laiUj (Ear Mrrl
NATIONAL BRIEFS
Bill would allow more
scrutiny of medical verdicts
RALEIGH - A draft N.C.
Senate bill to address doctors’ con
cerns about rising medical mal
practice insurance rates would not
cap noneconomic damages but
would allow a judge to scrutinize
large verdicts further.
The Senate will consider the bill
when it returns for a brief legisla
tive session starting Sept. 15. The
House will not return, meaning
that any legislation cannot be
passed into law but that the plan
can be considered next year.
The bill, which could face sig
nificant changes before the Senate
votes on it, does not include the
$250,000 cap on noneconomic
damages including pain and
suffering and physical impairment
doctors had sought. It would,
though, require a judge to review
any awards of $250,000 or more
for their “reasonableness.”
Man executed in Florida
for anti-abortion murders
STARKE, Fla. - Paul Hill, a
former minister who said he mur
dered an abortion doctor and his
bodyguard to save the lives of
unborn babies, was executed
Wednesday by injection. He was
the first person put to death in the
United States for anti-abortion
violence.
Hill, 49, was condemned for the
July 29,1994, shooting deaths of
Dr. John Bayard Britton and his
bodyguard, retired Air Force Lt.
Col. James Herman Barrett, and
the wounding of Barrett's wife out
side the Ladies Center in
Pensacola, Fla.
As he has since the slaying, Hill
showed no remorse and urged
abortion foes to use whatever
means to protect the unborn.
Hill was pronounced dead at
6:08 p.m., Gov. Jeb Bush's office
said.
Death penalty opponents and
others had urged Bush to halt the
execution, some of them warning
Hill's death would make him a
martyr and unleash more violence
against abortion clinics. The gov
ernor said he would not be “bul
lied" into stopping the execution.
Suspect in worm attack
says feds exaggerated case
A high school senior charged
with modifying a version of the
Internet worm that crippled com
puter networks nationwide said
the government has exaggerated
its case against him and disputed
media coverage that portrayed
him a computer-sawy loner.
Jeffrey Parson, 18, faces one
count of intentionally causing
damage to a protected computer.
Conviction could bring a maxi
mum 10 years in prison and a
$250,000 fine.
Authorities say he admitted
during an interview with FBI and
Secret Service agents that he mod
ified the original “Blaster” infec
tion that made computers attack
the Microsoft Web site last month.
Prosecutors said Parsons worm
affected at least 7,000 computers.
Court delays new media
rules from taking effect
PHILADELPHIA - A federal
appeals court Wednesday issued
an emergency stay delaying new
Federal Communications
Commission media ownership
rules that would allow a single
company to own newspapers and
broadcast outlets in the same city.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals said a coalition of media
access groups called the
Prometheus Radio Project would
suffer irreparable harm if the new
rules were allowed to go into effect
as scheduled Thursday.
The new ownership rules,
which the FCC approved on a
party-line 3-2 vote, also would
allow a single company to own TV
stations reaching 45 percent of the
nations viewers.
Smaller broadcasters and net
work affiliates are concerned the
new limit will allow the networks
to gobble up more stations and
limit local control of programming.
The House, over the objections
of the Bush administration, voted
overwhelmingly in July to block
the FCC. The Senate is to take up
the issue this month.
CALENDAR
Today
5:30 p.m. The Carolina
Center for Public Service will hold
an information session for the new
Public Service Scholars Program
in Union 2A.
7 p.m. The Carolina
Economics Club will watch “Roger
& Me,” a documentary by Michael
Moore, in 8 Gardner Hall, fol
lowed by an informal discussion
and refreshments.
Compiled, from staff
and wire reports
Staff questions Moeser
on wages, UNC s goals
BY NIKKI WERKING
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
University employees grilled
Chancellor James Moeser on
Wednesday on the state of employ
ees’ low wages and how UNC plans
to address their needs.
At an Employee Forum meeting,
employees questioned whether the
University is doing enough to meet
staff concerns. Mary Johnson, an
Academic Affairs Library employ
ee, said she worries that the
University’s human resources
Chancellor
James Moeser
said UNC has
not neglected
its employees.
