VOLUME 113, ISSUE 64
HOW TO HELP
PULLING TOGETHER
FUNDS RAISED
$4,377*44 was raised
by the Carolina Katrina
relief committees as of
10 p.m. Thursday
LOCAL EVENTS
Dollars for Disaster
Student groups will be
canvassing classes to
solicit donations
Pit sits, 11 a.m.- 2p.m.
Sandbar benefit
Alpha-Alpha chapter of
the Chi Phi Fraternity
to host a fundraiser
The Sandbar, all night
Carolina Performs
Student groups to hold
all-day performances to
benefit Katrina victims
Memorial Hall, Sunday
Down on the Bayou
The Carolina Inn and
county Red Cross to
host a bluegrass benefit
Carolina Inn, 5-7 p.m.
INSIDE TODAY
Taking a moment
Community members
converged to remem
ber Katrina victims
through a vigil Page 3
Aftereffects
Federal response to
Katrina prompts a
large-scale analysis of
FEMA Page 3
More photos
See more images from
The Daily Tar Heel
photographers in
Mississippi Page 7
and
MULTIMEDIA
To hear audio interviews
from UNC students from
New Orleans go online
to dailytarheel.com
Transfer talks a good game
BY BRANDON PARKER
SENIOR WRITER
It’s no secret that North
Carolina tailback Barrington
Edwards loves to talk.
His wide, brown eyes seem
ingly light up at the sight of jour
nalists listening intently for the
sophomore’s next appealing quote
—one typically laced with unwav
ering confidence and charm.
But as the transfer’s debut in
UNC’s season opener against
Georgia Tech on Saturday approach
es, Edwards readily admits that
CORRECTION
Due to an editing error, the
front page column, “To My
City” by Rob Nelson, stated
that he was the editor of The
Daily Tkr Heel from 1998-99-
Nelson was actually the edi
tor from 1999-00.
The DTH apologizes for the
error.
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
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The Red Cross seeks volunteers and donations.
E-mail occhapnc@intrex.net for more info.
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DTH/BRANDON SMITH
Saundra D. Alessi holds an ornament Wednesday that was to go on her front door in Waveland, Miss., prior to Hurricane
Katrina. Alessi lived on a block where nearly every house was demolished. The eye of the storm passed through Waveland.
BY ERIC JOHNSON
ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
BAY ST. LOUIS, MISS. - All day
long, groups of people gathered at the
end of U.S. Highway 90.
It seems to be the only place where
cell phones can get service, and in a
town with no functioning phone lines,
that makes it a popular destination.
The highway isn’t supposed to end
here. But Katrina ripped apart the four
lane concrete bridge that stretched
across the St. Louis Bay.
Nothing is left but the pilings, so
carloads of residents and rescue work
ers had to make their phone calls and
turn around. Some lingered to stare out
STUDENTS LEARN YOU
CAN GO HOME AGAIN
BY STEPHANIE NEWTON
STAFF WRITER
Most incoming freshmen don’t have to go
through the college selection process twice.
Even fewer find themselves enrolling late
at the institution that they applied to early
but then turned down.
For Weston Davis, a Durham native
eager to start at "Mane University this fall,
a UNC homecoming was bittersweet.
“I actually did not send in the ‘thanks,
no thanks’ letter to Carolina because it was
so hard for me,” Davis said of his original
college choice.
Davis is one of 14 students at UNC who
first-game jitters can make even his
self-assurance run slim.
Thke his first
collegiate carry
as a true fresh
man at LSU
back in 2003,
for instance.
The Tigers
were opening
the year against
Arizona in front
COUNTDOWN
TO __
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9
PC/ DAY
of a national television audience, a
perfect prelude for a Super Prep
All-American. However, in a world
online | clailytarhed.com
HOWEVER YOU WANT IT Steak
house opens in Glen Lennox, off N.C. 54
DON'T FORGET THE SAFETY Mahlon
Carey is set to start after camp battle
DIRECT FEEDBACK Masterminds of
"Junebug" debut film, answer questions
www.dailytafheel.com
HURRICANE KATRINA | THE AFTERMATH
SPECIAL COVERAGE FROM MISSISSIPPI
toward the missing bridge.
“I’ve been in both Gulf Wars, and
this is the worst I’ve ever seen any
thing,” said Master Sgt. Jim Stranahan,
looking at a row of concrete slabs that
used to be foundations for high-dollar
homes.
A few people were picking through
the scattered debris, hunting for any
mementos that went unclaimed by
Katrina.
