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The University and Towns
In Brirf
Fire Damages Home,
Owners Not Located
A fire on the first floor of an aban
doned house on Barbee Chapel Road
was contained in less than an hour by
Chapel Hill firefighters Wednesday
night.
Fire Chief Daniel Jones said crews
responded to the fire in about six min
utes and used chain saws to cut through
the first floor of the red, two-story
home. No one was injured in the fire.
Although damage estimates were not
available, Jones said the house would
was not completely destroyed. He said
inspectors would work Wednesday
night and today looking for the cause of
the fire.
Jones said that if the police did not
know who owned the house, tax
records would be searched to locate the
owners. The fire was reported by a food
delivery driver around 8 p.m.
Storm, Winds Damage
Roof of Apartment
High winds destroyed part of the
roof at Merritt Mill Apartments
Wednesday afternoon leaving some res
idents out in the cold.
Five people were left without a place
to stay, ABC News Channel 11 report
ed Wednesday.
The storm also knocked out traffic
signals causing minor delays on
Manning Drive at N.C. 54, Chapel Hill
police reported.
Literature, Learning
Offered at Conference
The second annual Association of
English Majors/Association of Graduate
English Students Conference on
Literature will be held March 17 and 18
at UNC’s Greenlaw Hall.
English students and faculty from
UNC, as well as Triangle universities,
are invited to the two day conference.
Carolina students will present their
papers, research, poetry and creative
writing at the conference and will gain
insight as to what graduate work is like.
Registration and refreshments begin
at 3:30 p.m. on both days and the dis
cussions are held at 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Pharmacy Fraternity
Collects Yogurt Lids
The Lambda chapter of Kappa
Epsilon, UNC’s pharmacy fraternity,
will collect Yoplait yogurt caps until
April 15 to help fight breast cancer.
The Yoplait USA Company will
donate 50 cents toward breast cancer
research for every lid turned in to the
student services office in the School of
Pharmacy. The lids to tum in are pink
and read “Save Lids to Save Lives.”
This professional fraternity strives to
■promote women in pharmacy work and
its national service project is to support
breast-cancer research. Kappa Epsilon
"hosts programs to inform people of the
severity of the disease and teaches them
how to conduct self-examinations.
Women’s Organization
To Sponsor Workshops
The Orange County Commission for
Women will sponsor a series of work
shops on self-defense training from 7 to
$ p.m. March 9, 16, and 23 at the New
Jlope Elementary School gymnasium.
The workshops will be given by a
martial-arts instructor with more than
•3D years of experience. Registration will
•fejegin at 6:45 p.m. Interested persons
ipay attend any of these free workshop.
srass Roots to Hold
Tour-Planning Meeting
Grass Roots Arts, Inc., is a non-prof
it; organization that will be holding a
planning meeting for the Orange
County Open Studio Tour - 1999 that
Jvill be taking place this fall.
£• The meeting will be at 7 p.m March
3& at Carrboro Town Hall. All interest
ed parties are invited to attend.
C The tour will be Nov. 6 through 7
and 13 through 14. Deadline for sign up
rijore information should call Monna
Xyelch at 919-542-6511.
Curtain to Rise on Play
This Week in Carrboro
, Lee Blessing’s play “Independence”
Will be shown this week at the Carrboro
Arts Center. It will run at 8 p.m.
Thursday through Saturday and at 3
p.m. Sunday. Blessing weaves comedy
with poetry and pathos as four women
struggle to define and pursue their ideas
of freedom amid family ties. Cost is $lO,
ahd the Arts Center can be reached at
929-2787.
—From Staff Reports
Assault Suspect Surrenders to Local Police
A Durham man, wanted for
eluding Chapel Hill police
and assaulting a female,
may face additional charges.
By Shelley Levine
Staff Writer
The suspect who eluded Chapel Hill
police during a 14-hour standoff last
weekend turned himself in and was
arrested Tuesday night.
Clifton Edward Farrington Jr., 19, of
1115 Saxony Drive, Durham, came to
the Chapel Hill Police Department
around 8:20 p.m. and was charged with
one misdemeanor count of assault on a
female, according to reports from the
Video games have become a
social aspect of residence hall
life as a mode of both
relaxation and procrastination.
By Monica Modi
features Writer
Freshman Gary Mitchell of Cary stared
intently at the warriors on the television
screen as his fingers frantically alternated
between the A and B buttons of the video
game controller.
His mission: to kill 100 samurai fighters
in 15 minutes or less.
For some UNC students, playing video
games has become an integral part of col
lege life. They can be found playing games
at all hours of the day ranging from heated
suite tournaments to relaxed solo playing.
Freshman Richard Moss of Kemersville
said he played several times a day. “It is
relaxing to play,” Moss said. “Video games
are my downtime during the day.”