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DTH/LIZ WINTER
Seniors Bryan Harrelson and Emily Herbert catch up at Strong's Coffee on Wednesday afternoon. Strong's is one of
the many shops and eateries on Franklin Street that give the street and the town their student-friendly reputation.
TRIANGLE HITS PEAK
Area voted No. 1 college destination in its population group
BY JENNY HUANG
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
Surely, local town and University officials can come
together on this one.
According to a preliminary study released Wednesday
by the Massachusetts-based consulting company Collegia
Inc., the Triangle is the No. 1 college destination for its
student-friendly metropolitan area.
Company officials said the study results suggest that
a college’s surrounding community is a key factor in stu
dents’ selection processes.
“What makes (a college) stand out is its destination,
where exactly the school is located,” said Viola Morse,
director of the consulting company, which advises cities
on marketing themselves to college students.
In the study, Collegia researched 45 metropolitan areas
and ranked them according to three categories: city, stu
dent and lifestyle.
The categories’addressed factors such as a city's acces
sibility, salary-to-rent ratio, educational attainment, stu
dent diversity and performing arts venues.
Because the area consistently scored highly in each
index, it topped the overall college destination rankings
within its population group of 15 cities.
Morse said the study’s findings also highlight the
mutually beneficial relationships that can exist between
a college and its surrounding town —a situation not
DTH/JOHN DUDLEY
UNC graduate Leif Forer, 24, of Carrboro fills out paperwork
Wednesday morning at the Employment Security Commission office
in Hillsborough. Forer had an appointment to follow up on his job
search after being unemployed for five weeks. Before being
unemployed, Forer worked as a temporary employee for UNC as a
Web developer and office assistant. He was rehired Tuesday.
Top News
largely are being ignored. She said
the University is focused more on
improvement projects such as the
Master Plan, the campus’ long
term blueprint for growth.
“To be honest, it seems we are
building the Master Plan on a
foundation that is about to crum
ble,” Johnson said.
Moeser said he understands
that with the increasing cost of
health care, parking and living
expenses, the disparity between
the rich and the poor has been a
COLLEGE TOWNS
These rankings are based on three indexes: City (including criteria such as
unemployment and health care), Student (including diversity and
educational attainment), and Lifestyle (including restaurants and night life).
All of these metropolitan areas have a population between 1 million and
2.6 million people and at least one nationally ranked university.
Ranking Metropolitan Area Population Overall Score
1 Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill 1,187,941 2.79
2 Pittsburgh 2,358,695 1.84
3 Austin 1,249,763 1.78
4 Seattle 2,414,616 1.54
5 Nashville 1,231,311 0.87
6 New Orleans 1,337,726 0.57
7 Providence 1,188,613 0.11
8 Milwaukee 1,500,741 0.28
9 Columbus 1,540,157 -0.42
10 Denver 2,109,282 -0.45
SOURCE: COLLEGIA INC. DTH/RENA CHERNOTSKY
unlike the relationship between UNC and Chapel Hill.
“The issue of students in college campuses used to be
that of the college education." she said. “What is happen
ing now’ is a growing understanding of the economic
impact (of the college on its surrounding community).”
Morse said that the quality of town life serves as a mar
keting tool for the college and that the student population
provides a revenue boost for the town.
SEE COLLEGE, PAGE 13
N.C. short on unemployment funds
BY LAURA YOUNGS
ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
A struggling economy is forcing
state officials to borrow for the
third time this year from the feder
al government to pay laid-off
North Carolinians.
To date, the state’s unemploy
ment trust fund responsible for
paving unemployment benefits
holds $36.5 million.
But with the state paying
upward of s2l million per week to
laid-off workers, the fund will be
empty by Sept. 15, said Michele
Walker, spokeswoman for the N.C.
Employment Security
Commission.
In July, the last month for which
figures are available, about 136,000
recipients received $103.6 million.
