VOLUME 115, ISSUE 142
UNC worker gets murder charge
Arrested for Food Lion-lot shooting
BY TED STRONG
SENIOR WRITER
James Kenneth Imonti was
shot and killed Monday night in
front of a Food Lion in Carrboro.
The man arrested in the murder
was a UNC employee, according
to a statement from the Carrboro
Police Department.
The police have arrested Garland
Mcßay King Jr., 65, of 900 Sesame
Road, and charged him with first
degree murder, according to
Carrboro police reports.
MAIN STREET IDENTITY
CHANGES AS TOWN GROWS
COURTESY OF NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION. UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA LIBRARY AT CHAPEL HILL
The 1948 view of Franklin Street looking west bears few similarities to the view in 2008, with the post office (right) a constant. Just north of the campus's McCorkle Place, the street
is known for the 100 block of college memorabilia stores and restaurants. Chapel Hill's central business district is home to celebrations on Halloween and after major basketball wins.
Downtown Partnership seeks growth plan tips
BY SARA HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
Franklin Street is Chapel Hill’s bridge.
It is a bridge from UNC to the town of
Chapel Hill and a bridge from the present
into the past.
The street in the center of downtown is
trying to maintain that status as the once
small town grows around it
“We typically grow outwards as a com
munity and neglect those things that have
been with us for longest," said Rodney
Swink. director of N.C. urban develop
ment.
Labor practices examined
UNC questions
New Era factory
BY CAROLINE DYE
STAFF WRITtR
A UNC committee recom
mended Ttiesdav that the chancel
lor give the New Era Cap company
an ultimatum to allow labor rights
monitoring organizations into its
Mobile, Ala,, factory.
The Buffalo, N.Y.-based com
pany produces baseball caps for
several major universities. It has
refused to allow the Worker Rights
Consortium, composed of worker
advocacy groups and universities
that license their logos, to inves
tigate claims of labor violations in
the Alabama factory .
Several UNC students traveled
to Alabama earlier this month as
part of United Students Against
Sweatshops' efforts to raise aware
ness of reported factory violations.
STUDENT ELECTIONS 2008
page 9
Senior dass president candidate Josh
Criscoe, with runningmate Megan
Compton, wants to get "back to the
core* of senior year. And Michael
Miller runs uncontested for
Residence Hall Assoriation president.
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
(The lath} ®ar Heel
Imonti, 59. was reportedly
King's son-in-law, according to the
statement
King told police he's an employee
of the UNC School of Medicine,
reports state, and UNC spokes
woman Lisa Katz confirmed
that a Garland M. King, age 65,
is employed by the School of
Medicine.
The shooting came at the end
of “an ongoing family dispute,'
according to the statement.
“You definitely got the feeling
Today, leaders from the Chapel Hill
Downtown Partnership will go to the annu
al N.C. Main Street Conference in Rocky
Mount to learn new and progressive ideas
to help maintain Franklin Street’s cen
tral role, Assistant Director Meg McGurk
said.
‘This is the heart of downtown and the
spirit of downtown.’ McGurk said. “Going
to the conference is really about the profes
sional development of our organization. We
want to learn about the new ideas commu
nities that are similar to Chapel Hill have
employed.”
Background on the labor dispute
1999: UNC creates a licensing
labor code to guarantee fair labor
conditions for workers producing
UNC merchandise.
2001: UNC suspends the
licensing contract of New Era
because of compliance violations
at the New Derby, N.Y., factory.
“Any pressure on New Era is
positive,’ said Salma Mirza, an
organizer for the campus group
Student Action with Workers.
Mirza traveled to Mobile with
USAS. She is also a member of the
University’s Licensing Labor Code
Advisory Committee, which made
the recommendation Tuesday.
Derek Lochbaum, director of
licensing at UNC and co-chairman
of the licensing committee, said
UNC is affiliated with both the WRC,
whose investigation New Era resist
ed, and the Fair Labor Association.
sports | page 7
STRONG START
The UNC men's tennis team began
the 2008 season with two 7-0 vic
tories against Campbell and N.C.
Central. The Tar Heels are ranked
10th nationally.
www.dailytarheel.com |
that it wasn’t just last night," said
Carrboro Police Capt. Joel Booker.
Booker said that it isn't yet clear
how both men came to be in the
parking lot, which is only blocks
from Imonti’s home, but that they
arrived in separate vehicles.
King had a .357-caliber pistol on
his person when he was arrested,
Booker said. Imonti had been shot
once in the upper back at close
range, according to the statement.
He later was pronounced dead at
N.C. Memorial Hospital.
After the shooting, King was
kicking Imonti and screaming
profanities at him, said Jahin Ali,
DTH/ANKIT GUPTA
More than 150 towns, mostly from North
Carolina but also from South Carolina and
Virginia, will be represented, said lan Kipp,
downtown development manager for Rocky
Mount.
The conference will offer ways to deal
with the growth and development issues
that make preserving the historical aspect
of Franklin Street difficult.
Asa community grows, the demand for
more modern accommodations makes it dif
ficult to protect the history that is embedded
in a main street, Kipp said.
“A main street will not be able to host a
shopping mall, which demands large park
ing availability," he said. ‘But a main street
offers an unique shopping experience with
Jan. 19: Students from 15
universities begin three days of
interviewing workers at the Mobile,
Ala., New Era factory.
Tuesday: The Licensing Labor
Code Advisory Committee meets to
discuss New Era’s practices.
another global nonprofit.
Lochbaum said that companies
typically distrust the WRC because
they think it's biased and that stu
dent activists typically distrust the
FLA because it includes corpora
tions in addition to universities and
labor organizations.
