laUg Sat* Mwl
Road Block
Disabled students find it hard
to get around construction.
See Page 3
Anthrax Scares at Capitol, ABC
U.S. jets continued airstrikes
against the Afghan capital of
Kabul, focusing on destroying
suspected weapon storage sites.
The Associated Press
NEW YORK - The 7-month-old child of
an ABC News employee has the skin form of
anthrax, officials said
Monday.
The boy was
responding to antibi
otics and is expected to
America
ittacks
recover, ABC News President David Westin
said at a news conference.
Powder
Likely Not
Anthrax
N.C. laboratory officials say
preliminary tests show it is
unlikely that a local man's
mail contained anthrax.
By Chris Blow
Staff Writer
An N.C. laboratory official said
Monday that preliminary tests indicate
that the white powder found inside of
an envelope addressed to a Chapel Hill
man is not likely to be anthrax.
Chapel Hill police officials sent the
material to the
state public
health labora
tory after a
Chapel Hill
resident
Local Officials
Exercise Caution
To Avoid Attacks
See Page 3
received an envelope containing a
white powder Friday night.
The resident feared the substance was
a contaminant and called 911. Police
arrived at the scene and dispatched the
regional Hazardous Material Incident
Response Team, Chapel Hill police
spokeswoman Jane Cousins said Sunday.
Officials, who still are not releasing
information about the location or the
identity of the resident, secured the res
idence as a crime scene late Friday.
Lou Turner, director of the N.C. lab
oratory, said preliminary test results
indicate that the substance received in
Chapel Hill is probably not anthrax.
According to a press release from the
Centers for Disease Control, anthrax is
an illness caused by the anthrax bacte
ria that is noncommunicable and is
treatable with antibiotics.
The CDC stated that the disease can
be contracted through direct skin con
tact, inhalation or ingestion of the
anthrax bacteria.
Turner confirmed that the substance
received in Chapel Hill has been under
extreme scrutiny because of the recent
anthrax scares nationwide. “We run it
through a battery of five to six tests
including microscopic observation
where we just look at the colonies under
a microscope,” she said.
Turner said laboratory officials also
are exposing the substance to a stimulus
that typically would promote growth in
anthrax bacteria, a move she said has
not shown any alarming results. “We’re
not seeing any growth in the colonies so
far,” Turner said. “If it was (anthrax), we
probably would have seen growth by
now, but we can’t say yea or nay.”
Cousins, who said police have no
new information on the case, said a let
ter found with the suspicious powder is
an important part of the investigation.
She had no further information to give
regarding the letter.
The incident comes days after a sim
ilar incident in Durham where prelimi-
See PACKAGE, Page 4
For the very first time the young are seeing history being made before it is censored by their elders.
Margaret Mead
“The prognosis is excellent,” he said.
It is the second case of anthrax involving
a major news organization in New York.
Authorities are also investigating a letter that
infected an NBC employee with the same
form of anthrax last week.
The latest infection followed earlier
instances in Washington, D.C., Florida, New
York and Nevada in which at least 12 people
were exposed to spores of the potentially
deadly bacteria.
Earlier Monday, the bioterrorism scare rat
tling the nation reached the halls of Congress
when a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader
Tom Daschle tested positive for anthrax.
The piece of mail in Daschle’s office, which
contained a powdery substance, was dis
patched to an Army medical research facility
t_
DTH/KARA ARNDT
Jack Kimball, a freshman journalism and international studies major, surfs The Washington Post's Web site
for the latest information on the nation's situation. Kimball says the Internet is the easiest way to keep up with breaking news.
Internet Changes Awareness of War
Breaking News at Your Fingertips
Web sites of major news outlets have seen an increase in the number
of Internet users visiting their sites on the days of recent news events.
■ The New York Times I The Washington Post ■ The Associated Press
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Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Cashing in on Fear
N.C. officials are skeptical of online
pharmacies filling Cipro prescriptions.
see Page 6
at Fort Detrick, Md., for further examination,
said Capitol Police Lt. Dan Nichols.
The Fort Detrick findings could be avail
able as early as Tuesday, officials said. Nichols
and others warned that the initial tests were
not necessarily accurate.
Bush told reporters “there may be some
possible link” between the spate of anthrax
incidents across the country and Osama bin
Laden, who administration officials say was
behind the Sept. 11 airline hijack attacks.
“I wouldn’t put it past him, but we don’t
have any hard evidence,” Bush said.
Daschle was in the Capitol and was not
exposed to the letter, which was opened in his
other office a block away in the Hart Senate
Office Building.
Officials would not identify the person who
Sticky Fingers
Dexter Reid's interception was
crucial in UNC's win.
See Page 7
The Internet has given new
access to information, both
true and false, after the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
By Cleve Wootson
Staff Writer
Many Americans are looking to com
puter screens rather than televisions for
up-to-the-second information about the
Sept. 11 attacks and their aftermath.
As the United States prepares for its
first war of the 21st century, Americans
have come face-to-face with the positive
and negative effects of having a vast
amount of information available almost
instantaneously.
Internet users have been able to get
information and first-person accounts of
the attacks via the Internet -and Internet
experts say Americans have been taking
advantage of the opportunity.
