Sip Daily (Tar Hrrf
BOARD EDITORIALS
A NECESSARY PAUSE
North Carolina legislators should look at well-known breakdowns in
the judicial system to see that a moratorium on executions is needed.
A moratorium is necessary to protect justice
while the state conducts a study to work out
potential problems with the death penalty.
The N.C. General Assembly would do well to pass
both measures to clear up problems in the judicial
system. The moratorium and the study are comple
mentary and equally vital for ensuring a fair system.
The case against North Carolina’s judicial sys
tem is a strong one. In the last year alone Charles
Walker’s execution was stayed for lack of reliable
evidence, Alan Gell had a death penalty conviction
dismissed with revelations of prosecutor abuse and
Darryl Hunt was released from life imprisonment
when DNA evidence proved his innocence.
The Senate bill now under deliberation proposes
a two-year halt on executions while the General
Assembly studies the current system.
Moratorium opponents fear that the measure would
extend beyond the proposed two years, despite sunset
clauses attached to the legislation. They advocate for
m investigation without a concurrent moratorium.
But the protection offered by the sunset clause
RESPONDING TO RAPE
Students, residents and authorities should work together to ensure
hat recent events don’t result in an atmosphere of fear on campus.
rhe rape that reportedly took place Wednesday
morning came on the heels of the Feb. 25
assault on Franklin Street. What’s particu
irly disturbing is that it was the fourth rape to be
sported since Jan. 1 —and that this number equals
ie total rapes reported during the entire fiscal year
002-03.
This fact highlights the need for every member of
ns community to be extra careful. People shouldn’t
!t their lives be ruled by fear, but they must be rea
jnably cautious. It’s clear that it isn’t safe for people
) walk alone late at night or early in the morning on
ranklin Street and in some nearby areas includ
lg parts of campus.
In this case, the woman who was attacked reported
le incident. There are a number of understandable
sasons why many people who are sexually assaulted
o not go to the authorities —but if the police don’t
now that a rape or sexual assault has taken place,
ley won’t be able to take steps to investigate the
rime and to bring perpetrators to justice.
Even if people decide not to report rapes or sexual
ssaults, they should look into various tools that are
INELIGIBLE VOTERS
Neighborhoods considered for annexation deserve a say, but residents
houldn’t be allowed to vote in elections that might not affect them.
Elections are certainly a time when politicians
can advocate for or against actions. But giving
out-of-town residents a vote isn’t an appropri
te way to fight municipal change.
If the N.C. General Assembly passes a bill sub
litted by Rep. Bill Faison, D-Orange, it might turn
ome town elections into highly politicized, single
ssue polls on annexation.
The measure would require that unincorporated
esidents get a vote for every seat on a town’s govem
lg board before that town can annex their land.
Such a rule would be unfair and would delay deci
ions on annexation through several election cycles,
larrboro, for instance, holds elections in 2005 and
;007on a staggered schedule, requiring a two-election
lelay before annexation decisions could be made.
Provoked by the controversial Carrboro annexa
ion of several area neighborhoods, the bill is part of
i growing call to reform the annexation process.
Proponents argue that it’s unfair for towns to take
•ver their neighborhoods without asking them, and
hey have a valid point. But residents should be given
i fair means to speak up without unduly influencing
IDITOR'S NOTE: The above editorials are the opinions of solely The Daily Tar Heel Editorial Board, and were reached after open debate,
he board consists of seven board members, the editorial page associate editor, the editorial page editor and the DTH editor. The 2004-05
>TH editor decided not to vote on the board and not to write board editorials.
READERS’ FORUM
Assault shouldn't lead to a
change in crime legislation
TOTHE EDITOR:
In regards to Thomas Stockwell’s
assault case, I— being a victim of a
Franklin Street assault that left me
in the hospital a little more than a
year ago deeply sympathize with
him and hope that he recovers well
physically and psychologically. I
also think that this incident can be
used as a good launching pad for
several social changes.
However, I do not believe that
those changes should be extended
egally to any hate crime legisla
aon.
This legislation forces our court
system to prosecute motives and not
ictions. In other words, we will be
jolicing thoughts, which is not what
mr courts were designed to do.
By forcing our courts to do this,
ve put them in a constitutional
and— and we give them the dif
icult task of deciding what type
f hatred the assailant had for his
ictim, because all crimes of this
ature have some form of hate, or
t least disregard for human dig
ity, at their very core.
