Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Jan. 31, 1990, edition 1 / Page 10
Part of Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
10The Daily Tar HeelWednesday, January 31, 1990 vw :-! ailu ar fel year of editorial freedom or Sharon Kebschull, EMor McGuiRE, University Editor DUNN, Sfate and National Editor '3tM PARKS, Business Editor j: Jamie Rosenberg, Sporfs Editor ;i;'ivlELANlE BLACK, Design Editor K:-i jlh-IA COON, Neivs Editor ;f;HVAN ElLE, Photography Editor AMY WAJDA, University Editor James Burroughs, Editorial Page Editor Jessica Lanning, City Editor CARA BONNETT, Arts and Features Editor Kelly Thompson, Omnibus Editor Steve Wilson, News Editor PETE CORSON, Cartoon Editor Ifreating an imbalance ifcouncil vote will hurt town's looks Ci eating a balance Sjifcitwecn develop- ni ana a village S3 board opinion jbilinosphere has al- tfrvinys been a source of tension for Chapel Hill's leaders. Many town council mem- i : i i . . ...:.u ui i i ---T51S illlgll UlCIUbCIVCi Willi IICIIIUUIMUUU ::kJerest groups, keeping out as much de lopment as possible. This week, though, jMjfose members lost a close fight to keep an nwanted development from taking over S'Se ,itt,e bit or"land Chapel Hill has left by -r"25terstate 40. . In a 5-4 vote last week, the town council tjKpproved a master plan for Chapel Hill rorth, a 50-acre mixed-use development ;Xi(at will go near the intersection of N.C. '6, Weaver Dairy Road and 1-40. Accord $ng to the plan the first ever approved yHhcc Chapel Hill created the mixed-use !-ne in 1986 the $75 million develop Clnent will include 60 percent office space lid 40 percent commercial. That 40 per eiit could include a movie theater, gas Imitation, fast-food restaurants, a motel, banks l-flliid maybe even a park-and-ride lot. In approving the plan, council members apparently overlooked nearby residents' worries over traffic and the lack of an rZHiequate buffer between the parking lot, jHfiuildings and roads. Rather than sending eloper Ron Strom back to the drawing ribomd as they did for Gateway, an earlier mixed-use plan, the five council members fjv, ho voted to approve the plan simply said jvihr.t these many concerns could be worked olit when Strom applies for a permit to y,-pegm construction. As one opposition Council member noted, the approval of the "plans drawn up by a Chanel Hill resident was surprising after the way the council quickly turned away the Gateway devel opers. The biggest problems with the plan are .'be traffic it will create and the lack of adequate buffers so near the residential areas. Highway 86 is not overly attractive around Weaver Dairy Road, so it should not be too much to ask for a large stretch of vegetation around the development to make the road more presentable. Residents asked for a 75-foot buffer, but all Strom would agree to was 30 feet, the minimum amount required by zoning laws. While the busi ness reasons for that are understandable, Strom should be more concerned with the appearance of his own town and be willing to adapt to the residents' requests. But inadequate buffers are by far easier to fix than the traffic problem will prove to be. After it intersects with Homestead Road, Airport Road (N.C. 86) becomes two-lanes, and traffic there is already heavy; even on quiet Sunday mornings, residents of com munities off Airport Road may face up to a five-minute wait to merge onto the main road. Also, traffic now moves more slowly through the area than it did a few months ago, because the council inexplicably re duced the speed limit from 45 mph to 35. Adding a 50-acre development to the top of Airport Road, especially if it does not include a park-and-ride lot, could make the road impassable. For now, there is little residents can do except gather their forces and wait for Strom to apply for a special-use permit. In the meantime, they must gear up for a second round, in which they may also have to fight the proposal for a gas station,whose underground storage tanks could contami nate their drinking water. Council mem bers have tipped the balance this time too far in the favor of a local developer, and they may regret it as the plans move along. At the very least, the members owe it to the town to fight in future negotiations with Strom for the residents' concerns, creating as little disruption for their lives and homes as possible. enatorial sabotage ;StOD dirtv camoaiens before thev start i I cj They're off apnin The state nrimnrv for J T T C Q .ninta lrarn hlnnan until X 4 1 nr1 tVio v ft J Z'Z General election won't roll around until No J;;!4'. t-'i iber, but unfortunately, some candidates in iaco are already getting down and dirty. 1 niiKt iprent incident involves inrnm- Iv-i ent Republican Sen. Jesse Helms and a Demo- ? ritiiTirw inito koclaw nictnrt ottnrnAV X;for Brunswick, Bladen and Columbus coun-X-.ties. Easley has accused Helms and his support- Xers of starting a "whisper campaign" against XtEasley 's wife, a lawyer, by saying she defends "xjdmg dealers. Mary Easley said she represents ;Xabout one drug case a year. Helms said he Xvdidn't have anything to .. u ..,:.u a rri.. m a a t a a a x-r" y: : Vr 3 i nis uwor-iai pontics !could not offer any r intangible evidence to , . 