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DTH/DAVID SANDLER
Linda Mews entertains some youngsters with life-like snakes on a stick Sunday at Festifall. Morning rains threatened
to cancel the afternoon event, but subsided for the rest of the day.
Festifall Showcases Local Talent
Musicians, area merchants
and local organizations
drew a large crowd Sunday
to West Franklin Street.
By Meredith Hermance
Staff Writer
No one ever said that sun and fun
had to go hand-in-hand.
Despite threatening rain clouds
Sunday, more than 15,000 people
attended the 26th annual Festifall Street
Fair in Chapel Hill, organizers said.
Representatives of local organiza
tions, area merchants and musical acts
drew the large crowd to West Franklin
Street between Church and Roberson
streets.
It was the first Festifall for members
of the Plonk family, who just moved to
Chapel Hill a few weeks ago. Steve
Plonk said his family was eager to
explore the various sights and sounds of
the day but focused on those geared
toward children.
“So far, the kids’ favorite thing has
been the museum table because there
was lots for them to play with,” he said.
“Actually, it’s my favorite too.”
Other fairgoers said they enjoyed the
chance to mingle and chat.
Teddy Calhoun Jr. of Chapel Hill
came to see friends he didn’t see during
the regular daily grind, he said. “(I
came) to relax and catch up with old
friends, as well as to make new ones.”
Besides selling their wares, vendors
UNC Students Protest Wal-Mart Stores
UNC students joined Duke
protesters at the New Hope
Commons Wal-Mart to rally
against labor sweatshops.
By Keith Taylor
Staff Writer
Z DURHAM - Shoppers locally and
across the nation received an unexpect
ed surprise Saturday when protesters
gathered at Wal-Mart stores to convince
the company to disclose the locations of
its factories.
About 50 people chanted phrases
such as “Wal-Mart, Have a Heart” at the
Wal-Mart in New Hope Commons in
Durham while holding signs and passing
out balloons and leaflets.
Protesters said actions by Wal-Mart
said they had a chance to sit back and
absorb the surrounding atmosphere.
“Festifall is a way to showcase local
talent and show what is good in Chapel
Hill,” said Carol Walbom, Festifall coor
dinator. “It is to say this is who we are,
and this is what is available in Chapel
Hill.”
Mandi and Steven Holmbeij, owners
of Splash Creations, a tie-dye company,
set up a booth near Mediterranean Deli.
They have worked at Festifall for the last
five years after they closed their shop on
West Franklin Street.
“It’s like a second home,” Mandi
Holmbeij said. “The families of past cus
tomers keep coming back to see us and
our new merchandise.”
One addition to this year’s festival
was Elaine Right’s Potheads, decorative
planters made exclusively of flower
pots. She said the Festifall debut of her
creations went extremely well.
Musical performances at three stages
could be heard from one end of West
Franklin Street to the other. Acts ranged
from local rock and gospel groups to the
Chapel Hill High School Marching
Band.
Jennings Durand, a graduate student
from Durham who performed original
songs on his guitar at the festival, said
his first Festifall was one to remember.
“It’s nice to give everyone something to
listen to while they are enjoying the
day,” he said.
Kathryn Spatz, director of the parks
and recreation department, which spon
sored Festifall, said turnout was good
despite the weather, and volunteers
such as its “Bring It Home To The USA”
ad campaign, which focused on made
in-the-USA products, caused them to
question whether the company used
Asian and Latin American sweatshops.
Jennifer Stoloff, a UNC graduate stu
dent in sociology', said the protest would
make people more aware of poor labor
conditions in some factories. But she
said more than protests was needed.
“These kinds of actions, they just raise
awareness, but raising awareness isn’t
enough,” she said. “It’s just a first step.”
UNC’s Students for Economic Justice
and Duke University’s Students Against
Sweatshops demonstrated at the protest,
said Duke student Nicole Hess, who
helped plan the event. Hess said fewer
than half the protesters were from UNC.
The protest’s goal was to get Wal-
Mart to disclose the exact locations of its
factories and was not a boycott, she said.
■
Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.
William Wordsworth
Monday, October 5, 1998
Volume 106, Issue 90
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....*d£jiiK aPj®
DTH/DAVID SANDLER
Claudeline Lewis, a member of the Altrusa Club, helps out at the
ring toss to raise money Sunday afternoon at Festifall.
played a big role in the festival’s success.
Tony Patterson, a senior from
Greensboro, was a volunteer who
worked to make sure that the day ran
smoothly. “It’s a great way to give back
“Wal-Mart is one of those corpora
tions that everybody knows is doing
something wrong, but it’s difficult not to
shop there,” Hess said.
Protesters at New Hope Commons
stood by the store’s main entrance for
about 20 minutes before store managers
asked them to leave. The group then
moved to the sidewalk in front of the
complex and distributed information.
Other protesters demonstrated at the
Wal-Mart on Roxboro Road in Durham.
Local Wal-Mart employees refused to
comment on the protests.
The National Labor Committee spon
sored similar protests in more than 150
locations across the country, said Paul
Ortiz, a Duke graduate student who
helped plan the local events.
He said the college groups would
probably hold more demonstrations
against Wal-Mart later this year.
to the community and bring everyone
together.”
The City Editor can be reached at
citydesk@unc.edu.
Ortiz said many shoppers, especially
small business owners, responded posi
tively to the protest. “There seems to be
a growing concern about the issue,” he
said.
