News Clips for October 23-25, 2004

Governor race looks similar on both sides
Andrew Taylor, political science

ECU to host election discussion
Andrew Taylor, political science

WRAL Poll: Easley Maintains Big Lead Over Ballantine
Andrew Taylor, political science

‘Small-Incision’ Surgery a Better Way to Cure Pet Cataracts
Brian C. Gilger, ophthalmology

State's jobless rate declines
Michael L. Walden, agricultural and resource economics

N.C.'s jobless level at its lowest in 3 1/2 years
Michael L. Walden, agricultural and resource economics

People
Jan Genzer, chemical engineering; Carol Hall, chemical engineering; Katie McDermott, Institute for Transportation Research and Education

Students experiment with N.C. Girls in Science club
Mary Schweitzer, marine, earth and atmospheric sciences

College kids rockin' to vote
Evelyn Reiman, student affairs

NCSU hosts law school fair
Inter-Institutional Law School Fair at N.C. State University

Under the dome: Phipps made list of 'enemies'
Former Gov. Jim Hunt, N.C. State University and the state Commerce Department made the list of enemies, along with environmental and animal rights groups.

For thousands, fair ticket's a freebie
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

You'd have thought that political enemies lists had gone out of style with Richard Nixon.

But Meg Scott Phipps, the former state agriculture commissioner, put a new twist on the practice, with friends and enemies divided among five categories.

Phipps is in federal prison for extorting money from carnival companies. But around the time the state State Board of Elections slapped her with a $130,000 fine for accepting illegal campaign contributions -- and before she was indicted -- Phipps and her aide Mike Blanton created the list, according to an FBI investigator.

The first pages in the stack say "Re-election" at the top. Included are six pages of names identified as supporters or opponents of Phipps or the department.

Phipps' listed opponents include state legislators, including Senate leader Marc Basnight of Manteo; John Merritt, a former aide to Gov. Mike Easley; and former Agriculture Commissioner Jim Graham. Reporters and editors at The News & Observer appear on the list, too.

Former Gov. Jim Hunt, N.C. State University and the state Commerce Department made the list of enemies, along with environmental and animal rights groups.

A new poll puts U.S. Senate candidates Richard Burr and Erskine Bowles in a dead heat, and Gov. Mike Easley far ahead of his Republican challenger, Patrick Ballantine.

The poll of 625 likely voters, conducted last Monday and Tuesday by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc., puts Burr, a Republican, and Bowles, a Democrat, at 45 percent each. Ten percent remained undecided.

In the governor's race, 55 percent of those surveyed chose Easley, a Democrat, while only 35 percent chose Ballantine.

Remember when Easley said of his wife, Mary, that if she were any more extroverted, "she'd be a stripper"? Well, someone out there seems to have taken the description a little too literally.

According to Easley's campaign finance reports, he has accepted contributions this year from three businessmen with ties to topless bars in North Carolina.

He received $2,777.77 from Jerry Golding, owner and president of Dockside Dolls. He received $4,000 from Jerry Reid, who runs topless clubs under the name Pure Gold. Jerry Reid Jr., Reid's son, also gave $4,000.

Easley campaign manager Jay Reiff said he was unaware of the contributions until a reporter asked about them Friday. He said the money would be returned to the donors immediately.

Republican Supreme Court candidate Rachel Lea Hunter and the state Republican Party keep trading barbs over her candidacy.

Hunter says she never sought her party's endorsement, even though she showed up at the GOP Executive Committee meeting in August when it decided its endorsement.

Bill Peaslee, chief of staff and political director of the state GOP, laughed at that. "Then why did she come and speak to the Executive Committee?" he asked.

To win the individual support of committee members, campaign manager Cameron DeJong said.

Peaslee said he didn't order Hunter away from the party headquarters Tuesday, as her campaign staff asserted.

With Peaslee and several other GOP staffers gathered at the headquarters entrance when Hunter's campaign entourage showed up, Hunter's crowd got the message and volunteered to stay off the party's property, he said.

"Our facility is not a public forum," Peaslee said. "You can't come in without permission. If they had asked, I would have told them no."

College kids rockin' to vote

Four years ago, political commentators were calling young voters an apathetic lot -- the tail end of a generation that had given up on American politics.

On college campuses across the Triangle, students are busy knocking on doors, holding court in central gathering places, organizing vote-early marches and quietly lobbying their peers -- all with the goal of making their voices heard.

Whether it's the Iraq war, an uncertain economy or concerns about health care, 18- to 24-year-olds seem to have found a new fascination with politics.

A Harvard University poll surveyed 1,202 college undergraduates from Oct. 7 to Oct. 13 on 210 campuses in 48 states. Nearly 84 percent of the students said they would "definitely be voting" this year. Compare that to 2000, when only 50 percent of the students answered similarly in a Harvard Institute of Politics survey during the Gore-Bush race.

"I think this is probably one of the first years that there's a real difference in the candidates that people can see," said Matt Latrick, an N.C. State University student government leader who helped organize Democracy Fest. The two-day, nonpartisan event this past weekend in Raleigh was designed to inform students about issues and candidates.

"The ultimate goal is to get the students active in politics so they can take a stand one way or another," added Latrick, 20.

