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12 Monday, March 1, 1999 Nihil Toon EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR DeVona Brown k Ashley Stephenson university ewtobs Jon Ostendorff CTTY EDITOR Board Editorials Ax the Tax The state's tax system needs some major revamping. Getting rid of the food tax is a good place to start. Many areas of North Carolina’s tax system favor rich citizens. The state’s regressive, 4 percent food tax is biased against poor resi dents who tend to spend a larger percentage of their income on food, a commodity that is obviously a necessary part of life. Sen. Patrick Ballantine, R-New Hanover, has writ ten a bill to totally eliminate the food tax. Repealing the food tax is a good first step toward reforming North Carolina’s tax system, even though it doesn’t solve all the problems of an unfair tax process. An editorial series examining three topic of finance affecting the state local communities and the University. TTie food tax was proposed 38 years ago as a temporary tax to boost funding for edu cation. The tax started at 6 percent, and since then, the N.C. General Assembly has whit tled it down to the present figure. On May 1, the food tax will drop to 2 percent, thanks to lawmakers in last year’s budget process. Ballantine’s proposal would eliminate that 2 percent, which goes to county and local governments, and make up the difference by giving counties an additional portion of the state sales tax. The state’s 6 percent sales tax is distributed in the same way the original 6 percent food tax was: 4 percent goes to the state and 2 per cent to the counties. Ballantine’s proposal would split sales tax revenue evenly between the state and counties. Other lawmakers agree that sweeping changes are necessary to the tax system but Freedom Quelled Chris Crotty was only trying to raise money to help his cancer-stricken mother. But apparently University officials believe profit margins come before Crotty’s mother’s health and his First Amendment rights. When officials found out late last week that Crotty was selling credit cards in the Pit, they kicked him out Crotty was accused of violating the Chancellor’s Facilities Use Policy. He was told that only the University has the right to sell credit cards on campus and that further more, because he wasn’t a student group, he couldn’t raise money for charitable organi zations. His mother didn’t count as a charity because she was just one person. University officials said they were just fol lowing the rules. But those rules violate Crotty’s First Amendment rights. The Facilities Use Policy is blatantly unconstitu tional. The Pit is a public forum with a tradi tion of hosting diverse speakers and activi ties. Except for reasonable time, manner and place restrictions, the University cannot reg ulate such a public forum. Crotty was thrown out for the content of his message, not time, place or manner. Yet, officials unquestion (Tljt lath} (Tar Heel Professional and Business Staff Busifwss and Advertising: Kevin Schwartz, director/general manager; Cnrissy Beck, director of marketing, Dorcas Young, classified sales manager; Lisa Rekhle, business manager; Lee Brooks 111 and Elizabeth Johnson, assistant busi ness managers; Leslie Stephenson, Mail sales manager. Marketing Group: Cmdy Bice, specialist Carrie Davis, Ben Hartmere, David Huffmes and Assistant Editors: Courtney Jones, Matt Ledercq and Jacob Mcconmco, oiyr Lura Forcum, Stacey Hartley and Scott Wright, copy; Scott Hicks, edi torial page; Leigh Davis, features; Megan Sharkey, graphics; Beth Novak, online; Vicky Eckenrode and Jennifer Guthrie, photography; T. Nolan Hayes, Evan Markfield and Hugh Pressley, sports; Matt Dees and Cate Doty, state S national; Lauren Beal and Colleen Jenkins, unhmity. 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Editorial Questions shotid be directed to 962-0245 Sharif Durhams EDITOR Office Hours Friday 2 p.m.