VOLUME ill, ISSUE 111
Groups resolve Stein fund issue
FINANCE COMMITTEE DROPS
CHARGES, RELEASES MONEY
BY MEGAN DAVIS
STAFF WRITER
In what began as a hostile con
frontation Monday, the UNC
College Republicans and members
of the Student Congress Finance
Committee resolved the concerns
that prompted the freezing of funds
allocated for speaker Ben Stein.
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Freshmen Bobby Sweatt (left to right) and Daniel Goans and sophomore Jon Gehlbach helped found the UNC Pirate Club in a Hinton James
Residence Hall room. The group, which has grown to about 300 members in less than three months, will meet Wednesday at Forest Theatre.
ALL HEELS ON DECK
BY JORDAN CASWELL STAFF WRITER
Sailing into a lagoon and snorkeling through a 150-year-old shipwreck in Bermuda
last summer, freshman Daniel Goans felt right at home.
“I've never been the same since,” Goans said.
“Captain” Goans, with the help of his roommate and a suitemate in Hinton James
Residence Hall, started a pirate club at UNC-Chapel Hill in early September. Their aim:
to promote their idea of the pirate attitude: getting the most out of life.
“There are ups and downs, but when
you’re a pirate, the downs don’t really matter,"
said club member Bobby Sweatt, a freshman
from Atlanta. “We want to let everyone know
that pirates aren’t always the bad guys.”
Bad guys or not, the Pirate Club is grow
ing fast. News of the club seems to spread
through word of mouth. “I get at least five
new members a day,” Goans said. “They just
come up to me."
In the less than three months since its con
ception, the club has attracted between 250
and 300 members. The pirates’ first meeting
since club membership skyrocketed will be at
5 p.m. Wednesday in the Forest Theatre.
The meeting, however, will not involve the
usual pirate activities of stealing and killing.
STICK IT TO THE MAN
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DTH/GARRETT HALL
Senior Katie Melville, a member of the Student
Advisory Committee to the Chancellor, sticks Post-it
notes of suggestions from students to a photo of
Chancellor Moeser on Monday afternoon in the Pit.
INSIDE
PUBLIC ACCESS
The Peoples Channel works to stay afloat and fulfill
its mission despite budgetary limitations PAGE 3
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
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At the meeting Monday night,
committee members agreed unan
imously to release immediately the
$4,111.50 allotted for Stein’s visit to
campus and to drop all possible
charges levied against the group.
Funds were frozen Nov. 11 on
grounds that the College
Republicans failed to acknowledge
Goans said he’s unsure about the agenda,
but don’t expect the shipless group to sail
the seven seas anytime soon.
Club activities thus far have included see
ing “Pirates of the Caribbean” in the Student
Union, dressing up for Halloween on
Franklin Street and competing in a beard
growing contest that awarded the bearer of
the most pirate-like beard a copy of “Pirates
of the Caribbean" on DVD.
“In the midst of a lot of dryness that exists
in society, this is just a lot of fun,” Scott Cash
said. A junior from Charlotte, Cash is the
club’s navigator and is in charge of trans
portation, being the only crew leader with a
car in Chapel Hill.
Charlie Hiser, known as Chaz the ship
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Congress as a financial sponsor for
the event, a violation of Title V of
the Student Code.
Raising even more concern,
TVipp Costas, chairman of the
College Republicans, misled
Congress members when request
ing funding for the event by stating
that only 10 seats would be
reserved for legislators and bene
factors, Finance Committee
Chairwoman Natalie Russell said.
A total of 78 seats for students
and dignitaries were reserved, con
technician, helped found the club and man
ages the club’s listserv e-mails. A freshman
from Greensboro, Hiser said he thinks it’s
important for students, particularly fresh
men, to be involved in campus activities.
“We try to get students involved without
being under a banner,” he said.
Another freshman, Catie Blair, from
Charlotte, joined the club to meet new peo
ple and participate in weekend activities. “I
thought it was a really cool opportunity to
meet other people,” she said.
Besides watching pirate movies, wearing
club T-shirts and talking like pirates, mem
bers might have future travel plans. The cap-
SEE PIRATES, PAGE 4
Council to continue talks on tract
Talks skirt over
UNC’s Ist plans
BY KATHRYN GRIM
CITY EDITOR
Town leaders addressed
Monday the development of the
town’s largest undeveloped parcel
of land, largely ignoring the fact
that UNC released a draft of its
plans for the property Thursday.
The University wants to develop
25 percent of the 963-acre Horace
Williams tract, devoting a project
ed 6 million square feet to office
space, 2 million square feet to res
idential housing and 300,000
square feet to retail.
