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Man in Black
Lewis Black vents to
Memorial Hall audience.
See Page 3
www.dailytarheel.com
Town Manager Addresses Budget Shortfall
By Michael Chen
Staff Writer
Mayor Kevin Foy bypassed the
Chapel Hill Town Council’s agenda
Monday night to immediately address
the town’s unexpected budget cuts,
which now total at least $1.4 million.
Last week, Gov. Mike Easley
declared a fiscal emergency due to a
S9OO million shortfall for the fiscal year.
To deal with this problem, the state
passed part of the deficit to the munici
palities of North Carolina by withhold-
Student body president
candidates share their
pre-election thoughts.
“I’m more proactive and
more all-inclusive. ”
Jen
Daum
Pewaukee, Wis.
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“If people take the entire
candidate into account,
then I’ll do fine. ”
Fred
Hashagen
long Island, N.Y.
Ct j
4M
7 have seen the inside
track, and that gives me
an advantage
Bennett
Mason
Meadville, Pa.
4 il
7 think it’s time we make
student government
something we’re
all proud of.”
Will
McKinney
Greenville, S.C.
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“Students need great
leadership now; I am
that leadership. ”
Brad
Overcash
Thomasville
An election is a bet on the future, not a popularity test of the past
James Reston
ing certain revenues that were to be dis
tributed to local governments.
Town Manager Cal Horton proposed
a list of potential budget adjustments to
the Town Council at its Monday meeting.
Within 30 minutes, the council opted
to suspend approving Horton’s propos
al until it meets for a budget work ses
sion Wednesday. Horton also said he
wants Foy to send Easley a town
approved letter explaining how Chapel
Hill is going to handle the budget cuts.
“We are faced with a more drastic sit
uation than anything since the (Great)
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PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY KIMBERLY CRAVEN AND BRIAN CASSELLA
Student body president candidates campaign in the Pit on Monday afternoon in their last-ditch efforts to gain support before
Election Day. Tension was low and spirits were high on the candidates' last day of competition.
UNC to Hold Campus Elections
By Krista Faron
Staff Writer
Students can cast their votes today in the
general student body elections.
Emily Margolis, chairwoman of the Board of
Elections, said all fee-paying students can vote
online through Student Central by using their
PIDs or ONYENs to access the site.
The site will be available for voting from 7
a.m. to 10 p.m. Students can only vote once.
Election results will be announced at about
10:30 p.m. Students interested in watching the
announcement can go to 104 Peabody Hall,
where the results will be broadcasted by
Student Television. Students can also watch the
broadcast on STV from home.
Margolis said the online voting process has
Candidates Maximize Exposure
In Last Day Before SBP Election
From Staff Reports
Monday marked the last day before this year’s
student body elections, a day traditionally filled with
last-minute rushes to fraternity and sorority hous
es, residence halls and other popular campus spots.
Student body president candidates spent their
last few hours continuing their campaigns of the
past three weeks and urging students to vote.
On the day before the election, candidate Brad
Overcash continued to do what he says comes nat
urally.
“I haven’t really been nervous through the cam
paign because Pve been doing what I like to do
anyways - talk to people,” he said.
Overcash said Monday that he was up at 7:15
a.m. to greet students on South Campus until 9 a.m.
Catching lunch at the Top of Lenoir, Overcash
divided time between greeting voters and exchang-
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Vote Online Today
at http://sttud@mitc@inittimioUiniCo@du #
Depression,” Horton said, speaking
about the severity of the situation.
“What was a state problem now
affects over 400 cities and over 100
counties.”
After further reviewing the budget,
Horton said he determined that Chapel
Hill’s budget shortfall would be more
than $1.4 million, rather than the origi
nal $1.04 million estimated last week.
Horton suggested that the town allo
cate $215,000 in accumulated interest
from general bond proceeds to make
payments on the debt caused by the
Volume 109, Issue 156
budget cuts rather than using it to pay
for new buildings or maintenance of
existing buildings. Horton said he advo
cated this action because of the market’s
low interest rates.
Another $200,000 from the town’s
Debt Service Fund also would be allo
cated to the debt payments, he said.
Additional funds would be drawn
from the Capital Reserve Fund, the Off-
Street Parking Fund and the Vehicle
Replacement Fund.
Council member Edith Wiggins
asked Horton which town positions
not been altered since last year, so students
should not experience any notable changes.
Last year was the first year online voting for stu
dent elections was implemented on campus.
Margolis also said a polling station will be
open in Union 212 from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. if
students experience technical difficulties.
All students can vote for student body pres
ident, Carolina Athletic Association president
and the two referendums.
One referendum will address a possible 75-
cent student fee increase to subsidize on-cam
pus child-care facilities. The other deals with
state campaign finance reform.
All students also can vote for Student Congress
representatives, although Margolis said eight of
22 races have no candidates on the ballot.