Since Jan. 1, state elections officials have registered 184,975 people who will be in the 18- to 24-year-old category Nov. 2.

These are young voters who grew up in a time when politicians have always used rock music for theme songs, according to the Beloit College mind-set lists.

In the minds of these students, yuppies are almost as old as hippies, Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie are old enough to be their parents, and the Social Security system has always been on the brink.

Never have they seen a first lady in office in a fur coat. And for all but the very early years of their lives, Alan Greenspan has been setting the country's financial direction.

"I think probably most college students are interested in the economy and the job opportunities that are going to be available to us when we get out," said Erin Welch, 19, an NCSU sophomore from Concord. "The chance to have more opportunities when you come out with a degree, that's what entices me the most."

On MTV, the Internet, billboards and other places that the under-30 crowd typically turn to for information, candidates and political parties are trying to rally support.

Some racy political Web sites try to turn on young voters by asking them to pledge to be sexually active only with those who vote.

On a recent Wednesday in the Pit, a central gathering place on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, several representatives from the College Republicans played a tape of a John Kerry speech. Through his words, they were hoping to turn students against the Democratic presidential candidate on a campus that has a left-leaning reputation.

"I'm optimistic because we've had a lot of people show support for the president," said Richard Bean, 20, a UNC-CH junior from Charlotte. "But then again, there is the nickname of the 'People's Republic of Chapel Hill.' "

Bean and his political cohort, Josh Shelley, 21, a UNC-CH senior from Greensboro, say they are drawn to this election and Bush because of his handling of the Iraq war and his support for a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

"I think in our postmodern culture, just the moral issues are important," Shelley said.

Sitting at the same long table just several chairs away, though, were UNC-CH students of very different minds and political ideologies.

Mellissa Offoha, 21, a UNC-CH senior, has been surprised by apathetic classmates. The outspoken student was selling baked goods for Cadence, an a cappella singing group, but it didn't take much to get her and her friends going about the 2004 elections.

"I didn't know that people didn't care about voting," Offoha said. "But some of my friends are like, 'Why should I vote? I don't like either one.' And I'm like, 'You know, people died just so you could have this vote. So you better use it.' "

Like many of her peers, Offoha already cast her ballot at an early voting site on the Chapel Hill campus. She went straight Democratic, she said.

Erin Blasa, 18, a UNC-CH freshman from Memphis, Tenn., chimed in: "It's kind of hard to not go to college and want to be a Democrat. College has gotten so expensive, and it's so hard to get money now."

This year, many young voters have a strong sense that they, indeed, can make a difference in the outcome of a race. They remember the 2000 election and how a small margin determined the outcome.

"I would say that in my judgment, students seem more energized and engaged about this particular presidential election than I have seen in some time, and I think it mirrors what we're seeing on the national scene," said Evelyn Reiman, associate vice chancellor for student affairs at NCSU.

"I think the war is very much on their minds," she said. "Another thing is, in my judgment, the candidates are reaching out to college students more. I think the fact that both candidates have sent their kids out on the college trail, that's certainly added to the enthusiasm."

RALEIGH -- He loves auto racing, supports capital punishment and backs a constitutional amendment to put the kibosh on gay marriages in North Carolina. The National Rifle Association endorses him.

And as the state's chief executive for the next four years, his fiscal plans are to cut taxes and keep the budget from growing too fast.

Mike Easley, as the incumbent Democrat, has done everything in his power to guarantee that Republican challenger Patrick Ballantine does not get to the right of him during their campaign for governor.

This tactic might help Easley remain in office even while economic upheaval and political shifts toward the GOP have sent other Southern Democratic governors packing.

"Easley understands that statewide elections are very competitive in this state," said Andrew Taylor, an N.C. State political science professor. "That's a fact of life. And on many issues, North Carolinians are very conservative. He knows that."

Not surprisingly then, both candidates for the office share similar positions. Where they have attacked each other most forcefully is over which one could do a better job directing the state's fiscal affairs.

Easley sells himself as the prudent leader who adroitly steered the state through a recession and, unlike Ballantine, would stay the course.

Ballantine, as the governor argued when they debated this month, would pursue an "irresponsible" mix of excessive spending and unaffordable tax cuts and "dig the same old ditch" that plagued the state's finances in recent years.

"He's the tax-and-spender," said Ballantine, a former state senator from Wilmington. "I'm the fiscal conservative."

Ballantine criticizes Easley for increasing levies "three years in a row." This is a point of dispute because the fiscal 2002-03 bill allowed local governments -- not the state -- to raise the sales-tax rate. And the fiscal 2003-04 budget merely extended two temporary taxes passed in the 2001-02 spending measure.

But that first budget to land on Easley's desk undeniably hit people in the wallet with a half-percent increase in the sales-tax rate and a new 8.25 percent bracket on the top income earners. These increases now are scheduled to lapse by the end of 2005.

Higher taxes have kept North Carolina's economy from a robust rebound, Ballantine contends.

His recipe for a "better business climate" is to lower taxes. That includes eliminating taxes on profit from the sale of stocks and bonds and dropping the corporate income tax from 6.9 percent to as low as 5 percent -- moves that a legislative fiscal analyst estimated could cost about $800 million a year.

