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VOLUME 111, ISSUE 120 Officials share new growth plans H| ™ k" % r-j HA m ■** || ■k sT *1: ■ -IB m |l|jf * > - /^y f | : \\ v t A Hi- BR ssfll '''''- . Hri “ ?Fm ' ■ ’ >l I • • t • H '"'■ ’ ' r tP*?; 1 • Wi i^^^^KRw%MIMSHBBHKL4i3 DTH/GILLIAN BOLSOVER Tony Waldrop and Mark Crowell, UNC economic development officials, present the most recent Carolina North plan Wednesday. Ballenger bows out of House Lawmaker to leave at end of current term BY LAURA YOUNGS ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR U.S. Rep. Cass Ballenger of Hickory announced Tuesday that he will not run for a 10th consecutive term, ending a successful yet controversial political career spanning almost four decades. The North Carolina Republican, who has served the 10th District in the southwestern Piedmont for 18 years, said on a WHKY- Hickory morning radio show that he will retire Jan. 2, 2005, at the close of the 108th Congress. Tin 77 years old and I've served as an elected official for 38 years,” he said in a later interview. “That's a good excuse to quit." Ballenger, who forged a career that ranged from [] U.S. Rep. Cass Ballenger wants to spend time at home. a slot as county commissioner to jobs as a state representative and senator, turns 77 Saturday. The congressman cited frequent travel to Washington, D.C., as one of the main rea sons he is retiring. He said he wants to spend more time with his family, most of which is located in his hometown, and take time to enjoy out door activities. “My golf game is falling apart,” he joked. Mulling over his decision for almost a year, Ballenger said, he compiled a three page list of accomplishments and decided that he was ready to move on. He cited his reform of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration as well as his support of free trade as some of his most significant accomplishments. But supporting both the North American Free Trade Agreement and fast-track nego tiating authority for President Bush while representing a textile-driven district has earned Ballenger opposition in an area that recently has lost about 40,000 jobs. Recently, the congressman drew ire when he accused the Council of American-Islamic Relations, located across from his home in Washington, of being a fund-raising tool for terrorist groups and reported the group to the FBI and CIA. He also was a vocal opponent of a 1995 House ban on gifts from lobbyists, which he said hurt the social lives of their wives. Ballenger is separated from his wife, Donna, but he said they are still friends. Further criticism of Ballenger occurred when he commented that outspoken black Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., gave him “a little segregationist feeling.” The congressman later apologized for his SEE BALLENGER, PAGE 5 INSIDE TROUBLED SKIES 8 RDU employees charged with giving false immigration documents PAGE 5 Serving the students and the University community since 1893 (The fatty oar Med GOP HOPEFULS FOCUS ON ECONOMY Republicans running for governor stumpfor low taxes tofitel recovery BY SHELLEY MAYO STAFF WRITER RALEIGH Six of the seven Republican gubernatorial candidates revealed similar agendas for the state’s highest office Tuesday, highlighting what they call a need for lower taxes, more jobs and a swift economic recovery. Timothy Cook, a textile research chemist who is in the race, was not present at the gathering. Each of the candidates told the Wake County Republican Men's Club that re energizing the states job market will be the most important issue of this election. “The bottom line is jobs,” said George Little, a Southern Pines insurance agent running for the post. The job market hit hard times after state textile and furniture manufacturers closed, partly due to foreign competition. “We lost 150,000 jobs in the past year,” said Richard Vinroot, the former mayor of Charlotte who has run for the governors office twice before. He also said high state taxes do nothing to alleviate the job situation. “We are the biggest taxed state in the Southeast,” he said. Bill Cobey, former chairman of the N.C. Republican Party, also said the state’s taxes hinder positive job development. “(Gov. Mike) Easley increased taxes three years in a row ... more often than taxes increased in California,” he said, speaking of the western state’s budget shortfall of more than S3B billion. The candidates said they hope to halt the increase of unemployment numbers by lowering taxes. “We are not competitive with other states because our taxes are too high,” Little said. By decreasing taxes, GOP hopefuls say, they want to increase business interests, adding that they support a reduction in the 6.9 percent corporate tax as well as a cut in the income tax to spur job development. Although candidates agree that fiscal changes need to occur, their plans vary. Vinroot said he wants corporate and manufacturing taxes lowered. “If we decrease the corporate tax to 5 percent or less and implement no manufacturing tax, we can again look attractive in the eyes of businesses. Also, government needs to consider privatization to help create jobs.” Davie County Commissioner Dan Barrett advocated a change in state lead ership, which he said would eliminate the state’s slow response to the rising unem ployment rate. “The governor needs to be chief economic officer,” he said. INSIDE HARD DRIVE Senior class starts laptop drive to provide computers to the community PAGE 2 | www.dailytarheel.com | BY BROOK R. CORWIN UNIVERSITY EDITOR UNC officials say the University is run ning out of space. And they say that in a few months, the University’s final plan for a satellite campus will be running out of time. University officials formally unveiled the draft plan for Carolina North on Tuesday, along with a timeline planning for the Board of Trustees to approve the entire half-century project in March. Officials cautiously predicted that the plan, which will develop 240 acres of the University-owned, 963-acre Horace Wiliams tract, will break ground in 2005. Such a rapid timeline is needed, officials said Tuesday, because of a growing demand among faculty and staff for additional space to conduct research. “Even with all the growth on campus, we don’t have the space to meet the needs of students and faculty,” said Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development. The draft presented Tuesday