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The Daily Tar Heel
Serving the students and the University community since 1893
www.dailytarheel.com
thursday, april 8, 2010 VOluME 118, issuE 27
Om Vge e me
poce ve e o eee en
By Melvin BackManand andrew Harrell
STAFF WriTerS
UNC administrators and stu-dents are still waiting to learnthe details of a death Wednesday morning in Odum Village.“The assumption is that it’sa student,” said Winston Crisp,assistant vice chancellor forstudent affairs, about the stillunidentified person who policesaid was found in an Odum Village apartment.Crisp and others emphasizedthat as of Wednesday afternoon,University police were still in theprocess of identifying the dead per-son, and that the next of kin wouldhave to be notified before detailsare released.Police learned of the death Wednesday morning, saidDepartment of Public Safety spokesman Randy Young.That morning, a mobile com-mand center, a fire department vehicle, a health and safety vehi-cle and at least five police cars were outside the Odum Villageapartments on Bernard Street.Officers and others were seen walking in and out of the 701Odum building.The Odum apartments housestudents and are located deepin South Campus past UNCHospitals. Bernard Street isroughly 250 feet from ManningDrive, behind the Manning SteamPlant.“Right now we’re just con-ducting an investigation into thedeath,” Young said Wednesday afternoon.“Our first concern is identifica-tion and next of kin.”He added that police will likely release details of the investigation by this morning. A short message about the deathand subsequent investigation wasposted to UNC’s Alert Carolina Web site at 11:46 a.m.No Alert Carolina messages were e-mailed out to students orstaff on campus, said University spokesman Mike McFarland, ref-erencing the fact that police hadno reason to believe there was anongoing threat to the campus com-munity.Odum Village Community Director Kim Demaree sent ane-mail to apartment tenants Wednesday evening.“Earlier today you may have seenmany police vehicles in Odum. I
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want to assure you that there is nodanger to you and there is no ongo-ing threat either,” Demaree said inthe e-mail.“As this is a tough subject, if you would like to speak with a coun-selor, please call the RA on duty sothat we can route you the appropri-ate person.” A representative of the Odumcommunity office said the officehad been asked not to commenton the matter.
Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.
reecfc oe gn o exn
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By Upasana kakU
STAFF WriTer
A $14.5 million grant will soon allow UNCto expand a rural Orange County researchfacility that has drawn criticism for leaks of treated wastewater and chemicals.Neighbors say they are worried about theenvironmental and community impact of theexpansion to the Bingham Facility, whereUNC conducts animal research.The National Institutes of Health grant,received by UNC as part of the AmericanRecovery and Reinvestment Act, will coverconstruction costs for two buildings, one tohouse dogs used for hemophilia research andthe other to house pigs used to research car-diovascular disease. A third building, which will include labo-ratory space, veterinary services and faculty offices, will be funded by the University. It willcost roughly $7 million dollars, said BruceRunberg, associate vice chancellor for facili-ties planning.Some neighbors have voiced concerns thatthe University will be unresponsive to their worries, which include traffic, noise pollutionand water usage in regard to the new con-struction.Those same residents have already expressed frustration at UNC’s slow responseto records requests concerning the plannedexpansions, as well as leaks of treated waste- water that reached Collins Creek.“With an expansion, there’s more potentialfor mistakes,” said Laura Streitfeld, chair- woman of Preserve Rural Orange, a localadvocacy group that has raised concernsabout the facility in the past.Streitfeld said the community was con-cerned that a portion of the facility could be built on wetlands.“I’m happy for the people who benefit fromthe research that is being done at UNC, butI’m not happy about the expansion,” said Cliff Leath, a neighbor of the facility and memberof Preserve Rural Orange. “I can’t see any-thing good coming out of it for the neighborsat all.”UNC plans to have designs finalizedfor the expansion by summer or fall 2011.