On-campus residents can vote for the
ing laughs with members of his campaign staff, one
of whom dressed in a Ric Flair robe complete with
sparkles, sequins and “Cash” written on the back.
Overcash completed his last day of campaigning
by going back to South Campus to talk with stu
dents at Chase Hall. “As long as people are out. I’ll
be out talking to them,” he said.
Write-in candidate Nathan Katzin spent Monday
responding to questions from recipients of a mass
e-mail sent Friday by his campaign.
“We got about 1,000 responses,” Katzin said.
“Half positive responses, half negative."
Katzin also spent Monday working on another
mass e-mail and an mp3 collection of some of the
songs he has written.
“I’m not a big believer in posters because I
believe marketing is the No. 1 evil in the U. 5.,”
See CANDIDATES, Page 6
would be affected by the budget crunch.
Horton informed the council that there
are 15 vacant town staff positions. He said
six positions that must be filled include a
human resources director, a traffic signal
technician, a landscape superintendent
and an assistant recreation supervisor.
Another eight or nine positions that
are vacant could be left unoccupied at
this time to save about $150,000 for the
2001-02 fiscal year, he said.
The council agreed that it would be in
See BUDGET, Page 6
Residence Hall Association president, and
graduate students can vote for the Graduate and
Professional Student Federation president.
Voting for senior class officers is limited to
rising seniors, Margolis said.
Although all races feature an official list of
candidates from which to choose, students also
can cast their votes for write-in candidates.
Correy Campbell and Charlie Trakas, two stu
dent body president candidates who were origi
nally slated to be on the ballot, are running as
write-in candidates. Nathan Katzin also is running
as a write-in candidate for student body president
Students with questions can call 962-VOTE
or e-mail boardofelections@unc.edu.
The University Editor can be reached at
udesk@unc.edu.
Ballot Basics
The following candidates will appear on today's
ballot. Students may also write in their choice.
Student Body President
O Jennifer Daum
O Fred Hashagen
O Bennett Mason
O Will McKinney
O Brad Overcash
Senior Class President and Vice President
O Tinu Akintola/David Mclntosh
O Chessa Huff/Kim Washington
O Dana Leventhal/Neal Chandoke
O Paymon Rouhanifard/Robert Albright
Graduate and Professional Student
Federation President
O Branson Page
Residence Hall Association President
O Joanna Jordan
Carolina Athletic Association President
O Chris Gore
O Kris Willett
Weather
Today: Sunny; H 56, L 32
Wednesday: Cloudy; H 53, L 24
Thursday: Sunny; H 49, L 29
Town OKs
Review for
UNC Center
Additions to the Paul J. Rizzo
Conference Center will
continue despite a recent
halt on area development.
By Jennifer Johnson
Staff Writer
Additions to a University project that
total $lB million will proceed after the
Chapel Hill Town Council opted
Monday to expedite the review of a
UNC petition despite a virtual morato
rium on town development.
Council members voted unanimous
ly to allow expansion of the Paul J.
Rizzo Conference Center, which is
owned and operated by the Kenan-
Flagler Business School.
The decision went unchallenged by
the council members in spite of the vir
tual moratorium on new construction.
The council stalled future develop
ment at its Jan. 28 meeting in order to
perfect the town’s development ordi
nance, which will be a guide for all future
development. But since then, council
members have made a few exceptions
for projects already in the works.
Bruce Runberg, associate vice chan
cellor for facilities planning at UNC,
requested that the center’s special-use
permit be extended to allow further
construction. Two additions to the
building were included in the center’s
1997 special-use permit.
But construction did not begin until
after both the 24-month special-use per
mit deadline and the date for an exten
sion request had passed.
“If the project is stalled by the hiatus
in development, there will be a signifi-
See PERMIT REQUEST, Page 6
Ruffin:
Students
Lack Drive
Despite low student turnout
at last week's meeting, some
BOG members said students
show support in other ways.
By Jamie McGee
Staff Writer
UNC-svstem Board of Governors
Chairman Ben Ruffin says he is disap
pointed by the lack of student involve
ment in debates on tuition increases as
the board nears a vote on campus-initiat
ed tuition increase requests.
The BOG held its monthly meeting
Thursday and Friday, which included
the second in a series of workshops on
tuition increases in the UNC system
and some brief discussion on tuition
during the full board meeting. The
board will host the next tuition work
shop in Winston-Salem on Feb. 19.
The BOG likely will vote on tuition at
its March 6 meeting. At least 12 UNC-sys
tem schools are considering or have
approved tuition increases. The UNC-
Chapel Hill Board of Trustees approved a
one-year, S4(X) tuition increase in January.
Ruffin said there were fewer students at
the most recent BOG meeting than he
had hoped. “I was surprised that there
were no students (at Friday’s meeting),”
he said. “I was disappointed. You should
always have students at those meetings to
talk about tuition. We talk about students,
but there were no students there.”
UNC-CH Student Body President
See STUDENTS, Page 6
•
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