was a more polished version of a preliminary draff pro posal presented to the media last month. While little in the plans changed, the newest draft specifies which buildings will be used for institutional purposes, which I m. J— I * George Little ‘smse- . ■ "j ft . , JEwb' k DTH PHOTOS/LAURA MORTON Gubernatorial candidate Richard Vinroot (right) addresses the Wake County Republican Men’s Club as N.C. Sen. Fern Shubert, R-Union, listens during Tuesday’s forum in Raleigh. Another avenue to job recovery is reforming lower-level government man agement, Cobey said. “We need to totally reform bureaucracy in order to make it more efficient,” he said. N.C. Sen. Fern Shubert, R-Union, said increasing government efficiency will save valuable state dollars. “The public wants someone to drain the swamp that is Raleigh and get rid of the alligators,” she said. By focusing attention on job recovery, candidates say, they hope to attract college students to the polls. “Students want to have a bright future ... and will be interested in the election as long as they want jobs,” Cobey said. The lack of available jobs forces college tM will be used for housing and which will contain retail space on the ground levels. The presentation also pinpoints space for community-use centers and parks sprinkled throughout the development. The full development includes 6 million square feet of office space, 2 million square feet of residential space and 300,000 square feet of retail space. The plan also calls for the construction of 13,750 deck parking spaces, 1,250 surface parking spaces and 4,125 on-street spaces. In a media briefing Tuesday afternoon, officials stressed their openness to revising the plans based on community input. The number of parking spaces, for instance, could be reduced significantly if multimodel transportation alternatives such as new bus routes or a light rail line were developed in conjunction with the town. “This is very much a draft plan,” Waldrop said. “We will be revising it.” Douglas Firstenberg of Stonebridge Associates, a real estate advisory firm assisting UNC with the project, estimated infrastructure costs for the plan at SIOO million. He added that he is working with UNC’s Division of Finance and Administration to develop a business plan SEE PLAN, PAGE 5 Patrick Ballantine SPORTS CONFIDENCE BOOSTER The Tar Heels secure an 88-81 win over No. 11 Illinois in Greensboro PAGE 7 Locals call for changes to draft BY JENNY HUANG ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR Local officials and community leaders pleaded with UNC officials Tuesday to preserve open space, decrease parking and integrate affordable housing in the University’s plans for its Carolina North project. In the public’s first viewing of the conceptual designs for UNC’s future satellite campus, more than 40 local residents and members of the Carolina North Advisory Committee gathered at the Friday Center to weigh in on preliminary plans for the planned 240-acre development, to be located on the 963-acre Horace Williams tract. While UNC officials emphasized that the designs are simply a draft, attendees made it clear that they think certain concerns including land preserva tion, unwanted traffic and affordable housing need to be addressed immediately. Carolina North is a mixed-use village planned by the University that will offer research facilities, retail business and housing. UNC officials released preliminary designs to the SEE FORUM, PAGE 5 Bill Cobey students nearing graduation to look to other states for employment. “If w r e do not look at jobs, there will be none for students when they graduate, causing a large outmigration of potential workers,” Little added. But N.C. Senate Minority Leader Patrick Ballantine, R-New Hanover, differed on how to reach students, saying personal interaction between candidates and college students is the most effective way to get young people to vote. “College students need to relate to someone who will not be condescending," he said. “Before you care to know us, we need to care to know you.” Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@ unc.edu. WEATHER TODAY Partly cloudy, H 47, L 26 THURSDAY P.M. showers, H 48, L 33 FRIDAY Rain, H 56, L 38 WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2003 Campus seeks to caution students File-sharing ad warns of dangers BY MARY BETH BARDIN STAFF WRITER In response to daily complaints from the entertainment industry, University officials continued to raise awareness about illegal file sharing Monday in a full-page ad placed in The Daily Tar Heel. The ad warns students about legal actions that could be taken against them by copyright holders. The University receives a com plaint almost every day from organizations such as the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America regarding copyright violations, said Jeanne Smythe, director of computing policy for Information Technology Services. “Last year we would only get a couple each week.” Steve Jarrell, interim vice chan cellor for information technology, also expressed concern about the increase in complaints and said the ad was not prompted by the RIAA issuing a subpoena Oct. 6 demanding the name of a UNC student accused of illegally offer ing files for download. “We’ve tried a number of meth ods to get the word out about file sharing," Jarrell said. “We’ve used posters in residence halls, C-TOPS training and many other ways to make sure students know.” Jarrell said the large number of complaints are a burden for University staff to handle and stressed the importance of inform ing students about repercussions. “Sharing files illegally is inap propriate,” he said. “We want peo ple to understand that it is illegal and that there are potential penal ties for doing so.” The ad states that the University can do little to protect students who infringe copyright laws, a point reiterated by David Parker, senior associate University counsel. “If a student is liable for copyright infringement, that student is responsible for their actions.” In an attempt to curb the prob lem. Pennsylvania State University signed a contract with Napster ear lier this year, providing students with a legal option for download ing music and other electronic files. Smythe confirmed that the College Entertainment Network has been in contact with University SEE FILE-SHARING. PAGE 5
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