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UNC, Town Join Forces to Foster Harmony
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DTH/JEFF POULAND
Chancellor James Moeser with Mayor Rosemary Waldorf discusses ways
UNC and the town will tackle issues of mutual concern on Thursday.
Civil War Re-enactor's Speech
Touts Battlefield Preservation
Robert Lee Hodge, featured
in "Confederates in the
Attic," surprised students
and was well-received.
By Blake Rosser
Staff Writer
The savage-looking man on the cover
of a Civil War narrative proved himself
to be an intelligent and engaging speak
er Thursday night when he spoke to stu
dents about issues important to him as
a Civil War afficionado.
Robert Lee Hodge, the Civil War re
enactor featured in Tony Horwitz’s
Pulitzer Prize-winning book
“Confederates in the Attic,” discussed
topics ranging from his opinion of
Horwitz’s writing to his roots as a Civil
War fanatic.
But Hodge focused mainly on the
Bush; Gore Debate Shows Contrast in Policy; Image
Political science Professor
George Rabinowitz says
the campaign focus will
now shift to advertising.
By Rachel Cottone
Staff Writer
Political pundits say the third and
final presidential debate was more heat
ed and brought out differ
ences between the two front-runners.
The last debate between the two pres
idential candidates - Republican
George W. Bush and Democrat A1 Gore
- took place Tuesday at the University
Student Forum Backs Native American Activist
By Daniel Thigpen
Staff Writer
A Robeson County activist charged
with first-degree murder might eventu
ally face the death penalty, but not if a
group of UNC students have anything
to say about it.
; A student-organized forum designed
tp shed light on the case of accused mur
derer Eddie Hatcher was held Thursday
night at Peabody Hall. Hatcher was
arrested in June 1999 for the drive-by
shooting of Brian McMillan.
The forum was sponsored by the
Eddie Hatcher Defense Committee,
UNC Campaign to End the Death
Penalty and Internationalist Books.
rju
preservation of bat
defields.
The speech,
held in Carroll
Hall, was co-spon
sored by the
Carolina Summer
Reading Program
and the Center for
the Study of the
American South.
Hodge began
“I think he got people interested
in the fact that people's stories
(from the Civil War) exist on
paper and ... can be accessed. ”
Sarah Shields
UNC History Professor
his speech on a light note, saying,
“You’re probably expecting a Cro-
Magnon or a Neanderthal based on
what that cover looked like.”
With tame curly hair, a bushy beard
and a somewhat nasally, accendess
voice, he seemed like the antithesis of
what Horwitz depicted in his account
right off the bat.
“I don’t have a life in the 21st centu
ry,” Hodge said.
Hodge mentioned the advantages
of Washington in St. Louis.
Diana Carlin, University of Kansas
communication studies professor, said
both Bush and Gore engaged in a more
heated debate.
“(It was an) aggressive debate by both
of them,” Carlin said.
David Birdsell, an expert on presi
dential debates and Baruch College pro
fessor of public affairs, said each candi
date tried to highlight the differences
between himself and his opponent in the
St. Louis debate.
“(Gore) clearly wanted to create
sharp contrasts,” he said.
But Bush also tried to show voters the
differences between himself and Gore.
“(Bush) clearly wanted to show A1
About 50 students from organizations
such as Students United for a
Responsible Global Environment and
CEDP showed up to support Hatcher, a
Native American activist who they
believe is innocent of the accusations.
“People know about Eddie Hatcher
... we’re hoping to put his case back on
the map,” said John Johnson of CEDP,
who helped organize the forum. “We’re
trying to get the facts out to the people.”
These facts came from Hatcher him
self, who spoke from the Robeson
County Jail via telephone to the forum.
Hatcher has long been an opponent
of Robeson County authorities and
gained national attention in 1988 when
he and another man held workers
Aftermath
Honor Court sanctions can have
detrimental effects, but most
students persevere. See Page 3
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Anew committee is in the
works to address potential
conflicts between UNC and
the town of Chapel Hill.
