VOLUME 116, ISSUE 102
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diversions | pag* >
HALLOWEEN TOP FIVES
Diversions has top-five lists of
the best movies, drinks and
things to do all you need for
a spook-tacular Halloween.
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features | pttp?s
JUST DANCE
Students danced with iPods in a
silent disco on Polk Place.
Such parties are growing in
popularity nationwide.
national [ page 9
ON THE ISSUES
See where presidential
candidates stand on
economic issues.
CORRECTION
Due to a reporting error,
Wednesday’s pg. 1 story,
“Congress rejects ethics query
in display funds,” misidenti
fied where concerns with last
week’s anti-abortion display
were voiced. Ryan O’Quinn
addressed his concerns during
Congress’ student affairs com
mittee meeting. The Daily Tar
Heel apologizes for the error.
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ELECTION
COUNTDOWN
3
days left of early and one-stop
voting. For Orange County
locations and times visit
co.orange.nc.us/elect/
onestop.asp#locations.
ELECTION DAY; NOV. 4
this day in history
OCT. 30,1989...
UNC senior Jerry Jones climbs
halfway up the WCHL radio
tower to protest CIA
recruitment on campus.
Today’s weather
Sunny
H 59, L 35
Friday’s weather
Sunny
Q H 66, L4O
index
police log 2
calendar 2
sports 10
nation/world 11
crossword 11
opinion 12
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
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Campus lighting questioned
BY MARY COLE ALLEN
STAFF WRITER
Sophomore Lydia Lewallen
walks through McCorkle Place at
night several times a week and said
she is freaked out every time.
“The eerie fluorescent light
ing juxtaposed with stuffy
academic architecture creates
something that looks like it’s
off the science fiction channel,”
Lewallen said.
Students’ and administrators’
concerns about the lighting in
McCorkle Place during Tuesday’s
campus lighting tour raised ques
tions about the decision to install
such lighting last summer.
A CLOSING STATEMENT
■
DTH/ANDREW DYE
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speaks to a crowd of supporters in Raleigh on Wednesday afternoon. Obama emphasized the
importance of North Carolina to a victory for his campaign. The state has been swarmed by both campaigns in the weeks leading up to Nov. 4.
Obama returns to N.C. for a last pitch in final stretch
BY KELLEN MOORE
SENIOR WRITER
RALEIGH - With only days
left until Election Day, Democratic
presidential candidate Barack
Obama made one last plea to N.C.
voters Wednesday.
“North
Carolina, I've
got two words
for you six
days,” Obama
said to the
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25,000 people
who attended the rally at Halifax
Mall.
“If you’ll knock on some doors
for me, if you make some calls
for me... If you’ll fight with me, I
promise we won’t just win North
Carolina. We will win this general
election,” he said.
His status as the presumed
University PAC ups election funds
Members include
alumni, trustees
BY BRENDAN BROWN
PROJECTS CO-EDITOR
A controversial political action
committee run by UNC-Chapel
Hill trustees has raised its stand
ing as one of the state’s largest
lobbying groups.
Though still trailing the inter
est groups for realtors and trial
lawyers, Citizens for Higher
Education increased its contri
butions to state legislators by 14
percent this election.
The group has given $485,000
so far, according to campaign
finance reports filed this week with
the N.C. State Board of Elections.
At this point in the last election
cycle CHE had given $425,000.
In addition, the PAC has raised
almost 14 percent more money
from its members than it had by
this time last election, putting it
on track to reach the $700,000
mark by year’s end.
That growth has been spurred
by a number of high-profile leg
islative victories in recent years,
including a SSO million annual
www.dailytarheel.com
Installing the new lighting in
McCorkle Place cost the University
$187,000, said John Laetz, manag
er of electric distribution systems,
who installed the lights.
The lights in McCorkle Place
are placed about 40 to 60 feet
apart along the sidewalk areas.
“They’re placed this way so that
the lights merge, but there are
about 20 feet of low-light area
between posts,” Laetz said.
He said the new lighting in the
quad is different from before, but it
is not necessarily bad.
“There used to be area lighting
SEE LIGHTING, PAGE 4
@DTH ONLINE: Watch Barack
Obama's wife, Michelle, speak
at a Wednesday rally in N.C.
leader in the presidential race is a
far cry from where he stood when
he began his campaign 21 months
ago as the underdog.
The rally was part of a final
whirlwind tour of several swing
states as Obama makes his last
appeals before Election Day with
his usual mix of campaign rhetoric
and specific promises.
His wife, Michelle, also stopped
in the state Wednesday with a rally
in Rocky Mount.
At this stage of the game, it’s
probably too late to woo many vot
ers with television commercials or
new policy emphases, said Ferrel
Guillory, director of the UNC
Program on Public Life.
UNC lobbying group gives to both parties
So far this election cycle, Citizens for Higher Education has contributed $485,000 to more
than 100 candidates for the state legislature. The political action committee is most
supportive of the state's Democratic leadership but has given to Republicans as well. Five
current trustees serve on the PAC's executive committee, which makes decisions about
campaign giving. The charts below show contributions to sitting state legislators only.
iin 000 Jaibl <55 000 Executive committee members
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Hsr ‘Russell M. Carter
Mary Anne Dickson
SOURCE NC STATE 80ARD0F ELECTIONS, CITIZENS FOR HIGHER EDUCATION OTH/ANNA CARRINGTON
appropriation for cancer research
at the University.
“If I can get somebody on the
phone, it’s an easy sell,” said Paul
Fulton, the UNC-CH trustee who
leads the PAC.
