2% Satly ®ar MM
Police
Roundup
University
Thursday, Jan. 7
■ A UNC housekeeper reported
varidalism of a display case glass and a
telephone receiver on the second floor
of Brauer Hall, reports state.
According to reports, the housekeep
er said he first noticed the damage at 1
a.m.'The damages were valued at SIBO.
Pokee were unable to determine if any
items were taken from the case, reports
state.
* A small amount of money was
reported stolen from a locked desk
drawer at the Victory Village Day Care
Ceilter, reports state.
The director told police she last saw
the money at 5:50 p.m. Wednesday.
According to reports, she said someone
removed a money box from her office
about three weeks ago.
There were no signs of forced entry,
reports state. Police have no suspects at
this time.
■ Two vehicles collided in the Health
Affairs Parking Deck about 3:30 p.m.,
reports state.
According to reports, the driver of
the; first car was attempting to back out
of aparking space and backed into the
path of the second car.
'■ Wednesday, Jan. 6
■ Police responded to a report of an
assault outside of Grimes Residence
HaU at 2:15 a.m. A male UNC student
woman, reported to be a former
UNC student, were involved in an argu
ment when police arrived, reports state.
The, student had cuts on his hand,
reports state.
The student told police the woman
followed him from a bar to Grimes,
wh'pre she blocked his entrance, reports
state.
According to reports, the student was
transported to the Chapel Hill Police
Department to talk with the magistrate.
The woman was asked to leave the
UNC campus, reports state.
Tuesday, Jan. 5
■ Two computer systems and two
monitors were reported missing from
room 62-A of the Old Dental School,
according to reports.
The losses were discovered when a
Office of Computing and Information
Systems employee entered the building
at 9 a.m. Tuesday, reports state. The
computers were last seen on Dec. 28,
according to reports.
The employee told police she saw no
signs of forced entry and the room was
secure when she entered, reports state.
City
Thursday, Jan. 7
■ Stephen Justin Oates, 19, of 102
Lee Court, Knightdale, was arrested at
2:02 a.m. and charged with driving
while impaired, driving while impaired
with a provisional license and posses
sion of drug paraphernalia, according to
police reports.
All three charges are misdemeanors.
Oates was placed under an unse
cured S4OO bond and will appeal- in
Chapel Hill District Court on Feb. 2,
reports state.
Wednesday, Jan. 6
■ According to reports, a resident
reported a breaking and entering and
larceny at 7:35 a.m.
A basement door lock was taken
apart and $1,650 worth of furniture,
cleaning supplies, tools and an answer
ing machine were removed, reports
state.
■ Cary Dean Shields, 28, of 301-C
Pleasant Drive, was charged with break
ing and entering, larceny and posses
sion of stolen property, all felony
charges, police reports state.
The suspect is charged with breaking
in to TJ.’s Campus Beverage, 108 W.
Franklin St., and removing two six
packs of Heineken, one six-pack of
Corona Special and six packs of
Marlboro cigarettes, according to
reports.
Police observed Shields walking
away from the store shortly after they
were notified by an alarm call, reports
state.
Shields was placed under a secured
SI,OOO bond and transported to Orange
County Jail, according to reports.
Tuesday, Jan. 5
■ Artwork was reported stolen from
Steinway Gallery, 1800 E. Franklin St.,
at 11:27 a.m.
According to reports, seven works of
art and seven small prints were taken.
They were last known secure on Oct.
24.
Reports state the artwork was found
to be missing on Dec. 31.
The value of the stolen artwork was
unavailable.
Area Leaders to Debate Alcohol Regulations
Police and town officials
will meet to consider if
residents have the right
to restrict alcohol sales.
By Rudy Kleysteuber
Staff Writer
Representatives from cities through
out North Carolina will meet with offi
cials from the Alcoholic Beverage
Control Commission on Wednesday in
Durham to discuss tighter restrictions on
the licensing of alcohol vendors.
Ellis Hankins, Director of the League
Technology
Plan Hits
2nd Phase
UNC-system President Molly
Broad said anew plan aims
to keep UNC on the cutting
edge of technology.
By Kathleen Hunter
Staff Writer
The UNC Board of Governors rang
in the new work year Thursday with the
launch of phase two of anew technolo
gy plan aimed at bringing the UNC
campuses into the next millennium.
In a meeting of the BOG’s
Committee on Educational Planning,
Policies, and Programs, Diana Oblinger
outlined plans for the second phase of
the Information Technology Strategy,
which is designed to help UNC-system
students and faculty take advantage of
new computer technology established
throughout the 16 campuses.
“We are now beginning to look at
how we can help people to feel more
comfortable with the technology,”
Oblinger said. “We will be looking at
how to provide benefits across the
entire infrastructure.”
The strategy plans to link all UNC
system school buildings and classrooms
through a computer network.
ITS Phase One Coordinator Jarrett
Cummings summed up the first phase
of the project and said he was encour
aged by its results. The phase included
campus visits by project coordinators to
evaluate the level of computing tech
nology available to each UNC campus.
UNC-system President Molly Broad
said the project was important if UNC
was to stay on the cutting-edge of com
puter technology in years to come.
