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SHte Sattg 3ar Mwl CITY BRIEFS UNC student charged with assaulting her boyfriend A UNC student was arrested by Chapel Hill police and charged with assault at her home Tuesday during a domestic dispute call, reports state. Melissa Lucianna Demase, 21, of 713 Church St., was arrested on charges of one misdemeanor count of simple assault, reports state. According to reports, Demase bit her boyfriend’s cheek and scratched his back with her fingernails. Police reports state the victim had minor injuries, which were visible on his face and back. Demase didn’t have any weapons when she attacked the victim and used only her hands and feet, reports state. According to reports, no bond was posted and the suspect was cleared by arrest. The trial date is set for Feb. 23 at the Orange County District Court in Hillsborough. NATIONAL BRIEFS Safety standards at nuclear facilities to be rewritten WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Bush administration is moving to replace safety requirements at fed eral nuclear facilities with stan dards written by contractors after Congress directed the gov ernment to start fining the con tractors for violations. Long-established government minimum standards at the more than two dozen nuclear weapons plants and research labs around the nation would become unen forceable guidelines under the Energy Department proposal. U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., an author of the 2002 legislation ordering the fines, accused the administration this week of dis torting Congress’ intent with a plan that “will likely decrease worker protection.” John Conway, chairman of an advisory board overseeing safety at the Energy Department, said that the proposal would weaken safety standards that cover more than 100,000 workers at the different facilities. “The way it’s written, I don’t like it at all,” said Conway, head of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board. Energy Department officials said they have not made a final decision on the proposal and emphasized that the government would retain the authority to approve or reject the contractor written safety requirements. WORLD BRIEFS Suicide bomb in Afghan capital kills British soldier KABUL, Afghanistan A sui cide car bomber blew himself up in a taxi next to British peacekeep ers patrolling the Afghan capital Wednesday, killing one soldier and wounding four. The attack came as U.S. defense officials revealed plans for anew offensive in response to an escalat ing insurgency. The blast was the second sui cide assault on foreign troops in as many days. Rebels’ use of roadside explosives and car bombs in the recent wave of attacks has led to new comparisons with the insur gency in Iraq. The British soldier died after a yellow and white taxi carrying 200 pounds of explosives blew up near his open-topped Land Rover at about 11 a.m. in the eastern out skirts of Kabul, said Nayamatullah Jalili, intelligence chief at the Interior Ministry. He said an Afghan was also killed appar ently the assailant. “The preliminary investigation suggests it was a suicide attack,” Jalili said. Four other British soldiers were wounded, two of them seri ously, Col. Mike Griffiths, com mander of the 300-strong British contingent in the NATO-led peacekeeping force, said at a news conference in its fortified headquarters. He declined to identify any of the British soldiers or their unit. CALENDAR Today 7 p.m. The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender-Straight Alliance will host a forum for all candidates for student body pres ident. The forum will result in a candidate endorsement. The event will be held in 305 Dey Hall. Tuesday 8 p.m. The Daily Tar Heel will host a forum for student body president candidates in 209 Manning Hall. The forum will be open to the public. For more information, contact Elyse Ashburn at eash burn @email.unc.edu. From staff and wire reports. Kay: Iraq claims ‘almost all wrong’ Inspectors words spark WMD debate THE ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON, D.C. - Former weapons inspector David Kay said Wednesday “we were almost all wrong” about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs, as Congress pressed a high-stakes struggle to pinpoint why that hap pened and who was responsible. Republicans say the nation’s intelligence agencies were the prob lem. Democrats point to the White House, questioning possible pres sure put on intelligence analysts and noting Vice President Dick Cheney’s ~ SBSSBSEm- & vHBHk -v • v .JBfe V ware turn. g; Sr m f Lllfk [fir *** ki r - 1 11 • ilßMlßii- iii' • * -St svfe. ygga jtaV fIBHI Veteran ESPN college basketball commentator Dick Vitale signs items for UNC students in Student Stores on Wednesday afternoon. Vitale was in Chapel Hill to broadcast the UNC-N.C. State basketball game in the Smith Center on Wednesday night, but visit- GPSF candidate aims for visibility BYTORRYE JONES STAFF WRITER Graduate and professional stu dents feel they are being over looked in major issues at UNC, especially in light of the recent tuition increase passed