VOLUME 111, ISSUE 134
Groups
coalesce
to help
workers
BY BRIAN HUDSON
ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Employees at UNC now have a
coalition of student organizations,
labor unions and special interest
groups representing their rights.
In a demonstration in the Pit on
Thursday, numerous groups for
mally announced the Worker’s
Solidarity Coalition in an attempt
to advocate the rights of low-paid
workers at the University.
The event consisted of speeches
from representatives of the coali
tion’s different groups.
At the end of the demonstra
tion, WSC members presented a
“Letter of Solidarity” to adminis
trative officials in South Building.
The letter explained that the
WSC aims to “unite in opposing
the discrimination in wages... that
is routinely experienced by house
keepers, cooks, groundskeepers
and other low-paid
workers.”
The letter called for Chancellor
James Moeser to advocate openly
the rights of public employees,
meet with employee union repre
sentatives and recognize them as a
legitimate voice of low-paid
workers.
The WSC was conceived after
two Sept. 23 teach-ins that fea
tured Barbara Ehrenreich, author
of the summer reading selection
“Nickel and Dimed,” said David
Brannigan, a member of the N.C.
Public Service Workers Union, or
UE Local 150, the union that rep
resents UNC employees.
“The administration does hot
advocate strongly enough and
publicly enough for the rights of
workers,” he said.
Brannigan said the WSC com
prises almost a dozen groups unit
ed by their outrage against work
ing conditions at UNC. These
groups include the Progressive
Faculty Network, the Feminist
Students United and the Chapel
Hill-Carrboro branch of the
National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People.
Brannigan said he hopes future
WSC events will elicit a response
from University officials.
“We prove time and time again
to the administration there is a
broad-base support for this,” he
said. “The only group being silent
is the University administration.”
Thursday’s event was planned
to coincide with the birthday of
Martin Luther King Jr.
“Many students are not aware
that Martin Luther King Jr. was a
strong advocate for workers
rights,” Brannigan said.
Brannigan said the WSC has
planned a number of events dur
ing the next semester to bring
attention to its cause.
He also said the next WSC
sponsored event will be a teach-in
to educate workers about the his
tory of black labor at UNC.
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
Local leads charmed, charged life
Chatham man battles effects of 4 lightning strikes
BY JACQUELINE BRILL
STAFF WRITER
The saying “Lightning never strikes the same
place twice” means nothing to Mark Stinson
and his family.
Many branches of Stinson’s family tree have
had a brush with the electric force. His grand
parents’ car was struck while they were driving,
his great-aunt’s house was hit while she sat on
the porch, and his great-grandmother watched
as a bolt hit a tree in front of her.
And stranger still, Stinson, a 39-year-old
mechanic from Chatham County, has lived
through four incidents of direct contact with
bolts of lightning, which struck him in 1985,
1993,2000 and 2002.
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Serving the students and the University community since 1893
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Former DTH Editor Bill Amlong interviews Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in September 1967 after a sermon King gave in New York.
LEADING THE WAY
Despite tumult, Chapel Hill has been central in fight for civil rights
BY EMMA BURGIN
AND DAN SCHWIND
SENIOR WRITERS
Thirty years ago, there was a surge of
animosity between blacks and whites
across the country, countered by many
yet encouraged by others.
Chapel Hill, known as a liberal hot
spot for as long as anyone can remember,
was no different.
Those who spent the days of the civil
rights movement in Chapel Hill say the
atmosphere was characterized by two
extremes.
“At Chapel Hill, there were two signif
icant elements: one group that was very
liberal and another that wasn’t,” said
Reginald Smith, a former Town Council
member.
In terms of civil rights, Chapel Hill
always was at the forefront, and many of
those involved in the movement cite Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. as inspiration.
King visited Chapel Hill in the 19605.
Smith said all people had to do was be in
While all the incidents havejleft their mark,
the 1993 encounter stands out in Stinson’s
mind as the most striking. I
“I was under my truck fixing an oil leak on
the engine that I built myself when I sudden
ly felt like I had ants crawling all over my
back,” he said. “It then felt like I had been
dumped in hot, scalding water.”
It took Stinson half an hour to crawl out and
get help.
“It turned me bright red from head to toe,
burned all the hair off my left arm and melted
my watch,” he recalled.
He was taken to Chatham Hospital but was
released after only a few hours.
“The doctors just didn’t know what to do,” he
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the same auditorium with him, and they
would understand the influence he had
on the entire movement.
Many trace the beginning of that
movement to the 1954 Brown v. Board of
Education Supreme Court decision in
which the idea of “separate but equal”
was shot down.
Chapel Hill civil
rights lawyer Al
McSurely was a fresh
man at the University,
where the decision
was met with some
resistance. “The
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UNC groups
to showcase
many activities
on campus
next week
University and the state were ambivalent
about the decision and instituting it,” he
said.
The decision opened the door for
blacks to attain liberties that had elud
ed them for centuries, and the move
ment that came after, led to a turning
point in history.