By Ginny Sciabbarrasi
City Editor
Chapel Hill Mayor Rosemary
Waldorf and UNC Chancellor James
Moeser met on the steps of the Franklin
Street post office on Thursday to
announce anew strategy for approach
ing town-gown relations.
The two unveiled anew committee
composed of members from the Chapel
Hill Town Council and various
University representatives. The com
mittee will meet to discuss issues of
mutual interest to the town and UNC,
and disadvantages
of his life after his
premiere in the
pages of Horwitz’s
book.
“The book’s
flattering, but a
lot of re-enactors
dislike me
because of it,”
Hodge said.
“I’m kind of
worp on re-enacting, and who wouldn’t
be after 19 years?”
Hodge’s speech was well-received
by the audience, chiefly because of
his informal attitude and his fresh
views.
“I thought he was a great speaker
because he didn’t hold anything back,
and he meant every single one of his
words,” said Sarah Taylor, a freshman
See HODGE, Page 4
Gore is not like you and me,” Birdsell
said.
Carlin said this debate was very dif
ferent from the previous two since it
allowed citizens in the audience to ask
the candidates questions on issues
important to them.
Audience members asked questions
about education and capital punishment
during the third debate.
In the first two debates, the questions
were posed by PBS news anchor Jim
Lehrer and focused largely on health
care issues and foreign policy.
The last debate’s town hall question
ing format revealed more of what citi
zens wanted to know, Carlin said.
She said this last debate will not indi
hostage at a Lumberton newspaper.
Hatcher sought to expose alleged drug
trafficking and corruption in the local
government. He also had been investi
gating the shooting of a Lumbee Native
American by a sheriffs deputy.
Hatcher was arrested and sentenced
to 18 years for the hostage-taking but was
released after contracting the HIV virus.
For the pending murder charge, he
has been held in jail for 18 months with
out an arraignment, although a trial has
already been scheduled forjanuary 2001.
Hatcher claimed he had nothing to
do with the murder of McMillan and
said Robeson County District Attorney
Joseph Britt is abusing his power. “He’s
running rampant and wild, holding peo
I bent my wookie.
Ralph Wiggum
by way of a neutral facilitator.
“Our motivation to discuss this kind
of a joint working team is pretty simple,"
Moeser said.
“It is to move beyond specific issues
as they arise together as both the
University and the town to consider the
bigger picture and the wider range of
issues that we both need to resolve in
order to most effectively serve our
respective constituents.”
While no date has been set for the
committee to begin working, Waldorf
and Moeser said it will be soon after
November’s elections, when UNC offi
cials will no longer be working to push
the passing of the $3.1 billion higher
education bond referendum.
But once the committee convenes,
Moeser said he hopes it will meet on a
weekly basis.
Waldorf said the committee will
I LIKE TO DO DRAWRINGS
/
DTH/AUDREY BARRETT
Erin Buechler (left) and her sister Beth try to raise money
for Derby Days, an annual fund-raiser for the Children's Miracle
Network, sponsored by Sigma Chi fraternity Inc.
vidually influence voters, but all three
debates, when examined together,
would have a slight effect on voters’
opinions.
“(Bush and Gore) had obvious strate
gies and helped themselves,” Carlin
said.
She said Bush portrayed Gore as a
big spender, while Gore focused on con
vincing voters he would be the one to
preserve the economic success of the last
eight years.
But Carlin said the debate was not all
positive as the candidates tried to shoot
down each other’s ideas.
“They tried to taint what the other
was proposing,” she said.
UNC political science Professor
pie on no evidence,” Hatcher said.
Hatcher’s mother, Thelma Clark,
intrigued students with her viewpoints.
Clark passionately defended her son,
specifically in the 1988 incident. “(The
government) can do so much and get
away with it... break the law, pull guns
on people,” she said.
