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VOLUME 115, ISSUE 61 00 ONUNI fOR \\\l COMPLFTI FXPFRIENCF iSk VI[HOV sill)tstl()ws * MORF ■ VW.";V I)AHV!,U’HHI HIM KAIKINA Anew tour, qMuty Resilient driver finds his calling BY JOSEPH R. SCHWARTZ SENIOR WRITER DES ALLEMANDS, La.— Hassan Awad has always thought of himself as an ambassador for New Orleans. For years that meant driv ing a taxi and giving out-of towners tours of the French Quarter and the city’s other historic landmarks. Now the points of interest have shifted from monuments to levee breaks, and Hassan finds him self giving a vastly different tour. ONLINE Two videos show Hassan Awad giving a tour and talking about his city. For SSO a person, he’ll bring into focus miles of stagnant debris, abandoned schools and other once vibrant signs of life, all still dormant two years after the most expensive natural disas ter in U.S. history ravaged New Orleans. Hassan doesn’t just show you where the Industrial Canal levee was breached or where water lines remain. The owner of Sahara Trans Inc. wags his finger, raises his voice and beats his dashboard, tell ing you who is at fault, what damage was caused and how it could’ve been prevented. “It is our people is the ones who caused all these problems,” he says of local Rebuilding in New Orleans I New Orleans flooding levels j I . . , Jr . _ . , . , (After Katrina storm surge In New Orleans, only the Garden District has fully returned the same population levels . wimnarf th . since flooding from weakened levees after Hurricane Katrina passed on Aug. 29,2005. ped the levees ' 9 ' 2005) Areas housing historically poorer populations, such as the Lower Ninth Ward, are barren. 0.1-3 ft. I 6.1 -9 ft. a,® -g '1" pjr a I ■ 3.1-6 ft. ■ 9.1 ft. Lake Pontchartraln Naw Orleans housing levels < L y —f- X~4 Represents areas In whkh ■ jLJ population levels have — New Orleans* returned those pre-Katrina HHH) .^o^ KasaMMiA . j 50Ug:G006^^M^S!n^w£ilW Spanish children’s books fulfill dual-language goals BY ANDY KENNEY STAFF WRITER Students in the kindergarten classes at Carrboro Elementary School walked away from their first day of school Monday with some interesting reading material. “La Oruga Muy Hambrienta” might not ring a bell, but perhaps “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” does. Each student received both an English and Spanish edition of Eric Carle’s children’s book, which has sold 12 million copies since 1969. “If you get presented with a Spanish book that you’re not fluent enough to read, it opens up a whole announcement WE'RE HIRING The DTH is accepting applications for new staff. Come to our interest meeting at 4 p.m. Friday in Union 3411 for more information. Applications are available in Union 2409 or at www.dailytarheel.com. ®br latlu ®ar Mrrl if. 11 *-SB w* 4, 111 '— -:•. -v I fk<LH| I*.“'." v \g „. #< ■ 1H MrVHH n . ; k - '■< jßyi jv k 1 vj I If. I DTH PHOTOS/BETH ELY Hassan Awad, standing in front of his FEMA trailer, schedules a time to pick up a customer. A longtime taxi driver, he now gives “Katrina tours." politicians. His lyrical accent rises and falls with his anger at the scene outside the wind shield. But Hassan isn’t just a spir ited guide. He’s a survivor. Thirty minutes into the tour, after diagramming Hurricane Katrina’s path using a Sharpie and an evacuation map, Hassan rounds a comer of a St Bernard Parish neighborhood and says, “You see that FEMA trailer there? That’s the same exact trailer I live in.” An Egyptian immigrant who has called New Orleans home for 22 years, Hassan has given about 160 tours in new world,” said parent Kirsten Barker, who first brought the idea to the school last spring. Barker has two students at Carrboro Elementary and is on the school-improvement team. The book program is part of the school’s continuing efforts to raise literacy test scores and is typical of the school’s bilingual culture, where the automated phone service helps visitors in both English and Spanish. Most signs in the school are posted in both languages. Principal Emily Bivins said about one-third of the school’s pop ulation speaks Spanish at home. State I page 5 CAN I SEE SOME ID? The state seeks to comply with new, controversial federal measures tightening security for issuing driver's licenses. Serving the students and the University community since 1893 www.dallytarheel.com the last year. While many have turned their backs on the destruc tion, isolating themselves in the French Quarter and other districts where the flooding was less intense, Hassan finds himself in the heart of an ongoing disaster every time he hosts anew group. “It hurts,” he admits reluc tantly. “It is not easy. Sometimes I can’t take it. I cry.” Not making ends meet Though the people he drives SEE HASSAN, PAGE 8 Data from Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools indicate that at the start of the last school year, 96 of the 532 students were Hispanic. One of the school’s most notable efforts is its 227-student dual-lan