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QJlje lailg (Ear ASHLEY STEPHENSON Activism, Not Voting, Is Key To Fixing UNC The following is one of the new rules for student elections: A.) The brother-in-law’s roommate’s girlfriend of a student body president candidate may not contribute money to the campaign. B.) Campaign fliers may be placed only in the lower-right-hand comer of walls located in campus buildings that contain five floors. C.) Campuswide e-mails must include candidate’s platform, e-mail address, blood type, shoe size and hobbies. D.) Candidates must arm wrestle opponents at campus debates. E.) None of the above. The answer is, of course, E, but with the recent surge of new election rules and regulations, we might as well add my suggestions. Because they are just a symptom of the illness that is student elections. Let’s quit taking this nonsense so seriously. Said rulz tell candidates where they can place their fliers, how much and where they can “chalk,” and my favorite, which allows no campaigning within 50 feet or visible sight and earshot of computer labs. It’s starting to get a little nutty. As it stands, student elections provide Kinko’s business with a much-needed shot in the arm and that’s about it. I understand this much- Carolina Athletic Association presidents do tick et distribution, senior class officers do senior gift and Residence Hall Association presidents do parties on Connor Beach'and secure vacuums. (Note: Simplification of integral cam pus posts is completely intentional.) Student body president is a tough one. We’re not sure of the president’s duties, but we know this much: He and/or she is the head honcho, who tirelessly lobbies for UNC, who fights the fight we regular students can’t, who bleeds Carolina blue and has an office in the Student Union. But I’m going to say it plain - we’ve created more Board of Elections duties, ridiculous rules and poindess debates to lend credence to what is a resume builder for those involved and an annoy ing distraction for those who aren’t It’s no accident that many moons ago, a candidate named Hugh G. Rection almost nabbed the president position. Brian Bersticker had a terrific showing in the polls last year. And it’s all because most students seem to real ize that elections are a joke. Most stu dents, that is, except for the ones who throw their body, soul and fliers into campaigns. Because let’s face it - the endless promises and reforms, the charming grins on posters, the nauseating debates and the pompous endorse ments are for naught because students in positions of “power” on this campus are merely puppets who don’t have the power to right the wrongs at UNC. Sure, CAA can muck up tickets, and senior class officers can pick a really super gift, but that’s about it. My contention is not with the candi dates. It’s not that they don’t want to make this University a better place. It’s that they can’t. Student body presidents don’t have the power to make things better on this campus. They can’t make more parking, can’t get more seats in the Dean Dome, can’t make tuition lower, faculty better. Student officials are figureheads and little more. They are an ignored stu dent voice at Board of Trustee meet ings, a mere peep sitting across from Director of Athletics Dick Baddour’s desk, an annoyance among housing department administrators. I have lost my faith in student elec tions, but I haven’t lost my faith in stu dents. I still think buckaroos who band together, take drastic measures and yell loud enough will be heard. I still think that if enough of us get hyped and take no prisoners, we can make things happen. I still think the student voice means something. But I don’t think casting your vote will do a damn thing. So, fellow classmates, let’s rock the boat And don’t rock the vote. Columnist Ashley Stephenson can be reached at ashley2l@email.unc.edu. UNC Removes Offensive Link From Web Site By Daniel Thigpen Assistant University Editor Just days after the Freshman Focus Council launched its premiere Web site for first-year students, questions of vul gar content within the site already have surfaced. A link to mulletsgalore.com on Freshman Central was removed Sunday after speculation that the fink’s content might paint an inaccurate representation of student fife at UNC. m^JEjSP; ij '■ ji\ jdbujm- jy If .fe> JB&S ~ v-i*4 iSC? I | s .'.~ r ' x". x*'*??HS9 4;. 11l - •$ > _/ x .1 ' f £attsß WV| ;tf M &-.