VOLUME ill, ISSUE 39
Employee pay hike part of town budget
MANAGER’S PLAN DOESN’T CONTAIN TAX INCREASE
BY JOHN FRANK
CITY EDITOR
Chapel Hill residents and employ
ees have reason to celebrate.
Under the town manager’s recom
mended 2003-04 budget released
Thursday, residents won’t have to
endure another tax increase and
employees will get a long-awaited pay
raise.
And they also have an event to cel
Mayor
Kevin Foy
said the budget
is in line with
town goals.
Crime rates
differ in
complexes
Analysis shows crimes at
large Carr boro apartments
BY ELIZABETH B. SHERMAN
STAFF WRITER
When searching for an apartment, there are many
facets to consider price, location, amenities and
safety.
But how can you tell if an apartment complex is
safe?
Unfortunately, residents often don’t discover
exactly how safe their new neighborhoods are until
after they sign their leases.
The Daily Tar Heel obtained crime reports com
piled by the Carrboro Police Department that show
the number of crimes that took place in 2002 at the
12 Carrboro apartment complexes with the largest
number of units.
A chart of the crimes, broken down by type,
appears on page 6.
Only crimes that were not solved on their initial
calls were included in the report. The major cate-
SEE CARRBORO, PAGE 6
Kingswood tops
town complexes
in crime rate
Analysis shores major
crimes at apartments
BY ELIZABETH B. SHERMAN
STAFF WRITER
“It happens everywhere,” said Heather Apple.
The UNC junior is talking about crime in Chapel
Hill, and although crime occurs in many places, it
happens in Apple’s neighborhood of Kingswood
Apartments more often than it does in other Chapel
Hill apartment complexes.
Kingswood, the fourth-largest apartment complex
in Chapel Hill based on number of units, had more
occurrences of major crimes than any other Chapel
Hill apartment complex in 2002.
The Daily Tar Heel obtained records of major
crimes that occurred at apartment complexes in
2002 from the Chapel Hill Police Department and
analyzed them to find which complexes had the most
number of incidents.
The reports included all major crimes including
illegal acts against persons, burglary, larceny and
motor vehicle theft that occurred in apartment
complexes.
Of the 12 largest apartment complexes in the
Chapel Hill area, Kingswood, Pinegate Apartments
and Foxcroft Apartments ranked highest in total inci
dents 37,36 and 22, respectively.
SEE CHAPEL HILL, PAGE 6
Senior class gift value more than triples goal
“Ia m just
delighted and
overwhelmed.
We far
exceeded our
expectations”
PAYMON ROUHANIFARD,
SENIOR CLASS PRESIDENT
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Serving the students and the University community since 1893
®lrr Satin Star Her!
ebrate the $25,000 Fourth of July
fireworks celebration also was includ
ed in the manager’s budget.
Last year, the town’s budget outlook
was less optimistic.
After Gov. Mike Easley withheld
municipal reimbursements to deal
with a $l.B billion state deficit, resi
dents were dealt a significant tax
increase and saw their Fourth of July
fireworks celebration canceled because
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Psychology majors Melanie Wicher (left) and Emily Keifer enjoy senior night at He's Not Here on Thursday. The
event, which was the last senior bar night before graduation, was organized by the senior class marshals.
SENIORS REFLECT
ON MEMORABLE DAYS
For many, basketball, friends, tragedy define time at UNC
BY KIRSTEN FIELDS STAFF WRITER
With classes wrapping up and graduation looming overhead, many graduating sen
iors are reflecting on their past several years at UNC.
Seniors have a variety of specific defining moments that stick out in their minds
as being particularly memorable.
UNC men’s basketball has played a big role in many seniors’ most coveted Tar Heel moments.
After UNC beat Duke her sophomore year, Missy Egan of Bedford, N.Y., ran out to Franklin
Street with the rest of the crowd.
“We got on top of a building across from the Carolina Coffee Shop and watched everyone in
the street,” Egan said. “It was awesome.”
History major Paul Scruggs said he was excited to hear that Roy Williams was becoming the
new men’s basketball coach.
“Hopefully we’ll be winning the national championship,” Scruggs said. “Now I’ll be able to
watch basketball games without throwing stuff at the TV.”
SEE SENIORS, PAGE 7
BY JENNY IMMEL
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
More than $167,000 has been
raised for this year’s senior class gift
tripling marshals’ original goal for the
Undergraduate Library endowment.
The announcement came Thursday
from Senior Class President Paymon
Rouhanifard.
The original goal was $50,000,
which is $30,000 more than the nec
essary amount needed to create an
endowment, Rouhanifard said.
