Satly (Ear Hurl
For Town,
It's Not Easy
Being Green
Monday night, the Chapel Hill
Town Council passed the new
Land-Use Management
Ordinance - its pet project of the last
two years or so.
In the largest accomplishment in
the council’s recent history, the ordi
nance has been a balancing act
between business and environmental
interests.
Council member Dorothy Verkerk
said in a Monday Daily Tar Heel arti
cle, “It’s going to determine what
Chapel Hill will look like for at least
the next 20 years.”
What Chapel
Hill will look
like has a lot to
do with how its
economy will
fare in these new
winds of change.
While Chapel
Hill transitions
from a small col
lege town to a
more developed
area, the new
code mandates
£
COLIN SUTTER
CITY
COLUMNIST
little niceties in hopes of at least
putting a better face on growth.
The council emphasized the use of
large buffer zones in between develop
ment projects in hopes of maintaining
Chapel Hill’s beauty and character.
However, the trade-off is what
forms the base of the economic pri
mordial soup - land.
Increasing the amount of green
space reduces the amount of land up
for development, thus reducing the
opportunity for the greenbacks to
come a-rollin’ in.
And the economy, for those stu
dents who haven’t been in the area all
that long, myself included -but I’ve
been told - it “ain’t what it used to be."
It’s even been suggested that
Franklin Street play host to several
national retail and restaurant chains to
jump-start the Benjamins. Want to talk
about losing the character of this
town?
The largest impact the new ordi
nance has on development is the 150-
foot Resource Conservation District
surrounding streams.
The code states that buffers of this
severity are needed to maintain water
quality, minimize danger of flooding
and to protect the environmental-sen
sitive character of the town.
Less land means less meat for
developers to work with, resulting in
fewer sales from developments and
also fewer consumers in the area to
support a lucrative economy.
But are we talking about drops in a
bucket? Probably.
Other ways the “green” in the ordi
nance shines through is the use of
buffers between development projects.
The buffers will be created on
streets adjacent to developments,
allowing for more environmental
incursion into growth.
While a 25-acre apartment complex
might spring up right next door,
there’ll be a nice little wooded area in
between.
The zone will not be large enough
for the animals that used to live there
to remain, but you were probably run
ning them over with your car anyway.
With the Chapel Hill mayoral and
Town Council elections turning out a
year ago in favor of slow or no-growth
candidates, the degree to which those
growth tendencies would influence this
ordinance was expected.
Most voting residents in Chapel
Hill, environmentally minded or not,
worry about what the town could pos
sibly expand into.
Traffic around rush hour is getting
increasingly worse. Huge develop
ments are becoming more and more
common as urban sprawl begins to hit.
The quality of life that Chapel Hill
attracts families with is becoming
abused as more and more try to cram
into Chapel Hill.
The members on the Town Council
were certainly aware of this. And
despite the need to appease all sides,
the finished code should allow for
both growth and the retaining of
Chapel Hill’s image.
Chapel Hill will inevitably change.
Not any time soon, but someday large
blocks of businesses will line Franklin
and Rosemary streets. Large apart
ment buildings will dot the landscape.
Some people along the way will cry
foul and demand a return to the olden
days. By that time many of those that
knew Chapel Hill as a sleepy idyllic
college town will be gone. For them it
will be a good thing; they would proba
bly hate die way this town will develop.
But, in the words of novelist
Robertson Davies, “The world is full
of people whose notion of a satisfacto
ry future is in fact a return to the ideal
ized past.”
Colin Sutker can be reached at
cosu@email.unc.edu.
UNC Student Charged With False Pretenses
Accused of selling
site he didn't own
By John Frank
City Editor
A UNC junior business major was
arrested Monday and charged with one
felony count of false pretense after he
sold a pornographic Web site he didn’t
own to a South Carolina Web master.
Peter Bamidge, 21, of 1408 Granville
Towers West, turned himself in at the
Chapel Hill Police Department a day after
investigators served a search warrant on
his fourth-floor room, where they collect
ed substantial evidence to link him to the
false sale of http://www.persiankitty.com.
b 9 iraifc 'HHI-
•' HjP' 'jyjjj
DTH/LEAH LATELLA
Student body president candidate Ben Pickett officially kicks off his campaign Monday while Brad Overcash,
his campaign manager, looks on. Pickett has said he will bring common sense to the presidency.
Pickett's Platform
Centers On Integrity, Sense
By Will Arey
Staff Writer
Were there such a thing, Ben Pickett
most likely would run for student body
president on the Common Sense ticket.
