Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Sept. 23, 2008, edition 1 / Page 8
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8 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2008 (Elj? Sailg (far Mtd Established. 1893, 115 years. ofeditorialfreedom 8 ALEXANDER TROWBRIDGE WHAT IS HOME Senior journalism major from Guilford, Conn. E-MAIL: TROWBRID@EMAILUNC.EDU Kidnap, probation, the kids next door It’s a short drive from campus, a couple minutes down South Columbia, past Highway 54, over to Smith Level Road. On Friday, the lights in Brian Minton’s house were still on, his mom’s shiny Toyota Sequoia still in the driveway. A basketball hoop sat behind the house. I knocked and stepped back COMMUNITY COLUMNIST some. No one answered. Minton was arrested last Monday, one of the six young men charged in the kidnapping and murder of Joshua McCabe Bailey. His parents were charged with helping him and the other suspects move the body. Minton is 18, a 1990 baby. In his mugshot, he still looks young, with dirty blond hair combed over a smooth round face. The other suspects are just a few years older. Bailey was 20. These kids are college-aged. They live in our town, some just a mile or so from campus. The Mintons own the BP gas station down at Glenn Lennox. But their lives and ours are separated, so much so that even after the front page coverage of the bizarre crime story, many on campus still don’t know about it. And we still don’t understand it. I’ve shared what I knew of the puzzle with anyone who would listen. How Bailey was last seen alive on Weaver Street in July. How authorities say Minton’s dad advised the suspects to bum the body with hydrochloric acid and how his mom helped them pick some up at the store. How the guy charged with pulling the trigger, Matt Johnson, told police this month that he, too, had been kidnapped and beaten by Minton and the other suspects weeks after Bailey’s abduction. The response: “This happened in Chapel Hill?” And there was that other ques tion that seems to haunt us these days in Chapel Hill first with the case of 17-year-old Lawrence Lovette Jr. in March. Now with Minton. Wasn’t this guy on probation? Why didn’t we see this coming? A neighbor and friend of the Mintons told me it was sad, but she wasn’t surprised. The first time she knew of Minton shooting a gun was age 12. He’d found his father’s pistol in the glove com partment and fired a hole through the floorboard of his family’s car. At 16, he was one of five charged with the Sept. 2,2006, rape of a 16-year-old girl in Southern Village. The charges brought in May 2007 were dropped because the time between the incident and the arrests had led to inconsisten cies in the evidence. After being released on bond in May, he was jailed again a week later for possessing and firing a 20-gauge sawed-off shotgun in his neighborhood. Earlier that year he’d been caught with cocaine and charged with intent to sell. He was also arrested for having a knife at school. As Johnson described to police Minton threatening his life with a .38-caliber revolver, he recollected prior occasions in which the two had shot AK-47s together. In the second day of his abduction, Johnson was taken to his mom’s house to retrieve a Play Station 2 as collateral. He escaped attempting to secure birthday money for the suspects. It’s eerie when video games and assault rifles make it into the same police report. These kids are college-aged. DTH ONLINE: See a Google SMap pinpointing locations and explaining their importance to the ongoing investigation. AUISON NICHOLS EDITOR, 962-4086 NALUSON@EMAIL.UNC.EDU OFFICE HOURS: MON., WED. 2-3 P.M. ERIC JOHNSON PUBLIC EDITOR EDITORIAL CARTOON By Dylan Gilroy, dgilroy@email.unc.edu What College Students Do instead of MaKing a Difference: Cat ©ood Morning American's 1 f so everyone can see itll ) m Cand T,r the * On the record Congress should keep voting records to ensure accountability, transparency The vote should be unan imous. Unfortunately, without the procedures that Student Congress is voting to enact, the public will never know. Today’s vote on attendance and voting record bills will strengthen the transparency and accountability of Congress if passed. Under the current policy, Student Congress doesn’t usu ally keep any form of voting record or attendance sheets. But two bills that will be voted on today might change that. The decision should be easy. The presence of public voting records on every issue would drastically increase the accountability of every mem ber of Student Congress to his or her respective districts. Currently, there is no way for UNC students to observe In house dialogue Thorp wise, tactful to meet with housekeepers Chancellor Holden Thorp took an admirable and unexpected step in actively mediating recent housekeeper complaints. He confronted his first student protest with tact and progres sive initiative. Students and housekeepers rallied in the Pit on Thursday to protest anew system in which some housekeepers were made to take a day off during the week and work a weekend day without overtime pay. For some this was a hard ship because of difficult week end bus transit, increased childcare costs and difficulty maintaining part-time week end jobs. Protesters intended to deliver a letter of complaint to Carolyn Elfland, associate vice chancellor for Campus Curious commitments Thorps priorities not entirely aligned with those established by the chancellor search committee When new Chancellor Holden Thorp offi cially announces his top priorities for the year on Oct. 12, they’ll look