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POLICE ROUNDUP
University
FRIDAY, JULY 18
■ An officer responded to a call
from Fetzer Gym at 10:41 a.m. in
which a woman alleged that a
black man in his 20s, approxi
mately 6 feet tall and wearing a
white or gray shirt and dark sweat
pants, stole her purse, reports state.
The woman provided a list of
items in the purse that included
$220 in cash, credit and debit
cards, checks, a drivers license and
her Social Security card.
According to reports, the officer
searched the area but was unable
to locate the suspect.
SATURDAY, JULY 19
■ Police arrested Joshua
Spadaro, 32, of 105 Virginia Drive
and charged him at 1:11 a.m. with
possession of cocaine and drug
paraphernalia, littering and sec
ond-degree trespass, reports state.
An officer found Spadaro in the
grass near Hanes Art Center and
discovered that he had an active
trespass warning, reports state.
Spadaro was arrested and charged
with trespassing, and a search of
the area in which he was laying
yielded a black crack pipe and a
small crack rock concealed in a
pack of cigarettes, reports state.
He was released on a written
promise and was scheduled to
appear in court Monday.
SUNDAY, JULY 20
■ A woman reported that her
bicycle was stolen from outside
Davis Library sometime between
9:30 and 10 p.m., reports state.
The bicycle, valued at SSOO, was
left unattended and unsecured.
MONDAY, JULY 21
■ According to reports, an
Aramark Food Services employee
stated that the Lenior Dining Hall
safe was $560.50 short of the
amount counted on July 11. Officers
are scheduling interviews with any
one who has access to the safe.
TUESDAY, JULY 22
■ Reports state that officers on
foot patrol issued citations to four
people riding in a Jeep early in the
morning. Allison Herman, 19, of
105 Caldwell St. and Leila Ann
Martin, 19, 0f20204 Teak Court in
Cornelius each were charged with
underage possession of a malt bev
erage. Daniel Carl Vick, 22, of
Longwood Drive in Durham was
charged with having an open con
tainer in a vehicle, and Kelly Weeks,
21, of 105 Caldwell St. was charged
with littering, reports state.
The officers observed the vehi
cle passing through Porthole Alley
at midnight. Reports state that the
officers saw bottles of Smirnoff Ice
in the hands of Herman and
Martin and that Weeks threw a
bottle outside the vehicle upon
noticing the officers.
City
FRIDAY, JULY 18
■ At 9:34 p.m., police respond
ed to a hit-and-run involving a
bicyclist at the intersection of East
Main Street and Rosemary' Street.
The cyclist was hit from behind by
a unknown female driver in an
80s-model gray Honda Civic,
reports state. The driver of the
vehicle told the bicyclist that she
was getting her insurance informa
tion and drove off. The license
plate of the involved vehicle might
be RPH-7953, reports state.
SATURDAY, JULY 19
■ Police arrested Simon Rosser
Curtis, 19, of 3813 Regent Road
and charged him with misde
meanor simple assault, misde
meanor possession of marijuana
and DWI, reports state.
Police arrested his passenger,
Andrew Martin Moon, 19, of 20
Chancery Place and charged him
with misdemeanor simple assault,
misdemeanor possession of mari
juana and misdemeanor posses
sion of fraudulent identification.
Police noticed the odor of alco
hol and said Curtis’s speech was
slurred when they pulled the two
men over after a fight occurred on
Church Street at about 2:35 a.m.,
reports state. Police noticed a clear
plastic bag filled with a "green
leafy substance" lying on the car’s
floorboards, reports state.
A witness to the fight positively
identified the men as the
assailants, reports state. Both were
released on written promises.
SUNDAY, JULY 20
■ A 21-year old female UNC
student was abducted after a man
hijacked her car at Mill Creek
Apartments at about 10:15 p.m.,
reports state. A friend reported the
student’s disappearance less than
an hour after she left, police
spokeswoman Jane Cousins said.
The man forced the student to
drive outside town limits and later
released her, reports state. She
drove back to Chapel Hill and
notified police. The case is under
investigation.
Compiled By Staff Writers
Alesia DiCosola, Nick Eberlein
and Joseph Schwartz
County OKs development ordinance
BY JON DOUGHERTY
SENIOR WRITER
After four years of debate and
revisions, Orange County has an
ordinance linking school capacity
and housing development.
The Schools Adequate Public
Facilities Ordinance, in the works
since the late 19905, met the
approval of Hillsborough and the
two area boards of education last
week, finalizing the approval
process for the regulation.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board
of Education’s approval always has
been unanimous, said Gloria Faley,
vice chairwoman of the board. The
Alumnus donates 26,000
comic books to University
Coincides with a
rebirth for comics
BY BRIAN MILLIKIN
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
They’re invading movie theaters
with web slingers, X-heroes and an
unjolly green giant. They’re attacking
televisions with Saturday cartoons
and hit series such as “Smallville.”
And now they’re swinging into the
library with a superhero’s salvo.
