?tJT
Feature Writers
All DTH feature writers meet
at the DTH office at 4:30 to
day. All new members meet
at 5 p.m. today. Contact
Susan Hudson if you cannot
attend.
Hot and bothered
Partly sunny today, high in
the low 90s, with a 30 percent
chance of afternoon thun
dershowers. Serving the students and the University community since 1893
Copyright The Daily Tar Heel 1832
Volume Zp, Issue
Wednesday, August 25, 1982
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
NewsSportArt 962-0245
BusinessAdvertising 962-1163
n
ail eara maiim caua
cdDMirinigiKrDini
1L
By CHARLES ELLMAKER
Staff Writer
Susan Sparks will be eating a lot more meals in
the Pine Room than she planned this semester.
Sparks, like many UNC students, purchased a
"budget meal plan" last week, believing she had
purchased a plan similar to one of the two budget
plans available last year.
Under last year's meal plan, Sparks paid money
into a dining account which she could draw from
during the year each time she ate at the Pine Room,
Chase Cafeteria or the Fast Break. At the end of the
year, ARA Services, which operates the food service
at UNC, would refund all unused funds to her ac
count except for a $25 service charge.
But this year, the budget plans were drastically
changed. According to the new plans, students can
purchase meal accounts of $350, $450, or $550 to be
used only one semester instead of the entire year
and. with no refund at semester's end.
Although all of the information about the new
meal plans was given to students before they signed
up, Sparks said she felt using the name "budget"
for the new meal plans was deceptive.
"Are you kidding?" she asked upon learning of
the changes. "There is no way I'm going to eat $450
Cigarettes, appliances
of this food."
At the same time, Howard Southerland, director
of ARA at UNC, said the meals really were budget
plans, because students on the meal plans received
discounts of 4, 5 and 6 percent, respectively, when
they purchased their meal cards. And additional
specials throughout the semester just for car
dholders could mean as much as an extra 6 percent
savings for a student.
In addition, students joining fraternities or
sororities and athletes joining the training table at
Ehringhaus Residence Hall could obtain refunds on
the balances of their accounts.
Other UNC students apparently were caught off
guard also. Of 10 students interviewed in the Pine
Room Tuesday, all but one thought they would be
receiving money back at the end of the year, in
cluding two freshmen.
One ARA employee, who asked not to be named,
said that it was "all in the small print."
David Welch, a sophomore from Winston
Salem, said he knew about the new meal plan
regulations. "I bought a budget card last year, but
when I found out you couldn't get your money
back, I decided not to buy one."
Many students said they bought budget cards last
year because they did not use the food service very
often, and it was a convenience to have a card that
worked like money.
But James Cansler, associate vice chancellor for
student affairs, said the meal card "was designed
for the student who was serious about eating at the
Pine Room.
"The idea is not to take someone's money and
keep it for nine months, then give it back to them,"
he said. "The banks do a better job than that."
Cansler stressed that ARA had accepted the
burden last year of a one-sided commitment to the
University and its students. "They (ARA) provided
meals when the students wanted to eat, and then
gave them back their money when they didn't eat
there."
This year, students must be more responsible, he
said. "If they choose not to eat there, then they lose
their money."
When asked about the changes made over the
summer, Southerland said the new meal plans were
enacted not to prevent the same losses that ARA ex
perienced last year, primarily incurred because of
the poorly designed and sparsely attended Chase
Cafeteria on South Campus, but because the plans
were "a better deal for the students."
However, Charles Antle, vice chancellor for
business and finance, said ARA came to the ad
ministration last spring with the changes because
losses were too great under the refund plan.
. "They returned some $70,000 in refunds at the
end of the year last year," Antle said Tuesday.
"They (ARA) lost about $250,000 two years ago
and about $90,000 last year," he said. "A private
corporation can't afford to operate under those
conditions, and we were concerned whether they
would return this year."
