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Legislators slow down
cold medicine proposal
BY JOE NGAN
STAFF WRITER
The move to restrict sales of
some cold medicines used to make
methamphetamine, a highly addic
tive illegal drug, hit a speed bump
Thursday when some legislators
voiced opposition to the inconve
nience the act would cause.
The Meth Lab Prevention Act,
discussed in a Senate judiciary
committee Thursday, would move
cold and sinus medicine containing
pseudoephedrine behind the phar
macy counter. Pseudoephedrine, a
decongestant, is the critical ingre
dient in meth manufacturing.
The legislation would require
customers purchasing the drugs to
show a valid photo ID and to sign
their names.
Some senators say the bill would
take cold tablets away from grocery
stores and other outlets without a
pharmacist, spoiling the chances
i>f a late-night medicine run for a
runny-nosed child.
Others worry about the inconve
nience of having to show a photo
ID to obtain the medicine.
Some pharmacists also said the
law would cause inefficiency, forc
ing them to perform extra work.
Stephen Gathy, a Chapel Hill
pharmacist, said he does not think
the legislation is necessary.
“If over-the-counter medicine is
the only source of the problem, I
would support the legislation,” he
said.
“But there are other sources. The
legislation is only going to impede
Students meet gay, lesbian group
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LYNCHBURG, Va. - Dozens
of students at conservative Liberty
University greeted members of a
gay and lesbian organization with
open arms on Monday despite con
tempt from the school’s founder,
the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
Fifty-five members of Soulforce,
a Lynchburg-based gay and lesbian
group, met with Liberty students to
discuss academic freedom issues at
the campus and the treatment of
gays and lesbians.
Liberty students went out
of their way to welcome the
Soulforce members with cookies,
bottled water and lots of friendly
dialogue.
“I’m glad they’re here and I don’t
see anything wrong with them
being here, getting to know each
other and loving each other,” said
Death-row
sentences
drop in U.S.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The
number of people sentenced to
death last year fell to the lowest
level since the Supreme Court rein
stated the penalty in 1976.
There were 125 people sent to
death row in 2004, down from 144
the previous year and the sixth con
secutive annual decline, according
to figures compiled by the NAACP
Legal Defense Fund. In 1998,300
people received death sentences.
Miriam Gohara, assistant coun
sel at the NAACP Legal Defense
Fund, said one major cause for the
decline is high profile exonerations
based on DNA evidence.
“I think people are more con
cerned about the irreversibility of
the death penalty. Once somebody
is executed, you can’t bring them
back.”
Dianne Clements, president of
Justice for All, a pro-death penalty
victim advocacy group, offered
another explanation.
“Not only has the murder rate
declined, thank goodness, but the
types of killers eligible for the death
penalty have been redefined by the
Supreme Court,” she said.
The high court has issued a
series of decisions narrowing the
death penalty, putting a stop to the
execution of juveniles, the insane
and the mentally retarded. There
also are more jurisdictions where
jurors are given options other than
death, said Richard Dieter, execu
tive director of the Death Penalty
Information Center.
“Juries are being given a choice
of life without parole that they
didn’t have in the early ’9os,” he
said.
Dieter also said increased pub
lic attention has led to better legal
representation for defendants who
cqjild face the death penalty.
In his State of the Union address
this year, President Bush called for
more training for lawyers who rep
resent accused killers, tacit recog
nition that not all suspects receive
an adequate defense.
people who have colds from obtain
ing the cold medicine they need.”
Gathy also said he worries that
the legislation would force phar
macists and officers to do more
paperwork.
“Is the state going to hire more
people to walk around different
stores and check the paperwork?”
He added that the meth problem
in the area is not serious.
“How many meth labs are there
within 10 miles of Chapel Hill?” he
asked. “And how many meth labs
are there in North Carolina when
compared with other states?”
According to the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration,
322 meth labs were busted by
law enforcement officers in North
Carolina in 2004, compared to
1,594 in Tennessee. But North
Carolina has seen an increase in
meth production during the past
five years in 1999, it only busted
nine labs.
But state Sen. Walter Dalton, a
Rutherford County Democrat and
primary sponsor of the bill, said
the low detection rate does not
mean the problem is not serious,
adding that many officers are not
well-trained in detecting meth pro
duction.
Dalton also said he disagrees that
the legislation would inconvenience
the average person, since only cold
medicines in solid form would be
moved behind the counter.
Those in liquid and gel cap form,
which account for 57 percent of the
cold medicines sold, would still be
Natalie Bullock, a Liberty student
from Cincinnati.
But the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who
founded the Christian school
in 1971, sternly condemned
homosexuality during a regular
Monday convocation attended by
Liberty students, faculty, staff and
Soulforce members.
“Contrary to rumors, this is not
‘Gay Day’ at Liberty University,”
said Falwell, urging Liberty stu
dents not to accept any literature
from the group. The university had
no comment beyond Falwell’s mes
sage, and Falwell did not meet with
Soulforce members.
Despite Falwell’s admonish
ments, dozens of Liberty students
gathered in small groups with
members of Soulforce, which rep
resents gay and lesbian student
organizations at several Virginia
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News
readily accessible, he said.
He also said the process outlined
in the bill isn’t complicated, either.
“All the customers have to do is to
sign their names and show their
photo IDs,” Dalton said.
A similar law moving cold medi
cines containing pseudoephedrine
behind the counter passed unani
mously in the Tennessee legislature
earlier this month, prompting some
concern that Tennessee meth labs
could migrate across the border to
North Carolina.
Pharmacists record purchasers’
addresses and driver’s license num
bers in addition to the quantity
of medicine customers buy, said
Andrew Morris, a pharmacist at a
CVS in Crossville, Tenn. Employees
also record their initials as an extra
safeguard.
