(The SaiUj lor Mfri
Police will concentrate
efforts on downtown
Additional officers
could boost safety
BY MEREDITH LEE MILLER
ASSISTANT Cm EDITOR
With several high-profile, vio
lent crimes on Franklin Street
during th| last year, the Chapel Hill
Police Department will continue its
efforts tobring more officers to the
downtown area.
The police department will not
be gettitg the extra officers for
which it fetitioned the Chapel Hill
Town Council during the last bud
get process, but the department
will not j>e left shorthanded.
The (fepartment was able to fill
all 10 oficer vacancies by the end of
July, thinks to recruitment incen
tives, R>lice Chief Gregg Jarvies
said.
“We sill need the additional
officers, lut we’re in better shape,”
he said.
The ipproved council bud
get wasable to increase salaries
of startng officers by 8 percent,
which lelped with hiring, Jarvies
said.
“Thiiwas a tight budget year,” he
said. “The council was very gener
ous.”
The.ieed for additional officers
was hijhlighted during the sum
mer rronths, when several violent
crime.' occurred in the heart of
downtown Chapel Hill.
In ,uly, an elderly man was sexu
ally aisaulted by five unidentified
men vith a plastic object near an
alleyat 137 E. Franklin St., said
Chapl Hill Police spokeswoman
Jane Cousins. The attack occurred
duriig daytime hours, according to
polie reports.
Ii May, a 22-year-old man was
assailted by an unknown assailant
witl a five- to six-foot-long metal
pol* in the parking lot on Church
Stret between West Franklin and
Wat Rosemary streets, according
to lolice reports.
The town’s main commercial
dilrict also saw violence during
tfr school year.
In March, a woman reported
bang raped on the 200 block
a West Franklin Street, and in
if littiMrir
.
• : ~ ,
hb miii
■ 2005 Wachovia Corporation
Total crime downtown is decreasing
The total number of disturbances downtown is up from 73 in the 2003-04 fiscal
year to 91 in the 2004-05, but the number of major crimes has decreased.
B 2001-02 2002-03 1 2003-04 II^ 2004 ~^ 5
Robbery Aggravated Assault
flj
o
IhIN
Burglary Motor Vehicle Theft
50 —— - 50 —
40— - 2 40
'4M 1 “
■ . ■ I ,0
I H u i- 1
By the NUMBERS
0 5 1
homicides since reported rapes in the reported rape in the
2001 2004-05 fiscal year 2003-04 fiscal year
SOURCE: CHAPEI HILI POLICE DEPARTMENT DTH/FEILDING CAGE
February, a UNC student was beat
en by a group of attackers shouting
about his sexual orientation.
Joe Numberger, operating
partner of Qdoba Mexican Grill at
the intersection of Columbia and
Franklin streets, said more police
presence is needed downtown
because of poor lighting in some
parts of the area and problems
with panhandling.
He said his restaurant has had
to contact the police several times
to deal with beggars around the
store.
“It’s been an ongoing problem,”
he said. “It’s just awful the amount
of vagrancy.”
News
Numberger said more officers
might help downtown customers
feel safer.
Jarvies said he will continue
pushing to add four more offi
cers to focus specifically on the
downtown area. He said more
patrols are needed downtown as
business development increases
and attracts more people to the
area.
But Jarvies insists that violent
events are rare and not the reason
behind his request for the extra
officers.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
New gymnasium to open next week
BY KATHERINE HOLLANDER
STAFF WRITER
The once-secluded region of
the University known as South
Campus soon will be taking a giant
leap toward becoming the bustling
hot spot on UNC’s campus.
The new Ramshead Center, locat
ed on Ridge Road next to Kenan
Stadium, plans to open its massive
recreation facility next week.
Director of the Student
Recreation Center Lauren Mangili
said she is anticipating a successful
opening with fitness classes starting
Tuesday.
“We’ll be holding a preview
opening, we hope, within the sec
ond week of classes,” she said.
The student recreation depart
ment is sponsoring a weeklong cel
ebration from Sept. 18. to Sept. 23.
There will be events and activi
ties at the center all week, includ
ing a dedication ceremony Sept. 21
and the grand opening of the fit
ness center Sept. 23.
The recreation center includes
three full-length basketball courts,
an indoor climbing wall and a mul
tipurpose room that will host more
than 30 fitness classes.
Students also will have access to a
fitness area with more than 30 cardio
Closing progress gap is priority for schools
BY LAURA OLENIACZ
STAFF WRITER
School leaders will continue their
efforts this year to boost resources
as progress gaps continue to cloud
visions of educational perfection.