Mayor Kevin Foy decided
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stituting 10 percent of the capaci
ty crowd. “These reservations
aren’t necessarily against the
(Student) Code. However, the code
lays out different priorities for
funding, and events that are acces
sible to a greater percent of the stu
dent body are supposed to receive
greater priority for funding,”
Russell said.
The Finance Committee decid
ed to release the funds because
members could not find any inten
tional violations of the Student
Monday that the town should con
tinue drafting its recommenda
tions without letting them become
a reaction to the University’s plans.
The Chapel Hill Town Council
reviewed about half of the 43-page
report developed by the Horace
Williams Citizens Committee dur
ing the past seven months. It voted
to continue discussion for an hour
before its next meeting.
“We’re realizing that putting
that big of a development into a
community is going to be painful,”
said committee member and coun
cil member-elect Cam Hill.
Thus far, council members have
focused discussion concerning the
University’s satellite campus on
SEE DEVELOPMENT, PAGE 4
SPORTS
ROUGH AND TUMBLE
Wrestling gears up for its season, facing challenges
such as anew coach and a shuffled lineup PAGE 9
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2003
Code. The funds were frozen as an
incentive for members of College
Republicans to explain themselves
before the committee.
Russell said Congress likely
would have handled the funding
request differently had it been
aware of the number of seats that
ultimately were reserved.
After initially refusing to respond
to Finance Committee inquiries,
Costas denied allegations that he
misconstrued his intentions to
Congress. He said his estimate
Thefts elicit
renewed call
for caution
Leaders outline steps toward safety
BY JENNY RUBY
STAFF WRITER
A string of robberies in several
campus residence communities
has prompted the Department of
Housing and Residential
Education to encourage students
to heighten their awareness of
safety and security.
The most recent larceny
occurred Monday morning, when
two laptop computers were stolen
from a room in Hinton James
Residence Hall, said Rick Bradley,
director of communications for
the housing department.
Other incidents, which have
involved cash stolen from stu
dents’ wallets, recently have
occurred in Avery, Teague, Grimes
and Craige residence halls.
University police haven't ruled
out the possibility that the thefts
are related, but for now they are
investigating each one as a sepa
rate incident, said Maj. Jeff
McCracken of University police.
McCracken said he suspects
Sniper suspect
guilty of murder
Muhammad
could face death
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
VIRGIN LA BEACH, Va - In a
verdict that could cost him his life,
a stone-faced John Allen
Muhammad was convicted
Monday of using a high-powered
rifle, a beat-up car and a teenage
sidekick to murder people at ran
dom and terrorize the Washington.
D.C., area during last year’s sniper
attacks.
The jury began hearing evi
dence on whether the 42-year-old
Army veteran should get the
death penalty or life in prison.
CAROLINA NORTH: PRE-DEVELOPMENT STAGES
The Chapel Hill Town Council held a work session Monday night to discuss the features
of UNC's proposed Carolina North project to be located on the Horace Williams tract.
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SOURCE: CAROLINA NORTH DRAFT CONCEPT PLAN DTWSTAFF
WEATHER
TODAY Cloudy, H 72, L 63
WEDNESDAY Showers, H 67, L 44
THURSDAY Showers, H 55, L 46
referred to the number of seats that
would be held for dignitaries not
affiliated with the school.
At the meeting’s end, Costas
expressed frustration that Student
Body Treasurer Alexa Kleysteuber
froze funding for payment to Stein
without thoroughly explaining the
violations under investigation. “I
think the way this was handled was
absolutely unprofessional.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
that the thefts might have
occurred because residents
allowed unknown people to fol
low them into the buildings. Once
inside, such nonresidents could
have gone into rooms that were
left unlocked. One incident
occurred while students were
asleep.
“It takes just a matter of sec
onds to dip into a room and swipe
a wallet off the dresser,” he said.
McCracken said that as the
year progresses, students tend to
become more comfortable with
their surroundings and less atten
tive to safety issues.
Thieves who have been around
campus areas take advantage of
this comfort, he said.
Housing officials sent an e-mail
about the thefts Thursday to all
students living in residence halls.
The e-mail outlines several
guidelines for students to follow,
including locking doors, encour-
SEE DORM SAFETY, PAGE 4
“We reserve the death penalty
for the worst of the worst,” prose
cutor Richard Conway told the
jurors. “Folks, he still sits right in
front of you without a shred of
remorse.”
Muhammad stood impassively
as the verdict was read, looking
straight ahead with the same
enigmatic look he had throughout
the trial. Two jurors held hands,
and two others wept. Family
members of victims held hands
and wiped away tears.
The jury deliberated for 6 1/2
hours over two days before con
victing Muhammad of two
counts of capital murder. One
SEE SNIPER, PAGE 4
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