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CAMPUS BRIEFS
Committee plans to review
and amend Student Code
Student leaders announced
Monday the formation of an inde
pendent committee that will
review the Student Code.
Matt Liles, former Student
Congress speaker pro tempore and
student body president candidate,
is coordinating the effort.
He said the committee, com
prising students independent of
Student Congress, will review the
code and suggest amendments to
Congress sometime in the fall.
For the full story, go to
www.dailytarheel.com.
STATE BRIEFS
Gas prices to remain high
for Memorial Day drives
Tourists will face record gas
prices this Memorial Day weekend,
but that won’t stop drivers from
hitting the road in record numbers,
according to AAA Carolinas.
The group’s May 26 report states
that although gas prices in the Tar
Heel State are at $1.96 a gallon,
more than 1.3 million people are
expected to cruise the highways in
North and South Carolina this
weekend.
That’s an increase of 9.5 percent
from last year, when post-Sept 11
fears and a poor economy led many
families to stay at home instead of
traveling to friends’ houses or the
beach.
As of Tuesday evening, prices for
one gallon of regular, unleaded gas
ranged from $1.99 to $2.04 along
Airport Road and N.C. 54 in
Chapel Hill.
A glut of demand and a small
supply have driven nationwide gas
prices to more than $2 per gallon,
and there are few indicators that
the high prices will subside.
Suspects in hit-and-run
postpone entering plea
Lawyers for Rabah Samara and
Emily Caveness requested an
amendment to their clients’ grand
jury indictment IViesday, when the
two defendants appeared before a
judge in Hillsborough.
Samara and Caveness were
indicted by a grand jury May 20
on charges of felony hit-and-run,
failure to stop with personal injury
and misdemeanor hit-and-run,
leaving the scene and personal
injury in the Oct 4,2003, death of
UNC alumnus Stephen Gates.
The defendants were expected
to enter a plea at the hearing, but
James Glover, lawyer for Caveness,
said there was need for a technical
rewording between the charges of
failing to stop and failing to remain
at the scene of the accident
UNC’s Department of Athletics
announced on May 20 plans to
donate as much as SIO,OOO from
the “TVim It Blue” campaign to the
Stephen Gates Scholarship Fund.
CITY BRIEFS
Repeated robberies plague
Chapel Hill businesses
Chapel Hill police are investi
gating a total of six armed rob
beries this month, three of which
occurred in the last two weeks.
A waitress was robbed at gun
point Sunday night in the parking
lot of a restaurant on the 1500
block of East Franklin Street,
reports state.
According to reports, the wait
ress was leaving work at 10:27
j£m. when she was approached by
tyro men. One man held up a gun
and told her to give him her work
apron, which contained cash and a
cellular phone, reports state.
' One perpetrator is described as
a, 6-foot-tall black man with a
ipedium build who is in his late 20s
or early 30s, wearing dark jeans
and a dark ball cap, reports state.
The second suspect is described
as a white man with a medium
build, about 5 feet 9 inches or 5
feet 10 inches, in his late 20s or
early 30s, reports state.
According to reports, he was
wearing a light blue undershirt,
jeans and a red and white baseball
cap.
Police still are investigating a
May 19 robbery at the Bank of
America branch at 851 Willow
Drive.
According to reports, the robber
was a black man, approximately 5
feet 5 inches tall and weighing 150
pounds.
He was wearing a white shirt,
blue jeans, a black wig and pink
lipstick, reports state.
Also, Chapel Hill police still are
looking for any information lead
ing to the arrests of two suspects
involved in the May 14 robbery at
a gas station located on the 200
block of Franklin Street, said Jane
Cousins, spokeswoman for the
Chapel Hill Police Department
Finally, Cousins said, police still
are investigating three unrelated
armed robberies that occurred
May 9 and May 10 at different
apartment complexes.
From staff and voire reports.
Blanchard, 60, advocate, mentor
UNC professor left warm legacy
BY CAROLINE KORNEGAY
STAFF WRITER
UNC professor Margaret
“Peggy” Blanchard, passed away
Tuesday at 2 p.m. at her home in
Hillsborough with her parents and
friends close by.
Blanchard, 60, had been diag
nosed with cancer in the spring of
2003.