1 support his allegation, should stop before a Another Demo- Xcraticcandidate.former full-fledged IllUdsling State Sen. R.P. "Bo" 0 0 fjlTliomas of Henderson- nrPnUc rmt jVille, also tried on PF eBKS OUt !JC'lMonday to make wmmnmimmmm J'lj, Easley's wife a campaign issue by saying that his own wife had never represented drug deal s' ers. 2 And Thomas took a stab at former Charlotte l mayor Harvey Gantt, a possible Democratic contender. While emphasizing the fact that ! Gantt lost his reelection bid for mayor, Thomas turned around and blamed his own loss of his state senate seat on Michael Dukakis and Bob 2 Jordan. $ Except for the Gantt, who has refused to comment, none of these political characters are without blame. If Easley's allegation is true, ihen Helms is continuing his previous use of negative advertising and unethical campaign tactics. But Easley has no substantial reasoning to j.'Jack up his reverse attack on Helms. Few '-people would have heard the supposed rumor if J if spread by word of mouth, but because Easley 2 rjnade a public issue out of it, the rumor may -ever die. Thomas' attempt to smear Easley with a misrepresentation of the truth is also uncalled for. He too should have had the sense to let the non-issue of Mary Easley's employment die. This tit-for-tat politics must stop before another full-fledged mudsling breaks out. A repeat of the 1984 U.S. Senate race between Helms and former Gov. Jim Hunt could only hurt North Carolina. The candidates embarrass the state and its citizens when most of the national press on the Senate race becomes centered around name-calling. And, even six years later, voters remain tired of this nonsense; the Hunt-Helms battle wore the public's patience thin. Some voters got so disgusted with both candidates that they re fused to vote at all. And many politi cians say they have had enough dirty political battles. The financial and emotional costs of a negative campaign are enormous. Even Hunt, the Democrats' best chance against Helms, refused to enter this year's Senate race, saying he would not get into another campaign that emphasized negative ads and character attacks. And what about the press? It's pretty sad when one candidate badmouthing the other is the only new news to report. If one candidate wants to play dirty, then the other candidates should not jump in and sling back. Finger pointing and screaming, "But he started it!" does not justify stooping to negative campaign ing. Ideally, voters will respect the candidate with the cleanest campaign and shun the mud slinger. Although negative campaigning works sometimes, a win at the price of a nasty cam paign is a pyrrhic victory at best. If candidates want an office so much they compromise morals and manners to get it, then they don't belong there at all. Julie Gammill V The Daily Tar Heel Business and advertising: Kevin Schwartz, director; Bob Bates, advertising director; Leslie Humphrey, classified ad manager. Business stafT:Sabrina Goodson, manager; Allison Ashworth, assistant manager; Dana Cooper and Kimberly Morctt. receptionists; Monica Paris, news clerk; Laura Richards, typist. Classified advertising: Kirsten Burkart, assistant manager; Janet Gordon and Angela Spivey, assistants. Display advertising: Amanda Tilley, advertising manager; Lora Gay, Kristi Greeson, Beth Harding. Carole Hedgepeth, Lavonne Leinster, Kevin Reperowitz. Alicia Satterwhite, Pam Thompson and Jill Whitley, account representatives; Kim Blass, creative director; Pam Strickland, marketing director; Sherrie Davis, Ingrid Jones and Tracy King, sales assistants. Production: Bill Leslie, manager; Anita Bentley, assistant manager; Chad Campbell, Erika Campbell, Stephanie Locklear, assistants. Phone: Display advertising: 962-1163; Classified advertising: 962-0252 Distribution: RDS Carriers. Printing: The Village Companies. O-.' UT YOU pETTERTAKE i W. Some nice little letters from the folks And a big doo-wop diddy thanks to everybody who sent in letters to the DTH this week! I know it's a pain to trudge clear back into the bowels of the Stu dent Union to drop off a letter during a busy day, and it's even harder for me to try to do a write-in column without coming off as hope lessly egocentric and self-glorifying, but I'll try not to be geekin' too hard as I answer some of these clever little anecdotes. To Ian: I have read your stuff on the back page for three years, and for three years I have sat silently while you have maligned the song "Electric Avenue" in all of your so-called Worst Lists. Not only is it my girlfriend and mine's "song" but it is a great fusion of rock and reggae. In case you didn't know, the actual worst song in the world is "Dancing on the Ceiling" by Lionel Richie. Sincerely, Greg Dear Greg, I'm utterly convinced that I could write the most