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me Sathj (Sar Heel Serving the students and the University community since 1893 www.dailytarheel.com Candidates' diversity will not be a key KwM'Mm < ssue * n 2004 election, pundits say & Look for more stories online. Volume 110, Issue 144 Council Adopts Development Ordinance Effectiveness of plan to be evaluated in the next year By Billy Corriher Assistant City Editor After making final alterations to both strengthen and relax some of its most controversial restrictions, the Chapel Hill Town Council voted 9-0 Monday night to pass its Land-Use Management Ordinance. The ordinance will regulate local development in a manner that preserves the town’s atmosphere and min imizes environmental impact. The council, having heard public comments through out the two-year process of revising the ordinance, made several changes Monday to the fifth and final draft. Many residents had expressed concerns about how existing structures would be affected by the more strin gent provisions of the new ordinance, but Planning Director Roger Waldon said only new structures will be affected by the stricter requirements. The approved draft makes it clear that existing homes and already-approved developments will be exempt from the new ordinance and that instead they will be Panel Decides To Investigate Ethics Charges By Meredith Nicholson Assistant University Editor Members of the Student Congress Ethics Committee voted 4-1 Monday to launch an informal investigation into allega tions that Finance Committee Chairwoman Natalie Russell knowingly violated the Student Code by living outside of the district she was elected to represent. Ethics Committee member Alak Shah brought charges before the committee last week after he discovered that Russell, who was elected to represent Craige and Ehringhaus residence halls, lives in Hintonjames North Residence Hall. Committee member Chad McCullen was the only member of the committee to vote against the investigation. McCullen and Jen Orr, Student Affairs Committee chairwoman, also have come under fire recently because they were elected to represent Hinton James and Morrison residence halls, but they also are living in Hinton James North. No official charges have been filed against them at this time. Speaker Carey Richter, who attended the meeting but did not vote, argued that it is not clear that Russell was living out side of her district because the new resi dence halls were not included in the dis tricts to which representatives were elect- “(Natalie Russell’s move) did not physically ... separate her from the constituents who she was representing. ” Carey Richter Congress Speaker ed last spring. “It did not physically, or in any other manner, sep arate her from the constituents who she was representing.” Richter said that because Hintonjames North is located close to the residence halls Russell was elected to represent, she still was able to represent her constituents. Committee member William Teeter said that the location of her new residence is irrelevant and that there should be no distinction made between Congress members who move from their districts to the next building over or fr om their dis tricts to the other side of campus. “I believe that when she moved, she moved out of (her district),” he said. Teeter said the most worrisome part of the allegations is that members of Congress knew Russell was living outside her district and failed to compel her to resign or to bring the matter before the full Congress. See ETHICS, Page 5 lUjK DTH MEREDITH HILL The Student Congress Ethics Committee voted to initiate an informal investigation into allegations. Everybody has a chance to become president of the United States. I'll sell mine for a quarter. Lawrence Lee Uprooted This year's La Fiesta del Pueblo festivities will be relocated from Chapel Hill to Raleigh. See Page 7 governed by the less-stringent ordinance that was in place at the time of their approval. The draft also clarified contentious restrictions, such as the expanded Resource Conservation District, which pro hibits development on land within 150 feet of a stream. In addition to listening to residents’ feedback Monday, the council responded to a request from Chapel Hill’s business community. The council rejected a suggestion from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce that would have allowed for more incen tives to develop residential units in the downtown area. Mayor Kevin Foy said a blanket program to provide incentives for downtown development might be too far reaching. “Maybe we should give (incentives) where it’s warranted,” he said. But council member Pat Evans said incentives are need ed to counter the obvious downsides, such as higher costs and parking concerns, associated with trying to develop residential units downtown. “I think we need that, because it’s too easy not to do a project downtown,” she said. The council has sought more high-density residential ■ PHr fir BHH H 311 r Hfii ; DTH KRISTEN ASHTON Student body president candidate Ben Pickett speaks while candidates Dan Picket (left), Sang Shin, MattTepper and Nathan Cherry look on. The five attended a forum hosted by the Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies on Monday night. SBP HOPEFULS SHARE KEY CAMPAIGN GOALS Oldest student groups host elections forum By Nikki Werking Assistant University Editor Among the portraits of men who influ enced the University’s history, student body president candidates discussed their plat forms Monday in a formal forum setting. The Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, the oldest student organizations at UNC, hosted their annual student body presi dent candidate forum Monday night in New West Hall. The organization does not endorse a candidate, but it gives candidates an oppor tunity to discuss a variety of issues and to field questions from the audience. Each of the four student body president candidates - Nathan Cherry, Ben Pickett, Sang Shin and Matt Tepper -and write-in candidate Dan Pickel had four minutes to pre sent their platforms and then had two minutes to respond to questions from the audience. The candidates