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(The Daily (Tar Heel The University and Towns In Brief Carrboro Man Wanted By Federal Marshals After arresting Jorge Buscando, of 501 Jones Ferry Road, Apt. Ml, for assault on a female and breaking and entering, Carrboro police discovered he was wanted by U.S. Marshals. Buscando allegedly assaulted a woman at Old Well Apartments on Wednesday morning by punching her in the arm, spitting in her face and assaulting her in the head with a beer can. The victim called police who issued warrants for Buscando’s arrest. They then received a call about a possible breaking and entering at the same com plex, and Buscando was arrested and charged with both crimes. Carrboro police Capt. Joel Booker said that upon arrest, officers ran Buscando’s name and prints through a national database. “It was then determined that he was wanted by the U.S. Marshal’s office,” Booker said. “. Buscando, whose real name is Believed to be Jorge Uunda, had more Qian 17 aliases and was wanted for Cscaping from a federal prison. Z “He may be wanted for other charges, but at this point we don’t know what,” Booker said. *- Booker said the fugitive’s actual iden tity might not be determined until his fingerprints were sent to the State Bureau of Investigations for positive identification. Z Hunda, a.k.a. Buscando, was being held as of Wednesday at the Orange County Jail without bond pending gxtradition by U.S. Marshals. UNC Police Find Men With Weapons, Drugs ; University Police charged two Durham men on drug and weapons charges Monday night after officers found the men in a parked car outside of Morrison Residence Hall. University Police Chief Derek Poarch said police were still not sure why the men were parked in front of the building. Poarch said that when Officer Herbie Stubbs arrived on the scene, he noticed a crack cocaine rock that had landed on the asphalt. Later, Stubbs found crack cocaine in one man’s coat pocket and marijuana in another man’s sock, reports stated. Planetarium to Hold MLK Day Presentation The Morehead Planetarium will pre sent a special January look at what the new year’s skies hold in store to help people get a head start on planning for 2()()()’s celestial spectacles. Normally closed on Monday nights, the planetarium will open at 7:15 p.m. Jan. 17 for a Martin Luther King Day demonstration called “Planet Watch 2000.” The live Star Theatre presentation will start at 7:30 p.m. Asa once-a-year, longer-than-usual presentation, the admission charge will be $6, with planetarium members receiving free admission. Great Decisions Class To Start Tuesday The first class of Great Decisions, International Studies 93, will meet in 100 Hamilton Hall at 7 p.m. Jan. 18. All students enrolled must attend. For further information, contact Rye Barcott at 914-8699 or rbarcott@email.unc.edu. UNC Scientists Create Smallest Pieces of Ice Using liquid helium. University chemists have succeeded in artificially creating the world’s smallest pieces of ice. The pieces consist of only six mole cules of water in flat hexagonal rings, just as ice exists in nature. Chemistry graduate student Klaas Nauta and chemistry professor Roger E. Miller carried out the work and wrote a report on the research which appeared in today’s issue of Science. Planetarium to Host Lunar Eclipse Viewing The Morehead Planetarium and the Chapel Hill Astronomical Observing Society will host a public viewing ses sion of the total lunar eclipse from 10 p.m. until midnight on Jan. 20, weath er permitting. The eclipse is expected to begin a partial phase at 10:01 p.m. EST. The total phase will begin at 11 :05 p.m. and end at 12:22 a.m. From Staff Reports Report: Pilot on Drugs After Plane Crash By Jenny Rosser Staff Writer New information about a June 5 plane crash at Horace Williams Airport reveals that the pilot of the aircraft test ed positive for drugs shortly after the accident. According to the factual report released by the National Transportation Safety Board, the pilot of the Cessna 152 airplane, Roderick Farb, tested positive for tetrahydrocannabinol carboxylic acid and tetrahyrdrocannabinol, the substances present in marijuana. Jeffrey Kennedy, the Federal Aviation Administration investigator assigned to Tree-Toppling Plan Draws Residents' Ire By Kathryn McLamb Staff Writer Carrboro residents and officials are calling Duke Power Co.’s plan to raze trees on homeowners’ property a clear abuse of pow er to protect its business. Duke Power plans to cut down trees and shrubs that threaten larger power lines in Carrboro, even though many of these trees are located in homeowners’ yards. After cutting down the trees, Duke Power would leave the fallen trees on the homeowners’ properties without providing disposal. "People are not only losing trees, but they are being left with the carcasses to dispose of,” said Carrboro Alderman Allen Spalt. “Asa matter of fairness, the people who make the mess should have to clean it up.” Duke Power has offered to chip or shred branches and brush, but any debris greater than four inches around will be cut into 12-foot logs and left in a pile in homeow ners’ yards. Duke Power has also offered to cut the logs into firewood for use by the homeowners, but most of the trees being cut down are pines that are unsuit able for burning. Duke Power spokesman Joe Maher School to Contest Class Rank By Robert Albright Staff Writer Local school officials hope that a motion to abolish their class ranking sys tem will improve students’ chances in the college admissions process. Officials at East Chapel Hill High School will submit a waiver to the Chapel Hill Carrboro Board of Education at its Thursday meeting in hopes of eliminating their school’s class ranking system. ECHHS principal David Thaden said the large number of ECHHS stu dents with high grade point averages