Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Oct. 3, 2007, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
VOLUME 115, ISSUE 85 N.C. defers to courts Death penalty debate still in air BY ARIEL ZIRULNICK STAFF WRITER The N.C. Council of State, after meeting Tuesday to determine its role in the state’s ongoing death penalty debate, decided it should no longer have one. The council, made up of N.C. executive officials, named the state’s legislature and courts as arbiters of the hot-button issue, which it began struggling with in February. With no resolution from the council, the politically charged ENGAGEM ENTS Senior couples plan out futures BY CINDY PORTER STAFF WRITER His dream was to attend Ohio State University, but love changed his mind. Senior economics major Chris Bloom fell in love with Carolina four years ago both the University and his fiancee, now junior Carolina Ayala. Bloom moved to Raleigh from Ohio more than a decade ago. And though he had planned to return to Ohio for college, he said he’s con tent with staying in the area. “It’s not a sacrifice,” Bloom said. “I have something better.” Bloom, who proposed to Ayala on June 4, said they are getting married this summer and living together in Baity Hill while she completes her degree. Some UNC couples say they are ready and willing to compromise their future plans to make their relationships work. Seniors Andrew Brown and Jenn Young have been dating since high school and are planning to get married after they graduate. Brown, who is double majoring in political science and peace, war and defense, said he had consid ered pursuing a job in Washington, D.C., or internationally, but now plans to stay local while Young attends graduate school. Brown and Young are also plan ning for the future by attending premarital counseling and taking their parents’ advice in waiting until after graduation to marry. “A lot of people spend a lot of time on the wedding but not on the marriage,” Brown said. But senior Danielle Amara said her fiance might have to make the biggest sacrifice. Amara, 28, plans to marry Chapel Hill resident Kevin Clark, 36, after she graduates in December of 2008. She wants to pursue a grad uate degree in forensic psychology, which is not offered at UNC. “He’s a little reluctant to leave, SEE ENGAGED, PAGE 4 Moyock upbeat despite negative press Blackwater jogs call for reforms BY REBECCA PUTTERMAN STAFF WRITER At home, company workers train the town police force and eat in local restaurants. Abroad, their employer is accused of unpro voked killings of Iraqi civilians. Blackwater USA, a pri vate military firm based out of CORRECTION Due to a reporting error, Tuesday’s front-page article “Students stable after deadly fire” misidentified one of the victims in the Carrboro apartment fire. Her name is Susan Thome, and she is not a student. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error. <Jh t Daily ®ar Mrri debate will continue to play out in North Carolina as it has in various forms in states across the nation. U.S. Supreme Court delibera tions regarding capital punish ment in Texas and Kentucky are fueling the debate and could have a triclde-down effect on N.C. exe cution protocol. “Obviously this is going to be a major pronouncement on the issue,” UNC law professor Richard Rosen said of the high court’s pending decisions. “It’s an issue that has been per colating through the courts of the country.” Last week the Supreme Court SEE DEATH PENALTY, PAGE 4 IPp I MIHHHk 4 ' i , #• * B ' ~ <Baagß DTH/KATHERIN MACHAIEK UNC senior Chris Bloom, 23, and junior Carolina Ayala, 21, plan to marry this summer after being engaged for more than a year. They will continue to live on campus in Baity Hill while Ayala completes her degree. Moyock, contracts with the U.S. Department of State to provide protective services to officials and diplomats in Iraq. The company’s role in the Sept. 16 killing of 11 civilians, an inci dent that caused tension with the Iraqi government, prompted the U.S. Congress to hold a hearing Tuesday to re-evaluate the use of private military contractors in Iraq. SEE MOYOCK, PAGE 4 CORRECTION Due to a reporting error, Tuesday’s front-page article “Shooting investigation ongo ing” misspelled the White Bar manager’s name. His name is Russell Dula. The Daily Tar Heel apolo gizes for the error. Serving the students and the University community since 1893 www.dailytarheel.com January: The N.C. Medical Board effectively stalls executions in the state by deeming it unethical for doctors to participate in execu tions. State execution protocol requires the presence of a doctor. February: The N.C. Council of State considers the issue and revises the execution protocol to expand the role of doctors in executions. March: The N.C. Department of Corrections, essentially facing a death penalty moratorium due to the lack of available doctors, sues the Medical Board and demands that its Background on Blackwater ► Blackwater has been involved in at least 195 shootings in Iraq since 2005, according to congressional reports. ► Contractors fired the first shots in 84 percent of those incidents. ► Blackwater first appeared in the news in 2004, when four employ ees were captured and killed in Fallujah; two charred corpses were online | duilyUirheel.com KID FRIENDLY Anew nonprofit group is raising funds for children's hospitals. ENERGY EFFICIENT Officials promote a statewide month to save energy. PRINTING Anew ITS print lab will open Monday on South Campus. The story so far execution policy not be enforced. August: Senior Administrative Law Judge Fred Morrison Jr. orders the Council of State to review exe cution protocol after hearing com plaints from death row inmates that the issue wasn't considered fully in February. September: An N.C. Superior Court judge rules that the Medical Board lacks the authority to punish physicians for participating in executions. Oct. 2: The Council of State decides the issue should be decided in Superior Court. hung from a bridge. ► On Sept. 16 Blackwater employ ees were involved in a firefight in Baghdad that killed 11 Iraqis and will be investigated by the FBI. > In the days following that incident, the Iraqi government threatened to expel the company. Their security operations in Iraq have resumed. features | page 5 ON THE RISE UNC's Hispanic student popula tion remains small at 4.4 percent of undergraduates, but die num bers more than tripled since 2000 and mirrors statewide growth. