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Thursday, April 20, 2000
Fifth Estate's Getting Medieval on the Printed Word
By Alicia Peters
Staff Writer
As computers replaced typewriters,
the entire world was thrown into a
cyberspace abyss. E-mail replaced snail
mail, and people are no longer
required to get out of bed in the morn
ing to shop or go to work.
UNC students do not even have to
pick up different magazines to find out
what special events are going on
around campus. They can just click
their way to the Fifth Estate’s Internet
site.
On September 26,1996, the Fifth
Estate became the first student-run
online magazine at UNC. Although it
is registered as a student organization,
it receives no funds from student fees.
Census Bureau Employs Door-to-Door Visits to Fetch Forms
The bureau is hiring locals
to track down residents
who didn't return censuses
by the April 14 due date.
By Nishant Garc,
Staff Writer
Local residents might not receive
adequate government representation in
the future with the census return rate
falling far short of the Census Bureau’s
expectations.
According to the Census Bureau’s
Internet site, www.census.gov, the local
initial response rates were: 63 percent in
Chapel Hill, 59 percent in Carrboro and
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Both graduate and undergraduate
students work for the Fifth Estate. The
name for the magazine was derived
from medieval times.
“The nobility was known as the first
estate, the clergy the second estate, the
common man was the third, the press
the fourth, and today, computers are
considered to be the fifth estate,” said
Dan Lucas, a junior from Raleigh and
the managing editor of the Fifth Estate.
The last two estates inform and
reach out to the public. Although there
is an obvious difference between
online magazines and magazines that
can be purchased on campus, both
publications share a similar goal.
“We try to be a UNC-focused online
magazine where we get out regular
issues but do features issues, too,”
62 percent in Orange County. The tar
get rates for the three municipalities
were 76 percent, 70 percent and 71 per
cent, respectively.
The bureau’s Web site defined the ini
tial response rate as a preliminary one
that told the bureau how many housing
units returned a census questionnaire
delivered either by the U.S. Postal
Service or by the bureau’s staff.
Wade Chestnut, office manager of the
Hillsborough Census Bureau division,
said residents had been asked to mail
back their census forms so census offi
cials could increase the community’s
response rate.
“Over the last year-and-a-half, we
have been telling people about the
importance of filing census forms,"
Lucas said.
Other goals of the Fifth Estate
include giving students “real-world”
experience in publishing and allowing
high-quality instruction about publish
ing on the Internet, which supplements
classroom instruction.
Students working on the Fifth Estate
understand that their computer and
technology expertise might be skills
that will probably help them obtain
decent jobs.
“The job helps because it is what I
plan to do after college, which is Web
design, and it is useful as a portfolio for
any student," Lucas said.
Deb Aikat has been the group’s fac
ulty adviser since the Fifth Estate’s
inception in 1996.
“I devote about four to six hours
Chestnut said. “This will ensure ade
quate representation.”
Census results are used to determine
how federal funds are dispersed
throughout the country.
Chestnut said accurate census data
helped officials plan construction opera
tions such as building hospitals, schools,
churches and facilities for trash collec
tion and disposal.
He said Census Bureau workers had
not yet ended their efforts to solicit cen
sus data for this year, even though April
14 was the due date for residents to turn
in their forms.
“In the coming week, we will have
census workers going door to door of
those residents who are yet to fill and
return their forms,” he said. “And we
News
physically, but mentally, I am always
thinking of new ideas,” said Aikat, a
professor in the School of Journalism
and Mass Communication.
A recent project focused on
redesigning the publication. As times
change, so do computers and the soft
ware available to enhance a Web site,
Aikat said.
The students who work for the Fifth
Estate realized that they could give
some creative input while replacing old
graphics and text with different tech
nology available today.
“We have anew Internet every
day,” Aikat said. “Before it, (the Fifth
Estate site) was just text and graphics,
and now we are trying to incorporate
video, music and audio into the site,”
Aikat said.
urge residents to cooperate with our
workers.”
There are full-time and part-time
opportunities for those interested in
working on the census.
“We continue to have jobs available
for census workers for a minimum of 20
hours a week to a maximum of 40 hours
a week,” Chestnut said. “Jobs are avail
able for sl3 per hour, and we give 32.5
cents per mile for use of their car,” he
said.
Chestnut said census workers had
taken adequate measures in order to
ensure that homeless people were prop
erly represented in census data collec
tion.
“We had a special operation on
March 29 which began at 4 a.m.,” he
Fifth Estate staff members have put
a lot of creative ideas and hard work
behind the redesign project, Aikat said.
The major problem that the staff ran
into was losing members.
“Students would have so much tech
nical expertise that they would get bet
ter-paying jobs,” Aikat said.
