September 17, 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:

The Crumbling Intellectual Foundation
The Chronicle of Higher Education 
When money is scarce, some basic needs lose out to others. We see it in our homes and cities. That 
aging roof may not be replaced, that cracking pavement may be ignored... At the University of 
North Carolina at Chapel Hill, librarians are preparing for a budget trim of 5 or maybe even 10 percent.
In the short term, the library can weather the cuts, says Joe Hewitt, the university librarian, but he fears
what the future will bring.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i04/04a01001.htm
(Note: The Chronicle of Higher Education requires a subscription to access articles.)

North Tonawanda may eliminate DARE anti-drug program 
Buffalo News (NY)
City officials are dealing with a budget that some are calling the toughest they've ever seen... The 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in a study published in August in the journal Health 
Education Research, also found that DARE and other nonscientific prevention programs, such as Here's 
Looking at You 2000 and McGruff's Drug Prevention and Child Protection, are often insufficiently 
implemented and evaluated by the schools that use them. 
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20020915/1039529.asp

Speaker urges breaking country's obese tendencies
The Grand Island (Neb.) Independent
Mark Fenton has a foolproof way to help everyone in the United States lose weight and stay active. 
He calls it PAPPI. "What it stands for is Physical Activity Promotion through Predator Introduction,"
said Fenton, host of the PBS series "America's Walking." "Basically, we release our natural predators 
back into our lives. People move really fast when confronted with a python."... For years, the average 
weight of Americans has been climbing while their activity levels have been dropping, said Fenton, who 
is physical activity program manager at the University of North Carolina's Pedestrian and Bicycle 
Information Center. 
http://www.theindependent.com/stories/091402/new_obese14.shtml

Aerosol 'Angel' demonstrates the art of the tagger 
San Antonio Express-News
Reyes Garcia III wrote on the walls of his home as a child, but his parents didn't punish him. They just 
calmly painted over his Crayola art when he was done... When a traveling gallery sponsored by the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill came to Garcia's neighborhood, they commissioned him to 
decorate the steel building to prevent others from using it as a canvas.
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=180&xlc=814137

Charter schools’ scores show improvements 
Dayton Daily News 
A new study shows charter school students are making good academic progress each year, even if their 
overall test scores still fall below national averages and state standards. A University of North Carolina 
researcher, funded by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation, analyzed the scores for eight participating 
Dayton schools and one from Springfield. 
http://www.activedayton.com/ddn/local/daily/0916charter.html

New clues to Mauna Loa's plumbing system 
West Hawaii Today (Kailua-Kona, Hawaii)
Recent work has shed light on Mauna Loa's magmatic plumbing. The United States Geological Survey 
and researchers from the University of Washington and the University of North Carolina investigated 
the plumbing system of Mauna Loa by looking at xenoliths.
http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/daily/2002/Sep-16-Mon-2002/news/news4.html

Cell phone ban while driving on McGreevey's agenda
Parsippany Daily Record (NJ)
Talking on a cell phone while driving could get you pulled over in the near future if an effort by Gov. 
James E. McGreevey succeeds... He cited a University of North Carolina study, released last year, 
showing that cell-phone use was one of the least common causes of serious accidents... The study, 
conducted by UNC's Highway Safety Research Center, was funded by the AAA Foundation for 
Traffic Safety. 
http://www.dailyrecord.com/news/02/09/15/news10-roadcrew.htm

Regional Coverage

O'Connor property a 'literary Graceland' 
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Drive up the hidden dirt road to Andalusia, the farm where Flannery O'Connor wrote most of her work, 
and the literature seems to grow right out of the sandy soil.... This University of North Carolina site 
contains few working links but does offer a useful bibliography. 
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/living/0902/16flannery.html
(Note: This story was also featured in the Grand Junction (Colorado) Sentinel)

Graduated driver license starts Oct. 1 
The Birmingham News (Ala.)
Tribble Reese, a junior at Mountain Brook High School, says he sees good and bad in Alabama's new
graduated driver license for teens... "In a nutshell, it's probably the weakest one I've seen in recent 
years. Maybe the weakest one I've seen, period," said Rob Foss, a research scientist at the 
Highway Safety Research Center at the University of North Carolina. 
http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/xml/story.ssf/html_standard.xsl?/base/news/1032254126274400.xml

How much radiation is too much?
Hampton Roads (Vir.) Daily Press
To this day, Jim Lyerly doesn't know much about the radiation that he claims destroyed his life and 
now ravages his family. He doesn't know the difference between gamma rays and alpha rays or what 
fission is... Steve Wing, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina 
at Chapel Hill, studies Department of Energy workers at nuclear weapons plants across the country.
http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-13599sy0sep17.story?coll=dp-headlines-topnews

State and Local Coverage

Moeser charts UNC path (Speech Transcript)
The Herald-Sun 
Editor's note: UNC Chancellor James Moeser touched on past events and future challenges in his State of 
the University Address Sept. 4. A new tradition at Carolina, Moeser brought the idea of giving an annual 
speech from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, where he also served as chancellor.
http://www.herald-sun.com/archives/URNDetail.cfm?URN=0398292267
(Note: The Herald-Sun requires free registration to access archives.)