guage program, where a mix of native Spanish- and English-speaking chil dren learn in both languages. The program, which just added a fifth-grade component, has equal amounts of teaching done in Spanish and English. “They’re learning in the language, not just learning the language,” said Shawn Williams, a kindergarten level dual-language teacher. Two years after Hurricane Katrina: a latlg ®ar lini special report, part 3 of 5 Thursday: How race has affected recovery It ' ii - f|g 11 ' 1 . He |Jg Sm* m W tigaßr Hassan stops along a tour to talk to a contractor clearing a lawn in a St. Bernard Parish residence. Hassan often stops to praise rebuilding efforts. Big Easy faces difficult future Residents eye flooding risks BY ERIC JOHNSON SENIOR WRITER NEW ORLEANS-In the city’s Lower Ninth Ward, just INSIDE View “The Long Road Home," a photo story on New Orleans. PAGE 7 are cutting grass. In a landscape reduced to concrete foundations and a The school’s focus on literacy and bilingualism has another driving force. In past years the school has not met certain requirements man dated by No Child Left Behind. “We’re held extremely account able,” Bivins said. Bivins said that part of the rea son for the school’s problems is that the tests do not take into account a child’s native language. In fact, they set benchmarks for minority groups, and if they are not met, the school can be considered “failing.” Eighty-nine percent of Carrboro SEE BOOKS, PAGE 8 sports | page 13 WOMEN'S OPEN Alumni Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long received a wild-card bid to the U.S. Women's Open, making them the first from UNC's women's tennis team. grid pattern of crumbling streets, they’re clearing away overgrown brush on empty lots because they don’t know what else to do. “It’s got to be done,” said a volunteer named Kevin, who was working with the Common Ground Collective. “But it’d be nice to be in a better situation after two years than just mow ing people’s lawns.” Kevin didn’t give a last name but said he dropped out of culinary school in California to come help in New Orleans. He is among an eclectic hand ful of young volunteers from SEE NOLA, PAGE 8 blocks from the repaired and rein forced wall of the Industrial Canal levee, volunteers In September, 2006 CHCCS Total elementary Hispanic Total Percent school students enrollment Hispanic Carrboro 96 532 18% Ephesus 70 438 16% Estes Hills 41 503 8% Frank Porter Graham .... 85 543 16% Glenwood 18 450 4% McDougle 65 586 11% Scroggs 108 708 15% Raskis 33 642 5% Seawell 50 551 9% this day in history AUG. 29,1979... Student Body President J.B. Kelly requests rent rebates for students living in overcrowded double rooms, saying the University should compensate students. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29, 2007 Green efforts top off talks Carolina North to trustees next BY KATE SULLIVAN ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR In a concerted effort to keep up with the University’s sustainabil ity efforts, Carolina North officials addressed environmentally con scious measures at a community meeting Tuesday. The meeting marks the final community presentation before officials present the plans to UNC’s Board of Trustees in late September. Since the last presentation to the trustees in July, Jack Evans, executive director of the project, said there have been only minor refinements to the land-use plan. Carolina North is UNC’s pro posed multiuse satellite campus slated to be constructed on a 900- acre tract of land, where Horace Williams Airport now sits. The complex will include research facilities, a transportation system and housing. Waste and rainwater man agement are important issues to consider for a project the size of Carolina North, said John d’Epagnier of RK&K Engineers, who is involved in planning the satellite campus “We’ve taken to heart the University’s stance that this will be a sustainable project,” he said. Water plans include reusing undrinkable water to irrigate fields, flush toilets and cool buildings. Officials also have proposed on-site wastewater treatment facilities. Developers and engineers are talking with Orange Water and Sewer Authority and UNC’s Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering about working in tandem to complete these green projects. Because the complex will include labs, which are huge energy con sumers, planners have had to look at different energy options. Despite energy specialists’ research into free resources, such as solar and wind energy, power ing the entire development by these means is not entirely feasi ble, said Jerry Schuett of Affiliated Engineers Inc. “The area we’re in isn’t condu cive to capturing wind energy,” he said. Instead, a more viable option being proposed is the creation of a central energy plant that can cut down on energy wasted in trans- SEE MEETING, PAGE 8 weather T-Storms H 92, L 66 index police log 2 calendar 2 games 11 sports 13 opinion 14
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