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The Daily Tar HeelThursday, November 19, 19923 EE Plaintiff's lawyer starts tobacco company trial ; BELLEVILLE, 111. The nation's second-largest tobacco company con spired to hide the truth about smoking for "more than 75 years, contributing to a man's terminal lung cancer, his attor ney said Wednesday. ; "We say the defendants sold a prod uct'to the plaintiff, and it was defective and unreasonably dangerous when they Sold it," Bruce Cook said in the first trial since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that warning labels did not shield cigarette makers from lawsuits. : Cook said he would prove that there was a conspiracy to keep smokers smok mg and recruit children to smoke. "It was a conspiracy based on human greed, he said in opening statements. ; Charles Kueper claims in his lawsuit that North Carolina-based R.J. Reynolds 1 obacco Co. and the Tobacco Institute, a trade association, conspired to per suade him and others to ignore evidence tnat smoking was dangerous. "Charlie's 5 1 years old, and that's all the older he's going to get," Cook told a M. Clair County Circuit Court jury. Cook saiddoctorsdidnotexpect Kueper, who was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, to live until next spring. '. The retired Army master sergeant from Cahokia, 111., which is near St. Louis, Mo., is suing for compensatory idamages of $3 million and unspecified punitive damages. ! If the lawsuit against Winston-Salem", N.C.-based Reynolds succeeds, it fcould boost other cigarette liability law suits pending against tobacco compa nies, anti-smoking advocates said. Child testifies in Little Rascals day-care trial 'HERTFORD, N.C. The second child to testify in a day-care sexual abuse case said Wednesday that she was abused during nap time and on a boat when she attended Little Rascals Day Care Center in Edenton. The testimony came in the trial of Kathryn Wilson, 26, a former cook at thee enter who is charged with 22 counts of sexually abusing 10 children. " The 8-year-old girl said Wilson "stuck a needle in my privates. She put a finger in my privates. More than one time." Little Rascals co-owner Robert Kelly Jr. was convicted of 99 counts of sexual abuse. On cross examination, the child was asked about bizarre things she told thera pists, such as being tied to a tree and babies being buried at the day care. She said she later found out the babies were "pretend babies." The girl did not remember some of the things she had told a therapist, such as birds and cats being killed and human body parts being scattered around the day care. ; Earlier in the day, the jury heard a 45 . minute tape recording of a tantrum by a .child who attended Little Rascals. Bill Vogedes and his wife testified that their child had tantrums, wet the bed and had nightmares before and after abuse allegations surfaced in January ,1989. ; During cross-examination by defense 'attorney Edward Simmons, Vogedes ;said he did not take his child out of Little Rascals until the day before it closed in April 1989. He said he was assured by "social services official David McCall that the day care was a very safe place as long as Bob Kelly wasn't there." tN.C. bone marrow drive ;enlists possible donors t CHARLOTTE Davidson Coliege senior David Lindsay who is alive thanks to a bone marrow donation from 3iis youngest sister was the inspira tion for registry drives at several col lege campuses on Wednesday. I; Lindsay and three other Davidson Students, including John Ramey from rValdosta, Ga., a marrow recipient for aplastic anemia, coordinated the drive. Similar drives took place at Johnson C. Smith University and UNC-Charlotte. I; "This marrow donor drive allows me "to never forget how lucky I am," the 22-lyear-old Lindsay said. '. The tests were free. The Davidson 1st udents raised money a private grant ihd matching Red Cross grant to test 500 potential donors, whose names they Iwill send to the national registry. JSCU ".raised enough for 150 tests; and UNC Eharlotte 100. t '. The idea was to get more donors on :the registry to increase the odds of find ing perfect matches. More than 7 1 0,000 Idtmors are listed; about 26,000 are from ;tbe Red Cross' Carolinas region. ; One in four patients such as Lind ;s'9y or Ramey, whose father was his ;dpnor finds a match in the immediate ;family. After that, the chances for a .match plummet to one in 20,000. ; ; If doctors find no trace of the disease ;in the next 28 months, Lindsay will be iprqclaimed cured, thanks to sister Lee. ;She was the only family member whose marrow matched perfectly. ; "I went through this with three other guys from Charlotte. We'd cut up. Talk about our future.," Lindsay said. ' ' Like Lindsay, they needed marrow 'transplants. But the others had to turn to 'the' National Marrow Donor Registry. ?Two found donors that only partially matched. One never found a donor. -J-They all died," Lindsay said. The Associated Press :cal clergy alliance By Paul Bredderman Staff Writer A recent alliance of local black and white church leaders has resulted in an endorsement of the future free-standing Sonja H. Stone Black Cultural Center. In a statement dated Nov.' 13, the Coalition of Chapel Hill-Carrboro Clergy stated that a free-standing BCC would be a first step toward fighting racism. "An open center, academic, cultural and social in nature, can be a creative means to increase cross-cultural com munication and appreciation through out the university and community," ac cording to the statement. "That's a very important statement RSVVP, 'The Boss' increase business at local eateries By Paul Bredderman Staff Writer Local hunger-relief organizers of the fourth-annual RSVVP day got a help ing hand from "The Boss" Tuesday as crowds of people