In his conversations and discussions,
Pickett emphasizes the notions of com
mon sense and honesty in student gov
ernment’s executive branch - things, he
said, that have not always been present
in past years.
He also wants to make sure that he
does not forsake the future of the
University to reach short-term goals.
Yet Pickett, a junior from Lexington,
says he still is focused on what is hap
pening at UNC - just not so focused that
he’s willing to compromise the future.
“I want my administration to gear
itself toward making true and lasting
changes here,” Pickett said. “We want to
focus on bettering the lives of all Tar
Heels, both now and in the future.”
A member of the Honor Court all three
years he’s been at UNC, Pickett said he
wants to ensure that honor and integrity
stay associated with the executive branch.
Mock Election Chooses Sharon for Israel
Carolina Students
for Israel held vote
By Kelly Blinson
Staff Writer
Whether Tuesday’s elections in Israel
were determined by votes on UNC’s
campus or in Israel itself, Ariel Sharon
was re-elected as Israel’s prime minister.
With temperatures dropping to the
mid-30s and the wind rustling an Israeli
flag draped over their table, members of
Carolina Students for Israel set up a mock
election Tuesday afternoon in the Pit.
The mock election took place on the
same day as Israeli elections for prime
minister. Members of CSI began cam
Police investigator John Moore of the
department’s cyber crime task force was
alerted by University police after they
were contacted by the victim Jan. 16.
The suspect was charged with com
puter fraud after he received a SI,OOO
down payment from the 58-year-old vic
tim in Charleston, S.C., for the domain
name he didn’t own, Moore said.
In interviews Tuesday, the suspect said
he didn’t get the money, and the victim
said the money was sent through the
Internet to a third party’s account at
Emory University in Atlanta, Ga., which
was emptied soon after the transfer.
Police said they still are tracking the
money trail and are requesting all cor
respondences from the suspect’s UNC
e-mail account.
Initially the suspect identified himself
“I want to do what’s right, to bring a
sense of moral conviction to the office,”
Pickett said. “I don’t really want my pic
ture all over the place. I just want to get
in here and make a difference.”
Pickett’s platform is full of issues such as
security, race relations and gender issues
that have troubled
the University for
decades. And he
hopes that, if given
a chance, his pro
grams can help
UNC escape these
troubles for the long haul.
“I want my programs to be here in 20
years whether anyone remembers my
name or not,” Pickett said. “It’s about
bettering the fives of those at UNC.”
One of the cornerstones of Pickett’s
platform is the Carolina Security Initiative,
which aims to boost security on campus
using mainly preventative methods.
“The main problem is that students are
not as safe as they can be," Pickett said.
“We want to focus on eliminating the per
son that lurks in the shadows but also on
eliminating the shadows themselves."
paigning Monday and continued with
the election Tuesday. They used fliers,
petitions and word-of-mouth to get the
word out to students.
David Krusch, who organized the
election, said that about 200 to 250 peo
ple voted in the Pit and that out of those
people, 57 percent cast votes in favor of
the Likud party, which Sharon leads.
The Labor party finished with 31 per
cent of the vote. Krusch also said 10
smaller parties were represented on
campus, with each party receiving a
small percentage of the vote.
Although there are only two major
political parties in Israel, Likud and
Labor, there are more than 22 smaller
parties for voters to choose from based
on their preferences.
CSI members were pleased with the
News
as a business part
ner of the Web
site’s actual owner.
According to a
domain registry
Web site, the
domain name is
owned by Meow
Media of Tacoma,
Wash. Moore con
tacted the owners,
who said they did-
Peter Bamidge
n’t know the suspect. Officials in Tacoma
didn’t return phone calls Tuesday night.
The suspect advertised the sale of the
site through a mass e-mail to adult Web
site owners, including the victim.
Through a dozen e-mails and two
phone calls, the victim and suspect nego
tiated the price of the Web site as $2,000,
Pickett is adamant in his opposition of
student fee increases. On the February
ballot, students will choose whether the
student activity fee should be increased
to $19.50 per semester for all students.
“I don’t want my administration
involved in raises,” he said. “Raises in
student fees don’t create a good aroma,
and they also undercut the legitimacy of
the administration.”
As an alternative to raising student
fees, Pickett proposed educating student
organizations about the grants available
through the Carolina Center for Public
Service. “It’s important that students
know of the opportunities for money
that are available to them, and we will
use our communications outlets to help
make all students aware of these oppor
tunities,” Pickett said.