Ballantine and Easley support allowing the temporary sales and income taxes to expire on schedule. This budget cycle, those levies are projected to bring in $480 million.

The rest of Easley's tax agenda is narrower in scope than what Ballantine proposes. He has mentioned lowering the corporate tax rate and exempting a company's first $20,000 in profit from the assessment.

Easley does not go as far as Ballantine on another costly proposition: state worker pay raises.

Ballantine wants to give 5 percent annually over three years, which won him an endorsement from the State Employees Association of North Carolina. Easley says this increase, coupled with steep tax cuts, is more than the treasury can afford.

Ballantine was the only Republican primary contender who backed using public money to attract development. He said he would look at other states for guidance.

"I'm big on models," Ballantine said, but he declined to cite any examples he might follow. "... I'd rather not go into that right yet."

Easley has embraced government incentives to spur growth. In fact, when he announced Thursday that Credit Suisse First Boston was locating a center near Raleigh, the governor said a state grant to the company was "probably the crucial piece" in North Carolina landing the project.

Both candidates have emphasized their plans to improve education. Ballantine wants to focus on reading skills, while Easley has his eye on reducing the high school dropout rate.

Gay marriage, which has been a hot values issue in the presidential race, finds these competitors in agreement.

Easley and Ballantine oppose same-sex unions and are open to a state constitutional ban. However, the governor argues that a "good and solid" law already prohibits gay marriage, making an amendment unnecessary for now.

One also would not discern a difference between Ballantine and Easley on a death-penalty moratorium. They are against halting executions for two years while any problems with the punishment are studied and fixed.

Easley has commuted two death sentences to life in prison and allowed 17, including an execution Friday morning. He has implied that he believed those pushing a moratorium actually sought it as a foothold to abolish capital punishment.

"There's plenty of time they could have been studying if they had been genuine," said Easley, a former prosecutor and attorney general.

The state Senate approved a moratorium measure in 2003. House members did not consider it.

Greensboro resident Brian Goldberg, a board member with People of Faith Against the Death Penalty, said he held out hope that either Easley or Ballantine would accept a moratorium if the public demanded it.

"If we could take the time to review the system, that's a sane, logical way to do it," Goldberg said.

Ballantine opposes a state lottery, but Easley has been pushing it since his 2000 campaign. Polls consistently show about two-thirds of North Carolinians favor a game, which all neighboring states have.

Easley, who promises to keep seeking a lottery during a second term, would use its revenue for prekindergarten, smaller classes and school construction.

A breakthrough computer-aided technology at North Carolina State University now allows veterinarians to remove cataracts in dogs and cats and implant new lenses through an incision roughly the size of the tip of a pencil. The new procedure affords animals a less painful recovery with fewer complications.

Specially trained veterinary surgeons employ the computer-controlled system to make a 3.2 micromilliliter opening in the cornea of the animal’s eye to insert a small probe. Using ultrasonic waves, the surgeon breaks up the cataractous lens that is impairing vision and removes the lens through the incision. The surgeon then is able to implant the new, foldable synthetic lens through the same 3.2 micromilliliter opening - a vast improvement over previous procedures.

Traditional surgeries involve making large incisions in the eye to both remove the cataractous lens and to insert a rigid synthetic replacement lens.

“Small cataract incisions decrease inflammation, pain and complications associated with surgery,” said Dr. Brian C. Gilger, professor of ophthalmology at the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine. “This advanced ‘small-incision’ surgery has a success rate greater than 90 to 95 percent.”

The procedure is offered through the Ophthalmology Service at the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital.

NC State ophthalmology clinicians have participated in studies of the new foldable polymer lens for several years. The Veterinary Teaching Hospital is the only facility in North Carolina offering the new computer-controlled cataract phacoemulsification and aspiration technology and small-incision technique. The operation costs from $1,200 to $1,600, depending on the individual case.

Patients are discharged the day after the operation and provided with a special collar to protect the eyes from irritation for one to two weeks. The pet’s activity is restricted initially, and special eye drops are applied four to five times a day for several weeks. Additional medication may be required for a couple of months. Progress examinations are made at regular intervals to prevent or correct any complications.

Cataracts are the leading cause of visual impairment in dogs and cats and, left untreated, may progress to total blindness. Diabetes, genetic disorders, advanced age, trauma, and retinal disorders may cause cataracts. A bluish appearance to the eye does not always indicate the disease, however, and may simply be a result of normal aging that does not interfere with vision.

Candidates for the new cataract surgery must be referred to the NC State Veterinary Teaching Hospital by a family veterinarian.

Once again, North Carolina's unemployment rate has fallen. But once again, it's not because there was a pickup in hiring.

State economic leaders said Friday the seasonally adjusted rate declined two-tenths of a percentage point in September to 4.8 percent, the lowest level since the 2001 recession.

The reason: More people dropped out of the labor force, a sign that job seekers became discouraged about their prospects and quit looking for work.

The labor force, made up of people who are working or actively looking for work, has now shrunk for three straight months. At the same time, the unemployment rate has improved since hitting 5.5 percent in June. A shrinking labor force can give a false impression of fewer people being out of work because discouraged job seekers don't get counted.

