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Wednesday, March 22, 2000
UNC Alumnus Honors Kuralt's Legacy
By Brooke Roseman
Staff Writer
After one famous Tar Heel alumnus
died in 1997, another Tar Heel graduate
decided to eternalize him in the pages of
anew book.
Ralph Grizzle, a 1990 graduate of the
School of Journalism and Mass
Communication, will soon release his
new book, “Remembering Charles
Kuralt,” in celebration of the well-loved
broadcaster's life.
“This is not hero worship or anything
on my part; 1 just have a great admira
tion for him,” Grizzle said.
The book, which will roll off presses
at the end of next week, is a collection of
nearly 100 interviews w ith friends, fam
ily and colleagues of Kuralt.
Grizzle will be signing his book April
6 at Bull’s Head Bookshop.
India Rejects Clinton's Plea to Slow Arms Race
Associated Press
NEW DELHI, India - President
Clinton won India’s pledge Tuesday to
pursue peaceful means of resolving ten
sions with Pakistan in the face of new
bloodshed in Kashmir. “ There is no
threat of war,” said Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee.
But India rejected Clinton’s call to
slow its nuclear weapons program.
The president was pressing his case
for stronger U.S. ties with India in an
address before a joint session of
Parliament, his last appointment in the
capital before heading into farther
reaches of this vast land.
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“’The book starts in North Carolina
and ends in North Carolina because
that’s where he ultimately came home
to,” Grizzle said.
He met Kuralt in Lisbon, Portugal, in
1994 when he was a reporter covering
Kuralt’s keynote speech at the American
Society of Travel Agents’ Annual World
Congress.
Grizzle interviewed Kuralt for an
hour after his speech and told Kuralt
about his cross-country bicycle trip
before he began his college career.
Grizzle said the tables turned when
Kuralt ended up interviewing him.
“It was so in keeping with his charac
ter,” he said. “I think he expressed great
admiration for what people had done.”
This meeting with Kuralt inspired
Grizzle to volunteer with the Kuralt
Collection archivists and a group of fund
raisers after the broadcaster’s death to col
“We have neglected this relationship
for more than two decades,” Clinton
said after talks with Vajpayee. “It is too
important to ever fall into disrepair
again.” India aligned itself with the
Soviet Union during the Cold War while
the United States tilted toward Pakistan.
The president joined Vajpayee in
denouncing the massacre of dozens of
Sikhs in Kashmir and promised to press
the point to Pakistani leaders -as he has
to India - that violence is not the solu
tion to their dispute over the Himalayan
territory.
Although India is one of the poorest
countries in the world, Clinton was not
exposed to the gritty side of New Delhi.
lect an oral history of Kuralt told by his
friends, family and colleagues in 1998.
Grizzle said he had little difficulties
contacting Kuralt’s former acquain
tances. “I started by opening his books,
and I looked at people he mentioned. I
actually used the Internet to find people
and call them up,” Grizzle said.
Grizzle said that throughout the inter
viewing process, he never encountered
an enemy of Kuralt.
“I’ve never talked to anyone so uni
versally loved. Everybody had such good
things to say about him,” Grizzle said.
Grizzle said many stories shared with
him were fascinating glimpses into
Kuralt’s life.
“My favorite chapter is probably
about his first girlfriend -and for a lot of
different reasons,” Grizzle said.
He said she had won first place in a
sportswriting contest for boys, a contest
Looking out from his armored limou
sine, he saw instead a city of tree-lined
boulevards and lush gardens and foun
tains, gated mansions and colonial
palaces. He also stopped to pay respects
and drop rose petals at a marble memo
rial to Mohandas Gandhi, the revered
pacifist and freedom leader.
Leaving New Delhi, Clinton begins
three days of sightseeing. He will tour
the Taj Mahal, go tiger watching in a
game preserve and perhaps ride an ele
phant at a historic palace.
Vajpayee called the killing of 40 vil
lagers in Kashmir an act of “ethnic
cleansing” and said, “We have the
means and the will to eliminate this
News
in which Kuralt finished second.
Grizzle said he also liked Kuralt’s
commemorative speech for the 40th
anniversary of the Swinging Bridge at
Grandfather Mountain in North
Carolina’s Appalachian Mountains.
The book’s companion Web site con
tains information about Grizzle’s book
and information about Kuralt not con
tained in the book, and can be found at
www.rememberingcharleskuralt.com.
Grizzle said the ease and thorough
ness with which Kuralt reported was
reflected in the pages of his book.
“In one way this book sort of pro
vides a link to the past and a sense of
continuity,” Grizzle said. “It’s just a
pleasant remembrance. It’s a sweet
book. He was a sweet person.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
menace.” India blamed the massacre on
Pakistani-backed separatist organiza
tions; those groups denied involvement.
Clinton said he would urge military
ruled Pakistan in his visit there Saturday
to respect the line of control that sepa
rates the portions of Kashmir held by
India and Pakistan, to show restraint and
to “stand against violence, restore the
dialogue."
Pakistan has asked the United States
to try to help setde the Kashmir dispute
but India has rejected outside media
tion. In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign
Minister Abdul Sattar said he hoped
Clinton could use his “healing touch” to
find a peaceful resolution.
Top Stories From the
State, Nation and World
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Md. Hostage Situation
Grows Tensely Quiet
DUNDALK, Md. - Police entered a
house where a murder suspect had been
holding three hostages since Friday and
all of the hostages were safe Tuesday
night, police said.
