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Utoe Doily ®ar Heel The University and Towns In Brief New Fossil Disclaims Bird-Dinosaur Relation By painstakingly studying a fossil unearthed in central Asia and first reported in 1970, a team of U.S. and Russian researchers has discovered what they believe are by far the oldest feathers ever found. Some 220 million years ago, the small primitive reptile could at least glide efficiendy, the scien tists say. The discovery casts serious doubt on the view that birds descended from dinosaurs, as many paleontologists maintain. Ornithologists say that could not have happened because feathers and the creatures that grew them pre dated dinosaurs. Instead, the latter believe both birds and dinosaurs undoubtedly evolved from earlier rep tilian ancestors known as archosaurs. “This question has been debated since the late 1800 sand debated heatedly for about the past 10 years,” said Dr. Alan Feduccia, Heninger professor and chair of biology at the University. “But just as you can’t be your own grandmother, birds can’t have come from theropod dinosaurs because the fossil record shows the time line is all wrong.” UNC Signs Deal with Computer Companies The University has signed license agreements with three new companies that will commercialize computer graphics technology developed by UNC computer scientists. The agree ments cover three different technolo gies, 3-D laser scanning, high-perfor mance, optical tracking systems and a unique user interface for an atomic force microscope. The inventors are the principal owners of the three compa nies, Delta Sphere Inc., Hißall Tracker Inc. and NanoManipulator Inc., with the University owning a small percent age of each. The agreements provide for ongoing technology transfer between university researchers and the three start-up companies. The university researchers will continue to improve the technologies, while the start-ups will commercialize them through hardware and software engineering, feature enhancement and manufacturing. Area Group Announces Scholarship Recipients The Triangle Community Foundation announced the first round of recipients of scholarship awards for 2000. These scholarships represent last ing partnerships between the founda tion and caring individuals and busi nesses from all over the Triangle. The Rotary Club of Chapel Hill Advised Fund gave three scholarships of SSOO each tojennifer Galassi, Lisa Weissman- Ward and John Huang to attend UNC. The Kate Parks Kitchin Scholarship totaling $1,500, established by the Class of 1942 of Rocky Mount High School in honor of Kitchin and her influence as a wise and compassionate educator at the school, is being given to Elizabeth Johnson Hendricks, who will attend UNC. The mission of the Triangle Community Foundation is to expand private philanthropy in the area by helping donors to support their charita ble interests and increase the influence of their giving to benefit the public good. Currently, the foundation man ages more than 400 philanthropic funds totaling more than $Bl million. Registration Open for Photoshop Conference Graphic designers, photographers and advertising professionals are invit ed to register for a seminar, "Photoshop Magic," to be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 4 in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at UNC. The seminar will be cosponsored by the North Carolina Press Association. The morning session will include discussion of and practice with artistic and pro duction elements, such as cloning, retouching, color spacing and coloring images. The afternoon session will cover preparing graphic elements for the World Wide Web. Speakers will include Larry Gates, electronic imaging specialist in the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of Imaging, Printing and Photographic Services; Robin Johnston, features design director at The News & Observer in Raleigh; and Stacy Wynn, editorial production man ager at The Daily Tar Heel. Registration is SSO. Registration forms are available at http://metalab.unc.edu/jomc/gener al/special/execeducation/index.html. Applicants must print the forms and fax them to 919-962-0620. For more infor mation or to have a form mailed, con tact Sabrina Davis, director of executive education, at 919-966-7024 or via e-mail at ssdavis@email.unc.edu. From Staff Reports Town Approves Budget, Curbside Chapel Hill will implement curbside garbage pickup after the Town Council included it in the budget. Kate Hartig Staff Writer Residents crammed into the council chambers of the Chapel Hill Town Hall Monday night to voice their opposition to curbside trash pick-up, a part of the town’s $50.6 million budget for 2000-01. The Town Council approved the bud get 5-4, raising the property tax by 1.5 cents and increasing die rate to 57.8 cents per SIOO assessed value. But residents were more concerned that back-yard garbage collection was canned by the council’s action. On June 5, a 5-4 vote passed anew Land Preservation Is at Issue in State Russ Lane Staff