In fact, North Carolina employers shed jobs last month, sending the state's nonfarm payrolls down 5,600. Retailers, transportation companies and utilities cut the most jobs, followed by educational and health services firms, manufacturers and construction sites.

"The unemployment rate does not really reveal what's going on," said Mike Helmar, who follows North Carolina for Economy.com in West Chester, Pa. "The labor force is smaller. That's not good. Employment is down. That's not good."

Along with Alabama, North Carolina had the fifth-worst job loss nationally. Michigan was the worst, with 14,800 fewer jobs. Next was Florida, down 9,500; Wisconsin, 7,000; and Louisiana, 6,300. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Florida's decline probably was the result of last month's hurricanes. The bureau also said bad weather may be to blame for the job losses in North Carolina, Alabama and Louisiana.

Michael L. Walden, an economist at N.C. State University, thinks the weather forced some businesses to put off hiring, particularly in the mountains where remnants of hurricanes Frances and Ivan tore through 17 counties. Walden predicts that the state will resume adding jobs in coming months.

Even so, he said hiring will be dragged down by higher fuel prices, terrorism fears, uncertainty about the presidential election, and a "cooling" in business spending. "I think the pace of job additions will be slower than what we saw in the first half of the year," he said.

Nearly 27,000 people left North Carolina's labor force in September, marking the third consecutive decline, according to Friday's report. At the same time, hiring has slowed in each of the past three months.

But with less than two weeks to go before the November elections, state economic leaders stressed the positives: an unemployment rate below the national average and nearly 60,000 more jobs since the beginning of this year. Nationally, unemployment stayed put at 5.4 percent last month. Before September's loss, North Carolina averaged about 9,300 new jobs a month this year. Hiring began to slow in July, and August's gain was less than half of July's.

"Businesses are looking with a cautious eye at every hiring decision," said Ray Owens, an economist with the Federal Reserve in Richmond, Va. "Some really want to see demand firm up a little longer before they take on additional employees."

Still, Owens said the decline in North Carolina's labor force is surprising. Typically, the labor force would be growing at this point in an economic recovery. He said it's possible that more families are choosing to live on one income. A spouse who might have worked several years ago could now be deciding to wait for a sustained pickup in hiring, he said.

"What is clear is that while we're looking at decent economic growth, it's not strong enough to instill a lot of confidence," Owens said.

The unemployment rate in North Carolina dropped to 4.8 percent in September, its lowest rate in nearly 3 1/2 years, the N.C. Employment Security Commission reported yesterday.

The September unemployment rate declined from 5 percent in August. It is the seventh consecutive month that the rate was below the national average, which stood at 5.4 percent in September.

But economists cautioned that the state's economy remains sluggish, as evidenced by the report that 18,181 fewer North Carolinians were counted as employed from August to September.

Michael Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State University, said that the September rate drop was "meaningless."

"Yes, the unemployment rate fell, but that was only because the number of people counted to be in the labor force fell more (26,710) than the drop in employment (18,181)," Walden said.

When the state's labor force shrinks, he said, there are fewer people who can be listed as unemployed.

Walden said that the people who are the most discouraged with the job market are former mill and technology workers.

"The mills won't be rehiring, so many of these folks have moved to lower-paying service jobs," Walden said.

"The tech sector has not recovered in terms of employment. Many of these ex-tech workers are in uncertain consulting jobs ormid-level service jobs, such as retail or sales."

Harry Payne Jr., the chairman of the employment commission, said that there is reason to have a more optimistic view of the job market.

The commission said that North Carolina has had the nation's third-largest decline in its unemployment rate over the past year, dropping from 6.4 percent in September 2003 to 4.8 percent last month.

"North Carolina continues to show strength in its economy as evidence by job growth," Payne said. "Since the beginning of the year, total nonfarm industry employment has gained 60,000 jobs."

But the commission also reported that the state had its first monthly loss of jobs this year in September at 5,600.

"The economy is still moving slower than we'd like, but it is moving forward and we are seeing fewer people considered as unemployed," said Laurie Green, a spokeswoman for the commission.

Michael Wald, a regional economist for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, said that North Carolina is developing into two separate job markets.

"There's the job market for the gainfully employed professional, business or health-care worker, who believe the North Carolina economy has been noticeably improving," Wald said.

"Then you have the job market for the laid-off factory worker, who is either seeking out quick-fix training to get back in the work force or is being challenged by the training requirements for potentially longer-term employment," he said.

Walden said that the state is being affected by a national economic slowdown caused by higher fuel costs, jitters about terrorism, sluggish business spending and uncertainty about the presidential election.

"I think September's drop in jobs is a blip. I would expect North Carolina to return to adding jobs in future months," Walden said.

"But clearly the pace of improvement has slowed. Until the factors I mentioned above are resolved, we're probably looking at only one-half step forward each month."

Three women scientists got a chance to interact with 11 girls who played scientists during a six-week club.

West Edgecombe Middle School students who participated in the N.C. Girls in Science club – sponsored by the N.C. Museum of Natural Science – met Karen Kielbasinski, chemist with the N.C. Department of Agriculture, Martha Beck, who does outreach programs for the museum and Mary Schweitzer, an assistant research professor at N.C. State University.

"I thought it would be cool to talk to young females about what I do," Kielbasinski said.