I also believe that categorizing
>mething as a hate crime mar
nalizes other forms of abuse and
lysical assaults. This especially
its women at harm.
We must remember that even
ough an attacker might not hate
eir victim’s race or group iden
y, they still hate or disregard the
rson. And that is of the greatest
ensures that later officials will not abuse the enact
ment of the moratorium.
Death penalty advocates easily could put legisla
tors on the defensive if they tried to stretch the mora
torium beyond its scheduled lifetime.
The concerns about injustice via the death penalty
are such that a moratorium is necessary for a study to
be effective. It would defeat the point of the study if
an innocent person were executed in that time.
The moratorium wouldn’t necessarily stop capi
tal punishment permanently in North Carolina, but
simply offers a safeguard for the protection of the
rights of those that may be subjected to faulty laws
or practices. The General Assembly should approve
the moratorium in order to protect the validity and
effectiveness of the study.
Regardless of one’s position on capital punishment
itself, the greatest concern should be that innocent
people are not executed.
Capital punishment, without protection for the
innocent, shouldn’t be considered acceptable for the
residents of North Carolina.
available to help them recover emotionally and psy
chologically from the incidents.
The National Sexual Assault Hotline (1-800-656-
HOPE) is maintained by the Rape, Abuse & Incest
National Network. The hotline provides free, confi
dential counseling at any time of day or night.
The Orange County Rape Crisis Center has two
locations including one at 825-A Estes Drive,
which can be contacted at (919) 968-4647. To learn
more about the center, visit http://www.ocrcc.org.
Asa result of the recent Franklin Street attacks,
town officials should act quickly.
They must work with the Chapel Hill Police
Department to fill vacant officer positions and to
increase police presence downtown. Money is tight,
but the safety of town residents should be the high
est priority.
Chapel Hill is still a wonderful town. It’s still a
great place to live, work, play and learn. But it is just
as vulnerable to the undesirable elements that practi
cally every large community has to handle. Students
and residents alike must consider taking extra steps
to protect themselves from those elements.
a town’s governing body.
Under Faison’s plan, any successful anti-annexa
tion candidate would have to rely heavily on unin
corporated constituents’ votes.
By this method, if an annexation actually were
halted, towns would get stuck with elected officials
that were voted in by nonresidents.
Representative Cary Allred, R-Alamance, is a co
sponsor of Faison’s resolution, but he’s also backing a
more reasonable solution that would require a refer
endum in neighborhoods considered for annexation.
This would give residents a voice in whether or
not they should be annexed without giving them
an undue say in the affairs of the town rather, it
would limit the unincorporated voice to decisions
that are guaranteed to affect them.
Allowing those residents to participate in town
elections would affect day-to-day issues that they
might not end up participating in.
A referendum would be sufficient to give unincor
porated residents a voice until they become partici
pants in the town’s affairs. There’s no need to warp
the electoral process to achieve that goal.
importance in the matter.
Justin Sands
Senior
Religious studies
Court ruling is example of
movements being co-opted
TOTHE EDITOR:
Two events emerged last week in
our ongoing “culture wars.”
On Wednesday, the U.S. House
passed a jobs bill that included an
exemption for “faith”-based orga
nizations participating in federally
funded job-training programs so
that they could refuse to hire gay
employees.
Then, on Thursday, U.S. District
Court Judge Frank W. Bullock
delivered a coup for Alpha lota
Omega by issuing a preliminary
injunction that restored the fra
ternity’s standing as an officially
recognized student group.
AIO has taken offense at the
notion that it must abide by the
University’s nondiscrimination
policy. Its argument is that hav
ing to accept all campus students
would violate its First Amendment
rights.
These two news items show how
successful the radical right has
been in co-opting the language of
civil rights movements. These
movements have mobilized to pro
tect minorities and women, who
have been oppressed by majoritar
ian power.
Now, as if those inequalities
Opinion
have been put to rest, it is hetero
sexual, Christian, white men who
claim victimization and who say
they cannot speak.
The Bill of Rights and the
Universal Declaration of Human
Rights establish the freedom of reli
gion as a right of personhood. But
wasn’t this meant to protect indi
viduals from oppression and perse
cution for practicing religion?
Now, it seems that this entitles
individuals and groups, under
the cloak of “faith,” to discrimi
nate against those they don’t like.
