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Late-Night Fire Leaves 1 Dead, 2 Injured
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Chapel Hill firefighters work Thursday to clean out an
apartment that was gutted by a fire Halloween night.
ASU Eyes
Increase
In Tuition
Officials at Appalachian
State are discussing a S2OO
tuition increase to keep the
university competitive.
By Aimee Brown
Staff Writer
A possible campus-initiated tuition
increase at Appalachian State University
has sparked whispers of tuition increas
es across the UNC system.
ASU administrators are now consid
ering a S2OO tuition increase. The ASU
Board of Trustees is expected to consid
er the proposed increase in December.
Last year, five system schools raised
tuition. The ASU proposal comes
almost exacdy a year after UNC-
Chapel Hill trustees voted for the first of
the five tuition increases.
The Board of Governors eventually
approved a S6OO increase at UNC-CH
that is being phased in this year and
next. Last year’s increases left some
fearful that additional campuses would
request tuition increases this year.
If an individual campus decides to
request a tuition increase, the request
must be presented to the UNC General
Administration in December. It will be
sept to the BOG later for consideration.
But ASU spokesman Bob Shaffer said
last year’s tuition hikes did not affect
ASU’s decision to consider its own
dlition increase. Shaffer added that ASU
had the opportunity to initiate a campus
tfljtion increase a year ago but did not.
-IHe said the increase would allow
.ASU to remain competitive with peer
institutions by funding student financial
aid, technology and faculty salaries.
-Boosting faculty salaries was the rea
soning behind last year’s increases.
-Andrew Payne, president of the
UNC Association of Student
Governments, said last year’s campus
initiated increases created a trickle
dßwn effect. “The Board of Governors
H2s really opened up a Pandora’s box.”
-jiie also said last year’s tuition
ujpreases allowed some universities to
* See TUITION, Page 2
By Phil Perry
Staff Writer
As thousands of people partied on
Franklin Street on Tuesday night, a dead
ly fire raged at Brookstone Apartments
complex, taking the life of one man and
sending two more to the hospital.
Chapel Hill firefighters responded to
the blaze at about 11:07 p.m. at the com
plex off Homestead Road. Fire and emer
gency service personnel had the fire under
control in a little more than an hour.
Chapel Hill police spokeswomanjane
Cousins confirmed a man’s body was
found Wednesday. She also said no infor
mation about the man will be released
until his family has been notified.
Chapel Hill Fire Department Capt.
Doug Kelly said the man’s body was
found in one of the second-floor apart
ments. He also said officials are still inves
tigating the cause of the man’s death.
Two residents from the building were
taken to UNC Hospitals to be treated
for bums.
The blaze caused fire, smoke and
water damage to at least eight apartments,
while several others suffered smoke and
water damage. No estimate for the extent
of the damage is available yet
The Chapel Hill Fire Marshal
Caprice Mellon is teaming up with the
N.C. Bureau of Investigation in trying to
determine the cause of the fire. The
investigation could last several days or
even longer, according to a news release.
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Halloween revelers go nuts for a chance to make it on the local television news. Franklin Street was filled
with nearly 50,000 partygoers out to show off creative costumes and shed their inhibitions Tuesday night.
Halloween Doesn't Get Wasted
By Isaac Groves
and Lauren Ritter
Staff Writers
Almost 50,000 costumed
partygoers filled three blocks of
Franklin Street on Tuesday
night, reveling in Chapel Hill’s
annual raucous Halloween cel
ebration.
Chapel Hill police closed
Franklin, Columbia and
Henderson streets to vehicles
at 8:50 p.m., and the streets
remained barricaded until 2:15
a.m., when the police cleared
the streets of the remaining
partygoers. Police cleaned up
and opened the streets to cars
at 3:20 a.m.
Officials said this year’s
crowd topped the one that gath
ered on Franklin Street last year,
Know how sublime a thing it is, To suffer and be strong.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Pit Politics
Gov. Jim Hunt and others will be
in the Pit today to stump for the
$3.1 billion bond. See Page 2
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Kelly said that after investigations
Wednesday, the origin of the fire was
still unknown. He also said the time the
blaze started was unknown.
“The fire was through the roof when
we got there, so there’s no telling how
long it had been burning before we got
the call,” he said.
Kelly also said there were no sprin
klers in the building, but it was built
long before they
were required by
law.
Sarah Chaffins,
a senior business
major and a resi
dent at
Brookstone, does
not live in the
building that was
destroyed, but she
said she saw the
other apartments bum. “(My roommate
and I) ran outside, looked over the roof
and saw smoke,” Chaffins said. “I ran
around the side of the building and the
whole roof was on fire.”
Chaffins said that when the firefight
ers arrived, they doused her building
with water to prevent the fire from
spreading. She said that just in case, she
and her roommate gathered their valu
ables and put them in plastic bags.
She said she feared if the fire depart
ment had come five minutes later, her
building would have burned, too.
“It was the scariest thing I’ve ever
which they weren’t expecting.
“The number of people sur
prised us because it was a
Tuesday night,” said Gregg
Jarvies, Chapel Hill interim
police chief.
Police were on hand at dif
ferent street barricades to con
fiscate anything that resembled
weapons, including toy guns
and knives.
Despite the precautions,
people said they still had a
good time with their friends
and the people they met while
partying Tuesday night.
“I love meeting new people
and seeing their costumes,”
said UNC sophomore
Adrienne Rhoads, who was
dressed as a baby.
Katie McMahon, a UNC
sophomore who was dressed as
experienced, really,” Chaffins said.
“It was just terrifying.”