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board
of Education will assess its priori
ties for the coming school year at
its meeting tonight.
The school board will focus
on its top goal to staunch the
widening achievement gap of its
minority students in specific areas
across the district’s schools.
“The superintendent and staff
are working on assessing why the
achievement gap widened slightly
this year and what steps can be
taken to make sure that was a blip
and not a trend,” said school board
chairwoman Lisa Stuckey.
Closing the gap has been a No. 1
priority for about 5 years.
District spokeswoman Stephanie
Knott cited increased training for
new staff as an important means to
address the concern.
“Closing the gap is going to be
WAT C4/V
ROAD TRIP
TEACH US ABOUT
CAREER CHOICES?
■
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For some, moving toward the unknown can cause uncertainty.
Others embrace the adventure with open arms. That’s why we take an
individual approach in supporting your needs, instilling confidence
through training, taking time to help evaluate the many options
available and providing you with guidance tp move in anew direction.
At Wachovia, that’s our commitment to your career.
To learn more about Corporate and Investment Banking Analyst
opportunities, please join us at
The Carolina Inn
Alumni Room
7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, September 6
Refreshments will be served
If you are unable to join us, please review the positions we
have posted with University Career Services.
Wachovia
Securities
Uncommon Wisdom
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2005
machines, a full weight circuit, free
weights and a group cycling area.
Mangili said there will be oppor
tunities at Ramshead that UNC has
not offered until now.
“One of the three basketball courts
has a dasher board system that
allows students to play floor hockey
and indoor soccer,” she said.
Director of Intramural Sports,
Dustin Van Sloten, said that while
the intramural sports department
often will not be using Ramshead
for scheduled games, the depart
ment is planning on taking advan
tage of the new facility.
“We will use the Ramshead for
special activities like dodgeball and
floor hockey,” he said.
Mangili said the campus’s cur
rent Student Recreation Center,
located on South Road, has about
2,000 people per day coming to
work out.
“We expect this number to
double, if not more, when the
Ramshead Center reaches its regu
lar hours,” she said.
Mangili said that the novelty
of the facility will attract more
students at first but that the rec
reation department expects the
number of students to even out
after a few weeks.
a high priority for the district this
year,” she said.
The board plans to strengthen
its existing strategies and minority
focused task forces that work to curb
the deficit in minority test scores.
Improving teachers’ work envi
ronment is also a priority this year.
To allow for staff development
and planning, elementary, middle
and high schools will open late
eight mornings of the school year
each month.
Knott noted that collaboration
between districts such as the new
Middle College High School— is
important but that students are not
taking advantage of the programs.
The board plans to increase
resources for student transporta
tion to allow for further fluidity
between districts.
Other collaborative programs
are currently underway, such as
High Five: Regional Partnership
for High School Excellence, which
brings together teachers from five
counties surrounding the Chapel-
Hill Carrboro district to share
Wachovia recognizes and values diversity. EOE, M/F/D/V.
Students on South Campus see
the new Ramshead Center as a
great convenience.
Sophomore Ashley McDaniel,
who lives in Hinton James
Residence Hall, said she has E>een
waiting anxiously for a more acces
sible recreation option for South
Campus residents.
“I took a fitness class on Tuesday
nights, at the old SRC, last semester,”
she said.
“I felt unsafe walking back to
South Campus at night, alone.”
The opening of the recreation
center comes about five months
after the completion of the rest of
the Ramshead Center.
The Ramshead Center arguably
is the largest project completed
thus far in the current trend of
campus development.
The parking deck complex also
offers a two-story dining facility
and a fully stocked grocery store.
Ramshead’s quadlike atmo
sphere will unite North and South
Campus, Chancellor James Moeser
said in an interview last week.
“I think student life will improve
because of what it does.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
teaching strategies.
Also under the board’s umbrella
of priorities is their work that will
focus on adjusting the school sys
tem to anew block schedule.
“(The block schedule) will give
students an opportunity to take
courses in different formats and
have the flexibility to take courses
in different ways,” Knott said.
The new arrangement will
increase the number of classes stu
dents can take during their high
school career.
“Blocking courses give students
an opportunity for example in
science classes to really delve
into a subject,” Stuckey said.
“It also gives kids who are strug
gling an opportunity, if they need
to take a course, to take it the fol
lowing year.”
The school board will meet at 7
p.m. at Chapel Hill Town Hall to
discuss these priorities and other
matters.
Cqutact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
9