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% Hatty ®ar Hrrl CORRECTION • Due to a reporting error, Wednesday’s pg. 3 brief, “SFAC approves $lO fee hike to expand on-campus child care,” and online story, “Student fees increasing,” incorrectly stated the action taken at Tuesday’s Student Fee Audit Committee meeting on the pro posed child care and athletics fee increases. Both fee increases were tabled. The Daily Tar Heel apolo gizes for the error. CAMPUS RRIEFS ERP committee unveils new graduate application demo The admissions advisory com mittee of Enterprise Resource Planning met Wednesday to show a prototype of an online system that consolidates all steps of graduate school applications into one place. The meeting brought together Information Technology Services staff with faculty from all profes sional schools to offer input on the graduate application program. ERP is Information Technology Services’ SBB-million project charged with performing a com plete overhaul of the University’s online system. Visit University News at dailytar heel.com for the full story. ABC creates online campus news broadcasting program ABC News is launching an on campus, student-staffed bureau today to develop college jour nalists in conjunction with the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Senior Carly Swain was named the UNC bureau’s chief. ABC News Now, the network’s 24-hour digital network is launching a 30-minute weekly show featuring news segments from each bureau. The program also will have a Web site that will feature students’ work. Reports could also be used in other ABC programs. The program will also have bureaus at Arizona State University, Syracuse University, the University of Florida and the University of Texas-Austin. CITY BRIEFS County hopes brochure will bring more business, jobs Local organization leaders hope an electronic brochure will help Orange County increase its com mercial tax base and bring more jobs to the area. The brochure advertises the county’s assets to businesses that are interested in relocating or are just starting out, and showcases locally-owned businesses. The brochure was created by a partnership of economic develop ment officials from the county as well as from Chapel Hill and Carrboro. STATE RRIEFS Federal probation report finalized; reforms coming A review by the National Institute of Corrections on N.C. probation practices was final ized and released Tuesday after meetings between federal officials and N.C. correction officials in Washington, D.C. The National Institute of Corrections noted a,need for a pre-screening instrument to iden tify high-risk offenders who are assigned to the lowest level of com munity supervision. It also recommended mentoring new staffers, developing a Criminal Justice Coordinating Council made up of community stakeholders and altering statutes to allow for juve nile records to remain open in adult cases. Federal input was requested in May to help reform a proba tion system that allowed Demario James Atwater and Lawrence Alvin Lovette, suspects in the Eve Carson case, to fall through the cracks. Meetings will be held in October with N.C. General Assembly cor rections and appropriations com mittees to determine how to spend the $2.5 million allocated to the department in the state budget. State audit uncovers price gouging for office supplies An audit released by the Office of the State Auditor found that Office Depot overcharged the state by about $294,413 for Office Depot brand items. The report faults the Division of Purchase and Contract for not being more prudent about the con tract. This is not the first time the office supply chain has behaved questionably when negotiating a contract with state governments. “There are numerous reports that Office Depot has engaged in a pattern of overcharging and vio lating state contracts in Georgia, California, Nebraska, Florida, and now North Carolina,” State Auditor Leslie Merritt stated in a press release issued Wednesday. —From staff and voire reports Unique quartet opens season BY BENNETT CAMPBELL ARTS EDITOR Memorial Hall will play host tonight to a distinctive sound one that fuses elements of old-time Appalachian music with those of Chinese folk traditions. Abigail Washburn is set to open Carolina Performing Arts’ 2008-09 season with the Sparrow Quartet, a group that includes Grammy Award winning banjo player Bela Heck. “The music is exquisite. There’s incredible integration of the Eastern style with old-time banjo music,” said Emil Kang, UNC’s executive director for the arts. “It seems to me to be really obvious when you think about folk music and its traditions and this idea of speaking about one’s society and culture.” The 28-year-old Washburn’s sugary sweet but often haunt ■hhn* R 1 * “m |Hlf ~ M wtK wmT iMBHBtt lIRPRRRIIBBBBRriIi BBBHHWI jP COURTESY OF THE SONJA HAYNES STONE CENTER Tommie Smith (middle) and John Carlos (right) accept Olympic medals and raise their arms to take a silent stand against racial injustice in 1968. Olympic medalist kicks off civil rights series BY NATE HEWITT FEATURES EDITOR Having just run 200 meters in less than 20 seconds, Tommie Smith donned a leather glove as “The Star Spangled Banner” played loudly in the background. Smith, now 64, won a gold medal for the race