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Marvin Malecha, College of DesignCorporate tax intake rose 55%
Jon Bartley, accountingThe important thing is acknowledgment
James E. Crisp, historyPoint of view: Getting a fair deal for our taxes
Michael L. Walden, agricultural and resource economicsFootnotes
Trustees to name NCSU board leaders; Student vote bill gains groundDown the mighty Mississippi
studentsEducation PAC wants UNC to let UNC-CH, NC State set tuitions
tuitionUNC-CH backers take on system
tuitionEditorial: Campus PAC's muscle
tuitionEditorial: University PAC should just back away
tuitionEditorial: Book smarts
UNC systemListening Post: One 'best thing' from 'baccy
Technician
Bertie
County changes euthanization policy
Bertie County will shelter and euthanize its own stray animals now that county
officials have cut ties to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and
Northampton County is still considering what it will do with its animals
since officials there also have suspended an agreement with PETA.
Radva
founder ready to roll out new product
Triterine is a fireproof material being developed in Radford
Langley
cuts ribbon on headquarters for institute
National Institute of Aerospace
Man
Charters Chopper To Take Ill Dog To Animal Hospital
Veterinary Teaching Hospital
Obituary:
James "Jim" Harold Shelly
computer engineering
Point of view: Getting a fair deal for our taxes
June 27, 2005
News & Observer
By MICHAEL L. WALDEN
© Copyright 2005
RALEIGH -- Surveys
reveal a consistent theme about taxes. Frequently citizens will support higher
taxes if the resulting revenues are tied to specific purposes, such as hiring
more teachers, fixing road potholes or reducing the federal budget deficit.
But citizens are more wary of tax-hike proposals when spending plans are less
precise.
This attitude is understandable. It follows directly from the original reason
citizens formed governments.
Governments were originated to provide valuable services that citizens were incapable of individually providing, or could provide only at high cost relative to the individual benefit. Few if any Americans could individually afford to fund the high-tech equipment and military systems required to protect us from foreign enemies.
Likewise, it makes little sense for a single citizen to bear the full costs of the roads he uses for work and shopping, since the roads have the capacity to carry many vehicles at the same time. So in each case, citizens agree to pay a relatively small part of the bill and fund the military and the roads collectively, through government.
A similar logic can be applied to the public support of schools. Citizens realize they all benefit -- even those without children -- from an educated work force that increases productivity and stimulates commerce. So they agree to have some of their tax money used to provide a level of standard education to all youths.
• • •
Why, then, is there often resistance to tax increases for schools, roads, public safety or other governmental functions? Certainly there are many reasons but one is that people often fail to see a direct link between the taxes they pay and the public services they receive. While they support the basic functions of government, they can't trace their taxes to these functions.
There are three reasons for this attitude. One is geographic. Especially for federal and state taxes, there's no assurance tax revenues paid by a citizen are spent where that citizen lives. Federal taxes are redistributed among the states, and state taxes collected from residents of a county are not necessarily spent in that county.
Second, an increasing share of government tax revenues is being spent to improve the financial situation of individual households, and a reduced share goes to support government services used by all households, including public safety, roads and schools. In the last 40 years, the proportion of government spending used for the first category has more than doubled, while the relative amount of public spending on the second category has actually dropped.
Most people can see government spending on roads, schools, police, etc., -- whereas they don't see the spending for household financial support unless they're directly on the receiving end.
Third, even taxes dedicated to specific types of spending can be changed legislatively. This is best seen with the gas tax, where at both the federal and state levels revenues have been used to support activities other than building and maintaining highways.
• • •
If public officials want to garner support for taxes, I recommend they work to re-establish a more direct link between specific taxes and the spending those taxes support. I offer the following strategies:
1) Utilize user fees where possible for public services, so citizens can tie the service to the tax, but resist the urge to divert revenues to other purposes
2) Reconsider geographic redistribution of tax revenues. I'd favor eliminating most of the federal gasoline tax and making road construction and maintenance completely a state function. I suggest dividing the state gas tax into two components, one part that spends revenues directly in the driver's county and a second that funds roads used by drivers from many counties. I also recommend giving localities the ability to levy their own gas tax.
3) When increases in broad-based taxes, like the income, sales and property taxes, are requested, precisely explain how the added revenues will be used in concepts citizens can clearly see. Show how the revenues will be used to add "x" more teachers, hire "y" more public safety officers or fill "z" potholes, and follow through on those commitments.
4) Consider changing state laws to allow citizens to directly vote on more tax proposals. Currently, direct voting is primarily confined to funding proposals for capital construction projects -- school buildings, roads and water and sewer facilities. Why not allow citizens in a county to vote on increasing the property tax rate to hire more teachers?
Most taxpaying citizens are reasonable people. If tax proposals are presented in a clear, direct, logical manner, including how revenues will be used in ways citizens can easily see, I'm sure taxpayers will give them a fair hearing.
(Michael L. Walden is a William Neal Reynolds distinguished professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at N.C. State University. His new book, "Smart Economics," will be published in August.)
Education PAC wants UNC to let UNC-CH, NC State set tuitions
June 25, 2005
ASSOCIATED PRESS; Charlotte Observer; Lexington Dispatch; News 14 Charlotte; News & Observer; WCNC; Wilmington Morning Star; Winston-Salem Journal; WRAL; WTVD; Dateline Alabama, AL; Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC; WVEC, VA
By staff report
© Copyright 2005
Boosters of the state's flagship public university are trying to rally support for initiatives opposed by the University of North Carolina system.
Citizens for Higher Education want alumni of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to lobby for changes that would allow trustees of UNC-CH and N.C. State University to set their own tuitions without going through the UNC system's board of governors.
The board has traditionally set tuition rates for all 16 schools in the University of North Carolina system.
UNC also wants permission to pay lower in-state tuition rates for out-of-state recipients of full scho-larships. That change would allow schools to bring in more academically talented students.
The board of governors strongly opposes the proposals. The state Senate has included them in their budget, but the House has not. The chambers will reconcile their differences through a budget-negotiating committee.
