Season Finale
Gymnastics ends
fifth. See Page 9
me Saily ®ar Heel
www.dailytarheel.com
Officials: Census Proves Local Housing Needs
Bv Lee Spears
Staff Writer
Local officials are looking for new
ways to meet the increasing affordable
housing demands that accompany the
growing populations of Chapel Hill and
Carrboro.
The 2000 U.S. Census report states
that Chapel Hill’s population has
increased by 26 percent since 1990, and
Carrboro’s population has increased by
45 percent.
Students File
Suits Against
Tow Company
UNC law student Wade Hargrove claims that
George's Tow and Recovery illegally towed
his car from his McCauley Street home.
By Ben Gullett
Staff Writer
UNC students who claim their cars were towed illegally by
George’s Tow and Recovery are suing its owner, seeking com
pensation for the cost of retrieving their cars.
The suit alleges that company owner George King acted
illegally by towing students’ cars without the written consent
of the owners of private parking spaces on and around
Franklin Street.
North Carolina law states that private parking spaces must
be marked in the parking space and by a 2-by-2 sign. The
owner of the space must also give written consent to tow the car.
Wade Hargrove, a third-year Law School student, is one of
the students who has joined in the litigation against King.
Hargrove had his car towed by King from his residence,
Graham Court Condominiums on McCauley Street.
According to Hargrove, King towed his car on Feb. 10 despite
having a resident tag hanging from the rearview mirror. The tag
was a replacement for his resident sticker, which became invalid
Feb. 15.
King has an agreement with Graham Court’s management
to come onto the property, but “he’s not supposed to tow res
idents,” Hargrove said. King charged SIOO for towing the car
and sls for holding it until Feb. 12. Hargrove is seeking com
pensation for these charges.
Dottie Bemholz, director of Student Legal Services, said
King and his girlfriend watch for students to park illegally and
then tow their cars when they leave.
Three other students have joined the civil suit through
Student Legal Services, and others have contacted SLS with
complaints about King’s towing practices.
Bernholz is handling the case against King. She said SLS
notified King of the suit, and he has 30 days to answer their
complaint. King has yet to respond or offer to settle out of
court. He also refused to comment to The Daily Tar Heel.
Bemholz said one of the students involved in the suit, Jason
Osborne, had assault charges brought against him by King
after he shoved King in a dispute over the towing of his car.
But a judge threw out the charges against Osborne, she said.
Bemholz said the charges against Osborne were unfounded.
“You get a tired student who sees someone towing off their car at
See TOW TRUCKS, Page 4
Symposium Examines Changing Sex Laws
By Cuff Nelson
Staff Writer
At a gathering billed as a “Privacy
Rights Conference” held at the UNC
School of Law on Friday, about 40 par
ticipants met in opposition to North
Carolina’s “crimes against nature” or
CAN law - often called the sodomy law.
The law states, “If any person shall
commit the crime against nature, with
mankind or beast, he shall be punished
as a Class I felon."
In practice, the statute makes all oral
and anal sex a felony between nonmar
ried partners, whether gay or straight.
Violations carry a possible one-year
prison sentence.
North Carolina is among 13 states
that have laws restricting private sexual
activity, even among straight people.
Five additional states have laws that tar
get only homosexuals.
Of the delights of this world, man cares most for sexual intercourse.
Mark Twain
Orange County’s total population
increase in the past decade was 26 per
cent, to a total count of 118,227.
Chapel Hill Town Council member
Flicka Bateman said providing afford
able housing for the greater number of
residents is not easy given the scarcity of
undeveloped land in Chapel Hill.
“We’re trying, but it’s a very hard
goal to meet,” she said.
Bateman said Orange County will
hold a bond referendum in November
that will include $2 million for afford-
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DTH PHOTOS BY MIKE MESSIER
Sangam Nite Live dancers perform at the annual event held Friday night in Memorial Hall. The show blended traditional
dances and music with Western influences. A member of the "SNL" band (below) plays a soprano saxophone.
Sangam Mixes Comedy, Culture
I Mr IPI
The attendees, which included attor
neys, lobbyists, students and a superior
court judge, met to exchange ideas on how
North Carolina’s crimes-against-nature
law might most effectively be overturned,
either through legal challenge or repeal in
the General Assembly.
Participants agreed that a good deal
of public relations work must be done to
inform unmarried voters that the statute
exists and applies to them.
While North Carolina’s crimes
against-nature law makes no distinction
between gay and heterosexual offenses,
Steve Scarborough, a staff attorney with
the pro-gay rights Lambda Legal
Defense and Education Fund, said the
law was applied in a discriminatory
manner.
“This statute is about keeping (gay
people) in our place,” he said.
The N.C. crimes-against-nature law
has been cited in denying child custody,
Four Fresh Faces
The DTH tracks four freshmen as
they make their way through
their first year at UNC. See Page 3
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
V ft
able housing
development.
Bateman said if
the bond passes,
nonprofit organi
zations like
Habitat for
Humanity will
build the houses
and that the cost of
buying them will
be subsidized by
the bond money.
Alderman
Diana McDuffee
employment, state licensing and hous
ing to gay people.
In 1998, the N.C. Supreme Court
revoked a gay father’s custody award
because the father admitted to a crimes
against-nature law violation, even
though the mother admitted to a het
erosexual violation.
