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Cloudy and warm
It will be partly cloudy
today with a high in the
60's. The low last night
was about 41 . There is a
chance of rain for
tomorrow.
Happy Valentine's Day
Did your valentine send
you a special message?
Check the classifieds
on page 2.
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Monday, February 14, 1977, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Volume No. 84, Issue No. 96
Please call us: 933-0245
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by David Stacks
Staff Writer
UNCs chief energy resource coal is running out,
but help is reportedly on the way because the University
tops the priority list of coal customers.
"It's a sad-looking coal pile," Power Plant Engineer
Edward McKnight said in reference to the coal reserve
pile at the University Power Plant on Cameron Avenue.
Coal reserves at the plant have dwindled to a 1 5-day
supply, but four coal shipments this week should bring
the reserve up to 4,000 to 5,000 tons, or a 26-day supply.
A spokesperson for Empire Fuel and Coke Co. in
Boone, one of UNCs three coal suppliers, said he did
not know of any situation that would leave UNC
without coal.
Harold Fox, Empire managing director, said his
company has access to an almost unlimited supply of
coal.
"There is no chance at all of our company not being
able to fulfill its contract with the University," Fox said.
"UNC should not have any problem with a source of
coal for heating."
Contracts between the University and fuel suppliers
are made through the State Department of Purchasing
and Contracts. Purchasing Officer Willis Holding
blamed delays in coal deliveries on extreme weather
conditions at the mines in West. Virginia.
"There has been so much snow and cold that the mines
have not been able to fully operate," Holding said.
"But we?e not worried about the University running
out of coal because we have several suppliers. All said
they could supply the full tonnage," Holding said.
The power plant burns an average of 1 39 tons of coal
per day to heat the campus. Last Thursday, when the
low temperature was 35 degrees, plant officials fed 1 40
tons into three of the five boilers. Last Monday, a low
temperature of 10 pushed the amount of coal consumed
to 190 tons.
Of the five boilers ai he plant, four burn either coal,
fuel oil, or natural gas. The fifth boiler burns only gas
and oil.
The power plant has 900,000 gallons of fuel oil in
reserve, but plant officials use the oil only as a
supplement to coal on extremely cold days. Natural gas
is in critically short supply statewide, but only a few
buildings on the Health Sciences campus are heated with
gas.
"We would go to oil as the primary fuel if we were to
run out of coal," Assistant Engineer Ray DuBose said.
"We would go to oil before we would cut back the heat to
intolerable levels."
In compliance with Gov. James B. Hunt's energy
conservation directives. University employees have been
turning down temperature controls in most buildings on
campus. .
But DuBose said he is not sure if the University will be
able to comply fully with Hunt's order for 62 degrees
during the day and 55 degrees at night because of
temperature variations from building-to-building on
North Campus.
Temperatures in 40 North Carmpus buildings can
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Staff photo By Bill Rum :
UNC Power Plant Engineer Edward McKnight calls this "a sad
looking coal pile." The Plant has a 15-day reserve of coal; four
train loads this week would raise that total to a 26-day reserve,
Empire Fire and Coke Co., one of the University's three
only be controlled by adjusting the temperature of the
water in the boilers at the power plant.
A recent spot-check of room temperature on North
Campus showed a variation of as much as 1 0 degrees
between buildings on the ends of hot water heating lines
suppliers, blames the temporary coal shortage on extreme
weather conditions at the WestAfirginia mines but says that
"UNC should not have problems with a source of coal for
heating."
and buildings on the same lines closer to the power
plant.
"We're trying for an average of 68 degrees now "
DuBose said. "I don't know if we'll be able to cut back
anymore.'"
Lack of state revenue may cause delay
Funding for proposed state veterinary school in trouble
by Tony Gunn
Staff Writer
The proposed veterinary school at N.C.
State is sinking fast in the N.C. General
Assembly, according to state legislators and
UNC system President William C. Friday.
"The probtem is money:": Friday said on
Sunday. After he and members of his staff
met with the Joint Committee on Higher
Education Tuesday, he said he got the
impression that the vet school might not be
funded this year due to a lack of state
revenue.
At that meeting and at one 1 1 days ago
before the Senate Ways and Means
Committee and the House Appropriations
Committee, legislators questioned the need
for. the school. - - . .
v If the' legislature does not - appropriate
construction money for the project, the '
school would be delayed a minimum of two
years and would face increased building
costs.
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House Speaker Carl Stewart. D-Gaston.
has said it would be extremely difficult to get
any money for the school. Other top-ranking
legislators, such as the chairpersons of the
Senate Ways and Means Committee and the
House 'Appropriations Committee, have
voiced similar sentiments.
One idea mentioned--by; legislators is an
animal-care research facility in the state.
"This will eliminate the teaching phase of the
vet school." Friday said. But he added such a
proposal has not been made.
The University of North Carolina, in an
agreement with the Southern Regional
Education Board, now spends about
$640,000 for 117 students from North
Carolina to attend vet schools in other states,
including Alabama and Ohio. New vet
schools are either planned or almost ready to
open in Florida and Tennessee.