“At the end of the day, we all
have the same goal,' Lochbaum
said, adding that all of the organi
zations usually work in concert.
Mirza said New Era has tried to
SEE LABOR RIGHTS, PAGE 5
a UNC grad student who was at
the Food Lion.
“I saw a big African-American
guy yelling at something that was
on the ground, and when I walked
by there was a guy lying on the
ground," she said.
King started pulling on Imonti,
as if trying to drag him, and ended
up pulling Imonti's pants down,
Ali said.
After someone told King to
leave Imonti alone, he went to his
car. which was parked in a handi
capped space, and waited until
police arrived, she said.
King was taken into custody
specialty stores that are only found in that
area."
Swink said growth does not necessar
ily pose a problem to a small-town main
street as long as history is taken into
account.
“Growth doesn't make preservation dif
ficult, but it heightens the need for us to
be aware of our history," he said. “Growth
doesn’t hurt unless we allow growth to take
precedent over everything else.’
Franklin Street is known for its Halloween
celebration and parties following big bas
ketball wins.
Sutton's Drug Store owner John Woodard
SEE MAIN STREET. PAGE 5
Top youth brands add
sexy intimate apparel
BY ABBEY CALDWELL
STAFF WRITER
Abercrombie & Fitch, known
for its risque catalogues boasting
scantily clothed models, is turning
heads again with its new brand of
loungewear and intimate apparel.
Gilly Hicks Sydney.
In the wake of the rise in
loungewear and intimate apparel
marketed toward a younger gen
eration, brands like Gilly Hicks
Sydney are breeding debate.
The brand’s Web site contains
nothing but a video featuring fron
tal shots of young, topless women
and back views of young men
swimming, lounging and hanging
certain delicates out to dry.
According to the site, the video
'shows a lot of skin’ and requires
its viewers to enter their dates of
birth before viewing and seeing
“what we’re wearing under our
clothes.’
City | page
GET 'EM WHILE THEY'RE YOUNG
Eighth graders at A.L. Stanback
Middle School elect Barack Obama
in a mock primary Tuesday. Teacher
Joe Sharp wants to encourage
students to become voters later.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008
without incident, Booker said.
He made a statement to police,
said Carrboro Police Capt. Daryl
Caldwell, but details weren’t
released Tuesday.
King was taken to the Orange
County jail without bail, pend
ing a first appearance in district
court Tuesday, according to police
reports.
Carrboro police seized a variety
of evidence, including King's car,
the pistol, clothing found on the
ground near Imonti and assorted
items from King's car, as well as
SEE SHOOTING, PAGE 5
“It's just a bit
provocative,
undeniably sexy ,
the signature of All-
American cool."
TOM LENNOX, a&f spokesman
But A&F spokesman Tom
Lennox said he does not think
the brand is controversial.
“It’s just a bit provocative,
undeniably sexy, the signature
of all-American cool,’ he said. “If
you were to suggest ‘irreverent,’ I
would agree.’
The company produces five
brands: Abercrombie & Fitch,
abercrombie, Hollister Cos.,
RUEHL No. 925 and Gilly
SEE SEXY, PAGE 5
this day in history
JAN. 30,1986...
The Virginia Cavaliers hand UNC its
first loss of the season, pushing it
from No. 1. This is the second time
in three years UNC won its first 21
games to lose the 22nd.
ONE FREE
BUIE BOOK
INSIDE!
TODAY ONLY. THE
FIRST 10,000 PAPERS
TO BE PICKED UP
ON CAMPUS WILL
INCLUDE THIS
15-CENT VALUE.
Survey
shows
UNC is
open
Says classes allow
free expression
BY MARY COLE ALLEN
STAFF WRITER
An overwhelming majority
of UNC students indicated on
a recent survey that their class
room environments allow for
diverse expression of ideas.
A committee specially appoint
ed by the chancellor constructed
a survey that was given to 5.000
students in September. The ques
tions asked students about their
classroom experiences.
“What the survey shows is
that there is a remarkable degree
of openness at UNC,’ said Steve
Allred, executive associate provost
and chairman of the committee
on academic responsibility .
The results of the survey
showed that 94 percent of almost
1.000 respondents think instruc
tors ‘maintain an atmosphere that
promotes intellectual freedom and
welcomes diverse perspectives.’
Allred added that students
reported encountering more bias
with other students than with
professors in the classroom.
Sophomore Brittany Price said
her English classes are usually
full of free discussion. "I think
UNC is tolerant,’ she said. “You
just have to respect others’
The survey also showed that
political affiliation is not a predic
tor of perceived bias in classrooms,
a view that many people have about
UNC, said senior Matt Hendren. a
member of the committee.
The committee was formed after
the student advisory committee to
the chancellor submitted in March
2007 a “Draft Report on Academic
Responsibility,’ authored primar
ily by then-Student Body Vice
President Brian Phelps, urging the
University to examine the atmo
sphere of intellectual freedom.
Hendren said if students think
they will not encounter a welcom
ing environment in a classroom,
then there is a problem.
“The perception of a problem
is a problem in itself,’ he said,
adding that students who have
a problem are more likely to
respond to a survey.
Summer reading books, such
as ’Approaching the Quran: The
Early Revelations’ in 2002, have
contributed to the outside percep
tion of a bias on campus, Hendren
added. That book became a point
of contention because some said it
violated the separation of church
and state. The issue even became
a national point of interest
The survey also indicated
that 14 percent of students who
responded have experienced or
witnessed situations in which the
classroom environment hindered
the expression of their ideas.
SEE SURVEY, PAGE 5
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police log 2
calendar 2
sports 7
games 9
opinion to