8
FRIDAY. JANUARY 18. 2008
Gov. takes measure on pesticide exposure
Task force will study health effects
BY CAROLINE DYE
STAFF WRITER
Gov. Mike Easley announced
the creation of anew task force
Wednesday that is aimed at pro
tecting agricultural workers from
pesticide exposure.
The measure comes on the heels
of an N.C. judge s recommendation
earlier this month to lower the fine
levied against Ag-Mart. a Florida
hased tomato grower that exposed
National and World News
FROM THE
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
GOP convention
may he eontested
WASHINGTON. D.C. (AP)
The Republican presidential
race is so unsettled that some
party officials are openly talk
ing of a scenario that seemed
almost unthinkable until now
the first contested GOP con
vention in 60 years.
Even if Republicans choose a
nominee before they convene in
Minneapolis-St. Paul on Sept. 1.
there's a good possibility he will
emerge weeks or even months
after the Democratic nominee
is chosen, giving Democrats an
advantage.
Casino workers
allowed to caucus
LAS VEGAS (AP) A union
with ties to Democrat Hillary
Rodham Clinton failed in court
Thursday to prevent casino work
ers from caucasing at special pre
cincts on the Las Vegas strip.
The ruling by U.S. District
Court Judge James Mahan
was presumed to be a boost for
Clinton rival Barack Obama in
the Democratic presidential
caucuses Saturday because he
has been endorsed by the union
representing many of the shift
workers who will Ik* able to use
the precincts.
Nominations Requested
AWARDS
• '/or excellence in Student Activities & Leadership
Nominations arc encouraged from all members of the University Community
Senior awards Primary area of achievement
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award Humanitarian contribution (onr male, one female)
Irene F. Lee Award Character, scholarship, leadership (female)
Walter S. Spearman Award Character, scholarship, leadership (male)
Frank Porter Graham Award Improving quality of life of the University
community through principles of equality,
dignity and peace
George Moses Horton Award leadership, initiative, creativity in multicultural
education programs
E* F.ugene Jackson Award Member of the graduating class whose leadership
and selfless dedication have strengthened the
class pride and University loyalty, enriching the
lives of seniors, and made the most significant
contribution to the University
John Johnston Parker. Jr. Medal Student self-governance
J. Maryon Saunders Award Recognizes the greatest contribution to the
preservation and enhancement of the feeling
of loyalty and goodwill
Fere bee Taylor Award Recognizes the principle of honor as one of the
University's most hallowed ideals
Junior awards Primary area of achievement
Jane Craige Gray Memorial Award Character, scholarship, leadership (female)
Ernest L. Mackie Award Character, scholarship, leadership (male)
Graduate &
Professional award Primary area of achievement
Boka W. Hadzija Award Awarded to the graduate/professional student
who has been judged most outstanding in
• character, scholarship and leadership
( >THER AWARDS PRIMARY AREA OF ACHIEVEMENT
Ernest H. Abernethy Award Student publications
Cornelius O. Cathey Award Recognizes the greatest contribution to the
quality of campus life or the efficacy of
University programs for students through
sustained, conservative participation in
established programs, or through creative,
persistent effort in development of new programs
Gladys & Albert Goates Award Given to a member of the Student Congress
judged most outstanding on a criteria oT
statesmenship. commitment and constructive
involvement in issues affecting the quality of
the University community
Robert B. House Distinguished Unselfish commitment, through services to the
Service Award University and to the surrounding area
International Leadership Award The Class of 1938 Joseph F. Patterson, Jr. and
Alice M. Patterson International Leadership
Award for international awareness and
understanding
Jim Tatum Memorial Award Athletics plus co-curricular activities
James O. Cansler Service Award Presented to a junior or senior whose faith has
inspired outstanding service to the needs of
humanity, locally or abroad
Nominations Due Friday, February 8, 3008, SPM
Nomination Forms Available Online www.unc.edu/chancellorsawards
For More Information Contact Tammy Lambert, 966.3128
its workers to pesticide toxins. The
$184,500 fine had been the largest
in N.C. history.
Melinda Wiggins, executive
director of Student Action with
Farmworkers, a Durham nonprof
it that works with college students
in the Triangle area, said she wel
comes the idea of the task force.
“Pesticide exposure is a huge
problem." she said, adding that the
Ag-Mart case has brought the issue
Economic stimulus could include
tax breaks, not permanent tax cuts
WASHINGTON. D.C. (AP) -
President Bush told congressio
nal leaders privately on Thursday
he favors personal income tax
rebates and tax breaks for busi
nesses to help avert a recession,
officials said, as Federal Reserve
Chairman Ben Bernanke joined
in calls for an economic stimulus
package.
Bush spoke with congressio
nal leaders as top House aides
worked on an economic rescue
package that included more
money for ftxxl stamp recipients
and the unemployed as well as
tax rebates and cuts.