ate out to help raise money for the Inter-Faith Council. Volunteers of the Chapel Hill Carrboro Inter-Faith Council said when they planned to collect 10 percent of sales from 77 local participating restau rants, they did not know about the Bruce Springsteen concert on the same day. "We had no idea "The Boss' was coming to town," said Irene Briggaman, an IFC volunteer organizer of this year' s program, which was finalized last July. "We had hoped to plan it on a day when we could increase the normal day's business, (so restaurants) would be happy to join our program," she said. "It just happened on a day when they already pledged us 10 percent." The event also coincided with the first Hunger and Homelessness Week. "That was also a surprise, a nice surprise," Briggaman said. Mark Donahue, business manager at Crook's Comer, said the restaurant would contribute about $250 to the IFC as a result of Tuesday's event. "We did have larger business than usual for Tuesday, but it's unclear whether it was because of RSWP or because of the Bruce Springsteen con cert," Donahue said. But Tom Peterson, owner of Bud & Eb's Grill and Tavern, said of the diner turnout: "It was insane it was at least double what it normally is. A lot of people I hadn't seen before and every regular came last night." Eric Brantley of Elmo's Diner said his restaurant had raised about $400 through the event. "It was about like we normally have on Friday, if not stronger," he said. "Lunch was a little more intense than usual, but dinner was the main differ ence. We were involved last year and got lots of response, so we were pre Staff concerns focus of employee meeting By Justin Scheef Staff Writer The grievance procedure, health in surance, shared leave, salary raises and "the of boy" network in South Building dominated discussion Wednesday at an open meeting of about 300 University employees. About 25 staff members spoke at the meeting, the Employee Forum's first such community meeting. A major concern to many of those present was the University's new staff grievance procedure, which was ap proved this fall. According to the new procedure, lawyers are taken out of the process in an effort to make grievance hearings less adversarial. Charles Childs, manager of the Crys tal Growth Facilities at the University, said a majority of staff members were treated differently than UNC faculty. The present grievance procedure al lows faculty members to have an attor ney present in their grievance proceed ings, but most employees cannot con sult with lawyers, Childs said. "During my service, I have never witnessed such a flagrant division of employees such has (been) recently pro duced by the University, he said. It is the SPA group which has the greater need for representatives who are famil iar with the ins and the outs of the grievance procedures. 'It is unfair for the University to grant different groups of employees dif ferent legal rights." Peter Schledom, a computing con sultant in research services, said the University was not providing employ ees with a fair chance at solving work place disputes. This is not only a problem with standards; it may very well be a legal problem," Schledorn said. "As a state agency, and a representative of the gov from our standpoint," said the Rev. J.R. Manley of First Baptist Church, one of 30 coalition members to sign the state ment. The fact that the new BCC would be open to all members of the community was important in the group's decision to endorse it, Manley said. "It's one center, and it doesn't solve the whole problem," Manley said. "(But) I do think we're in a multicultural soci ety and that the blacks have a responsi bility to take leadership." The coalition's endorsement of the free-standing BCC came about a month after Chancellor Hardin gave his ap proval for the center. Hardin endorsed the free-standing building after the recommendation of pared this year." IFC volunteers gathered a record number of restaurants to participate in this year's RSWP program. Last year 72 restaurants participated. Briggaman said she thought the $1 1 ,000 goal for Chapel Hill-Carrboro would be reached, although total rev enues from the event would not be known until January 1993. This year's Triangle-wide goal was $30,000. The Food Bank of North Carolina in Raleigh modeled the RSWP program after a successful program by the Food Bank of Maryland in Baltimore, Briggaman said. Raleigh's Food Bank then invited the Shelter for'Hope in Durham and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro IFC to join its efforts, she said. The Chapel Hill-Carrboro RSWP program began in 1989, when 43 res taurants raised $6,700, she said. The IFC helps run the local soup kitchen and homeless shelter, located at the comer of Rosemary and Columbia streets. There also is a food pantry and family services program housed at the organization's office on Wilson Street Art Cleary, a coordinator of the IFC Community Kitchen said: "There has been a fairly steady increase over the last six to eight months. By that I mean the numbers we are feeding have con tinued to go up." Grace Higgs, also a coordinator for the kitchen, has worked there since its founding 10 years ago. "We served over 58,000 meals last year, and we'll serve about 75,000 meals this year," Higgs said. The kitchen has already served 63,581 meals through October of this year. The organization spends a little more than $500,000 a year on its programs, the bulk of which comes from private donations, the United Way and about 45 local church congregations, Briggaman said. Money donated by local restaurants will stay in this area to feed the hungry. Higgs said, "I think it's very gener ous of the restaurants to participate." ernment, we are supposed to be con trolled by the Constitution which