard lock.
John Oberlin, executive director for
ATN, said students could also purchase
motion detectors for their computers for
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DTH/JENNIFER GUTHRIE
The Fountains, a four-story complex that will house office space and
condominiums, will fill a vacant lot on Rosemary Street.
ing area are what the town needs to do
more of.”
Town Council member Joe Capowski
echoed Humphreys’ pleasure with the
project. “We want to see West Franklin
and Rosemary redeveloped,” he said.
“Anything is better than the hole that
was there. This is viable commercial
area.”
Nearby business owners said they
■T<&’ |
DTHFIUE PHOTO
The Intimate Bookshop, Inc., joined a class-action suit filed against
several large chain bookstores Aug. 5.
Local Bookstores Echo
Intimate's Sentiments
By Brianna Busch
Staff Writer
The Intimate Bookshop’s lawsuit
against large chain stores has roused
support and discussion among other
local book shops.
The Intimate Bookshop Inc., with
over 100 other members of the
American Booksellers Association, filed
a class action suit on August 5 against
several national book retailers and pub
lishers, including Bames & Noble,
Borders and Amazon.com. The suit
claims large retailers have forced pub
lishers to lower their prices, thus causing
higher prices for independent retailers.
Andrew Pearson, Internationalist
Books manager, said book publishers
could lower prices for larger orders.
Since most local bookstores cannot
afford to carry large quantities of certain
books, the publishers raise the price for
smaller orders, a practice that hurts
community bookstores with little finan
cial leeway. “We are in the same situa
tion as Intimate,” he said.
Internationalist Books is a mosdy vol
unteer-run bookstore which carries pub
lications catering to fringe and minori
ty interests and serves as a meeting
place for groups. Pearson said local
bookstores served the community while
the larger ones were interested in “quan
added security.
But students should not hold the
University solely responsible for their
computer’s safety, said Linwood
Futrelle, director of OIT services at
Academic Technology & Networks.
He said students could prevent theft
from occurring by not leaving their lap
tops unattended and by following gen
eral safety tips, such as not walking
alone in poorly lit places. “Security is
still the responsibility of the individual,”
he said. “What we have to do is make
people understand that they have to be
more diligent.”
Futrelle said initiative coordinators,
along with University police, would later
were hopeful the new complex would
bring more customers to the Rosemary
Street area. “Any development is good
for business around here,” said Rusty
Privett, manager of Pantana Bob’s.
“Construction hasn’t hurt our busi
ness."
The City Editor can be reached at
citydesk@unc.edu.
tity over quality.”
Robert Humphreys, executive direc
tor of the Chapel Hill Downtown
Commission, said local bookstores
needed to adapt in order to survive the
competition from the larger stores.
He said Bames & Noble had attract
ed many Chapel Hill customers.
“It has had an adverse affect on the
commerce,” Humphreys said. “Each
retailer, whether books, clothing or
shoes or stereos, whatever, must tailor
their operation or they won’t survive.”
Humphreys said although businesses
must adapt to compete, he sympathized
with the Intimate’s situation.
Reuben Moore, manager of Books
Over Franklin, which sells both new and
used books, said he believed competi
tion was healthy, but said he hoped the
Intimate would survive because it
attracted more bookbuyers to Franklin
Street.
UNC student Charts Bennett, a regu
lar customer of Books Over Franklin,
said she liked to buy her books there
because of the atmosphere.
“It doesn’t have the big spacey
atmosphere,” she said. “Here you see
(the books) and you’re forced to buy
something. “
The City Editor can be reached at
citydesk@unc.edu.
make a presentation to students pre
senting laptop security options.
Additionally, students can purchase
insurance to cover theft and damages
under warranty.
Currently, medical and law students
are required to buy laptops and some
students choose to purchase insurance.
The insurance costs $96 per year for a
laptop computer valued at $3,000 or
less, said Shirley Ort, associate provost
and director of scholarships and finan
cial aid.
But although some UNC students
already purchase the insurance, the cost
is not discounted at a group rate. The
University is working to secure discount
Thursday, August 20, 1998
Aldermen
Discuss
Grants
The Board scheduled public
hearings on police camera
equipment and community
development block grants.
By Matt Leclerq
Staff Writer
A public hearing scheduled by the
Carrboro Board of Aldermen on
Tuesday will allow residents to voice
opinions on how two block grants
should be spent.
The board agreed Tuesday to hold a
public hearing on the two grants at its
next regular meeting Tuesday.
The Carrboro Police Department
will explain its grant proposal to obtain
patrol car video cameras to the public
and to the Board of Aldermen.
If the department receives the
$19,490 grant, five permanent cameras
would be purchased and installed to
record incidents investigated by police,
Captain John Butler said.
Also, Tuesday and again Sept 22, the
board will hear residents’ feedback
about how the town should spend funds
from the N.C. Community Assistance
Carrboro Alderman
Jacquelyn Gist
said she liked the
idea of video
cameras in police
patrol cars.
Program.
The funds are
available for revi
talization and
community needs
concerning low
income families
and individuals,
according to town
documents.
The town must
apply for the
funds every year
through a com
petitive grant
process that
requires two pub-
lic hearings, according to town docu
ments.
The first public hearing will give res
idents the opportunity to tell the
Aldermen “what the project should look
like” and to discuss of the grant money
should be used to complete a single
comprehensive program or spread
across a number of sites, according to
town documents.
The Aldermen will discuss the final
ized grant application at the second
public hearing.
Alderman Jacquelyn Gist said the
process relied on resident participation.
“We set a date, and citizens will come
and tell us how they would like the
money to be spent,” Gist said.
For the police grant, which would
come from the Bureau of Justice
Assistance, the town must match the
grant by 10 percent - $1,949 - for the
police department to qualify, Buder
said.
Cameras in patrol cars are common
place at larger police departments and
would help officers document driving
violations and other incidents, he said.
“It will be a big advantage.,: Buder
said. “Right now we have portable cam
eras but they are knocked around a lot
“The new cameras would help with
DWI cases to indicate how tests are per
formed and what drivers’ reactions are.”
The cameras could also record valu
able evidence in excessive force charges
against officers, who would wear micro
phones, he said.
Without the grant, Buder said the 33-
officer department would not be able to
afford the cameras, which cost about
$4,000 each.
“(Funds) are hard to come by, and
we try to use it the best we can,” Buder
said.
Gist said she liked the idea of the
cameras in patrol cars.
“It’s more of a trend nation-wide,”
she said.
“It will record what’s going on in
every situation, and what police do.”
The City Editor can be reached at
citydesk@unc.edu.
options for all students, Ort said.
The Financial Aid team, one of the
initiative’s implementation teams, will
conduct a survey of other colleges that
have computer requirements close to
the initiative to gather more safety input.
Oberlin said he did not expect UNC
students to have a higher percentage of
stolen machines than other universities
who have implemented mandatory
computer requirements.
Ashley Stephenson contributed to
this story.
The University Editors can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu
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