The goal was based on the idea that
REMINDER
Don't forget to pick up The Daily
Tar Heel's final issue, the Year in
Review, on Monday.
| www.dailytarheel.com |
of insufficient funds.
Using reserve funds set aside last
year by the Chapel Hill Town Council
and a reorganization of tax appropria
tions, Town Manager Cal Horton
devised a budget that seeks to maintain
town services without increasing taxes.
Anticipating tough economic times,
the council reserved SI.OB million last
year, $723,506 of which is being used
this year to fund top priorities in the
each senior could contribute $20.03 to
the endowment, said Director of
Development Michele Fletcher.
And the class far surpassed this
goal.
“I am just delighted and over
whelmed,” Rouhanifard said. “We far
exceeded our expectations.”
The money was raised through
donations from parents of seniors,
friends of the University and faculty.
Together they raised $52,724 from a
total of 1,030 pledges 957 of whom
have already paid.
m
town such as the fireworks celebration
and a fire department training officer.
The manager’s budget recommenda
tions include $1.23 million to be used to
raise town employees’ salaries. Specific
increases will not be finalized until the
council’s first budget workshop Monday.
The town’s Capital Improvements
Plan also received much-needed addi
tional resources after many projects
were delayed for a year last May.
Horton’s budget increases the CIP
fund by $649,000 to pay for major
projects and infrastructure needs.
An additional $12,000 was raised
during the year through T-shirt sales
and events such as the Senior Ball,
senior bar nights and a telethon,
Rouhanifard said.
“It’s been an unbelievable experi
ence working with the marshals,” he
said. “This (endowment) is a tribute to
our officers and our marshals.”
The Friends of the Library also con
tributed $103,000, which
Rouhanifard said was an overwhelm-
SEE SENIOR CLASS, PAGE 6
SPORTS
SCRAPING BY
Women's lacrosse survives scare from
UMass. in 9-8 win at Henry Field. PAGE 9
Items that were requested but did
n’t make it into the manager’s top
budget priorities include an additional
three firefighters, more CIP money for
the Greenway Commission, an addi
tional $40,000 for the Public Arts
Commission and more than $1 million
worth of other projects.
“Each one of those deserves fund
ing,” said town Finance Director Jim
Baker, referring to the neglected prior
ities. “But if we funded all of them, we
SEE BUDGET, PAGE 6
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Provost Robert Shelton (right) and Senior Class President Paymon
Rouhanifard listen to remarks during the class gift announcement.
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TODAY Rain, High 61. Low 56 ’t*i
SATURDAY Mosty Cloudy, High 73, Low 50
SUNDAY Partly Cloudy, High 70, Low 49
FRIDAY, APRIL 25, 2003
Former
chairman
challenges
dismissal
BY ARMAN TOLENTINO
STAFF WRITER
In a move that UNC officials say
was necessary for the Department
of Romance Languages,
Chancellor James Moeser in
February removed Professor Frank
Dominguez as chairman and
replaced him
with an interim
chairman from
outside the
department.
Dominguez’s
removal has pit
INSIDE
Dominguez
criticizes UNC's
Academic Plan
PAGE 3
many faculty and graduate stu
dents against administrators over
the handling of the situation,
which they said substantially tar
nished the department’s image.
Members of the department have
repeatedly sent letters to
University officials voicing strong
disapproval of the change in lead
ership, as well as concerns about
the department’s insufficient fac
ulty and funding.
Darryl Gless, senior associate
dean of the College of Arts and
Sciences, said administrators
“looked at all sorts of factors for a
very’ long time” and commissioned
a May 2002 report by an external
visiting committee of UNC profes
sors before reaching a decision.
“Everything we’ve done has
been based on the advice of wise
and experienced faculty members,”
Gless said. “(The committee)
focused on the internal conflicts
among faculty and the problems
they caused for hiring, for students
and for the department's morale."
After reading the report, Gless
recommended Dominguez’s
removal to Risa Palm, dean of the
college. She in turn recommended
the leadership change to Moeser,
who made the final decision. “This
was something that needed to be
done,” Palm said. “It took a great
deal of time and consideration,
and we need to move ahead.”
But Dominguez who served
as chairman since 2000 said he
believes his removal might have
resulted from his persistence in
pointing out the lack of adequate
faculty and funding within the
department.
“I saw that the teaching staff was
reducing,” he said. “My responsi
bility was to make (administrators)
aware of that. When they weren’t
responding, I became louder and
more persistent in pointing out the
needs of the department.”
During the last five years, the
SEE DOMINGUEZ, PAGE 7
S