Writer A group of legislators and nonprofit land conservancies gathered in Chapel Hill Friday to discuss how to balance the growth of North Carolina’s urban devel opments with rural preservation. The farm and open space work group of the Smart Growth, Growth Management and Development Issues Committee convened at the North Carolina Botanical Garden to learn about techniques and funding options the state and land conservancies could use in preserving open farmland. Smart Growth Senior Advisor Meg Ryan O’Donnell said the committee was created to proactively generate sug gestions on stabilizing growth before North Carolina, one of the nine fastest growing states in the country, grows out of control. “Basically, the state was concerned that if it didn’t look at ways to manage growth now,” O’Donnell said, “It would lose the qualities that make North Carolina such a beautiful place to live and work.” Jill Schwartz, at large director for “If the people of North Carolina want to protect our environment, they are going to have to spend some money. ” Robert Caldwell N.C. State Grange President the American Farmland Trust, informed the work group of preservation tech niques that worked successfully in other parts of the country and presented var ious funding options. Schwartz said she was pleased the state is looking for mid dle ground between urban development and rural preservation, but that much of land preservation is on the local level. “We see North Carolina in particular as one of the states we’re most interest ed in working with,” she said. “People across the state are starting to ask the basic question ‘What do we want North Carolina to look like?,’ and it’s exciting.” Fire Safety Bill Sparks Interest Despite legislation moving through Congress, UNC housing officials say the bill will have little effect. Jennifer Brown Staff Writer J Federal legislation pending in the U.S. Congress could mandate that uni versity campuses nationwide take nec essary fire safety precautions, keeping officials at UNC on their toes. But, officials said, whether the bill passes or not, all residence halls at the University will be outfitted with sprin kler systems. They speculated that such a project might take up to 20 years. Dean Breciani, vice chancellor of stu dent affairs, said the start date for the project was undetermined due to a lack of money. Its projected cost of sl9 mil lion is a conservative estimate that will take an unprecedented number of years to complete, he said. “We don’t receive state funding or anything like that,” he said. “The way we have to. pay for this is through stu dent rental rates, and obviously we can’t saddle a sl9 million debt on any current renter.” If passed, the legislation will mandate all university residence halls be outfitted with sprinkler systems, flame resistant furniture and smoke alarms. The bill also outlines the possibility of making funds available to universities for the undertaking of such a project. Even if the legislation is passed intact policy that would phase in curbside garbage pick-up for Chapel Hill over the next three years. Roll-out carts offered through the town are recommended in the new policy, but residents are also permitted to use their own containers. Following the June 5 meeting, the five pro-curbside council members - Bill Strom, Jim Ward, Flicka Bateman, Edith Wiggins and Mayor Rosemary Waldorf - asked Town Manager Cal Horton to include the curbside program in this fis cal year’s budget, startingjuly 1. Several residents pleaded to the coun cil Monday night in a last-minute attempt to change the newly adopted policy. Signs were posted all around the chamber saying, “Cure Spending, Not Trash,” and “Trash Curbside Pick-up." “The main problem with curbside is that it doesn’t do anything for Chapel Hill,” resident Jill Blackburn said. “It doesn’t help the environment or encour- Orange County Commissioner Barry Jacobs, a member of the work group, said all of Schwartz’s advice will be con sidered. “It’s all applicable, but it’s a matter of the interests in landowners, the attitudes the developers take and the kind of money we generate,” he said. “It’s a question of what is best for the state -and what the state can afford.” Although nine North Carolina agen cies and seven national funding agencies exist that can fund open space protec tion projects, Schwartz also said that direct taxation can be legislated to fund open space or farmland preservation. Robert Caldwell, president of the N.C. State Grange, said state taxpayers need to expect these land preservation techniques to come at a cost. “If the peo ple of North Carolina want to protect our environment, they are going to have to spend some money,” Caldwell said. Sen. Allen B. Wellons, D-Franklin, Johnston, Vance and Wilson, said that significant amounts of farmland were sold due to finan cial difficulties and the general pub lic’s misunder standing of agricul ture’s importance in the state. “We are in a rural depression in Eastern North Carolina,” Wellons said. “If we need to, use the