From two-thirds to three-fourths of these
students come back to North Carolina, said
John L. Sanders, vice president of planning
for the UNC General Administration. There
are only 23 or 24 schools of veterinary
medicine in .the country, he said.
"There are not enough veterinarians in
North Carolina to meet all the needs
exhibited by the animal" owners;" Sanders
said. "Unless the funds are provided, we
can't promise to have a school at anv fixed
date."
The UNC Board of Governors originally
requested $9.3 million for the school in its
1977-1979 budget. Gov. James Hunt and the
Advisory Budget Commissi on
recommended only S500.000 each year to
continue development and planning.
The UNC system w ill again ask for the
$9.3 million v hen it makes its supplementary
request to the legislature later this session.
An estimated $38 million is needed to
open the school, originally anticipated to
open in 1981 with an enrollment of 32
students.
Plans call for. the school eventually to
graduate approximately 65 students a year,
Sanders said: .
The idea of a veterinary school in North
Carolina developed 10 years ago. The 1974
General Assembly asked the UNC Board of
Governors to study the need for such a
school.
Later recommending the school, the
board requested $2 million in capital funds
and $2 million in operating costs from the
1975 General Assembly. The legislature,
short of funds, appropriated $500,000 for
planning.
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Trustees again postpone decision
on architect for proposed library
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Staff photo by Bill Russ
"Ain't they sweet, See 'em coming down the street, Now I ask you very confidentially,
Ain't they sweet?" Ed Rankin (center), looking for someone to zing with Cupid's
arrow, leads the annual Chi Psi Valentine's Day Parade.
by Tom Watkins
Staff Writer
For the third consecutive meeting, the
UNC Board of Trustees postponed choosing
an architect Friday for the proposed $22
million new central library building.
The board, which has been debating the
issue since Jan. 14, decided to delay the
selection until its next regular meeting
March 11.
The 440.000-square-foot library would be
the largest and "most expensive public
building ever undertaken in the state. Its
proposed site is Emerson Field, now the
Carolina Union parking lot.
Trustee Hargrove "Skipper" Bowles Jr.
initiated lengthy debate when he expressed
his opinion that the board should go into
executive session to discuss the njerits and
demerits of the eight firms under
consideration for the project. '
After the possibility of an executive
session was excluded. Bowles introduced a
substitute motion which postponed the
selection.
44 I'm nervous about this (selecting an
architect), and I want to do the best thing,"
Bowles said. 44I can't make a proper
judgment today." He urged that each trustee
try to become as well-informed as possible
before the March meeting.
Strayhorn said he would go along with the
delay only if the board would commit itself
to making a decision at that meeting.
The board decided that a choice would
definitely be made March 1 1, and that details
of the building's design will be decided later.
The board also reviewed the proposed
salary increases for UNC faculty and staff.
Chancellor N. Ferebee Taylor presented a
graph showing that salaries for the Chapel
Hill campus since 1973 have not kept pace
with rises in the cost of living.
Taylor said that the Board of Governors'
request for 10 per cent pay increases for both
1977-78 and 1978-79 may sound high, but
are being proposed to make up for the gap
that has developed. The N.C. Advisory
Budget Commission has recommended a 6.5
per cent increase for 1977-78 and no increase
for 1978-79.
Taylor used the UNC dental school as an
illustration of the importance of the pay
hikes.
"Our dental school is number one in the
country, but over half of the dental schools
in the country now have higher salary
structures than we do," he said. "If this
persists, we won't be number one very long."
Trustee John A. Tate Jr. of Davidson
pledged to work on the state legislators in his
district, to garner support for the raises.
Apartments feature sub-standard materials
by Tim Smith
Staff Writer
was nearly t wo years ago, as John recalls
it. He was sitting in his apartment waiting for
his bath to fill up when the phone rang. As he
ran for the phone, he never thought of
turning off the water, even though the tub
did not have an overfill hole.
Ten minutes later, still on the phone, John
heard a crash. As he ran to the bathroom, he
saw a large, gaping hole. His bathroom was
sitting in the apartment below.
While this incident may be unusual, the
construction that caused it, according to
many area builders and construction
workers, is not.
In the past 20 years, well over 6,000
apartments have been built in Chapel Hill,
most within the past 10 years. And now there
is growing concern at just what price the
apartment dweller is paying for this growth.
"Apartments are built more comfortably
now than 20 years ago, but the construction
standards aren't as high," Charles Brooks, a
local contractor said.
"In apartment construction, especially
these big complexes, builders get away with
using a lot of inferior materials.
"Inferior materials" can mean anything
from using half the amount of wood
normally required in an apartment to leaving
out most of the insulation.
Rayvon Williams is one apartment
resident who understands the words
''inferior materials" and "faulty
construction." In early January, Williams, a
resident of Estes Park Apartments, came
home late at night, only to find his living
"room flooded from a busted water pipe.
There was some damage to his personal
possessions, but the next day matters were
straightened out and his apartment was
cleaned up. Williams chalked it up to the
freak cold weather until he came home to the
same scene two nights later.
"I had unlocked the door but 1 couldn't
open it. I finally pushed it open and it was
just like 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,' "
Williams said.
