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NEW STUDENTS
FROM PAGE 1
the door to these students, every
body’s thoughts turned to how can
we make this as easy for students
as we possibly can.”
But difficulties have arisen while
building the students’ schedules.
UNC officials have had trouble
contacting advisers from New
Orleans universities to determine
what classes should transfer.
“We’ve relied heavily on what
the students took at their former
schools,” Farmer said. “We don’t
even have a transcript from these
students. So we’re going from their
memory... of what they’ve taken.”
Advisors worked Tuesday to place
students into language classes, said
Erika Lindemann, interim direc
tor of the Department of Romance
Languages.
“The undergraduates need to get
into Spanish, but they missed all the
placement tests,” Lindemann said.
“So they didn’t know what level of
Spanish was appropriate.”
Finding housing also has been
difficult for the students. The
campus already is experiencing a
crunch on available space.
Many town residents have
offered to house students, and
Granville Towers has more than
20 available spaces.
LOUISIANA
FROM PAGE 1
water was restored just a few days
ago and electricity is still a mem
ory.
“I don’t really have a plan,” she
said. “Just take it from day-to-day
and hope that we survive.”
While there was no guarantee
that Tuesday night would bring the
long-awaited food stamps, the day
already had brought welcome news
for Moore.
She finally learned that her hus
band, who stayed behind in New
Orleans and had not been heard
from since the storm, is safe.
“I just got word that he’s in
Texas,” she said.
“I didn’t know whether he was
dead or alive.”
As she and others shared their
stories in the makeshift encamp
ment Tuesday night, a team of N.C.
National Guardsmen worked to
keep order among the hundreds of
people settling in to wait through
the evening for food stamp distri
bution.
In this parish of 106,000,
where nearly half of all homes
are still waiting for electricity and
an 8 p.m. curfew is in effect, the
guardsmen have been a welcome
sight.
“Everybody’s been real friendly,”
said Sgt. Christopher Ollis, stand
ing among the crowd at the social
services center. “Our main thing in
this parish is to get the community
back together.”
It’s a community where even
before the hurricane 22.7 percent
of residents more than 10 per
cent above the national average
were living in poverty, according
to 2000 U.S. Census data.
Ollis deployed Friday along
with nearly 300 other members of
the N.C. National Guard’s Quick
Reaction Force, a unit established
after Sept. 11, 2001, to handle a
wide range of emergencies across
the country.
In Tangipahoa Parish, the unit
has been called on to patrol the
streets alongside local police offi
cers and keep order at local busi
nesses and aid centers.
“The guard has played an
important role with our prob
lems,” said parish president
Gordon Burgess.
“Whatever needs to be done,
whether it be a clean-up or deliv
ering food, water and ice.”
The Quick Reaction Force will
be on the ground in Louisiana for
at least another few weeks, with the
potential for extending the mission
further.
Not knowing where they’d
be deployed, the unit was ready
for anything, said Sgt. Brian
Christiansen.
“We’re basically borrowed out
by Louisiana’s National Guard,”
he said. “We follow under their
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Four students had moved into the
Granville Towers by Thesday. “They
just seem to be happy they’ve got a
place to stay” said Dennis Emy, gen
eral manager of the towers.
He said each student was wel
comed to the building by a gift
basket containing bathroom and
cleaning supplies, food and candy.
Students have been invited to
attend UNC for a semester, although
administrators say they are closely
observing progress at the New
Orleans schools to see if students
might need to extend their stays.
During their time here, students
will pay tuition and fees at UNC.
“A big question ... that I’m
hearing now is around tuition,”
said Provost Robert Shelton. “We
don’t have authority to waive
tuition fees that’s the Board of
Governors’.”
Shelton said the UNC-system
Board of Governors soon will dis
cuss tuition. “So we will wait to hear
what they have to say,” he said.
Their transition might be rough,
but many are confident that students
will feel at home on campus.
“Everybody has been gracious,”
Farmer said. “And in the end I think
everybody is glad to be here even
under such difficult circumstances.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
“Our main thing
in this parish is to
get the community
hack together”
SGT. CHRISTOPHER OLLIS,
N.C. NATIONAL GUARD
chain of command and their gov
ernor.”
Lt. John Hearn, driving his
Humvee through tree-cluttered
streets, said he was more than
a little surprised the Reaction
Force hadn’t been sent to New
Orleans, given its heavy training
in dealing with civil disturbances
and security.
“We’re more worth our weight
in gold in there than we are here,”
he said.
But driving through
Tangipahoa, where residents
waved and gave the thumbs-up
to passing Humvees, it was clear
the guard was providing much
needed reassurance to a battered
community.
“These people were hit hard,”
Hearn said.
Contact the State (si National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
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News
Area groups respond to Katrina
BY TED STRONG
CITY EDITOR
Angry political reverberations
from Hurricane Katrina already
are starting, but at the same time
communities are pulling together
to alleviate the suffering in the dev
astated area.
In addition to the outpouring of
aid that has flowed from the region
in recent days, local municipalities
have worked to put trained workers
on the ground in the affected area.
Orange County Emergency
Services sent two telecommunicators
to the Gulf Coast to aid first respond
ers, and is working on ways to shelter
evacuees displaced by the tragedy.