Paul Fulton, a trustee at UNC-CH and leader of Citizens for Higher Education, said that the group is trying to reach the more than 240,000 school alumni through its Web site. The site introduced this week offers a form letter supporting the provisions that will be sent to the appropriate legislators after users enter their name, address and a few other details.
"We want them to let their legislators hear from them," Fulton said. "We're just getting started.
"We want the flexibility to do the things we think are crucial. We want to be a team player, but I do think there's a need to have discussion on some of these issues."
Citizens for Higher Education formed about three years ago as a political action committee and has become a powerful presence. The Web site says that the PAC is the second largest in the state and that it contributed more than $360,000 to political candidates during the 2003-04 election cycle, ranking it among the state's biggest spenders.
Molly Broad, the president of the UNC system, has said that she was disappointed by UNC-CH leaders, who lobbied Senate staff members about the initiatives before the legislation was introduced.
The issue has sparked an acrimonious debate among some.
Ed Yoder, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and a 1956 graduate of UNC-CH, said in a letter to the alumni association that "Those of us who view the Board of Governors system as little other than a device for enforcing mediocrity would like to see (UNC-CH) gain - or is the right term regain? - the autonomy it has lost in recent decades; and by the way, it would be nice to have our name back."
June 24, 2005
dBusinessNews Triangle
By staff report
© Copyright 2005
Triangle - Raleigh - The Soleil Group of Cary, N.C., has announced plans to build Raleigh’s first major upscale mixed-use project incorporating luxury and penthouse condominiums, a Four-Star Westin hotel and an office complex. The architectural plan for the Glen-Tree, as the building is known, was designed by Ralph Johnson of Perkins + Will in Chicago. Johnson is one of the world’s leading architects.
To be located at the site of the former Sheraton Four Points Hotel in the Crabtree commercial district in North Raleigh, the handsome, iconic structure will set a new architectural standard for the Triangle, and is already being hailed by regional leaders as public art.
“It’s a building of exceptional quality that really speaks to the future of Raleigh as a leader of the region,” said Dr. Marvin Malecha, Dean of N.C. State University’s College of Design. “It’s a step up, no doubt about it.”
Dr. Larry Wheeler, director of the North Carolina Museum of Art, agreed. “It’s beautiful,” said Wheeler. “I like the glass tower. It has first-class design. It has a great sense of aesthetics. It’s a very innovative design that could be a real showpiece for the region.”
The 42-story edifice is not only visually stunning, but directly reflects the clear recommendations of the Raleigh Comprehensive Plan, the city’s primary planning guide. The Raleigh Comprehensive Plan calls for tall, distinctive buildings that will serve as landmarks along the thoroughfares of specific target sections of Raleigh identified as “focus areas.” The Crabtree Valley Mall area of Raleigh is one such “focus area.”
“Glen-Tree was inspired by the city’s comprehensive plan,” said Dicky Walia, principal with Sanjay Mundra of the Soleil Group. “It will reinvigorate a property at Crabtree that has great potential, and will become a significant source of new economic prosperity for the region, as well as a tremendous point of pride for the community. With one of the world’s more visionary architects behind this project, Glen-Tree will be a stunning addition to the city’s landscape.”
This week, the Soleil Group filed official site plans for the $90 million, 600,000-square-foot project with the city of Raleigh. Construction is scheduled to begin in the fall after demolition of the former Sheraton building on the site. When done, the Glen-Tree will include 100,000 square feet of office space, a 250-room Four-Star Westin hotel (which will be Raleigh’s first Four-Star hotel), 35 to 40 luxury condominiums, a 20,000-square-foot world-class wellness spa, meeting and banquet space, and a 600-car parking garage.
The Glen-Tree will serve as the anchor for the thriving hotel district that now exists near Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, and will be located at the corner of Glenwood Avenue and Edwards Mill Road. The hotel will also support tourism along Raleigh’s growing Blue Ridge Road entertainment corridor and serve as a Four-Star complement to the facilities planned for downtown Raleigh’s new convention center.
Once the Glen-Tree is complete, shuttle service is planned that would transport convention goers from Crabtree Valley through the restaurant district on South Glenwood Avenue to the convention center in downtown Raleigh.
“This is a major step in the evolution of our market,” said Harvey Schmitt, president and CEO of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. “Having a Four-Star hotel and spa designed by a world-class architect in the heart of one of our major commercial centers will enhance Raleigh’s competitiveness. This is a very exciting opportunity.”
Glen-Tree will add $80 to $90 million to Raleigh and Wake County’s tax base. Through the creation of new jobs and increased tourist traffic to the region, the project is expected to have an annual economic impact in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
“In meeting with community and business leaders, the overwhelming response we received was ‘it’s about time that Raleigh does something like this,’” said Mundra. “The Raleigh Comprehensive Plan calls for city focus areas to have iconic, tall, architecturally pleasing buildings and that’s exactly what we are delivering.”
In addition to being welcomed by regional leaders, residents living near the site of the new Glen-Tree have had glowing praise for the building. As it will be located in a valley, the Glen-Tree – although 42 stories tall – will not typically be visible from nearby residential areas. At the same time, the building will lend the area a new heightened cache.
“It’s a real ‘Wow!’ building,” said Bee Weddington, a resident of the Brookhaven neighborhood, which is located across Glenwood Avenue from the Glen-Tree. “It may be tall but overall it doesn’t impact the skyline” due to the building’s location at the bottom of a valley. The view of the building from homes is also buffered by tree stands. “If you compare the actual height with the height of the retirement home up the hill it’s actually shorter” than other elevations in the immediate area, she said.
“Most of the residents here will not be able to see it,” she added. “But it is visionary. It really looks spectacular.”
Johnson, Glen-Tree’s architect, is accustomed to hearing similar praise. His signature work has been the hallmark of Perkins + Will’s practice for nearly 30 years and is characterized by striking facades and modern design. He has won both national and international acclaim and, in the past decade alone, his buildings have been celebrated with over 30 design awards, including five national Honor Awards and more than two dozen regional Honor Awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
Johnson’s works were also featured in a monograph (a scholarly book on a specific, limited subject) from international publishers Rizzoli and l’Arcaedizioni honoring Perkins + Will’s selection as the 1999 AIA Firm of the Year. In May 2005 residential architect magazine selected Johnson’s Contemporaine building in Chicago as its Project of the Year.
