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Council Passes Aggressive Panhandling Law
A resolution also requested
that habitual offenders
of the ordinance not be fed
at the IFC shelter's kitchen.
Bv Alyson Pefry
Staff Writer
After months of discussion, the
Chapel Hill Town Council adopted an
ordinance Monday night prohibiting
aggressive panhandling downtown.
“It’s important for the council to pass
this in order to improve the general
atmosphere in
Chapel Hill,”
Mayor Rosemary
Waldorf said.
The ordinance
calls for an end to
aggressive beg
ging and panhan
dling in all public
places, as well as
simple panhan
dling near banks,
ATMs, public
buses, bus stops,
roadways and on
medians.
Aggressive
panhandling is
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Chapel Hill Mayor
Rosemary Waldorf
said the ordinance
would help improve
the town's overall
atmosphere.
defined in the ordinance as intimidating
or accosting someone else while asking
for money or other valuables. This
means the aggressive panhandler is
threatening physical violence.
The ordinance was accompanied by
a resolution requesting that the Inter
Faith Council establish rules regarding
its community kitchen.
Habitual offenders of the new pan
handling ordinance and existing state
laws might not be allowed to eat at the
IFC Community Kitchen if the IFC
complies with the resolution.
Young Boy's Body Discovered in Mebane Field
The child was determined
to be a white or Hispanic
boy who had been dead
for about four months.
By Mali Leclercq
Assistant City Editor
The Orange County Sheriffs
Department is searching for the identi
ty of a young boy whose body was dis
covered Monday by a man mowing
grass along Industrial Drive in Mebane.
County sheriffs report that the body,
which was found 100 feet from the road
near a billboard, was that of a 10-to-12
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DTH/JENNIFER GUTHRIE
Carrboro resident Rob Noti repairs a bicycle Monday afternoon at Franklin Street Cycles. Noti started
riding when he was 12 years old and never stopped, he said. Fie has been working
at Franklin Street Cycles for almost two years.
But IFC officials were reluctant to
agree.
“I don’t want the blame for this prob
lem to be laid at the feet of the Inter-
Faith Council,” said Rita Gray, presi
dent of the board of directors of the
IFC.
“In discussing it with Mayor Waldorf,
we came to the conclusion that it’s a
community problem, not just an IFC
problem, so we wanted to work togeth
er,” she said.
Chapel Hill Police Chief Ralph
Pendergraph said the ordinance could
mean that residents and visitors will
enjoy a less threatening atmosphere
downtown.
Pendergraph said he did not plan to
increase police presence downtown
because of the ordinance.
Police do not want the courts to be
flooded with criminals because of the
ordinance, he said.
But the ordinance may have legal
implications because it prohibits simple
panhandling in some places without
specifying the use of physical force.
Deborah Ross, executive director of
the North Carolina affiliate of the
American Civil Liberties Union, said
this might be unconstitutional.
“You can’t prohibit asking other peo
ple for money, but you can prohibit
physical violence,” she said.
Some community members said they
doubted the ordinance would be as
effective as other possible measures.
Top of the Hill restaurant owner Scott
Maitland suggested positioning dona
tion boxes for the IFC on downtown
streets, so people have the opportunity
to give to a less aggressive cause.
“Let’s not talk about aggressive pan
handling, let’s just become better at beg
ging than (panhandlers) are,” he said.
The City Editor can be reached at
citydesk@unc.edu.
year-old white or Hispanic child.
No cause of death had been deter
mined late Monday, sheriff’s depart
ment Major Don Truelove said.
The body was fully decomposed and
had been at the scene for about four
months, he said.
“There was no detectable blood on
the clothing or shoes.”
The investigators were unable to
detect indications of any obvious trauma
at the scene.
A pair of brown shorts with Fox Polo
Club inscribed on the inside label were
found on the body, reports state.
Black and white athletic shoes in a
size three with “ZXS” stamped on the
heels were also found on the body,
FINE TUNING
Tuesday, September 29, 1998
Volume 106, Issue 86
\ 1
DTH/JENNIFER GUTHRIE
Lendale McCall, who is homeless, watches passersby as he sits along Franklin Street on Monday afternoon.
While some people ignore McCall, he said quite a few help him out as well.
Colleges, Businesses Split on Problem's Severity
Bv Couktnev Hathaway
Staff Writer
While Chapel Hill took action against
aggressive panhandling Monday, offi
cials from other college towns across the
country said their problems were mini
mal.
“It gets to be bothersome, but it’s not
reports state.
No shirt or other clothing was found
in the area around the body.
Truelove said there were no reports of
missing children in the area who fit the
description of the body.
The sheriffs department has sent out
information about the remains to
authorities across the state and to state
and national missing children agencies.
After sheriff’s deputies arrived at the
scene Friday, the remains were collect
ed and taken to the Orange County
Medical Examiner’s office, Truelove
said.
The skeleton contained dental evi
dence that will help identify the child,
reports state.
Bed is the poor man's opera.
Italian proverb
a big problem,” said Joe Walters, the
sergeant of crime prevention in Athens,
home of the University of Georgia.
Walters said recent actions taken by
the police department had helped alle
viate panhandling-related concerns.
But such measures have not calmed
business owners who say the problems
affect the appeal of the area.
