Saily (Jar Hpri
STATE AND NATION
System leaders discuss
out-of-state cap proposal
A UNC-system Board of
Governors’ committee met
Thursday in Boone to continue to
discuss a policy approved last
week that would admit as many as
4 percent more nonresident stu
dents to system schools.
BOG Chairman Brad Wilson
spoke to the Committee on
Educational Planning, Policies
and Programs about how to han
dle the out-of-state cap issue from
now until November, when the full
board will vote on the proposal.
Under the proposal, 4 percent
more out-of-state “academically
superior” students would be
allowed to enroll into UNC-system
schools. These students would
include nonresident National
Merit Scholars, National
Achievement Scholars, National
Hispanic Scholars and other sim
ilarly qualified students.
Wilson encouraged committee
members to draw up changes or
amendments to the exemption
proposal before the board’s
November meeting. The BOG
Budget and Finance Committee
today also will review out-of-state
tuition in relation to the possible
rising enrollment cap. The full
BOG will meet at 11 a.m. today.
Former UNC professor
tapped as new UF president
In a unanimous vote
Wednesday, the University of
Florida Board of Trustees named
former UNC professor and associ
ate dean James Machen the
school’s 11th president.
Machen was a UNC professor
from 1979 to 1989 and served as
associate dean of the UNC School
of Dentistry from 1983-89.
Machen has served as president
of the University of Utah since
1998. He will take office Jan. 5,
according to a UF press release.
Machen was one of three final
ists selected by the search com
mittee, consisting of UF faculty
and BOT members.
CITY BRIEFS
Armed men rob man
in Chapel Hill apartment
A Chapel Hill resident was
robbed early Thursday morning at
the Camelot Village apartment
complex near University Mall.
John Proutes Nijie, 41, of 100
W. Rosemary St., was at the resi
dence of George Wayne Prevel, 49,
of 130 S. Estes Drive, when two or
three men entered the apartment,
according to police reports.
Chapel Hill police spokeswoman
Jane Cousins said the men took
Nijie’s wallet and ran outside to a
car. Nijie approached the car and
one of the men pointed a handgun
at him, Cousins said. Minor injuries
were reported, and Chapel Hill
police are investigating.
CAMPUS BRIEFS
Weekend events mark
Hispanic Heritage Month
October is Hispanic Heritage
Month, and two campuswide
events will take place this weekend
to help people celebrate it.
Today, leading labor organizer
and former sweatshop worker
Marco Antonio Torres will be at
UNC to discuss working condi
tions and the recent implementa
tion of NAFTA. Also, the Office for
Minority Affairs is sponsoring its
second annual Fall Hispanic
Student Recruitment Weekend,
which will bring 30 to 35 Hispanic
high school seniors to campus.
University's 'birthday'
to be celebrated Sunday
UNC will celebrate University
Day this Sunday, an annual event
commemorating the laying of the
first cornerstone of the University.
The event, which is held every
Oct. 12, will start at 1:30 p.m. with
the procession of the faculty into
Hill Hall Auditorium. Mary Sue
Coleman, president of the
University of Michigan and a for
mer UNC vice chancellor for grad
uate studies and research, will be
the guest speaker.
CALENDAR
Weekend
The Iranian Film Festival, host
ed by UNC’s Persian Cultural
Society, continues in the Union
Auditorium. For more information
visit http://www.unc.edu/pcs.
Saturday
7 pan. The East Coast Pipers’
Association will present an
evening of traditional Irish piping
and fiddling 7 p m. Saturday in
Gerrard Hall. Tickets are sls at
the door.
For the full story see
http: //www.dailytarheel.com.
Compiledfrom
staff and wire reports.
Housing key issue at NAACP forum
BY SARAH RABIL
STAFF WRITER
Affordable housing, resources for
minorities and renaming Airport
Road to Martin Luther King
Boulevard dominated the discus
sion at a Chapel Hill Town Council
candidates forum Thursday night.
During the forum hosted by the
Chapel Hill-Carrboro chapter of
the National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People,
candidates fielded questions
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DTH PHOTOS/LAUREN PARKER
Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser (left) and UNC coach Roy Williams meet Thursday with children at the RBC Center.
Below: Williams, Duke assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski, Prosser and N.C. State coach Herb Sendek take questions.
COACHES RALLY
FOR CHILDREN
BY scon SIMONTON
STAFF WRITER
RALEIGH Four ACC men’s bas
ketball coaches met Thursday at the
RBC Center to support Oak Ranch, a
Christian organization geared toward
the relief of at-risk children living in
broken homes.
