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Author highlights
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DTH/MILLER PEARSALL
CNN talk show host Lariy King tells his Memorial Hall audience
about his life and career Friday.
Committee
To Select
'Ol Speaker
Senior class officials say the
process of finding a speaker
for Commencement will
soon enter its final stage.
By Katy Dillard
Staff Writer
The committee that announced the
senior class gift last week is now work
ing to nail down its choice for 2001
Commencement speaker.
Earlier this semester, seniors were
given the opportunity to submit sugges
tions that have since been considered
and narrowed down by the gift com
mittee, a panel consisting of seniors, fac
ulty and administrators. “We looked at
suggestions from the senior class and a
list of five or six has been chosen,” said
Senior Class Presidentjason Cowley.
Cowley said the candidate names
will remain confidential until a definite
decision is made, but he did reveal that
the board is primarily considering sug
gestions made by seniors.
Cowley said the administration has
been cooperative with the students’
desires. “They worked with us and gave
us a lot of leeway and respected the
opinions we brought to the table.”
Howard Tyler, senior marshal and
chairman of the Senior Class
Communications Committee, said the
gift committee considered many quali
ties when sifting through the suggestions.
“We (were) looking at candidates of
inverse backgrounds and ideas,” he
said. “(We want) anyone that can con
vey a positive message to the senior
<Jass that charges them as they enter the
real world.”
* The next step in the process will be a
decision by Chancellor James Moeser,
who has received the list of potential
speakers. “We now give the chancellor
qie opportunity to look over the choic
er and approve,” Cowley said. “We are
approaching the final selection.”
y Cowley was unable to provide a spe
cific date for the selection, but he said
ii is in the final stages.
y Money is tight this year in student gov
ernment, but Cowley said funding will not
bfe a factor in choosing the
Commencement speaker. “Generally, the
University policy is that we don’t pay peo
ple to come speak," Cowley said. “We will
most likely offer an honorary degree.”
y Seniors will now have to hold their
breaths until the choice is announced, but
meanwhile, Cowley said the committee
will make sure the final candidate is of the
highest quality. “We want someone the
(seniors) can relate to who can communi
cate well,” he said. “We want the students
to know, respect and enjoy the speaker.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
Every artist dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures.
Henry Ward Beecher
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Tola Oguntoyinbo sits in front of the mural he painted near the Pit, one of several works the artist has painted around
Chapel Hill. Other works are exhibited on the walls of the Blue Marlin Pub, Smoothieville, Carolina Car Wash and Jersey Mike's.
Unseen Artist, Unmistakable Art
By Jeremy Bradley
Staff Writer
Recognizing Tola Oguntoyinbo’s artwork is
like knowing lyrics to a song you can’t actual
ly remember hearing before.
From a Franklin Street bar to a Carrboro
car wash, finding his colorful paintings in the
community is easy. But his works aren’t often
connected, and he often goes unnoticed.
Church Blends Politics With Praise
By James Miller
Staff Writer
Religion and politics mixed with spir
ited song and goodwill Sunday as St.
Paul’s African Methodist Episcopal
Church celebrated 136 years of worship.
Invoking a history of black struggle
and achievement, Ben Ruffin, chairman
of the UNC-system Board of Governors,
delivered an anniversary message of
“Good News from the ’Hood.”
An enthusiastic audience of church
members and visitors, including local
and state public officials, received
Ruffin’s message, which was delivered
in an atmosphere of jubilant choral and
gospel music, prayer and invocation.
“Who would have thought that folks
who made littlp money or no money
could put their dimes together, and 136
years later we would have this good news
from the ’hood?” Ruffin asked, referring to
achievements of the church’s founders.
Ruffin exhorted church members to
A Daunting Task
A town-gown task force meets
to tackle the sticky issue
of rental licensing. See Page 3
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
King Discusses Career Live at UNC
By Rachel Clarke
Staff Writer
CNN talk show host Larry King had
a packed audience laughing out loud
from start to finish as he spoke in
Memorial Hall on Friday.
King, UNC’s first Earl Wynn
Distinguished Lecturer, filled his speech
with lively anecdotes. He has conducted
nearly 40,000 interviews, ranging from the
Dalai Lama to physicist Stephen Hawking
to Yasser Arafat, president of the
Palestinian National Authority.
The topic of the speech was scheduled
to be ethics in television news, but King
only mentioned that issue in passing.
The laughter was often so loud King
couldn’t be heard over it He opened
with a few political jokes, then told sev
One just needs to look no further than the
walls of the Blue Marlin Pub, Smoothieville,
Carolina Car Wash, Jersey Mike’s or the Pit to
realize that one man is behind them all.
“Painting is a lot like eating to me - it’s the
same principle,” said Oguntoyinbo, a 26-year
old UNC graduate. “I have to do it”
His artwork combines simplicity and sophis
tication. He uses vivid primary colors and bold
images in some paintings, then only pastels in
continue the traditions of the founders
and take the good news to the poor and
homeless beyond the confines of St.
Paul’s AME. Ruffin also encouraged the
congregation to take the spirit of St Paul’s
AME to the ballot box Nov. 7.
“We must go back home and call 10
friends, and then they must call 10 more,”
Ruffin said, telling his listeners to spread
the word of the importance of the upcom
ing elections to the black community.
Ruffin also urged his listeners to get
behind the $3.1 billion higher education
bond, which he said would support “five
of the best historically black education
al institutions in the world.”