Antle said the administration agreed to the
changes in the meal plan to prevent similar losses
this year, but only under the condition that all
changes be handled straightforwardly. "We feel
they have done a very good job publicizing the
changes from last year."
"ARA is doing an excellent job with the food ser
vice, even though our facilities are not very good,
especially for a campus this size," Antle said. "And
I'm sure there was no intention on ARA's part to
mislead the students."
Antle added that the budget cards are still being
used "probably because of the enormous cost of
reprinting magnetic cards."
Kevin Monroe, chairman of Student Govern
ment's Food ServiceHealth Affairs committee.
said Monday that no one there had been contacted
or consulted about the changes, adding that he
"just found out about it a couple of days ago."
Mike Vandenbergh, UNC student body presi
dent, said he had heard nothing at all about the
changes until an interview Tuesday. "We don't feel
any injustice has been done since the students were
shown the new rules, but we will work diligently to
inform students about the changes and to aid them
any way we can concerning the subject."
Vandenbergh praised ARA for being "very
responsive to the University and the students" and
credited Southerland as being "a great food service
manager, undoubtedly the very best I've ever
known at UNC."
He added, however, that Student Government
would like to have more input into future changes,
and Monroe said he would consult with
Southerland about establishing a liaison between
ARA and Student Government.
Monroe advised students with questions concern
ing the meal plans to contact him or one of his com
mittee members, or to call the Student Government
Hotline at 966-4084.
Close calls in dormitories draw
attention to potential hazards
By PAM DUNCAN
Assistant University Editor
A UNC student smokes a cigarette in bed, and falls asleep with
it still smoldering in his hand. Or he heats up a can of soup and
forgets to turn off the hot plate before leaving the room. Both of
these situations can present real fire hazards in a residence hall.
Many UNC students may not realize how serious a fire can be
in a dormitory housing hundreds of students. There have been
several close calls already in. the first ; few weeksof the fall
semester, in both high-rise and older dormitories. "
' Fire alarms were set off three separate times in Connor
Residence Hall in the past week, said Jim Ptaszynski, acting direc
tor for residence life at UNC.
Two were false alarms set off by smoke from electric saws used
to build lofts, he said. The third was a poster that was set on fire
intentionally, causing the smoke alarm to go off.
Another fire occurred about 3 a.m. Saturday in Hinton-James
Residence Hall after a student heating water on a hot plate in her
room fell asleep, leaving the appliance unattended. When the
water boiled away, the Teflon on the pot melted, scorching the
walls and burning several posters.
"In that instance, that girl was darned lucky," said Jody Harp
ster, acting director of University housing. If the window had not
been open, the student, whose name was not disclosed, might
have been asphyxiated by the fumes from burning paint and
Teflon, he said.
The student, who violated the new cooking-in-rooms policy,
will not be punished. "She'll get an official warning and she will
have to pay for the damage to her room," Harpster said.
Russell Perry, associate director of operations for University
housing, filed the report of the incident with the North Carolina
Department of Insurance Tuesday. With the department's recent
recommendations to ban cooking in the rooms, Perry said he was
sure NCDI would express its concern about the incident.
"One extreme is that they will immediately ban all cooking in
the rooms," Harpster said. "The other extreme is that they won't
say anything. I think it should be cause for concern."
There was no damage to University property other than smoke
damage to the wall in the Hinton-James fire. Perry said. "What
we're concerned with is the potential that something could have
happened."
Plans to improve fire safety are now underway in the four
South Campus high-rise dormitories, said Gordon Rutherford,
director of the UNC Planning Office.
The primary improvement will be the installation of smoke
detectors, one-way voice communicators, emergency light systems
and maybe emergency circuits for the elevators. The project is
now before the Advisory Budget Commission for approval,
Rutherford said.
He said he hoped construction would begin by May 1983 and
be completed by the summer's end. The engineer's projected cost
of the project is $757,000, Rutherford said.
The new fire safety system for high-rise dormitories is being im
plemented because the 1981 session of the N.C. Legislature
authorized the State Building Code Council to pass regulations
regarding life safety required in existing high-rise structures.
