2
THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2005
Frat forced to close its doors
Cites issues with
bank, loan debt
BY JOSEPH R. SCHWARTZ
UNIVERSITY EDITOR
When officials proudly displayed
elaborate renovations to the interior
of the Kappa Alpha house in 2001,
no one knew that four years later
the exterior would be boarded up
due to those same renovations.
But that’s the problem that con
fronts the fraternity’s leaders today.
A lack of funding and a switch
in banks resulted in foreclosure on
their 110 W. Cameron Ave. house,
in effect leaving members without
a home and officials searching for a
replacement.
“I’m hoping that we’ll be able
to figure out a way to get another
premise where the guys can meet
and hold rush and continue to carry
on,” said Van Webb, president of
the chapter’s alumni association.
Despite losing the house, Kappa
Alpha members are optimistic about
the organization’s future.
Chad Habeeb, president of the
fraternity, said the foreclosure
doesn’t change anything except
their location.
“It’s a sad situation,” he said. “We
hate to lose the house, but we’ve got
a positive outlook for this next year.
... We’re going to stay as strong as
ever.”
Habeeb stressed his confidence
in the alumni association’s ability
to find anew building.
J.B. Davis, treasurer of the alumni
association, reasserted that notion.
“We’re going to rent another house
as far as an interim until we decide
what we need to do,” he said.
And even without a firm hous
ing plan, Kappa Alpha’s status at
UNC stands firm.
Jay Anhorn, director of Greek
Affairs, said his office focuses more
on integrity and adherence to rules
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The Kappa Alpha fraternity house located at 110 W. Cameron Ave. has been boarded up since its foreclosure
last semester. Members are seeking temporary housing until they can come up with a permanent solution.
and deals very little with finances.
“Finances has nothing to do
with their status of good standing
with the University,” he said.
Webb said the roots of the fore
closure, which became official
late in the spring semester, can be
traced back to 2000.
RBC Centura provided funds to
kick off the project, but the build
ing dedication occurred just weeks
after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
causing difficulty in fund raising.
“The climate for raising additional
money was not conducive to raising
the money that we needed to raise to
pay down the debt,” Davis said.
Webb estimated that they owed
about 1.2 million to the bank, but
News
a 9 percent interest-only rate made
it difficult to gain headway.
“It wasn’t the fact that we
weren’t paying the bills,” he said.
But the final blow came in
September when RBC Centura
sold the bank note to the
Massachusetts-based Capital
Crossing Bank.
“On Oct. 1 we get a welcoming
letter from Capital Crossing,” Webb
said, “And 15 days later we got a
foreclosure notice end of story.”
The bank wanted $1.4 million to
sell property back to Kappa Alpha,
he said.
Although the fraternity bol
stered fund-raising efforts and
made several counteroffers, the
bank moved forward with foreclo
sure, Webb said.
“The bank backed us into a cor
ner and we didn’t have the funds to
dig ourselves out.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
ufyp Batty (Tot.Hppl
P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Becca Moore, 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
■ Due to an editing error, the
June 23 graphic “Several key dif
ference emerge in budgets” on the
front page incorrectly stated that
the N.C. house released its budget
May 17-
House budget-writers began
releasing their proposed spending
plan June 9.
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Officials hash over
wireless on Franklin
Could expand wireless Net coverage
BY BRIANNA BISHOP
CITY EDITOR
At about 4 p.m. on a Tuesday
afternoon, Steve Dorozenski,
owner of Jack Sprat Cafe, counted
six people using computers at his
Franklin Street coffee shop.
He credits that to the addition
of the wireless Internet in his
shop an initiative that some
town leaders are hoping to spread
throughout the downtown area.
The Chapel Hill Town Council
received two petitions Monday
night addressing the subject.
Both petitions —one from the
Chapel Hill Downtown Economic
Development Corporation and the
other from members of the town’s
technology committee asked
the council to consider pairing the
groups together to pursue the goal.
“The technology committee has
it in their strategic plan, and it’s
also of interest to us, so we thought
it would be beneficial instead of
working separately to collaborate,”
Andrea Rohrbacher, chairwoman
of the development corporation,
said Tuesday.
The groups could collaborate on
tasks such as determining the cov
erage area, selecting hardware and
promoting the idea with citizens
and local businesses, according to
the corporation’s petition.
Rohrbacher said the imple
mentation of wireless services will
allow people to leave their homes
and offices to do work.
Dorozenski said providing
Internet service in his store has
definitely helped his business.
“Seeing that ours is free, people
love it,” he said, adding that extend
ing wireless throughout the down
town corridor would be beneficial
because it would add to the town’s
COHEECTIONS
■ Due to a editing error, the cap
tion for the June 23 page 3 picture of
Memorial Hall incorrectly reported
the length of the renovation.
After a sl7-9 million, three-year
renovation, Memorial Hall will
reopen with a Tony Bennett concert
in September.
■ Due to a reporting error,
(HI?? Batty (Tar Hrol
progressive atmosphere.
And possible wireless services
could reach beyond the downtown
to adjacent neighborhoods.
Providing wireless in Northside
and Pine Knolls neighborhoods
has also been discussed.
Rohrbacher said the proposal
would help to provide Internet
access to residents who otherwise
might not have the resources.
Although the plans are in the
early stages, Rohrbacher was hope
ful the plans will move forward.
During Monday’s meeting
Mayor Pro Tem Edith Wiggins
proposed that the petitions be
referred to town staff to prepare
a report on establishment of wire
less downtown.
“I was really delighted to see
both of these petitions,” she said
during the meeting.
Mayor Kevin Foy also said he
thought the two petitions should
be considered together.
But town leaders are not the only
ones with wireless on their agenda
Student Body President Seth
Dearmin, who advocated down
town wireless Internet on his cam
paign platform, said he plans to
pursue a similar initiative within
the next week or two.
He said he hopes to open a dia
logue with community members to
look at how the University and town
can come together on the issue.
Though a deadline has yet to be
set, he said he would like to have
the initiative finished by the end of
his term but would wait to see the
town’s plans.
“It’s definitely going to be more
contingent on the town.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
the June 23 article “Candidates
set for gubernatorial race” on the
front page misstated the last time
a Republican governor presided
over the state. James Martin, the
last Republican governor, vacated
the Governor’s Mansion in 1993.
The Daily Tar Heel regrets the
errors.