“A lot of North Carolinians are crim
inals under the CAN law,” said Gene
Nichol, dean of the UNC School of Law.
“But they are not concerned because the
straight majority knows that enforce
ment will be driven by discrimination
against gay men and women.”
Many people said the crimes-against
nature law is an affront to basic civil
rights. “How could any supporter of the
CAN law claim to be for limited gov
ernment?” Nichol asked.
John Hood, president of the John
Locke Foundation, a conservative think
tank, also agreed, calling the CAN law a
Bateman also said that not only peo
ple in the lowest income levels have
trouble affording local housing.
“When we talk about affordable
housing, we’re talking about housing for
nurses, firemen and teachers,” she said.
Council member Pat Evans said the
town’s need for funding increases with
the population and that officials are con
sidering a tax increase in the near future.
“Even without the (budget) alarm
coming from the state, we were looking
into a tax increase,” she said.
By Elizabeth Parrott
Staff Writer
Cheers and laughter erupted from
a in Memorial Hall on
Friday night as Sangam presented its
own version of “Saturday Night Live.”
About 400 people enjoyed a tra
ditional Indian dinner before joining
another 700 people to attend
Sangam Nite Live, which included
parodies of “Saturday Night Live”
skits and a variety of song and dance
performances by Sangam members,
complete with an SNL band.
The estimated S4OO to SSOO in
proceeds from the event go toward
“HEELing India,” a relief effort
sponsored by Sangam and the
“crime against freedom.”
“I’m conservative on cultural issues,
but I don’t think the government should
be legislating cultural norms,” he said.
Sen. Elbe Kinnaird, D-Orange, is cur
rently sponsoring a crimes-against
nature reform measure in the N.C.
General Assembly that would decrimi
nalize private, not-for-hire sexual behav
ior between consenting adults.
While no one expressed optimism
that Kinnaird’s bill would pass this year,
they did point with hope to perceived
cultural changes.
Scarborough said recent polls show
support for anti-gay sex laws among col
lege freshmen has fallen to 20 percent
from 30 percent. “You don’t got to love
us to think maybe you ought to leave us
alone.”
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdeskQunc.edu.
Evans added that Chapel Hill’s high
cost of living is a trade-off for the high
quality of service from the local govern
ment
Carrboro’s population increase also
has sparked concern about a need for
more affordable housing.
The Carrboro Board of Aldermen
has been reworking Carrboro’s Small
Area Plan during recent years to accom
modate the expected growth, Alderman
See LOCAL CENSUS, Page 4
Campus Y to support the tens of
thousands of victims of the Jan. 26
earthquake in west India.
Freshmen Jayur Mehta and
Udayan Seksaria organized the
event. “Fund raising was especially
done through the dinner that sold
out of 400 tickets,” Seksaria said.
“The earthquake victims will get a
huge profit from the dinner."
Seksaria said the SNL theme,
mixed with an array of traditional
Indian-culture shows, would help
attract a more diverse crowd. “The
‘Saturday Night Live’ theme was cho
sen to support the concept of blending
the East with the West,” Seksaria said.
See SANGAM NIGHT, page 4
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DTH/KIMBERLY CRAVEN
Speaking at a Friday symposium, Gene Nichol, dean of the law school,
argues tnat laws against sodomy in North Carolina are discriminatory.
Nice Week
Today: Partly Cloudy, 50
Tuesday: Sunny, 52
Wednesday: Sunny, 57
Monday, March 26, 2001
Data Shows
Growth in
N.C. Cities
N.C. district lines must be
redrawn because of shifts in
population so that each one
has the same constituency.
By Kristy Jones
Staff Writer
Recendy released U.S. census results
show that a large number of seats in the
N.C. General Assembly will be in the
hands of urban regions -a radical shift in
a state traditionally known for agriculture.
The census results show’ that the
state’s overall population increased by
21.4 percent. But population in urban
counties, particularly in the Triangle,
Triad and Charlotte areas, increased by
more than 30 percent.
According to state estimates, the
counties in the
three urban areas
will have a com
bined total of
about 24 seats in
the N.C. Senate
and 59 seats in the
House - nearly
half of both leg
islative bodies.
N.C. legislators
have to redraw dis
trict fines after
each census to
reflect population
shifts and to
ensure that each
House and Senate
N.C. Sen.
Elite Kinnaird
said that the balance
of power would shift
in favor of more
urban areas.
district has roughly the same population.
Sen. Elfie Kinnaird, D-Orange,
said the population shift will alter poli
tics in the N.C. General Assembly.
“The balance of power will change,”
she said. “Urban interests will probably
now dominate.”
According to documents from state
officials, the population in Senate
District 16, which Kinnaird represents
along with Sen. Howard Lee, D-Orange,
has grown to 337,364 - about 15,000
more people than state Senate districts
will have after they are redrawn this year
based on the new U.S. census numbers.
This increase likely will cause District
16, which covers Orange, Moore,
Chatham and parts of Lee and
Randolph counties, to shrink.
But Amy Fulk, a spokeswoman for
Senate President Pro Tern Marc
Basnight, D-Dare, said the population
growth in urban areas will not cause the
rural areas’ interests to be neglected.
“(Everyone) deserves fair representa
tion in the legislature,” she said. “It
shouldn’t be necessarily urban versus
rural.”
See TRIANGLE, Page 4