She said the community was prohib
ited to discuss what she and her son felt
was obvious corruption in the local sys
tem. “One of the ways to bring about
change is to ask questions,” she said.
“What Eddie had to do in ’BB should not
have been his only option.”
Students at the forum were shown clips
See HATCHER, Page 4
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make suggestions to her and to the chan
cellor about the issues that are of highest
priority for the two bodies, like UNC’s
Master Plan and transportation con
cerns.
The Master Plan is a blueprint for
campus growth that has run into resis
tance from residents who five near
UNC and fear the campus will begin to
encroach on their neighborhoods.
“Doing this creates a sense of expec
tation, which I think is good,” she said.
“I think it makes us all expect of our
selves that we will work very hard to
resolve some of the lingering issues of
mutual interest and mutual concern that
exists between the town and the
University.”
Waldorf appointed Town Council
members Bill Strom, Kevin Foy and Lee
See PRESS CONFERENCE, Page 4
George Rabinowitz also said the differ
ence between Gore and Bush became
clearer after the last debate.
He said that Bush was more focused
on pushing conservative ideology and
portraying himself as an easy-to-like per
son.
Rabinowitz added that Gore tried to
steer the discussion toward policy issues.
Birdsell said the remainder of the
campaign will become more focused on
advertising and somewhat more nega
tive because the candidates are not
scheduled to meet face to face in a pres
idential debate again.
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
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RTH/EMIEY SCHNURE
Thelma Clark, mother of Eddie Hatcher, speaks Thursday in Peabody Hall
before her son conducts a teleconference from Robeson County Jail.
Go to the Fair
Today: Partly cloudy, 73
Saturday: Cloudy, 80
Sunday: Partly cloudy, 77
Friday, October 20, 2000
Durham
Elections
In Dispute
Board of Elections officials
say errors in the county's
no-excuse absentee voting
have not affected results.
By Peter Johnston
Staff Writer
Despite allegations that the Durham
County Board of Elections did not fol
low election protocol, state Board of
Elections officials said election results
were not compromised.
N.C. Republican Party Chairman Bill
Cobey alleged in a press release that he
found ballots lying around the Durham
County Board of Elections office, an unse
cured ballot box, nobody in charge of the
site and keys for the voting machine.
But Johnnie McLean, state Board of
Elections deputy director who works
with the Durham Board of Elections,
said officials have corrected the errors.
“It’s functioning smoothly now,”
McLean said. “There is no reason to
doubt the integrity of the election.”
She said no voters were prevented
from casting their ballots and that the
votes were secure.
More than 700 people have voted at
the three one-stop absentee voting sites
in Durham County since Monday
morning. State law mandates that a one
stop absentee voting site must be estab
lished at every county’s Board of
Elections office.
Dan Gurley, N.C. Republican Party
political director, said the incident in
Durham cast a negative light on the way
elections officials are managing the
absentee sites.
“You’ve got to be able to prove your
office is administered properly and well
run,” Gurley said. “The public won’t
have confidence in elections if this isn’t
handled properly.”
He said the increased number of
one-stop or no-excuse absentee voting
sites -many established near UNC-sys
tem schools or state community colleges
-could lead to several voting problems.
“More possible locations for prob
lems equals more undermining of pub
lic confidence,” Gurley said.
A no-excuse absentee voting site is
located at the Morehead Planetarium
for voters registered in Orange County.
Gurley added that the Durham
Board of Elections has had elections
problems for several yean.
During May campaign primaries,
some Durham citizens alleged that the
board failed to inform them of changes
in voting districts, McLean said.
Sandy Shanahan, state Board of
Elections trainer, said state Board of
Elections officials are helping Durham’s
board fix its problems and are making
sure Durham officials are ready to work
without assistance as soon as possible.
McLean said the absentee voting
process was designed to encourage
See NO EXCUSE, Page 4