Innovative designs from Perkins + Will also include Boeing Headquarters in Chicago, the Los Angeles United States Courthouse, Espirito Santo Bank (Miami), Caribbean Technology Center (San Juan) and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business (Durham).
The Soleil Group is a Cary, N.C.-based developer with a reputation for managing hotels and upscale mixed-use projects across the Southeastern United States. Formed in 2004 by the merger of Welcome Holdings, Inc. and First America Hotels, Inc., the Soleil Group’s owners – Mundra and Walia – share a combined history of more than 15 years of hospitality and real estate experience. Since 1996, the Soleil Group’s partners have built a hospitality and real estate portfolio valued at more than $100 million.
They have developed properties in Hilton Head, Charleston, Charlotte, Augusta and New Bern. The Glen-Tree is owned by Glen-Tree Investments LLC, a legal entity established to develop the site of the former Crabtree Sheraton Hotel. Soleil Group’s worldwide headquarters will be relocated to the Glen-Tree upon completion.
For more information on the project or the Soleil Group, please go to www.soleil-group.com or call Glenna B. Musante at (919) 782-2360 Ext. 126. For additional information on Ralph Johnson, go to (www.perkinswill.com).
June 24, 2005
News & Observer
By JANE STANCILL
© Copyright 2005
UNC-Chapel Hill boosters have made a bold move that's nearly a declaration of war on the UNC system.
Citizens for Higher Education, a big-spending political action committee led by wealthy UNC-CH supporters, has launched a Web site and letter-writing campaign asking alumni to push hard for three state legislative proposals. But two of those initiatives have been denounced by the UNC system.
Some fear the discord could sever UNC-CH and N.C. State University from the system's other 14 campuses. And some fear a fractured system would force the campuses to compete with one another for the state's limited funding -- with the smaller campuses at a big political disadvantage.
The three initiatives, which turned up in the state Senate's budget proposal this spring, would:
* Allow UNC-CH and NCSU trustees to set their own tuition without going through the UNC system's Board of Governors.
* Grant in-state status to out-of-state recipients of full scholarships.
* And close the Horace Williams airport to make way for UNC-CH's planned research campus, Carolina North.
The UNC system's board strongly opposes the first two proposals.
The three provisions were not in the state House's budget plan. The House and Senate are trying to reconcile their budget differences now.
And the UNC-CH boosters want to sway that debate. "Carolina Needs Your Help!" says the Web site of Citizens for Higher Education, www.citizensforhighered.org.
The Chapel Hill campus' financial future is at stake, it adds, and alumni "must speak with one, loud voice for Carolina."
The site includes a letter that can be automatically generated and sent to the proper legislators based on the sender's ZIP code. The site suggests that senders personalize the letter with their own words.
Officials shocked
UNC-CH Trustee Paul Fulton, a leader in the PAC, said the site is trying to reach the more than 240,000 alumni of the Chapel Hill campus about issues important to it.
"We want them to let their legislators hear from them," he said. "We're just getting started."
The aggressive lobbying shocked UNC system administrators when they learned of the Web site Thursday.
Brad Wilson, chairman of the Board of Governors, stressed that the board remains very much opposed to the measures.
"That position hasn't changed, and it's obviously in conflict with that of the PAC," he said.
System President Molly Broad was out of town and could not be reached for comment.
UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser said Thursday that he had just learned of the Web site himself. "Obviously I'm interested in that, but it's not my primary issue," Moeser said. "I'm not lobbying on that."
Formidable PAC
The PAC has quickly become a formidable lobbying organization, with its coffers surpassing those of many corporate heavyweights such as banks and pharmaceutical companies. The group, formed in 2002, contributed more than $360,000 to political candidates during the 2003-04 election cycle, ranking it among the top-spending PACs in the state.
But Fulton said there is no attempt by the flagship university to secede from the system.
"All we're asking for is a little flexibility to begin to address some of the needs of the research universities," he said, referring to UNC-CH and NCSU.
The UNC system's Board of Governors, established in the early 1970s, coordinates policies and programs at the state's 16 public campuses, develops budget proposals for the entire system and sets tuition. The board also hires the UNC president, appoints some campus trustees and oversees the development of academic programs to avoid unnecessary duplication.
Broad has said she was profoundly disappointed by the actions of some UNC-CH leaders, who communicated quietly with Senate staffers about the three initiatives before the legislation was introduced.
Debate flares up
The issue has sparked a sizzling debate between UNC-CH supporters and system advocates. It has drawn strong words from well-known UNC-CH alumni, including Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ed Yoder, a 1956 graduate.
In a letter to the campus alumni association, Yoder wrote, "Those of us who view the Board of Governors system as little other than a device for enforcing mediocrity would like to see [UNC-CH] gain -- or is the right term regain? -- the autonomy it has lost in recent decades; and by the way, it would be nice to have our name back."
UNC system President Emeritus William Friday, who has opposed the tuition provision, said such acrimony could scare away potential candidates to succeed Broad as the system's president. Broad will retire next year, and a search committee is looking for the next UNC leader.
"The ... most important thing that can happen in the life of the university in the next few months is to find a worthy and accomplished successor to President Broad," Friday said. "All efforts should be directed toward that end. I would hope nothing would occur to detract in any way or delay this process."
June 24, 2005
Triangle Business Journal
By Lee Weisbecker
© Copyright 2005
RALEIGH - North Carolina businesses already have paid more than $972 million
in corporate taxes through the 10 months of the current fiscal year, a 55 percent
jump from same period during fiscal 2003-2004.
State tax collections on corporate income, a barometer of economic health
in the business sector, ballooned in April - thanks in part to a campaign
against income shifting and other sheltering strategies.
