October 29, 2002

Carolina in the News

Current National Coverage

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina 
people and programs cited recently in the national media:

A Mouth Guard for the Brain? 
The Washington Post
Concussions have become as much a part of football as end-zone theatrics, with thousands of high 
school, college and professional players each year suffering blows to the head severe enough to 
disturb brain function. A small company says it has the solution: a $19.99, industrial-strength mouth 
guard supposed to protect the skull by locking the top and bottom teeth together... Kevin 
Guskiewicz, an assistant professor of exercise and sport science at the University of North 
Carolina at Chapel Hill, was skeptical. "Who knows, maybe some decent studies will come out to 
convince me otherwise, but it's definitely not there right now. I will be surprised if it does turn out 
to be a big factor." Asgeir Sigurdsson, the team dentist for the sports program at Chapel Hill, said 
that only 2 percent of the more than 400 concussions he studied in a recent research project
followed a blow to the jaw -- the type of injury the Brain Pad is purported to help prevent...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24645-2002Oct26.html
(Note: News Services helped connect the reporter with Guskiewicz and Sigurdsson.)

Travelers Hunting eBay Miles Should Heed Cyber Caveats
The Wall Street Journal
Some travelers are opting to skip the jet lag, convinced it's easier to get a million frequent-flier miles 
by staying home and shopping eBay. But be warned that such cyber-savvy isn't always rewarded in 
the real world... Moreover, trying to circumvent airline rules by using clever wording about what's 
for sale and what's a gift won't get the seller off the hook, warns Bob Farb, a lawyer and professor 
of public law and government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,4820,SB1035822431443991871,00.html
(Note: The Wall Street Journal requires a subscription to access articles.)

Antidrug program backed by study
The Boston Globe
Researchers at an Ohio university have found that an overhauled version of the widely criticized 
DARE antidrug program shows promise in early trials... A study last August by the University of 
North Carolina found that several top drug-education programs, including the original version of 
DARE, were either ineffective or insufficiently tested...
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/302/nation/Antidrug_program_backed_by_study+.shtml
(Note: This National Associated Press story also appeared today in The Daily Oklahoman and 
The Contra Costa Times.)

Sun may set on reign of star GOP governors
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
When he ran the State of Wisconsin, Tommy G. Thompson personified some of the defining trends 
of politics in the '90s. One was the star power of governors. Another was the GOP's dominance of 
those governorships, especially in the vital "industrial belt."... With 36 seats at stake, this election 
should produce 23 to 25 new governors, said political scientist Thad Beyle of the University of 
North Carolina...
http://www.jsonline.com/news/nat/oct02/91274.asp

Raising Campus Spirits
The Chronicle of Higher Education
College campuses, often strewn with the memories of generations of moody adolescents and stuffed 
with spooky old buildings, are ideal places for ghosts to set up shop. Tales of their exploits make the 
rounds every Halloween. Here are a few of them... At the University of North Carolina at Chapel 
Hill, the Carolina Inn has reportedly been haunted by the ghost of a longtime resident, William 
Jacocks, since his death, in 1965...
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i10/10a00601.htm
(Note: The Chronicle of Higher Education requires a subscription to access articles.)

Current Regional Coverage

Campaigning for children
The (Huntington, W.V.) Herald-Dispatch
When Pam Shope goes to work, she works. She doesn’t have to worry about her 2-year-old son, 
Brennon. Of course, Shope works in the same building where her son has child care -- at Playmates 
Child Development Center in Westmoreland... The study -- conducted by the University of North 
Carolina at Chapel Hill and called the Carolina Abecedarian Project -- also indicated that 40 percent 
of students with early intervention were more likely to still be in school at age 21, as opposed to 20 
percent of those without it...
http://www.herald-dispatch.com/2002/October/29/LNspot.htm

State and Local Coverage

UNC faculty eyes raising money for staff stipends 
The Herald-Sun
While a similar campuswide initiative remains stuck in neutral, a plan in one professional school 
encouraging UNC faculty to give money for staff stipends is gaining steam. Faculty in the School of 
Journalism and Mass Communication voted earlier this semester to move forward with a fund-raising
drive to benefit their staff counterparts... The staff members just don’t make enough money," said 
Richard Cole, dean of the school... UNC Chancellor James Moeser has said he intends to make 
staff raises his highest priority this year... Neither the journalism school fund-raiser nor any 
campuswide initiative could be conducted as a university-sanctioned event, said Laurie Charest, 
UNC’s associate vice chancellor for human resources... Even as a symbolic gesture, donations from 
faculty would surely be appreciated, said Tommy Griffin, chairman of UNC’s Employee Forum...
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-281936.html

N.C. race may hinge on choices of women
Wilmington Morning Star
Marsha Smith hasn't been following the North Carolina U.S. Senate race. The 35-year-old Republican 
has been busy working and raising three children on her own in Hendersonville... Ferrel Guillory, 
director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media and the Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill, said 
that may be true...
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?SearchID=73115142781844&Avis=WM&Dato=20021028&Kategori=NEWS&Lopenr=210280316&Ref=AR

New district, faces could shift election 
Jacksonville Daily News
District 14, freshly carved by the new redistricting plan, created an open seat for the state House, and 
two newcomers to state politics are taking a swipe at it... Ferrell Guillory, director of the Program on 
Southern Politics, Media and the Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and 
state political observer, said the outcome of this election could be a signal of how other swing voters 
statewide are leaning...
http://www.jdnews.com/Details.cfm?StoryID=7986

