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Nuclear Plant Receives FBI Warning
By Tom Kingsley
Staff Writer
A local nuclear power plant recently
received warning of a possible future air
borne terrorist attack as part of an FBI
effort to ensure that the nation’s 103
nuclear reactors are secure.
Although representatives of the
Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant say
they are taking the threat seriously,
Nuclear Regulatory Commission offi
cials say the recent warning is only one
in a series of advisories and should not
be alarming.
The NRC issued the Jan. 23 advisory
after a captured al-Qaida operative
revealed plans for an attack in which a
commercial aircraft would be flown into
an unspecified nuclear power plant.
Nuclear reactors nationwide have
been on heightened alert since Sept. 1 1.
NRC Chairman Richard Meserve
emphasized the solidity of the protective
CAA FORUM
From Page 3
State’s) Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh
has one, and it adds a lot,” she said.
After their opening remarks, the can
didates were each given two minutes to
respond to questions posed by Young
Democrats members.
Gore countered Willett’s suggestion
to push back distribution an hour, say
ing he wants to move the time of ticket
distribution back even further, to 9 a.m..
He said he also intends to move the
location of the distribution. “We plan to
move distribution to the Union so it will
be more centralized,” he said.
Gore also said he plans to add an
additional riser section, but he rejected
reports that he would only award the
proposed seats to members of Carolina
Fever. “Only part of the riser section
would be for Carolina Fever,” he said.
“Don’t think I’m trying to give Fever the
best seats in the house.”
But Willett said she has already con
tacted officials at the Educational
Foundation and the ticket office to dis-
CHASE
From Page 3
Officers working on Graham Street
were notified that the vehicle was head
ed down West Rosemary Street toward
Carrboro, Cousins said.
After nearly hitting a waiting patrol
car, the vehicle turned off of West
Rosemary Street onto a side street and
headed for Caldwell Street.
The vehicle crossed through the
intersection of Church and Caldwell
streets at an extremely high speed,
reports state.
After the vehicle ran through the stop
sign, its driver lost control of the vehicle.
Snipes allegedly ran over a speed limit
sign and spun around backward into a
parked car, reports state.
The vehicle came to a stop in a resi
dent’s yard at 106 Caldwell St., reports
state. “Snipes had minor injuries in the
accident,” Cousins said.
Snipes jumped from his vehicle and
attempted to continue the chase on foot,
Cousins said. Carrboro and Chapel Hill
police caught Snipes after a short foot
chase.
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“Studying Abroad Can Change Your Life”
Come and find out about
UNC Spring Semester
in Montpellier, France
Where: Dey Hall, Room 113
UNC-Chapel Hill
When: Tue., Feb. 5, 2002 • 3:30-5:00 pm
Video followed by discussion with former Program participants.
For directions, call (919) 962-0154 or look us up at
web: http://www.unc.edu/depts/mont
email: mont@unc.edu
“/ have grown to love Montpellier, and this beautifiil city
will be a part of me forever. ” - 2001 Participant
shields surrounding nuclear reactors.
These shields are constructed of steel
and concrete 2 feet by 5 feet thick.
Studies at the U.S. Department of
Energy Lab in Los Alamos, N.M., in the
early 1990s suggested that a commercial
airliner probably would not be able to
fully penetrate the shield around a
nuclear reactor.
But NRC spokesman Roger Hannah
said a number of factors could aid an air
liner in penetrating a nuclear shield.
“The size of the aircraft, the amount
of fuel and the number of people on
board can all be contributing factors,"
he said.
Meserve said he could not be certain
of the consequences of a large airliner
fully loaded with jet fuel, crashing into a
nuclear power plant.
Officials from Carolina Power &
Light Cos., which owns and operates
Shearon Harris, located 30 miles south
east of Chapel Hill, said they are taking
cuss the possibility of additional risers.
She said concerns about safety, the
obstruction of visual lines and finding
comparable seating for alumni are all
obstacles in establishing new risers.
Willett said her experience as the
manager of the women’s basketball
team has given her a first-hand look at
women’s athletics at UNC. “We defi
nitely need to increase the promotion of
women’s sports on campus,” she said.
In a lighter moment, candidates com
peted in a contest to see which one could
name the most UNC head coaches.