prompted the school to look into a waiv er. He said students that were below the top 15 percent at ECHHS still proved to be well-suited for college, even though college admissions officers often over looked them. “Students ranked from 15 to 30 per cent at ECHHS are highly competitive as well,” Thaden said. “We did research, and it seemed to make sense that class rank should not hurt these students.” Although a request to get rid of class rank has never been considered before in the area, school board member Roger Waldon said the board would look at the pros and cons of the request at the school board’s meeting. “At a school (like ECHHS) where academics is high, class rank can give a misleading picture,” Waldon said. “Class rank, though, is an important factor that Sailing the High Seas Toward a Global Education gp ■C**** ‘ I’HOTO COURTESY Of CARROU. SOFFE The S.S. Universe Explorer, a 23,500-ton ship, was home and school for 100 days to three UNC students, taking them around the world as part of the Semester At Sea program. the case, said evidence of substance use in a toxicology test did not necessarily indicate that the cause of the crash was drug-related. “The information released so far is only a factual report,” Kennedy said. “T he cause of the crash is yet to be determined.” However, Stephen Blansett, an addi tional FAA investigator assigned to the case, said testing positive for drugs would mean that a pilot’s flying license would automatically be suspended. “Although Farb was only a student, he would also lose his flying privileges,” Blansett said. In the latest of several crashes at said leaving removal to the homeowners dated back to an agreement made with Carrboro when most of the land was used for farming. “It has been a longstanding policy that since the logs are on private prop erty, they actually belong to the cus tomer and are their responsibility,” he said. “It’s not hard to see the customer’s point of view on this.” Alderman Jacquelyn Gist suggested the homeowners light what she called an unfair policy. "I think they should pick up the dead trees, take them out to Duke (Power)’s offices and dump them on their private property,” she said. “Then they are (Duke Power’s) responsibility.” Homeowner Frances Shetley of 1130 Hillsborough Road said her cleanup costs would be tremendous considering the size of debris that w ould have to be removed from her property. “I expect removal to cost from SSOO on up,” she said. “Where am I going to get that kind of money?” But Maher said removal should not be a cost to the homeowners. “We provide a list with several names of individuals who have, in the past, offered to remove that wood at no cost to the owner,” he said. colleges look for.” T haden said the first step would be for the board to approve the waiver. Even if the board votes in favor of the proposal, T haden said final approval would come from the UNC-svstem General Administration. “I'm confident (the UNC-system) will look at the waiver and discuss it,” Thaden said. “But beyond that, 1 don’t know what they’ll do.” Gary Barnes, the UNC -system vice president for program assess ment and public service, said final action rested upon the system because it was responsible for establishing admissions require ments. He said sys- “Without class rank, you don T lose anything. It forces admissions people to look fully at the student. ” David Thaden East Chapel Hill High School Principal tem officials would have to examine the effects of eliminating class rank before approving the waiver. “Abolishing the class ranking system would affect the concept of a standard ized transcript,” he said. The uniform transcript includes GPA, class rank and other factors to help in the collegiate admissions process. “Every high school is interested in adopting methods of making their stu dents look best,” Barnes said. “Admissions officers need to have com News Horace Williams Airport, Farb, 53, sus tained serious injuries after the plane he was piloting crashed off of Seawell School Road. The plane, which was owned by the Chapel Hill Flying Club, was totaled during the crash. Farb. who had his flying permit, was also a member of the club and the only person on the plane. Chapel Hill Flying Club member Bill Sawyer said the club accepted Farb’s resignation in August and had not had any contact with him since the time of the crash. Sawyer said that although an initial report had been released, it could be DTH GREG WOLF Logs and tree limbs pile up in a yard at 105 Keith St. in Carrboro. Homeowners are now responsible for cleaning up the debris created by Duke Power Cos. in its effort to down trees that threaten power lines. Shetley said she was also unhappy with the number of trees being removed. Duke Power has already marked 25 trees for removal on her property, but Shetley said she expected more to be removed. “I think they are being excessive, parative data, but now there is concern from schools about the transcript.” Barnes said the UNC system would likely form a committee to examine class rank, GPA and other aspects weighed in collegiate admissions. “We’re going to have to find a mech anism,” he said. “There are enough questions (raised by concerned schools) to convene a committee.” Ann Hart, assistant superintendent for instructional services for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City' Schools, said class rank sometimes placed students at a disadvantage. “One require ment is class rank, but we want admissions people to look at rigor, grades and leadership,” she said. “Students often do well, but are still not in the top rank.” Thaden said several highly competi tive private high schools in North Carolina did not use class rank and their students were accepted at colleges everywhere. “Without class rank, you don’t lose anything,” Thaden said. “It forces admissions people