10
Friday, September 24, 1999
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Scott Hicks
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR
Katie Abel
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Jacob McConnico
CITY EDITOR
Board Editorials
Lame Excuses
For years, the old tale about the hare and
the tortoise has taught us that “slow and
steady” wins the race.
Apparently, somebody at the Office of
Scholarships and Financial Aid misinterpret
ed the story as teaching that “slow, lazy and
completely irresponsible” wins the race.
This fall, some students who had received
financial aid packages were left without
refund checks to cover the costs of textbooks,
off-campus rent, transportation and food.
“I applied for an emergency loan, but they
wouldn’t give me the loan because I was get
ting a refund check,” said Jennifer Painter, a
freshman who said she was lucky to get her
books. “I went to the cashier’s office and they
didn’t know who I was.”
Shirley Ort, director of the student aid
office, said delays in distributing the checks
were the result of office renovations, elec
tronic filing system problems and short
staffing. By the way, the office handles SIOO
million in scholarship money every year.
Shirley, we students really do feel bad for
you -but not half as bad as we do for those
kids who had to start class without textbooks.
Office renovations? What kind of excuse
is that? Unless the financial aid office work
ers were the ones on the eight-foot ladders
installing air-conditioning ducts and hanging
Injecting Some Debate
It should never be said that the little guy
doesn’t count.
With the brouhaha surrounding the exe
cution of Harvey Lee Green scheduled for
today, more attention has been paid to sum
mertime moratoriums on executions passed
by the municipalities of Chapel Hill,
Carrboro and Durham.
Only two other such resolutions have been
passed nationwide.
This move by local leaders has drawn the
spodight to the continuing debate over the
death penalty in North Carolina.
From a protest on the steps of the Franklin
Street Post Office to class discussions on cam
pus, students and local residents have been
forced to examine their stance on this heated
issue.
Even though these Triangle lawmakers do
not have the authority to enact such a man
date, the moratorium is intended to send a
clear signal to the big dogs in the N.C.
General Assembly who make the decisions
regarding capital punishment.
Though their collective voice represents
only a small part of North Carolina, their
stance is important. The resolutions suppos
edly reflect the opinion of thousands of
North Carolinians.
Want to Blow Off Some Steam?
Write a guest column for The Daily Tar Heel. Guest columns typically appear every Monday on the
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Q.I •
’dck.
Barometer
Candidate Found
After weeks without a peep, GOP
presidential candidate Elizabeth
Dole has resurfaced. Unfortunately,
H
it was to push a sketchy idea that would make it
easier to search high school students' lockers.
Popularity Plus
Anew policy from the Carolina
Athletic Association means it'll take
more than popularity or group
*
clout to become the next Mr. or Mrs. UNC.
Tar Heel Quotables
“(ECU students) are going to come back for
class in a week and see their town underwa
ter. It’s going to be morally devastating.”
Association of Student Governments
President Jeff Nieman
On Hurricane Floyd’s aftermath in Greenville. If it’s that
bad for students, think what it must be like for the natives.
“My older son thinks Ignacio’s doctor is
Patch Adams.”
Denise Perez Albert
Perez Albert's 7-year-old son, Ignacio, is currently being
treated for leukemia at UNC Hospitals. Maybe Robin
Williams is sneaking around incognito.
Rob Nelson
EDITOR
Office Hours Friday 3 p.m. ■ 4 p.m.
Matthew B. Dees
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
Brian Murphy
SPORTS EDITOR
T. Nolan Hayes
SPORTSATURDAY EDITOR
wallpaper, there is absolutely no reason why
they could not get their work done. Having
the workplace redone is certainly an incon
venience to the employees. It is not, howev
er, a valid excuse for falling so far behind.
Electronic filing system problems? That
one isn’t going to cut it either. Find the prob
lem, fix the problem The student aid office
uses its computers for basic filing, not launch
ing shuttles out of Cape Canaveral.
There is no way it should take the same
amount of time to work out a minor filing
problem as it does to pass a kidney stone.
In terms of lameness, Ort’s short-staffing
excuse takes the cake. So she lost a couple of
employees over the summer. Heaven forbid
that Ort or her employees pick up the slack
and do more normal.
Ort has said that during the next six
months the office would fill the empty staff
positions, reorganize the office to increase
efficiency and conduct a student satisfaction
survey. The results ought to be interesting.
Anytime unexpected setbacks arise, some
decrease in productivity is understandable.
But office renovations, computer glitches
and the loss of a few employees do not justi
fy the degree to which the Office of
Scholarships and Financial Aid has failed in
its $ 100-million obligation to the students.
Not all cities are moratorium opponents,
however. Aberdeen passed a resolution that
weighed in favor of the death penalty.
But if a large percentage of local govern
ments took a stand on this issue, state law
makers would have a better idea of how the
state felt about capital punishment.