Comic books are back in a big way, if
they were ever gone, at UNC’s Rare
Book Collection in Wilson Library'.
On July 16, the library received
some 26,000 comics weighing more
than two tons from local alumnus
Dan Breen.
The library has built a strong pop
culture contingent over time. "But I’ve
been concerned for a number of years
that the one literary' format we’ve been
missing is comic books.” said Charles
McNamara, curator of the Rare Book
Collection. “For quite a few years I’ve
been hoping someone would come
forward with a gift, and when Mr.
Breen did I was quite excited."
The collection’s library relies
almost entirely on such gifts, and
Breen's is a serious gift, one of the
largest donations the library ever has
received.
Breen first proposed the donation,
which contains comics and publicity
art dating from 1980, three months
ago. For the last 10 weeks, Breen has
devoted almost all his time to prepar
ing it, a task he describes as daunting
but necessary' to conclude his collect
ing career.
“I had done it for close to 20 years,
I’m pushing 60, and if I was going to
have an opportunity it was time now
to put it aside and focus on other
things,” he said. “I’m pushing that
time of life when accumulating things
is less attractive than giving them
awav; hence the 26,000 comics to
UNC."
Breen's ties to UNC are made of
steel. He moved from Manhattan to
Chapel Hill in 1975 for graduate
school, after which he w'orked at the
Rare Book Collection for a number of
years.
He even set up a scholarship in the
Department of English in his parents’
name.
After leaving the University’, he
moved a few hundred yards and took
over Rosemary Street’s Second
Foundation Bookstore, the comic
book shop he owned for 20 years until
last November.
The comic book industry has been
on a roller coaster in that time, hav
ing declined for several decades —a
decline that hit bottom when an
early-’9os boom crippled stores.
Investors began buying comics like
stocks, devaluing many issues. Comic
stores closed, comic makers went
bankrupt it all nearly capsized.
Cobey steps down to run for governor
.
DTH/BRIAN CASSELIA
Bill Cobey announces his resignation Monday as chairman of the
N.C. Republican Party and his intention to run for governor during a
press conference. Cobey is a former UNC director of athletics.
Top Nows
Orange County Board of
Commissioners, as well as Chapel
Hill and Carrboro, approved the
ordinance last month.
The passage of the ordinance
was welcome news to Craig
Benedict, planning director for
Orange County. “This ordinance
allows us to knock out peaks in the
schools’ budgets by planning ahead
for when we will build new
schools," he said. “It will free up
money for other services and needs
that may unexpectedly arise.”
The ordinance specifies that
before developers can apply for a
building permit from any of the
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DTH/BRIAN CASSELLA
Charles McNamara, curator of the Rare Book Collection, looks over a few of
the 26,000 comic books donated to UNC's Wilson Library last week.
'Characters like Superman and Batman
are icons, recognized all over the world”
DAN BREEN, UNC AIUMNUS WHO DONATED 26,000 COMICS TO UNC'S RARE BOOK COLLECTION
But now a resurgence has occurred
and comics are gaining in popularity
if in relatively minor movements.
“It still is not anything like it was
10 years ago," Breen said.
“Unit sales figures are still some
thing like 50 percent of what they
were to the early '9os, and that pales
in comparison to their popularity
during the war years, 1935 to ’55,
when million-selling issues were
commonplace, if not unusual."
It’s unclear if the new popularity is
tied to recent major films or some
thing else.
“The times are pretty odd; a lot of
people are losing jobs,” said Anne
Allison, chairwoman of the
three towns or the county, they first
must receive a Certificate of
Adequacy of Public Schools
Facilities from the school district
that will be affected.
No local government will begin
to review a developer’s application
unless a CAPS has been procured.
A school district will not issue a
CAPS until it has determined that
a proposed development will not
drive the number of students above
the limits set forth in SAPFO.
The service limits are set at 105
percent for elementary schools, 107
percent for middle schools and 110
percent for high schools. The
Department of Cultural
Anthropology at Duke.
“And maybe when things are so
uneven in everyday life, maybe that’s
w hen people crave these superheroes
w'ho are larger than life.”
Andrew Neal, the new owner of
Second Foundation, has felt the resur
gence in his business. “We’re doing
pretty well currently,” he said. “After
having had the business for a couple
months, we’re doing better this sum
mer than we expected to. It makes me
a little less nervous about my future as
a comic shop owner.”
The books are becoming popular
SEE COMICS, PAGE 5
BY ARMAN TOLENTINO
SENIOR WRITER
Former UNC athletic director Bill Cobey
announced Monday his desire to be the next gover
nor of North Carolina.
Cobey, who resigned from his position as chair
man of the N.C. Republican Party, enters a field of six
Republican candidates hoping to unseat incumbent
Gov. Mike Easley.
“I’m in this race and I’m in to win,” Cobey said at
the press conference. “I’m applying for the job and I’ll
be asking the voters to hire me.”