By Florence Bryan
STAFF WriTer
PITTSBORO — Frankie Jones used to glance up at the court-house steeple’s clock every day to check the time.Now, like scores of Pittsboro residents and business own-ers, she misses the presence of their town’s centerpiece. TheChatham County Courthouse was severely damaged in a firelate last month.“I have looked at that clock 99,000 times as I was driving inand out of town,” said Jones, a waitress at Virlie’s Grill who first visited the historic building on a middle school field trip. “Soevery time I look up, it startles me that the clock’s not there.”To the town’s residents, the courthouse was more than a legalcenter. It was a childhood memory, an inspiration, a comfortingsymbol of home. And now that it is gone, they are reflecting forthe first time upon what it meant.Every time Nan Baldauf, a 32-year resident of ChathamCounty, returned home from out of town, she anticipated thesight of that courthouse steeple.“When you’re coming from anywhere, that’s the first thing you see when you come home,” said Baldauf, the manager of Second Bloom Thrift Boutique.“You see the courthouse, especially the steeple. Now that that’s
By Florence Bryan
STAFF WriTer
Since its iconic courthouse caught fire two weeks ago, theChatham County court system has tried to shield the already-crowded Orange system from sharing the scheduling burden.Renovations to an Orange County courtroom have limitedspace in its courts, but worries that the loss of the neighboringcounty’s courthouse would add to the space crunch have provenunfounded.The March 25 fire destroyed Chatham County’s main court-room, which was used to try both criminal and civil superiorcourt cases. Orange County, which shares a court system withChatham, offered to provide space to try superior court cases, but the offer was not accepted, said James Stanford, the OrangeCounty clerk of superior court.Today, court officials will meet with the Chatham County manager’s office to discuss alternative, temporary courtroom venues like the Pittsboro Memorial Library. They said they think
SOURCE: GOOGLE MAPSDTH/AMANDA PURSER
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t will be a long time before the ChathamCounty Courthouse is fully restored andfunctioning again.In the aftermath of the fire, the county isdealing with the loss of a historic building anda key venue for hosting trials.Residents, business owners and the courtsystem are coping with the lack of theimportant building.
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this day in history
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thursday, april 8, 2010
‘the garden is open’
R
uby Pardington, 7, shows off her illustration of the flow-ers in the garden of sisters Bernice Wade and BarbaraStiles, who live on Gimghoul Road. The sisters’ garden was the setting for a Wednesday afternoon book reading anddrawing event organized by the Kidzu Children’s Museum.
Dth/will cooper
Police log
n
Somebody reported twodogs in an unattended vehicle at2:33 p.m. Tuesday at 1414 RaleighRoad, according to Chapel Hillpolice reports.
n
Someone was removingmoney from unsecured wallets of UNC students at about 4:53 p.m.Tuesday at 120 S. Estes Drive,according to Chapel Hill policereports.The person stole $180 from one wallet and $80 from the other,reports state.
n
Someone broke into an apart-ment and stole items between8 p.m. Monday and 1:15 a.m.Tuesday at 200 N.C. 54, accordingto Carrboro police reports.Officers did not find any forcedentry on the door or windows andadvised the residents to change thelocks on the door, reports state.
n
A house guest stole $600from his host between 7:30 a.m.and 8:50 a.m. Tuesday at 401 N.C.54, according to Carrboro policereports.The host told police she met aman on a chat line and invited himover to her apartment. When shegot out of the shower in the morn-ing, her guest was not there andshe was missing money from herpurse, reports state.
n
Someone stole a vehicle between 12:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m.Tuesday at 501 Jones Ferry Road,according to Carrboro policereports.
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A disturbance was reportedat the Kangaroo service station at10:26 p.m Tuesday at 500 JonesFerry Road, according to Carrboropolice reports.The complainant said a whitefemale was yelling at custom-ers. After police questioning, the woman said she was upset becausethe store would not sell her pop-corn, reports state.
The Daily Tar Heel
NOTED
. More than 35 percent of adults worldwide have seen a parent become verbally or physically abusive toward an official at a chil-dren’s sporting event, according to a recent poll by Reuters and Ipsos.Sixty percent of U.S. adults polled saw such behavior, followed by 59 percent in India. Wealthier and more educated people werealso more likely to have seen the behavior.
QUOTED
. “I read things on his Facebookabout how he had gone to Hot Springs onenight and was driving 95 mph home becausehe was upset with a girl.”— Denise New, whose 16-year-old son hassued her for harassment and asked for a no-contact order after she logged in to his Facebookaccount and posted entries. New said she felt shehad the right to monitor her son’s account.
