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BOG Ups Accountability
In Midst of Bond Issue
The Board of Governors
approved anew system for
monitoring the spending of
lapsed salary money.
Worth Civils
City/State & National Editor
Members of the UNC Board of
Governors gathered Friday in Chapel
Hill, where they approved anew system
for monitorirg funds from lapsed
salaries, showing their accountability for
spending before voters decide on a $3.1
billion bond issue for university building
improvements.
The new system comes after irre
sponsible spending by N.C. State
University’s Public Safety Director Lex
Harper. Chancellors will now submit
reports to the BOG explaining any
unfilled positions that generate lapsed
salary funds and detailing how those
funds will be spent.
UNC President Molly Broad said
Franklin Street Sidewalk Repairs to Finish Soon
Kate Hartig
Staff Writer
Getting around Franklin Street has
not been easy this summer, thanks to
sidewalk renovations that have left nar
row, temporary walkways and blocked
off sections of street parking.
This summer’s renovations are a con
tinuation of the Streetscape project,
which is coordinated by the Chapel Hill
Downtown Commission and targets dif
ferent parts of the downtown area each
summer.
Renovations that started June 1 to the
area between the Bank of America
building and Varsity Theatre are now
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DTH/ALEXIS RICHARDSON
Saturday's grand opening celebration of El Centro Latino at 101 Lloyd St. in Carborro included music by La
Grupa Raza, dancing, food and speakers from the community. The event was attended by aournd 300 people.
Faculty, Experts Gather at Seminar to Discuss Thomas Wolfe
Faculty will celebrate Tar
Heel legend Thomas Wolfe's
100th birthday with a three
day seminar in his honor.
Courtney Mabeus
University Editor
This year would have marked the
100th birthday of fellow Tar Heel legend
Thomas Wolfe, an Asheville native who
"...The powerful play goes on, and you can contribute a verse."
Walt Whitman
WEEKLY SUMMER ISSUE
that while the flexibility to use money
from the lapsed salaries was important,
the university needed to be more
accountable, especially before state tax
payers decide in a November referen
dum if they want to put their money
towards additions and renovations at
UNC schools.
“The university
accepts a higher
level of account
ability,” Broad said
to BOG members
at the Friday
Continuing
Education Center.
“The errors in
judgement that
occurred in this
“We cannot afford to miss one
day to do something for this
bond. It is a once in a lifetime
opportunity. ”
Ben Ruffin
Chairman of the UNC Board of Governors
one instance (at N.C. State) are not
defendable. They reflect poorly on the
university as a whole. I want assure you
that this is not the general practice of the
university. (Instances such as these)
detract from the educational improve
ments that come from this (budget) flex
ibility.”
completed, with the other end, from the
Varsity Theatre to the comer of Franklin
and Columbia streets, to be finished by
mid-August.
“The renovations will be done by the
time school starts,” said Robert
Humphreys, the executive director of
the Chapel Hill Downtown
Commission. “They will not be doing
any major construction on Franklin
while school is in.”
The Street Scape design includes wide
concrete sidewalks in front of stores,
with brick “amenity strips” between the
street and sidewalks that are used for
benches, trash cans and trees,
Humphreys said.
became instantly famous following the
publication of his first novel in 1929,
Look Homeward, Angel.
To commemorate, faculty members
will be joined by several other experts
on Wolfe’s life and work in a University
seminar entitled “Thomas Wolf - The
First Hundred Years."
The seminar will examine Wolfe’s
impact as an artist and southern author
and will explore his forays into writing
for the theatre and the press.
Joseph Flora, faculty leader for the
Thursday, July 20, 2000
Volume 108, Issue 53
Some of these educational improve
ments, Broad said, were technology
infrastructure upgrades at 10 UNC
schools, Y2K compliance at five institu
tions, virtual reality equipment at N.C.
State and funding for UNC-Chapel
Hill’s First Year Seminars, which began
last year to intro
duce freshmen to
the university’s
intellectual life.
In showing its
accountability for
spending by
approving the new
monitoring system
for lapsed salaries,
the BOG set a
standard it hopes
voters will realize come November.