Total state intake on corporate profits for the month vaulted to $227 million, up 114 percent over the same month a year earlier.
At least $88 million of the April figure was attributable to the North Carolina Department of Revenue's voluntary compliance program. Under it, corporations that had underreported their tax liabilities using disallowed, out-of-state income shifts were permitted to pay up without penalty.
But even factoring out that compliance windfall, collections for the month were still 31 percent ahead of where they were in April 2004.
"I'd call it robust," says David Crotts, a fiscal researcher with the North Carolina General Assembly. "Even though voluntary compliance has made it artificially high."
The state taxes net corporate income at a rate of 6.9 percent.
In fiscal 2001-02, the state collected $599 million in corporate taxes. In 2000-01, the figure was $460 million. In both years, the North Carolina economy was in the grip of recession.
Jon Bartley, a professor at the North Carolina State University College of Management and an expert in corporate distress and takeovers, says the recent state collection numbers mirror what's happening in the country as a whole.
"Corporate taxes are continuing to climb, not as fast as when we were first coming out of the recession, but the growth is still there," he says. "Most economists expect to see 3 percent to 4 percent growth for the next year, so I'd expect to see corporate tax collections continue to go up."
Total corporate collections for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004, were about $760 million, about 5 percent of total state tax collections. Individuals for that year paid $7.4 billion into state tax offers. Sales taxes generated about $4.2 billion and the gas tax garnered $1.2 billion
In its current budget package, passed in early May, the North Carolina Senate proposed a 0.5 percent reduction in the state's corporate tax rate to 6.4 percent.
The House - intent on making up for Medicaid and other cuts in the Senate package - didn't go along, however. Some House members also said they were ready to forgo corporate and other tax cuts to pay for a program offering tax credits to small businesses buying health insurance coverage for their workers.
The differences in the two spending plans will be worked out by a Senate-House budget conference committee.
June 27, 2005
News & Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2005
Trustees to name NCSU board leaders
Trustees at N.C. State University are expected to name former state Sen. Wendell Murphy, founder of Murphy Family Farms, as the board's new chairman at their next meeting Friday.
Bob Jordan, president of Jordan Lumber & Supply and a former state lieutenant governor, is expected to be named vice chairman. Ann Goodnight of Raleigh will be nominated as the board's second chair, and McQueen Campbell III of Raleigh will be nominated as secretary.
Student vote bill gains ground
Student leaders have made progress toward their goal of gaining a student vote on the UNC Board of Governors.
They've been roaming the halls of the General Assembly in recent days, and they've signed on 35 sponsoring senators to Senate Bill 401, which would give voting privileges to the student representative on the UNC system's governing board. Currently, the student serves in a nonvoting capacity.
The same legislation already passed the state House, but it is stalled in the Senate's rules committee. With so many Senate co-sponsors, though, the Senate bill has new steam.
Listening Post: One 'best thing' from 'baccy
June 26, 2005
News & Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2005
One 'best thing' from 'baccy
(From Technician, the student newspaper at N.C. State University, an editorial on tobacco money.)
Mmm, cigarettes.
Not to smoke, that is up to the individual. But for North Carolinians, to produce them was a godsend. So much of one, in fact, the economy became dependent upon it. Since 1999, however, North Carolina has been moving to an economy centered on something else --- anything else. And now, N.C. State will be helping that transition happen.
Golden LEAF, a nonprofit organization formed out of the swarms of settlement greenbacks the state will be getting from tobacco class-action lawsuits, has made a generous donation to create a training facility on Centennial Campus for the biotechnology industry.
The Biomanufacturing Training and Education Center is NCSU's most recent "best thing." There is nothing negative, restricting or even limiting about this center being on campus.
North Carolina is among the top three states in the country for biotechnology, and this could put our state over the top. One of the problems with the farming industry and making low-technology products, like tobacco, is that often the exact same product can be made overseas without as much damage to the pockets. Farmers' competing with that fact alone has driven the tobacco industry into the ground. For years, tobacco farmers, distributors and those in the industry have been trying to find a cheaper way of doing the same thing because their lifestyle depended on it.
N.C. State will be aiding the state in finding an alternative.
Developing [the center] does nothing but illustrate NCSU's responding to a need of the state and giving back to it. Not only will it be creating a partnership with the state to educate and employ North Carolinians for North Carolina, but it will also create one with community colleges because students from there will also be attending the training and modules.
This allows NCSU to find a way for the state to support itself on a high-technology field that can always grow. A problem that many people in the industry have is that once hired, employees are not familiar with working in the lab.
This training facility allows for education through experience and eases the friction in the transition from academic learning to industrial production.
In conjunction with that, one of the biggest problems of the biotechnology industry is that there are not enough qualified people to manage, function and maintain production. That problem now has a solution, and we will be leading its way.
The important thing is acknowledgment
June 26, 2005
News & Observer
By James Crisp
© Copyright 2005
'I hesitate to make a pronouncement on reparations because the devil is in the details. Who pays? How does it happen? It's very difficult to put dollar figures on that kind of exploitation. To me, the important thing is not reparations. The important thing is an acknowledgment. Go back to the last two weeks in the United States Senate. Anyone can say talk is cheap, but talk is really important. George Allen [R-Va.] and Mary Landrieu [D-La.] were the ones on very different sides of the aisle who sponsored the apology by the U.S. Senate, [which] was for blocking anti-lynching legislation. Just to acknowledge that this kind of thing was going on is important and that the Southern senators filibustered [the legislation] to death was significant.
'Confession is good for the soul, and it means that people are being taken seriously. It means that the people on the other end of the oppression are acknowledged as citizens, acknowledged as human beings, that their feelings and thinking are taken seriously --- in other words, they're not just accused of being whiners. The most important thing ... is not the bottom line in terms of dollars; it is the acknowledgment of injustice on the part of those institutions.
'The collective memory is often massively distorted by efforts of people to either make us forget or make us to remember certain things. That's almost always selective, and our selective memories very often serve ulterior motives. Any dialogue about the past in which we can break [this] down and make our memories less selective and less self-serving is helpful. What that means is a long and careful and considerate and civil dialogue. Whether about the realities of slavery in general or reparations in particular, it is helpful to revisit the past and the realities of the past, even the unpleasant ones --- sometimes, especially the unpleasant ones.'