The program is part of a three-year Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation grant awarded to the museum, which serves to provide programs for disadvantaged counties, said Amy Plahuta, education specialist for the museum.

"It's an opportunity for the girls to find out there are jobs out there, and it gave them a chance to do scientific experiments, such as water testing and pH level testing," said West Edgecombe teacher Shelley Killebrew, who found out about the program at a workshop. "It gave them a chance to use their processing skills. The museum supplies everything, and it's just fun for the girls."

The students agreed. Though they were nervous at first, they all became close and found the club to be interesting.

West Edgecombe Principal Kathy Bradley said she worked with the program in Roanoke Rapids a year ago.

"I was happy when it came here," she said. "You don't often get to isolate the girls, especially for a science experience."

The program was also put into place to make the students aware of the different fields of science they can go into because "there are so many different sides to science," Beck said.

"We spend a lot of time classifying people – men are always doctors and lawyers or scientists and women are nurses or teachers," Schweitzer said. "Women bring a new perspective that men don't always see, and it's good to be what you love. And it's hard, but more and more women are entering science fields, and it starts with girls like this."

The East Carolina University Department of Political Science will hold an elections 2004 panel discussion from 6:30-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday in Brewster B Room 102. Experts will discuss the issues and the predicted results. The North Carolina governor and state Legislature races will be covered from 6-7 p.m. by panelists Andrew Taylor of North Carolina State University and Thomas Eamon and Carmine Scavo of East Carolina University. The national elections will be covered from 7:30-8:30 p.m. by Taylor and Peter Francia and Jay Morris of ECU.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Twenty points is a big lead in basketball and a huge lead in a political poll. The latest WRAL poll conducted by Mason-Dixon shows Gov. Mike Easley with a 20-point lead over Republican Challenger Patrick Ballantine.

"Certainly, it is probably going to close a little bit, but this is a good place to be," said Jay Reiff, of the Easley campaign.

North Carolina State University political professor Andy Taylor called the race a slam dunk for Easley. He believes Ballantine is out of the game.

"It looks like it's going to be very, very, very difficult -- if not impossible -- in the last 10 days or so to turn it around," he said.

Just one month ago, Ballantine was leading in the Triad and in southeastern North Carolina. Now, Easley leads in every region of the state.

The poll also shows Ballantine does not have the support of Republicans statewide. Seventy percent are for Ballantine, but 19 percent of Republicans are for Easley.

"It's the same situation we faced in the primary. We were down double-digits and came back and won the primary, so we are going to keep working hard," said Bob Rosser, of the Ballantine campaign.

Ballantine has a busy campaign schedule in the final days. Easley's camp said despite the lead, he will still go after every vote.

SAS Institute of Cary got a new chief financial officer this week: Kevin Thompson.

You might remember Thompson. He was the chief financial officer at Red Hat until last month. Red Hat announced in June that Thompson was resigning to spend more time with his family and pursue other interests. At the time, Red Hat's CEO, Matthew Szulik, said Thompson thought his skills were better suited to a startup. Still, Thompson stayed at the company until last month when his replacement started.

Red Hat, which has its headquarters on NCSU's Centennial campus, is the world's largest distributor of the Linux computer operating system. It had revenue of $126 million during its last fiscal year. It allows local artists to display their work at its offices and doesn't take a commission if it gets sold.

SAS Institute, which has its main campus in Cary, is the world's biggest privately held software company. It had revenue of $1.34 billion last year. It has big sculptures on its lawns and lots of art -- bought by the company -- in its offices.

If you work for the state, live around Raleigh and didn't get a free ticket to the N.C. State Fair, you must not have tried very hard. Thousands of your colleagues did.

N.C. Department of Agriculture officials have handed out more than 30,000 freebies to this year's fair. At the advance-purchase price of $5, the tickets are worth at least $150,000.

The number of free tickets is equal to 4 percent to 5 percent of the paid attendance. According to fair manager Wesley Wyatt, that's about what the fair gave away last year.

At least 7,500 tickets went to employees of several large state government departments: Crime Control and Public Safety, Insurance, Health and Human Services, Correction, Labor, Administration, Environment and Natural Resources, Transportation and, of course, Agriculture. Many employees are working in agency exhibits at the fair.

The state Highway Patrol got 500 free tickets. Its troopers are the most visible fair workers because they're directing traffic on the packed highways around the fairgrounds, but they don't need tickets to get in, because all law enforcement officers in uniform are admitted free of charge.

A patrol spokesman said the Highway Patrol tickets went to some of the families of troopers on the traffic detail, retired troopers, civilian employees of the patrol and employees of the Department Crime Control and Public Safety.

"If you work for state government, you deserve a perk or two," said Patty L. McQuillan, a spokeswoman for Crime Control.

Legislators got two each, unless they wanted more. Statewide elected officials and the members of the governor's executive Cabinet also got two each.

Full-time employees of the fair and its parent organization, the state Department of Agriculture, made out better than anyone. Fair employees were given 10 tickets each, and each of the state Agriculture Department's 1,300-plus employees got two.

"It's something that has been done for a number of years," Agriculture Commissioner Britt Cobb said. "It's about the only thing we could do to say thank you for the job you've done, and it seemed to mean a lot to people."