Asked where residents are living
as they gradually return to the Gulf
Coast, Stranahan replied, “There’s a
lot of camps.”
In the towns of Waveland and Bay
St. Louis, camps are a sign of improve
were displaced when Hurricane Katrina
forced schools on the Gulf Coast to close.
The University opened its doors last
week to in-state students who were dis
placed by the destruction.
Davis wasn’t aware when he arrived at
Hilane on Aug. 26 that he would come back
to face his senior-year decision.
Without ever unpacking, he left the next
day for a 20-hour return trip.
“As I was in line to check-in, the staff
stood up and said everyone should leave,”
Davis said.
SEE STUDENTS, PAGE 5
where a player’s first run can set
the tone for his entire career, the
rolling cameras and talking heads
made Edwards ponder the possi
bility of ensuing embarrassment.
“I was back there for a toss play,
and I had never, ever thought
about dropping a toss, but before
I got that ball I was like, ‘Man I
might drop this thing,’” Edwards
says with a grin.
But after reeling in the lateral,
Edwards displayed a glimpse of
SEE BARRINGTON, PAGE 4
The Center for Public Service has full listings
of ways to help online at: www.unc.edu/cps
ment. That people are even able to
maintain a presence along the coast is
something of a victory.
In communities without drinkable
water, where huge numbers of homes
are uninhabitable and only the scarc
est pockets of electricity have been
restored, it has taken a mammoth
effort just to sustain Waveland and Bay
St. Louis from day to day.
Hurricane Katrina didn’t just strike
these two communities; it very nearly
obliterated them. Along the beach,
and extending back about a half mile
to the railroad tracks, there are almost
SEE EVACUATION, PAGE 5
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DTH/RICKY LEUNG
Freshman Weston Davis (right), a displaced Tulane student studies for
class with his high school friend Matt Depolo on Polk Place on Thursday.
Ceremony marks hall’s opening
Day’s speakers include Andy Griffith
BY WILLIAM FONVIELLE
STAFF WRITER
Under the watchful eye of
Chancellor James Moeser and
Andy Griffith among others
Memorial Hall officially reopened
Thursday afternoon.
A 20-foot-long ribbon graced the
hall’s stage and was cut to signal the
end of a three-year renovation.
“We are at last able to stand on
this spectacular stage and look
city | page .*3
WHAT D'YA STAND FOR?
The Orange County
Democratic Women grilled
candidates for both Chapel
Hill Town Council and Chapel
Hill-Carrboro City Schools.
System
offers free
tuition
BY KAVITA PILLAI
STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
The UNC system went one
step further Thursday to help
students affected by Hurricane
Katrina get back on their feet.
The Board of Governors passed
a resolution waiving tuition and
mandatory fees for any student
previously enrolled in a university
closed by the disaster. The waiver
only applies for the fall semester.
System President Molly Broad
said the university has an obliga
tion to hurricane-damaged schools
to take care of its students.
She said the higher education
community doesn’t handle only
educational opportunities. “It also
means collaboration and mutual
support in times of tragedy.”
Though the resolution initially
required the students to be N.C.
residents, board members ques
tioned the logic of that provision.
“All we’re trying to do is accom
modate people who are in a bad
situation,” said BOG member
Ben Ruffin. “I just want to help
as many as we can.”
He added that many nonresi
dent students might have family in
North Carolina, easing their tran-,
sition into a system university,
r The
on with other board members.
“This is a critical time,” said
BOG member Brent Barringer.
“Let’s be a little liberal in this fall
SEE WAIVER, PAGE 4
out at a hall that is new, yet looks
familiar,” said Moeser in his open
ing comments.
Various UNC dignitaries
including Nelson Schwab, Board
of Trustees chairman, and Emil
Kang, executive director for the
arts also were on hand to take
part in the celebration.
Moeser acknowledged an invis
ible presence in the chandelier-clad
facility, that of a late UNC chan-
artS j page 6
TRY THE CHiPs
CHiPs, a popular campus
improv group, prides itself on
holding auditions that both
gauge prospective members'
talents and entertain.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2005
cellor who led an early push for a
modem performing arts space.
“There is another... presence in
this hall today, and that is the spirit
of Michael Hooker,” he said.
The biggest draw for the audi
ence was one of the University’s
most prominent alumni Andy
Griffith of Mayberry fame.
Griffith kept his comments brief
Thursday because he will be at an
event today to honor his career
memorabilia being displayed at
SEE OPENING, PAGE 4
weather
, \ T-Storms
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