-3 p.m. worry that Ballantine’s bill would cost the state too much revenue. Right now, counties get an estimated SIBO million in food tax rev enue, money they would lose if their portion of the tax is cut. But by giving the counties the additional 1 percent of the sales tax, they’d gain approximately $650 million, which would have gone to the state. Lawmakers contend that the state budget can’t handle such a loss. Those lawmakers want more sweeping reforms to the tax system to save families more money than if die food tax is eliminat ed -a typical family would save about SBO a year if the food tax is repealed. Other, more beneficial methods to help low-income families could include eliminating the cap on North Carolina’s income tax, which would allow wealthier residents to pick up more of the tax-base burden, or dropping the low limit on taxable luxury items. Flight now, the owner of a yacht or expensive sports car could pay the same property tax as the owner of a Buick. Although lawmakers are correct in advo cating more extensive tax reform, they should not hesitate to eliminate the food tax immediately. Organizations as diverse as the conserva tive John Locke Foundation and the liberal N.C. League of Women Voters support end ing the food tax. In the nation, 39 other states have eliminated their food taxes because of the unfair burden on poorer residents. While the state’s tax system certainly needs exten sive revamping, cutting the remainder of the food tax is a good way to start. ingly carry out the policy to keep the money rolling in. When students first saw Crotty’s table in the Pit, their first response wasn’t, “Oh my God, that’s money that could go toward pay ing my tuition!” They felt compassion for Crotty’s mother and tried to help. But University officials, despite what com passion they might have had, pounced when they heard they might lose a few dollars. Waving the Facilities Use Policy in the air, UNC ignored Crotty’s rights and told him to go tell it to someone who cared. This is at least the second time students have been kicked out of the Pit this year for violating the policy. Varsitybooks.com suf fered the same fate earlier this year when stu dent representatives tried handing out hot chocolate in cups with the company’s logo. University officials need to seriously reconsider the legitimacy and legality of the Chancellor’s Facilities Use Policy, and stu dents should fight for their rights to use the Pit. It’s a tragedy that after the tremendous student outpouring of support for Crotty, the University’s first response was to protect its finances, even at the expense of free speech. Ashley Ryneska. associates. Customer Service: Dorcas Young, manager; Jennifer Mackey, Sherry Martin, Natalie Mcßryant, Whitney Moore, Coudnee Poole and Kitta Sheppard, represehtabves. Display Advertising: Liz Martin and Joel Sasser, server account executives; Brad Howard, Towne Redington, Julie Roper, Kim Ryneska, Andrea VanHoever and Catherine Wilkins Editorial Staff Crampton, Anna Daugird, Brady Huggett, Sharon Liao, Alloa Main, Lindsay Mather, Sherifa Meguid, Monica Modi, Eve Modzelewski. Beth Mugno, Elizabeth Schatz, Meredith Sinclair, Moira Vanderhoof, Wes Whitaker and Ginny Yu. Graphics: Ted Basladynski, Jonathan Brodhag, Dana Craig and Archana Gowda. Photography: Sarah Branigan, Sean Busher, Christy Canzonieri, John Ikeda, Sefton Ipock, Michael Kanaiek, Ryan D, Leggette, Rachel Leonard, Laura Leigh Page, Lucy Pearce, Katy Portier, Jeff Pouland, Casey Quitfen, T Jay Richards. David Sandler and Gregory Wolf. Special Assignments: Amanda Barnett. Emily Cramer, Kate Harrison and Mark Slagle. Sports: Dave Alexander, Aaron Beard, Forrest Eber, Mike Sundheim, and M. Lee Taft, senior writers; Robin Clemow, Molly Flanagan and Dan Simmons, sports copy editors; Rachel Carter, Joe Disney, John Gardner, Erin Mils, Mike Iskandar, Kevin Q ISN #10709436 Office: Suite 108 Carolina Union Campus Mail Address: 3# S2lO Box 49, Carolina Union U.S. Mail Address: P.O. Box 3257. Chapel HUE NC 27515 3257 Wqt latig Star Mni Established 1893 ■ 106 Years of Editorial Freedom www.unc.edu/dth ■ Trisha Dabb & Courtney Weill STATE & NATIONAL EDITORS Jonathan Cox SPECIAL ASSIGNMENTS EDITOR Brian Murphy SPORTS EDrtOR account executives; Katelyn Bottoms, Katie Bawden, Melissa Goodman and Jackie House, assistant account executives. Advertising Production: Beth O'Brien, man ager; Christie Coley and Ann Marie Olexik, assis tants. Classified Production: Penny Persons. McCormack, Mike Ogle and John Zhu. State & National: Dawn Anderson, Mary Cameron, Lindsey Emory, Anne Fawcett, Kimberly Grabiner, Vanessa Hastie, Courtney Hathaway. Kathleen Hunter, Jessica Jones, Cheri Melf, Holly Neal, Dan O'Brien, James Pharr, Elizabeth Prestwood, Heathei Todd, UmurTuncer, Eugene Wheeler, Warren Wilson and Asta Ytre. University: Katie Abel, Carol Adamson, Amy Anderson, Brian Bedsworth, Carrie Callaghan, Amberly Calloway, Meredith Drye, Jim Harris, Chris Hostetler, Jessica Khosla, Anne Kim, Lindsay Kim, Selina Lim, Andrew Meehan, Angela Mers, Alexandra Molaire, Shannon Snypp, Amy Stephens, Keith Taylor and Patricia Wright. Editorial Production: Stacy Wynn, manager. Printing: Triangle Web Distribution: Triangle Circulation Services. Editorial Kaitlin Gurney