The road to change has to have its begin
ning somewhere. Perhaps the resolutions
passed by these three localities is that first
step toward a statewide change in policy;
then again, perhaps not.
Either way, it has sparked meaningful dis
cussion within these towns and across North
Carolina.
And any attention that gets drawn to such
a controversial issue is beneficial. It gets the
public talking, debating amongst each other
and thinking about a topic that is far from cut
and dry.
Regardless of your personal opinion on
the death penalty, the local resolutions show
that ordinary citizens can work with local
leaders to be proactive in the debate over
state policy.
When the little guys voice their opinions,
they force us to think about and defend our
position on moral issues.
And soul-searching never killed anyone.
Sweatshop Blues
Frank Gifford was on Capitol Hill
on Wednesday to defend wife and
talk-show hostess Kathie Lee from
questions about sweatshop conditions in her cloth
ing line. Unlike Nike, at least her stuff is cheap.
Park This ...
The town of Carrboro is auctioning
off a fire truck. Imagine trying to
get a hardship permit for a pumper
Bi>-
—and where do you keep the dalmation?
“I’m terribly concerned that the first class
to move in would like the new dorms so
much that they would never move out.”
Associate Vice Chancellor for Student
Services Dean Bresciani
On the new residence halls proposed for South Campus.
There's nothing like sharing a bathroom with 12 people
that makes one want to stay in residence halls forever.
“‘Just Say No’ is a ridiculous strategy.”
Orange-Chatham District Attorney
Carl Fox
Duh, Carl. Did anyone ever believe that Nancy Reagan
could come up with a successful anti-drug campaign?
Editorial
(Tlif SatUj dar Uni
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www.unc.edu/dth
Leigh Davis
FEATURES EDITOR
Erin Wynia *
ARTS St ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
Carolyn Haynes
COPY DESK EDITOR
jy||L<Sa6 jl yjb Ju.
Floyd Over-Reaction? Wait for Y2K
Sept. 16 was one of the most beautiful
days of the year, sunny and cool, with a
certain rain-washed clarity to the light
and the air.
Campus, normally clogged with students,
professors and staff bustling from one place to
another, was mostly empty, a bit windswept
but soothingly calm.
In the wake of this mundane result to the
much-heralded Hurricane Floyd, it is easy to
forget the hysteria which preceded the storm.
Let us review.
Public hand-wringing and Chicken Little
sermonizing and emotions were rampant the
Tuesday and Wednesday before, from the
highest to the lowest levels. Banner headlines
about the “mean” and destructive hurricane
screamed from the regional dailies; Gov. Jim
Hunt talked of drawing up a disaster relief bill
in advance; President Clinton preemptively
declared two states disaster areas; UNC can
celed classes for a day and a half.
At the grocery store on a routine trip, I
found nary a loaf of bread or, for some rea
son, a single banana. Shopping became gruel
ing as hordes of panicked consumers descend
ed on the aisles and choked off the check-outs.
At my house, sometime in the wee hours of
Wednesday morning, four of us drew up
essays, a little competition to predict the
course of the storm.
One roommate, already well into, shall we
say, the festive spirit, wrote: “I will dominate
the world!! We will see the second coming of
Jesus! God forgive us! May someone survive.”
Another, with more literal but perhaps less
figurative sobriety, predicted that the power
would be out for 10-days-phis. His point of
view was standard.
In point of fact, quite a bit of rain fell, there
was a gusty wind and the Triangle went
through a rehearsal for Y2K which did not
bode well.
Cultural critic David Harvey once wrote
that it is “the deep chaos of modem life and
Readers' Forum
Instead of Execution,
State Should Force
Guilty to Aid Victims
TO THE EDITOR:
When the state acts to kill a mem
ber of its society through a planned
execution, a part of every other mem
ber is also sacrificed. The state’s
attempt to punish and bring retribu
tion in this barbaric form of human
sacrifice is both damning and deify
ing to those of us who are left behind.
Ironically, this form of punishment
takes the focus off the loss of the vic
tim and places it on the plight of the
one who committed the crime.
Wouldn’t our communities be better
served by “Life Rows” where these
offenders, like other inmates, were
required to take responsible action in
work programs that provided restitu
tion to families of the victims or to
organizations that benefit society?
We all concede that our society is
engaged in a war against crime, yet
the city of Durham and the towns of
Chapel Hill and Carrboro passed
moratoriums on the death penalty.
Evidently, there is an educated and
organized consensus that weapons of
revenge are not the answer.
On Sept. 24, if Harvey Lee Green
Vicky Eckenrode & Courtney Weill
MANAGING EDITORS
Miller Pearsall
PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Thomas Ausman
DESIGN EDITOR
Megan Sharkey
GRAPHICS EDITOR
ANDREW S. UTSCHIG
GUEST COLUMNIST
its intractability before rational thought”
which best defines contemporary living. In
the wake of the latest public breast-beating it
seems we’ve come to relish that chaos and
irrationality, that we can’t live without it and
that we ourselves are its producers.