Willett successfully named six coaches,
but Gore stopped after naming two. “I’m
not going to embarrass myself,” he said.
After a 15-minute deliberation,
Young Democrats co-president Susan
Navarro said the group chose to endorse
Willett because she was more informed
about issues relating to UNC athletics.
She said, “Part of the reason we
decided to endorse Kris Willett was
because she was a lot more realistic and
she did her research.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
Upon further investigation, police
learned that the vehicle did not belong
to Snipes, Cousins said. On Feb. 1, a vic
tim reported that an unknown subject
had taken his car without permission.
Reports indicated that the license plate
of the vehicle reported missing matched
that of the one Snipes allegedly drove
on the chase. Cousins could not confirm
that the car had been stolen.
The estimated damage to the 1994
Mercury Marquis was SIO,OOO, reports
state. The estimated damage to the
parked car that Snipes hit was $15,000.
Snipes was confined to the Orange
County Jail under a $50,000 secured
bond, reports state.
Snipes, who could not be reached for
comment, had his first appearance in
the Orange County District Court in
Hillsborough on Monday. He is sched
uled to appear in court again Feb. 14.
As of Monday, Cousins was unable to
comment on why Snipes initially decid
ed to run from authorities.
“We don’t know why he decided to
flee from police.”
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
the advisory seriously.
CP&L spokesman Keith Poston said
officials at the plant are doing all they
can to ensure the safety of employees
and community members.
“We’re taking all the steps we can
take, but the plants themselves were not
designed to withstand the impact of a
commercial airliner,” Poston said.
Poston also stressed the efficiency of
CP&L’s emergency plans for dealing
with things such as radiation leaks. The
plans are assessed and graded periodi
cally by the state, the NRC and the
Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
Although Poston said security reasons
prevented him from revealing the grade
Shearon Harris received, he said the
plans have worked well in terms of secu
rity.
FBI spokesman David Martinez
summed up the possibility of a future
terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
ANIMAL
From Page 3
more than an hour prior to the discov
ery of the animal.
“(Sunday) night at about 11 p.m., I
found that the bathroom door was
locked, and I thought that was strange
because we don’t usually lock the door,”
Lambeth said. “A couple of minutes later,
I went in to the bathroom and saw a bag
with blood on it in the trash, but I just
assumed someone had cut themselves.”
Lt. Archie Daniel, who investigated
the scene with Lt. H. L. Bryant, said he
is not sure of the motive for the incident.
“We haven’t seen anything exactly
like this at UNC before," Daniel said.
“Since it is so unusual, we plan on touch
ing all bases during our investigation."
Daniel said that the animal carcass was
collected, refrigerated at the Department
of Public Safety and examined by a vet
erinary team to determine what kind of
animal it was. “The vet believes it was a
fox and that it was potentially killed in the
road and skinned for its pelt,” Daniel said.
“It is fox-trapping season, but we don’t
SANGAM
From Page 3
Student Congress, saying the experience
made him capable of bringing together
student organizations. “(UNC has) a lot of
diversity, and what I did on Congress was
see how that could be shown,” he said.
McKinney said after the forum that
he was thankful and proud to receive
the Sangam endorsement.
“I respect the organization and what
they do,” he said. “We’re all on the same
page, and that’s fantastic."
Sangam also endorsed senior class
president and vice president candidates
Paymon Rouhanifard and Robert
Albright.
But senior class president candidates
Chessa Huff and Dana Leventhal said
they thought the process was biased
after many Sangam members, including
the moderator of the forum, entered the
a The Bull’s Head
destined to be-
come the fat
community’s
Canterbury Tales.
Wednesday,
W February 6
3:30 pm
at the
Bull’s Head Bookshop
Student Stores
bullshead@store.unc.edu
9 6 295 0 6 0
News
“We know of no threat, but the infor
mation has been released that al-Qaida
has explored the idea of an attack on an
unspecified nuclear facility at an unspec
ified time,” he said.
The NRC advisory more specifically
states that “the attack was already
planned, and three individuals were on
the ground ... recruiting non-Arabs to
take part in the attack.”
Hannah said a collision could cause a
substantial release of radiation, but he
added that the risk of a wide-scale radi
ation leak resulting from the crash of a
commercial airliner “is very small.”
“The NRC, after September 11, began
looking at security procedures across the
board and seeing if long-term improve
ments would be necessary.”