guar antees equal protection and due process by the law." Dorothy Moore, a secretary in the English department, questioned the role of management and said employees should have a way to evaluate their superiors. "The staff is evaluated. The students evaluate the professors," she said. "When can the staff evaluate our man agement?" Other employees said their bosses or office supervisors imposed unfair work standards. One employee complained of not being able to get to work on a snow day because local buses were not running. When she returned to work, her boss counted that against her, she said. "I think if there were an earthquake, they would take it out of our vacation," she told the audience, a majority of whom responded with laughter. Jim Goldstein, an accountant for the UNC Physicians, complained about the "old boy network in the South Build ing." As an example, Goldstein cited Stuart Bondurant, dean of the School of Medicine, and Susan Ehringhaus, legal assistant to the chancellor, who are married. "You can't tell me there is not a conflict of interest," Goldstein said, urg ing Bondurant to resign his position. At the end of the meeting, Wijnberg said the forum was working to help make the University a better work envi ronment for all employees. "We'll find a way within the con straints of the system to make an impact on the General Administration," Wijnberg told the audience. After the meeting, Wijnberg said she thought it had been a good opportunity See FORUM, page 7 the advisory committee that met to dis cuss the matter. The coalition's decision to endorse the free-standing BCC happened to co incide with its own birth, as black and white clergy decided to establish a mu tual partnership with an official name and to hold monthly meetings. Manuel Wortman of the United Meth odist Campus Ministry at the Wesley Foundation said, "I think (the BCC con troversy) certainly helped bring the groupstogether, (but) there were other long-standing issues that had already been recognized before the BCC." Wortman added that the coalition debated a great deal about whether to release a statement in support of the free-standing BCC after the issue's reso Ex-NARAL-N.C. director enters law school to hone advocacy skills By Deepa Pemmallu Staff Writer When first-year law student Ruth Ziegler calls law school a big transi tion, most people think of the usual added pressures of graduate school. Think again. For the past four years, as executive director of the N.C. division of the National Abortion Rights Action League, Ziegler already has experi enced the greater pressures of heading an 8,000-member organization. "Like any political work, it was a full-time job plus," she said. "It took 100 percent." Ziegler' s position en tailed lobbying, fund raising, training volunteers and traveling across the state to talk to various groups and work with elected pro-choice officials. "(NARAL) is an advocacy organi zation that works to keep abortion safe, legal and accessible for women in North Carolina," she said. "We work in the state legislature, and we work to elect pro-choice candidates and to hold them accountable. We do a lot of lob bying, but really what we do is train our men and women to get involved in the political process." ' Ziegler resigned her post at NARAL-N.C. to enter law school be cause she thought it was time to move on and acquire new skills. "I'm interested in government and honing my advocacy skills," she said. "I think law will be a useful tool." Ziegler, 32, wants to explore different options before settling on a specific branch of law. Originally from Philadelphia, Ziegler graduated from Duke Univer sity in 1982 with a degree in history. She first joined NARAL to help fight Judge Robert Bork's nomination to the Supreme Court and to satisfy her own interest in grass-roots politics. "I cared very much about the issues of reproductive choice," she said. "And that was a time when it was so very much an isolated women's issue. Many people thought they didn't have to vote for it or even think about it." NARAL was established in 1 973 in the midst of the Roe vs. Wade case and the battle to legalize abortion. NARAL N.C. was founded in the mid-1970s to combat a proposed amendment elimi nating federal funds for abortion. 'The challenge then was that there were a lot of pro-choice Americans, but either the elected officials didn't see that or were scared to see it," Ziegler said. "The majority of the coun try was not as active and vocal as Aid for Bosnia aim of new student group By Steve Robblee Staff Writer It's rare that anything at Duke Uni versity inspires action on the UNC cam pus, but the efforts of the Bosnian Re lief Committee are an exception. The committee was founded after some members attended a rally at Duke two weeks ago during which they saw a video and heard a speaker talk about the human rights violations occurring in what was formerly Yugoslavia. Moahad Dar, a member of the Bosnian Relief Committee, said seeing the video was so dramatic that it in spired committee members to take ac tion to prevent inhumane treatment like that documented by the video. "(The video) is very graphic," Dar said. "That's one thing that really shocked us and moti vated us to do some thing." Devon Sanders, a law student and memberof the Bosnian Relief Commit tee, said once he and the other students saw and heard about what Serbian forces were doing, they decided to help. Dar, Sanders and about eight other University students founded the com mittee to lend humanitarian aid to vic timized Bosnians, Sanders said. A magazine article about the subject inspired Sanders to become involved in the Bosnian relief efforts, he said. "There's no reason for me to be this unaware of what's going on," Sanders said. At 12:15 p.m. today, the committee