• , . m - ■ g y_f ~- - KHHLw' i ! ft f * ;£v- jkf 1 i / -ft r | jjy jPrrL^i y ■ i jft*v^sßßßi^ ; ' vi... >c /' 4 ' ]pv* W&M / _/ 1 ftsSEj^SSflEpF: *• iP /■ I. Z *■-. S. J*..’ym>.JL, i ■•: :..,..ic:...., - -.. J *a DTH PHOTOS BY SEFTONIPOCK Curtis Lee Cotton keeps two dogs for companionship and protection in Chapel Hill's Northside neighborhood (above). Loretta Thornton reads over her mail at home on Gomains Street (below). She fears for her 11 -year-old son's safety in the area and watches over him when he plays outside. Locals Act to Clean Up Northside Some Northside residents are angry about a man’s sentence for killing a woman and are working to make the neighborhood safer. Bv Isaac Groves Staff Writer A man who shot and killed a 22-year-old mother last year in Chapel Hill’s Northside neighborhood has received a four month prison sentence, and residents are divided on the fair ness of the sentence. Last February, Nehesia Taylor was shot and killed outside of 611 Sykes St. in the Northside neighborhood -an area locat ed on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro border north of Rosemary Street that has struggled recently to reduce its crime rate, which is disproportionately higher than the rest of Chapel Hill. This January, Dwayne Degraffenreid, the man who pled guilty to the involuntary manslaughter of Taylor, was sen tenced to three years’ probation and 200 hours of commu nity service in addition to prison time. During the plea bar gain, Degraffenreid said he fired the gun to stop an argument and the bullet accidentally hit Taylor. Degraffenreid’s plea bargain could have resulted in a max imum six-year sentence. A few people in Northside said they were angry about the short length of Degraffenreid’s sentence, but several people who know the young man, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, said he should not be in jail at all. “He’s a really cool person, really sweet, and he’s very smart,” said Kenyetta Alston* who fives at 502 Sykes St., directly across from the house where Taylor was killed. “I don’t feel that he should be in jail.” Degraffenreid fives in Northside, while Taylor lived in Pittsboro but spent time in the neighborhood. Several resi dents, including Alston, said they knew her, but not as well as Degraffenreid. “She was a nice girl, she didn’t bother nobody,” said Loretta Thorton of 600-B Gomains Ave. “She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.” See SENTENCE, Page 7 Town, ASU Police Join Forces; Drug Charges Swell in Boone By Tanner Bond Staff Writer A recent strengthening in the relationship between Appalachian State University’s campus police force and local law enforcement is cleaning up the school’s campus and, in the process, litter ing students’ criminal records. Asa result of a recent increase in the coopera tion between the ASU campus police force and local authorities, 11 current and former ASU stu dents have been arrested on drug-related charges in the past six weeks. But the elevated dmg patrol on campus is not necessarily a result of students’ increased drug use. “Actually, our (drug) statistics were down last year, but we wanted to make sure there wasn’t any prolific use of hard drugs,” said ASU Police Chief Gunther Doerr. Along with marijuana, the recent arrests have uncovered several harder drugs, including cocaine, LSD and Ecstasy. Bob Shaffer, ASU’s associate vice chancellor for public relations, said the presence of outside law Freshman Central, a site geared toward first-year students and incoming freshmen, attempts to encapsulate University culture and to aid students in the transition into college fife. But mulletsgalore.com is a tongue-in cheek site aiming to poke fun at the short-on-top, long-in-the-back hairstyle that is stereotypically finked to particu lar lower-class lifestyles. The site’s frequent graphic and per vasive sexual innuendo and adult con tent, along with its links to sites featuring ■ . , \ .— . Center Helps Build Community By Coke Whitworth Staff Writer A local community center has been provid ing a hand up to a neighborhood that some res idents fear is in danger of losing its identity. The William M. Hargraves Recreation Center has offered Northside neighborhood’s youth an alternative to crime ever since it opened its doors to the community back in 1945. Chapel Hill police spokeswoman Jane Cousins said Northside has the highest crime rate of any neighborhood in the town and that enforcement forces is nothing new. “Our campus forces have been working with local authorities for about five years,” said Shaffer. “This is just an extension of what we’ve been doing during that time.” But the level of cooperation between the differ ent departments is something new. Doerr credits the recent string of arrests to an improvement in the authorities’ communication with each other. “In the past, the agencies were sort of working in a vacuum,” said Doerr. “Now we’re sharing information and combining our resources better.” Watauga County Sheriff James Lyons says his department’s improved involvement with campus authorities is due to an increase in manpower. But Shaffer stresses that the tighter relationship between the campus police and