VOLUME 114, ISSUE 152
Leaders beam with record vote count
BY KEVIN KILEY
STAFF WRITER
Although he wasn’t running for
office, Board of Elections Chairman
Jim Brewer said Tuesday’s campus
election results were a personal
victory.
With 7,441
students filling
out ballots, the
2007 election
saw the most
A STUDENT
2007
votes cast in UNC history.
“Laying claim to the highest
voter turnout is definitely some
thing to be proud of* Brewer said.
Thmout this year was 20 votes
more than the previous record of
FINDING COMFORT
9 £|? .. j w ■ I I '
DTH/LOGAN PRICE
North Carolina swimming coach Frank Comfort stands by his home pool, Koury Natatorium, on Wednesday as swimmers in the back
ground prepare for the ACC Championships. Comfort, the winningest dual-meet coach in NCAA history, is retiring after this season.
UNC swimming, diving
coach made a big splash
BY JESSE BAUMGARTNER
SPORTS EDITOR
As every reporter who covers North
Carolina swimming and diving discovers,
coach Frank Comfort likes to go off the
record. Not just once, or a
couple times, but in every
interview, on many sub
jects and at any point.
In the low-revenue,
low-profile world of
NCAA swimming, such
behavior seems a bit out
ONUNE
The women's
conference
championships
opened at UNC
on Wednesday.
of the ordinary.
But then again, an ordinary coach doesn’t
win a record 578 career dual meets.
Get up to speed on the Jim Block scandal...
September 200$; Meredith
Norris, a political campaign
director for Black, is found to
have worked during a legislative
session marked by lottery debate
as an unregistered lobbyist for
Scientific Games, one of the two
vendors competing for the N.C.
Education Lottery.
October 200$; Kevin Geddings,
a state lottery commissioner
appointed by Black, abandons his
position hours before Scientific
Games discloses that Geddings
worked for the company
during the period when legislators
planned the N.C. lottery.
August 2000; Norris is found
guilty of lobbying law violations,
and Michael Decker, a former
Republican state representative,
Online I dailytarheel.com
BUCKLING UP Child safety week
raises awareness of car seat dangers
DANGER IN DARFUR UNC students
present children with facts about Darfur
AN EAR TO LISTEN A statewide phone
line provides help to substance abusers
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
(Ebr lailu (Ear Herl
7,421 in 2002.
But the elections board can’t
rest on its laurels yet. It still must
oversee Hiesday’s runoff election
between student body president
candidates Eve Carson and Nick
Neptune.
Runoffs typically see lower voter
turnout than the general election.
In 2005, the last time a student
body president race saw a runoff,
2,218 fewer students voted the sec
ond time around.
And a high turnout should be
taken with a grain of salt, as some
of the issues might be lost on vot
ers. Brewer said part of the point of
recruiting voters, however, is to pre
An ordinary coach doesn’t win 25 ACC
Championships lO with the men and 15
with the women.
So who wants to be ordinary?
Now finished with his dual meet
career and entrenched in his last ACC
Championship meets which are fittingly
hosted in Chapel Hill the coach is nearing
the end of his storied career, and the acco
lades are beginning to pile up.
Comfort was honored at center court dur
ing halftime of the UNC-Virginia Tech men’s
basketball game Tuesday night with his fam
ily in attendance.
“I’ve always wanted that,” he confided
softly while standing next to the pool at
Koury Natatorium.
Back in his office, a large framed certifi
cate sits on the floor proclaiming Comfort
one of “Carolina’s priceless gems,” signed by
Athletic Director Dick Baddour and UNC
reveals that he accepted $50,000
to switch parties and support
Black's third run for Speaker.
October 2006; Geddings is
found guilty of five counts of mail
fraud.
February 2007: r. Scott
Edwards, former treasurer of a
state optometrist political action
committee and an ally of Black,
pleads guilty to obstruction of
justice for his role in the
distribution of blank checks to
PACs and candidates, including
three to Decker.
Tuesday; The Charlotte
Observer reports that Black's
lawyer confirmed his client's
intention to plead guilty on
Thursday to a federal public
corruption charge.
dive | page 5
STAND-UP CHARACTERS
Diversions takes a look at the
headliners of this weekend's
Carolina Comedy Festival,
including UNC alumnus Lewis
Black of "The Daily Show” fame.
| www.dailytarheel.com |
pare them for the next year.
“I think the more people who
vote and participate in the process
become more enticed to get educat
ed about the next election.”
The elections
board made a
big push during
the election sea
son to ensure a
strong showing
at polls, Brewer
said.
INSIDE
Some voters
chose to write
in athletes and
religious figures.
PAGE 9
Board members posted signs in
the libraries and banners in high
traffic areas. They even gave out
UNC T-shirts in the rain to people
who voted at the Smith Center
A lasting legacy:
Coach Frank Comfort
► 30th year coaching at UNC
► finished with an overall men's and
women's record of 578-173-2
► Winningest college dual-meet coach in
collegiate swimming history
► Twenty-five Atlantic Coast Conference
championships, 10 with the men's teams
and 15 with the women's the most in
conference history by a single coach
► Comfort passed the 500 victory mark in
dual meet wins in his career in the fall of
2002.
SEE COMFORT, PAGE 9
Embattled Black resigns from House
BY LINDSEY NAYLOR
ASSISTANT STATE & NATIONAL EDITOR
Former N.C. House Speaker
Jim Black resigned from his seat
Wednesday amid speculation that
he will issue a guilty plea to federal
charges of public corruption.
