2
TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2005
POLICE LOG
FROM STAFF REPORTS
■ Chapel Hill police arrested
a local man at 2 a.m. Monday
and charged him with one felony
count of strangulation and two
misdemeanor counts of assault on
a female, police reports state.
According to reports, Michael
Wayne Ramsey, 37, was arrested
at his home on Friar Lane after he
came home drunk and began punch
ing his wife and oldest daughter.
Ramsey is being held without
bond and is scheduled to appear
today in Orange County District
Criminal Court in Hillsborough.
■ A Chapel Hill convenience
store was the victim of a strong
armed robbery at 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, police reports state.
According to reports, the sus
pect stole an undisclosed amount
of money from the Etna gas station
at 1509 E. Franklin St.
■ The Chapel Hill High School
student arrested at 6:30 p.m. Friday
and charged with one count of felo
ny kidnapping, one count of misde
meanor assault and battery, and one
misdemeanor count of larceny has
been linked with a sexual assault
complaint that took place at the
school before Christmas, said police
spokeswoman Jane Cousins.
Cousins said Mario La-Chad
Burgess, 17, held the victim in the
bathroom against her will as she
tried to fight him off.
■ Chapel Hill police responded
to several breaking and entering
and larceny complaints this week
end, all involving UNC students,
police reports state.
Police responded to a breaking
and entering with no force and
attempted larceny and assault at
6 p.m. Friday at the Kappa Alpha
fraternity house at 110 W. Cameron
Ave., reports state.
The victim found the subject
attempting to steal cases of meat.
A senior was the victim of lar
ceny at 4 a.m. Saturday at his home
on South Merritt Mill Road when a
suspect stole a Miller Lite keg val
ued at $99.
A junior was the victim of break
ing and entering and larceny from
his vehicle on Henderson Street at
10:20 p.m. Saturday when a bottle of
cologne valued at S3O was taken.
A sophomore was the victim of
larceny at 12:15 a.m. Saturday on
Isley Street after a subject took her
purse, which had a digital camera
worth S2OO, from off her car trank.
You don t have to be an honors student
to do Honors Study Abroad!
Honors Study Abroad &
. Burch Field Research Seminar
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
1:00-4:00 p.m.
Kresge Foundation Common Room (039)
Graham Memorial
For more information, visit www.johnstoncenter.unc.edu
County seeks input on school
BY CATHERINE SHAROKY
STAFF WRITER
A decision on the fate of the city
schools’ 10th elementary school
has again been postponed.
The Orange County Board of
Commissioners voted Monday to
delay current plans in an effort to
incorporate input received from
nearby residents in December.
The commissioners were pre
sented with a range of options for
the Twin Creeks project, including
an option to keep current plans and
an option of a complete redesign
that could take as long as a year.
Twin Creeks will include an ele
mentary school, a middle school and
recreational facilities and will be
located north of Carrboro between
Eubanks Road and N.C. 86.
The commissioners voted to
support a compromise that would
incorporate some of the citizen-pro
posed plans into the current plans.
“I’ve got a real problem in going
back and throwing all that work
out,” Commissioner Stephen H.
Halkiotis said about the proposi
tion of a complete redesign.
David Stancil, the direc
tor of the county’s Department
of Environment and Resource
Conservation, agreed.
Middle school bids move forward
BY BRIANNA BISHOP
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
With funding issues now
resolved, work on the county’s new
est middle school can move forward
into the construction phase.
The Orange County Board of
Education, after receiving funds
from the county to cover budget
over-runs, unanimously approved
bids for construction at its Monday
night meeting.
The middle school, which will
be the third in the Orange County
School district, is situated on a
100-acre site in Efland that is co
located with a soccer complex.
The district broke ground on the
school Nov. 30.
Rising costs in materials caused
the price of the school’s construc
tion to increase more than $3 mil
lion over original estimates.
Before the school board could
address the bids Monday, it had to
wait on approval from the Orange
County Board of Commissioners
for the additional funding.
“A redesign effort done right
would take resources away from
other projects,” he said.
The county is currently involved
in the construction and planning
phases of, among other projects,
Orange County Schools’ third mid
dle school, the city schools’ third
high school and two new county
senior centers.
“We use the Jenga analogy,”
Stancil said of the idea of a com
plete redesign. “If you pull some
thing out from underneath, it
tends to collapse.”
Vice Chairman Barry Jacobs
suggested that the commission
ers focus efforts on four main
points, one of which is moving the
elementary school within walking
distance of its surrounding neigh
borhoods the principal concern
voiced by residents in December.
“The issue of walking is a factor
but should not be the driving and
deterring factor,” Jacobs said.
The commissioners were also
unsure that children would walk
even if given the option.
“The driving force in my opin
ion is that walkability is one thing
for planners and another thing for
parents,” Halkiotis said.
Jacobs also suggested leaving
George McFarley, director
of auxiliary services for county
schools, reported back to the school
board after attending the commis
sioners’ meeting.
He said the commissioners dis
cussed the budget situation for
more than half an hour before
unanimously approving the fund
ing to cover the shortage about
$3.5 million for the third mid
dle school.
Commissioners referred to the
money they will use to cover the
budget over-runs as an additional
funding source, McFarley said.