to look fully at the student.” The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu. By Jermaine Caldwell Staff Writer While Matt Danser’s classmates were research ing their assignments in Davis Library' and trying to make their 8 a.m. classes, he was exploring the ancient city of Pompeii and checking out the Taj Mahal. And a perk of Danser’s adventures was that he received a semester’s worth of credit for explor ing the world. Danser, Canoll Soffe and Melinda Worley were three UNC students who took their fall to the high seas by participating in Semester At Sea. Sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh, the program is a 100-day trip that allows students from across the nation and abroad to take their acade mics to the sea and visited countries like Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Turkey and Croatia. “It was either 10 countries in 100 days or just one,” Danser said. The students’ ship, the S.S. Universe Explorer left Vancouver, British Columbia, on Sept. 14 and began blending education and experience. Semester At Sea students take the same course some time before the final cause of the crash was determined. “It takes anywhere from one month to a year after a factual report is released to determine the cause of a crash because airplane accidents are so com plex,” he said. “In addition, priority is often on com mercial aviation.” University Police officer Jeff McCracken said the final report of the crash would not be available for six months. “The cause of the crash is part of the final report,” he said. “We may file charges depending on what the report says.” drastic really,” Shetley said. “They are doing drastic things now' that they wouldn’t do if we didn’t have this argu ment going.” Gist said she was disappointed with the way Duke Power seemed to be ignoring the public’s concerns. Visitation Case Faces High Court Review By Jonathan Moseley Staff Writer Months after some state lawmakers wrangled with legislation calling for increased visitation rights for gr andpar ents, the issue has found its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court is expected to rule this year on a Washington state case that has the potential to standardize state laws deal ing w ith visitation conflicts between par ents and grandparents. North Carolina statutes prevent grandparents from suing for visitation unless the grandchild has already been involved in family legal battles. “The states are split (on this issue),” said Cheryl Howell, attorney and asso ciate professor at the UNC Institute of Government. “Do we extend the rights of grand parents or protect the fundamental rights of parents? That’s the question that the Supreme Court is going to answer.” After the recent suicide of a Washington father, the man’s parents helped their daughter-in-law care for her children. But when the daughter-in-law gradu ally began to limit the grandparents’ role in the children’s lives, thee sued to Thursday, January 13, 2000 McCracken said no police action would be .aken against Farb until the final report was released. Sawyer said that although initial tox icology tests revealed that Farb had amphetamines and opiates in his system, the FAA later determined that these results were false and were due to a pre scription anti-smoking drug Farb was taking at the time of the accident in June. Farb, whose last known address was in Cedar Grove, could not be reached for comment The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu. “This is very uncharacteristic of Duke (Power) to be being such a bully,” she said. “They are only doing this stuff because they can.” The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu. see the children. The case came before the Supreme Court last year. The Washington case is similar to other cases in North Carolina in which grandparents argued that their relation ship w ith a grandchild would benefit the child. An increase in single-parent and divorced families within the past decade has frequently raised a barrier between grandparents and their grandchildren. Relationships between each of the three generations have remained strong; the weak link is the relationship between the two parents, said Dennis Orthner, professor of social work and associate director of the Jordan Institute for Families. Grandparents nationwide are begin ning to fight back and win influence as thev- bring forward a number of land mark visitation cases, Howell said. “Now grandparents are beginning to assert themselves despite what happens between the parents of their grandchil dren," Orthner said. Strong opinions exist on both sides of the visitation debate. Rep. Michael Decker, R-Forsyth, who introduced a bill that would increase grandparents’ rights, said it was See GRANDPARENTS, Page 6 load and types of classes as the)' would at their universities, but academic life on the ship is dif ferent than it is on land. Every student takes a course called “core,” which is a basic geography class that covers the different historical, political, cultural and econom ical aspects of the ship’s destinations. Along with core, students attend similar classes as their stateside classmates during the 50 days of travel between ports. When the ship reached each destination, the trav elers’ global education began. Each class tied together what the courses taught and the country that the students visited. These field activities ranged from interviewing natives and residing at families' houses to visiting museums, universities and famous landmarks. “Everything w as entirelv integrated,” Soffe said. “It made it a lot more interesting." The interaction between students and natives gave Danser a chance to gain a different perspec tive of the world’s population. “We are all pretty much the same,” he said. See SEA, Page 6 3
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