F
ans at a Los Angeles Angels game Tuesday set a Guinness World Recordfor “the largest gathering of people wearing fleece blankets.”The team handed out free promotional Snuggies — fleece blankets withsleeves — to fans in an effort to fill stands for the team’s second game of the year. Although a final count hasn’t been compiled, about 43,510 were in attendance.“A new record has been set for sure, though I will have to review video and photoevidence to come up with an exact count,” a Guinness adjudicator said to the OrangeCounty Register.The Cleveland Cavaliers set the previous record earlier this year with 17,758 fleece-clad fans.
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From staFF anD wire reports
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Corrections for front-pageerrors will be printed on thefront page. Any other incorrectinformation will be correctedon page 3. Errors committedon the Opinion Page have cor-rections printed on that page.Corrections also are noted in theonline versions of our stories.
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thursday, april 8, 2010
To Nw
The Daily Tar Heel
Campus briefs
Tingle e esechestem up to in NIH gnt
Researchers from UNC, DukeUniversity and N.C. State University have collaborated to arrange morepowerful clinical trials for cancerpatients.The research, aimed at provid-ing better and more personal-ized therapies to cancer patients,recently received a five-year, $12.5million grant from the NationalCancer Institute.The project, titled “StatisticalMethods for Cancer Clinical Trials,”is one of the largest of its kind to begiven a grant by the institute.Michael Kosorok, a professor inthe Gillings School of Global PublicHealth, is one of the project’s threeprincipal investigators. The othertwo are from N.C. State and Duke.
To UNC compute sciencepofessos ded fo o
Two computer scientists at theUniversity have been awardedfor their virtual reality research by the Institute of Electrical andElectronic Engineers ComputerSociety, the world’s leading organi-zation of computing professionals.Computer science professorFrederick Brooks Jr. won the 2010 Virtual Reality Career Award, which honors his lifetime contri- butions to virtual reality researchand practice.Professor Ming C. Lin receivedthe 2010 Virtual Reality Technical Achievement Award for herachievements in virtual and aug-mented reality.
Student Congess elects neoffices duing 92nd session
Student Congress elected newofficers in its first full body of the92nd session Wednesday.Deanna Santoro was electedspeaker in an uncontested race.Santoro, who was a representativeduring the last session, has alsoserved as speaker pro tem and asthe rules and judiciary committeechairwoman.Student Congress member AlexMills was elected speaker pro temafter an initial tie vote with represen-tative Adam Jutha. After a second vote, Mills defeated Jutha 16 to 11.The following committee lead-ers were also elected:
n
Finance committee: ChelseaMiller
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Rules and judiciary commit-tee: Adam Jutha
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Student activities committee:McKinney Brown
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Ethics committee: Keith Lee
CiTy briefs
Gemn students isitingChpel Hill-Cboo schools
Seventeen students andtwo teachers from the Ohm-Gymnasium in Erlangen, Germany,are spending three weeks in ChapelHill at Chapel Hill and Carrborohigh schools.The German students, who areliving with students of the two highschools, have met the mayor of Chapel Hill and toured the policeand fire departments and UNC.Today the group will tour theGovernor’s Mansion and variousmuseums. And on Tuesday, theGermans faced off against the American students in a soccermatch.The American students andtheir teachers, Marilyn Metzlerand Patrick Bradshaw, will travel toGermany in June for three weeks.The exchange has taken placeevery other year since 2000 andis conducted under the German American Partnership Program.
Donton od ce couldcuse Stud tffic dels
Motorists navigating downtownChapel Hill and the UNC campusshould expect traffic delays from7:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Saturday dueto the Wachovia Tar Heel Ten Miler,a road race designed to showcasethe local communities.More than 2,000 runners willparticipate in the race, which issponsored by Endurance Magazine,the Chapel Hill DowntownPartnership, Fleet Feet Sports andthe Chapel Hill-Carrboro YMCA.The event benefits the local YMCA’s “We Build People” cam-paign.
sTaTe briefs
3 communit colleges getmone fom U.S. goenment
Three N.C. community collegesare receiving almost $11 millionfrom the federal government totrain students in the health informa-tion technology field, The (Raleigh)News & Observer reported.Pitt Community College, CentralPiedmont Community College andCatawba Valley Community Collegeare part of a group of 21 schoolsnationwide to train thousands of people in six months or less.