then had as much time as they wanted to make their closing remarks. Pickel said his top priority is to make UNC a more fun place for students by orga nizing more events where they can meet Tuesday, January 28, 2003 development downtown and along transit fines, but it did not want to increase incentives as much as the cham ber suggested. Council members voted to adopt a small er incentive program and agreed that its effectiveness would be evaluated as part of the yearlong review process for the entire ordinance. The council also relaxed some of the ordinance’s most stringent -and controversial - regulations. The approved draft requires developments that will disturb 5,000 square feet of land to adhere to stricter tree protection standards. The council discussed lowering the threshold to 2,000 square feet of land disturbance but decided against it because the standards then would apply to nearly all homes. Council member Jim Ward said the 5,000 square foot threshold is “a reasonable compromise.” Town Manager Cal Horton said a lower threshold would have required nearly all homes to be inspected to see if they complied with the standards, thus creating more work for town staff. “If we set it at 2,000 square feet, inspections of each lot would become the control ling factor in each permit application process,” he said. See ORDINANCE, Page 5 each other. “I’m not running (for student body presi dent) for ambition, power or pride,” he said. “I’m here to have a good time. These are supposed to be the best years of our fives.” If elected, Pickel said, he would work to eliminate final exams on Saturdays and would try to create a scholarship to provide Spring Break funding for students with good grades. Pickett said his platform includes progres sive policy proposals that are geared to ben efit everyone in the University community. “I want to be able to come back to Carolina in 20 years and know that I truly made a change,” he said. “I don’t necessari ly want people to remember the Pickett administration but just that someone made a change and truly made a difference.” Two issues Pickett promoted were his pro posals for the Carolina Security Initiative, which would create a security affairs position in the executive branch of student govern ment and work to increase security patrolling and fighting on campus, and the Equal Rights Initiative, which would aim to protect the mission statements of student organizations. Shin said he is concerned with the student body president’s accessibility and said increas ing communication between students and stu dent government would be a top priority. “Students need to work together to convey University issues and concerns (to the admin istration),” he said. “I want to be more visible and let students know the student body pres ident is there and can answer questions.” 9 Party Line Rep. Paul Luebke speaks to UNC's Young Democrats. See Page 3 Shin also said he is committed to promot ing diversity through his proposal for the Promoting and Understanding Diversity Initiative. The initiative would focus on giving all student groups an equal voice on campus. Tepper said that of the student body pres ident candidates, his platform is the most comprehensive and most feasible. “I’ve been researching my platform for the past two months (to ensure that) my ideas can be done and are the best possible,” he said. “All my ideas can be done and can be done during my tenure.” To increase the power of the student voice on campus, Tepper said, he plans to create a student wish fist that would be available to potential donors to inform them of students’ top desires and needs. He also emphasized the importance of the student voice in the University’s ongoing curriculum review. Cherry said fie plans to improve accessi bility by forming a satellite student govern ment office on South Campus and to improve UNC’s relationship with the town of Chapel Hill by creating a Cabinet-level committee on town affairs. If elected, Cherry said, his passion for UNC and its students would drive his administration’s commitment to serving stu dents effectively. “I love this place,” he said. “I love it a whole lot, and I really want to see things get done.” The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu. Weather Today: Partly Cloudy; H 44, L 33 Wednesday: P.M. Showers; H 52, L 32 Thursday: Few Showers; H 42, L 31 r | DTH KRISTIN GOODE Mayor Kevin Foy (right) and council member Bill Strom vote on the final changes to the Land-Use Management Ordinance. www.dailytarheel.com FBI Ups Dialogue With U.S. Colleges By Bobby Whisnant Jr, Staff Writer The FBI recently has increased com munication with campus police depart ments to prevent terrorist activity at national colleges and universities, including institutions in North Carolina. Rollin Donelson, director of police and public safety at UNC-Greensboro, said he met with tfie director of FBI liaisons in Chicago about a year ago to discuss FBI involvement with campus police. “The FBI is seeking to be involved with all campus police departments, as they feel it will help tremendously with anti-terrorism efforts, especially since September 11,” he said. Donelson, an FBI National Academy graduate, said FBI training improves campus departments’ capabilities. “If needed, we are able to send offi cers from our department to be trained by FBI detectives, something called ‘retraining,’” he said. But Donelson said universities the See FBI, Page 5 Bush Must Sell War, Economy By Amanda Jepsen Staff Writer President Bush has an opportunity today to gamer public support for the war in Iraq and to promote his plan to bolster a faltering economy in his State of the Union address, pundits say. The address will air at 9 p.m. on all major news channels and will serve as a forum for Bush to speak about the issues he might address while on the cam paign trail. James Stimson, UNC professor of political science, said the address will kick off Bush’s re-election campaign. The president must gain some momen tum fiefore it’s too late, he said. Gallup polls show Bush’s approval rating at 60 percent - his lowest rating See UNION, Page 5
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