Interim Police Chief Gregg Jarvies
said the Chapel Hill police were on the
scene to offer assistance to the fire
department. “We just provide any assis
tance we can,"Jarvies said. “In a fire sit
uation, we support if they ask us to.”
That support comes in multiple
forms. Police provide scene security, cri-
“It was the
scariest thing
I’ve ever experienced, really.
It was just terrifying. ”
Sarah Chaffins
Brookstone Resident and Fire Witness
the Red Cross, said there was a repre
sentative from the Red Cross on the
scene at about 12:30 a.m. to help the
victims. “We provide immediate emer
gency needs - that includes food, cloth
ing and shelter,” Jackson-Snavely said.
The Red Cross is putting up four of
the residents in a hotel. “Generally we
just do it for the initial 72 hours,” she said.
But she added the Red Cross could
extend that length of time, considering
extenuating circumstances.
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
a hula girl, agreed. “It’s better
than Christmas and my birth
day combined,” she said.
“Halloween is a time when peo
ple can lose their inhibitions.”
Ryan Ellis, who came
dressed as Limp Bizkit’s Fred
Durst, said this was his third
time attending the celebration.
“I like Halloween a lot -
there’s not another time you
get to act like someone you’re
not,” he said.
Thousands of people
packed the streets to gawk at
the costumes that people came
up with this year. “I love just
looking at all the costumes,”
said Kyle Sleeth, a Wake Forest
University freshman from
Pittsburgh, who was dressed as
a “guy from North Carolina.”
“The Jesus one (costume)
sis counseling and
media assistance,
Jarvies said.
Displaced resi
dents can turn to
the Red Cross for
help. Alyson
Jackson-Snavely,
director of emer
gency services at
the Orange
County chapter of
was the best I’ve seen so far,”
he said.
But the night was not all fun
and games for everyone. Nearly
260 uniformed law enforce
ment officials were present,
most of whom were brought in
from outside of Chapel Hill,
said Sgt. K.L. Cheeks of the
Durham Police Department
Alcohol Law Enforcement
officers, who were there to
assist other police officers, cited
80 people with alcohol viola
tions. Fifty-six were charged
with underage possession of
alcohol. “The majority were
for alcohol violations, but a
number were for disorderly
conduct as well,” Jarvies said.
Local businesses were not
See HALLOWEEN, Page 2
1
Sunshine
Today: Sunny, 69
Friday: Partly cloudy, 79
Saturday: Showers, 69
Thursday, November 2, 2000
General Assembly
Forum Spotlights
Funding for UNC
Candidates for the N.C. Senate and House
shared their views on private contributions,
out-of-state tuition and faculty salaries.
By Penelope Deese
Staff Writer
Money -and where and how to spend it at UNC - domi
nated discussion among eight N.C. General Assembly candi-
dates during a forum Wednesday night
in Carroll Hall.
tIUjIMS
About 50
people attend-
ed the event, which was hosted by
Chancellor James Moeser and mod
erated by Institute of Government
Director Michael Smith.
The Senate candidates were incumbent Sens. Ellie Kinnaird
and Howard Lee, both D-Orange, and their Republican chal
lengers Bill Boyd and Vickie Hargrove. House of
Representatives candidates included incumbents Reps. Joe
Hackney and Verla Insko, both D-Orange, and their chal
lengers Libertarian John Bauman and Republican William
Towne. GOP candidate Rod Chaney did not attend.
The meeting, which included questions from both the mod
erator and audience members, centered on the University, as dis
cussion revolved around tuition increases, faculty salaries and
See FORUM, Page 2
Student Elections
Hit Cyberspace
With New System
The system is the brain child of Student
Body Secretary Michael Woods and Assistant
Student Body Secretary Fred Hashagen.
By Blake Rosser
Staff Writer
Anew online voting system aims to sidestep the technolog
ical glitches that have plagued student elections while stream
lining the voting process.
The program, created to make University-related voting
more convenient for students, will allow people to access a
ballot via Student Central on the UNC home page, beginning
with the Homecoming elections on Nov. 8.
The idea for this program occurred to
Student Body Secretary Michael Woods
and Fred Hashagen, assistant student
body secretary, during spring student
government elections last year when
they got exasperated after waiting in line
to vote. “This system is going to be more
effective,” Woods said.
WebslingerZ, Inc., a Carrboro-based
company, created the software.
“The only reason we’re doing it is to
make student fives easier and to increase
voter turnout,” said Student Body
President Brad Matthews.
When they access the page, students
will have to agree to an Honor Court
statement and will see a disclaimer
telling them their name will not be asso-
ciated with their ballot. “The name, PID, year and on-campus
status of voters will be separated from their votes onto two dis
tinct fists,” said Jeremy Tuchmayer, Elections Board chairman,
who has been testing the program. “The whole process takes
all of about a minute.”
Although the new system can be used in the upcoming
Homecoming elections, which fall outside of the Student
Code, Student Congress must put the online voting into the
code before it can be used in the spring elections.
“Homecoming is a really good time for us to first do this
because it will allow us to make changes (for the spring elec
tions), if need be,” Matthews said.
After an operator error forced the board to hand count
almost 4,000 votes in last spring’s elections, Woods said the
new system will prevent such problems from occurring in the
future. “Obviously, computers are not perfect, but human
error is taken out of it,” he said.
Other minds behind the program are also confident that it
will be successful. “This is not an experiment," Matthews said.
“We want to make sure it will work before we implement it"
The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.
General Assembly
Hopefuls Stress
Stances on Issues
See Page 3
Student Body
President
Brad Matthews
said he hopes online
voting will increase
voter turnout.