State Fair records of the free-ticket distribution made it hard to determine just who got what. The names of some recipients are illegible, or only their initials were recorded. In some cases, the recorded ticket numbers indicate that the same tickets were issued to different individuals or organizations. Several hundred tickets can't be traced, fair officials say.

Wyatt said there is room to improve. After Cobb was briefed about the condition of the records, he said they would be computerized next year.

"It is a system that needs a lot of improvement, and it will be improved," Cobb said. "I think the gentleman who has handled it in the past is going to be retiring."

Some complimentary tickets are given to old friends, such as retired fair manager Art Pitzer and retired assistant manager Bob Barlow, who got 10 tickets each.

Others go to companies and people who are lending a hand at the fair. Wachovia, which loaned the fair three money-counting machines, got 250 freebies, according to fair records. CAT bus drivers, who are ferrying people from distant parking lots to the fair, were given 100. The Kernersville Fire Department, which supplied firetrucks for use during the fair, got 100 complimentary tickets.

The majority of the free tickets appear to have gone to organizations with lots of volunteers working or performing at the fair. Folk Festival participants, many of them dancers, were given 2,201. The Healthy Farms, Healthy Families exhibitors got 1,650. N.C. State Fair Cheer and Dance Championship received 841. The American Red Cross was given 700 for volunteers who work at its first-aid stations.

With one big exception, students at area colleges weren't given tickets. But the fair sent 1,500 complimentary tickets to N.C. State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to distribute to students. Some of them are going to be farmers.

The white triangular pointer dragged across the Ouija board until it stopped over the letter H. Michelle and Wendy waited for it to move again, their fingers barely touching the valentine-shaped plastic, but the pointer remained still, as if its animating force had departed.

Michelle looked at John, who was sitting at the dining room table with them and writing down what the board spelled out. "What have we got so far?" she asked him.

Larry walked up to the table. "It means, 'You have contacted a ghost who can't spell,' " he said, and took a swig of beer. "The Ghost Who Couldn't Spell. Wasn't that the title of a Hardy Boys book?"

In Michelle's opinion, Larry had no room to criticize anyone's spelling, even if it was a ghost. She worked with Larry at Estes Printing, and she saw his e-mails every day, so she should know. She considered making a crack about The Director of Operations Who Couldn't Spell. But Larry was one of the Estes clan, a nephew or something, and she was still new there, so she kept her mouth shut. Michelle needed her job, especially after the disastrous events of that afternoon. She didn't want to think about that afternoon, but she had to. She had to find a place to sleep tonight; that was why she had come to the employee Halloween party in the first place -- that, and to try to have a little fun. But her Ouija board wouldn't cooperate. No one could get it to spell anything but gibberish.

"Actually, it was 'The Ghost at Skeleton Rock,' " John said. "My mom gave me all the Hardy Boys books. They're still up in my attic somewhere."

Wendy stood up and said, "I need to go to the executive washroom. John, you come try it. Maybe it'll respond to you." She excused herself through the loose crowd of people around the table, most of whom had given up on watching the Ouija board and were just standing around talking.

Nobody had dressed up for the party except for one guy who was wearing a T-shirt that said "WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION" in iron-on letters.

John took Wendy's chair, and Larry sat down in the seat vacated by John. "I'll be your stenographer," Larry said. "Make sure you don't cheat."

Michelle was seized by a sudden urge to snatch the pencil out of Larry's hand and stab him with it. She sometimes had violent, inappropriate urges like that.

"Probably nothing will happen," John said, as he placed his fingertips on the pointer. "I'm too normal."

Michelle didn't know John that well, but he certainly seemed normal. He always wore the same basic outfit to work: button-down shirt, slacks, loafers. He was a nice enough guy, in a reserved, careful way. She wondered if he had a roommate, or better yet, a guest bedroom. She smiled at John and returned her fingers to the other side of the pointer.

Immediately the pointer began to slide across the board, faster than before. Michelle wondered if John might be pushing it, but he didn't seem like the prankster type.

I DONT BLAME YOU JA ... the pointer was still moving when John removed his hands from it.

John checked his watch. "Is it 9 o'clock already? Well, I've done my part to jazz up the party. Gotta head home." He stood up and started sidling around the table toward the door.

Larry said, "What? Don't go. That was kind of neat. You almost had me going. That was almost spooky."

John shook his head. "Good night, everyone," he said, waving to the room at large. A few people waved back and said goodbye.

John's "will you look at the time" routine was so graceless that Michelle almost laughed, but then she realized he was almost out the door. "Hey, John, hold up," she said, as she started fumbling the Ouija board and pointer back into their box. "Can you give me a ride home?"

"OK, coming," Michelle said. She scurried around the room gathering her things and then joined John at the door with the Ouija board box tucked under one arm and a bulging backpack slung over the other shoulder.

It was a cloudy night outside, warm for Halloween. Trick-or-treaters drifted up and down the sidewalks.

"Not far," Michelle said. "You live over near the stadium, right? I live on the other side of campus. Just go like you're going to your house."

Once they were in his car, she could see his jaw muscle working by the dashboard light as he drove.

"I hate to ask this, but can we please stop at your house so I can use the bathroom?"