(JAMES E. CRISP, N.C. State University associate professor of history and assistant department head)
Editorial: Campus PAC's muscle
June 25, 2005
News & Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2005
For those North Carolinians who have long supported the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the system of which it is part, it's really hard to decide in which direction to aim one's exasperation.
Wealthy alumni who formed a political action committee are simply ignoring the Board of Governors that's supposed to set policy for the UNC system in order to get what they want, not unlike children in the throes of a tantrum.
These boosters, who have given hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions to those of influence, want three things from the General Assembly: first, the right of UNC-CH and N.C. State University, the system's major research schools, to adjust their own tuition without approval of the Board of Governors; second, to give all students with full scholarships in-state status for purposes of tuition even if they're from out of state, something that would be a huge break for athletic booster clubs that pay for athletes' scholarships; third, the closing of the Horace Williams airport so UNC-CH can built a research campus.
All three issues properly should be decided by the Board of Governors. But in a display of arrogance and disrespect for their fellow institutions in the UNC system, the Chapel Hill PAC supporters want the legislature to bypass the system that has worked splendidly for over 30 years. Their action is shortsighted and might well create problems down the road.
For one thing, these boosters are inviting the legislature to set university policy directly, removing the wise shield from direct political interference that the Board of Governors is intended to provide. And they're not considering that one day, UNC-CH boosters may not be in positions of influence at the legislature. This type of action thus could lead to a damaging payback from lawmakers who don't bleed Carolina blue.
Chancellor James Moeser has not distinguished himself with the level of leadership he's offered here. He seems to be trying to avoid taking a public stand, so as not to offend the big-money boosters, or because, perhaps, he agrees with them. He leaves the unmistakable impression that the boosters' PAC is running the institution.
Things have come to a sorry pass when that's the case. Now the test is for lawmakers: Will they stand for the strong, effective system their predecessors created, or will they dance as so ordered by the stewards of UNC-Chapel Hill's political clout?
June 27, 2005
News & Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2005
Knowledge is precious. And if it's in a new college textbook, that description takes on a whole new meaning.
Prices of textbooks have escalated to the point where buying a semester's worth of texts averages about $625 a year, according to trade associations. It can be a back-breaker for students on a tight budget, and with tuition going up steadily, along with fees and living expenses, students need all the breaks they can get.
Toward that end, one hopes, the University of North Carolina system is going to look at the issue of textbook prices. The effort in fact should go beyond simply looking. The university system should use its influence to seek some price breaks from publishers who are getting $166 for a new chemistry book and over $100 for a new math book.
Unless the books come with free personal instruction in dorm rooms from Nobel laureates, something is amiss here. Particularly when used books don't offer students much of a deal: An example cited by The News & Observer's Jane Stancill was a biology book at UNC-Chapel Hill that goes for $112 new and $84 used.
Another long-standing textbook issue involves the fact that professors sometimes assign their own books to students, giving those professors a market that's pretty much captive. Maybe those books are the best on a given subject or to dovetail with a given course, maybe not. But that custom is worth examining.
And consider these interesting and troubling findings cited in The N&O's report: Textbook prices increase at more than four times the inflation rate for all finished goods. Those textbook prices have gone up 62 percent since 1994, whereas general book prices went up 19 percent. New editions of textbooks cost 45 percent more than older editions, and new editions are published every three years; and, half of textbooks sold come with other stuff like CD-ROMs, which boost the prices even more.
That's a pretty good situation to be in if you publish textbooks, and depending upon royalties, if you write them. But it's not so good if you're a student working a couple of jobs and struggling to stay in school. And a little suspicion and skepticism is in order. Best-selling authors depend upon the quality of their work, along with promotion by their publishers, to keep their books selling. Textbook publishers have built-in, guaranteed customers who have little choice but to buy what they're selling.
The UNC system ought to push to get some book prices down. And it should align with other universities around the country. Professors ought to show a little restraint in their assignments as well. If a book is marginal and the same information is available online, for example, why not use that option? Students sensibly suggest that reserved library readings could be used more often. And why can't university book stores, which are gold mines at a place the size of UNC-Chapel Hill, give students a bigger break on used books?
These are valid questions. And the UNC system shouldn't cease its examination of textbook prices until it has the answers to them.
June 27, 2005
News & Observer
By TIM SIMMONS
© Copyright 2005
It wasn't that long ago that the memories of each day were crisp and clear for John Pugh and Jessica Robinson.
But after six weeks of paddling a canoe down the Mississippi River, things have a tendency to blur together -- a strange and somewhat wonderful blur for the two doctoral students from N.C. State University.
"There are times when you stare out over the water and for a second you can't even remember what state you're paddling through," Pugh said. "Everything is just so big."
When Pugh and Robinson launched their 18-foot canoe in northern Minnesota, the days were chilly and the water cold. Towns and other boaters were scarce.
As they approach St. Louis, they find they are shedding their heavy clothes and even taking a dip once in a while.
And they have noticed the river turn from a rural byway to a recreation haven. Once worried about barges, the two have come to understand that a single Jet Ski can be far more dangerous to their health.
They have also learned to navigate the Mississippi River locks, which act like dams to help maintain the depth of the river. Navigating the locks requires boats to wait between huge solid gates while the water level in the self-contained area is lowered -- or increased -- to match the river's height on the other side.
At times, one-day events can be more than either Pugh or Robinson can remember. To help them sort it all out later on, they keep journals. To them, the river looks like this:
JUNE 9 -- PUGH'S JOURNAL
RED WING, MINN.
"The past week has been a whirlwind. We've gone through the cities of Grand Rapids, Prescott, Minneapolis, St. Paul and now Red Wing. We're also along the Wisconsin border for our second state! Going through the Twin Cities was exciting, frightening, overwhelming and about fifteen other different emotions.