local authorities is not an intimidating presence for students. “It doesn’t mean we have police patrols roaming the campus,” Shaffer said. “These activities are probably invisible to most people.” See ASU, Page 7 News animal pornography, has gained it a large student following. Rebekah Burford, co-coordinator of Freshman Central, said the fink was removed because mulletsgalore.com’s content had the potential to cause con cern among the student body. “The Web site we constructed is for all students here, and if any students feel it is too vulgar, we don’t want them to feel that way," she said. The fink was placed on Freshman Central’s “Links of the Week” page, Hi* | I lEgHH DTH/KIMBERLY CRAVEN Duke Student Body President Jordan Bazinsky congratulates Joseph Forte on UNC's victory over Duke. On the losing end of a bet with UNC Student Body President Brad Matthews, Bazinsky handed out Duke's campus newspaper, printed in Carolina blue, on campus Friday. advertising a must-see Web site to stu dents, along with a fink to Student Health Service. “The whole idea behind Link of the Week is to have one humorous link and one educational fink. Our humorous fink is something that’s sort of enjoyable to students," she said. But Burford said mulletsgalore.com was not explored thoroughly enough before it was posted on the freshman site. “We screened through it and didn’t find anything ridiculously out there,” it is an area of concern for the department. “But you can’t just say that Northside has a crime problem and not mention the people that are really trying to do something about it,” Cousins said. “The Hargraves Center is an inte gral part of both Northside and the town of Chapel Hill. Yes, there have been arrests made out on the ball fields (at the center) at night, but there are rarely problems during the (hours that Hargraves is open).” Nate Davis, director of Hargraves for the past See HARGRAVES, Page 7 MEET JOE FORTE Monday, February 5, 2001 she said. As for the sites linked from mulletsga lore.com, Burford said students should not associate the content of those pages with UNC or the council’s Web site. “It was not put up there to create any ill will,” she said. “Any type of joke that is on (mulletsgalore.com) - we’re not saying that’s reflecting UNC at a11... it’s just a fun fink.” Burford said she had not received any See MULLETS, Page 7 General Gives Talk To Cadets An Air Force general spoke to ROTC cadets about the community and enrichment offered by the military. By Jenny McLendon Staff Writer Several hundred Air Force cadets from UNC, Duke University and N.C. State University filled the Tate-Tumer- Kuralt auditorium Saturday to hear a prominent military figure speak on how a career in the Air Force can enable some to succeed with flying colors. Gen. Hal M. Homburg presented his personal reflections on his multiple decades of service. His presentation included several videos highlighting the various activities of the Air Force. A question-and-answer session followed. Homburg, commander of the Air Education and Training Command at Randolph Air Force Base in Texas, grad uated from Texas A&M University’s Air Force ROTC program in 1968. He then went on to climb the leader ship ranks, commanding at all levels of the Air Force. Air Force Capt Deron Hurst, a UNC instructor of aerospace studies, said Homburg could provide the cadets with insight into the opportunities available to them after ROTC. “He is graduate himself and has a’ huge amount of experience,” he said. “But at the same time, he has been in the posi tion of these cadets. Hopefully, he will build upon the lessons we teach here and give some inspiration as well.” Cadet Jo Ann Todd, a UNC freshman physics major from Fayetteville, said she hoped to gain guidance from hearing the general speak. “I’m going into the mili tary after this, and everyone wants to be a generaL” she said. “I wanted to see everything he went through to get there.” During his speech, Homburg acknowledged the cadets’ commitment to ROTC and encouraged them to maintain their dedication. “I applaud you for coming this far and reaching this point,” he said. “Our vision is to prepare you to come and do something for your country that you don’t even have in your mind’s eye today. We need your can-do attitudes and eager spirits." Homburg expressed the need for the young cadets to be persistent in their endeavors. “When you are on the right path and a door closes in front of you, have the tenacity to kick on the door until it opens,” he said. He went on to stress the opportuni ties for personal and professional growth available to the cadets. “There wasn’t ever any challenge I didn’t have the capability to overcome because of my training and the people around me,” See HORNBERG, Page 7 3
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