Crash landing at
Heathrow airport
LONDON (AP) - A British
Airways jet from Beijing car
rying 152 people crash-landed
Thursday, injuring 19 peo
ple and causing more than
200 flights to be canceled at
Europe's busiest airport.
Investigators will speak to
the pilots and study the plane's
flight data recorder and main
tenance records to determine
what caused the crash land
ing at Heathrow airport, tear
ing the plane’s underbelly and
damaging its wings.
Nothing suggested it was
terror-related, according to
Scotland Yard.
to light. “If they work on a tradi
tional farm in North Carolina, they
will be exposed to pesticide."
Wiggins also said many advo
cates believe the pesticide exposure
of Ag-Mart employees caused birth
defects in the several of the work
ers' children.
But Bob Krieger, a toxicologist
at the University of California at
Riverside who specializes in pesti
cide exposure and risk assessment,
said he thinks much of the fear of
pesticides is overblown.
“The public is so poorly informed
Officials described the devel
opments on condition of ano
nymity until a formal announce
ment was made, and no further
details were immediately avail
able about the size of the rebates
or components of the emerging
package.
One official said the president
did not push for a permanent
extension of his 2001 and 2003
tax cuts, many of which are due
to expire in 2010. That would
eliminate a potential stumbling
block to swift action by Congress
since most Democrats oppose
making the tax cuts permanent.
Bin Laden’s son
works for peace
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) Omar
Osama bin Laden bears a strik
ing resemblance to his notorious
father except for the dread
locks that dangle halfway down
his back. The 26-year-old does
not renounce his father, al-Qaida
leader Osama bin Laden, but in
an interview with The Associated
Press, he said there is better way
to defend Islam than militancy.
Omar wants to be an ‘ambassa
dor for peace" between Muslims
and the West
Omar —one of bin Laden's 19
children raised a tabloid storm
last year when he married a 52-
year-old British woman.
Naurs
about pesticides, it makes great
politics, ’ he said.
He added that the risk of expo
sure for agricultural workers is
minimal provided that workers
follow label instructions and use
proper equipment and clothing.
“They’re at greater risk driving
their car to work," he said.
He also said that certain groups of
workers interact more directly with
pesticides but wear more equipment
to prevent toxic exposures and that
normal day-to-day exposures are far
below dangerous levels.
Sheila Higgins, manager of occu
pational surveillance for the N.C.
Division of Public Health, said the
state’s increased scrutiny into pesti
cide practices is based on more than
just the Ag-Mart incident
“We’re a prominent agriculture
state," she said, adding that N.C.
farms use a lot of pesticides and
employ a large migrant worker
OLF opposition grows
with Jones resolution
County resists Navy pilot-training site
BY MEGHAN COOKE
STAFF WRITER
In the latest attempt to pre
vent the U.S. Navy from building
a landing field in eastern North
Carolina, the Jones County Board of
Commissioners passed a resolution
Monday opposing the plan.
Seven other N.C. counties have
passed similar resolutions.
Jones County is one of many sites
being considered for the Navy's plan
to build an Outlying Landing Field,
a pilot-training site for aircraft car
rier landings that would serve jets
from naval and Marine air stations
in Virginia and North Carolina.
Sondra Ipock Riggs, vice chair
woman of the Jones County Board
of Commissioners, said an OLF
could be detrimental to the local
economy.
“They (Navy officials) don’t offer
any incentives," she said. “People
just don’t want anything to upset
their livelihood."
But Lt. Karen Eifert, public
affairs officer for the Navy, stated
in an e-mail that the OLF would
create about 52 jobs and require a
$2.8 million annual payroll.
Jones is an agricultural county
with much of its land devoted to
livestock. Riggs said the noise from
the jets would cause the livestock
to huddle together, causing them to
trample and smother one another.
Riggs said Jones County- residents
already have noise from four local
Faculty center seeks leader
Hopes to select director before March
BY SERGIO TOVAR
SENIOR WRITER
A search is under way for the
leader of anew center that soon
will absorb the University’s Center
for Teaching and Learning.
The Center for Faculty’ Excellence
aims to connect faculty' members
with resources across the University
to assist them in becoming better
teachers, researchers and leaders.
Applications are available for
the director position of the center,
which the University hopes will be
up and running in July.
“We want to provide a more
comprehensive set of resources on
campus for our faculty," said Carol
TVesolini, associate provost for aca
demic initiatives.
She added that the center will
absorb and build on the responsi
bilities of the Center for Teaching
and Learning and expand it to
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“Pesticide exposure is a huge problem.
If they work on a traditionalfarm in
North Carolina , they will be exposed.”
MELINDA WIGGINS, executive director of student action with farmworkers
population.