Victims of a mill death
Charlotte Observer
Change, it is said, can bring opportunity. For Sandra Morris, it was wrenching. First she lost her 
cotton mill job. Next she drained her small savings. Then she sold her lawn mower to buy her husband's 
diabetes medication... "Over time, this transformation has a positive impact as relatively low-paying 
jobs in the apparel and textile industries are being replaced by relatively higher-paying jobs in other
industries," says a report by two academics, Roland Stephen of N.C. State University and Thomas 
Oatley of UNC Chapel Hill...
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/4379503.htm

Bowles: Invest more resources in programs and teachers (Opinion-Editorial Column)
Charlotte Observer
Strong public schools are the most important key to fostering economic prosperity for our citizens. 
One of my top priorities as North Carolina's next senator will be to make our public schools the best in 
the world. As a former member of the board of visitors for the University of North Carolina, Davidson 
College and Johnson C. Smith University, I have been a longtime advocate for higher education...
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/4372755.htm
(Note: Erskine Bowles of Charlotte is the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. )

Classical Themes
Chapel Hill News 
Musical voices, as with other types of expressions, like to be heard for the purpose of sharing their 
human experience with others. Sometimes it is for expression of feelings, but it also can be for creativity 
of the craft... In an effort to connect people with contemporary music, the music departments of Duke 
University and UNC-Chapel Hill are sponsoring a three-day festival called Milestones 2002 from Nov. 
7-9...
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/our_town/story/1860748p-1854844c.html

Price of sprawl (Editorial)
News and Observer
When houses began springing up on suburban cul-de-sacs in the '50s, it was love at first sight. Here in 
the Triangle, that passion is in full flower, new research concludes... Another school of thought sees 
sprawl as a factor in a whole list of other ailments, too. Obesity, heart disease and diabetes are 
increasingly common among people who have to drive everywhere, reports Dr. Hugh Tilson, a health 
policy professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill..
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1860442p-1856156c.html

Lyricist will help renovate Memorial 
The Herald-Sun
Broadway composer and lyricist Richard Adler, writer of standards including "You Gotta Have Heart,"
will tell stories and perform hits from his classic musicals in a Nov. 9 benefit show for his alma mater, 
UNC. The event, at 7:30 p.m. in the banquet hall of the university’s Morehead Building, will benefit the 
fund-raising campaign for the renovation of Memorial Hall into an industry-leading facility for the 
performing arts... "Richard is a legend, truly a great star, on the order of Cole Porter and Rodgers 
and Hammerstein," said George Ann Bissett, director of the Memorial Hall campaign....
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-281577.html

As relief from fright, Halloween's a scream
Charlotte Observer
George Bacogeorge has been building toward this Halloween for a long time. In seven of the last eight 
years, he's turned the garage of his east Charlotte home into an increasingly elaborate haunted theme 
park. This year, he's building a 10-foot-by-10-foot addition on the front to accommodate even more 
monsters and special effects... The uncertainty of the time affected people's ability to enjoy 
Halloween, said Reid Wilson, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at UNC Chapel Hill 
School of Medicine...
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/4385542.htm

Great Jobs 
News and Observer 
Raines Thompson, 24
Job: Muralist with Earle Kluttz Designs in Raleigh. 
Qualifications/previous experience: Bachelor's degree in journalism from UNC-Chapel Hill. Through a 
program at UNC, she spent four months studying art abroad at Lorenzo de Medici in Florence, Italy. 
She continues to take art classes to keep her skills sharp...
http://newsobserver.com/business/story/1864173p-1858349c.html

Hospital charity crisis
News and Observer 
Picture a 24-hour restaurant. The lights are always on. Tables are always available. Patrons can choose 
most anything on the menu, and if they can't pay, the law says management must serve them anyway... 
The Triangle's three main providers of charity care, Duke University Health System, UNC Health Care 
and WakeMed, say they wrote off a collective total of nearly $120 million worth of indigent care during 
the most recent fiscal year, up about 20 percent from the previous year..
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1865624p-1859624c.html

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

Soon-to-Be Graduates See the Need for Plan B
The New York Times
Hieu Le, a business economics major at the University of California at Los Angeles, wants to land a job 
with a Big Four accounting firm when she graduates in May 2003. If that does not work out, she has a 
backup plan. She will take the Law School Admission Test in February and think about continuing her 
studies. So will many of her friends... While business remains the top major nationally, lower-profile 
programs like pharmacy and criminal justice are experiencing spikes in enrollment, officials say...
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/business/businessspecial/29RAND.html
(Note: The New York Times requires free registration to access articles.)

Regulate conduct instead of duplexes (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun
Neighborhood problems should be answered with neighborhood solutions, not edicts that could bind 
the town in ways it could regret later. One could hardly find a better example of an ill fit from a one-size-
fits-all measure than the citywide moratorium on more duplex apartments in Chapel Hill. This ban until 
June 30 comes mostly in response to complaints in the Northside neighborhood that the conversion of 
single-family dwellings into duplexes is detrimental to the neighborhood’s serenity and character...
http://www.herald-sun.com/opinion/chhedits/57-281570.html

Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, 
please call Cathleen Keyser or Mike McFarland at News Services, 
(919) 962-2091 or news@unc.edu or mike_mcfarland@unc.edu