She was the William Rand
Kenan Jr. Professor at the School
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DTH/GILLIAN BOLSOVER
Logan Faella, 101/2 months, watches the large crowd gathered at the memorial service of his grandfather, Nick Waters,
while his parents,James Faella and Gay Waters-Faella, listen to speaker Stephen Halkiotis, an Orange County commissioner.
FRIENDS RECALL
WATERS’ SERVICE
BY BRIAN HUDSON
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
More than 200 friends, colleagues
and family members of Nick Waters
held a memorial service in his honor
Saturday.
Waters, 60, director of Orange
County Emergency Management
Services, died April 21 after a brief bat
tle with cancer.
During the service, Waters’ colleagues
and friends characterized him as a gruff,
though ultimately caring individual.
“Nick delighted in playing the role of
‘crusty curmudgeon,’” said Assistant
County Manager Rod Visser, who is
acting as interim Emergency Director.
“I remained convinced that it was a
facade ... deep down he really cared
about people.”
Black to pitch version
of cancer center plan
BY CHRIS COLETTA
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
Final legislative approval of a
new cancer center at UNC-Chapel
Hill could be put on hold if a key
lawmaker’s plan passes the N.C.
House in the next few weeks.
Last week, the N.C. Senate
passed a bill appropriating SIBO
million to replace UNC-CH’s aging
Lineberger Cancer Center, as well
as S6O million for a cardiovascular
diseases center at East Carolina
University.
But for House Co-speaker Jim
Black, D-Mecklenburg, that isn’t
enough.
Black said Tuesday that he is
putting the finishing touches on a
plan to provide funding for five
UNC-system research centers.
Black spokeswoman Julie
Robinson said that the UNC-CH
and ECU projects are included, but
that the bill also calls for $35 mil-
Top News
of Journalism and Mass
Communication.
“All of us respected Peggy great
ly,” said Richard Cole, dean of the
journalism school.
A nationally renowned expert
on freedom of expression, she had
worked at the School since 1974,
where she taught media law and
courses on first amendment and
freedom of expression. She also
served as director of graduate stud
He said that if Waters was annoyed,
it was only because those around him
were not living up to their potential.
Stephen Halkiotis, an Orange County
Commissioner, said that Waters’ stern
attitude led him to be a strong leader.
“Nick had this thing inside of him
a calling, a calling to duty,” he said.
“Orange County has lost a tireless ser
vant.”
“They don’t make them like Nick
Waters anymore. He will never be
replaced.”
Several speakers commented on the
quality of Waters’ contributions to
Orange County through his work dur
ing the past 15 years.
“Nick forged ahead, he got people
involved,” Halkiotis said. “Nick was
there, fighting for Orange County ...
lion for a center to study genetics
at UNC-Charlotte, $35 million for
an aging and wellness center at
UNC-Asheville and $32 million
for a pharmacy school at Elizabeth
City State University.
Though the proposal doesn’t
include previous plans, such as
funding for a NASCAR test track in
the western part of the state, it is
still likely to prove contentious if it
hits the House floor and passes.
Last year, the Senate and House
failed to reach a last-minute deal
on the cancer center when leaders
couldn’t agree on a method of
funding. If Black’s bill passes, the
chambers will again be forced to
reach a compromise, though
they’ll have more time to do so.
“We’ll have to get together and
talk about it,” Black said, adding
that the impasse caused at the end
SEE RESEARCH, PAGE 4
Professor
Margaret
Blanchard
was known for
her work on
freedom of
expression.
ies for the school.
“She wrote important, very
important, books and many arti
cles,” Cole said.
Blanchard was the author of
“Revolutionary Sparks: Freedom of
and every other county in a 50 mile
radius.”
Halkiotis explained that he respect
ed Waters’ devotion to his work and his
ability to complete a task.
“Over the years I watched him han
dle it with great finesse and skill,” he
said.
“He stood up, but the wind hit him,
the snow hit him ... and he rose to the
occasion every time.”
Halkiotis said that Waters was a
force for change as soon as he came
came to Orange County.
“He was a catalyst, he was the chem
istry that brought it together,” he said.
Visser also acknowledged Waters’
contributions to the community.
SEE MEMORIAL SERVICE, PAGE 4
Employee challenges firing
BY BRIAN HUDSON
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
Members of UE Local 150, the
union representing employees at
UNC-Chapel Hill, have
announced a campaign to rein
state Bill Shuler, who was alleged
ly fired in retaliation for bringing
attention to worksite hazards.