"My Advent speakers were floating;
albums, shoes and magazines all came
sailing by. And to top it off, my stereo was ,
submerged. I just wanted to cry."
Williams blames himself, however, for not
heeding some early warnings. He was told,
for instance, after the first flood, that floods
had occurred in those apartments for the
past three years. '
"A construction worker told me. I thought
he meant sometime in the past three years,
but he told me it happened each year, three
years in a row," Williams said. .
When he confronted his landlord with this
fact, however, Williams was told to "keep the
heat turned up high." to keep the pipes from
freezing again.
But what really disappoints Williams, is
that unlike most residents, he checked the
construction over thoroughly before moving
in. even calling the builders to double-check.
"It's pretty obvious I didn't check enough,
though." he laments.
Although Williams does feel the cold
weather was mostly to blame, he also feels
faulty construction played a major part.
"The builders say we haven't had weather
like this before; well I think they should
prepare for it. . ,
"The wind just comes in through the vents
and hits the pipes. If those vents are used for
us, fine, but otherwise 1 don't see why they
are left open.
"And after the second flood, they pur
insulation over my pipes, but 1 don't see why
it wasn't there in the first place," Williams
said.
According to Bob Anderson, an architect
and city planning consultant forChapel Hill,
there are a number of reasons for the decline
in quality of apartment construction.
"The craftsman is being lost. A carpenter"
used to be a carpenter. Now, he's a warm
body with a saw. There's a general lack of
pride in all the trades."
Since the cost of construction materials
rises almost daily. Anderson also feels that
time is a large factor in the quality of
apartment construction.
"Time is always a factor. If the project isn't
managed right and the contractor takes too
much time, the cost of the materials will
force him to take some short cuts."
It is these short cuts that habitually haunt
tenants'. They can be large, as one group of
residents found in investigating a high
heating bill, discovering there was barely
one-half an inch of insulation in their attic
and that half their heating ducts were
disconnected from the furnace.
But they also can be small and irritating,
as one apartment dweller found.
"The insulation is really bad. We finally
had to use masking tape between our
windows because there were so many air
leaks," Billy Williams, a resident of Foxcroft
Apartments said. ,
For the most part, say contractors, the
materials are usually specified in the
contract. But this does not always prevent
contractors from taking shortcuts.
"No matter what is specified, it's a matter
of who sees what and what's hidden.
Materials can be substituted very easily
without really breaking the law," Brooks
.said.
There are a number of different ways
builders can take shortcuts to save money.
Some builders leave out the steel reinforcing
bars in the foundation, which are required by
law to prevent too much settling.
Others save as much as 4,000 studs (the
upright two by fours), by spacing them 24
inches apart instead of 16 inches, as required
by law:
And some builders leave out the little
extras like the poisoning of the soil to
prevent termite infestation (also required by
law) or using flammable materials for the fire
walls required in apartments.
And still others leave out much of the
three inches of insulation required in the
' walls and the six inches required on the
ceilings of apartments.
Please turn to page 5
State Senate,
committee set
for ERA test
by Laura Seism
Staff Writer
The state Senate will not debate
the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA)
until at least early March, according
to Sen. Cecil Hill, D-Transylvania,
chairperson of the Senate committee
considering the bill.
Hill added that his committee, the
Senate Constitutional Amendments
Committee, will probably issue a
favorable report on ERA later this
month.
The committee will hold public
hearings on ERA next week,
Proponents will speak Feb. 21 and
opponents Feb. 22 at 3:30 p.m. in the
Legislative Building auditorium.
Hill said that if his committee
acted on the bill at its regular meeting
Feb. 24, he could report it to the
Senate floor Feb. 25. Depending on
the amount of business on the
calendar, a final vote on ERA could
come in early March, he said.
"I'm handling it just like any other
bill," Hill said. "It's not receiving any
favorable treatment or any
unfavorable treatment. I'm trying to
be just as middle of the road as I
know how."
Hill, an ERA, supporter, said he
expected the committee to report the
bill favorably. If ERA were reported
unfavorably, it could not be
considered by the full Senate unless a
minority report was filed also.
"The committee is pretty well
divided, but a couple of senators
(opposed to ERA) have indicated
that they would vote for a favorable
report in order to give the full Senate
a chance to consider the bill," Hill
said. "They feel it's far too important
an issue to be decided by seven
people, and I think they're right."
The N.C. House approved ERA in
a 61-to-55 vote Feb. 9. Approval by
the Senate would make North
Carolina the 36th state to ratify the
amendment. Thirty-eight states must
approve ERA for it to become part of
the Constitution.
Rep. George Miller, D-Durham,
sponsor of the ERA bill in the House,
said Saturday he thought chances
were good for a favorable report by
the Senate committee.
Although Miller said it was too
early to predict the final vote in the
full Senate, he said he was
cautiously optimistic" about ERA's
chances.
"If the vote were held tomorrow,
the commitments would indicate that
a majority would be for it," he said.
But almost two weeks will pass
before the bill is reported to the
Senate floor, and Miller said the
impetus of the House vote, the first
favorable ERA vote by either branch
of the N.C. legislature in four years,
may be dulled by the passage of time.