homophobic, racist, sexist article on the benefits of child molesting, and not get one letter but as always, the minute something gets said about rock music, the DTH mailbox fills up. Misquoted song lyrics, rotten Top 40 and Eddy Grant always seem to piss people off more than anything else. You're right about the insult that the Lionel Richie song is to modern thought, but if "Electric Avenue" is "y'all's song," I truly fear for your offspring. A girl named Lisa wrote in on a Ham's bar tab: Ian: I too know how it feels to sing your own lyrics to a song, ." ':now that you are not alone! My roomies now sing my lyrics to these great tunes: Steve Miller Band: "Big 01' Jet Airliner." I tlwught it was "Meet Oi Chad at the Light house." John Cougar: "Changes come around real soon make us women and men." I sang "come around real soon, make us swimmin in men." "You don't have to take your clothes off." Me: "You don't have to drive a Volvo ..." i ' i Ian Williams Wednesday's Child Ian: The repetitive love ballad by the Police, "Every Breath You Take" is really about a guy torn between a girl and his financial problems at the local pool hall. Sting sings "Oh cant you seeeee ... you belong to meeeee ... I'm a pool hall ace ..." When I got a copy of the words, he supjiosedly sings "how my poor heart aches" but I swear that he's really reaching out to all of the pool hall gamblers in love. Sincerely, Danny Ya know, Danny, you're probably right, in the subliminal sense. Then again, everybody's right in the subliminal sense. Dear Ian, Is it true that walking on the grass is an honor code violation? Signed, A Concerned Student. Eeesh! Walking on the grass an honor code violation? Wouldn't that suck, being kicked out of school and having to work at the Red Lobster in Gastonia because you took a short cut to math class? No, Concerned Student, it's one of those UNC old wives' tales like Silent Sam's dislike for non-deflowered strollers, the myth that you get a 4.0 the semester your roommate dies, and the Student Activity Cen ter having anything to do with students. Ian: I have read with disgust your perpetual slamming of fraternities, sororities, and the Greek system in general. Yet I happen to know that you are a full member of one of the above institutions. With all the grief you give the system, you are just blatantly hypocritical. Sincerely, Wondering Dear Wondering, How right you are about such things! Be lieve me, when you get to this school of 22,000 people, feeling a little like a lost Social Security number in a swirling sea of uncaring advisers and strange faces, it's a hard thing not to want to be a part of a group of people, all of whom care that you exist. If you make 1 0 friends in the process, then I feel it's justified. And as long as you don't take the social stuff too seriously, and never believe that you are any more evolved socially than anyone who walks past you in the rain, then have fun. But you are right, Wonder ing, if I actively participated in all the elitist crap and then turned right around and mocked the very system I helped worsen, then I would be about as hypocritical and cowardly as some one who didn't sign their hate mail. Dear Ian: How come the elevators in Davis Library buzz so damn loud when you pass each floor? If all the braille stuff is on the 2nd floor, why do the elevators buzz for the blind people all the way to the 8th? What would a blind person have to do on the 8th floor? Signed, Sick and Tired Yeah, you're right what the hell were we thinking about? God forbid that a blind person should find his way up to the 8th floor. He might breathe on you. Sick and Tired! Dear Ian, This mail-in column stuff is the most bla tant laziness I've seen you display yet. It's obvious especially to those of us familiar with your "work" ethic that you re simply trying to trick other people into writing your column for you, and maybe to pick up some poor, desperate confused Southern belle on the rebound. Good luck. Matt Bivens Jesus! I knew I should never have done this Ian Williams is a music and psychology major from Los Angeles, Calif, who is taking all of his toys and going home! Readers9 For em Congress bill would have served students To the editor: I would like to express my dis appointment with Student Con gress' rejection of Andrew Cohen's bill. The Congress has clearly missed yet another oppor tunity for the improvement of campus life. The bill was to create a "Stu dent Choice Funding Process." As the name implies, students would be given the choice as to which organizations would receive their student activity fees. This choice would be guided by a publication given to each student describing the character and function of the potential groups to be funded by them. Opponents argue that such a system would hinder the ability of smaller clubs in obtaining ade quate funding and, as Russell Dula put it, such clubs "would get kicked in the butt." True, some clubs will ultimately get less revenue from student funds, but why shouldn't they? By definition