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SKI 105 years of editorial freedom
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Court Might Drop Charges Against UNC Wrestler
UNC wrestler Chad Priest
will appear in court Jan. 21
to face an additional charge
of resisting arrest.
By Kelli Boltin
Staff Writer
A UNC wrestler who was arrested
after an Oct. 14 brawl at a fraternity
party could have charges against him
dropped if he pays a fine and attends
alcohol awareness classes.
N.C. State University senior Ryan Ciccone, president of Sigma Chi fraternity, reads a statement Monday night at Fraternity Row pertaining to the
death of Neil Davis. Davis, who was a member of Sigma Chi, died Sunday as the result of a gunshot wound inflicted during a fight at N.C. State.
Friends, Family Remember Slain N.C. State Student
Neil Vernon Davis Jr., who
was killed Sunday, was
described as caring and
hard-working by his friends.
By Matt Dees
Assistant State & National Editor
“Love prevails over violence.”
These four words were the only ones
Dorothy Davis could muster Monday
following the death of her son, Neil, near
Appointed Member
Takes Board Oath
By Angela Lea
Staff Writer
The Orange County Board of
Education swore in its newest member
Monday night amid no arguments
despite recent conflicts surrounding the
candidate’s appointment.
Keith Cook took his oath of office at
the board’s meeting Monday, then
immediately assumed his position on
the board while other members and
those attending applauded.
Conflict first surfaced at an Oct. 22
meeting when board member David
Kolbinsky accused board Vice
Chairwoman Susan Dovenbarger of rig
ging the appointment process.
Kolbinsky said Dovenbarger had
promised Cook the empty board seat,
which had been unexpectedly vacated
by Larry Haverland in September for
undisclosed reasons. “Keith entered
knowing he would get it,” Kolbinsky
said at the Oct. 22 meeting. “A deal was
made before he applied.
“If Mr. Cook had a decent bone in
his body, he would withdraw (from the
See OATH, Page 2
Chad David Priest, 21, of Spruce
Pine, was charged with misdemeanor
simple assault and resisting arrest after
the fight, which occurred at the Phi
Delta Theta fraternity house.
Don Dickerson, Priest’s lawyer, said
the simple assault charge was dropped
Monday in Orange County Disctrict
Court in Hillsborough after a meeting
between the prosecution and the
defense.
“The parties got together and talked
and decided that the (simple assault)
charge didn’t need to be prosecuted,” he
said.
N.C. State University.
But the depth of those words epito
mizes the desire of those who knew him
best to preserve the memory of the
young man whose future dreams were
ended abruptly early Sunday morning.
“He really had in mind what he want
ed to do,” said Jenny Beaver, a UNC
junior and Davis’ former girlfriend. “He
wanted to get out of school and start his
own business.”
Beaver, who dated Davis off and on
from the fifth grade to the 11th grade,
said she lost one of her dearest friends.
f if^
DTH/RACHEL LEONARD
Keith Cook joins Orange County's
school board on Monday.
Tuesday, November 24, 1998
Volume 106, Issue 124
fjr JjV
Priest, a walk
on for the Tar
Heels, was sus
pended from the
team for the
remainder of the
1998-99 season in
late October after
Department of
Athletics officials
conducted an
investigation into
the matter.
Dickerson said
the charge of
An assault charge
was dropped against
UNC wrestler
Chad Priest.
“Everyone has
their first love, and
he was mine,” she
said.
“Special friends
are very hard to
find, but he was,
without a doubt,
special. He was
everything to me.”
Rodney
Buhrman, Davis’
basketball coach
at Hillcrest
Neil Davis
died Sunday morning
from a gunshot
wound.
Figures Show
Rise in Blacks
On Campus
The provost's office issued
the report in response
to the Black Student
Movement's 22 demands.
By Emily Cramer
Staff Writer
A report issued by University offi
cials indicates a rise in the number of
black students on campus during the
past four years, but some campus lead
ers say there is room for improvement.
The report was released Nov. 20 by
the Office of the Provost in response to
22 demands the Black Student
Movement presented to Chancellor
Michael Hooker in 1997. The demands
were designed by the BSM to improve
black students’ experience at UNC.
The report, which has results from
fall 1997, shows that of the 24,189 stu
dents enrolled, 9.8 percent are black.
Black undergraduates numbered
1,649 of 14,826 total undergraduate stu
dents in 1997. Of the 6,764 students
Fear has a smell, as Love does.
Margaret Atwood
resisting arrest would be dismissed
under a deferred prosecution arrange
ment that stipulates that Priest must pay
an SBO fine, attend alcohol awareness
classes given by Student Health Service
and stay out of trouble with the law.
Priest will appear in court again Dec.
21, when the decision will be made as to
whether to drop the second charge.
UNC wrestling coach Bill Lam said
despite the fact that the charges against
Priest may be dropped, he did not regret
his decision to suspend Priest.
“Even though it wasn’t his fault the
fight took place, he was still involved, he
Middle School in Fayetteville, remem
bered him fondly.
“Neil was a great kid who was full of
life,” he said. “He was a mischievous lit
tle thing when I coached him - not trou
blesome, but he just loved to have fun.”
Buhrman remembered a story that he
said epitomized Davis’ character.
Davis was interested in a female bas
ketball player in middle school and
wanted to ask her to a dance, Buhrman
said. But the object of his affection, cur-
See DAVIS, Page 2
Presence of Blacks on Campus
Some UNC officials say the results show improvement in fte number of blacks at UNC but
some campus leaders say much more work needs to be done to achieve diversity.