But it wasn’t easy. The early 1960s were
turbulent. Locals witnessed countless
said.
Though Stinson sustained nerve damage to
his left arm, the jolts he’s experienced have
reverberated into other aspects of his daily life.
They’ve also brought him brief celebrity.
Stinson recently traveled to Hollywood to
appear on the Discovery Channel’s show
“More Than Human.” The science series spot
lights people such as Fran Capo, who is,
according to “The Guinness Book of World
Records,” the world’s fastest-talking woman.
Stinson’s segment was titled “Shock and
Ow!” and debuted Jan. 8. Reruns of the show,
which showcased the unusual physical
aftereffects of Stinson’s experiences, aired Jan.
9 and Sunday.
While returning to North Carolina after
SEE LIGHTNING, PAGE 5
Of
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demonstrations by town residents and
members of the University community.
“There was a lot of activity in Durham
and Greensboro, and that eventually
spilled over into Chapel Hill,” McSurely
said.
On Dec. 16,1963, The Daily Tar Heel
reported that nine people, including two
black UNC students, were arrested and
charged with staging a sit-in in at the
Pines, a segregated restaurant on
Raleigh Road. During the course of four
days that week, another 27 people were
arrested for civil rights demonstrations
at other segregated restaurants.
This was one of the many demonstra
tions —some violent, some subdued
that finally climaxed in January 1964
when 239 whites and blacks were arrest
ed by the Chapel Hill Police Department
for protesting employment discrimina
tion and segregated facilities, as report
ed by The Daily Thr Heel.
SEE MLK, PAGE 5
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DTH/ASHIEY Pin
Mark Stinson, a mechanic from Chatham County, has cut back on work
after he was struck by a lightning bolt for the fourth time in 2002.
SPORTS
UP, UP AND AWAY
UNC gymnasts hope to take their
feats to the next level PAGE 2
FRIDAY, JANUARY 16, 2004
Council eyes
ways to fund
new projects
Leaders consider tax hike
to cover possible shortfall
BY SARAH RABIL
STAFF WRITER
A potential budget shortfall for the 2004-05
fiscal year and a reluctance to raise taxes looms
over the Chapel Hill Town Council as it explores
ways to maintain current services while funding
new projects.
The town is on track to exceed this fiscal year’s
revenues, but the council might increase expen
ditures significantly in 2004-05 —a move that
would leave the town an estimated $1.3 million in
debt.
The council began its annual budgeting season
in a lengthy planning session held Thursday to
address potential funding issues for the upcoming
year.
The town’s preliminary estimates for 2004-05
predict about $41.3 million in revenue, an
increase of $1.4 million from this year’s original
revenue estimate.
Town officials had estimated that they would
gamer just less than $39-9 million in revenue for
the 2003-04 fiscal year, but the budget later was
increased to more than $41.7 million.
The town staff anticipates total general fund
revenue of about $41.3 million next fiscal year.
The figure includes the one-time use of about
$500,000 reserved by the council last year to help
offset any potential tax rate increase. The estimate
also factors in the standard use of SBOO,OOO in
the town’s fund balance.
Town Manager Cal Horton said that the pro
jected revenues would allow Chapel Hill to main
tain its current budget but that they would not
allow for additional expenditures next year.
SEE PLANNING, PAGE 5
Nader plans
campus talk
BY BROOK R. CORWIN
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Longtime activist and former presidential can
didate Ralph Nader will speak on the UNC cam
pus 'lbesday as part of his ongoing effort to gath
er supporters for a possible 2004 presidential run.
Nader’s speech will be held at 7:30 p.m. in 100
Hamilton Hall. It is being hosted by the Coalition
of Independent Voters in Carolina, anew student
organization, which will use the event as a kickoff.
The renowned activist, who garnered 3 percent
of the vote in the 2000 presidential election while
running on the Green Party ticket, will proceed his
speech with a closed meeting for anyone interest
ed in supporting a possible presidential run, said a
representative from Nader’s office who asked that
her name not be used.
Nader is gauging support for such a run and will
travel to Charlotte on Wednesday for a luncheon.
His speech will focus on the issue of ballot
access for third-party candidates. North Carolina
requires 100,000 signatures to get on the presi
dential ballot, more than all neighboring states.
Finding local supporters who can collect the
needed signatures is one of the objectives of
Nader’s visit, the representative said.
Plans for the visit took shape after UNC fresh
man Philip Blackett, founder of the new student
organization, met with members of Nader’s office
last fall. Nader supporters approached Blackett at
New Hampshire College, where he was attending
a presidential candidates convention geared
toward college students.
“They asked me if I was interested in hosting
a speech on campus,” Blackett said. “Of course I
SEE NADER, PAGE 5
WEATHER
TODAY Sunny, H 43, L 21
SATURDAY Partly cloudy, H 46, L 36
SUNDAY Showers, H 40, L 31
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