“We cannot afford to miss one day to
do something for this bond,” BOG
Chairman Benjamin Ruffin said. “It is a
once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m con
vinced we’ll get the bond passed.”
In continuing with the BOG’s sup
port of the bond and its role in the cam-
He said the Streetscape project start
ed with renovations to the area from
Ham’s Restaurant to Chapel Hill
Cleaners on West Franklin Street five
years ago.
“Much of our sidewalks are uneven
and cracked and have fallen into disre
paic.” he said. “Maintaining the side
walks is important to our pedestrian
friendly community.”
The current renovation area will be
designed with a wide sidewalk in front of
the businesses. Adjacent to the sidewalk
will be a small wall with sets of steps
spread among the sidewalk leading
down to street parking. Trees, bike racks
and trash cans will be replaced along
seminar and a professor on English, said
participants will also discuss how
Wolfe’s influence stands the test of time.
“We want to get as good a look as we
can as to what his major contribution is,”
he said. “I think a lot of UNC students
hardly know him, but I think that will
change. I hope it will.”
Through a pictorial biography, orga
nizers will trace Wolfe’s life from his
childhood in Asheville through his stu
dent days at UNC and Harvard and on
to his later travels as a writer in New
m
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DTH/EMILY SCHNI’RE
Re-elected Chairman Ben Ruffin speaks Friday at the BOG meeting in
Chapel Hill as Secretary Lois Britt and UNC President Molly Broad listen.
paign for voter support, Ruffin urged
members to use their own money to
help finance the campaign.
BOG member Jim Phillips
announced at the meeting the opening
of a headquarters in Raleigh for the
bond campaign and the appointment of
professional consultants to do the “nuts
and bolts” of the campaign.
Phillips also said organization at the
county level to gamer voter support
through speakers and meetings was
important to the campaign.
“If you all don’t get actively involved,
no one else is,” Phillips told the BOG
that area upon completion, Humphreys
said.
In the meantime, store owners, work
ers and pedestrians are dealing with the
mess created by gutted sidewalks and
street areas.
Scott Roberts, owner of Blue Skies
Clothiers, 115 East Franklin St., said
workers have been renovating in front
of his store for a few weeks now.
“The big factor for us is the barrier
that has been built in front of the store
that separates it from the road,” Roberts
said. “It makes it really narrow in front
of our store and creates sort of a funnel
where people aregoing in and out quick
ly, making it hard to window shop.”
El Centro Latino
Opens in Carrboro
Kate Hartig
Staff Writer
About three hundred people gath
ered in Carrboro Saturday to celebrate
the grand opening of El Centro Latino,
anew center for the area’s Latino com
munity.
The volunteer-based center, located
at 101 Lloyd Street, will serve as a gath
ering place for the Latino community,
offering educational classes and child
care.
John Herrera, a center board mem
ber and leader in the area’s Latino com
munity, saw the center as a place that is
accessible to the entire community.
“El Centro Latino will be the voice of
the Latino community,” Herrera said.
“It will be a clearing house of informa
tion and a place to develop leadership.”
Part of the mission of El Centro
Latino is based on improving the quali
ty of life for Latinos in North Carolina
York City and Europe.
The youngest of eight children born
to a heavy drinking, tombstone making
father and a mother who dabbled in real
estate speculation, Wolfe attended a pri
vate school in Asheville at the age of
eleven where he was given personal
attention and encouragement. He
entered the University just before his
sixteenth birthday.
During his time here, Wolfe became
editor of The Daily Tar Heel, though his
early career ideas leaned towards the
members. “We need people that are
willing to have their name in the paper
and speak at functions.”
Ruffin, who was re-elected chairman
at the meeting, said after winning unop
posed, “I thank you again for your vote
of confidence and your commitment as
we go down this path for two more
years.” Of the bond issue, he said, “It
will be one of the greatest legacies we
can leave - it won’t be easy, but we
don’t look for easy tasks.”
The CitylState & National Editor can
be reached at stntdesk§unc.edu.
The dust generated from renovating
has caused some problems, too, Roberts
said.