Meanwhile, those who want equal
protection and freedom from dis
crimination are said to be wanting
“special rights.”
While I applaud your edito
rial, I am troubled by how one
sided the recent series of Daily
Tar Heel articles has been on this
case. These articles read like press
releases distributed by the Alliance
Defense Fund, and they reinforce
its point of view as the objective
reality. Why not also discuss how
potentially affected students feel
about being excluded from cam
pus life?
TaraKachgal
Graduate
Journalism
Fighting violence shouldn't
become politically correct
TO THE EDITOR:
First, I want to join the rest of
Chapel Hill in condemning vio
ON THE DAY’S NEWS
“Victory is sweetest when you’ve known defeat.”
MALCOM FORBES, FORMER PUBLISHER, FORBES MAGAZINE
EDITORIAI, CARTOON
mj: WgT '*>■
DUE TO THE Content
tWUP MtfgE HAS BE£r-i
ANOWC* AOHgMTytE W.TH OWA / ’l-1 /A, I n |y-\
CAL, l- lL ' y mm,
" How do LRey fd; oouro info
COMMENTARY
Only Libertarians talk about
‘choice’ in a consistent way
The abortion issue was in the
news again Friday when
the United States withdrew
its demand that a United Nations
declaration on women’s equality
state that it did not guarantee the
right to abortion.
Though I don’t wish to address
the debate that occurred on abor
tion at the United Nations last
week, I did want to answer the
question: What do Libertarians
think about abortion?
It’s somewhat of a tricky ques
tion, because there is no official
Libertarian Party position in this
case. Libertarians, like many
Americans, are divided on the issue.
Even though we use the terms
“pro-choice” and “pro-life” in the
abortion debate, they are mislead
ing. Most politicians who support
a woman’s “right to choose” don’t
let those same women choose
whether or not to use drugs,
whether or not to drop out of
Social Security or where they send
their kids to school. They’re pro
choice on one issue only.
Most pro-life politicians have
no problem with the govern
ment ending the lives of innocent
people who were never a threat to
us when it goes around the world
bombing other countries. They’re
pro-life on one issue only.
Pro-choice Libertarians say
that a woman owns her body and
that the government should not
be regulating her personal deci
sions regarding her body. Pro-life
Libertarians say an unborn fetus
should have the same rights as chil
dren already bom. Both sides make
a credible, pro-liberty argument.
The Libertarian Party is the
only one that offers hope to people
on either side of the abortion issue.
Regardless of where they stand,
Libertarians agree that the federal
government should be kept out of
abortion decisions and policies.
lence on campus.
No one deserves to be beaten,
gay or straight. It is scary that it
happened on our own Franklin
Street.
However, I have a problem with
some student groups’ responses to
this tragedy.
In what should have been a rally
against violence, the candlelight
vigil this past week turned into a
rainbow banner-waving, Bush
bashing, Pope-pounding tirade.
As I witnessed the gathering, I
wondered how this tragedy could
be turned into such a politically
charged protest.
I also wondered about why there
were no candlelight vigils when
last semester The Daily Tar Heel
reported about a man who shot
his spouse, a UNC Health Care
employee, and turned the gun on
himself.
Earlier this semester, there was a
shooting reported in the DTH that
occurred, I believe, on Rosemary
Street. No vigil.
And just the other day there was
a reported rape on Franklin Street.
Where was the vigil for this poor
woman?
My point is that as a community
we should stand firm against all
forms of violence, not just causes
that seem politically correct.
Let’s do the right thing for every
one.
Tyler Younts
Member-elect
Student Congress
ro )
PHILIP HENSLEY
LIBERTARIAN STEEZE
For one, the government has
no constitutional authority over
abortion. Even if you think that
abortion is murder, well, the U.S.
Constitution doesn’t give the
government the authority to act
against it. Libertarians especially
agree that abortions shouldn’t
be fimded through tax money,
because why should a person have
to pay for someone else’s abortion?
Personally, I think that abortion
is wrong, because I don’t know
where else life could begin besides
at conception. And it is precisely
because I am against abortion
that I would never want the gov
ernment on my side in this debate.
Government isn’t good at any
thing it does. The war on poverty
didn’t reduce poverty, and the war
on drugs didn’t reduce drug use. In
fact, it made problems worse. So
why would a government war on
abortion be any different? Former
Libertarian presidential candidate
Harry Browne once joked that due
to government’s inability to solve
problems, a war on abortion would
probably lead to men having abor
tions within five years.