“All over the country, youngsters are
taking advantage of the riches of the
Internet,” Broad said. “They are going
to come to our door and expect to have
access to these riches.”
Broad said the second phase would
serve to teach faculty and students how
to utilize the technology they are given
most effectively. She cited teaching and
learning, student services and adminis
tration as areas which could potentially
be aided by Phase Two.
Broad pinned the cost of the project
to implement on all 16 campuses at $77
million. She said the General Assembly
would provide the funding over the
next two years.
Broad said she hoped Phase Two
would provide a framework of opera
tion for each UNC campus by June.
Oblinger said she was confident that
the this next phase would kick off anew
era of technology across the UNC cam
puses. “The major message is stay
tuned,” she said. “There will be a lot
more to come.”
The State & National Editors can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Work Advances on Fraternity House
The Phi Gamma Delta house
should be nearly completed
by July 15, and members
plan to move in the fall.
By Kim Dronzek
Staff Writer
Almost three years after a fire
destroyed the Phi Gamma Delta frater
nity house, construction workers are
pouring concrete floors and erecting
steel on the renovation project.
Paul Brown of the Resolute Building
Cos. said workers were planning to keep
the traditional look of the house, which
is considered a historic property by the
Chapel Hill Preservation Society.
“All the brick walls that form the shell
remained (after the fire),” Brown said.
Certain measurements have been
taken to ensure the solidarity and safe
Municipalities Executive, the group
sponsoring the forum along with the city
of Durham, said officials would voice
concerns over alcohol sales in their area.
“There’s a concern in some quarters
that there might not be an appropriate
level of regulation.”
Durham Mayor Nick Tennyson said
the forum would be a question-gathering
phase. “There’s just a general impres
sion that the ABC Commission doesn’t
care about local complaints,” he said.
“The work product is going to be a
fist of considerations and some channels
of communication that we open up.”
Nancy Law, a policy analyst for the
city of Durham, said there was a corre
.(St ...
DTH/DAVID SANDLER
Roger Smithfield welds steel girders at a construction site
on Rosemary Street on Thursday afternoon. Units in the building
will be rented out as apartments.
Stamp Price Hike to Hit Post Offices
A 1-cent postal increase
will go into effect Sunday.
Locals say they were not
informed of the boost.
By Jessica Jones
Staff Writer
Students sending letters home after
Sunday might find them returned if they
were not marked with the new 33-cent
stamp.
The U.S. Postal Service has once
again increased the price of the stamp,
raising it 1 cent from the previous 32-
cent cost.
Tommy Brickhouse, manager of
University Mail, said the Postal Service
raised the price to offset a projected
decrease in revenue.
“There were no rate hikes in other
ty of the new structure, which will be
located on the former lot at 108 W.
Cameron Ave.
“The entire structure is made of steel
and concrete, which is more fire resis
tant than the wood and brick that was
first used in the house,” he said.
The blaze, which killed five UNC stu
dents in May 1996, prompted awareness
about fire safety of fraternity and soror
ity houses.
After the fire, the town passed a
sprinkler system ordinance mandating
that all fraternity and sorority houses
and new multi-dwelling facilities in
Carrboro and Chapel Hill contain sprin
kler systems.
The deadline for all Greek houses at
the University to have these systems
installed is fall 2001.
Director of Greek Affairs Ron Binder
said he felt confident that the deadline
would be met.
“A little less than half of the houses
News
lation between alcohol retailers and nui
sance activities, such as littering, loiter
ing and public ruination.
“(The forum) is intended to identify
problems that exist across the state and
to talk about what seems to be a reason
able solution and build a consensus that
will carry the General Assembly
through its next session,” she said.
The state’s ABC Assistant
Administrator Doyle Alley said the ABC
tried to consider community concerns
when granting licenses to sell alcohol.
“We recently made sweeping changes
to the way we issue permits,” Alley said.
“We don’t issue a temporary permit
without asking the local representative.”
SPARKY
classes of mail so this will pay for the
other services (the Postal Service pro
vides),” Brickhouse said.
Pete Saragusa, station manager for
the post office at Timberline, said
despite rumors that other forms of elec
tronic communication have hurt the
postal system, he has actually seen an
increase in the amount of mail at his sta
tion.
“E-mail has not decreased mail,”
Saragusa said.
Beverly Clayton, a clerk for the post
office at Timberline, said although the
first ounce of mail is increasing 1 cent,
the second ounce is actually decreasing
1 cent and anticipated no problems with
the change.
“We already have the 33-cent stamps
on hand,” Clayton said.
“It should be a fairly smooth transi
tion.”
The price change is a done deal, but
have them now,” Binder said. “After the
summer we will be further along. If the
house does not have a working system
by the fall of 2001, it won’t open.”
Binder said the rebuilding was
expected to be substantially completed
by July 15, and that members were
expected to move in for the fall semes
ter.
Pauline Grimson, head of the Chapel
Hill Preservation Society, said she was
pleased about the fraternity’s recon
struction. “I’m delighted that they are
putting it back together,” she said. “I
presume that it will look the same way,
which is good for the historic district and
the fraternity”
Brown said the construction was
going smoothly. “We’ve had wonderful
cooperation from the frats. Ron Binder
has been extremely helpful.”