Superintendent Shirley Carraway
said she thought the commission
ers would be as accommodating in
responding to increasing budget
demands for Chapel Hill-Carrboro
City Schools’ third high school.
“I’m assuming that they’ll do
that for the additional overage that
they need for high school number
three,” she said.
Before approving the bids,
board Chairwoman Libbie Hough
News
the athletic field configuration;
moving the proposed stadium
closer to the other active recre
ational facilities; and considering
a proposal for an action sports
park that could include a dirt bike
jump trail and a concrete bowl for
skateboarding.
“We’ve made a commitment to
the soccer community who’s been
crying out for facilities,” Jacobs
said.
Twin Creeks was scheduled to
be funded through 2001 voter
approved bonds.
Halkiotis suggested that
Chairman Moses Carey Jr. join
Commissioner Alice Gordon in an
ad hoc committee to incorporate
suggestions so that the commis
sioners can hear a final proposal
April 12.
Jacobs suggested that the proj
ect work group only accept writ
ten comments to keep the project
moving forward.
“We need to limit it to no more
than three months and limit the
input we get from the public,”
Carey said, “because this thing
could go on and on.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@ unc.edu.
thanked McFarley and his asso
ciates for the effort they made in
securing the additional fimds.
“I really appreciate the work that
you did,” she said.
The bids approved by the board
are for four contractors: J.H. Allen
Inc., Indicor, Starr Electric Cos. Inc.
and ABL and Associates Plumbing
LLC.
Each approved contractor will
cover a different aspect of con
struction such as electrical or
plumbing.
The bidding process began
Dec. 7, and according to a letter
to the superintendent, bids were
reviewed and approved in discus
sions Dec. 14.
With the overage funded and
the bids approved, the construction
phase of the new middle school
might soon begin.
“We’re looking to begin mid-
February,” McFarley said.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
Local legends
may see honor
BY DAN SCHWIND
SENIOR WRITER
Seven weeks after the Chapel
Hill Town Council voted to rename
Airport Road to Martin Luther
King Jr. Boulevard, the council
is looking at taking on another
renaming. ~ “
The council accepted a petition
Monday night from Mayor Pro Tem
Edith Wiggins and Mayor Kevin
Foy to rename the Town Municipal
Building in
honor of former
Mayor Howard
Lee and his
wife, Lillian
Lee.
“I was both
surprised and
very flattered
to be given such
an honor,” said
Howard Lee,
Chapel Hill's
first black mayor.
“I certainly had
not expected it.”
Former Mayor
Howard Lee
might see his
family name on
the town hall.
The petition asks that the Town
Municipal Building be renamed the
Lee Municipal Building. If approved,
the change would take effect May 8,
the same day Airport Road is offi
cially set to change its name.
“I think it would be really great
to have a Lillian and Howard Lee
Municipal Building,” said Rebecca
Caldwell, who contributed to
Howard Lee’s successful 1969
mayoral campaign. “That would be
absolutely wonderful.... (Howard)
brought a lot to Chapel Hill.”
Howard Lee became the first
black mayor in the South elected in
a predominantly white city in 1969.
“We used to stand outside (the
old municipal) building at the
height of the civil rights movement
to make sure the police didn’t act
inappropriately,” said R.D. Smith,
who also served on Howard Lee’s
CORRECTION
■ Due to a reporting error, a
Jan. 24 brief states that the UNC
women’s basketball team plays at
the Smith Center once this season.
The team has played there twice
and will play there again Feb. 20.
To report corrections, contact Managing Editor
Chris Coletta at ccoletta@email.unc.edu.
(El)? Saily (Ear Mrri
mayoral campaign. “It would be
great to see him and Lillian hon
ored this way.”
As mayor, Lee created the Chapel
Hill bus system, despite much pub
lic opposition, and also helped mod
ernize water and sewage systems in
the Northside neighborhood.
In addition, Howard Lee was
also responsible for the creation of
the very building that might soon
be named after him.
“When I first ran for mayor...
the citizens had voted to build a
new municipal building,” he said.
“Part of my campaign promise was
to construct the building in my
first year... I achieved that.”
Lee also served five terms in the
N.C. Senate, and is current chairman
of the state Board of Education.
Lillian Lee began her career as
a secretary at UNC Hospitals, then
known as N.C. Memorial Hospitals.
She moved on to teach in Chapel
Hill-Carrboro City Schools for 32
years before retiring in 2000 as
dean of students at Chapel Hill
High School.
She ran several voter registra
tion drives in local high schools
with much success, according to
the petition.
“To be a good teacher, you have to
motivate people... to make a differ
ence,” Smith said. “She did that.”
Lillian Lee said that the petition
came as a surprise, but that both
she and her husband felt honored.
“We both have worked very hard
in Chapel Hill but we never did
things for personal recognition,”
Lillian Lee said. “But it’s always
nice to know that people appre
ciate what we’ve done.... Anyone
would appreciate that.”
City Editor Ryan C. Tuck
contributed to this story.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
iaiUj (Ear Hrri
P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Michelle Jarboe, Editor, 962-4086
Advertising & Business, 962-1163
News, Features, Sports, 962-0245
One copy per person; additional copies may be
purchased at The Daily Tar Heel for $.25 each.
© 2005 DTH Publishing Corp.
All rights reserved