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Fire Levels 8 Apartments,
Leaves Residents Stranded
By Ginny Sciabbarram
Assistant City Editor
A late-night blaze swept through a
local apartment complex, leaving many
residents pointing to faulty wiring as the
culprit.
Chapel Hill Fire Department crews
received a report at 10:37 p.m. of an
electrical fire at Foxcroft Apartments,
located on U.S. 15-501.
Michael Ayres, who lives at 523
Ashley Court where the fire originated,
said he thought the cause was a short in
a recessed light fixture.
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Local Man Gives Franklin Street
Fashion Flair the 'Wright' Way
By Jermaine Caldwell
Staff Writer
He’s like clockwork.
Six days a week, Frank Taylor Wright departs
from a Triangle Transit Authority bus in the
morning to begin his daily strut along Franklin
Street adorned in matching outfits in colors
from shocking purple to simple white.
But this day, a child would only need two
crayons - brown and cream - to complete a
color-by-number picture of the Wright’s attire.
Both colors dominate every article of his
clothing, trickling from the brim of his hat
down to the tip of his shoes.
His long, cream suit coat drops to his knees.
Morrison Residents Might Pick Up Vandalism Tab
By C.B. Mabeus
Staff Writer
Some South Campus residents could
be forced to dish out a few extra dollars
to pay for two recent acts of vandalism
in Morrison Residence Hall.
University Police are still investigat
ing a F'riday morning incident during
which a stove and couch were thrown
Over opposite balconies from the build-
“As soon as it started, we pulled the
glass off the fixture,” he said. “(It spread)
in the time it took to get a fire extin
guisher and realizing it wouldn’t work to
looking out the window and seeing the
roof on fire. I didn’t even get my shoes.”
Dave Viscan, Ayres’ roommate,
received minor burns on his foot, the
only injury in the fire. However, eight
apartments were gutted by the flames,
and Ayres’ three cats died.
“My cats are gone, my clothes are
gone, all the furniture - I was planning
to move in six days. I guess I’ll just
move sooner.”
Three of its four buttons are buttoned to reveal
the top part of a black, brown and cream tie,
the same scattered pattern and color of the
handkerchief in his breast pocket.
Cream pants with a dangerously sharp
crease lurk under the long coat.
The color combination is topped off with his
hat, its back brim tipped up to reveal his
slicked-back hair.
And the umbrella that he leans on so gener
ously, of course, matches the brown and white
saddle oxfords he struts in.
Known to some as “the best dressed man in
Chapel Hill," Franklin Street is his red carpet
lined runway -and his alone.
And it ain’t easy.
ing’s seventh floor. The investigation
also continues in an April 2 act of vio
lence that left six of 10 water fountains
lying on the floor after being ripped
from the wall.
Administrators now say they might
have to pass the cost of damages onto stu
dents if no one steps forward. As it stands,
Morrison residents already face a possi
ble charge of $6 to $8 to their student
accounts to cover the cost of damages.
Ayres said the fire had spread to
other apartments within five minutes.
“We ran out and banged on other
people’s doors to get them out,” he said.
“The whole building is a total loss.”
Maureen Quinn, a UNC student who
lives at 422 Melanie Court, said as soon
as she heard about the fire, she rushed
out to offer help.
“My heart went out to him because of
what happened to my apartment at
Brookstone -1 lost my dog in a fire last
summer.”
See FIRE, Page 9
Residents will also have to pay an
undetermined cost for damages to the
stove and couch if the vandals remain
unknown, said Lynn Ellison, Morrison
Area Director.
Provisions for recovering the cost of
repairs are outlined in UNC’s resident
handbook, which states that when those
responsible for damages cannot be
determined, residents of “a floor, suite,
wing or entire hall are collectively
Fashion fades style is eternal
Yves Saint Laurent
Tuesday, April 25, 2000
Volume 108, Issue 39
DTH/KATHERINE EAKER
Jane Fonda speaks on women's empowerment Monday. She emphasized
that "hope is the best contraceptive" for girls. See story Page 3.
And Wright - matching suit, umbrella, hat
and all - can surely be seen walking up and
down Franklin Street talking to old friends. His
appearance has gained him celebrity status,
allowing him to make new acquaintances and
become a downtown icon.
And the people who see him on the street
might agree that well-dressed is an understate
ment.
Wright’s day begins around 10 a.m. and
doesn’t end until late in the afternoon when he
heads back to Durham County, where he lives
with his grandson.
Wright said he started daily visits to Franklin
Street about 45 years ago and considered
Chapel Hill his home.
“I live up here more than anywhere else,” he
said.
Wright, who said he was in his 80s, has seen
Franklin Street grow from the time he ran the
streets as a child to when he began using it as
his catwalk.
