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'BOLO' Behind Bars
UNC Police Nab Suspect in 2 Assaults
Jesus Alvarez-Ramos was
traced to jail where he was
held after he did not appear
in court for a DWI charge.
By Ashley Stephenson
Senior Writer
University Police arrested Tuesday
the man they believe was responsible for
two attempted sexual assaults on two
students last week.
Jesus Alvarez-Ramos, 23, of Apt. Q;
12 Royal Park Apartments was charged
with one count each of second-degree
kidnapping, attempted second-degree
rape and attempted first-degree rape in
connection with the assaults Aug. 15 and
Aug. 17, said University Police Chief
Derek Poarch.
Police held a press conference
Tuesday night in the Smith Center to
Forum to Solicit Public Input on Chancellor Search
Students and faculty will
have the chance to talk
with members of the
search committee Thursday.
By Ashley Stephenson
Senior Writer
Chancellor Search Committee mem
bers say that after a Thursday forum,
they will be ready to compile their list of
preferred qualities for UNC’s next chan
cellor and send the University’s search
firm hunting.
As part of its efforts to hear input
from the University community on the
chancellor search, the committee is
holding a public forum at 4 p.m.
Thursday in the Carolina Inn Hill
Down the Stretch
They Come ...
UNC seniors are preparing
to make the best of their
final years and jump-start
their plans for the future.
By Leigh Davis
Features Editor
Heather Biggs and Leslie
Meadows pulled two turtles out of
the aquarium in their Carmichael
Residence Hall room and placed
one on the floor.
As the turtle moseyed across the
carpet, the two
seniors, who
have lived
together since
they arrived at
UNC, joked
about their
pets’ names.
“I think
we’re going to
call them
Laveme and
Shirley or some
duo from the
show,” said
Biggs, a nursing
Exiting
Carolina
A yearlong series
following four
students through
their senior years
major from Hiddenite.
“This is the first year we’ve had
pets, and we really haven’t named
them yet,” Meadows chimed in. “I
hope this works out.”
Choosing to live with each other
in a residence hall room was a nat
ural choice. “I can’t imagine any
thing different,” said Meadows, a
|
notify the public
of the assailant’s
capture.
Alvarez-Ramos,
who worked part
time at Carolina
Coffee Shop, is
being held under
SIOO,OOO bond in
the Orange
County Jail in
Hillsborough.
Poarch said
investigators
found Alvarez-
Ramos in jail
Tuesday, where
Suspect
Jesus Alvarez-
Ramos
was captured
Tuesday by
University Police.
he was being held for failing to appear in
court for a driving while intoxicated
case.
Although University Police are pur
suing no other suspects, Poarch said he
could not address specific details of the
case because the investigation was still
Ballroom.
“I want to hear (from students, facul
ty and staff) how they would be able to
tell the difference between a very
impressive person and a very impressive
person who is right for this job,” said
member Pete Andrews, Faculty Council
chairman.
Chancellor Search Committee
Chairman Richard Stevens said the 14-
member group would listen to anyone
who wanted to speak at the forum. But
he stressed that this was only one
method being used to hear the opinions
of the community regarding the search.
By next month, he said, the commit
tee hoped to form an official statement
about the preferred qualities they want
ed in UNC’s next leader after reviewing
numerous e-mail messages and letters
from the public as well as taking sugges-
geography major also from
Hiddenite.
The two said that four years ago,
they couldn’t have guessed where
their UNC experience would take
them.
Biggs wanted to be a doctor and
majored in biology, and Meadows
wanted to attend pharmacy school.
“That just didn’t work out,” Biggs
said.
Biggs, now in nursing school,
said she had difficulty deciding on a
major. “After biology, it was psy
chology, and then I decided to go to
nursing school a year late,” she said.
Instead of graduating with her
friends in May, Biggs will stay
another year to finish nursing
school.
“I had so many choices here,”
she said. “I know it’s not my last
year, but it’s my senior year. Next
year I won’t be classified as any
thing, and my friends will be gone.”
Meadows, on the other hand,
does not have a concrete plan for
next year. “I’m interested in finding
a job dealing with depleted water
resources,” she said. “But I don’t
know how to go about getting that
job or even what I’d be doing.”
Meadows said she would solicit
help from University Career
Services for her job search and take
geography courses to prepare for
next year.
But for now, she is concentrating
on making it through the fall semes
ter.
She said she was thrilled to have
There is no such thin% as justice in or out of court
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Wednesday, August 25, 1999
Volume 107, Issue 60
open.
Officers began to develop leads on
Alvarez-Ramos on Aug. 19, pursuing
various tips until he was charged
Tuesday, Poarch said.
“While this case is resolved, I think it
is important to remind everyone that the
safety tips are important and should still
be utilized all the time,” he said.
After the first incident Aug. 15,
University Police posted information on
its Web site and distributed fliers
throughout campus buildings and resi
dence halls. The composite sketch that
was included on the fliers resembled
Alvarez-Ramos closely, Poarch said.
He said Alvarez-Ramos had no prior
record.
During the night of the second attack,
which occurred in the alley between
Hanes Art Center and Carolina Coffee
Shop, police confirmed from the shop’s
management that Alvarez-Ramos had
been working there that night, Poarch
Faculty Council
Chairman
Pete Andrews
said he wanted to
hear from students,
faculty and staff.
tions from the
forum. “We have
not yet started any
debate on any
candidates. Our
first step was to be
open and recep
tive.”
Interim
Chancellor Bill
McCoy was
tapped to lead
UNC until a per
manent person
can be found to
take the post.
McCoy stepped in
when former Chancellor Michael
Hooker died onjune 29 from complica
tions stemming from lymphoma.