last week by the STUDENTA4 ELECTIONS U*t Board ofTrustees. But Jennifer Bushman, the sole candidate for Graduate and Professional Student Federation president, hopes to change that. “With the tuition hike, people realize there are times and issues when you need a more unified voice to let your needs and con cerns be heard,” said Bushman, also the GPSF vice pres ident for external affairs. Current GPSF President Dan Herman said that with a large- Basketball ticket scalping on the rise University police step up vigilance BY JAMIE MCGEE STAFF WRITER Interest in UNC basketball is on the rise and so is ticket scalping, University police officials say. “We have had more (ticket scalping) this year than in the past,” said Maj. Jeff McCracken of the UNC Department of Public Safety. “There is a renewed interest in basketball, causing more cita tions with scalpers. We haven’t experienced this many in years.” University police issued eight ticket-scalping citations Saturday before UNC’s game against the University of Virginia, and McCracken said counterfeit tickets were sold during the Jan. 17 game against the University of Connecticut. He said police were spurred to intensify regulation after com plaints from fans about scalpers. “There are people on the side walks that stop the flow of traffic,” he said. “People complain of being Top News continued assertions that weapons of mass destruction existed. Asked at a Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing if an inde pendent investigation was war ranted, Kay replied that he believed an outside inquiry would give Congress and the public more confidence. Kay said he spent she months looking for the former Iraqi presi dent’s banned weapons and has concluded, based on a “sufficiently intense” effort, that they were not there. Kay said inspectors found no SERENDIPITY, BABY! “Not all graduate and professional students know about the organization.” DAN HERMAN, GPSF PRESIDENT scale issue, graduate and profes sional students should know where to go to have their voices heard. But he feels the organization is underutilized. “Not all graduates and professional students know about the organization,” he said. “The basis of every student organi zation is the advocacy of the whole.” Although advocating the needs of these students is a large part of SEE GPSF, PAGE 11 accosted by ticket-sellers as soon as they get off the transit buses.” McCracken defined scalping a misdemeanor offense —as sell ing tickets for more than three dol lars more than their face value. Clint Gwaltney, assistant athlet ic director for the Smith Center and ticket operations, said he has not noticed a change in scalping rates. “I’m not out on the streets before the game, but I know it still goes on,” he said. “I don’t think a lot of scalping is through student tickets.” Last semester, Student Congress approved a policy to ensure that only UNC students use student tickets. Now, students must pres ent a valid UNC ONE Card upon entering the stadium. Sherrell McMillan, president of the Carolina Athletic Association, said this policy is deterring scalping because it keeps people from using student tickets bought on the street “It is real problematic for some one scalping a ticket to have to stockpiles large or small. “We were almost all wrong, and I cer tainly include myself here,” he said. “My view was that the best evidence I had seen was that Iraq indeed had weapons of mass destruction.” Kay blamed a lack of human intelligence inside Iraq and inade quate money for U.S. intelligence agencies. He also said he believes analysts have been asked to read too much into limited data. He said the U.S. intelligence community had become addicted to information coming from United Nations weapons inspectors during the 19905, leaving them in trouble when those inspectors had to leave. DTH/JOHN DUDLEY ed campus earlier in the day to promote his new book, “Living a Dream: Reflections of 25 Years Sitting in the Best Seat in the House.” The book, which Vitale has promoted at other college campuses recently, includes a foreward by Duke men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. SBP hopefuls log on for support Web sites aid campaign strategies BY RAND ROBINS STAFF WRITER As the student body president race gears up, this year’s race dis tinguishes itself from past student government contests as candidates increasingly rely on the Internet to spread their campaign messages. Candidates gradually have warmed to using Web sites over the years, but STUDENT AA elections!