Fascination with video games stemmed
from different sources, students said.
Freshman Amanda Gulland of
Yankeetown, Fla., said she played with
friends from high school who had video sys
tems, and the habit carried on to college.
Other students said they started playing
video games when they arrived at college as
a way to procrastinate.
“I never played video games until I came
to college,” said Steve Moore, a freshman
from East Lyme, Conn. “But now I play in
my suite when I don’t want to do work.”
Players said video games were an escape
from reality and a chance to live through
the characters.
“I love the idea of being a gigantic mon
ster,” said senior Jason Powell of Hickory.
Joe Rothman, a freshman from Brooklyn,
N.Y., was of the same opinion. “I can crack
people upside the head and bust their heads
open,” he said. “When I kick someone else’s
butt, I realize I am the man.”
Senior Alexander Gnilka of Charlotte
said people get into video games, much in
the same way they engross themselves in
books, sports or movies.
“It’s interactive entertainment... but we
don’t get too competitive,” he said.
Video games also bring back childhood
memories for some.
“I remember playing certain arcade
games with my father as a child. That is why
I had to buy ‘Rampage,’” Powell said.
Rothman said video games let him live
out childhood fantasies. “I get to play the
super hero that I always wanted to be as a
See VIDEO GAMES, Page 4
Orange County Deputy
Busts Robbery Suspects
By Shelley Levine
Staff Writer
Two men suspected of holding an
elderly woman at knifepoint and steal
ing her purse in Chapel Hill this week
are scheduled to appear in court today.
Timothy Lemont Christopher, 21, of
227 Elmira St., Burlington, and James
Cecil Cheek, 40, of 307 Field St.,
Graham, were arrested late Tuesday,
about an hour after a 68-year-old
woman was robbed outside her condo
minium home, police reports state.
An Orange County Sheriffs deputy
found the woman’s pocketbook in the
car of the two men in Hillsborough,
leading to each man’s arrest on one
felony count of robbery with a danger
ous weapon, reports state.
Christopher and Cheek were trans
ported to the Orange County Jail and
placed under a $5,000 secured bond.
They are scheduled to appear today
in Orange County District Court in
Hillsborough.
Chapel Hill police responded to the
victim’s residence after she was robbed
around 9 p.m., reports state.
Ik * Jj
Clifton Farrington
was arrested for one
misdemeanor count
of assault on a
female after turning
himself in Tuesday.
Chapel Hill Police
Department.
Capt. Gregg
Jarvies said the
police department
was still investigat
ing other possible
charges that might
be filed against
Farrington at a
later date.
“The charge
taken out at the
time was assault
on a female, but
other charges may
be forthcoming,”
Jarvies said.
The suspect was confined at the
Orange County Jail on Tuesday night,
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Richard Moss (right), Russell Martin and David Dixon play Nintendo 64's James Bond game last
Thursday in Ehringhaus Residence Hall. Video games sparlc competition and fill time for the suite.
“The victim was getting out of her
vehicle and was approached by the sus
pect and shown a knife,” Capt. Gregg
Jarvies said.
“She was ordered to tum over her
possessions, he said.”
The stolen articles included the pock
etbook, a wallet, two checkbooks, two
credit cards and SSO in cash, reports
state.
At around 10:20 p.m., a deputy
stopped Christopher and Cheek, who
were driving a 1992 blue Chevrolet
Geo, for suspicious activity in a residen
tial area of Hillsborough, Jarvies said.
“(The deputy) noticed a brown pock
etbook on the floor at one of the sus
pect’s feet and asked permission to
search the vehicle,” Jarvies said.
The purse contained identification
that included the street address of its
owner, which the deputy recalled hav
ing heard on the police scanner earlier,
he said.
Jarvies said, “Good police work on
the part of the deputy led to the arrests.”
The City Editor can be reached at
citydesk@unc.edu.
News
reports state.
He will appear Friday in Orange
County District Court in Hillsborough,
reports state.
Farrington, who bears a “No Love”
tattoo on his neck and scorpion tattoos
on each wrist, allegedly fled the
Pritchard Parks apartment of a woman
Saturday morning after beating her in
the face and slamming her head through
a wall, according to police.
Officers were called to the scene at
7:30 am., when two witnesses said they
had seen Farrington leave the victim’s
apartment with a long gun, possibly a
semi- or full-automatic weapon, and
knock on a neighbor’s door, Chapel Hill
Police Chief Ralph Pendergraph said
Monday.
Farrington returned to the apartment
Tardiness Could Mean Less Aid
Though the deadline for
financial aid applications
was March 1, students can
still nab needed cash.
By Warren Wilson
Staff Writer
The March 1 deadline to tum in
applications for financial aid has come
and gone, but UNC students who did
not submit one should not give up on
financial assistance for next year.