"Because you were in a hurry," she said. "Please? Please please please? I'll be fast."

John's house was a tiny red brick ranch, just like every other house on the block. A four-door Buick was parked in the driveway. Michelle's heart sank.

"No," John said. He didn't seem happy with this turn of events. When they got out of the car, Michelle made sure to squeeze her legs together and hop around.

John walked ahead of Michelle to the door. She thought she saw one of the curtains in a front window move and then stop, as if someone inside had peeked out to see who was coming. She wondered if John was lying about living alone.

(Brent Winter is a freelance editor living in Carrboro. He also is a degree candidate in the MFA Creative Writing program at N.C. State University in Raleigh. Winter owns a Ouija board, but so far it only spells out gibberish.)

The University of North Carolina system's anticipation of $4 billion worth of construction needs, coming on top of $2.5 billion approved in a 2000 bond referendum, is indeed an eye-popper. Not all of the money would come from taxpayers -- some would be covered by private funds, borrowing that would be financed by fees and overhead money from research grants -- but the task for university officials is to set firm and realistic priorities. That is a fair expectation, given the needs North Carolina has in its long-underfunded community colleges and in public schools, where low-wealth districts have shown shortages and have been supported by the courts.

No one wants the UNC system to go "on the cheap," and the state has a tremendous investment in the 16-campus system, an investment that must not be left to wither for lack of support. But the university doesn't exist in a vacuum; it has to be aware of the fact that the state has taken some severe economic blows in recent years with the loss of tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs. Therefore, UNC leaders will need to take care to explain their wishes to the lawmakers who have charge of the state's finances, and who rightly expect that the university system will separate its truly crucial needs, and there are some, from those that may be less so.

And the system must be prudent with any borrowing to finance these ambitious projects.

The nation's economy, and to some degree the state's, appear to be in rebound. Continued investment in higher education is vital to that economic momentum. But the war on terrorism and a federal deficit, and closer to home the need to bolster state services for more people and to cover increasing health-care costs, make any recovery a cautious one. That necessary caution applies to the UNC system as well as to other agencies of state government.

The third annual Inter-Institutional Law School Fair at N.C. State University will take place Nov. 1 from 12:30 to 4 p.m. on the second floor of the Talley Student Center. The event is open to anyone interested in attending law school.

For questions about the event, call Mary A. Tetro at 515-5830 or send e-mail to mary_tetro@@ncsu.edu.

JAN GENZER, associate professor of chemical engineering, has been selected to receive the 2005 John H. Dillon Medal from the American Physical Society. The award recognizes outstanding research accomplishments by polymer physicists who demonstrate exceptional research promise early in their careers.

CAROL K. HALL, Alcoa Professor of Chemical Engineering, is the 20th recipient of the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Award for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Extension. Hall received the award Oct. 13, after which she gave the lecture, "Thinking Like a Molecule: Computer Simulations of Protein Aggregation."

KATIE McDERMOTT, technology transfer director for the Center for Transportation and the Environment at the Institute for Transportation Research and Education, has been chosen as a judge for the 2005 Federal Highway Administration's Environmental Excellence Awards. These biennial awards recognize outstanding transportation projects, processes and people who incorporate environmental stewardship into planning and project development processes.

By the way, students at North Carolina State University raised nearly $18,000 to build Habitat homes earlier this month. For 96 hours, folks from 21 student organizations lived on the Brickyard to raise the dough.

They lived in 14 shacks - the opposite of what the money they raised will go to build, namely safe, decent and affordable housing for those who need it.

The annual fundraiser is organized by the N.C. State Habitat chapter, which has more than 1,000 student members. Since 1999, they've raised more than $50,000.

"It really touches me to see how much the students and faculty on our campus share such compassion for the less fortunate," says Jessica Wagstaff, a participant in what was called the shack-a-thon.

Four different providers -- iTunes, Ruckus, Cdigix and Rhapsody -- are participating in the test runs. The initiative is spearheaded by UNC system administrators, who for years have been searching for a solution to on-campus illegal file-sharing. File sharing itself is legal, but it is commonly used to swap music and movie files that are protected by copyright laws.

Erika Groover, like many students at North Carolina A&T, turns to file-sharing service iMesh for the latest tunes.

But she might soon be able to get her music fix from her university -- legally and, for now, free of charge.

A&T and three other University of North Carolina system schools are piloting programs that allow students to download music, movies and academic material without trampling copyright laws.

Four different providers -- iTunes, Ruckus, Cdigix and Rhapsody -- are participating in the test runs.

The initiative is spearheaded by UNC system administrators, who for years have been searching for a solution to on-campus illegal file-sharing.

File sharing itself is legal, but it is commonly used to swap music and movie files that are protected by copyright laws.

Universities are responsible for monitoring any computers hooked into their networks and are expected to remove any copyrighted files that are shared illegally.

Legal Battles
Several UNC system schools -- including UNC-Chapel Hill -- have been involved in legal battles regarding students' use of campus networks to illegally download files.

Dozens of universities have launched legal file-sharing programs in response to the music industry's push to bring illegal swappers to task. But officials said UNC is the first university system to do so.

"We lead a lot," said Tom Warner, director of coordinated technology for the UNC system. "That's one of the joys of being one of the largest university systems in the country."