Linda Daves, vice chairwoman of the state
Republican Party, will serve as interim chairwoman
until the NCGOP executive committee elects anew
chairman at its Aug. 2 meeting.
Cobey, 65, steps down from a position he has held
for the past four years. “The experience has been
wonderfol,” he said.
He went on to address the future of North
Carolina and how it can be a bright one. “Doing that
will require strong and capable leadership at the top
of state government,” he said. “The truth is: We need
a leadership change here in North Carolina.”
SEE COBEY, PAGE 5
THURSDAY, JULY 24, 2003
school districts will evaluate their
capacity annually on Nov. 15.
Carrboro Aldermen Jacqueline
Gist and Mark Dorosin said they
thought the ordinance will not curb
the schools’ rising populations.
Dorosin believes a merger of the
two local school districts would
lessen the severity of the problem.
“I feel we should have at least
looked at the possibility of a merg
er before going with this heavily
bureaucratic ordinance. It doesn’t
even feel like this is about schools
overcrowding. It’s about develop
ment,” Dorosin said. “If we com
bined the school system, not only is
Local schools
struggle on
national level
6 of 25 meet standards set
by new federal legislation
BY DAVID KIM
STAFF WRITER
Few area public schools met new testing standards
laid out by the No Child Left Behind Act, a federal law
signed by President Bush in 2001 meant to ensure
academic proficiency for all students.
Of the 14 schools that comprise Chapel Hill-
Carrboro City Schools, Glenwood, McDougle, Mary
Scroggs and Seawell elementary schools met the new
federal standards, according to a CHCCS press release
from last Friday.
Among the 11 schools that comprise Orange
County Schools, only Central and Hillsborough ele
mentary schools achieved the new goals, said Anne
D'Annunzio, OCS public information coordinator.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools met 92 percent of the
new standards, while the Orange County district met
88 percent of federal goals.
For a school to achieve “adequate yearly progress,” 95
percent of eligible students must participate in math
and reading tests and meet state-set standards. An aca
demic indicator tied to attendance or graduation rate
also figures into the math for meeting the standards.
This year, the standard in reading was a 68.9 percent
pass rate on state tests, and the standard in math was
a 74.6 pass rate. These rates were set by the state with
the aim of reaching 100 percent proficiency by 2013-14,
D’Annunzio said. Legislators then worked backward to
set targets in three-year intervals, she said.
The new standards also monitor student sub
groups, including classifications by race, economic
background, English proficiency or disability. A sub
group must consist of at least 40 students.
A school receiving Title I federal funds will be sub
ject to sanctions after failing to meet the new stan
dards in two consecutive years, D'Annunzio said. Such
schools must allow students to transfer to schools that
are meeting standards.
Title I schools receive federal aid geared toward
helping students from low-income families. Seven
CHCCS and six OCS elementary schools classify as
Title I. If a Title I school failed to reach standards for
a third year, it would be forced to offer supplemental
learning programs that could place a financial burden
on that school, D'Annunzio said.
To meet standards, CHCCS has been aligning its
curriculum and closing the minority gap, said Steve
Scroggs, CHCCS assistant superintendent. Finally,
Scroggs said, “We also need to work closely with eco
nomically disadvantaged students."
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
2,000 in N.C.
may lose chance
at Pell Grants
New change in tone tables
means less money for some
BY NICOLE STRACHAN
STAFF WRITER
The U.S. Department of Education has changed its
formula for calculating eligibility for Pell Grants, caus
ing about 2,000 North Carolina students to lose their
eligibility for the federal awards, said an aide for Sen.
John Edwards, D-N.C.
The Congressional Research Service estimated in a
report that the change will affect 84,000 students
nationwide.
Such an eligibility adjustment, brought about by a
change in tax tables, has not occurred for about 10
years, a period during which the Department of
Education awaited data from the U.S. TVeasury.
The new tax tables are based on 2000 data, accord
ing to the Congressional Research Service report. The
more recent data creates an increase in the amount of
money the families of the 84,000 students will be
expected to pay, making them ineligible for the Pell
Grants.
“What’s unfortunate now is that they relied upon
old data that indicated that state tax burdens were
going down and that therefore families have more
money to pay for college,” said the aide, who asked to
remain unidentified.
Shirley Ort, director of the UNC-Chapel Hill Office
of Scholarships and Student Aid, said roughly 12 per
cent of UNC-CH undergraduate students receive Pell
Grants.
“Given the needs of low-income students, we need
to keep pressure on Congress to adequately fond that
SEE PELL GRANTS, PAGE 5
there no overcrowding, you remove
the societal differences from hav
ing separate school systems.”
Benedict said the ordinance is
not about controlling develop
ment. “This ordinance is about
how we allocate our resources,
determining what demands most
need to be met, how we can best
spend our dollars,” he said.
Benedict also said the idea of a
system merger has been raised
within the county government and
is being investigated. “We have to
first evaluate the pros and cons,” he
SEE SAPFO, PAGE 5
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