The fund will see little money
source of anxiety on campus. The
issue has come to a head since this
summer’s freshman reading selec
tion, Barbara Ehrenreich’s “Nickel
and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By
in America,” brought attention to
the working class’ financial strug
gles. Moeser denied that UNC has
neglected the concerns of those
who keep it running.
But members of the Employee
Forum were concerned that many
SEE FORUM, PAGE 13
until late October, when state
employers will pay about sllO mil
lion in quarterly unemployment
insurance. The insurance is respon
sible for funding the trust.
In the meantime, the state will
pay off the interest-free federal
loan, due Sept. 30, using a reserve
unemployment fund. Walker said.
If the loan is not repaid in time,
North Carolina will have to pay 6.5
percent in interest fees.
The reserve, created in the 1980s
through a surcharge on unemploy
ment insurance, stands at $lO mil
lion and probably will be empty
next year, Walker said. The sur
charge will be reinstated in 2005 to
replenish the depleted reserve.
North Carolina already has bor
rowed from the federal government
twice, to cover benefits in April and
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2003
\ " I
DTH/BETH FLOYD
Russ Baggett, a patron at the Rosemary Street bar
Hell for three years, plays pool Wednesday night.
Fire sprinkler
talks reignite
controversy
BY SHANNAN BOWEN
STAFF WRITER
Town officials said they expect to finish discussions
at their Sept. 22 meeting about a controversy ignited
by the Chapel Hill Town Council's proposal to install
fire sprinklers in local bars.
The initial proposal, which required fire sprinkler
installation in businesses that serv ed alcohol and that
had a capacity of 50 or more, originated after a
February fire at the Station nightclub in Rhode Island
killed about 100 people.
When members of the local business community
expressed opposition last spring to the original pro
posal, the council deferred the issue to Chapel Hill
Fire Chief Dan Jones for revision.
The final resolution sets a 200-person capacity
threshold for ground-level businesses and 150-person
capacity for businesses above or below ground.
This resolution would affect only three bars: Hell, the
Treehouse and Bub O'Malley's. All are located in the
same building on the corner of Rosemary and
Henderson streets.
Although no one has expressed opposition to ensur
ing bar safety, the controversy about fire sprinklers has
transformed into an economic matter —one that many
bar patrons and owners have labeled a “conspiracy.”
Hell owner Mark Dorosin, who also serves on the
SEE SPRINKLERS, PAGE 13
Honor Court
playing catch-up
with case load
BY EMILY STEEL
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
More than 60 students have seriously contemplat
ed UNC’s honor system as they settle back into their
lives at the University.
Their cases are some of the 84 backlogged cases the
Honor Court is waiting to hear.
In anew push to alleviate some of this anxiety,
members of UNCs honor system are trying to hear
cases within a month after a violation is reported to the
court —a shorter time span than in previous years.
“This is Honor and Integrity Year,” said Student
Attorney General Jonathan Slain. “If there is any year
that we can get rid of the backlog, this is it."
This year’s Honor Court is continuing the trend
established last year by hearing at least two cases
every night, Monday through Thursday.
On Fridays, Slain said, the court also is holding
more expedite hearings. These cases, in which the vio
lator already has pleaded guilty, proceed quickly
because the court only has to decide on the accused
student’s sanction.
Slain said the Honor Court does not have the
resources to hold any more than the eight to 10 cases
it already is processing each week. “We just don’t have
SEE HONOR COURT, PAGE 13
July. The loans total SBO.B million.
Three years ago, the state had
more than $1 billion in its primary
trust, one of the highest figures in
the nation and a sum officials
thought was more than enough.
With funds so high, state legis
lators decided to give employers a
50 percent tax break. That break
ended in August 2002 when the
trust dipped below SBOO million.
“Who knew w T e would go
through that kind of money?"
Walker said. “As it turns out, a bil
lion and a half was not enough.”
Though the tax break probably
hurt the fund to some degree, it
was difficult to predict what would
happen, said N.C. Sen. John Kerr,
D-Wayne. “I don’t think anyone
SEE UNEMPLOYMENT, PAGE 13
3