"We faced the first 5 of 29 locks that we'll have to go through before reaching St. Louis. It's hard to get your head wrapped around canoeing into a 400- foot chamber, watching these huge doors shut behind you, having the water sucked from under you, and being lowered down to the next level. Not to mention the thoughts in the back of your head thinking about all that water building up behind you when you're being lowered! I know those doors are strong and have been used thousands of times before, but what if they fail the one time that I'm in here?! We even had a line of visitors watching us go through -- no pressure there.
"Everything is getting bigger. The river, the cities, the barges -- everything. It's neat to look 100 feet up and see these four-lane bridges and think that just a few weeks ago we were passing under these little two-lane bridges in remote Minnesota."
JUNE 9 -- ROBINSON'S PERSPECTIVE
"Eleanor Roosevelt said, 'Do one thing everyday that scares you.' The day we paddled through Minneapolis personified that quote.
"The city moved too fast compared with all of the other places we had been on this trip, and I didn't have lots of time to collect myself. As we paddled up to the first lock (Upper St. Anthony's Falls), I was trembling, literally trembling.
"I knew that we would eventually go through some 29 locks, but I wasn't sure it was safe and could see me being pulled to the bottom of the river. As it turns out, the lock was rather tame, slowly lowering us as if we were a toy boat floating in a bathtub just starting to drain.
"I was relieved, but it was still strange with the ominous lock walls slowly getting higher and higher. The closing and opening of the gigantic doors is slow and controlled, and I couldn't keep from humming the Darth Vader theme music ... Dum dum dum dum da dum dum da dum."
JUNE 17 -- PUGH'S JOURNAL
DUBUQUE, IOWA
"We pulled into Dubuque yesterday and tied up the canoe at the Ice Harbor Marina. Dubuque has been exceedingly good to us, but we've got to hit the river today before the weekend madness starts up again.
"The best place for us to be on a sunny Saturday is way away from major towns and marinas. Things get a little hairy when the weekend warriors come out to play, one hand on the throttle and one holding a beer.
"The barges are like huge dinosaurs, but you just give them space and respect and everything is fine. They are a piece of cake compared to some of the things we've seen from the Saturday crew.
"I don't have to wonder if a barge is going to do a donut 50 yards in front of us (yep), pull water skiers in the shipping channel (yep, again), or best of all, pull a group of three kids behind a Jet Ski while weaving in between boats (yep, no kidding.)
"[We] are in the middle stage of the trip. Leaving Minnesota was a combination of elation and sadness. We had a fantastic time there and share many memories of the early stretch of river, but there are many more miles to go before we hit the Gulf of Mexico.
"I can't get over the changes in the river over these 770 miles. We started off in a creek we could walk across and are now in a huge river with barges and locks. Soon we'll be in St. Louis, past the locks, and into a free-flowing river for over 1,100 miles. I can't wait."
JUNE 22 -- PUGH'S JOURNAL
BURLINGTON, IOWA
"The last few days we've started to take a later break to hide from the heat. Swimming in a muddy river is sort of like a shower, right? We'll be due for a shower when we hit Hannibal this weekend. I might just sleep in a shower stall to get the funk off. God knows I need to."
RIVER UPDATES
The
News & Observer is following the trip of two NCSU students as they
paddle the length of the Mississippi River this summer.
Find the newspaper's first report at www.newsobserver.com or follow them more closely on their own Web site: www.source2sea.info. That site contains journal entries, e-mail addresses, pictures, links to the Upper Mississippi River Project and other information.
Editorial: University PAC should just back away
June 26, 2005
Durham Herald-Sun
By staff report
© Copyright 2005
For a copy of this article, contact News Services at 5-3470.
June 27, 2005
Warrnambool Standard, Australia
By staff report
© Copyright 2005
An international aquaculture expert said a new multi-million dollar aquaculture facility at Deakin University's Warrnambool campus was one of the best in the world.
North Carolina State University professor and aquaculture specialist Thomas Losordo praised the campus' research and training facility while visiting it for a conference at the weekend.
"In all the universities in the US, there's nothing that matches this," Professor Losordo said.
He said Deakin's aquaculture centre was comparable to the US Department of Agriculture's new $20 million water science labs.
"You have here what I consider a world-class facility," Professor Losordo said.
The North Carolina aquaculture specialist spoke at the weekend's workshop about the engineering behind such facilities. Campus head Rob Wallis said the conference was the third annual one for Warrnambool and gave the university a chance to show its multi-million dollar complex to aquaculture experts from around Australia.
Professor Wallis said sustainability and recirculated water were among the key topics addressed at the weekend workshop.
Bertie County changes euthanization policy
June 27, 2005
Virginian Pilot, VA
By DARREN FREEMAN
© Copyright 2005
Bertie County will shelter and euthanize its own stray animals now that county officials have cut ties to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Northampton County is still considering what it will do with its animals since officials there also have suspended an agreement with PETA.
Strays, wild animals and abandoned pets will be kept in shelters in both counties and will be euthanized in North Carolina, county officials said.
Until last week, PETA had collected animals from the two county shelters at least once a week. Some animals were euthanized in local veterinary clinics, some were killed in Norfolk and a few were adopted out in Hampton Roads, PETA said.
On June 15, however, two PETA employees were arrested on animal cruelty charges
in Ahoskie.
Police say that on June 15 they followed a van registered to PETA after it
left Bertie County’s animal shelter, staked out garbage bins at a grocery store
and arrested two PETA employees after watching animal carcasses being thrown
away.
They found 18 dead dogs in a bin and 13 other animal carcasses in the van. The carcasses included the bodies of a healthy cat and two kittens that an Ahoskie veterinarian said he had given to PETA that day to be adopted in Hampton Roads.
Andrew B. Cook, 24, of Virginia Beach, and Adria J. Hinkle, 27, of Norfolk, were both charged with 31 felony counts of animal cruelty, eight misdemeanor counts of illegal disposal of dead animals and one count of trespassing.
Bertie County has discontinued all cooperation with PETA, and Northampton County has suspended work with PETA until the criminal cases are resolved.