But senior Jason Perlmutter, station
manager of WXYC, said grants would
not necessarily be able to satisfy' the
needs of student organizations. “The
problem with grants is that you have to
ask for everything you need before you
See PICKETT, Page 9
number of students who showed support
for the election, especially students who
were not part of the Jewish community.
In Tel Aviv on Tuesday afternoon,
Likud supporters were celebrating their
victory with songs and street celebrations.
Elections in Israel are held every four
years for the national parties and every
five years for municipal parties. Under
democratic rule, the elections held are
general, equal and secret.
Krusch, a sophomore religious stud
ies major, is a member of three Jewish
pro-Israel groups on campus: CSI, N.C.
Hillel and Alpha Epsilon Pi. He said the
University was one of 60 campuses in
the United States and Europe involved
in the mock elections.
See ELECTIONS, Page 9
with a SI,OOO down payment and 25 per
cent of the earnings for the first six months.
Moore said he was told by the victim
that the Web site in question is the old
est adult site in the country. Featuring an
over-18 disclaimer above nude pictures
and hundreds of finks to other porno
graphic sites, persiankitty.com gets near
ly 300,000 hits a day, he said.
The victim, who owns numerous
adult Web sites, said his busiest site gets
only 50,000 hits a day.
The victim said he became suspicious
after the domain name wasn’t transferred
on the scheduled date. He unsuccessfully
tried to contact the suspect many times.
Using tracking software, the victim
traced the suspect to the UNC comput
er network and alerted campus police.
Police are looking into a connection to
Local Police Hold
Man Who Fled
Assault Charges
U.S. Customs Service received
suspect at U.S.-Mexico border
By Elizabeth B. Sherman
Staff Writer
A monthlong search for a 36-year-old Chapel Hill man
charged with stabbing his wife ended when he turned himself
in at the U.S.-Mexico border and was
arrested Monday by Carrboro police.
Antonio Miguel Perez of 211 Pinegate
Circle Apt. 4, who had been charged
with assault with a deadly weapon with
intent to kill inflicting serious injury, was
returned to the Orange County Sheriffs
Office at 2:10 p.m. He later was trans
ferred to Carrboro police.
Police reports state that after the sus
pect stabbed his estranged wife in her
Carrboro apartment, he stole a car and
fled with the couple’s 11-year-old twins.
After being attacked by the suspect,
his wife - who does not own a phone - went to the rental
office of her apartment complex and asked employees to call
911. She was treated at UNC Hospitals for serious stab wounds
to her abdomen.
Three days later, police had not yet located the suspect or
the two children, but the vehicle he allegedly had stolen was
found in Pasadena, Texas, reports state.
On Jan. 8, the suspect called an unidentified friend in
Leominster, Mass.
He told the friend that he and the children were in Mexico
See ARREST, Page 9
Fraternity Court
House Must Stay
Greek, Rules Say
Code: House can only be rented
to students in Greek system
By Jack Kimb all
Assistant City Editor
Fraternity Court will remain a completely fraternal niche
near campus because zoning regulations on the now private
ly owned Pi Lambda Phi house place restrictions on who can
five on the property.
After receiving complaints and concerns about changing
the zoning of the house, the Chapel Hill town manager’s office
notified owner Guy Sofie that the house is zoned for fraterni
ty and sorority members only.
The zoning of the house states that it must be occupied and
maintained solely by college, university or professional stu
dents who are affiliated with a social, honorary or profession
al organization.
“There was a concern that the property was changing,” said
Maggie Bowers, senior code enforcement officer for Chapel
Hill.
Sofie originally renovated the property without any specif
ic type of tenant in mind.
“I had hoped and thought it’d be for any university student,
but they have to be in a fraternity,” Sofie said.
See FRAT COURT, Page 9
nrcii|F >*
JMMI
■ \ \ •* (9
'JEJfeCf’ t as
1 ■* 1
x. - * d&SBBSi - * r n
DTO'SHILP! PAUL
Freshman Richard Bean (left) votes Tuesday in a mock Israeli election
held in the Pit by Carolina Students for Israel.
Wednesday, January 29, 2003
at least two other people - the person
who the money was wired to and anoth
er UNC student who called the victim
last week to try to cut a deal in exchange
for the charges being dropped.
The victim would not identify either
person, and police refused to comment.
Because the crime took place over the
Internet, the suspect could face federal
charges. But Moore said he wouldn’t ask
for federal charges because of the sus
pect’s cooperation and the small amount
of money in question.
The suspect was released Monday on
a written promise to appear in Orange
County District Court in Hillsborough
on March 28.
The City Editor can be reached
at citydesk@unc.edu.
Antonio Miguel
Perez
3