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Knowledge
Helps Fight
Ignorance
Nine months ago, I thought I
had it all figured out.
1 assumed that, aside from a
few glitches, this was going to be just
an ordinary year, making my job as
columnist pretty easy.
Boy, was I wrong. The year has
been anything but ordinary.
And for me, Sept. 11 was perhaps
the most challenging event of the year.
As I’ve said many times before,
Sept. 11 changed our nation.
Asa country, we understand that
we can no longer
display a facade
of being inde
structible.
We realize
that the pride
and confidence
that built this
nation into one
of the most pow
erful in the
world is now
perhaps our
greatest flaw.
Now we must
APRIL BETHEA
STATE &
NATIONAL
COLUMNIST
figure out how to restore security in our
nation without dissuading others from
wanting to call the United States home.
And who can talk about politics
without mentioning George W. Bush?
After winning one of the more bit
terly contested elections in our
nation’s history, Bush has in my opin
ion risen above any skepticism con
cerning his legitimacy as president.
Sure, we can argue that backing
away from the Kyoto protocol proba
bly was not the best thing to do. And
to this day, I still do not understand
the whole pretzel-fainting fiasco.
But despite the criticisms, after the
September attacks our nation needed a
strong leader to unify and inspire us
and Bush stepped up to the plate.
On the home front, N.C. politicians
are still grappling with digging our
economy out of a billion-dollar deficit.
Unfortunately, I don’t see how that
can happen without touching crucial ser
vices, including education. All we can
do is make the necessary cuts now and
hope that more will not have to follow.
So with the year winding down, I
am not ashamed to admit that I was
wrong. This year was eventful if per
haps not always in positive ways.
I have little regrets over the topics I
tackled this year through my column.
Well except one. Before I go, I just
have one more issue to clear up.
I am not 100 percent anti-death
penalty. I’m just skeptical of how it has
been used in our nation.
If anything is going to deter future
criminal activity, I believe the prospect
of death will do it more quickly than
any other option.
But we must not forget one thing:
The death penalty is irreversible.
Once someone is executed, you can
not bring him or her back to life.
If we must continue to use this form
of punishment, we need to ensure that
the process is flawless.
So far, things don’t look too good.
One hundred death row inmates have
been exonerated in recent years after
DNA tests proved their innocence.
Thus, while I don’t oppose the death
penalty completely, I cannot fully sup
port the practice given the number of
mistakes discovered in recent years.
That being said, if I could close the
year with one thought it would be this
quote from Socrates:
“The only good is knowledge and
the only evil is ignorance.”
Although we might not like every
thing we read, see or hear nowadays,
knowing what is going on in the world
is a powerful thing.
So if I could ask one favor of who
ever reads this column, it’d be this:
Don’t allow yourself to be ignorant.
Columnist April Bethea can be
reached at adbethea@email.unc.edu.
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Only 2 Congress Seats Still Vacant
By Nikki Werking
Staff Writer
Seven more students who were elected
to Student Congress in Tuesday’s special
elections accepted
their positions by
Thursday, leaving
Congress with only
two empty seats,
the least amount of
|g^^ailytarheeUom|
For a list of students
elected to Congress in
the special election, see
wwwdaHytarheel.com.
vacancies in the last three years.
The students join four other candidates
Architects Share Plans for Arts Common
By Ruthie Warshenbrot
Staff Writer
Architects from the UNC Arts
Common Master Plan came to campus
Thursday to present their preliminary
plans for anew, art-centered section of
campus and to answer student concerns.
Polshek Partnership Architects, a plan
ning and architect company from New
York, was hired by the University in early
December and has been working on plan
ning the Arts Common, the second wave
of UNC’s Master Plan, since February.
Duncan Hazard and Peter Mullan
from Polshek Partnership sat in the Pit
area at noon Thursday to answer ques
tions and gather ideas from students.
“We’re very interested in student
input,” Mullan said.
Polshek Partnership was hired to
plan the Arts Common - the section of
campus between Cameron Avenue and
Franklin Street and from South
Columbia Street to the edge of
McCorkle Place, as well as Playmakers
Theatre and Gerrard Hall.
Hazard and Mullan have been meet
ing with the arts-related departments on
campus to determine what the program
needs are. “What we’ve done so far is
programming - talking to the users
about what they need,” Hazard said.
“The next step, which is starting now, is
to locate the new programs and decide
See ARTS COMMON, Page 6
N.C. Keeps AAA Bond
Rating, Put on Watch
By Daniel Blank
Staff Writer
North Carolina once again held onto
its prized AAA bond rating, but the
state was warned Wednesday that it
could lose that status if the state’s bud
get picture continues to dim.
Despite receiving the highest ranking
possible, the state was placed under
“credit watch negative” by Moody’s
Investors Service.
Bond ratings determine how much
money a state has to pay when it bor
rows money. If the bond rating drops,
the state might have to pay millions
more in interest payments.
Ten states received AAA standing from
Moody’s, but North Carolina was the only
one of the group to be put on the watch
list. North Carolina also was placed on the
watch list in the early 19905, when the
state was facing a similar' budget crunch.
Moody’s analyst Caroline Cruise said
the service looks at the economic envi
ronment, debt levels and the fiscal analy
sis of the state to determine the rating.
Cruise said Moody’s will take 90 days
to review North Carolina’s fiscal condi
tion before deciding whether to keep the
state at the AAA level or bump it down.
“Basically, we’ll look over these 90
days at the budgetary debate, what tax
returns look like and look at the econo
my as a whole,” she said.