Binder said the $1.5 million recon
struction costs to the house were funded
by alumni donations and insurance.
Alley said temporary permits were
critical because, once issued, businesses
could begin serving alcohol and become
established in a community.
“It used to be that we did some check
ing before issuing temporary permits,
but it was not extensive.” he said.
“Many communities voice to their
representative that they don’t want any
more alcohol businesses, but we are
bound by the laws of the state, which are
intended to create a uniform policy,”
Alley said.
Also attending from Chapel Hill will
be Mayor Rosemary Waldorf, Police
Chief Ralph Pendergraph, Police Capt.
Greggjarvies and Town Attorney Ralph
Study: N.C. Budget
Growing Rapidly
A study by the John Locke
Foundation concludes that
the growth of N.C/s budget
is nearly twice the average.
By Mary Cameron
Staff Writer
Preliminary estimates from the
National Conference of State
Legislatures suggest that the North
Carolina budget is growing faster than
the national average, according to a
recent study.
Overall, state General Fund appro
priations in the United States grew by
an average of 5.4
percent in the
1998-1999 fiscal
year compared to
North Carolina’s
growth of 9.9 per
cent, stated the
report released by
the John Locke
Foundation, a con
servative think
tank in Raleigh.
“North Carolina has been
on a spending spree,
and the bill is now
coming due. ”
John Hood
President of the John Locke Foundation
Both experts and legislators named
higher education spending as one of the
factors that sparked the budget increase.
“The General Assembly has always
been very supportive of public schools,”
Rep. Betsy Lane Cochrane, R-Davidson,
said. “I think, in the future, universities
will need to be very efficient in using
what they get, but I don’t see a reduc
tion of funding for universities in the
future.”
But others said N.C. universities
should anticipate cuts in state funding.
“The university system should not
expect the same amount of money they
have been getting,” said John Hood,
“Idon’t think they should
do it because they have
already raised (the price)
enough. ”
Theresa Lucas
Chapel Hill Resident
some local residents do not approve of
the increase.
“I don’t think they should do it
because they have already raised it
enough,” Theresa Lucas of Chapel Hill
said, adding she did not think the public
had been well-informed.
“I didn’t hear anything about it,” she
said.
But others are not bothered by the
hike. Another resident of Chapel Hill,
Kathy Morris, said she approved of the
T
I’ll I (;\M MA DIM A /
' |„—-^ T ?t
DTH/VICTORIA ECKENRODE
The Phi Gamma Delta fraternity house is being rebuilt after a fire
destroyed the building almost three years ago.
Lon Edwards, president of Phi
Gamma Delta, said he was looking for
ward to being in the new house. Since
the fire, the fraternity members have
been living in a house on Finley Golf
Course Road.
Friday, January 8, 1999
Karpinos.
The forum will be facilitated by UNC
Institute of Government associate pro
fessor Kurt Jenne.
Alley said complaints from residents
in the vicinity of an alcohol-serving
establishment did not necessarily war
rant the rejection of a beverage license.
He said the ABC would not support a
decision by a small group of communi
ty members to overturn the lawful, con
trolled sale of alcohol. “We do not rec
ognize the desire by a community to
conduct a ‘spot-referendum.’”
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
president of the John Locke Foundation.
But Hood said other options for low
ering the budget for the fiscal year 1999-
2000 had been considered.
While some legislators said the
increase was a necessary measure, ana
lysts said it was the result of poor long
term forecasting. “North Carolina has
been on a spending spree, and the bill is
now coming due,” Hood said.
He also compared the North
Carolina legislature to a pack of drunk
en sailors. “They’ve been on leave
spending money, and now they’ve been
called back to ship to deal with the mess
they have made,” he said.
Legislators said the budget jump
looked dramatic only because past
increases had been
so small.
“Four years ago,
there was zero
increase and mini
mal increase the
next year,”
Cochrane said.
“The increase
looks so large
because it was an
extraordinary
amount.”
Analysts said that although the
increase might look large for the state, it
was relatively normal on the national
scale.
“There were eight states other than
North Carolina that had equal or greater
growth in appropriations for the fiscal
year 1998-1999," said Arturo Perez, pol
icy specialist at the National Conference
of State Legislatures. “Though it was
higher than the national average, it was
by no means first in budget increase.”
The State & National Editors can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
increase.
“My dad is retired from the post
office,” Morris said. “A penny won’t
make a difference.”
She also said she thought people were
not well-informed about die increase
and she anticipated problems with peo
ple sending 32-cent stamps after Sunday.
But Clayton said the post office had
had posters up explaining the increase
for months so the public should already
be informed.
India Whedbee, a junior from
Washington, D.C., said the price
increase would not break her budget.
“I do not see what the big deal is,”
Whedbee said. “It’s only a penny.”
If customers continue to use 32 cent
stamps without proper compensation
afterjan. 10, their mail will be returned.
The State & National Editors can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
“Everyone is really excited about
moving in - it will be great to have the
house back.”
The City Editor can be reached at
citydesk@unc.edu.
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