Search committee member Anne
,' JEjf
DTH/SEFTONIPOCK
Seniors Heather Biggs (left) and Leslie Meadows (right) share a laugh while Heather's mother, Carol, helps
them move into Carmichael Residence Hall. This will be their fourth year rooming together.
a class with only eight people.
“I thought I was in the wrong
place when I went into class,” she
said. “I thought they were having a
meeting.”
Small classes are not the only
privilege the new seniors are expe
riencing.
“I want to do things I’ve never
done before,” Biggs said.
“Yeah, and I want to go to the
bars on Franklin Street,” Meadows
said. “But it hasn’t registered that I
am a senior. I don’t know what I’ll
do next year. I can’t imagine being
anything but a Carolina student.”
See SENIORS, Page 6
said.
The charge of kidnapping applies to
the first assault, he said, because
Alvarez-Ramos restrained the student’s
movement when he threw her to the
ground and attempted to sexually
assault her.
But Poarch said the police’s capture
was facilitated by the community’s
involvement and cooperation in the
case. “The number of people phoning in
certainly assisted us,” he said. “And peo
ple were listening to the advice we gave
them.”
In the days following the attacks,
police urged students to “Be on the
Lookout,” prompting many students to
adopt the acronym BOLO as the name
of the assailant
Asa result of the attacks, students
were asked to step up their safety rou
tines. University Police instructed stu
dents to walk in pairs and take the Point
2-Point at night.
Cates, chairwoman of the Board of
Trustees, said she expected a decent
turnout at the forum. Gauging from the
response from forums held when she sat
on the committee that selected Hooker,
Cates said she was optimistic. “I don’t
expect 24,000 students to show up,” she
said. “But when we had the forum, a
goodly number showed up.”
Jim Peacock, former Faculty Council
chairman and committee member, said
the forum would give the committee a
unique way to field the comments and
questions of concerned students, facul
ty and staff. “The letters and e-mails are
really good, but it’s nothing like hearing
it face to face,” Peacock said.
Stevens said that once the committee
had given the search firm its list of spec
ified qualities, they would start investi
gating potential candidates. “There will
The Cast of Characters
Four UNC students agreed to have their senior years followed by the DTH. See what happens
as they apply to graduate schools, go on job interviews and make plans for life after UNC.
Heather Biggs Zubin Earpin Leslie Meadows Bryan Wagner
Nursing Political Science Geography Business
1
DTH/SEFTON IPOCK
University Police Capt. Mark Mclntyre, Lt. Larry Caldwell and Lt. Archie
Daniel, share news of the arrest at a Tuesday night press conference.
The first assault Aug. 15 took place
between Caldwell Hall and Grimes
Residence Hall. The victim, a UNC
sophomore, was walking with two
friends near Cameron Avenue when a
Hispanic man approached and spoke to
them. Eventually, the three friends split
up, and the sophomore continued to her
residence hall.
The victim told the police the
Hispanic man walked up behind her,
threw her on the ground and tried to
be ads all over the place,” he said.
But regardless of how helpful the
forum proves to be, committee mem
bers are up against a deadline.
UNC-system President Molly Broad
originally gave the group a May 2000
deadline to select a candidate when she
tapped McCoy to take the post.
But Stevens said last week that the
committee hoped to decide by
December. The committee that picked
Hooker took 18 months. Delays started
when several candidates withdrew their
names from the committee’s list when
the names were leaked to the media.
Committee members decided in a
July 29 meeting to keep a tight lid on
their list of potential candidates.
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
News/Features/Arts/Sports 962-0245
Business/Advertising 962-1163
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
© 1999 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved.
sexually assault her. She screamed and
her two friends ran to her and confront
ed the man, who ran away. The second
assault occurred at 8:30 p.m. Aug. 17. A
female student was walking up the alley
near Hanes Art Center when the
assailant grabbed her and threatened
her with a knife. The student sprayed
the man with Mace and escaped.
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
Officials
Fix PR Lot
Problem
Director of Public Safety
Derek Poarch says the
PR lot will continue to be
monitored 24 hours a day.
By Laura Stoehr
University Editor
University officials fixed the pedes
trian gate at the PR lot Tuesday morn
ing and re-emphasized that they could
not find equipment problems with the
vehicular gate.
Craig Hyatt, manager of information
technology for auxiliary services, said it
appeared that the pedestrian gate had
been struck by lightning.
The gate’s reader and controller were
replaced and functioned properly dur
ing tests Tuesday. Hyatt said the pedes
trian and vehicular gates had been test
ed with officials’ test cards Aug. 15 and
worked at that time.
Some students had reported prob
lems with gaining entry into the lot,
located off Estes Drive, which is gained
via students’ UNC ONE Cards. Hyatt
said tests Tuesday did not reveal any
malfunctioning in the vehicular gate
itself. The gate was closed Monday
evening after it had been left open since
last week because of access problems.
Hyatt told The Daily Tar Heel
Monday there were many reasons the
ONE Cards could malfunction.
The system that controls the gate
See GATE, Page 6
INCinc
ill Wednesday
It's Raining & Pouring
Three tropical storms picked up speed
in the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday, with
U.S. and Caribbean officials bracing for
the potential onslaught of high winds
and torrential rain. See Page 8.
We Want YOU!
The Daily Tar Heel is looking for a few
good men and women who like to
write, edit, take pictures and make
graphics. An interest meeting will be
held at 5 p.m. today in Union 209.
Applications are due by 5 p.m. Friday.
Today’s Weather
Thunderstorms;
Low 80s.
Thursday: Partly sunny.
High 80s.