Katherine Kirkman, director of public
affairs for the N.C. Department of State
Treasurer, said Moody’s will be watching
the state closely to confirm that the state is
who accepted seats Tuesday night, filling
11 of the 13 seats left vacant after the Feb.
12 general student body elections.
There were no votes cast for the posi
tion in District Two, and one write-in
candidate from District Five has yet to
respond. Both districts are graduate and
professional student seats.
In recent years, Congress has been
plagued by a large number of empty
seats. At the beginning of the fall 2001
semester, 11 seats in Congress were still
vacant. In the last three years, no more
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Sophomores Kristen Kidd (left), Shaynah Kleber, and Gina Flakes talk with Polshek Partnership Architects
Peter Mullan (left) and Duncan Hazard in the Pit on Thursday afternoon.
moving in the right direction. “They’re
looking for North Carolina to step up to
the plate and make sure our budget is bal
anced and that we’re taking measures to
be fiscally responsible,” Kirkman said.
She said a higher rating results in lower
interest rates on borrowing because it
shows the state has a good credit history.
Sen. Howard Lee, D-Orange, said
keeping the AAA bond rating will be
important for the N.C. General Assembly
when it is called into session in May.
Lee said that if he were to rank the
issues facing the legislature, bond rating
would be high on the list, behind educa
tion spending and health care. “(We can
remain AAA) if we can position our
selves so we have good revenue streams,
reduce spending in line with the project
ed revenues, maintain a zero-growth
budget, keep a strong commitment to
adequate revenue funding and a long
term commitment to education,” he said.
But Lee said he is confident the legis
lature will ensure that the state’s rating
does not drop. “I think we will (keep the
rating) because its so important," he said.
“Democrats and Republicans, House
and Senate - we’re all committed to it.”
The State & National Editor can be
reached atstntdesk@unc.edu.
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News
than 31 of Congress’ 37 seats have been
filled, student leaders said.
Speaker of Congress Tony Larson
said having an almost full Congress will
broaden its representation on campus
and allow committees to have more
thorough discussions.
“A greater number of students with
more opinions and perspectives will
lead to fuller debates,” he said. “We’U be
able to cover more topics.”
Board of Elections Chairwoman
Emily Margolis said candidates have 24
Student Nurses Love for Medicine, Young People
By Jennifer Drye
Staff Writer
UNC junior Siddharth Sura has
always led a life of service.
He has spent countless hours in hos
pital emergency rooms and local class
rooms, and he has sacrificed several
summers to spend time learning about
medical practices in India.
Further dedicating himself to com
bining his love of medi-
cine with his com
passion for chil- 1
dren, the health
policy and admin
istration major 1
founded Student \
Health OUTreach
at UNC-CH in fall 2000. \
His goal was to create a way
to educate parents about the health care
options available for their children.
The organization was originally an
idea proposed as a service project for
N.C. Scholars. When the group decided
not to pursue the project, Sura adopted
the idea to carry out himself.
SHOUT at UNC-CH has 70 mem
bers working to link parents to govern
ment programs like Medicaid and N.C.
Health Choice that provide free or low
cost health insurance. The group works
with the county Health Department,
Student Health Action Coalition and El
Centro Latino to find opportunities to
speak with local residents.
hours to respond after being contacted
and notified of their positions. She said
she contacted the candidates Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday.
Candidates also must turn in their
financial statements, which outline their
campaign expenses, when they take their
positions. Margolis said she already has
received financial statements from the 11
candidates that have accepted their seats.
Even if only one seat remains vacant,
See CONGRESS, Page 6
DTH REBECCA O'DOHERTY
Siddharth Sura (right) reviews health care forms with Juan Pablo
of Chapel Hill. Sura is the founder Student Health OUTreach.
SHOUT at UNC-CH became a
University-recognized organization in
January of 2001, and Sura said he expects
it to continue growing and ultimately
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Friday, April 26, 2002
Council
Doubts
Expansion
Some council members say
they believe the widening
of Weaver Dairy Road is not
a good use of state funds.
By James Russ
Staff Writer
Some Chapel Hill Town Council
members have doubts that a plan to
widen Weaver Dairy Road, which they
approved and sent to the N.C.
Department of Transportation this
week, will be accepted.
The council voted 6-3 Monday to
approve a plan that would expand parts
of Weaver Dairy Road, a two-lane road,
to three lanes. The earliest the plan
would be approved by NCDOT is next
week.
The council had approved a similar
measurejan. 22,2001, but NCDOT did
not approve that plan. NCDOT instead
had recommended a four-lane road.
The council’s current plan is more
comprehensive than last year’s. A sec
tion of Weaver Dairy Road running
from Erwin Road to U.S. 15-501 also is
recommended to be made three lanes,
a change from the former plan.
Council member Edith Wiggins, who
voted against the plan Monday, said the
proposed widening seemed inappropri
ate given NCDOT’s response last year.
“It is absolutely ridiculous.”
Wiggins added that the NCDOT had
already refused the plan.
“I don’t think NCDOT will widen
the road to three lanes,” she said. “We
have a letter (from NCDOT) saying that
they don’t think widening the road is a
good use of state money.”
Council member Pat Evans, who also
voted against the plan, said she has
doubts about the plan being approved.
“I’m not going to bet on it,” Evans said.
“I agree with (NCDOT’s) position that
See WEAVER DAIRY, Page 6
become independent of larger programs.
One way SHOUT at UNC-CH
See SURA, Page 6
3