FEATURES EDrtOR Will Kimmey & Erin Wynia ARTS/DIVERSIONS EDITORS Carolyn Haynes COPY DESK EDITOR Reviving ‘Spice of Life’ at UNC Has any other upperclassman noticed how dull the University has been late ly? Roads are going unstamped, stu dent body presidents are not being compared to devils and when the hell are we going to get another hurricane around here? We need more excitement and adventure around cam pus. We need a driving force to make us pull more wacky stunts. In response, I offer these ideas to add the spice of life back to UNC. 1) “Hey, you never know” - The problem with advising is not the fact we have too few advisers to help the students. It’s that we have too many students who can’t help themselves. When their sophomore year rolls around, they go running to the advisers screaming, “Oh me, oh my. What should I be, what should I try?” (OK, maybe they don’t rhyme.) Eventually they get placed into biology, politi cal science or communications. To avoid this ugly scene, if you haven’t selected a major by the end of your third semester, you would be forced to enter the Advising Raffle. Held everyjanuary on the steps of the South Building, Chancellor Michael Hooker would draw majors from a giant barrel, handing them out indiscriminate ly to the next person in line. Not only would this be humorous (“PUPA? I don’t know what it is, but it sounds disgusting.”), it would be a good way to fill out all those rarely chosen majors like Sanskrit and Harpsichord Playing. 2) Crusades ’99 - There seems to be a greater feeling of togetherness in colleges with one organized religion. And often such a bond leads to more effective frivolity. But at UNC we remain factionalized, separated by the very faiths we hold dear. How sad. But that would change with the introduc tion of the “ReligiOlympics” (copyright 1999)! The annual event will occur in the classroom as well as the sporting field as every religion fields a team to save its way of life. Hurdles, mathematics, Monopoly, bake-offs and a Readers' Forum Letter Writer Proves Himself a ‘Fool’; Pity His Fellow Greeks TO THE EDITOR: I am writing in response to Wes Stamey’s Feb. 24 letter. Ordinarily, I would allow the scribblings of such a fool to speak for themselves. But sometimes such people have to be put down. I am sure that all Greeks, after reading Mr. Stamey’s letter, wished they had taken a vote to decide which of them should have been allowed to write to the paper. I have never seen such a collection of fragments, awk ward phrasing and muddled ideas as are contained in that letter. Aside from his abuse of the English lan guage, Mr. Stamey’s mind seems unable to sustain the argument he is trying to make long enough for his hand to put it down on paper. He contradicts himself twice within the same article (paragraphs three and 12)! Well, that’s not exaedy true. I think he would have contradicted himself, had he been able to form a coherent sentence in his one-phrase paragraph three. As for the assertion that member ship in a fraternity somehow deter mines the identity of Fortune 500 Cara Brickman PHOTOGRAPHY EDrtOR Thomas Ausman DESIGN EDrtOR Brad Christensen CARTOON EDITOR i. Ts;. ■ ‘ —A-. 1 HARPER GORDEK CIDER TOWN series of mental and physical challenges will show which followers, and hyjkxtensiop which faith, are the best. The rest of the cam pus will be forced to follow the winners’ reli gion until the next games. Close your eyes and feel this rush. “Shwartzstein and Abdul-Muhammad head down the final stretch! They lean into the fin ish! And it’s Shwartzstein by a nose! Looks like it’s Judaism again for UNC! The crowd goes wild! Shalom! Shalom!” 3) Win or you’re out of the family - there is obviously a glut of sports teams here at UNC. Fencing? Crew? And since when did women start playing basketball? To cut out the fat from the system and generate much-needed Olympic sports excitement at the same time, I propose the “Mark 50” Plan. Every team would have to win 50 percent of its games or be forced to have the program cut - forever. Obviously, basketball and football would be excluded (they bring in more money than you and I will see in our lifetimes), but imag ine the tension generated. “Twenty seconds to go in this tie game here at Navy field. Johnson heads down the sideline. Passes to Smith. Four. Three. He shoots! He scores! Men’s lacrosse is saved for another year! The crowd ... doesn’t give a damn.” 4) West Coast? No, South Campus! - The Residence Hall Association is always trying to foster campus unity, especially in the resi- CEOs, well, I think we can all agree that Mr. Stamey needs to lay