Mary Garren, assistant director of the
UNC Office of Scholarships and
Student Aid, said the department
accepted late applications, but students
could lose some aid due to tardiness.
Garren said late applications were
accepted. But, she said, student pockets
would feel the effects. “Students (who
apply late) might not hear from vis as
early as they otherwise would and will
have to borrow more money than nor
mally,” Garren said.
Joel Lindau, a senior from
Wilmington, said submitting financial
aid late complicated the entire process.
“(Applying late) is a hassle," he said.
“When I did, my aid came late and I
“The charge taken out at the
time was assault on a female,
but other charges may be
forthcoming. ”
Capt. Gregg Jarvies
Chapel Hill Police
after circling it and then escaped
through a back door before police
arrived.
However, police remained on the
scene all day, believing Farrington was
still inside, Pendergraph said.
A television had been left on inside
the apartment, leaving police to question
during the stake-out whether someone
had to take out an emergency loan.”
Garren said the deadline, which was
for undergraduates applying for need
based financial aid, was necessary to
develop financial aid packages for
incoming freshmen.
She said that because late applica
tions were processed after those
received before March 1, late applicants
were awarded less grant money.
Grant money is “free money” that
does not need to be paid back, the
majority of which from UNC comes
from the federal
and state govern
ments. UNC also
offers need-based
aid through loans
and work-study.
If students fail to
meet the deadline,
they cannot appeal
elsewhere for more
federal aid, said
Cory Sturdivant,
“Students (who apply late)...
will have to borrow
more money than
normally. ”
Mary Garren
UNC Office of Scholarships and Student Aid
spokesman for the Raleigh-based
College Foundation Inc., a group which
distributes all federal and state financial
aid to N.C. colleges and coordinates stu
dent loans. “If the school says it’s too
late, we can’t do anything,” he said.
But Garren encouraged those who
Thursday, March 4, 1999
was still inside.
“When it began to get dark, we real
ized from the glare that the noise had
definitely been coming from the televi
sion,” Pendergraph said.
The standoff ended Saturday evening
when a K-9 unit entered the apartment,
police said.
The victim was released from UNC
Hospitals after the incident, police said.
She was treated for facial cuts and
possible brain swelling, according to
police.
Pendergraph said Farrington also had
four arrest warrants from Durham police
for failure to appear in court on previous
charges.
The City Editor can be reached at
citydesk@unc.edu.
Repairs to
Continue
With Funds
The funding appropriated
by the N.C. legislature will
ensure the future of UNC
buildings and renovations.
By Cate Doty
Assistant State & National Editor
Renovations in progress on the UNC
campus can continue, thanks to a fund
ing decision made by state legislators
this week in the University’s favor.
The Joint Legislative Commission on
Governmental Operations voted
Tuesday to release $13.2 million target
ed for emergency structural repairs and
restorations on the UNC campus.
The money comes from $66.7 mil
lion that was allotted for school repairs
across UNC’s 16-school system. The
committee’s co-chairman, N.C. Rep.
Joe Hackney, D-Orange, said the funds
had already been tagged for UNC. But
he said that because of the projected fis
cal crunch, legislators had been wary of
releasing the money.
UNC Chancellor Michael Hooker
said the budget shortfall had been a
major concern for him as well.
“Of course I was worried that the
funding wouldn’t come through,”
Hooker said Wednesday. “But I think
the legislature realized the importance
of the structural problems we’ve had.”
Hooker said that if, in fact, funding
had been withheld, the repairs to struc
tures such as Carroll Hall and several
roofs around the campus would have
been deferred until next year.
“We’re a 200-year-old campus, and
we need the same amount of money
every year,” he said. “You never know
what we’re going to get.”
Bruce Runberg, associate vice chan
cellor for facilities services, said the
funding was crucially needed. “Monies
from this source were critical, and we
clearly do not have the resources to
cover what would be needed,” he said.
Runberg said the funding would go
toward 14 projects, all of which, he said,
were essential. But Hoc.:er called the
transformation of Carroll Hall into the
new School of Journalism and Mass
Communication the most important
component on the renovation docket.
See REPAIRS, Page 4
missed the deadline to apply for aid. She
cited several misconceptions about the
process that often kept students from
applying at all. “We have students who
don’t apply because their parents
haven’t filed tax returns,” she said. “We
allow you to estimate income informa
tion and make corrections later.”
Another misunderstanding which
deters students from applying on time is
that students must complete two differ
ent applications, Garren said.
“Students just have to do one appli-
cation,” she said in
reference to the
Free Application
for Federal
Student Aid.
According to the
Office of
Scholarships and
Student Aid’s Web
site, students are
encouraged to sub
mit the CSS
Profile as well as the FAFSA. The due
date is always March 1, which should
make it easier to remember next time
for those who forgot it this year.
The State and National Editors can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
3