4 TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2008 Parking dispute may resolve BY MAX ROSE ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR Additional downtown parking might be on the way. The Chapel Hill Town Council heard plans at a public hearing Monday which could create up to 130 parking spots off South Roberson Road. The spaces have been part of an ongoing battle between Spencer Young, owner of the office and retail facility The Courtyard at 431 W. Franklin St., and P.H. Craig, the owner of the parking lot next to it. The current plan requires that Craig rent the spaces to Young. Scott Radway. who said he was speaking on behalf of Craig, asked the council to consider releasing Craig from the special use permit and rezoning the parking lot area. “Mr. Craig hasn't been paid for two and a half or three years," Rad way said. Craig has closed the spaces off to patrons and tenants of The Courtyard, causing the council to issue parking permits. The parking lots have remained DSI FESTIVAL FROM PAGE 3 school's improv group. Witt's End, frequently attends the festival. “One of the biggest draws for us are the workshops," Ashley said. “It’s really cool for us to watch other groups. Performing in front of so many other people gives you this nervous but really exciting energy." John Reitz, assistant coach for UNC's Chapel Hill Players, said one of the most beneficial aspects of the festival is the opportunity for student improv groups to interact. “Improv is a collaborative art form. When you're up on stage you're CAMPAIGN FROM PAGE 3 mum amount necessary to receive matching funds and how to factor in election capital, such as cam paign signs and stakes. Many were concerned about making the pro cess prohibitively complicated. “I don’t want candidates to feel like they have to get a special person to do this correctly." said Mayor Pro Tern Jim Ward. “Simple is valuable." Contact the City Editor j at citydesk@unc.edu. j (ka(w(a campus recreation updite AIIATS COCA-COLA. AIIATS CAROLINA!! S indoor ~ '1 M \ (►) WORK WITH US! H M Emm FEB 25 & 26, spm in Fetzer 109: jll m m Attend an Interest Meeting for Vm !■ M M LMPLQYMLNI at t ie SRC i RHRC Men's. Women's, &Cos Re. • 5 Players /C\ ____ w _. Today is the LAST DAY to sign up! TEST YOUR FITNESS —— FEB 27, 3pm at the SRC PRIME TIME BASKETBALL LEAGUE SHOW OF STRENGTH & ENDURANCE Men's & Women's • b Players One-repetition maximum bene press Today is the LAST DAY to sign up! and P ush U P endurance (ompetitiu- 1 SOFTBALL 0 TRY SOMETHING NEW! Sign up Feb 18-26 FEB 28.4:30pm: YOGA for Beginners at the |BC SCAVENGER HUNT CYCLING for Beginners at RHRC Teams of 4 Sign up Feb 18-26 ESEBBHHr wmmmmmmrnm recreation ■■■BBMiBBiBiM CAROLINARUGBY ,-UNC vs University of Georgia f ! Location Ehnnghaus Field T me Ipn ~3pm (fi-S.deMatch % £ -' „y ** I .t. % " i Women s Club Soccer H? , < ■ - sSps' •; Heels vs Rams • Eefc 24 2prr I ’L * *"* * ' ' C tLocation Ehnnqhaus Fieic closed despite efforts by the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership to mediate a resolution to the con flicts between Craig and Young. “This application gives Mr. Craig an ability to mow forward, too, and we think that’s really important," Partnership Executive Director Liz Parham told the council. The council and mayor expressed optimism that the application would be quickly approved and would help add parking to downtown. “One of our requests tonight is to go forward with an expedited review," Radw ay said. Parham suggested that the coun cil rezone even more space than Radwav proposed from residential to downtown zoning. “It’s actually a nice little foot print that could be extended," she said. The Downtown Partnership is paying for a comprehensive park ing study to address resident and business concerns of access to free parking, although there are already more than 3.000 spots downtown. creating something with someone else." he said. “You can learn from someone who you newr would haw gotten to meet otherwise." And university improv groups aren't the only ones that have made the festival an annual ritual. “The first year we did the festival we were also anew group, so now we consider it a mini anniversary for ourselves,” said Curtis Gwinn, a member of New York City' improv troupe, Death by Roo Roo. “You make these friends that you only see at this festival, and one of the great things about it is to get out of New York and go somewhere else." The festival also will feature many LAW SCHOOL FROM PAGE 3 commit, and a design and physical plan have yet to be confirmed. ‘One of the things that w eighed against this choice was a lack of specificity about Carolina North," Boger said. But Boger’s decision to make the law school one of the first tenants could be enticing for others. “The fact that the law school is there as an academic unit would make it more appealing to us and ... any academic unit," said “Part of that parking study is to look for under-utilized sites," she said. Last week the council heard public concerns about changes to the downtown towing ordinances which would make it more dif ficult for tow truck operators to work in the area. Towing is a major concern downtown, where many park ille gally when they can’t find legal parking spaces. The council had already given patrons of The Courtyard, which includes Loco Pops and coffee and wine shop 3Cups, several spaces to help ease what owners have said is a threat to business. The beginning of the council meeting Monday was filled with people in orange shirts who showed up to support the application of the Orange United Methodist Church to build anew sanctuary and park ing, which may be used as a park and ride lot for the University'. Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu. newcomers, such as the 10-member Chicago group Blue Shampoo. “Between the 10 of us, we re con nected to nearly every other improv group in Chicago,” said Linsey Falls, a member of the troupe. “But in a place where we are one of 60 groups, it’s a whole different playing field." Ward said while he is pleased with the festival’s expansion, he wants the growth to continue. “Staying the same is not good enough," he said. “I’m in a place where I’m excited that I don’t know' what’s going to happen next* Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu. Mike Smith, dean of the School of Government, adding that the law school would give Carolina North a “less corporate-partnership feel." Boger said he thinks other pro fessional schools and a planned Centers and Institutes building would be appropriate neighbors. But it will be several months, at the least before another decision is made. So until then, the law school remains the only academic group to tie its name with Carolina North. Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu. News National and World News FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL H.W. Bush lends name to McCain HOUSTON (AP) - John McCain picked up former President George H. W. Bush’s support Monday, a critical bless ing by a pillar of the Republican establishment whose members aren’t completely sold on the party's next standard-bearer. In endorsing McCain, the patriarch of the Republican political dynasty sent a strong message to a party base wary of the Arizona senator because of his reputation for bucking the GOP on several high-profile issues. Obama accused of plagiarizing DE PERE, Wis. (AP) - Top advisers to Hillary Rodham Clinton accused Democratic rival Barack Obama of plagia rism Monday, the latest effort by her campaign to undermine the Illinois senator's credibility’. The Associated Press reported in January that Obama had bor rowed ideas and speech points from Massachusetts Gov. Duval Patrick, often without attribu tion. Clinton's campaign is using this example in an attempt to chip away at the premise of his candidacy. PERDUE FROM PAGE 3 in our state is one of the best in the country, we all know that. And the shared vision now ... not just of workforce training and retrain ing, but also in terms of outreach for teaching educators and helping them grow the educational person nel and quality of teachers across the state it’s critical. I believe our public schools are moving in the right direction, I really do believe that. ... We need to work on. work seriously on giv ing kids a reason to stay in school rather than encourage them to be so disenchanted they drop out. My North Carolina college promise will help give them that Carolina’s ovr 12* AhhUkl Awkrds IsStK c^°S•<*, *** a, # . ~ _ . it SAOpm. One entiy pe, person tnapd hi restaurant group ciMNirvc ff Oho nmnur ml bo chosen st a random JtAllnY O damng and announced n our spmaai ■ - ' ___ Caroina'sfinaat Award asue VtokmOo), March 10,2006. AnyOTHmadarisaegiblelowin. U.S., European powers recognize Kosovo, widening rift with Russia BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) The U.S. and the European Union’s biggest powers quickly recognized Kosovo as an inde pendent nation Monday, wid ening a split with Russia, China and some EU members strongly opposed to letting the territory break away from Serbia. The rift was on view for a second day at the U.N. Security- Council, which was holding an emergency session to discuss the declaration of independence issued Sunday by Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority. Ethnic Serbs rallying in north Elections favoring opposition parties ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) President Pervez Musharraf appealed for national unity Monday as early unofficial returns showed the opposition doing well in parliamentary elections aimed at bolstering democracy- and calming politi cal strife. But after fear and apa thy kept millions of voters at home, there were worries no clear winner would emerge, resulting in a government too fragmented to rally the nation against Islamic extremists. Final official results were not expected before Wednesday. hope, I believe. You’ve got to pay teachers more, too. DTH: In North Carolina there’s solid health care in the metropoli tan areas, but it’s lacking in rural areas, and everywhere it's expen sive. What should be done? Perdue: Health care got me into politics. It’s why I first chose to run for public service, public office. And it’s been a pas sion of mine. As the next gover nor, I'm going to make sure that every child in this state has health insurance. I’m going to be sure that low wage, hardworking North Carolina families have access to health insurance and that we make health insurance available at a different dhr Daily (Tar Hrrl em Kosovo angrily denounced the United States and urged Russia to help Serbia hold on to the territory that Serbs consider the birthplace of their civiliza tion. Protesters also marched in Serbia's capital, and that nation recalled its ambassador to the U.S. to protest American recognition for an independent Kosovo. The dispute is likely to worsen already strained relations between the West and Russia, which is a traditional ally of Serbia and seeks to restore its influence in former Soviet bloc states. Gun laws could have had impact CHICAGO (AP) - Illinois lawmakers moved swiftly after last year’s massacre at Virginia Tech to make it harder for any one with a history of mental ill ness to buy guns, fortifying what were already some of the nations toughest weapons laws. The new measure does not take effect until June. Whether it would have prevented last week’s bloodbath at Northern Illinois University is far from clear. The measure will require health professionals to inform state authorities about patients who display violent, suicidal or threatening behavior. kind of level premium for small business and single employers —and we do w hatever it takes to recruit and retain a core of physi cians and nurses ... to serve rural and inner-urban city areas ... that we train them in recruitment to serve in rural North Carolina or to serve metropolitan areas by allow ing them to pay off their medical school or nursing school debts. I serve as North Carolina's lead er of the health commission ... so I understand that health care is part and parcel to how you build a North Carolina from the moun tains to the coast with hope and opportunity for everybody. Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.