The only service PETA is maintaining in the area is an agreement with an Ahoskie veterinarian to euthanize animals at Hertford County’s shelter.
PETA has offered to extend that service to Northampton County, but the county is still exploring other options, Northampton County Health Director Sue Gay said.
Northampton County has purchased equipment needed to use its gas chamber, which is an approved method of euthanasia in North Carolina, and is considering ways to also use lethal injection, Gay said. The county will try to find homes for healthy, adoptable animals, she said.
The county takes in about 30 dogs and 30 cats a month. Animals will be kept at a shelter for three days before being euthanized.
PETA got involved in Northampton County a year ago because it opposed the county’s use of a gas chamber. The county stopped using its gas chamber and allowed PETA to euthanize its stray animals.
PETA became involved in Bertie County in 2001 after a caller informed the group that the county was using a small gas chamber to euthanize animals.
County officials were reluctant to stop using the chamber at first because it was provided by North Carolina State University, Bertie County Manager Zee Lamb said.
Then, PETA posted an alert on its Web site that was critical of the county’s use of the gas chamber.
Letters from around the world flooded Lamb’s office. Lamb still has a stack – more than an inch thick – of letters from as far away as Ohio, Florida, New York and Europe.
The county relented in 2001 and approved $3,000 a year to pay a veterinarian to euthanize animals by lethal injection, Lamb said. The county also allowed PETA to pick up adoptable animals at the shelter and try to find them homes.
Lamb said the county was capable of taking care of its stray animals all along but had allowed PETA to intervene in the hopes that it could find them homes.
In an apology letter to the Bertie County Board of Commissioners, however, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk wrote: “We were able to place a small number of animals … but the conditions of most rural strays and given-up animals makes that impossible.”
Despite the letter and pleas from PETA employees, county commissioners decided to stop working with PETA.
PETA workers also helped improve Bertie County’s animal shelter, donated dog homes around the county and started work on a cat shelter that would sit next to the dog facility. The cat shelter was not finished, and there is still a gap between the roof and the four walls. Only four cages are in place now.
About a year or two ago, PETA began collecting every animal in Bertie’s shelter, Lamb said, though he said he could not remember exactly when that started.
During that time, PETA took 15 to 20 dogs a week from the shelter, he said.
Now, Bertie County will keep stray and abandoned animals for seven days before euthanizing them with lethal injection, said Barry Anderson, animal litter control officer for the Bertie County Sheriff’s Office.
“We had the ability in this county for just a few thousand dollars to provide for the euthanizing and disposal of those animals,” Lamb said. “The cost is not that great.”
Radva founder ready to roll out new product
June 26, 2005
Roanoke Times, VA; New River Valley Current, VA
By Paul Dellinger
© Copyright 2005
CHRISTIANSBURG -- At age 72, Luther Dickens is still inventing things.
Dickens and some partners launched the Radva Corp. more than 40 years ago from his home in Radford. The packaging and foam products plant now has production facilities in Radford and Portsmouth.
In 1976, Radva patented a type of building panel made of Styrofoam-like material
which took the place of wood-frame construction. ThermaSteel Corp. now has
a production facility right next door to Radva'Advertisement
s Radford operation, although Radva has since sold all but 10 percent of
its stock.
"So we're still involved, and that system has caught on pretty well now," Dickens said.
Now, Dickens is at it again. He and others have spent the past eight years developing a new building material they call Triterine, and have created a subsidiary, Triter Corp., to complete the research and development for it.
They will preview the product at a home builders' gathering in Orlando, Fla., next month and roll it out more formally at a national home builders' show there in January, and see what kind of reception it gets.
This time, they have sold only 20 percent of the interest and are hanging onto 80 percent.
"We hope to bring in large investors to kick this product over into really high volume," Dickens said. In contrast, the ThermaSteel development was done "really on a shoestring," he said. "We don't want to repeat that with this product."
In his office, Dickens applies a gas-powered torch to a block of the material until it turns red-hot. A remote sensing thermometer shows the temperature at 1,600 degrees Fahrenheit, the highest it can register. Dickens says the temperature is closer to 2,000 degrees.
He cuts off the heat and invites a visiting newspaper reporter to touch the block. It feels perfectly normal.
"When you take the flame away, it cools down very, very rapidly," Dickens said.
"It really is a revolutionary material," he said. "It's a completely fireproof noncombustible material." These factors have become more important in building construction following the 9-11 terrorist attacks, he said.
A small building on the same property as the Radva and ThermaSteel operations has been serving as a pilot production facility.
Omega Point Labs, based in Texas, is one of the private firms doing the testing. A state laboratory at North Carolina State University has also been running tests on the product.
"So it's been a long eight years of testing, getting the patent protection that we needed," Dickens said.
A test can cost $30,000 or more. "So you don't want to send something down there until you're pretty sure it's going to perform," Dickens said.
"I started Radva Corp. first from a hobby," Dickens said.
The Carroll County native graduated from the University of Richmond with a degree in chemistry, and taught for a while before coming to work as an engineer at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant when it was run by Hercules Inc. He and three other RAAP scientists and engineers got to playing around with some plastic packaging, and Radva had its start.
"It finally became the tail that was wagging the dog, and I resigned from Hercules and went into this," he said.
A few years later, Dickens was the only one of the founders still with it. Today, one of his sons heads it and he is board chairman.
Radva's board recently decided to remove the company from the Securities and Exchange Commission listings due to the increased cost of compliance, said Bill Fry, an accountant with the company.
Fry said the decision was prompted by passage of the national Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, passed in response to the Enron scandal and others. It increased accounting requirements to the point where companies had to hire one or more extra internal control people just to oversee compliance with the new regulations.
The board decided the burdens of operating as a registered public company exceeded the benefits. It will continue holding annual stockholder meetings and providing its stockholders with annual audited financial statements. Its common stock will probably be quoted on the so-called Pink Sheets, a quotation service which collects and publishes such material on the Web.
"We're still doing everything we've always done," Fry said. "You almost have to hire one or more accountants to keep up with the requirements."