pretty dif ferent from the priorities the search committee that vetted him for the position named as pivotal to the job. That doesn’t mean the chan cellor isn’t doing the job he was hired to do, but the shift is curious. His focus is on campus secu rity, support for the schools of law and education and recruit ing top in-state high school graduates. Opinion AISHA SAAD OPINION EDITOR, 962-0750 SAAD@UNC.EDU DAVID GIANCASPRO ASSOCIATE OPINION EDITOR, 962-0750 GIANCASP@UNC.EDU and examine the votes of their representatives with out attending every Student Congress meeting. And then only someone properly trained in reading lips would be able to develop a proper voting record from the audible yea or nay votes. Voting records will also counteract the possibility of conflicts of interest. A recent controversial vote in Congress over subsequent appropriation funding to Carolina Students for Life dem onstrated the lack of account ability for Congress members. When Carolina Students for Life sought funding for an event, no official record was kept to show that Congresswoman Ashley Tyndall, who is a member of the pro-life group, withdrew her vote. When citizens make deci sions about who to elect to Services, but were pleasantly surprised to find Thorp wait ing to speak with them. We applaud this bold move in which Thorp emerged to meet group members per sonally, assuring that cur rent housekeepers would not be forced to work weekends. Instead he suggested that more housekeepers might have to be hired to accom modate the expansion of resi dence hall cleaning. We commend Thorp for this surprising initiative in addressing the complaints of housekeepers. He listened to demands and offered a solu tion to a problem that has been debated since the University decided to move to have resi dence halls cleaned seven days a week. Thorp’s willingness to None of those appears on the list of eight University priorities the chancellor search committee listed as part of the chancellor position description, except that they all could arguably fall under the umbrella “Create the richest possible learning environment for undergraduate, graduate and professional students.” Most notably absent from Thorp’s list is faculty reten tion and recruitment No. 2 on the search committee list which was always a top pri ority of Chancellor Emeritus James Moeser and is often given as a reason why our EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS LISAANDRUKONIS YANIV BARZILAI BEN BUCK HARRISON JOBE GREG MARGOUS ANDREW STILES SARAH WHITWORTH the U.S. or N.C. Congress, vot ing and attendance records of candidates can be particu larly influential in making an informed decision. In fact, transparency and accountability are fundamental, components of any functioning democratic government. With only 21 current mem bers in Student Congress, 11 UNC students have the ability to make decisions that affect a campus of 28,000. With such a small yet influ ential group representing the student body, it is vital that the general UNC community has open access to the decisions of its representatives. Today’s vote will give Student Congress an opportu nity to demonstrate account ability. We hope that our representatives will vote to end the veil of ambiguity and secrecy. address the problem directly is admirably unorthodox. But we caiyiot be satisfied with just this one accomplishment and ignore the broader scope of the problem. Disputes between house keepers and administration are nothing new, and one state ment cannot settle the problem indefinitely. This is a great first step in setting anew tone for the relationship with housekeep ers. The mediation committee should continue to work with housekeepers to establish favorable working conditions. We should not be compla cent with just a temporary solu tion and hope that Chancellor Thorp will use this first step to initiate an ongoing direct dia logue between housekeepers and the University. tuition dollars have to keep going up. Thorp has moved quickly to define the chancellorship in his own terms, which certainly isn’t bad. After all, the posi tion description also called for an “inspiring, innovative leader” with a “clear vision for higher education, teaching and research.” As the year progresses, we’re interested to see how Thorp will balance his priorities with those the search committee cited as the position’s key val ues, because how he does so will shape UNC’s future. QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I’ve just been kinda crutchin around, not really thinking about much, to tell you the truth.” TJ. YATES, UNC QUARTERBACK FEATURED ONLINE READER COMMENT: “Someone once said, 'Chapel Hill is a place where all views and perspectives under the sun are welcomed and encouraged ...as long as you are a Democrat.’Fitting?” ON 'GOOD MORNING, CHAPEL HILL' LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Gillings' contribution will make a great difference TO THE EDITOR: On Friday, the UNC School of Public Health will be named the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, in recognition of a SSO million gift to the school from Dennis and Joan Gillings. Asa lifelong North Carolina resident and graduate of the school, I could not be more grate ful for this generous act. The gift will strengthen the school’s impact by funding innovative research and interventions on issues such as our state’s mental health system and safe water sys tems in developing countries. Asa member of the committee advising the Gillings program, I have had first-hand insight into how the investment is being lev