- From staff and wire reports.
UNC alum’s film part of Full Frame
teenom bge
thrif sores see business upick
tar hEEl spriNtErs
S
ophomore Mak Karigan sprints Wednesday after-noon at the preliminaries of the Fastest Tar Heelon Campus competition. The event challenges stu-dents from all over campus to run the fastest 40 meters.The six finalists, three males and three females, will raceagainst some of the quickest UNC varsity athletes athalftime of the spring football game on national televisionSaturday. Karigan, like many who came to Wednesday'spreliminaries, trained for the event. He finished secondfor the men with a time of 4.52 seconds. Freshman JamalBrazan took first place at 4.5 seconds, and sophomoreHolly Zoeller took first for the women at 5.25 seconds.
dth/PhONG dINh
SEE THE FILM
Time:
4:40 p.m. today
Location:
Durham ConventionCenter, 201 Foster St.
Info:
fullframefest.org
By Mark SaBB
Staff WrIter
Rodrigo Dorfman, an inde- pendent filmmaker and UNC alumnus, will present his film“Generation Exile” at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival today in Durham. The filmmaker describes his style as ‘fictionary,’ mixing fictional story-telling with elements usually found indocumentaries. We sat down with Dorfman to discuss his experienceas a filmmaker.
DTH:
What were some of yourearly experiences with films?
Dorfman:
My father used totake me to see films that I shouldn’thave seen as a little kid; they werereally adult films. They were artmovies from Europe that really shaped me as a little person. The firsttime I felt the power of the movingimage was when I was working inChile, under the dictatorship, withan underground news gatheringagency that was filming the uncen-sored reality and lives of the Chileanpeople under the dictatorship.
DTH:
When did you get seri-ous about filmmaking?
Dorfman:
My first film wascalled “My House is on Fire.” I didthat in 1997 with my father, and it was a short. It was about under con-nected children and what happens tounder connected children in NorthCarolina. It was very poetic, very beautiful and it went around the world. After that, I slowly started working my way up, and I guess Itruly started becoming serious whenI bought my first real digital camerathat was good enough to withholdscrutiny. You become a professional when you have professional tools. I’ve been a screen writer for 12 years, andas a filmmaker I have made already four features in the past three years.
DTH:
Was UNC pivotal inshaping you as a filmmaker?
Dorfman:
I got my master’sin journalism at UNC in multime-dia, and that’s where I learned my craft. This is really and truly wheremy career took off after I finishedthat amazing program that allowedme to go to Morocco with a scholar-ship and film. A lot of my footagethat I took on my trip made it into“Generation Exile.”
DTH:
How does it feel tohave your movie premiered at theFull Frame Documentary FilmFestival?
Dorfman:
It’s great to finally be able to go to the next stage, whichis to show it in public and actually see it have an effect, that’s the wholepoint. On one level you make filmsfor yourself but then you’ve donethat, and you later show it to peopleso others can bathe in those imagesand the feeling. Hopefully the nextstage after that is distribution andthen after that you move on.
Contact the Arts Editor at artsdesk@unc.edu.
Mxe ficon n ocmen e
RodrigoDorfman
us oogom ip oMoocco in is"Gnionexi" im.