Ortiz said the recent publicity about
protests by UNC students against Nike
helped raise awareness about poor labor
conditions in the area.
James Peacock, who taught an
International Studies course at UNC this
spring about businesses’ sweatshop con
ditions, said sweatshop factories were an
important concern in business.
“The global business involves mov
ing the business where labor is cheaper ”
He said overseas factories generally
had a greater problem with poor condi
tions than American factories.
Duke and UNC students have been
See PROTEST, Page 7
Survey Reveals
UNC Crime Drop
Crime prevention officer
Lt. Angela Carmon says the
decline in crime is a result
of increased awareness.
By Carol Adamson
Staff Writer
UNC’s campus might be a little safer,
according to the annual University secu
rity report.
The report, issued last month,
showed that aggravated assault on cam
pus had declined 49 percent from 1995,
and from 89 cases to 46 in 1997. At the
same time, burglary /breaking and enter-
ing went down 66
percent, with 53
instances in 1996
and 18 in 1997.
Crime preven
tion officer Lt.
Angela Carmon
said the declining
number of assaults
resulted from
increased campus
awareness.
“Assaults went
down and I’m
hoping that’s
because people
have become
jA "
University Police
Chief
Derek Poarch
said prevention
efforts had decreased
assaults.
more educated about safety.”
Carmon said the category “aggravat
ed assault” included assaults that result
ed in injury as well as those that did not
University Police Chief Derek Poarch
said programs by the crime prevention
officer helped to decrease assault and
burglary or breaking and entering cases,
including programs put on by resident
assistants once a month.
“I certainly think the work Lt.
Carmon does with crime prevention is
important,” he said. “I also think it’s fol
lowing a nationwide trend where we see
crime down nationwide.”
While the statistics for University
Police are listed in the report as “aggra
vated assault” and “sex offense,
forcible,” Chapel Hill and Carrboro
report them as “assault” and “rape.” The
Act Targets
College
Drinking
In reauthorizing the Higher
Education Act, Congress set
up a $5 million fund to help
colleges end binge drinking.
By Melanie Floyd
Staff Writer
The fight against binge drinking on
college campuses received federal sup
port last week with the passage of the
Higher Education Reauthorization Act.
The act set up a $5 million grant to
fund campus programs that fight alco
hol and drug abuse.
But funds for the grant program
might have to wait until next year
because this year’s appropriations bill
was drawn up before the passage of the
Higher Education Act. The bill desig
nates how much money will be given to
each federal program.
“My gut reaction is that the program
won’t get the money and if it does, it
won’t be appropriated $5 million,” said
Jamie Pueschel, legislative director for
the U.S. Students’ Association, a stu
dents’ rights group on Capitol Hill.
The large number of campus alco
hol-related deaths and hospitalizations
last year prompted the binge drinking
amendment to the act, Pueschel said.
“Congress had to say something to
their constituents,” Pueschel said.
“They couldn’t not do something.
They had to make a statement.”
See BINGE, Page 7
News/Features/Arts/Sports
Business/Advertising
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
C 1998 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved.
difference in the crime categories had
nothing to do with the difference in
numbers between town and University.
Carmon said the different categories
were specified in the Student Right to
Know Act, so University Police must
report crimes in those categories.
Carmon said statistics for crime in
Chapel Hill and Carrboro were includ
ed to inform students living off campus.
“If you’re going to have crime stats
for the campus police, you’re going to
have crime stats for Chapel Hill and
Carrboro, because they are the local sur
rounding areas,” she said.
The town of Carrboro had 135 inci
dences of burglary reported in 1997,
while the University had 18.
Charlotte Lewis, a program support
assistant for Carrboro police, said the
town had a greater amount of burglary
or breaking and entering because the
population remained intact during the
summer.
Also, according to the report, 12
motor vehicle thefts occurred on cam
pus and 138 occurred in Chapel Hill.
• Jane Cousins, spokeswoman for
Chapel Hill police, said the difference in
car thefts between Chapel Hill and the
University was due to a larger popula
tion in the town and a greater mobility
of cars on campus.
“My assumption is that the campus
parking lots tend to empty out by
evening, whereas the number of cars in
town tends to stay the same during a 24-
hour period,” Cousins said.
Carmon said the purpose of the
report was to help students be aware of
crime on campus. “We put the report
out to help the students,” she said.
“Basically, we want everyone on this
campus to be well informed.”
And Poarch said University Police
would do everything powßßle to cuaMhi- *
ue the trend.
“We can continue to investigate thor
oughly any reported crimes and make
arrests for those crimes when possible
and to continue to provide programs
that meet the needs of the University.”
The University Editors can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
We Be Jammin'
l
The Loreleis were joined by a cappelia
groups from Tufts University, the
University ofVirginia and the College
ofWilliam & Mary for the Lorelei Fall
Jam on Friday. See review Page 8.
Get Registered
ah
; ■# M
Campus
groups
joined
forces to
register
UNC
students
en masse
for the
upcoming November elections.
Registration in the Pit and door-to
door efforts in residence halls were all
part of the project. See Page 7.
A Hot Commodity
Magazine shops have had a hard time
keeping Playboy’s “Girls of the ACC" in
stock. Vendors say hundreds of issues
have been sold this week and more
are being ordered in anticipation of a
Tuesday signing. See Page 5.
Today’s Weather
Chance of rain;
Upper 60s
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy;
Mid 60s.
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