their member ship involves a tiny percent of the student body, yet under the cur rent plan are financed by each and every one of us. A system of selection would be far more efficient. By forcing organizations to, as Jill Gilbert says, "fight a lobbying war," clubs would become more competitive with each other in quest for better funding. The resulting competi tion would encourage organiza tions to improve their activities and promote greater student in volvement, thereby increasing the number of students selecting from them for allocations. These clubs would thrive from an increase in their revenue, perpetuating and expanding their existence. On the other hand, clubs like some which exist under the current system, (poorly organized and offering little or no incentive for participa tion after due collection), would be weeded out by their own short comings. Not only would the most effi cient clubs receive better funding, but they would become more re sponsible in their spending. Rather than feeling compelled to spend any left over cash at the end of their fiscal period to justify re ceiving the same amount (or greater) next year, club spending would be more realistic. While the actual mechanics of the plan will undoubtedly require some refinement, this fact alone is no reason for rejection of the plan in its entirety. Unfortunately, this is what many in the Student Con gress have done. Perhaps by es tablishing limitations on the amount any one club can receive or by similarly limiting the per centage of any one student can contribute to a single organiza tion, the disparity can be reduced. The inherent fairness of the choice system should not be overlooked. DOUG PETHO Graduate student Law Criticism of the Tar Heels was justified To the editor: I would personally like to thank and congratulate Dave Glenn on his response and comments to some complaints he had received following the Duke basketball game ("Let's get it straight: an swers to questions nobody's afraid to ask," Jan. 24). The article was one of the most amusing and can did ones I've read in the DTH. Mr. Glenn responded in exactly the right manner, with humor and grace, to some close-m inded Caro lina fans who believe that Tar Heel basketball is invincible. This is journalism, folks. You report on what you see, and let's face it, we haven't exactly seen consistent top-caliber basketball all season long. Realistically, there was a very good chance that UNC was going to lose to Duke on Jan. 17. The Blue Devils had been wowing everybody with impressive victo ries for months and were fresh out of three ACC wins. Mr. Glenn was not alone in picking Carolina to be the underdog; other sportswriters had done the same. Not to sound anti-Carolina, I was just as glad as everyone else to see the Tar Heels kick Bobby Hurley and his teammates all over the Dean Dome. After all, I waited out in the cold for those tickets also. But, that's not to say that Carolina may not lose again. It's still a possibility, one I'm sure Dean Smith has not ruled out ei ther. So, in time, we may see another edition of the DTH where UNC is not chosen as the clear winner. But, what do we want in a newspa per? One that only prints propa ganda for the school? I hope not. But, if we do, we can always ask Coach K. to come and berate our sportswriters, too. KIM JASKI Sophomore English CPR training uses dummies, not dogs To the editor: On Jan. 24, the DTH featured three articles on the Focus page concerning the use of animals in research and teaching. In one of those articles the following state ment appeared: "At UNC an op tional course teaching CPR still uses dogs, but comparable pro grams at Duke University and the YMCA use dummies." This was attributed to Chris Brannon. If Mr. Brannon was quoted correctly, he is in error. All CPR courses, no matter where taught, use manne quins, and all CPR courses are taught alike, adhering to guide lines set forth by the American Heart Association. There is certainly nothing se cret about CPR training, and Mr. Brannon (or the DTH) could have easily checked before firing that particular shot. CHARLES MURPHY Lecturer Medicif Editorial Policy The Daily Tar Heel's board opinion editorials are voted on by the board, which is composed of the editor, editorial page editors and assistant editor, and two edi torial writers. The opinions re flect the board's majority opin ion. Signed editorials do not nec essarily reflect the entire board's opinion. The Daily Tar Heel has three regular staff columnists who write once a week or once every other week. Their opinion also do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the board. Letters policy The Daily Tar Heel welcomes reader comments and criticisms. When writing letters to the editor, please follow these guidelines: - B All letters must be dated and signed by the authorfs), with d limit of two signatures per letter.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 31, 1990, edition 1
10
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75