will sponsor a rally in the Pit. The rally will feature Saffit Abid Kadavic, who is of Bosnian descent. At 7 p.m., Kadavic will give a presentation supports BCC lution. "The immediate issue (of the free standing BCC) is resolved, but the is sues of how we live together and of institutional racism have not' gone away," Wortman added. The Rev. Stephen Elkins-Williams of Chapel of the Cross said, "Racism goes beyond individuals to the struc-' tures of our society, (and that) includes educational institutions and churches." Members of the newly formed coali tion could not reach a unanimous deci sion to support the free-standing BCC at first, Elkins-Williams added. Manley added that some members of the coalition spent several weeks talk ing to students, faculty and members of the community before planning to en DTHDale Castle Law student Ruth Ziegler sees the elections as a turning point for abortion rights now. NARAL-N.C.'s growing effective ness earned it the 1991 Outstanding Affiliate of the Year Award and the Women of Color Project Award that same year. "NARAL-N.C. has become a real player in state politics mostly because of the dedicated work of thou sands of people personally involved in the issues and legal races," Ziegler said. She saw the recent elections as a turning point for abortion rights. "It's terribly significant that we have a pro choice president, but it's equally sig nificant that in the U.S. Senate we have 60 pro-choice candidates that took of fice," Ziegler said. "We also have 28 new women in the U.S. House, and every single one of them is pro-choice." The victories in North Carolina were in the Hanes Art Center auditorium. Dar, who organized the events, said the rally in the Pit was designed to give the public general information about what was taking place in Bosnia. He added that the evening presenta tion would be more detailed and would give a history of the Serbo-Bosnian conflict. The purpose of the Pit rally is two fold, Dar said. "The rally is intended to catch people's attention about what's going on in Bosnia," he said. "(It is) also to raise food and money and medicine." The Duke Bosnian relief group raised more $7,000 in two weeks, Dar said. He hopes that the Bosnian Relief Commit tee can raise at least as much, he said. Money is needed not only for Bosnian relief, but also to pay Kadavic's travel costs. Kadavic is flying in from New Jersey to participate in the committee's activities, Dar said. Dar said Kadavic quit his job so he could devote all of his time to making people more aware of the Serbo-Bosnian conflict. The committee is looking for a relief agency that will see that all of the money raised goes to Bosnia, Dar said. "We want 100 percent of that money to be spent directly on relief efforts to Bosnia and not to any administrative costs," he said. People need to understand what is happening in this region before they can be expected to become involved, he said. "It's important for people to first have information in order to understand and to explain the situation to other dorse the center. "The chancellor was in a state of change," he said. . "We were talking to the students to see if they would give him a chance to change." . i . The statement was prepared by Wortman, Manley and Elkins-Williams in late October, when it was clear that there was a consensus of support for the free-standing BCC among members of the coalition. At a Nov. 5 meeting held at Olin T. Binkley Memorial Baptist Church, 13 members modified and then approved the statement by signing their names. Seventeen more members signed the statement after they received copies, Elkins-Williams said. ii' ill ''. especially encouraging because the number of pro-choice representatives in the N.C. General Assembly in creased considerably, she said. She added that the failure of 15 especially negative and graphic anti choice campaigns across the country further indicated a clear-cut victory. "But that's not to say there's not a lot of work ahead," Ziegler said. She is optimistic about President elect Bill Clinton's announcement to reverse the Title 10 Gag Rule, which forbids physicians in federal clinics to tell women about abortion, and about his talk on eliminating the ban on fetal-tissue research. With continued pressure from pro See ZIEGLER, page 7 people," Dar said. Many people will be willing to help once they realize what is going on, he said. "I think that ... I sense a vein of genuine sympathy," Dar said. "I sense an urge in people to help." Many people expressed an interest in joining the efforts of the committee after seeing the group's Pit presenta tion, he said. The Bosnian Relief Committee has declared this week Bosnian Relief Week. During the week, the group has tried to inform people on campus about the plight of Bosnian and Croatian peoples who have been targeted by Serbian forces. They will continue to answer ques tions and show the video that demon strates the brutality of Serbian forces throughout the week. The University will recognize the Bosnian Relief Committee as a perma nent organization this week with its new name, the International Relief Com mittee, Dar said. He said the group must be recog nized by the University to conduct fund raising on campus. In the future, the International Relief Committee will act as a catalyst to bring other human rights abuses to the cam pus' attention, Dar said. The group might concentrate on bringing attention to the starving people of Somalia next semester, he said. Dar said he thought the University was willing to recognize the group so quickly because of its non-political na ture. "I don't think this is a political issue; it's a humanitarian issue."
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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