“It caused some problems, but
what we are trying to prevent is a
much worse problem,” Morris said,
adding that the meth problem in
Crossville is the worst he has ever
seen.
The Tennessee bill was passed
unanimously in both the state
House and Senate. Dalton said
he expects similar support for the
final version of the bill in North
Carolina, but he added that there
could be debate before the legisla
tion is finalized.
“When people recognize the
magnitude of the problem, they
would support the legislation.”
Contact the State £2 National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
college and universities. Members
wore brightly colored shirts with
the organization’s Web site print
ed on the front and many wore
stickers reading “Stop Spiritual
Violence.”
Soulforce director Mel White
wanted to deliver to Liberty’s
library copies of a book entitled,
“What the Bible Really Says About
Homosexuality,” and to give pro
fessors small rainbow stickers for
their doors as safe havens for stu
dents with questions about their
sexuality.
However, after the group left
for an afternoon news conference,
campus police refused to allow
them back on campus.
There was heavy security from
campus police and Lynchburg
city police, but there were no inci
dents.
Bush backs free-trade deal
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
Commerce Secretary Carlos
Gutierrez says he’s optimistic the
Bush administration can “get the
facts out” and win the necessary
votes in Congress for a free-trade
agreement with six Latin American
countries.
Gutierrez, who made his com
ments Monday in an interview
with The Associated Press, said
he recognizes the administration
faces a battle on the trade pact,
which would eliminate barri
ers between the United States
and five countries in Central
America as well as the Dominican
Republic.
The agreement faces significant
opposition from Democrats who
contend it doesn’t do enough to
protect American workers from
unfair competition from low-wage
countries with lax environmental
protections.
The Central American Free
Trade Agreement, also known as
CAFTA, is also opposed by lawmak
ers who represent districts with
textile and sugar producers. The
two industries contend they would
suffer job losses from the increased
THE Daily Crossword By Diane C. Baldwin
ACROSS
1 Hodgepodge
5 Highland hillside
9 Congregate thickly
14 Beer formation
15 Superman's girl
16 Apple drink
17 Behave
20 Individuals
21 Keg quaff
22 Archipelago members
26 Steering mechanisms
30 Gives the what for
31 Chest muscles, briefly
32 Comic Costello
33 Madame Curie
34 Suitable moment
35 Galactic time period
36 Master the basics
39 Ailments
40 Numbered composition
41 Addle-brained
60 Starter chips
61 On the crest of
62 Greek triangle
63 Bondsman's outlay
64 Talking bird
DOWN
1 Unit of resistance
2 Wahine's adornment
3 Writer McEwan
4 Fluky
5 Fair-haired boys
6 Rakes
7 Shows on the tube
8 6th sense
9 Brings almost to boiling
10 and dined
11 Contribute
12 Order form: abbr.
13 " Dalloway”
18 Overthar
19 Shallow dish
43 Name for an
unknown
44 Park and
Lex.
45 Evening
event
46 Gave a
pitch
48 Neck bands
49 Moving
truck
50 "Fatha"
Hines
51 Attend to
details
59 Smart guy?
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competition from the six countries
covered by the agreement.
Gutierrez said that because the
six countries buy yarn and fabric
made in the United States, the U.S.
textile industry would be helped
by CAFTA’s elimination of all U.S.
tariffs on clothing from those coun
tries shipped into the United States.
The agreement also will gradually
eliminate those countries’ duties on
U.S. yam and fabric.
“If we don’t get the agreement,
that textile business that we are
part of today will most likely go
to China. So this is very important
free-trade agreement for the textile
industry,” Gutierrez said.
He said he didn’t believe the
agreement would hurt U.S. sugar
producers. The amount of extra
sugar imports from the CAFTA
countries would be very small,
Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez said he would talk to
businesses, lawmakers and others
to shore up votes for the trade deal.
“We want to get the facts out,” he
said. “I believe that when people
see the facts ... we will have the
necessary votes.”
A vote on the trade pact could be
held in the House next month.
22 Ending for a belief
23 Fan-shaped mollusk
24 Siren of legend
25 Pseudonym
26 Story-telling uncle
27 Entertainer Carmen
28 Chanticleer
29 Nearest star
31 Holier-than-thou
34 Tapped on a keyboard
35 Seething
37 Nine-days' devotion
38 Son of Zeus
39 Psyche parts
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On other matters Gutierrez:
Said opening overseas mar
kets to U.S. companies, making
sure America’s trading partners
play fairly and getting the econo
mies of Europe, Japan and other
countries to grow at a faster
pace are all factors that would
help improve the United States’
trade deficit. Using the broadest
measure, the deficit swelled to a
record high of $666 billion last
year.
A country’s economic health
can’t be judged solely by its trade
standing, he said, noting that
Germany, for instance, runs a trade
surplus but is struggling with slug
gish economic growth.
Didn’t shed much light on the
administration’s examination into
whether it should reimpose quotas
to protect U.S. clothing and textile
makers from a surge of Chinese
imports. “We are going to let the
facts drive the conclusion. But that
could lead us toward establishing
quotas on Chinese textile imports,”
he said.
Before joining the Bush admin
istration this year, Gutierrez was
head of the Kellogg Cos., the world’s
largest cereal maker.
(C)2005 Tribune Media Services, ir.c
All rights reserved
42 Willing word
44 49th state
45 Brownish horse
47 Kick out
48 Spiny flora
50 Author Ferber
51 June celebrant
52 Toledo bravo
53 Aviv-Jaffa
54 Put a collar on
55. Sleuth Spade
56 Porker's pad
57 Freight weight
58 Vichy or Ems
9