“We’re in the process of looking
at what we can do,” said Jack Ball,
the county’s emergency manage
ment director.
HEARINGS
FROM PAGE 1
on landmark cases like Roe v.
Wade.
“There is no ethical reason to
avoid (those questions),” Hurwitz
said. “But that doesn’t mean he
won’t try.”
Adding fuel to a political fire,
President Bush also could pick a
nominee to fill O’Connor’s seat soon,
and speculation is rampant it will be
a woman or a minority or both.
“He might feel some pressure
not to replace Justice O’Connor
twice with a man,” Schapiro said.
Now that Bush has Roberts in
line to be chief justice something
experts say the president wanted all
along he could be more inclined to
appoint a woman or a minority.
Hurwitz said criticism of the
administration’s response to the
Hurricane Katrina disaster could
push him toward a minority as well.
“He’s being criticized on a race issue,”
he said. “I think a minority appoint
ment may help to dissuade that.”
Others speculate that Bush
might call for a justice closer to
mainstream America.
But experts say that despite all of
the political fortune that could come
with a middle-of-the-road nomina
tion, Bush has not shown himself to
be a president who folds easily.
“The president has made clear
that he has a certain vision in what
he wants on the Supreme Court,”
Schapiro said. “He may pursue that
and not be restrained by short-term
political trends in Washington.”
Contact the State (si National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Steve Newton and Mike Ritze,
communications experts, are work
ing 12-hour shifts in Louisiana’s St
Tammany Parish, answering phone
calls for help. They are trained to
determine which agencies to for
ward the requests to, Ball said.
They left during the Labor Day
weekend and will complete a 12- or
14-day tour.
Rather than rush willy-nilly to
the affected area, a strategy Ball
said would not be particularly
helpful, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency passes
requests to state officials, who
then ask counties to let them know
about available resources.
A call from FEMA also led to
the deployment of four Chapel Hill
firefighters today.
Douglas Parrish, David Sasser,
EVACUEES
FROM PAGE 1
received back in their hometown.
He said neighbors he never met
before came over offering them food
and water.
“These are people of all different
nationalities who came together,”
he said. “It was truly amazing.”
Booth was able to stay in his
aunt’s house until Monday when
an armed rescue team forced him
and his aunt to evacuate.
Huffman also stayed in a home
until Monday. He said he didn’t stock
up on supplies, but still had water
and a telephone after the storm.
Once the the 17th Street Canal levee
was breached, he lost everything.
“I work at a restaurant, so I
grabbed some supplies before we
shut down,” he said. “But I looted.
I did.” ,
He said a group of people came
down the street with a forklift and
pried open the gate in front of the
drug store near his house.
He said many of the other peo
ple who ran into the store went to
the prescription drug section and
took everything they could find.
“We didn’t have Red Cross.”
Huffinan said he was scared to
leave his home because of the chaos
going on outside. After three days,
people began to run out of supplies,
and he said things got crazy.
“They blew off a guy’s head
about three blocks from my house,”
he said. “His body stayed there and
floated in the water.”
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Gerald Boone and Christopher
Stephens were equipped to carry
everything they need on their backs,
and will receive training and further
equipment in Georgia before being
shuttled on to the disaster area.
Fire Chief Dan Jones said that
the men’s 30-day tour will be rough
duty, but there was a tremendous
response within the department.
“That’s not too much of a sac
rifice on this end compared to the
sacrifice the four are making that
are going down there,” he said.
The Carrboro Fire Department
sent two firefighters to meet the
same call.
Local organizations also are
helping from home. More than 200
evacuees arrived at Raleigh-Durham
International Airport last night.
Ball said county officials are look
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DTH/ERIN GIBSON
Tomiko Hicks, (left) of Wake County Human Services, passes out toiletries
to evacuees leaving to take a shower Tuesday at a Morrisville camp.
Huffinan said he finally went to
his father’s house, about a 30-min
ute walk from his home, because he
didn’t feel safe.
“Some people broke into a mall
and then set it on fire,” he said.
“The firemen were trying to put it
out, and the police were having a
war with all the criminals.”
Huffman’s father still is in New
Orleans, seeing it through to the
end, he said.
Booth said he has not yet been
able to determine if his wife, moth
er-in-law and daughter are safe.
He said he is very concerned
about his daughter, who is a police
officer in New Orleans. He said he
ing for sites other than the schools
that traditionally would shelter
disaster victims because the victims’
projected stay is longer than usual.
So far the Orange County chapter
of the American Red Cross has only
processed 13 cases of evacuees.
The Red Cross provided relief
training to 71 volunteers during the
weekend, and will continue provid
ing training on an ongoing basis.
Those interested in helping
should e-mail occhapnc@intrex.
net or call 942-0761.
Additionally, Ball said he is look
ing to work with Orange County
Animal Services to find ways to
shelter evacuees’ pets, which are
often not allowed into shelters.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
knew of an officer who committed
suicide because of the trauma.
But for now, both men said they
are just glad to be out of Louisiana
and a step closer to a normal life.
Huffman said he is talking with
the support staff about getting
back in school in Virginia.
But Booth is not ready to make
those kinds of decisions. He said
he is going to wait until he can find
out where his family is.
“If my family is living, I’ll go to
them,” he said. “I’m too old to just
start over.”
Contact the State (si National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
5