"South Campus is fairly fortunate because each dormitory has
a stairwell at both ends," said Steve Flury, UNC fire and safety
officer. "The chances of smoke filling the hallways and blocking
the exits are less than in dormitories with enclosed hallways."
Joe Robertson of the Chapel Hill Fire Department said the fire
department personnel were trained to rescue from high-rise
buildings as well as from one-story structures. He said high-rise
fires were more volatile because all of the fire fighting must be
done from inside the building.
For rescue from high-rise structures, Robertson said they use a
net for heights below three stories and that they have aerial equip
ment to reach seven stories. "Otherwise the rescue work is done
internally," he said.
Flury said the only serious fire on campus in recent years was a
laboratory fire which caused $100,000 worth of damage and in
which an employee received third degree burns over 20 percent of
his body.
Ptaszynski said Perry and Flury had worked closely to deter
mine the appropriate number of fire extinguishers and smoke
detectors per building on campus. They have followed a 10-year
plan to install smoke detectors and fire alarms in all the buildings
on campus, Ptaszynski added.
The CHFD has experienced many problems with false fire
alarms on campus, Robertson said. "When we receive an alarm,
we try to investigate and find the cause of the alarm, even if it is a
false one," he said. All dormitory resident assistants now are re
quired to call the general emergency number 911 whenever fire
alarms go off, even in possible false alarms.
"I wouldn't try to guess the cost of responding to those false
alarms," Robertson said.
Town Council approves satellite TV
changes already made by Village Cable
By ALAN MARKS
Staff Writer
The Chapel Hill Town Council Monday
night approved two programming changes
in Village Cable's franchise agreement,,
voting on the amendments three weeks
after the changes had taken place.
Council member Bev Kawalec was the
lone dissenter in the 8-to-l vote, arguing
that the council should not become in
volved in Village Cable's programming
and should "stick by the original franchise
agreement."
Village Cable would have been forced to
purchase a fourth signal-receiving dish at a
cost of $10,000 if the changes had not been
approved. The dish would have been used
to continue broadcasting the Satellite Pro
gramming Network, which has been
replaced on cable channel 32 by Cable
News Network 2.
Town Manager David Taylor wrote in a
memorandum to the council that "since
Village has already purchased three receiv
ing dishes and the franchise refers to two,
we believe it would be unreasonable to re
quire Village to acquire a fourth dish only
for the purpose of continuing SPN. The
cost of an additional dish would likely be
borne ultimately by cable subscribers
through monthly fees."
Lu Stevens, general manager of Village
Cable, told Taylor in a letter dated June 4,
that the programming change was needed
because of a change in satellites from
which the company receives its signals.
Village Cable could no longer pick up SPN
programming without dropping the CBS
cable or acquiring a fourth dish.
Stevens said in the letter it was not
financially feasible at this time for the
company to buy a fourth dish.
The second programming change allows
Village Cable to substitute the "Weather
Channel" service for the weather informa
tion available on channel 25.
Kawalec argued during discussion of the
amendments that the council "is not oblig
ed to change the franchise for any
reason."
One of the advantages of having cable is
diversity of programming she said, and
the move seems to be towards only sports,
news and weather.
"It isn't in the public interest to change
this franchise," she said.
Council members agreed that program
ming decisions should be prevented from
coming before the council, and should go
through administrative channels instead. .
"We have been in the middle in recent
months of too many arguments concern
ing cable," said council member Jim
Wallace. "The sooner we dispose of it (the
amendments) the better."
. The council also was informed by Town
Attorney Emery Denny that they could
take no action on rate hikes imposed by
Village Cable on Aug. 17.
Denny told the council that Village
Cable had the right to establish its own
rates during the current 2-4 year period of
the franchise agreement. The council will
have the opportunity to review the rates
between Sept. 1, 1983, and Nov. 30, 1983
he said. The council then can decide
whether to modify the rates for the follow
ing 2-year period.