The dental work could have been
provided by a private dentist or the
health department, and investigators
will try to match the evidence with den
tal records of children reported missing
on the state and national level, Truelove
said.
However, making a match could take
several months, Truelove said.
If the dental records do not match
those of other missing children, identi
fication of the body would be difficult,
he said.
“We have to take records of people
not accounted for and try to compare
their dental make-ups with the remains,”
he said.
Friday’s discovery was the first time
Tuition Plan To Make
Rates More Consistent
The Board of Governors'
tuition task force called for
smaller, more incremental
increases in student tuition.
By Keith Taylor
Staff Writer
The Board of Governor’s Tuition
Policy Task Force met Monday to dis
cuss a proposal on tuition reform, which
will probably take effect next year.
Members of the task force, which
formed in response to student concerns
about inconsistant tuition hikes, dis
cussed clarifying the Tuition Policy
report and the need to emphasize finan
cial aid and slower rises in tuition costs.
Task force member Katherine Kraft
said most students would probably pre
fer small, consistent tuition increases
over large, occasional increases.
“It is much easier for students to plan
for consistent increases,” she said.
Smaller tuition increases could pre
vent large tuition hikes like the one
enacted in August 1997 that cost out-of
state students over SSOO more per
semester.
In November, the task force will pre-
“It’s absolutely atrocious,” said Will
Oldham, an employee at Wuxtry
Records, a store located on College
Avenue, UGa.’s equivalent to Franklin
Street. “It makes the area look really ter
rible.”
Katherine Speck, a senior at UGa.,
See PANHANDLING, Page 4
an unidentified body had been found in
Orange County in eight years, Truelove
said.
In Sept. 1990, the decomposed body
of a woman was found near Interstate
40, but investigators were unable to
identify the remains.
“(The woman’s body) was not
decomposed to the state of the (child’s)
body,” Truelove said.
Industrial Drive runs parallel to
Interstate 40 and 85.
The body was found near the inter
section of Industrial Drive and Mattress
Factor)' Road.
The City Editor can be reached at
citydesk@unc.edu.
sent its report to the BOG.
If approved, the BOG will then pro
pose new tuition rates for each year to
the General Assembly, UNC-system
President Molly Broad said.
Task force chairman Gary Barnes
said task force members believed the
BOG would address the financial needs
of students better than the state legisla
ture.
The board has much more knowl
edge of what students face financially
because they are charged with govern
ing the UNC system, he said.
Broad said the plan would help clar
ify the cost of attending system schools.
“It will give students and their fami
lies an assurance that undergraduate
tuition rates will stay low,” she said.
The N.C. General Assembly previ
ously set the cost of tuition based on
how much money remained in their
budget, Bames said.
“I think that’s had several unforeseen
consequences,” he said.
He said those consequences included
the increase of tuition faster than the
growth of per capita personal income.
Because the legislature had set stu
dent tuition before, students were forced
See TUITION, Page 4
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina
© 1998 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved.
Registering
For Classes
To Hit Web
About one-fourth of seniors
could register for spring
classes through the Internet
to test anew online system.
By Katie Abel
Staff Writer
On-line class registration may be a
reality as soon as next semester if trials
with the new system are successful.
The first trial run, which will take
place Oct. 12, will involve student gov
ernment cabinet members, Student
Body Secretary' Minesh Patel said.
“If the trial with the cabinet is suc
cessful, then a higher volume of stu
dents will be part of a second trial.”
Patel said about 1,500 seniors who have
the Oct. 24 registration date would have
an opportunity to register for classes on
the Web between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on
Oct. 23.
The University’s Student
Information Systems Committee made
World Wide Web registration a priority
last spring.
“They pushed it really hard and have
done a lot of work in a short amount of
time,” said Sally Chadboum, informa
tion technology chairwoman for student
government.
The University’s last attempt at reg
istering students on-line has its prob
lems. The Department of University
Housing’s backed down from its plan to
have students register on the Web last
spring after students had trouble access
ing the Web site.
Officials at the Department of
University Housing had to extend the
housing request deadline to allow all
students the opportunity' to register.
But Chadboum said the trials would
help determine what would be techni
cally possible for the on-line system.
“Our first concern right now is mak
ing sure this service will really be a ben
efit to students,” she said.
The on-line service will not be avail
able to these seniors on Saturday or
Sunday during the normal registration
period, Chadboum said.
She said seniors participating in the
trials would be asked to complete a sur
vey that will consist of eight questions
examining the Web site’s accessibility,
whether “drop/add” functions work and
the time it takes to register.
Chadboum stressed that the experi
mental trials were optional for students.
Associate University Registrar
Donna Redmon said seniors would be
See ONLINE, Page 4
Sprawl Solution
Urban
expansion
has caused
many
problems
for the
f- .V •
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Triangle. A proposed areawide rail
system could remedy traffic and
environmental problems.
See Page 5.
Blue Cross' Blue Days
Chapel Hill’s largest private employer.
Blue Cross & Blue Shield, might
eliminate 150 positions as part of an
effort to reduce the $62 million in
operating costs the insurer lost last
year. See Page 2.
West Bank Agreement
Israeli and Palestinian leaders say they
might have reached a compromise on
talks that would give some portions
of the West Bank back to Palestine.
See Page 4.
Today’s Weather
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Lower 80s
Wednesday. Partly cloudy.
Lower 80s