Chris Blow
contributed to this article.
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
think it was trapped.”
Daniel also said the animal carcass
was sent to a lab to be tested for disease.
“There is no reason for us to believe that
the animal has any disease, but we felt
we have an obligation to rule it out for
the safety of the school,” Daniel said.
Residents of the fourth-floor suite
said they have no idea why the incident
occurred. “The police asked us if we had
any enemies or if we were really into
saving animals or a member of the
humane society, but no one could think
of any reason why someone would do
this," Lambeth said.
Makrides and Lambert said they now
plan to take added precautions to deter
any further incidents.
“We decided to start locking the suite
door at night, but it is kind of hard to
prevent something like this from hap
pening again,” said freshman Mona
Gupta, another resident of the suite.
“This incident just reminds me how
scary it is that people can come in and
out of the dorms and rooms so easily."
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
forum wearing buttons that showed sup
port for Rouhanifard and Albright.
“We felt like we walked into a loaded
forum,” Leventhal said. “It was poorly
organized, and the way it was done was
unfair to a majority of us.”
Sangam President Sachin Patel said
he did not think the forum was unfair.
“I don’t feel as though that was a
problem at the forum,” Patel said.
“There was no one there standing up
and saying ‘I support Paymon’ - it was
n’t that kind of aura.”
Sangam also endorsed Graduate and
Professional Student Federation presi
dent candidate Branson Page and
Carolina Athletic Association president
candidate Kris Willett.
Student body president candidates
Correy Campbell, Nathan Katzin and
Charlie Trakas did not attend.
The University Editor can be reached at
udesk@unc.edu.
Study: Freshman
Year Takes Toll
By Jamie McGee
Staff Writer
Some students describe their freshman
year as the “time of their life,” but studies
indicate that the first year of college is
more strenuous than might be perceived.
In a 2001 study conducted by the
Higher Education Research Institution
at the University of Califomia-Los
Angeles and the Policy Center on the
First Year at College at Brevard College,
researchers surveyed 3,680 first-year
students at 50 four-year colleges to
determine how students changed during
their first year at college.
The researchers conducted the study
“with the intent to improve the first-year
experiences and retain those students
most likely to withdraw from higher
education," the report stated.
Researchers surveyed students in the
fall of their freshman year and again at
the end of their first year and compared
the results. “Students report drinking
alcohol more frequently after the first
year in college,” the report stated. “By
contrast, activism, community service
and religious participation significantly
dropped.”
In examining the emotional transi
tions of freshmen, the results did not
reflect positively on the experience. The
percentages of students feeling over
whelmed, bored in class and depressed
after their first year in school all
increased.
“Nearly 56 percent of students rate
themselves above average or highest 10
percent with respect to emotional health
prior to entering college versus 43.4 per
cent at end of the first college year,” the
report stated.
The report reflected positive impacts
of first-year seminars. The students who
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Tuesday, February 5, 2002
participated in seminars designed for
first-year students were associated with
greater satisfaction with the amount of
faculty contact and stronger feelings of
success in adjusting to college.
UNC facilitates programs to ease the
transitions of first-year students such as
the First Year Initiative and Freshman
Camp.
The First Year Initiative provides a
community designed to meet the acade
mic and social needs of first-year stu
dents.
Students live in Ehringhaus
Residence Hall and interact with other
first-year students, mentors and faculty.
Jonathan Crane who heads the
Campus Y’s Freshman Camp, said the
three-day camp before school made his
transition to college much easier. “It was
a great way to meet people and see what
is out there.”
Despite the study’s results, many stu
dents at UNC said even in the new atmos
phere, they are enjoying their first year.
Fritz Kramer, a freshman at UNC,
said he has not had a difficult transition.
“It is a different life but still a lot of
fun,” Kramer said. “There is more
opportunity here than there was in high
school. Living with all freshmen helped.”
Kramer said that he studies more
now and still exercises. “1 play soccer. It
is easy to pick up a game here.”
Sophomore Jennifer Coughlan said
her experience as a freshman, although
overwhelming, was still rewarding.
“It was a little overwhelming,”
Coughlan said. “In high school it is easy
to get work done and do all you want to
do. Here it is difficult to pursue all you
want to.”
The State & National Editor can be
reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.
5