John Price, the director of
the Office of Rural Health and
Community Care at the N.C.
Department of Health and Human
Services, said his office operates a
farm worker health program and
organizes outreach efforts designed
to educate workers on appropriate
ways to work with pesticides.
He said that pesticide exposure
is not a common occurrence but
that migrant workers occasionally
show up at rural health centers say
ing they have been exposed.
Price said those who report
exposure are hosed down and then
military bases in a 60-mile radius. “I
feel like we've been patriotic enough-"
she said, adding that V-22 Ospreys
frequently fly over her house.
But Riggs said that if the Navy
picks Jones County, the board’s
motion will not stop it from build
ing the OLF.
The ongoing battle between N.C.
counties and the Navy already has
resulted in a federal appeals court
ruling that decreed that the Navy
had not completed proper envi
ronmental analysis of its proposed
sites. That ruling was punctuated
by a 2008 defense appropriation
bill that eliminated funding for the
OLF in North Carolina.
Though the Navy was expected to
announce its top potential sites in
November, officials are still consid
ering alternatives.
Audubon North Carolina, the
Chapel Hill-based chapter of a
national conservation advocacy
group, has been involved in the OLF
debate for several years. Executive
Director Chris Canfield said.
Canfield said fuel and toxins
from the jets would damage water
and air quality although the poten
tial environmental damage at any
of the sites would vary.
Canfield said that the Navy plans
for 30,000 operations to fly- in and
out of the proposed landing field
each year and that these jets are
some of the military’s loudest.
Canfield said that the eastern N.C.
include more outreach to support
faculty in research and leader
ship.
The search committee met
Thursday to discuss the qualifica
tions desired in job candidates.
Bill Balthrop, communication
studies professor and chairman
of the search committee, said the
group Ls narrowing its search only to
tenured faculty- members at UNC.
“We’re looking for someone who is
visible and recognized for his vision
and leadership," Balthrop said.
The director will be responsible
for planning the center’s programs,
promoting collaboration between
disciplines and securing funds and
grants.
Balthrop added that he hopes to
select the director by mid- to late-
Februaiy.
The idea for the center came
after Provost Bernadette Gray-
Chr Daily (Tar Hrri
brought to hospitals for further
treatment
Price was appointed to the gover
nor's task force to serve along with
state health, labor and agriculture
officials. The task force will meet for
the first time in February and will
report back to Easley in May.
In a statement released Monday,
Easley- said, “We are bringing our
top experts together to address this
issue, and their recommendations
will make North Carolina a nation
al leader in this area."
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
“People just don’t
want anything to
upset their
livelihood.’'
SONDRA IPOCK RIGGS, vice
CHAIRWOMAN OF THE JONES COUNTY BOARD
OF COMMISSIONERS
communities are a unique ecosystem
that should be protected. “It’s one of
the last strongholds of the state’s last
wildland and wetland."
He said that in the past the mili
tary has successfully made bases
eco-friendly by selecting locations
where operations don’t interfere
with wildlife, such as the area sur
rounding Fort Bragg.
“The state and the Navy- need
to work together to make progress
in determining a site that will best
serve the interests of both the Navy
and the people of North Carolina,"
Republican U.S. Rep. Walter
Jones stated in an e-mail. Jones
represents North Carolina's third
district, which includes several of
the eight counties that have passed
resolutions against the site, includ
ing part of Jones County .
He has publicly opposed the site
along with Beaufort and Washington
counties, but in a March 2007 letter
to the Secretary of the Navy , Jones
stated North Carolina would be
“happy to be the home of the OLF."
Contact the State U National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
“Were looking for
someone who is vis
ible and recognized
for his vision and
leader ship.”
BILL BALTHROP, SEARCH CHAIRMAN
Little appointed a task force to look
for ways to enhance the profes
sional development of faculty- and
to make resources more available
to members of the University.
“The provost asked us to look at
what would make faculty- more suc
cessful on campus," said Patrick
Conway, economics professor and
chairman of the faculty- development
initiative planning committee.
The task force presented a report
in May that made recommenda
tions in three areas research,
teaching and leadership.
Conway said some of those tips
include developing more leadership
and faculty mentoring programs
and providing better research sup
port to associate professors.
Balthrop said the report was
enthusiastically received by both the
faculty- and the administration.
He added that once the director
is hired, the committee will conduct
a nationwide search for an executive
director, who will be responsible for
day-to-day operations.
The executive director position
is needed because the director will
serve only part time so that profes
sorship duties are not overlooked.
“This member could still be
teaching and doing research for
half the time," Balthrop said.
The director would receive a sti
pend, in addition to current salary,
that will be decided after the selec
tion process is completed.
Tresolini said the money now
being appropriated to the Center
for Teaching and Learning will be
used for the new- center’s budget.
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edv.