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2007 Nightclub’s fate in doubt Visions may close after shooting BY ROSE ANNA LAUDICINA STAFF WRITER The safety and future of Visions Night Club is being questioned after a shooting that occurred there early Monday morning. The six victims from the shoot ing all were released from the hos pital Tbesday in good condition. Visions is closed so that police can continue investigations. Management said that it does not know when the club will reopen or if it will do so at all. Russell Dula, the co-owner and manager ofWhite Bar and Lounge, located next to Visions, said that if the club is alkwed to reopen it will do so exclusively for students. Dula works with Visions to help plan club events. The White Bar and Lounge also closed after the shoot ing, as recommended by police. “The people that were at this event and the people that did the shooting are not indigenous to the UNC community,” Dula said. “They were not frequent patrons to the clubs, they were guests of the host of the party.” Dula hopes that by getting rid of this demographic of nonstu dents Visions can go back to busi ness as usual and try to repair its now-tarnished reputation. Safety concerns also are being raised at other nightclubs located on Rosemary Street. This is the second shooting to occur on Rosemary Street in the last year and a half; the first incident happened in a parking lot next to the former nightclub Avalon on July 29, 2006. In addition to the two shootings, other Rosemary Street incidents, such as a fight at Blend in August that prompted the use of pepper spray for crowd control, have cre ated concerns about dub safety. “Bar fights are something that we respond to occasionally, but it is not an every night occurrence,” said Lt Kevin Gunter, spokesman for the Chapel Hill Police Department Gunter estimated that police respond to bar fights in the desig nated bar area of Chapel Hill about once or twice per week. These fights usually occur around clos ing time and are probably fueled by alcohol consumption, he said. Tickets remain for S.C. game BY KATY DOLL ASSISTANT UNIVERSITY EDITOR Athletic officials have extend ed the registration period for the University of South Carolina foot ball game to 11:59 p.m. today, as some tickets are still available. The 2007-08 student ticket distribution policy required stu dents to register for the game online by midnight Sunday. But after several students said they didn’t know about the sign-up for the Oct. 13 game, officials decided to extend the deadline. “We just had a few people who called and said that they didn’t realize and that they’d like to sign up,” said Clint Gwaltney, associ ate athletic director for ticket and Smith Center operations. Anew ticket policy was unveiled Sept. 21, and registra tion for the South Carolina game opened at 10 a.m. Sept. 24 just three days later. Under the new policy, students can register for games during the last 10 days of each month for the this day in history OCT. 3,2000... Students and faculty celebrate Thomas Wolfe's 100th birthday with a 28-hour reading of his novel "Look Homeward, Angel." The event took two years to plan. DTH FILE/TIMOTHY REESE Visions Night Club remains closed following a shooting that injured six people. Security will be tightened if the club is allowed to reopen. Chapel Hill Town Council mem ber Cam Hill said bar fights aren’t unique to the downtown area. “Bar fights have been happen ing in bars since they have been open,” he said. “It comes with the territory.” But Hill said that isn’t an excuse for the town not to take action against clubs. Dula said that Visions has been congratulated in the past by the town on its security measures and that police have responded to less than 10 skirmishes in the past year. If the club is allowed to reopen, Dula said it will increase security measures by implementing a wand system at the door. The club also plans to look at ways to implement a more structured pat-down system. Dula said club officials believe the person responsible for Monday’s incident was able to enter the club by concealing the small caliber gun on his body in a place that could not be patted down. Gunter said the department will be looking at crime patterns at clubs on Rosemary Street to see if crime incidents there are increasing. In the meantime, Dula said he hopes the White Bar and Lounge will be able to reopen while the investigation at Visions continues. “As we stand now, we don’t want to be a black eye to the city,” he said. Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu. IF YOU SIGN UP * Time: before 11:59 a.m. today Location: tarheelblue.com next month’s home games. The South Carolina game is the only football game that requires stu dents to sign up for tickets. “The deadline already hap pened? I didn’t know about it,” sophomore Erin Hanehan said Tuesday. “This shows how clueless we are about the football tickets policy,” she said, adding that she already had invited a friend to the game. Carolina Athletic Association President Colby Almond said he and his staff passed out fliers, sent informational e-mails, used Facebook and painted cubes to alert students to the new distribu tion system. There are about 12,000 student seats for the game twice as many SEE TICKETS, PAGE 4 weather Showers H 85, L 65 index police log 2 calendar 2 games 5 sports 7 opinion 8
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Oct. 3, 2007, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75