“The dust is bad,” he said. “I’ll dust a
spot and then come back 20 minutes
later and it will be dusty again.”
Rachel Drury, assistant manager of
Eight Years, V2\ East Franklin St., said
that even though the sidewalk has been
under construction for the most of the
summer, customers are still finding their
way into the store.
“It’s like a maze trying to get around
all the construction,” Drury said. “It
doesn’t seem to be affecting our busi-
See FRANKLIN, Page 2
through the development and provision
of educational, social, cultural and other
resources and services to the Latino
community.
Representatives from the Towns of
Chapel Hill and Carrboro and the
Orange County Board of
Commissioners spoke at Saturday’s
event, as well as Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D
-16th District, who is working to secure a
$4 million bill for English language pro
ficiency that the center will benefit from.
Starting in August, the center will offer
English language classes that meet two
days a week.
Along with classes, Fd Centro Latino
will have arts and crafts activities for
children every Monday morning and
offer child care service on Wednesdays
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
A representative from Centura Bank
will teach finance classes on Tuesday
See LATINO, Page 2
theater and his work with the Carolina
Play Makers.
At the age of twenty, Wolfe left for
Harvard to study playwriting, and
received a Masters of Arts Degree in
Literature. Still, after three years in
Boston, Wolfe found he was unable to
get his plays produced, so he left to
accept a job as an English instructor at
New York University where he stayed
from 1924-30.
See WOLFE, Page 2
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Chapel Hill, North Carolina
© 2000 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved.
Intramural
Fields Have
New Turf
The intramural fields next to
Carmichael Gymnasium now
sport a carpet of artificial
turf called AstroPlay.
Tommy Johnstone
Staff Writer
The days of playing on unlevel,
worn-out and brown facilities are now
history thanks to renovations at the
intramural fields adjacent to Carmichael
Gymnasium.
The playing fields, worn into a patch
work of green and brown after years of
hard play, now display a green carpet of
artificial turf called AstroPlay.
The change to the field was prompt
ed by constant use by students and fac
ulty, which gave it no growing season to
recover.
“The field got so much use it was
impossible to grow grass,” said Marty
Pomerantz, director of campus recre
ation. “We knew we had to install a syn
thetic surface.”
The $1 million project was complet
ed without any public funding. The late
Chancellor Michael Hooker was very
interested in the renovation project and
found an anonymous donor to fund it
The new surface is made of long
blades of synthetic grass that give the
field a more natural feel than conven
tional synthetic surfaces, which are
made up of shorter fibers.
After looking at surfaces used by
univstaiUes, officials chose the sur
face because it is non-abrasive, soft and
plays as close to real grass as any other
synthetic surface, Pomerantz said. The
University of Nebraska’s Memorial
Stadium has a similar surface.
The field will not require mainte
nance and will always be open.
See INTRAMURAL, Page 2
Thursday
Help Wanted
It being too
late in the
offseason to
land any
coaching
jobs of their
41
own, former UNC basketball assistants
Phil Ford. Dave Hanners and Pat
Sullivan will be paid for working in the
athletics department. See Page 4.
Final Installment
Distinguished journalism Professor
Chuck Stone’s three part series on his
B
voyage through the
African continent with
the relief organization
CARE ends this week
with a report on the
women who strengthen
Africa, from business entrepreneurs to
government leaders. See Page 3.
'X' Marks the Spot
With an all-star cast including Patrick
Stewart, Halle Berry and Rebecca
Romijn-Stamos, the new movie “X-
Men" packed a whollop at the box
office last weekend. To see if it’s worth
viewing, read our review. See Page 7.
And the Winner is...
Congratulations to Sherrill Knight,
who wrote the winning response to
"Summer i5...” Sherrill, who will now be
sporting a DTH hat, wrote, “Summer is
the open hand of the year lush, unin
hibited, old-fashioned and unapologetic;
the mimosa-scented sticky heat that
makes a step into the shade a cause for
celebration slows us as we strain to
catch a breeze, to understand the lan
guages of birds and crickets, frogs and
thunder”