Those present coach Herb Sendek
of N.C. State University, coach Skip
Prosser of Wake Forest University,
assistant coach Steve Wojciechowski of
Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill
coach Roy Williams answered ques
tions about their careers in front of Oak
Ranch sponsors.
Moderating the panel was ESPN
personality and college basketball
expert Jay Bilas, who posed questions
focusing on themes of personal devel
opment and potential.
“The best advice I ever received
from my high school basketball coach
was to never place a ceiling on my
future," Wojciechowski said.
He overcame a height disadvantage
to receive a Duke basketball scholar
ship and went on to be named the
NCAA Defensive Player of the Year as
a senior before joining the team’s
coaching staff the next year.
Town Council hopefuls
criticize traffic cameras
BY LAURA HIRST
STAFF WRITER
Eleven out of 12 Chapel Hill
Town Council candidates have
voiced opposition to the town’s new
Safe Light red light camera system.
If four or more of those in oppo-
sition are elect
ed, a majority of
the council will
oppose the sys
tem, making it
vulnerable.
Two cameras
were installed
ELECTIONS
at the intersection of Airport Road
and Estes Drive and the intersec
tion of U.S. 15-501 and Sage Road
at the end of August.
Mayor Kevin Foy, who is run
ning for re-election unopposed,
already has spoken out against the
cameras at council meetings, as
has incumbent Bill Strom.
Candidates Woodrow Barfield,
Sally Greene, Thatcher Freund,
Cam Hill, Rudy Juliano, Mike
McSwain, Andrea Rohrbacher,
Doug Schworer and Terri Tyson all
said that they do not agree with the
principle of red light cameras and
that they would consider removing
Top News
regarding minority status and
quality of life in the town.
Michelle Cotton-Laws, the
chapter’s vice president, voiced
concern over rising living costs and
the inability of local workers to buy
homes in Chapel Hill.
“It was the folks at the bottom
lifting this city up to the top,”
Cotton-Laws said. “They shouldn’t
have to leave this city because they
can’t pay their taxes.”
Chapter president Fred Battle
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Williams, who was raised by his sin
gle mother, spoke of the impact his high
school basketball coach had on him.
“I didn't have much of a father figure
growing up, so I looked up to my coach
for that form of influence,” he said.
These stories were appropriate con
sidering Oak Ranch's mission, which
includes reuniting families and pro
viding children with a healthy living
environment. After the coaches shared
personal experiences and humorous
banter, the fund raising began.
them upon election.
Invasion of privacy, a possible
increase in rear-end collisions and
the small percentage of citation rev
enue coming to the town were given
as primary reasons for objection.
“I think that driving by them is
kind of scary,” Greene said. “They
look like ‘big brother’ watching us."
Will Raymond, a local resident,
has been speaking to the candidates
about the cameras and encouraging
them to oppose the new technology.
Raymond brought up the issue
at the Sierra Club’s Sept. 23 candi
date forum. “I think it surprised
some of them that it came up,” he
said. “I don’t know that they really
anticipated that it would be an
issue in this election.”
Juliano said he did not know
much about the cameras until the
subject was brought to his atten
tion recently by local residents.
“Probably the telling argument for
me is there’s not a lot of economic
benefit for the town in doing this.”
According to the town’s contract
with Affiliated Computer Services
Inc., the private firm hired to
SEE RED LIGHT, PAGE 4
echoed her sentiments and point
ed out that black workers comprise
a sizable percentage of municipal
employees.
In accordance with Battle’s con
cern, the Town Council hopefuls
continually went back to affordable
housing concerns as a major issue
for minorities. “I want to make sure
we can find a way for people to stay
in their houses,” said candidate
Thatcher Freund. “Orange County
has a good living wage, but it does
An auction, during which auto
graphed basketballs and team jerseys
were sold, was held to cover one-sixth
of the organization's costs for the year,
said Phillip Richmond, Oak Ranch
executive director.
A UNC jersey with No. 23
Michael Jordan’s number in the early
1980 s— and Williams' signature sold
for $1,500.
This lucrative event was made pos-
SEE COACHES, PAGE 4
Need for Isabel aid growing
BY ALEXANDRA DODSON
STAFF WRITER
Since Hurricane Isabel dam
aged parts of Eastern North
Carolina in September, the rising
amount of federal and state disas
ter relief reached a total of S4O
million Wednesday.