Although the Fifth Estate is a rela
tively new publication, students hail
the benefits of participating in the
online project.
Harien Makemson, the publisher of
the Fifth Estate and a graduate student
said, “The Fifth Estate is a wonderful
opportunity to get experience produc
ing online material.”
The Features Editor can be reached at
features@unc.edu.
said. “It aimed to target homeless resi
dents, and we captured those individu
als at their location.”
Chapel Hill Town Council member
Joyce Brown said the town had no
involvement in matters dealing with the
census.
“To my knowledge, the town is not
direcdy involved,” she said. “The census
is a federal issue and I know that it
affects Chapel Hill tremendously, but
we are not doing anything.”
To find out more information about
working for the Census Bureau, contact
officials at 541-4037 or (888) 325-7733
toll-free.
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
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Top Stories From the
State, Nation and World
In The
News
Memorial Ceremony
Remembers Bombing
OKLAHOMA CITY - Church bells
chimed on streets that once rang with a
bomb’s blast. Children saw their reflect.
tions in a calm pool where there was
once an ugly crater. And families found
serenity Wednesday in a place that has;
pained them for five years.
On the anniversary of the April 19;
1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrafr
Federal Building, 168 sculpted chains
stood in silent tribute to the 168 victims
of the most deadly terrorist attack on>
American soil.
“To me it’s like my funeral for him,
my time to say goodbye,” said 20-year
old Sarah Broxterman, who fingered ;
over the stone-and-bronze chair,
inscribed with the name of her late,
father, victim Paul Broxterman.
The chairs soon overflowed with
flowers as thousands came for the first
of two ceremonies to dedicate the
Oklahoma City National Memorial at
the site of the federal building.
Later, President Clinton walked with
representatives of families, survivors
and rescuers through the 168 chairs
before the second dedication ceremony.
At one point he paused to straighten
flowers knocked over in the strong
Oklahoma wind.
He stopped before one chair with
Jeannine Gist, the mother of a victim,
and placed a hand on her shoulder.
Clinton dedicated the memorial with
the promise that “America will never,
forget” the suffering inflicted by the
bombing. “There are places in our
national landscape so scarred by free
dom’s sacrifice that they shape forever
the soul of America,” the president said.
“This place is such sacred ground.”
Bells tolled at 9:02 a.m., the exact
moment when the fuel-and-fertilizer
truck bomb exploded and stripped the
face from the building, turning its nine
floors into a tomb of concrete and steel,
‘Dirty Joke’ Triggers
Deadly Mich. Rampage
LINCOLN PARK, Mich.- When
tenants at a senior citizens complex
accused a resident of using vulgar lan
guage, officials at the residence called a
meeting between both sides to try to
defuse the situation.
Instead of ending tension, Tuesday’s
meeting apparendy sparked a rampage.
After angrily denying the charges, the
accused man abrupdy left -and came
back shooting.
When it was over, two women were
killed and another critically wounded.
One of those killed was a resident who
had originally filed the complaint.
“All of this is over a dirty joke," said
Phyllis McLenon, deputy director of the
housing commission.
City Attorney Edward M. Zelenak
identified the gunman as Kenneth Ray
Miller, 56. He was found asleep in his
suburban Detroit apartment after a self
induced drug overdose, police Lt.
Donald Gentner said today.
A .22-caliber rifle that police think
was used in the shooting was confiscat
ed. No other weapons were found in the
apartment, police said. Gentner said
Miller was hospitalized then released to
police custody late Tuesday.
Skin for Profit Is Over
With Arizona Ruling
TUCSON, Ariz.- Human body
parts donated in Arizona will no longer
be given to a for-profit company to use
for cosmetic purposes, the state’s organ
and tissue donation agency announced.
Donor Network of Arizona, the
agency that coordinates all organ and
tissue donations in the state, said
Tuesday it hastened the decision in reac
tion to outrage over reports this week in
The Orange County Register in
California detailing profits made from
donated body parts.
The Register said bum victims await
ing skin from tissue banks often found
themselves behind people signed up for
cosmetic surgery because it is less prof
itable to sell skin in the bum market.
Federal regulations ensure that vital
organs such as kidneys, fivers and hearts
go to patients in greatest need, but skin
is not covered by law.
Jack Shafer, a Tucson paralegal who
is a donor on his Arizona’s driver’s
license, expressed concern.
“I don’t mind giving away my heart
and lungs and fiver and kidneys - I
know how they’ll be used," he said.
“But does this mean that someone can
come in and take my skin and give it to
a cosmetic company for a model’s lips?
That’s not what I intended when I
checked the donor box.”
Associated Press