But politics were not the only things
on the program at St Paul’s on Sunday.
Visitors entering the church found a
table of photo albums and individual
photographs showing off the church
family. Also highlighted was one black
and-white photograph depicting some
of the church’s founders.
“Actually, we need a museum for our
eral stories about his early career as a
radio broadcaster. King told a lengthy
story about his childhood in New York
and an experience in which he conned
money out of his junior high school.
When asked about his success as an
interviewer, King replied, “What I like
best is a variety of guests - the more
diversified, the better.”
King also gave advice to potential
broadcasters. “Just be yourself, ask the
best questions you can think of and
don’t be afraid of being dumb,” he said.
After King finished his hourlong
speech, he fielded questions from the
audience. The first question was a subtle
inquiry into King’s sexual history. He
answered blundy about his first experi
ence, saying “It happened on the baseball
field at midnight - it was on home plate.”
others. Occasional combinations of texture,
with a mixture of abstract and surrealist ele
ments, create various visual experiences.
Many of Oguntoyinbo’s paintings have a sim
ilar theme, using palm trees and natural settings
as a background for their intricate symbolism.
“I think it’s colorful and thoughtful and def
initely unique,” he said. “It has the ability to
See PAINTER, Page 4
photographs,” said Frances Hargraves, a
lifetime church member of 86 years.
Hargraves and many others at St.
Paul’s AME are descendants of church
founders and, for them, the history of
the church is also family history.
“It really has remained a family
church,” said steward Velma Perry, also
a lifetime member. “The grandchildren,
great-grandchildren and great-great
grandchildren are still in the church and
holding up the banner.”
But the history and identity of St.
Paul’s AME takes time to understand,
cautioned Angela Lee, co-chairwoman
of the anniversary celebration.
“I think it’s difficult to show what our
church is in one service,” she said.
“However, what is apparent is that we
have a nurturing, aware congregation
with an active ministry that is in tune
with current issues and concerns.”
The City Editor can be reached
atcitydesk@unc.edu.
He joked that the next day, his friend
commented, “Larry scored!”
King said he was surprised at
President Clinton’s behavior as he dis
cussed the media coverage of the
Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. He said,
“(Clinton is) maybe one of the smartest,
if not the smartest guy I’ve ever known.”
And about Monica Lewinsky, King, a
Jew himself, joked, “A Jewish intern -
and you don’t think she’s going to talk?”
One of the next questions posed to King
concerned bias in the media. King said,
“There’s no such thing as a media - there’s
no ‘they’ because the media is the National
Enquirer and The New York Times. “We all
have our own feelings; we try to be as
objective as possible. That’s the hardest
thing in the world, to be totally objective.”
When asked who he would most like
Federal Lawsuit
Could Suspend
Satellite Voting
A judge will decide today if he will hear the
suit, filed by a Greensboro lawyer, that
alleges early voting violates elections laws.
By Tim Lawson
Staff Writer
A federal district court judge will , likely rule today on
whether to hear a lawsuit that aims to put an end to No Excuse
Voting.
If the judge decides to hear the lawsuit, No Excuse Voting
could be suspended while the case is heard.
The N.C. General Assembly approved No E\cuse Voting,
which allows citizens to cast ballots for three weeks prior to
Election Day, in 1998 as a tool to increase voter turnout
Education leaders have used the program to encourage col
lege students to vote for the $3.1 billion higher education bond
referendum on this year’s ballot.
The suit - brought Oct. 13 against the State Board of
Elections by Greensboro lawyer Marshall Hurley on behalf of
two Guilford County voters - alleges that early voting has the
potential to decide elections before Election Day, violating
federal law.
“(No Excuse Voting) sets up a whole series of election
days,” Hurley said. “It lets all the bars down, and it becomes
‘open-season’ voting.”
In a hearing Friday, Hurley asked federal District Judge
Terrance Boyle to stop satellite voting until the suit can be
heard. Boyle gave Hurley until today to gather more infor
mation before Boyle makes a ruling.
No Excuse Voting, which took effect Oct 16, allows the state’s
voters to cast ballots at satellite polling sites in the county where
they are registered until Nov. 3. The ballots are counted as absen
tee ballots.
But Hurley said federal law requires that elections for
Congress and the presidency occur on the Tuesday following
the first Monday in November.
One of the suit’s plaintiffs, Marcus Kindley of Gibsonville,
See LAWSUIT, Page 4
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DTH/CHRISTINA BAUR
Rev. Larnie G. Horton Sr. (left) speaks with Neil Pedersen, after his
church, St. Paul's AME Church, celebrated its 136th anniversary Sunday.
Back to It
Today: Partly cloudy, 66
Tuesday: Cloudy, 77
Wednesday: Cloudy, 77
Monday, October 23, 2000
to interview, King replied, “I wish we
could get God.” He said the first ques
tion he would ask God would be, “Do
you have a son?” King also said Jesus
Christ would be the historical figure he
would most like to interview.
He said he does not do his job for the
money, but because he loves to ask ques
tions. “They pay me every day for some
thing I would do for free. How could you
possibly beat that?”
The crowd seemed to enjoy the
speech, often laughing and clapping. “I
thought it was stellar,” said Jason ledesco,
a sophomore biology major. “It was not
on topic at all, but he seemed to have
more personality than he does on TV.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.