Shuler, a former UNC house
keeper, was terminated May 19,
one day before officials from the
Occupational Safety and Health
Administrations inspected the
University in response to a com
plaint filed by Shuler.
Shuler’s complaint to OSHA was
in response to a newly implement
ed cleaning agent which had
allegedly caused health problems
for several housekeepers. “I person
ally know employees went to (the
Ambulatory Care Center) coughing
up blood, with nose bleeds.”
Shuler said he first brought
SEE SHULER, PAGE 4
Expression in Modem America,” by
the Oxford University Press, which
was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize,
and also edited “The History of the
Mass Media in the United States:
An Encyclopedia.”
“In addition to her research, she
was known for turning out won
derful graduate students,” Cole
said. “So her legacy will live on
nationally and internationally.”
Frank Fee, a professor at the
school, not only was mentored by
Blanchard but was a friend.
“Within the School and the
Lawmakers
want limits
formalized
Proposal would mandate
out-of-state enrollment cap
BY ALEX GRANADOS
STAFF WRITER
North Carolina legislators introduced two bills last
week that would put a UNC-system policy of capping
out-of-state enrollment into the state’s law books.
But opponents of the bill said that flexibility is
essential for educational institutions and that a law
mandating the 18 percent out-of-state cap could
inhibit leaders’ ability to make policy.
Concerns among legislators stem from last year,
when the UNC-system Board of Governors at the
prompting of UNC-Chapel Hill officials consid
ered allowing as many as 22 percent of students to
come from out of state. The BOG tabled the propos
al after a three-month debate, though it likely will
come up again in the future.
Rep. Michael Gorman, R-Craven, who sponsored
one of the two bills, said increased out-of-state enroll
ment takes seats in state schools away from North
Carolinians. He added that N.C. schools don’t charge
the full price of an out-of-state student’s education.
“One of the areas it makes sense to draw a line on
is students coming from out of state,” he said. “If we
were charging them what it cost, it wouldn’t be such
a problem.”
Gorman added that the proposed legislation is not
an attempt to wrench power from the BOG, as some
opponents have argued, but rather a clarification of
who shoutd be responsible for maintaining the cap.
“There is a major disconnect between the people
who are responsible and who are held responsible for
what is going on in our educational systems,” he said.
Rep. Alex Warner, D-Cumberland, sponsor of a
similar bill, said he is less concerned with the bill’s
passage than with the message it sends.
“The idea is for the BOG and any one of the pow
ers that be in the university system to know that there
are a great number of legislators right now that are
up (in Raleigh) concerned about this,” he said.
The concerns manifest in the bills address criti
cism BOG members might have avoided when they
postponed a vote on the cap indefinitely.
But BOG Chairman Brad Wilson said the clamor
arising from last year’s cap debate was premature.
“Just because you start talking about something,
people assume you are going to change it,” he said.
But policies must be evaluated periodically if they
are going to be worthwhile, he added.
“It is right and important for the Board of
Governors to evaluate issues that have been around
for a long time,” he said, adding that talk of the plan
next year is unlikely but not out of the question.
Ultimately, issues about in-state student access to
education might be out of the government’s hands
and instead be left to the whims of high school sen
iors.
UNC-CH Provost Robert Shelton, said that the
University already counts North Carolina students as
its main priority. UNC-CH admits more than 60 per
cent of in-state applicants and about 15 percent of
out-of-staters.
He added that if the cap were made into law, it
could have the opposite effects of what legislators
intended.
“The number one reason given by most students
we admit who don’t show up: They say, ‘Because
there are too many North Carolinians.’”
Contact the State Q National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
UE Loca 150
No P ivatizatio' -
End Discrown* 10 K
i Living Wages.
Collective Bargammg
COURTESY OF BILL SHULER
University housekeeper Bill Shuler (right), with members of the union
representing UNC employees, protests his termination from the school.
THURSDAY, MAY 27, 2004
University, she gave unstintingly of
her time,” Fee said.
The School of Journalism plans
to hold a tribute to her in the fall,
Cole said.
Visitation will be held Thursday
from 6 to 8 p.m. at Orange United
Methodist Church on Airport
Road.
She is survived by her parents,
Gladys and Earl Blanchard along
with her brother, Steve.
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
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