Fulton has set a goal of2oo mem
bers, each of whom typically gives
Lighting in McCorkle Place
Complaints of poor lighting in McCorkle Place pushed campus officials to add
more lights to the area last summer. Below is a map of the current lighting.
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SOURCE: BRIAN BOGIE, ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN DTH/CHRISTINE HELLINER
DTH ONLINE: Read about
Ly Michelle Obama's rally in Rocky
™ Mount at blogs.dailytartieel.com.
Instead, this big-picture cam
paign has turned to an all-out blitz
to get voters to the polls.
“He didn’t say anything particu
larly new,” Guillory said. “It was
just to re-emphasize to his own
supporters and potential voters
why he sees this state as important,
to keep them motivated and keep
their morale up.”
Cheers and sign waving showed
supporters’ zeal as Obama touched
on some of his now-familiar talking
points: economic improvement,
appeals for national unity and
attempts to link Republican candi
date John McCain with President
George Bush.
Obama sought to defend himself
$2,500 per year. The group now
has about 165 members, including
prominent alumni and current or
former UNC-CH trustees.
Fulton said he is trying to recruit
younger members, particularly
SEE PAC, PAGE 4
8 DTH ONLINE: Mike
Huckabee campaigned for
John McCain in Raleigh.
against McCain’s accusations of
socialist economic policies.
“By the end of the week, he’ll
be calling me a secret communist
because I shared my toys in kin
dergarten,” Obama said. “I shared
my peanut butter sandwich.”
Obama’s persuasive side took
the backseat to his requests for
help to win the state.
“Don’t believe for a second
this election’s over,” Obama said.
“Don’t think the power will go
without a fight.”
His pleas demonstrated to some
who attended that the battle is not
yet won in North Carolina.
SEE OBAMA, PAGE 4
Economic fears may slow
Carolina North progress
BY ANDREW CUMMINGS
STAFF WRITER
The economic state of the coun
try could cause the development of
the first building at Carolina North
to be delayed far beyond previous
expectations.
The real estate company that
UNC contracted to build and
manage the Innovation Center, a
business incubator meant to facili
tate start-up companies based on
UNC research, is worried about
being able to find tenants.
“I think they’re concerned about
in this environment whether they
could fill up the building right
away,” UNC Chancellor Holden
Thorp said. “They might want to
wait for a time when we’re more
likely to be producing tenants for
the Innovation Center than we are
right now.”
Thorp said venture capitalist
firms tend to hold their money
back from investing in new com
panies when funds are tight
“So you just need things to loos
en up a bit,” Thorp said.
The Chapel Hill Town Council
was scheduled to vote Monday on
the special use permit that would
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2008
Traffic
pattern
causes
concern
Residents call for
new precautions
BY EVAN ROSE
ASSISTANT CITY EDITOR
A young woman in dark purple
scrubs paid her respects Wednesday
evening to a knee-high cross on the
corner of South Columbia Street
and Mason Farm Road.
This intersection is where UNC
Hospitals radiology imaging spe
cialist Valerie Hughes, 33, was
struck and killed by a Chapel Hill
TVansit bus Monday afternoon.
It’s also one of the most dan
gerous in Chapel Hill, pedestrians
and officials said.
Traffic signaling at the intersec
tion simultaneously indicates for
pedestrians to cross and vehicles to
turn onto Columbia.
It’s often unclear that vehicles
are legally required to yield to
people crossing.
Passengers on the bus that struck
Hughes said it was turning left onto
South Columbia from Mason Farm
and hit her in the crosswalk.
“I’ve walked across there many
times, and I’ve had to stop because
somebody is about to run me down,”
resident Richard Steele said. “They
blow the horn at me like I’m the per
son that’s doing something wrong.”
Residents said the intersection
is dangerous because so much traf
fic turns left onto South Columbia,
instead of going straight across the
intersection onto small, unmarked
Westwood Drive.
Most four-way intersections in
the state operate the same way,
said Kelvin Jordan, a traffic engi
neer at the N.C. Department of
Transportation who coordinates
with Chapel Hill.
But because so little traffic con
tinues onto Westwood, there isn’t
a left turn signal that holds traf
fic so pedestrians can cross freely,
said Kumar Neppalli, Chapel Hill’s
engineering services manager.
The South Columbia and Mason
Farm intersection has been under
review and was already planned to
be modified next year, he said.
He said his department hung up
a large “yield to pedestrians sign”
in response to multiple telephone
and e-mail complaints about safety
at the intersection.
But residents said the sigh often
goes unnoticed by preoccupied
drivers and pedestrians.
Resident Karen Hurka-
Richardson said the intersection has
put her in danger countless times.
“I wish I had contacted Chapel
Hill earlier,” she said. “I feel like that
death could have been prevented.”
The N.C. Department of
SEE TRAFFIC, PAGE 4
“Everything that we
want to do is likely to
take longer than we
thought it was going
to six months ago.”
HOLDEN THORP, CHANCELLOR
have allowed the center’s con
struction to begin, but University
officials asked for the vote to be
deferred to a later date.
Mayor Kevin Foy said he wasn’t
notified that the University wanted
to postpone until hours before the
meeting.
The council delayed the vote
until Nov. 24, but Thorp said they
could ask to defer the vote again if
the economy doesn’t turn around.
Thorp said the construction
could conceivably be pushed back
until even after the development
agreement is completed for the
entire 250-acre research campus,
which would happen in June 2009
at the earliest.
SEE INNOVATION, PAGE 4