eraged to bring about meaning ful change. I hope UNC students and alumni will join me in thank ing Dennis and Joan Gillings for making such an important investment in public health! Melissa Watt Class of’oß Carolina athletic rituals are stale, need changes TO THE EDITOR: With the election upon us there has been much talk about change. However our country is not the only thing in need of change. I speak of course of our rituals at Carolina athletic events. To the band directors and pre game DJs: New songs are need ed. You guys make it so hard for me to get excited about being at said events. I know everyone in your band has seen “Drumline” at least twice. That being said, I know for a fact the band can play more than “Who Are You,” “Let Me Stand Next to Your Fire” and other seemingly random songs that do not get the crowd hyped. Do I have better suggestions? I’m so glad you asked. How about: “Jump On It,” “Tear it Up,” “Let Me Clear My Throat,” “Jungle Boogie,” “Lean Wit It Rock Wit It,” and the list goes on. Come on! Let’s get it together! And before basketball season even starts, I feel the need to address the issue with our illustri ous Wine and Cheese “fans” who decide to leave before the game clock says double zero. Our men’s basketball pro gram has the privilege of having all of their games on television. Ladies and gentlemen, let me be the first to say: It does not look good when we have a mass exo dus out of the Dean Dome before the game is over. Why are there not more student seats closer to the floor like at other schools? Students should not be sitting in the nosebleed sections. Matt Burney Sophomore Sports Administration Campus Y, Career Services help students find funding TO THE EDITOR: Campus Y and University Career Services have designed a new interface to the Grant Source Library that will help students find funding for their summer travel and service work. Using the link below, also found on the Campus Y home page and the internship page of the University Career SPEAK OUT WRITING GUIDELINES: ► Please type: Handwritten letters will not be accepted. ► Sign and date: No more than two people should sign letters. ► Students: Include your year, major and phone number. ► Faculty/staff: Include your EDITOR'S NOTE: Columns, cartoons and letters do not necessarily represent the opinions of The Daily Tar Heel or its staff. Editorials reflect the opinions of The Daily Tar Heel edito rial board. The board consists of seven board members, the associate opinion editor, the opinion editor and the editor. Wtft laily ®ar Mrel Services Web site, students can search the most extensive listing of funding opportunities at UNC and beyond our campus. We encour age all students thinking about international travel next summer to use the new interface to find the support they might need. The link is cateers.unc.edu/ unc_fimding.html. Casey Beckner and Jeff Chen Campus Y Co-Presidents Criticism of 9/11 front page wrong, unfounded TO THE EDITOR: While I completely agree that 9/n should be a day of mourn ing and respect for those who lost their lives, I disagree with the criticism of the DTH’s front page coverage. 9/11 has somehow become a sacred cow of sorts, most clearly exemplified by the failure of the media to question the Bush administration in the 9/11 after math. Whenever the media says something that is considered not respectful enough or inappropri ate in the context of 9/11, they are widely criticized. In 2003, this led to the U.S. invading another country, virtu ally unquestioned by the media. The media failed us, and we failed each other. Haven’t we progressed since then? Surely the DTH should be allowed to run the story they did on 9/11 without being vilified. Pete Miller Junior Political Science, Public Policy Compared to Obama, Palin has little experience TO THE EDITOR: I was disgusted to hear that a McCain sticker on the car of one of the few conservatives on the campus was “keyed” over the weekend (“McCain supporter sick of Democratic intolerance,” Sept. 18 letter). Ms. Winstead is right that this is totally unaccept able behavior. I am sorry her car was vandalized. Everyone should have the right to display their beliefs without fear of damage to their property or themselves. Ms. Winstead then went on to comment on intolerance and liberals’ refusal to recognize, among other things, that her vice presidential candidate has held elected office three times lon ger then the liberal presidential candidate. Really? Let’s compare elected office experience. Obama spent eight years as an Illinois state senator represent ing a district with more than 750,000 people. He has been in the United States Senate for four years repre senting a state of 13 million people. Palin was a local weather girl and a beauty queen. She spent four years on a small town city council and six years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people. She has spent 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people. Conservatives may have valid arguments as to why their candidates are quali fied to lead this nation, but to compare Palin’s experience to Obama’s is laughable. John M. Collier Clinical nurse, UNC Hospitals department and phone number. ► Edit: The DTH edits for space, clarity, accuracy and vulgarity. Limit letters to 250 words. SUBMISSION: ► Drop-off: at our office at Suite 2409 in the Student Union. ► E-mail: to editdesk@unc.edu ► Send: to P.O. Box 3257, Chapel Hill. N.C., 27515.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Sept. 23, 2008, edition 1
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