# this year all eight candidates for the top student office will employ individual Web pages to share their plans for UNC. Several candidates said they view the interactive potential of the Web as a complement to more tra ditional campaign strategies, while others plan to rely heavily on their sites to convey their platform mes sages. “I realize it’s not a required thing for a campaign, but it seems like have a ONE Card,” McMillan said. “We’ve definitely seen a decrease for scalping. On (online auction site) eßay especially, we don’t see any tickets up like we used to. There are one or two (scalpers) at the Smith Center, but the message is getting out there.” It hasn’t deterred everyone. Last night on eßay, an auction for two upper-level tickets for the Feb. 5 game against Duke University eclipsed the S4OO mark. While McMillan acknowledged scalping is an inevitable problem, he said it is less prevalent at UNC because many fans have season tickets and few student tickets are available. “(Scalping) happens everywhere, and it is going to continue happen ing everywhere, but it is not a major problem here,” he said. “A lot of fins who go have season tickets and have been going their whole life. “Students know how hard it is to get tickets. There is a limited num ber so they are going to keep the ones they have and take full advan tage.” THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 2004 Since he resigned Friday as the top weapons hunter in Iraq, Kay’s public statements have sparked widespread questioning in Washington about the reliability of U.S. intelligence data and the Bush administration’s main justification for war: to remove an imminent threat posed by Hussein and his supposed weapons. President Bush has defended vigorously his decision to go to war and expressed confidence in the intelligence agencies. But Tuesday, Bush shied away from previous assertions that weapons would eventually be found. “There is no doubt in my mind that Saddam essentially it is,” said candidate Ashley Castevens. “I’m not much of a Web person. ... What really counts is the platform.” While Castevens said that noth ing makes up for human contact, candidate John Walker said he hopes his page will allow students to put a name to a face. Each candidate has a personal view on how to integrate the Web into more traditional campaign strategies, such as Pit-sitting and “dorm storming” going door-to door in residence halls. “Right now you have to have a good mix (of strategies) or if you rely too heavily on one you’re going to go under,” candidate Matt Liles said. Laura Thomas, another of the eight candidates, said the biggest part of her campaign is face-to face interaction with students. “I think (the Web) is comple mentary to going door-to-door,” i iJj /. flHBk * ' ''Alt Sp DTH/ANDREW SYNOWIEZ UNC basketball fans look to purchase tickets outside the Smith Center before Wednesday night’s game against rival N.C. State University. McMillan said scalping student tickets hurts the CAA’s fight for more student seats. “If it is known that tickets are being scalped, it sends a message that we don’t want the seats we Hussein was a gathering threat to America and others,” Bush said. The White House on Wednesday dismissed the notion of an inde pendent investigation into intelli gence failures. Many congressional Republicans maintain the world is better off with out Hussein, whether or not banned weapons are found, but some are beginning to doubt the reliability of U.S. intelligence gathering. Sen. TVent Lott, R-Miss., a mem ber of the intelligence committee, said “there’s no question” that infor mation was inaccurate. SEE IRAQ, PAGE 11 Search for cause of illness narrows BY MICHELLE JARBOE FEATURES EDITOR Test results returned to the Orange County Health Department on Wednesday dis qualified two possible causes for the gastrointestinal illness that has affected more than 150 UNC stu dents during the past week. Health department educator Donna King said bacillus cereus and staphylococcus aureus both of which are common in food poi soning cases have been elimi nated from the list of potential bacterial causes for a rash of vom iting, nausea and diarrhea that began Jan. 20. Snowstorms on Sunday and Monday delayed the analysis of samples taken from some of the sick students who visited Student Health Service Jan. 21. “I think the snow and the ice kind of hin dered the investigation,” SHS Associate Director Mary Covington said. Health department and SHS officials await further results, which were predicted to arrive late Wednesday evening or Thursday. Ruling out the two bacteria gave SEE ILLNESS, PAGE 11 Thomas said. “The best way to show who you are is to meet some body in person.” Candidate Faudlin Pierre said his campaign has had trouble set ting up a Web site, but it will be running in the next few days. Pierre said Web sites are more of an extensive way for people to judge the candidates for them selves, but he said it takes more than a Web site to win a campaign. The candidates emphasized the race as issue-based, and the oppor tunity to post platforms online pro vides each campaign with the means to get their respective mes sages to the student body afford ably and efficiently. “It used to be that everything the candidate had to say came out on sheets of paper,” candidate Matthew Compton said. “Now what you need most is a sheet of paper that has a Web site address on it.” Asa result of the Carolina SEE WEB, PAGE 11 have,” he said. “Scalping only deters us from the long-term goal of getting more student seats.” Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu. 3
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Jan. 29, 2004, edition 1
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