Fall 1997 Enrollment of Sack Students Summary
Status # of Black Students Total Enrollment Percentage
Freshman 433 3,477 12.5
Sophomore 379 3,192 115
junior 412 3,910 10.5
Senior 425 4,227 10.1
Unclassified 47 515 9-1
Graduate 445 6,764 6.6
Professional 223 2,104 1 0.6
TOTAL 2,364 24,189 95
Summary of IHado'African American DistrSwtion of Biack/African
Tenure/Tenure Track Faculty American Faculty Fall 1997
Tenure 44
'93-'94 '94-'95 '95-'96 *96-‘97 ‘97-'9B Tenure track 29
59 70 68 68 73 tnstructor/lecturer 22
TOTAL 95
SOURCE OFFICE OF THE PROVOST
enrolled in graduate school, the report
indicated that a black graduate student
population of 445 existed.
BSM President Tamara Bailey said
recruiting efforts played a big hand in
the gradual increase in black students,
yet the University needed to improve its
methods of retaining them. “I think a lot
of applause needs to be given to the
efforts of minority recruitment,” she
said. “There needs to be a greater effort
once they get here to make sure they
stay here and graduate.”
was still out after hours, he still resisted
arrest,” Lam said. “Being a walk-on or a
recruited athlete, we don’t want that
type of behavior.”
Two other wrestlers, senior David
Flowers and redshirt freshman Steve
Echeverri, were also suspended from the
wrestling team for their involvement in
the fight.
Dickerson said the facts surrounding
the case were very complicated, and the
deferred prosecution agreement was the
most fair solution.
In October, Priest said the fight start
ed when someone hit him and he fought
Raleigh Police
Charge 4 More
In Davis' Death
Following the death of an
N.C. State University junior,
the mood at the school is
shocked and angry.
By Trisha L. Dabb
and Courtney Weill
State & National Editors
RALEIGH - The mood at N.C.
State University was somber Monday as
students resumed classes and were
forced to come to grips with the after
math of Sunday’s shooting death of an
Neil Vernon Davis Jr., 21, of Fayetteville.
The N.C. State junior died Sunday
morning at Wake Med as the result of a
gunshot wound to the stomach during a
struggle with an N.C. State wrestler,
police said.
As the campus
grieved, Raleigh
police filed
charges against
four more people
Monday in con
nection with the
shooting death.
Rebecca Ann
Geiger, 21;
Jennifer Erin
Sommer, 20; and
“We are all shocked and
saddened by the loss
of a great brother
and a great friend. ”
Ryan Ciccone
Sigma Chi Fraternity President
Maggie Elaine Haney, 20, all members
of the N.C. State gymnastics team, were
charged with selling malt beverages to a
person under 21 and selling malt bever
age without a valid ABC permit, a press
release from Raleigh police states.
The athletes charged Sunday were
The report also showed an increase
of 14 tenured and tenure-track black fac
ulty since 1993, raising the number from
59 to 73.
Gerald Home, director of the
Institute of African-American Research,
said the smaller numbers in the increase
of black UNC faculty signalled a larger
problem. “The lack of black faculty does
not encourage confidence among the
black population of this University,” he
See REPORT, Page 2
News/Features/Arts/Sports 962-0245
Business/Advertising 962-1163
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
© 1998 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved.
back in defense. But fraternity members
said the wrestlers started the fight.
Phi Delta Theta President Shoff
Allison said in October that problems
started when a group of wrestlers arrived
at the fraternity’s mixer party and got
onstage with the band.
Dickerson said he was pleased with
the results of Monday’s hearing. “I think
under the circumstances of the case that
this was a reasonable way to resolve it.”
Aaron Beard contributed to this story.
The University Editors can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
attending a party at the residence of
Geiger, Sommer and Haney before the
shooting incident.
Christopher Fay Green, 30, of
Fayetteville, was also charged Monday
with misdemeanor breaking and enter
ing into Davis’ residence.
“Everybody was just really shocked,”
said Rett Haigler, an N.C. State fresh
man from Winston-Salem. “The guy
that got shot was known to be a nice guy
and a good Sigma Chi brother, and with
just one incident, he is gone.”
The incident has left N.C. State with
a mixture of emotions, said Tom
Stafford, the school’s vice chancellor for
student affairs.
“There’s been a lot of disbelief,” he
said. “Some anger - people are angry
that people did what they did. There’s
a lot of sorrow. There’s disappointment,
too, that athletes would do something
like this.”
Members of the
Sigma Chi fraterni
ty, of which Davis
was a member,
madea brief public
statement Monday
expressing their
sympathies to
Davis’ friends and
family.
“We are all
shocked and saddened by the loss of a
great brother and a great friend,” said
Ryan Ciccone, fraternity president and
a senior at N.C. State.
“We ask that everyone remember
See ARREST, Page 2
■ Hi % I I 1 HR
l Tuesday
Money Bags
The local chapter of the Sierra Club
asked the Chapel Hill Town Council
to consider reforming its current
campaign finance laws Monday night
Sierra Club members said only small
and disclosed contributions will keep
local elections fair. See Page 2.
UNC Tops Hampton
North Carolina moved to 4-0 on the
season by beating Hampton 86-75 on
the road Monday night. UNC will face
No. I I Purdue next on Wednesday in
the Big Apple for the semifinal round
of the Chase Preseason NIT
Tournament See Page 7.
Na-Day in Durham
UNC wide receiver Na Brown became
the all-time leading receiver in school
history Saturday during the Tar Heels’
28-6 win at Duke. Brown finished with
two touchdowns See Page 7.
Today’s Weather
Mostly sunny;
Upper 60s.
Wednesday. Partly cloudy;
mid 60s.