The Democratic representative
of Mecklenburg County held one of
the most powerful positions in N.C.
politics for eight years, working tire
lessly to earn the money and support
necessary to maintain the post.
“There’s a very fine line these
people walk between raising their
money and crossing the line into
illegality,” said UNC political sci
ence professor Thad Beyle.
“Black overstepped the line.”
The Charlotte optometrist, set to
appear in federal court Thursday,
faces up to 10 years in prison and a
before the Virginia Tech game.
Freshman Ronald Bilbao, the
enhancement officer in Cobb
Residence Hall, worked with the
community government and the
elections board to distribute a
voter education pamphlet to resi
dents, as well as establish a polling
station at Cobb the sixth one on
campus.
“I know the polling place had cup
cakes for anybody who voted,” said
freshman Berkley Webster, a Cobb
resident who voted. “That probably
enticed people to come out”
The measure proved effective, as
55 percent of the Cobb community
voted in the election, Bilbao said.
Former House
Speaker Jim
Black is
expected to
plead guilty
to corruption
charges.
$250,000 fine for charges that he
accepted illegal gratuities.
The Charlotte Observer reported
Thesday that Black intends to plead
guilty. His resignation came as no
surprise in light of an N.C. statute
barring felons from public office.
After allegations of political
impropriety began surfacing in
2005, Black narrowly retained his
position as state representative and
forfeited his speaker seat to Rep. Joe
Hackney, D-Orange, in January.
sports I page 11
CRUNCHED BY TIME
The Tar Heels' lack of experience
in playing in close games down
the stretch proved too much to
overcome during Tuesday's loss
to the Virgina Tech Hokies.
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2007
Although Bilbao tried to help
Brewer establish polling sites in
every residence hall, RHA President
Denny Lyons said the halls needed
more time to enact such a measure.
“We usually require a month
to organize things, and Jim and
the board only came to us a week
before the election,” he said.
“To organize polling stations in
each dorm would require the entire
community government to orga
nize in less than a week and ensure
that each member give up time to
ensure they get certified.”
Lyons said the idea would have
SEE TURNOUT, PAGE 9
Election has
long history
at University
Began as a result
of rowdy students
BY ERIN WILTGEN
STAFF WRITER
Eve Carson and Nick Neptune
are starting the final duel to be
student body president.
But there was a time when
student government didn’t exist
—and students just dueled for
the heck of it.
At the University’s beginnings,
rowdy student behavior includ
ing fist fights, pranks and even pistol
duels rapidly drew the attention
of the administration. Noneof the
duels were fatal, but many students
were expelled.
“The students were a ram
bunctious lot,” said John Sanders,
former director of the School of
Government, who was elected stu
i 4 n
COURTESY OF WILSON LIBRARY
Members of the University Party wait for the 1957 student election results.
The group was rivaled by the Student Party until both dissolved in the '7os.
The power accumulated by
Black during his time as speaker,
Beyle said, stemmed from his abil
ity to raise and distribute money to
potential supporters in the House.
He said Black helped forge the
competitive, money-driven style of
politics that led to his downfall.
“The cost of running for office in
state government has gone up,” he
said. “It’s not easy.”
John Aneralla, chairman of the
Mecklenburg County Republican
Party, called the timing of Black’s
resignation disappointing and said
he should have come clean before
his 2006 run for re-election.
“I’m not surprised that Black
is being convicted of some type of
corruption charge,” he said.
“The real tragedy is that he
continued to mislead people to
this day in history
FEB. 15.1977...
A student government petition
to the N.C. General Assembly to
legalize the sale of alcohol on
campus gathers 400 signatures,
with the goal of gaining 20,000.
Voter turnout
Tuesday's election saw the highest voter
turnout in campus elections history.
7000 fliSßmflß
6000
& 5000
4000 fillip
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1000 j ’
*Ol *O2 *O3 04 05 07 08
SOURCE: BOARD OF ELECTIONS
DTH/ALLIE WASSUM
dent body president in 1950. “They
tended to engage in various pranks
or activities to amuse themselves.”
In response to the misbehavior,
particularly the duels, the Board
of Trustees implemented a system
of student monitors in 1805, and
the seeds of student government
were formed.
The students despised the new
monitors system, which required
the chosen monitors, among other
duties, to report on fellow students
when they skipped class, missed
church or swore.
The Dialectic and Philanthropic
Societies debating groups that
formed in 1795 and constituted the
entire student body between the
two of them developed an unof
ficial judicial nature in the 1830s.
The societies were the first to
elect student leaders and to gov-
SEE ELECTIONS, PAGE 9
the point that he still was elected,
then resigned, and the Democratic
party will be able to replace him.”
Michael D. Evans, chair
man of the Mecklenburg County
Democratic Party, said a replace
ment probably will not be chosen
before March. Of the three people
who had expressed interest in the
post as of Wednesday afternoon,
only one— Jack Flynn, who ran for
Congress in 2004 against U.S. Rep.
Sue Myrick, R-N.C., was willing
to make his interest public.
Aneralla said the state’s politi
cal environment should serve as
a springboard for dialogue about
Democratic control in Raleigh.
Both parties agreed that the
case signals a need for new ethics
SEE BLACK, PAGE 9
weather
Partly
-V- V, cloudy
. , H 42, L2l
index
police log 2
calendar 2
games 9
sports 11
opinion 12