Court seizes uncgirls.com 
News and Observer
Usually when UNC-Chapel Hill goes to court to protect its good name, the case involves unauthorized 
Tar Heel logos on T-shirts. But recently, the university won a legal battle against the purveyors of a 
pornographic Web site.
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/1738723p-1751568c.html
(Note: This coverage was the result of a UNC News Services release 
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep02/uncgirls091602.htm)

Water dilemma: Saving vs. selling
Charlotte Observer
Conservation and cooperation, the buzzwords among Charlotte-region water systems staggered by drought, 
face the hurdles of money, politics and state regulations.... Hookups between systems help communities 
survive such calamities. But they're easy to put off when water is plentiful, said David Moreau, water 
resources professor at UNC Chapel Hill.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/4072238.htm

Campaigns raise smuggling issue
Charlotte Observer
U.S. Senate contenders Elizabeth Dole and Erskine Bowles have staked out positions in the last week 
attacking textile smuggling, which they and textile-industry officials say is costing North Carolina thousands 
of jobs... Those workers, many in rural areas, represent a highly energized source of potential votes, 
said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program in Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at UNC 
Chapel Hill. 
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/business/4072264.htm

Century Furniture carves out its future
Charlotte Observer
Century Furniture in Hickory is proud of three computer-controlled lathes it bought three years ago. 
At $1 million each, they can carve 20 pieces of wood at a time into chair and table legs for Century's 
luxury furniture... "When you have a trade deal with a country with an abundant supply of low-skilled 
labor, your low-skilled labor is in jeopardy immediately," said Robert Connolly, an associate professor 
of international finance and economics at UNC Chapel Hill. 
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/business/4078225.htm

3 years later, picking up after Hurricane Floyd isn't finished
Charlotte Observer
The floodwaters rose faster than anyone predicted. The cleanup is taking longer than anyone feared... 
"Disasters happen," said UNC Chapel Hill planner David Brower. "The question is whether you're putting 
yourself in a position to make them worse."
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/4089821.htm

Gone squirrelly for new decks (Commentary)
Charlotte Observer
Last week's story on composite decking, often made from recycled wood and plastic, brought one bit of 
surprising news: Squirrels love some of the stuff... A UNC Chapel Hill study on how home buyers use the 
Web showed that those who shop online actually visit more houses in person than those who don't... The 
study was completed by geography professor Risa Palm, an expert on real estate agents, and graduate
student Michelle Danis.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/living/home/4072247.htm
(Note: Palm's study was the subject of a UNC news release 
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/sep02/palm090902.htm)

'Extraordinary heritage'
Chapel Hill News 
Somewhere in the fields and forests a few miles west of Hillsborough, lost beneath more than two centuries' 
worth of soil and sediment, lies whatever is left of a homestead once occupied by a settler named John Gray... 
"Hillsborough is the oldest and most central town in the Piedmont," said Harry Watson, UNC professor of
history and the director of the Center for the Study of the American South. 
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/story/1706781p-1723605c.html

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

M.B.A. Programs Now Screen for Integrity, Too
The New York Times
Grades. Test scores. Work history. Leadership experience. Those are the admissions yardsticks 
traditionally used by the nation's leading business schools, whose bright, brash graduates fill the top ranks
of corporate America.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/15/business/yourmoney/15MBAS.html
(Note: The New York Times requires free registration to access articles.)

Learning Beyond Measure
The New York Times
When the U.S. News & World Report annual rankings of undergraduate programs at American colleges and 
universities appeared this week, I breathed a sigh of relief that my university continued to appear among the 
top 10 in the "national universities" category. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/17/opinion/17BEEM.html
(Note: The New York Times requires free registration to access articles.)

E-mail is the express route to the professor 
USA Today
E-mail hasn't replaced students' face time with their professors, but it has increased their one-on-one time, 
a survey released Sunday says.
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020916/4450184s.htm

Kinnaird wins by 119 votes 
News and Observer 
After an official recount Monday, Ellie Kinnaird emerged again as the winner of the Democratic primary race 
in Orange and Chatham counties for state Senate District 23.
http://newsobserver.com/news/triangle/story/1738737p-1751553c.html

Rain’s good news, but ‘we still have so, so far to go’ 
The Herald-Sun
Although they were glad to see the rain over the weekend, officials said Monday that the local water situation 
remains about the same. 
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-267641.html

University Cuts Down Water Use
Daily Tar Heel
On Sept. 9, the Orange Water and Sewer Authority declared a state of water supply emergency for 
Chapel Hill and Carrboro and advised its customers to decrease water usage by 25 percent.
http://www.dailytarheel.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/09/17/3d87267a7db18

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