money to keep fanners farming to support what we call our number one industry in the state.” To aid in funding land preservation and helping farmers, Wellons told the committee the state was trying to allo cate sl-2 million for farmland preserva tion and create tax breaks for farmers. Money and funding was also the con cern of Kate Dixon, executive director of the non-profit Triangle Land Conservancy. One of four non-profit representatives at the meeting, Dixon spoke to the committee on problems with the added monetary provisions, it might not help cut the cost enough, Bresciani said. At UNC, residence halls are self funding, meaning no University, state or public money is spent on residence buildings. “We can only spend what we gener ate through student rent,” Bresciani said. Although the buildings operate on a self-funding method, they are still con sidered state-owned, Bresciani said. If legislation were passed to provide partial funding, where it might be applied is not well-defined. The University already has a variety of other fire safety systems installed. Bresciani said the legislation might prioritize funds on the basis that some universities are in worse need than others for fire safety systems. Assuming the federal government picks up some of the cost, the question of how to raise the rest of the money remains. “It has taken some creative finance planning to avoid an undue rate increase for residents and careful timing to do this without displacing students,” Bresciani said. “I’m pleased that we’re making the progress we are and have a plan that reaches well into the future.” Though all residence halls at UNC have heat and smoke detectors installed, not all of the buildings are outfitted with sprinkler systems. In order for residence halls to have sprinkler systems installed, they must go through extensive renova tions that would shut them down for at least a year, Bresciani said. “For us to do that, not only does it News -4 age recycling.” Blackburn informed the council that a peti tion with several hundered signa tures had been started in opposi tion to curbside garbage pick-up. “We are asking for a solid-waste program that is both environmen tally and fiscally responsible,” she said. “The curb- Council member Kevin Foy proposed a failed resolution that would have gotten rid of curbside garbage pickup. side program doesn’t really save any money -a savings of $54,000 for a SSO million dollar budget is not a lot.” Councilman Kevin Foy proposed a resolution for a flexible solid waste pro gram that eliminates curbside carts and '1 1 Mi# I ! I fir' Ii I 1 „ f / 1 I|Jm j j ’ 1 **/ I I hppMtt iiW#***®’®* J Vwii •!."> *. :: f m i , > Wj | M ' J B * ■<,- I .. | ditw '*V wfr '•* . .’Wy Sfl Dm/ALEXIS RICHARDSON Senator and farmer Allen B. Wellons speaks about farm and open space preservation at a Smart Growth, Growth Management and Development Issues Committee meeting Friday at the N.C. Botanical Garden. that many of the state’s 24 non-profit conservancies or “land trusts” face from a lack of funding. Without increased funding, she said, land trusts cannot hire enough staff to satisfy everyone interest ed in selling their land for preservation. Dixon cited the Triangle Land Trust’s recent establishment of the Johnston Mill Nature Preserve in Orange County as an example. She said a lack of fund ing significandy complicated purchasing the acreage from its original owners, since some landowners are reluctant to divide large blocks of land into small quantities the trust can afford. “If the state gave us more money, we could’ve done it much easier and quick cost a lot of money, but it means we are not able to house all of the students who want to live on campus,” Bresciani said. To counter this problem Bresciani said that as new residence halls are built, as planned, an older building would be shut down and renovated with the inclu sion of a sprinkler system. The order in which buildings are cho sen is based on the need of anew sys tem, Bresciani said. North Campus res idence halls will receive the systems first, followed by Mid and South Campuses. South Campus buildings are the safest without the sprinkler systems because of the physical designs of the structure used when constructing the buildings, Bresciani said. Robin Yamakawa, president of the Residence Hall Association, said other measures will be taken to insure the safe ty of residents. Residence halls will undergo a facility walk through next year by officials from the housing department. “In doing this, we hope to make peo ple more aware about fire safety,” Yamakawa said. Two residence halls are currently receiving slight renovations, though sprinkler systems are not being installed. Both Morrison and Craige Residence Halls are being refurnished, though Morrison is going through the most extensive work. The building is being completely repainted, all wood surfaces refinished and new furniture installed. The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu. looks into pay-as-you-throw options as a way to reduce