But some officials say the allot
ted funds will not be enough to
cover the havoc Isabel wreaked on
the state.
“The numbers will keep
increasing,” said Don North,
spokesman for the Federal
Emergency Management Agency.
North said 969 people filed for
assistance, and 11 more N.C. coun
ties were declared disaster areas
Wednesday, bringing the total to
47 counties.
He said that for an area to be
declared a disaster, Gov. Mike
Easley must write a letter to
President Bush once state and
local resources have been exhaust
ed. If the president deems a coun
ty a disaster area, citizens of that
county are eligible to apply for aid
from FEMA’s disaster budget.
Regardless of how extensive the
relief funding turns out to be,
North said, U.S. citizens are fortu
nate to be granted federal aid at
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2003
n’t do much good if it’s not enough
to live on.”
Candidate Cam Hill said the
lack of affordable housing was par
tially attributable to the influx of
UNC students into the local hous
ing market.
Nine of the 12 candidates vying
for four spots on the council were
present and unanimously sup
ported the renaming of Airport
Road to Martin Luther King
Boulevard.
Council takes
teeth out of
ordinance to
save business
Existing bars were saved
from installing sprinklers
BY JENNY HUANG
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
Power of the public voice and downtown econom
ic vitality topped the reasons for the Chapel Hill Town
Council’s gutting of anew sprinkler ordinance
Wednesday night.
Council members approved the sprinkler ordi
nance in a 8-1 vote, after deleting sections that would
require existing bars and clubs to retrofit sprinklers
into their facilities.
Under the deleted sections, local bars Hell, Bub
OMalley’s and Treehouse would have been forced to
shut down due to the high costs of sprinkler instal
lation.
The revised ordinance requires only new estab
lishments serving alcohol with an occupancy’ exceed
ing 200 persons to install sprinklers. Bars with exits
above or below street level require sprinklers if their
threshold exceeds 150 people.
Council members seemed to be swayed Wednesday
by impassioned pleas from local bar patrons and
managers who spoke out against the ordinance
before its changes.
“Owners of bars made very strong arguments that
safety is paramount to them,” said council member
Bill Strom, who initiated the revisions.
The ordinance originally was proposed last
February, after a fire in a Rhode Island nightclub
resulted in the deaths of 99 people.
Town officials approached Chapel Hill Fire Chief
Dan Jones after the Rhode Island incident to explore
measures that would prevent a similar tragedy in
local nightclubs.
The initial proposal required sprinklers for existing
businesses, including restaurants, with a threshold
exceeding 50 people. But public complaints about its
broad scope influenced town staff to increase the
threshold to 200 people and exempt restaurants from
compliance.
Despite the deletion of sections affecting existing
establishments, Jones said, he’s still confident
patrons will be safe in local bars and nightclubs. “The
important part is that no new bars will open without
having sprinklers,” he said.
But council member Mark Kleinschmidt, who cast
the lone dissenting vote, said the imprecision of the
ordinance language does not address fire safety ade
quately.
“I don’t think we should be patting ourselves on the
back saying, ‘We solved the fire safety problem’
because we didn’t,” he said. “Anew place could avoid
having a sprinkler because it puts in a grill.”
Kleinschmidt said the ordinance should be more
inclusive of other places of assembly, including live
music venues such as Local 506.
Council member Pat Evans said she voted in favor
of the revised ordinance because she feared the pos
sible closing of existing bars would hurt downtown
business. “In better economic times when business
would support the (sprinkler) costs, we all might have
voted differently,” Evans said.
SEE SPRINKLERS, PAGE 4
E \ i 'vUrf*
DTH FILE PHOTO/BRIAN CASSELIA
A National Guardsman removes records from the Swan Quarter
courthouse four days after Hurricane Isabel flooded the coastal town.
all. “We are one of the few coun
tries in the world who cares
enough about its citizens to have
such a fund,” he said. “In most
countries, it’s ‘tough luck.’”
Easley was not able to comment
on the latest relief funding, but his
office has urged continued support
and donations to hurricane vie
MORE ONLINE
Carrboro Board
of Aldermen,
school board
candidates field
NAACP queries.
MUNICIPAL
ELECTIONS
Candidate Sally Greene said that
while she supports the renaming,
she would prefer a more unique
commemoration.
SEE NAACP, PAGE 4
tims.
Some aid is applied for through
the U.S. Small Business
Administration, said Frank
Adinolfe, acting public informa
tion officer of SBAs Disaster Area
I\vo, which covers most southeast-
SEE AID, PAGE 4
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