“All of the hostages are safe. That is
all the information I right now,” police
spokeswoman Vickie Warehime said.
“Again, all of the hostages are safe.”
The standoff began Friday when
Joseph Palczynski allegedly forced his
way into a home in a Baltimore suburb
and took three people hostage, includ
ing the mother of his former girlfriend.
Palczynski is accused of kidnapping
his ex girlfriend, Tracy Whitehead, on
March 7, killing four people over a two
day period and leading police on a
manhunt for more than a week.
The standoff is wearing down the
patience of residents in the four-block
area surrounding the home where
Palczynski was holed up.
Police cordoned off the area but
allowed some residents to leave the
neighborhood Sunday.
One resident was arrested Monday
while trying to sneak back into the area.
Others have found ways to reach
their families without getting in trouble.
(Tlje laily Ear Me#
Using a police escort, one neighbor
tossed plastic bags of groceries over
fence to his wife and two children
trapped in their home.
Fed Ups Interest Rates,!
Warns of High Inflation
WASHINGTON - Expressing con!
cem that inflation could spoil the coum
try’s good economic times, the Federal
Reserve on Tuesday nudged interest
rates up for the fifth time since last June;
Wall Street took the increase ii|
stride, but economists warned borrow;
ers to expect even higher interest rates
in the months ahead as the central bank
keeps struggling to cool down the red*
hot economy.
The Dow Jones industrial average!
up by more than 100 points before thp
Fed action, soared higher following th{|
mid-afternoon announcement, finishing
the day up 227.10 points at 10,907.34. ;J
As with the previous Federal Reservq
increases, the nation’s commercial
banks, led by Bank of America and
Wells Fargo, followed suit by boosting
their prime lending rate, the benchmark
for millions of consumer and business
loans, by a quarter point to 9 percent!
the highest level in five years. ’!
While investors were relieved that!
the Fed stuck to a quarter-point increase
instead of the half-point that some
feared, many economists detected 1
growing worries about inflation in the
agency’s one-page announcement. •*
The central bank dropped past refer-*
ences to the fact that increased product!
tivity has helped to keep prices in check!
and concentrated instead on potential
inflation problems from the super}*
charged economy.
“Fed policy-makers clearly intimated;
that inflation risks are high and rising,”'
said Mark Zandi, chief economist at
Regional Financial Associates in West;
Chester, Pa.
“They are turning more hawkish and;
growing more fearful that the economy,
is getting away from them.”
Alleged Oscar Thief
Maintains Innocence i
LOS ANGELES - A trucking com-J
pany employee pleaded innocent!
Tuesday to stealing 55 Oscar statuettes!
that later turned up in a trash bin. -J
Roadway Express employee’
Lawrence Edward Ledent, 38, charged;
with grand theft, was ordered held in;
lieu of $20,()()() bail.
His attorney, Jay Jaffe, said outside!
court that Ledent was “a dupe in this!
matter” and did not steal the Oscars. J
Jaffe said he believed that policejj
thought there were at least five people;!
involved in the theft.
Another Roadway Express employ-*;
ee arrested in the case, Anthony Keith;
Hart, 38, was not charged because there*
was insufficient evidence, said Sandi*
Gibbons, a district attorney spokes-!*
woman. !!
The Oscars were manufactured by a!!
Chicago company at a cost of about;!
SIB,OOO and were shipped on March 3.;!
They arrived at Roadway Express”!
warehouse in Bell, Calif., on March 8J
and then disappeared.
Fifty-two of the gold-plated statuettes*;
were recovered last weekend by a man;
who was scavenging in a trash bin.-
Whereabouts of the other three Oscars-*
remained unknown Tuesday, but there.-
were plenty of statuettes available for*
Sunday’s ceremony.
Mich. Shooter’s Mother
Faces Neglect Charges :!
FLINT, Mich. - A woman accused -
of leaving her 6-year-old son in a “flop-!
house” where police say he got a gun
used to kill a classmate will stand trial 1
on a child neglect charge, a judge ruled
Tuesday.
Tamarla Owens, 29, asked for a non
jury trial, which will determine if she ;
will regain custody of the boy, her 8-
year-old son and 5-year-old daughter.
The Family Independence Agency
brought the neglect complaint and chal
lenged her custody of the children after
the Feb. 29 shooting of 6-year-old Kayla -
Rolland at Buell Elementary School.
Owens’ sister was given temporary >
custody and will keep the three children
until the trial, which was set for May 3.
If the court is given jurisdiction, the
agency could seek to terminate Owens’
parental rights.
Prosecutor Arthur A. Busch wants,
the court to be able to direct evaluations 1
and counseling for the boy.
“I think the serious matter here is
helping this little boy and his little
brother and sister. We were hoping the
mother would work with us,” Busch
said after Tuesday’s hearing. “They
want their dirty laundry hung out there
for all the public to see and we’ll do
that.”
Owens and her husband, Dedric
Owens, who is in jail on an unrelated
probation violation, were charged with
child neglect after the shooting. A date
for him was not set because he is in jail.
The Family Independence Agency
petition alleges that the mother allowed
her sons to live in a “dangerous envi
ronment” by taking them to her broth
er’s residence. Police have said the res
idence was used for drug dealing. *„
JamelleJames, who shared the house
with Owens’ brother, Sir Marche
Winfrey, has been charged with invol
untary manslaughter in Kayla’s death.