at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City. But he is known to most for a clinched fist salute with bronze medalist John Carlos while bowing to receive their medals. Some saw it as a symbol of black pride and solidarity, but Smith said it was a way for him to stand up for all oppressed people. “1968 was the year the current genera tion passed out of innocence the moment when a lot of the cherished myths about American society were really challenged,” said Joseph Jordan, director of UNC’s Sonja Haynes Stone Center. Board debates controversies Pay raise, campus branch are issues BY ELIZABETH DEORNELLAS SENIOR WRITER Two high-profile controver sies sapped the attention of many UNC-system officials this sum mer, but the system’s Board of Governors would like to put the issues to rest System officials have confronted public outrage concerning Mary Easley’s large pay raise from N.C. State University as well as ongo ing debate about an unauthorized N.C. Central University branch campus based out of an Atlanta area church. “The president and the staff at General Administration has worked very, very hard this summer and most of them have worked throughout their vaca tions because we had so many unusual things going on,” BOG Chairwoman Hannah Gage said. However, other system offi cials said the controversies didn’t push any ongoing efforts from the General Administration’s agenda. “I think that we clearly work very hard in this building and that Top Nows ing voice will be on display along with her skills on the clawhammer banjo, an instrument she familiar ized herself with after hearing a recording of N.C. bluegrass musi cian Doc Watson. Fleck produced Washburn’s debut album, “Song of the "Raveling Daughter,” and has been a member of the Sparrow Quartet since its inception in 2005. “Bela is a master,” Kang said. “The world’s great musicians are the ones who keep reinventing themselves and looking for new ideas and are never satisfied with resting on their laurels. Bela Heck is one of those people.” The Asian influence in the work presented by Heck, Washburn and the other quartet members cel list Ben Sollee and bluegrass fiddler Casey Driessen is clearly evident BOLD MEDAL Famous gold medalist Tommie Smith will give a talk tonight. Smith said he has had a rewarding career as a coach, educator and human rights activist These days, Smith is retired and lives in Stone Mountain, Ga., with his wife Delois. He spends his time traveling the world to speak about civil and human rights. He part of our responsibility is deal ing with situations as they arise,” said Jeff Davies, chief of staff to UNC-system President Erskine Bowles. “It’s our job.” The board’s audit committee will discuss NCCU’s program today, but it is unclear if any action will be taken. General Administration reviewed educational programs at all of the system’s 17 campuses and did not find any other such hidden programs. General Administration offi cials are in the process of conduct ing a full audit on the N.C. Central branch campus, an effort that has affected their agenda. “We’ve focused so much on growth and accommodating more and more students that in many ways we haven’t given that same attention to operations,” Gage said. “We have to get our house in order; we have to get our physical house in order.” As the board moves through its agenda today and tomorrow, it will have to settle the dispute regard- in songs like “Taiyang Chulai,” in which Washburn sings in Mandarin, a language in which she is fluent. “What she does is so unique, blending Chinese traditional music and lyrics with old-time music,” Kang said. “And if you listen to it, it sounds like it was meant to be, and not everyone can pull that off.” Heck’s big-name appeal reach es a wide range of people, among them is first-year student Meghan Howard. “I am so excited to see this col laboration of virtuosos who have interwoven their wide-ranging musical influences to make a sound like no other,” Howard said. But despite the music’s multiple connections to North Carolina, the other members of the quartet might not immediately be familiar to locals and UNC students. ATTEND THE DISCUSSION Time: 7 p.m. today Location: Stone Center Info: http://sonjahaynesstonectr.unc.edu/ recently returned from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Smith said he still has a passion for athlet ics, but he now focuses more on his second love of education, having earned a degree in social science and a master’s degree in soci ology. Smith will speak at 7 p.m. today in the Stone Center about the landmark moment, its impact and how the world has adjusted 40 years later. “People today have enough critical dis tance to say what they couldn’t say in 1968 or even 1988,” Jordan said. “By looking back and making sense of it, we can be the ben- SEE SMITH, PAGE 4 The gesture is remem bered as a silent protest that was ahead of its time. It stood as a reminder that while the civil rights movement was under way, blaclj Americans still faced injustices in their everyday lives. “Many people look at it as a black power stand,” Smith said. “But I look at it as the empowerment of man— the empower ment of humanity.” “We have to get our house in order; we have to get our physical home in order.” HANNAH GAGE, BOG CHAIRWOMAN ing Easley’s 88 percent raise. This summer Easley’s pay for her position as executive-in residence and senior lecturer rose from $90,300 to $170,000, prompting a review of university salaries. Today the committee on person nel and tenure will discuss whether Easley’s raise should be kept or cut, and the entire board will vote Friday. BOG members recognized Easley’s qualifications for her posi tion, expressing more concern that NCCU officials did not disclose the existence of an unaccredited branch campus. “Avery critical look will be taken at that,” said BOG member Phil Dixon. Contact the Projects Editors at dthprqjects@gmail.com. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008 ATTEND THE SHOW Time: 7:30 p.m. today Location: Memorial Hall Info: www.carolinaperformingarts. org Still, according to Carolina Performing Arts’ Web site, the per formance is nearly sold out “We pride ourselves in that that people are taking chances to come in and see things that are unfamiliar,” Kang said. “What we’re all about its looking to spark new ways of thinking and a global understanding, and how great is it that we’re looking at a tradition that’s really so meaning ful to our location here.” Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu. Influential council member takes leave Will deal with health concerns BY ANDREW CUMMINGS STAFF WRITER The Chapel Hill Town Council member who introduced a motion to riiake Martin Luther King Jr. Day an official town holiday almost 25 years ago was not in his usual chair Monday. Council member Bill Thorpe will be taking an indefinite leave of absence from the council to deal with health concerns. Thorpe told the council in a let ter that his timetable for return is unclear. Thorpe is in his third term on the council after serving from 1977 to 1981 and 1983 to 1987- Thorpe’s tenure on the council has been defined by strong stands on civil rights. Because of Thorpe’s efforts in 1984 with the MLK holiday, Chapel Hill was the first town in North Carolina to acknowledge the holiday. In 2005, Thorpe played a OWASA: Water safe to drink Chemical levels higher after rain BY JEFF WOODALL STAFF WRITER Rain might be the cause of elevat ed levels of two potentially harmful chemicals that were recently discov ered in the Orange County public water supply. “When a drought ends, many areas see higher levels of chemi cals when it starts to rain,” said Ken Loflin, water supply and treatment manager for Orange Water and Sewer Authority. “Decomposed organic matter gets washed into our reservoirs and reacts with the chlorine to form these chemicals.” Even with the higher levels, the water in Orange County is still safe to drink, Loflin said. In early August, OWASA col lected water samples from various locations around Orange County. The test discovered that of the 19 sites tested, 14 had abnor mally high levels of either triha lomethane or haloacetic acid, or both. The chemicals are mainly by products from water treatment, when organic matter reacts with the chlorine, which OWASA uses as a disinfectant, Loflin said. He speculated that runoff from maintenance being done on OWASA equipment could also have been a factor. With the current chemical level, someone could develop cancer only in the rarest of circumstances, Loflin said. “If a person drank two liters of water for their entire lives, with the average lifespan of 70 years, they would only have a one-in-a-mil lion shot of having that happen,” he said. “And that’s with the chemical levels in the water being higher than normal.” Federal guidelines require chemical levels in water to be kept under 80 parts per billion for triha lomethane and 60 parts per billion for haloacetic acids. To keep water safe, sewage and water agencies like OWASA test their localities four times during the year. The average of the test results is used to determine if an area follows federal guidelines for safe drinking water. “Only a minority of water systems that are tested have a problem, and we allow areas to work on the problem for months before we issue a notice,” said Alex Gorbounov, an environmental engineer for the N.C. Division of Water Quality. Ammonia is usually added to treat systems before they become overly contaminated. This might be used in Orange County if simi lar results are found in the future, Loflin said. OWASA is planning to retest the same areas next week and has con tacted residents living in areas with elevated levels of trihalomethane and haloacetic acids. Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu. Council member Bill Thorpe, a civil rights advocate, does not know when he will return to the council. crucial role in the process of changing the name of Airport Road to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Most council members found out about the leave when his let ter was read at Monday’s council meeting. “All of us are deeply saddened that he is taking the leave of absence and we all hope he makes a speedy recovery,” council member Matt Czajkowski said. Council member Mark Kleinschmidt said that Thorpe is known for his strong leadership on issues such as thoughtful land use. “We will certainly miss his leadership on several issues,” Kleinschmidt said. “He is the con- SEE THORPE, PAGE 4 3
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