off the keg stands. The heads of the world’s largest companies are rich men, who were once rich boys, who, in turn, joined fraternities because they could afford to. Quite frankly, I’m glad; fra ternity parties get that type of person off the street. My sister can go out at night now. One last thing: I remembered, just after reading Mr. Stamey’s letter, that the Greek Affairs people had pub lished their list of Dean’s List mem bers recently. Sure enough, after checking the list, Mr. Stamey was nowhere to be found - geography major and all. Perhaps he should spend less time “giving shout-outs” and more time in the library. Josh Fennell Sophomore Biology Intellectual Climate’ Will Improve if Fees Offered to All Groups TO THE EDITOR: Re: the Feb. 22 Op-Ed, “Fighting Over Fees.” Whatever happened to the so-called “intellectual climate” that the University is trying to pro mote? Rob Nelson & Leslie Wilkinson MANAGING EDITORS Kyle Hanlin ONLINE EDrtOR Amy Cappiello WRITING COACH John Sweeney OMBUDSMAN dence halls. Well, pizza parties and ice cream ’■ socials ain’t cutting it. The only true way to be bonded is through horrible initiations and a legitimate fear of being killed. Gangs! Every residence hall will have its own sepa rate colors, handshakes and a small armory next to the vacuums and videos. I can see it now. ... “Yo, that bitch from Ruffin threw her frisbee on our Manly turf.” “Then let’s put a; cap in her flat white ass.” I’d sure feel closer • to my hallmates if they had to cover me every time I went to the Circus Room for Pop Tarts. 5) Two pomos in every garage - everyone J noticed last year when Playboy came to town.’ There were protests, letters and, most impor tantly, nudity. But as quickly as it came, it was gone, like the soft-core wind of the east, Mariah Carey. I suggest a recapturing of that spirit with ah open invitation for all “magazines of ill- J ' repute” to shoot here. After Hustler and “I “ Swear She Was 18” magazines finish shooting and proclaim how helpful we were to them, more magazines will visit campus for layouts,", flooding much-needed money into the UNC ' coffers. Eventually this build-up will lead to the first hard-core movie shot at UNC, “In My Mind I’ve Gone to Her Vagina,” which would easily surpass Patch Adams in number of students wanting to be extras. If these suggestions are followed, there should be no more semesters like this one. Everyday will be filled with more than enough things to talk about Of course, there “ will be some downsides to the moves, but 7 what’s more important, safety and security of . sex and violence? I’ll see you at the 100-metar dash. Go Voodoo! Harper Gordek is a senior biostatistics 7 major from Wallkill, N.Y. Reach him with comments at harper@email.unc.edu. With this question in mind, I would hope that funding any organi zation despite its “political or ideo logical” beliefs will surely contribute to the idea of “intellectual climate.” To simply just cut or discontinue a group’s funding just because of its proposal of speaker, choice of pro grams or out of the norm’s belief would truly undermine the goal of the University. At the same time, no one should be obligated to attend any function. It should be the wills of students to choose which programs spark inter ests in them. But definitely, it should be the obligation of all students to ensure that a diversity of programs and speakers exists within the University atmosphere. We should not be so worried as to what programs are being offered at the University so long as it is done in the spirit of promoting understanding of diversities and appreciation of dif ferences. Where can we find an atmosphere that will allow and stir discussions and debates for the betterment of human kind of the future generation? If it’s not on University grounds, then where? Touger Vang Carrboro QJir latly (Ear MM F The Daily Tar Heel wel comes reader comments " and criticism. Letters to the editor should be no longer than 400 words and must ; be typed, double-spaced, dated and signed by no more than two people. T *> Students should include their year, major and phone number. Faculty and staff - should include their title, department and phone ~, number. The DTH reserves < the right to edit letters for space, clarity and vulgarity. Publication is not guaran teed. Bring letters to the ." DTH office at Suite 104, " Carolina Union, mail them'“ to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515 or e-mail forum to: dth@unc.edu.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 1, 1999, edition 1
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