Village Cable raised the rate for
17-channel service to $8.50, 35-channeI
service to $11.95 and began charging a
minimum monthly fee of $8.50 to new,
12-channel service subscribers. Free service
will continue to be provided to 12-channel
service subscribers who already have it installed.
: '.A '--V
"T7T7-TT
1 i
7
" - V -
L,
IS
yi
' 1
.
M Ik
DTHAI Steele
Jimmy Carter speaks to Democrats at Fayetteville fund-raiser Tuesday night
. . .Gov. Jim Hunt looks on at dinner held for N.C. 7th District Rep. Charlie Rose
Carter speaks against
Memgams policy chamges
By JIM WRINN
State and National Editor -
FAYETTEVILLE President Ronald Reagan's ad
ministration has abandoned long-standing principles of fiscal
conservatism, former President Jimmy Carter said here Tues
day night. '
Carter, speaking to a crowd of more than 400 Democrats
gathered for a fund-raising dinner for 7th District Rep. Charlie
Rose, said the Reagan administration had abandoned tradi
tional stands taken by both Republican and Democratic
presidents on economic, educational and environmental
policies.
"In recent months we've seen these principles abandoned in
Washington, D.C.," Carter said. "Radicalism has taken
over."
Carter, who said he was speaking as an American, ignorant
of any party affiliation, said the Reagan administration had
drastically changed economic policy set not only during his
own presidency but each one since Harry S. Truman.
"We've just seen the highest tax cuts primarily for the
wealthy, immediately followed by the largest tax increase in
the history of the nation," Carter said. "And we've got the
highest unemployment rate since the Depression."
Gov. Jim Hunt, who introduced Carter, said the nation had
been closest to attaining a balanced budget when the Georgia
Democrat was in the White House.
"I really get upset when President Reagan says he inherited
the nation's economic woes from the Carter administration,"
Hunt said. "What he inherited was a low deficit, a growing
economy and low unemployment rates."
Carter said Southerners had long been afraid of government
going into debt and that they were eager for better educational
opportunities.
"The educational programs which have been set up over a
matter of decades have been decimated," Carter said. "When
I left the White House, there was not a single man or woman
in America that couldn't go to college."
Carter said he also was critical of the administration's
departure from environmental policies set up, ironically, when
Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection
Agency.
"Public policy (on the environment) has been abandoned
not by a clown in the Department of the Interior, but by the
whole Reagan administration," Carter said in one of his few
public appearances since leaving the presidency 20 months
ago. "Every loophole in the policy has been used to lower the
quality of the environment."
The former president also noted that ties of cooperation
between the United States and foreign, countries seemed to
have weakened since Reagan took office in January 1981.
"See if you can think of a single one (nation) that's closer to
us now," he said.
Carter grinned often during his speech but rarely broke into
his famous toothy smile. He noted that strong agricultural ties
between his home state and North Carolina existed; he said
small, family farmers who grew tobacco in North Carolina
and those who grew peanuts in Georgia were usually given
equal representation by their representatives and senators in
Congress. However, he criticized the Tar Heel state's two
Republican senators for casting decisive votes on the recently
approved tobacco tax.
Carter greeted his sister Ruth Carter Stapleton, a Fayet
teville resident, and noted that his ancestors had moved from
Bertie County in North Carolina to Georgia.
The former President's wife, Rosalyn, who was scheduled
to appear with Carter, was not there; her absence, however,
was not explained.
Carter said he had been preparing a book on his presidency
since leaving office. More than 5,000 pages of diary notes .
taken during his White House years were used in preparation
of the volume, due out in early November.
Carter said he would begin a stint as a distinguished lecturer
at Emory University in Atlanta in September, speaking on in
ternational politics, history and theology among other topics.
He said he was working with the University to establish a
center for public policy within the next 10 to 12 years. "The
center will continue what I couldn't finish in lour years." he
said of the institution which would locus studies on human
rights, nuclear proliferation, the environment and energy.