“Afterward, most users could pretty
easily find information they think is use
ful,” said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew
Internet and Life Project. “After the
attacks, there were tremendous amounts
of surfing.”
Dick Meyer, editing director of
cbs.com, said the site received 10 times
its normal traffic in the hours after the
attacks, and technicians had to bring in
additional servers.
But the increased amount of infor
mation also means the U.S. government
t
opened the letter, though Nichols referred to
the aide as a female. Aides who might have
been exposed to the letter were tested with
nasal swabs and being treated with the antibi
otic Cipro as a precaution, said Dr. John
Eisold, attending physician in the Capitol.
“They are innocent people caught up in a
matter for which they have nothing to do,” a
somber-looking Daschle, D-S.D., told reporters
at a news conference outside the Capitol. “I am
very, very disappointed and angered.”
Nichols said a criminal investigation led by
the FBI was under way.
The Daschle letter -and similar scares in
other congressional offices - prompted a halt
to all mail deliveries in the Capitol and raised
See ATTACK, Page 4
has less direct power over what infor
mation its citizens receive.
For example, information shared by
U.S. officials with British Prime Minister
Tony Blair was posted on the British gov
ernment’s Web site even though it had not
been directly shared with the American
people, said Deb Aikat, UNC professor of
journalism and mass communication.
Some have expressed concern that
although the Internet gives people a
forum to express their opinions, the
plethora of information provided on the
Internet can be misleading.
Paul Jones, UNC clinical professor of
journalism and mass communication,
said the Internet allows a group to express
its views to a mass audience. “There is a
growing number of people who do not
want war, and they’re using the net to get
their point across,” Jones said.
But Lee McKnight, professor of inter
national communications at Tufts
University, said mmors and falsehoods
spread faster because of the Internet.
“There are all kinds of crazy rumors out
there, and rumors can propagate faster
on the Internet, but those rumors can
also be shot down faster on the Internet.”
Numerous e-mails have circulated on
the Web containing possibly false infor
mation, including possible terrorist attacks.
But Rainie said the nature of the
Internet allows false information to be dis
proved quickly. “We do know of the self
policing mechanism of the Internet,”
See INTERNET, Page 4
Weather
Today: Sunny; H 73, L 35
Wednesday: Sunny; H 63, L 31
Thursday: Sunny; H 64, L 42
UNC Officials
To Unveil Nike
All-Sports Deal
Department of Athletics officials previously
have said stricter labor code stipulations
might be included in the new contract.
By Karey Wutkowski
Assistant University Editor
UNC officials will announce the University’s new all-sports
agreement with the Nike Corp. this afternoon, finalizing what
likely will be one of the largest contracts of its kind.
Chancellorjames Moeser and Director of Athletics Dick
Baddour will offer details about the multi-million dollar con
tract and the process leading up to it
The new contract extends the University’s 10-year relation
ship with Nike and renews the current five-year all-sports agree
ment, with some changes. The current contract, which expires
at the end of the school year, provides all 28 UNC varsity sports
with Nike uniforms, practice gear, shoes and some equipment
Baddour originally had hoped to finish up with the recon
tracting process last spring, but he said last month that talks of
labor standards contributed to the process’s delay.
The current contract does not include stipulations on fac
tory worker conditions because the University had not yet
adopted a labor code when the contract was drafted in 1997.
Baddour has said the inclusion of labor standards was a large
priority in the recontracting process for both UNC and Nike.
See NIKE, Page 4
Berryhill Hall
Formaldehyde
May Be Unsafe
Berryhill Hall will close from March to May
next year to fix problems with exhaust fans
and duct work on the fifth and sixth floors.
By Addie Sluder
Staff Writer
Chancellorjames Moeser has called for an emergency ren
ovation of a UNC classroom building to fix possibly unsafe
levels of formaldehyde.
Berryhill Hall, part of the School of Medicine, will be ren
ovated in March because of a ventilation problem that has
caused an excess concentra
tion of formaldehyde.
Formaldehyde is a color
less, strong-smelling gas that is
used in the building’s anatomy
labs as a preservative.
According to the
Environmental Protection
Agency’s Web site, inhalation
of formaldehyde can result in
eye, nose and throat irritation
and respiratory symptoms.
Formaldehyde inhalation
also can trigger attacks in peo
ple who suffer from asthma.
While formaldehyde can
severely affect some, many do
not show any reactions to the
gas.
“Even in short-term expo
sure, the material is seen as an
irritant to the eyes and nose,”
said Peter Reinhardt, director
of the Department of
Environmental Health and
Safety.
Renovation of Berryhill was
scheduled to take place in
2004 as part of the $499 mil
lion allocated to the University
by the $3.1 billion bond pack
age passed last year.
But officials said investiga
tion of the ventilation warrant
ed immediate attention.
“We had reports that venti
lation in the upper floors was
Dangerous
Levels
Exposure to high levels of
formaldehyde can lead to an
array of health dangers, with
asthma sufferers at high risk.
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less than it should be in Berryhill,” said Bob Marriott, assis
tant dean for the School of Medicine.
According to information received at last Thursday’s Board
See FORMALDEHYDE, Page 4