Michael Jordan’s restaurant, 23, meant noth
responsible for repair costs.”
Authorities estimate that Friday’s inci
dents occurred around 3:30 a.m. Ellison
said that while students later remem
bered hearing the crashes, resident assis
tants on call were not alerted and were
asleep at the time.
The recent events, added to last
November’s fires in the residence hall,
have increased frustrations among resi
dents and authorities.
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Frank Taylor Wright, known to some as "the
best-dressed man in Chapel Hill" visits
Julian's on Franklin Street (left). There are 39
photographs of Wright by Artie Dixon
on display in Julian's and its sister store
Julian's Home. Wright pauses to look
through a rack of suits in the store, most
of which lack the usual flamboyance
of his attire (above).
DTH/JEFF POULAND
ing to Wright when he talked of Chapel Hill.
Wright recalled his teenage days when he
boxed in the street where the restaurant now
stands.
Momentarily, Wright paused, got rid of his
two umbrellas, pointed to imaginary boys
ready to fight and stood poised exposing his
boxing stance.
“I got some hands you don’t see every day,”
he said.
But even though W’right lives a life of leisure
nowadays, he recalled being employed at many
restaurants, offices and homes during his life.
He doesn’t see Granville Towers as a place
for off-campus housing but as a cluster of two
story houses and a school house where he built
the fires for school teachers in the morning.
Wright also cooked UNC cafeteria food
when he was younger.
And, even then, fashion infiltrated his daily
life. He said he arrived to work dressed to the
See WRIGHT, Page 9
Freshman Tamar del Valle, a 10th
floor resident, called the acts immature
and ignorant. “I’m very irritated because
I know that someone knows who did it.
1 don’t think it’s fair that almost 1,000
people have to pay for something that
one or a few people did,” she said.
Dean Bresciani, interim director of
housing and residential education, said
See FOUNTAINS, Page 9
News/Features/Arts/Sports 962-0245
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina
© 2000 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved.
Student
Proposal
Approved
Some students might spend
next semester creating their
own lesson plans for spring
classes they will teach.
By Aisha K. Thomas
Staff Writer
Two University undergraduates now
have administrative support in creating
a pilot program that would put students
in professors’ shoes.
Senior Kristen Miller and sopho
more Marie-Lucienne Lambert said
they received an undisclosed amount of
funding from Provost Dick Richardson
to design two pilot courses to be
reviewed in fall 2000.
Miller said she and Lambert were
now looking for rising seniors interested
in teaching courses to submit their
ideas.
The proposal, known as Carolina
Students Taking Academic
Responsibility Through Teaching (C
--START), was reviewed by Associate
Dean of Undergraduate Education
Bernadette Gray-Little and Associate
Dean of Undergraduate Curriculum
Thomas Tweed on April 20, Lambert
said.
“They really liked it,” she said. “We
are going ahead, having gotten funding
from the provost.”
If the pilot courses are approved, the
student instructors would research and
participate in teacher training work
shops during the fall.
In the spring, the students would actu
ally begin teaching the courses. The stu
dent instructors would also receive three
academic credits for both semesters.
Lambert said the proposal far the
pilots would be evaluated by the
College of Arts and Sciences adminis
trative board in September. If approved,
the program would begin training stu
dent instructors to teach during spring
2001.
If the pilot succeeds, it means more
students can propose course ideas and
C-START can get more funding,
Lambert said.
“We have gotten a lot of interest, but
we have not had any applicants,” she
said. “We are happy to get students with
creative ideas to just talk to us. We can
work with people too and help them
come up with ideas.”
Miller said she was not looking for
formal proposals from students for the
pilot courses. Students to pioneer the
program would be selected through
interviews rather than proposals,
Lambert said.
“We are looking for motivated stu
dents,” Lambert said. “It is a challenge
to be able to develop a curriculum in a
subject you are passionate about and
then be able to teach it to others.”
The C-START program would allow
students who take the courses to earn
one hour of academic credit per class
and to be graded on a pass/fail scale.
Seniors who teach the course would be
paired with a faculty adviser to provide
guidance and supervision.
See PROPOSAL, Page 9
Wednesday
Calling All Pied Pipers
Following neighborhood construction,
some Hillsborough residents are
searching for a way to rid their homes
of large, diseased rats. See Page 7.
Summer Lovin’
Anyone interested in working for The
(Weekly) DTH this summer should e
mail Summer Editor Brian Frederick at
brifred@yahoo.com for more informa
tion. There will be an interest meeting at
7 p.m. Wednesday in the Union. Check
this space tomorrow for the exact room.
Today’s Weather
j. ..
Rain;
High 56. Low 39.
Wednesday: More rain,
High 54, Low 39.