Even though laws allowing or
prohibiting abortion would never
increase or decrease the number of
abortions, politicians still love this
issue, mainly because it is such a
great fund-raising tool. It also gives
them a chance to do some moral
posturing, as if we should all be
thankful that moral paragons such
as George W. Bush, John Kerry and
Ted Kennedy are going to decide
Mangum Medal to be given
Wednesday for best speech
TO THE EDITOR:
All graduating seniors are invit
ed to participate in the Willie P.
Mangum Medal in Oratory at 7
p.m. Wednesday.
The Mangum Medal is the old
est student award on campus and is
presented at the chancellor’s award
ceremony in April.
Participants must give an origi
nal speech on this year’s topic,
“What is religion’s place in a mod
em society?”
A panel of judges select
the winner. The Dialectic and
Philanthropic Societies administer
the award.
To enter or to get more infor
mation, please e-mail me at
grondinj @email.unc.edu.
Julie Grondin
Senior
Biology
TO SUBMIT A LETTER: The Daily
Tar Heel welcomes reader comments.
Letters to the editor should be no longer
than 300 words and must be typed,
double-spaced, dated and signed by no
more than two people. Students should
include their year, major and phone num
ber. Faculty and staff should include their
title, department and phone number. The
DTH reserves the right to edit letters for
space, clarity and vulgarity. Publication is
not guaranteed. Bring letters to the DTH
office at Suite 2409, Carolina Union, mail
them to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC
27515 or e-mail them to editdesk@unc.
edu.
MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2005
By Philip McFee, pip@email.unc.edu
what is right and wrong for all.
Politicians will never actually do
anything about abortion, because
they know that if they solved the
problem, you wouldn’t continue to
give them your time and money to
“fight” for your stance.
In the end, I would think that
all of us want fewer abortions.
Yet unlike Republicans and
Democrats, Libertarians want to
find real ways to achieve that goal.
They want less restrictive adop
tion laws, private and voluntary
educational efforts that show
women alternatives to abortion
and the end of any law that allows
people the opportunity to evade
the consequences of their actions.
The real abortion debate isn’t
about a woman’s right to privacy
or a fetus’ right to life. If you’re
trying to get laws against abortion
passed, you’re wasting your time
and money. You’re just pretending
to do something about abortion.
Laws against abortion won’t
reduce abortions. Imagine that,
after a lifetime of begging, the
government finally outlawed
abortion. Wouldn’t you feel disap
pointed when unborn children
still were being killed?
So you need to decide what
you really want. Do you just
want to come up with more cute
anti-abortion slogans to spout
off at pro-choice activists dur
ing the next anti-abortion rally?
Do you just want anti-abortion
laws passed so that you can pat
yourself on the back and make
yourself feel good that you “did
something” about the issue?
Or do you really want to reduce
the number of abortions? If so,
the only way to do it is to get gov
ernment out of the way.
Contact Philip Hensley at
http://philiphensleyjr.blogspot.
com.
Established 1893
112 years of editorialfreedom
Mg sar
www.dlhonllne.com
MICHELLE JARBOE
EDITOR, 962-4086
OFFICE HOURS: 1 P.M. - 2 P.M. TUESDAY, THURSDAY
CHRIS COLETTA
MANAGING EDITOR, 962-0750
NIKKI WERKIMG
DEPUTY MANAGING EDITOR, 962-0750
ELLIOTT DUBE
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR, 962-0750
EMILY STEEL
UNIVERSITY EDITOR, 962-0372
RYAN C. TUCK
CITY EDITOR, 962-4209
EMMA BURGIN
STATE S NATIONAL EDITOR, 962-4103
DANIEL MALLOY
SPORTS EDITOR, 962-4710
KELLY OCHS
FEATURES EDITOR, 962 4214
BECCA MOORE
ARTS a ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR, 962-4214
KATIE SCHWING
COPY EDITOR, 962-4103
LAURA MORTON
PHOTO EDITOR, 962-0750
RANDI DEMAGISTRIS
DESIGN EDITOR, 962-0750
NICOLE NEUMAN
DESIGN EDITOR, 962-0750
MARY JANE KATZ
GRAPHICS EDITOR, 962-0750
FEILDING CAGE
ONLINE EDITOR, 962-0750
11