"What it does for us is save our shareholders money," Dickens said. Companies with annual sales under $10 million can opt out.
"Right off, it saves our company over $50,000 in the extra fees that it would take," Dickens said. Fry said that figure is conservative for the first year. "We still do all of the auditing," he said. "Our stock is still traded."
Langley cuts ribbon on headquarters for institute
June 24, 2005
Virginian-Pilot
By ALLISON CONNOLLY
© Copyright 2005
HAMPTON — Nelson Guerreiro, 28, was about to start his master’s degree in aeronautical engineering at the University of Maryland when he saw a brochure about classes at the National Institute of Aerospace.
He decided to give it a try, and moved to Newport News in January. Here he can take classes at nine universities and work on research projects at NASA Langley Research Center and other federal agencies.
In five years, he hopes to leave Hampton with a doctorate from the University of Maryland.
“We weren’t sure what we were going to get, but it’s been a great experience,” he said.
The ceremonial ribbon-cutting for the nonprofit institute occurred Thursday, although the institute began operating two years ago out of a smaller building nearby. Nearly 50 graduate students, part-time and full-time, attend classes here, and more than 100 courses are offered by member universities and in-house professors.
Students listen to lectures and ask questions via video conferencing.
The institute was created by Langley Research Center in Hampton to educate its future work force, expand on its research and commercialize its technologies.
It was an experiment that initially received a mixed response from industry and academia. But three years after it was first conceived, the institute appears to be pulling in research money and attracting talent to the area.
“Our success is closely tied to your success,” Langley Director Roy Bridges Jr. told Robert Lindberg, president and executive director of the institute, during Thursday’s dedication ceremony.
Officials announced the start of six research clusters within the institute that will focus on key elements of aviation and space exploration: vehicle design, atmospheric flight, aerospace materials, nanotechnology, modeling and simulation, and safety systems.
Through Langley, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has committed funding potentially worth $118 million over its first five years.
While officials have high hopes for the institute, the dedication of its headquarters Thursday was overshadowed by the specter of budget cuts for aeronautics – Langley’s specialty. President Bush wants NASA to focus on sending people back to the moon and ultimately to Mars, so NASA is shifting its money toward space exploration and away from aeronautics.
On Thursday, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation incorporated five amendments offered by Sen. George Allen, R-Va., that reaffirm aeronautics and aviation as a national priority.
“Recent proposals to cut aeronautics funding are shortsighted, and I believe will hinder our country’s economic growth,” Allen said in a statement.
Virginia Secretary of Technology Eugene Huang said the Warner administration is “deeply concerned” about the proposed cuts. He said the nation is losing ground to other countries, and the fact that Japan and France are developing a supersonic jet to replace the retired Concorde, a European initiative, is an example of that.
The institute offers graduate-level courses and degrees through its member universities: Hampton University, the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, Old Dominion University, the College of William and Mary, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina State University, Georgia Tech, and the University of Maryland.
Located less than a mile from NASA Langley Research Center, the institute’s students and researchers work closely with counterparts at Langley. They also work on projects for federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The building cost Langley nothing. It was built by Craig Davis Properties and the city of Hampton with the hope that the institute would attract other companies and researchers to the Hampton Roads Center North office park off of Magruder Boulevard.
Last year the institute had revenue of $14 million, and officials estimate this year it will generate about $22 million, with 130 research projects funded.
The institute has 12 full-time faculty members and 40 resident researchers.
Man Charters Chopper To Take Ill Dog To Animal Hospital
June 27, 2005
NewsNet5.com, OH
By staff report
© Copyright 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A dog whose owner went above and beyond expectations to get the animal treated at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital at N.C. State University was released Friday.
Most pet owners will do almost anything to make sure their animal is OK. So when Aiden Thornton's best friend, Elle, fell ill, he took to the skies.
Alden Thornton's 8-year-old dog, Elle, was having unexplained seizures and was near death when her owner chartered a helicopter from Virginia and flew her to Raleigh. It is the first time in the school's history a helicopter has delivered a sick pet.
Thornton said his main focus was not the money, but making sure Elle lived.
"I'm with her more than any other living, breathing thing," he said.
After an MRI and spinal tap, doctors ruled out a tumor or cancer.
Thornton's "best friend" is expected to survive; however, doctors will keep her on seizure medication for the rest of her life.
Elle went home to Kitty Hawk in a much less dramatic fashion. She made the trip by car.
Obituary: James "Jim" Harold Shelly
June 25, 2005
News & Observer
RALEIGH -- James "Jim" Harold Shelly, died unexpectedly at home on Thursday, June 23, 2005.
He was born in Zanesville, Ohio on November 28, 1932 to the late Lewis and Lois Wilcox Shelly. Jim spent his teen years in Warren, Ohio before graduating from Oberlin College. After graduating, he went to the University of Illinois where he received a Doctorate of Mathematics. He worked for IBM in Poughkeepsie, NY for 28 years. Then, he moved to Raleigh where he taught computer engineering for six and a half years at North Carolina State University before retiring. Through the years he has been active in his church, presently at Highland United Methodist Church. Jim was currently serving as a trustee, played in the Highland Orchestra, and helped build Habitat Houses. He was also active in round and square dancing.
Jim is survived by his wife of 49 years, Jean Olson Shelly of the home; children, Kevin Shelly of Middletown, NJ, Beth Shelly and husband, James O'Donnell, and Craig Shelly, all of Raleigh; grandchildren, Sean, Bridgit, and Daniel O'Donnell, all of Raleigh, and Laura Shelly of Middletown, NJ; brother, John Shelly and wife, Chadda of Boca Raton, FL.
A memorial service will be held 1 p.m. Monday at Highland United Methodist Church, Ridge Road, Raleigh. The family will receive friends following the service.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Highland United Methodist Church, 1901 Ridge Road, Raleigh, NC 27607 or to Habitat for Humanity of Wake County, 2400 Alwin Court, Raleigh, NC 27604.
Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, 300 St. Mary's St., Raleigh, is serving the Shelly family.