We created a chaos where there was none,
and we were persistently irrational in doing
so. Indeed, a hurricane is a chaotic force, but
by far the greatest effect this one had in the
Triangle was psychological; we shut ourselves
up and hunkered down for the apocalypse
because of a little dampness in the air.
We can claim safety must be our first con
cern, but I am frankly disturbed when public
officials take the initiative to make decisions
we should be making ourselves - for exam
ple, if you don’t feel safe going to work or
class, don’t go.
There was no cause for canceling classes
Thursday. While the result might have been
pleasant for us, it is worrisome when our
resolve in the face of adversity becomes so
weak and our reaction to comparatively
minor events so out of scale.
Consider too that this mass hysteria might
be quite expensive to us, the public: the
actions of both Clinton and Hunt carry hefty
financial strings.
All this based on a storm which was many
miles away and whose chance of hitting the
Triangle squarely was vanishingly small.
Remember that Fran wrought destruction
only because, by chance, it hit the coast at the
closest point to us and, again by chance, hap
pened to drive straight for us like a battering
ram. And we survived rather nicely.
For Floyd, there were hurricane warnings
from the tip of Florida to Cape Cod. Was it
really rational for the entire eastern seaboard
is poisoned to death by the state, how
could I explain this to my children in
a way that would reconcile this action
by the state with the core values they
have been taught? How will the state
reconcile this action with the consci
entious objections of people of faith
who understand that vengeance has
never been safe in imperfect human
hands?
This week a pulsating heart may
be silenced by our state in the name
of justice. Who among us feels wor
thy of administering the injection?
Dewanna Banks
Carrboro
Man on Death Row
Deserves to Pay Price
For His Actions
TO THE EDITOR:
Sigh. Where is it written that a
society must drag its human garbage
along in hopes that it will reform? I
sure would like to take a look at that
passage. Harvey Green, like so many
others who are convicted of heinous
crimes, deserves no second chance.
The people he brutally murdered
aren’t going to get a second chance.
Everyone talks of reform. He had
William Hill
ONLINE EDITOR
Whitney Moore
WRITING COACH
Terry Wimmer
OMBUDSMAN
population of the United States to storm their
grocery stores and cancel all and sundry pub
lic events?
It was not. The irrational, joyfully pan
icked, overwrought response to the vague
threat of Floyd was shameful. Have we lost all
sense of proportion?
It is readily apparent from the public and
private reaction to the storm that we are woe
fully short on events; we treated this little rain
storm like a miniature war.
Are we so desperate for excitement and
meaning?
Y2K is being billed as a public disaster of
far greater scale. My prediction would be that
the actual computer event will be similar to
Floyd: all hype, little payoff.
However, hype is important, and its psy
chological effect more so, and therefore we
can expect mass chaos far worse than Floyd -
based on nothing.
In our inability to rationally respond to the
world around us or to see it calmly, exacerbat
ed by a hyperbolic media which are our own
demands for sensationalism have created, we
are fueling a feverish public culture.
The public event of Y2K, like Floyd, might
well be quite significant and very undesirable
in its construction.
Irrationality, chaos. One leads to the other,
and we convince ourselves more and more
fully of their presence. They become part of a
self-fulfilling prophecy by which we lose track
of the small things and live our lives on the
level of a spectacle.
Our impressions of Thursday’s weather left
buildings boarded up, shops closed. The reali
ty of Thursday’s weather was lovely and calm.
What’s the forecast for Jan. 1?
Andrew S. Utschig is a graduate student in
political science from Appleton, Wise. Reach
him at utschig@email.unc.edu.
Friday columnist Josh Fennell will return
next week.
it tough growing up. He can change.
He has skills that can benefit society.
Bullshit. He took the lives of two
people who were living day-to-day
life and for what? A few hundred
bucks? The protesters will tell you
Harvey Green has a right to life. Well,
so did the people he killed.
The protesters say he can reform
and benefit society. The people he
murdered were benefiting society
long before. The protesters will tell
you we, as a society, can’t take a life
for a life. Harvey Green, and no one
else, created the situation he was in
and must pay the penalties for his
actions. An eye for an eye, I say.
I am so sickened by this society’s
stance on responsibility. When are we
going to start holding people account
able for their actions? How many
atrocities have to occur before we can
rule out their bad home-life?
People’s actions are their own!
They ultimately decide whether or
not an event will take place.
I think the protesters should spend
some time with the victims’ families.
Perhaps then they’ll understand how
ridiculous they sound.
Richard Conrad Zink
Third-Year Graduate Student
Biostatistics
(Tljp latly GJar
p
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