waste and increase recy cling. Foy, along with three other coun cil members, Pat Evans, Lee Pavao and Joyce Brown, voted against curbside pick-up. “I regret that I cannot support this year’s budget with the inclusion of curb side,” Foy said. “It fails to advocate valid citizen concern.” The resolution failed, 5-4, provoking “boos” from residents in the audience. “Curb-side has been consistently rejected for 19 years,” resident Bill Clap said. “This issue has been met with more opposition than any other item on the agenda.” “It’s an outrage,” resident Janet Kagan said. “There will definitely be an aggressive organizational effort against this. It’s not over.” Also with the adoption of the town’s 2000-01 budget, town residents will pay er,” she said. With the majority of land preserva tion driven by nonprofit land trusts, parks and recreation departments and local governments, Dixon said the meet ing was a welcome opportunity to coor dinate strategies for fulfilling Gov. Jim Hunt’s recent Million Acre Initiative. Introduced at the first Smart Growth meeting in January, Hunt challenged the state to permanently save one million acres of open space by 2001. Jacobs said Smart Growth’s planning and the initia tive were not complementary, but mere ly paralleled one another. “We’re obviously cognizant that the effort was proposed, but it isn’t neces Searches Set to Be§in for Two New Directors Mark Thomas Staff Writer With the search for a provost contin uing, University administrators are preparing to go on yet another hunt to fill high-level administrative positions. Gerald Horne, former director of both the SonjaJ. Stone Black Cultural Center and the Institute of African- American Research, announced last week that he will be officially vacat ing his posts on June 30. With this announcement, UNC officials are again forced to fill important posi tions at the University. But Home’s departure does not signify a major interrup tion in the work ings of both orga nizations, as he e*\ Gerald Horne, former director of the BCC and the Institute of African-American Research, left both posts in June. has been away from the University for the past year as a Fulbright Scholar in Hong Kong. Provost Dick Richardson said Home requested an additional year of leave in late May or early June in order to con tinue his research in Hong Kong for another year. With Home not scheduled to return Thursday, June 29, 2000 Pick-up a Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district tax rate of 22 cents per SIOO and anew Orange County tax rate of 92.9 cents per SIOO, which is up one penny com pared to last year. “The raising of taxes are without as much complaint because we are paying for those services,” Clap said. “But we are not paying for the Town to manage cans and trucks, we are paying them to manage the people.” The town budget also includes for 2000-01 expanded services from Chapel Hill Transit to provide more consistent and extended hours year-round and on holidays, pending on money from state funds, an average 6.25 percent salary increase for town employees and addi tional police officers for two area middle schools and the two high schools. The CitylState and National Editor can be reached at sntdesk@unc.edu. sarily the impetus (behind Smart Growth),” he said. “Our focus is bigger than that.” Having already met twice, with more meetings planned across the state, the farm and open space work group has three counterparts -community, region al partnerships and transportation. Each Smart Growth work group began meet ing separately in January, with occa sional collaborative meetings since then. They will present a final recommenda tion to the General Assembly for approval by January 15,2001. The CitylState and Nationai Editor can be reachedatstntdesk@unc.edu. to the University until July 2001, the need for full-time replacements in these posts became apparent. Harry Amana, a journalism profes sor, has held both posts in an interim capacity since Horne’s departure, and he will continue to do so until a search yields individuals to take over each post. Amana feels that Home’s officially vacating these posts will have no great affect on his approach to his work. “I am going to continue doing what I’ve been doing,” he said. Although both positions are current ly held by Amana, the duties wall be divided up with one man heading each post. Searches for new directors to guide the Stone Center and the Institute have yet to begin. “We haven’t appointed search com mittees yet,” Richardson said. “(The searches) should be going in the next ten days to two weeks." Although the positions are currently held by one man, the coming searches will not be bound together. “The members of the boards for both organizations requested that the search es be done independently.” Richardson said. As with recent searches for individu als to fill administrative positions at UNC, these searches could take sever al months. “I very much hope we can have both See HORNE, Page 4 3
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