By OLIvIa BarrOw
Staff WrIter
Even when the economy tanks,some things never change: localteens still need to look fabulous onprom night.“It provides an opportunity forus to be a little vain and splurge alittle bit, but it’s one of those occa-sions when that’s OK,” Chapel HillHigh School senior Sarah Sullivansaid in an e-mail.But while looking awesome isa must, breaking the bank is not.Four local thrift and consignmentstores say they’ve seen businessuptick since the recession. Andsales of affordable prom dresseshas been part of that.“There’s a general shift in the way people think about how they use their money,” said LesleighCooper, owner of The StockExchange consignment boutique.“Basically, we’re in the business of recycling.” Annie Jackson, owner of Timeafter Time Vintage Thrift shop,said she sells more than 100 promdresses each prom season, but not just to teenage girls.“We can service all proms … seri-ous prom people, tacky prom people,elderly prom people,” Jackson said.”Cooper said she has seen businessimprove since the recession began.Both Refinements and Timeafter Time Vintage Thrift inChapel Hill and My Secret Closetin Hillsborough also sell prom andcocktail dresses.Gabe Blanchard, a senior at EastChapel Hill High School, will wearthe tuxedo his parents bought forhim for last year’s Thanksgivingdance this year, cutting his promcosts to about $100.“I would say I’m definitely cut-ting back,” Blanchard said.His girlfriend, Sullivan, said hertotal cost was about $420 — andshe paid for it with birthday money from both of her parents. Allyson Ropp, from CarrboroHigh School, aims to save money this year. She will spend between$40 and $100 at prom this week-end, since she is borrowing herdress from family and is going outto dinner with friends.“I’m not going to go out andspend a ridiculous amount on adress that I’m only going to wearonce,” Lindsay Savelli, a senior atChapel Hill High School.Knowing that many girls only wear their dresses once, UNC’sKaleidoscope magazine steppedin to help recycle those dresses by organizing the Cinderella Projectat UNC.Lauren Hafezi, a spokeswom-an for Kaleidoscope, created andimplemented the project, which col-lected more than 50 dresses for girlsat Southern High School in Durham who could not afford one.The predominately minority and lower-income population atSouthern made it a good candidatefor the program.“It’s one of those expenses thatcan definitely be reduced,” she said.“You wear a dress one time, and it’snice to give it another life.” Whether your budget is $50 or$500, prom must go on.“The prom itself isn’t actu-ally what’s exciting; it’s more get-ting dressed up, taking pictures,and going out with your friends,”Sullivan said.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
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t’k Wson is snio Ponix acmy hig Scoo on MiMi ro. t ig scoo bcm n oici ig scoo in Jun 2009.
By SETH CrawFOrD
Staff WrIter
Out of the ashes of failedattempts to succeed in the tradi-tional high school setting, somestudents have found another chan-nel for success at the alternativehigh school Phoenix Academy.Starting in a one-room trailer 12 years ago, Phoenix Academy grewevery year until it became an offi-cial high school in July 2009. And with the end of its firstschool year a few months away,the school can reflect on its accom-plishment — the creation of anindividualized, more intimate set-ting that makes college an optionfor students who might not have been able to graduate at a tradi-tional school.Former Orange High School Assistant Principal LaverneMattocks was named as the school’sfirst formal principal and said mostof the students are happy the acad-emy is an official high school.“They take pride in that. They feel legitimized,” Mattocks said.“Now they’re like, ‘We’re a highschool.'”The students have even begunpushing the school to make schoolT-shirts, she said.Since becoming principal, shesaid she has had to find ways tofocus on each of the 43 students’specific needs.“We are tying to live up to thealternative model by just being cre-ative, thinking outside the box, justsaying there is no box,” she said. “If I can get you to walk through thosedoors every day, I’ll find a way out-side the box to really find success.”Mattocks said the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education has been supportive of the school throughout its first offi-cial year. After a visit of the schoolin the fall, board member JoeGreen said he left impressed.“It has extremely capable teach-ers,” he said. “I kind of left with theimpression that it had the feel of asmall private or charter school.”Some students said they areresponding well to the school’semphasis on smaller, more hands-on classrooms.Senior T’kara Watson said shelearns better with more intimateclassroom setting. She also said theschool’s small size creates a bond between the students and teach-ers.“It’s like a family now,” Watsonsaid. “There’s arguing, but there’sno fighting. It’s just a big family.”Senior Antonio Glenn said hedropped out of school in 2007 aftergetting lost in the crowd at EastChapel Hill High School and get-ting caught up in the wrong crowdat Carrboro High School.He said he knew he needed to gethis diploma but wouldn’t be able todo it at a traditional high school.Glenn said he knew Phoenix wasthe only way he could make it.“People ain’t talking all the way around the room,” said Glenn, whoplans to graduate in June with sixother seniors. “You can ask morequestions, concentrate and focuson the lessons.”To make up classes he missedafter dropping out, Glenn takeslower levels of certain classes inaddition to his regular classes tomake up the credits. After he graduates, Glenn plansto go to Alamance Community College and major in auto mechan-ics, something he said he wouldn’thave the opportunity to do if it weren’t for Phoenix Academy.“It’s a good school,” Glenn said.“Ain’t nothing bad about it.”
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
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