The pilot schools -- A&T, UNC-Wilmington, Western Carolina University and the N.C. School of the Arts -- were chosen based on interest and technological capabilities, Warner said. The state's largest schools -- UNC-CH and N.C. State -- are slated to join in the spring.

If the pilot program proves successful, the entire UNC system would eventually be brought online. Campuses would be able to select among the providers based on student feedback.

Fee Likely
Students likely will have to pay a fee for the program once the testing phase ends. Similar services nationwide charge students who opt in about US$2 to $5 a month, officials said, but local prices would depend on a host of negotiations.

The cost of the test run will be covered by a major music label -- which Warner said was impressed with UNC's ingenuity and agreed to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for the project.

Warner declined to release the label's name or the exact cost of the pilot program.

The initiative was officially announced earlier this month, but A&T has been testing the Ruckus service for weeks.

Ruckus offers about 500,000 songs from various labels, including Universal Music Group, Warner Music and Sony (NYSE: SNE) .

Gradual Increase
About 40 people -- at least half of whom are students -- already have access to Ruckus at A&T, said Sam Harrison, associate vice chancellor for information technology and telecommunications.

Students will be brought on in increasing numbers, and the entire campus could have access as early as this spring.

"We're just starting to get to the point where the rubber meets the road," Harrison said. "We'll start to ratchet it up, but we need to see how it goes."

A certain arthritis painkiller is more likely than two other comparable treatments to trigger high blood pressure. An antidepressant can turn teenage patients suicidal.

Lawsuits filed in the past year contend that drug makers tested the medications in clinical trials and tried to hide negative results.

Pressured by the lawsuits and leery about legislative mandates, drug makers are beginning to post clinical trials results of marketed drugs on the Internet. The information is free and easy to find. The question is whether the raw data will be of much use to average, or even well-informed, consumers.

In clinical trials, patients and healthy volunteers take experimental drugs or drugs already approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The goals are to determine what dose works best, what side effects are possible, which medicines in a new drug cocktail interfere with one another, or how well the body processes the chemicals.

Four weeks ago, GlaxoSmithKline became the first company to launch a clinical trials register on its Web site. The second-largest drug maker insists it's a voluntary move.

But it follows an Aug. 26 settlement with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Known for his investigations into Wall Street practices that handicapped small investors, Spitzer has turned his attention to drug makers and information the pharmaceutical industry would prefer to keep close to its vest.

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the industry's lobbying group, recently began posting clinical trial results generated by its 36 member companies, from Abbott Laboratories to Wyeth.

Although many observers agree that giving consumers more information is important, the test results are likely to confuse rather than enlighten patients and caretakers eager to evaluate treatment options.

A peek at GSK's new Clinical Trial Register (http://ctr.gsk.co.uk) gives a good sense of what will be available online. The results are peppered with terms, numbers and abbreviations likely to puzzle all but physicians and statisticians.

Study No. 49653/082, for example, was designed "to evaluate the antihyperglycemic effect" of Rosiglitazone, a diabetes drug the FDA approved in 1999. The study was "multicenter, randomized, double-blind, comparative and placebo-controlled" and its "primary efficacy results" had a "confidence interval" from "-0.8 to -0.4" at "2 mg bd."

According to Anastasios "Butch" Tsiatis, professor of biostatistics at N.C. State University, that translates roughly into: Two milligrams of Rosiglitazone given to patients twice daily showed a believable reduction in blood sugar levels.

But the study doesn't compare the drug's effectiveness with other diabetes drugs. And a long list of side effects belies its good safety record.

"It's like another language," said Madlyn Ferraro, clinic research manager at Hematology Oncology Associates in Raleigh, N.C.

So far, only results of Rosiglitazone studies are posted on the GSK Web site, but the settlement with Spitzer requires the company to post summaries of all clinical trial results of its marketed drugs. GSK will update the register through Feb. 1, 2015.

To minimize company bias, GSK can't interpret the data or highlight certain results, according to the Spitzer settlement.

"By its nature, clinical data are complex," said GSK spokesman Rick Koenig. "Patients should consult with physicians about the use of medicine."

But an increasing number of patients use the Internet to find new medications and treatment options.

Chuck Korte, an NCSU professor who specializes in issues related to aging, was diagnosed with a rare intestinal cancer in 1996. He quickly exhausted his doctor's treatment options. By 2001, the cancer had moved from his lower intestine to the liver.

Korte learned about a new type of surgery and a new cancer drug called Glivec by Web research and talking to other cancer patients. "I was telling my doctors what I was learning on the Internet," he said.

Dr. Margaret Deutsch, one of 16 physicians at Raleigh Hematology, said she encourages patients' interest in their treatment.

"You're dealing with intelligent people, and they're seeking information," Deutsch said. "That's OK."

The 2004 International Conference & Exhibition (IC&E) co-located with the American Textile Machinery Exhibition-International (ATME-I), AATCC delivered awards to several professionals for their achievement in the textile industry and presented the Millson Award for Invention.

AATCC named Leonard S Singer and Roger Bacon as co-recipients of the award for their work on the development of high performance carbon fibres.

Leonard S Singer 's research at the Union Carbide Parma Center led to the development in 1970 of a method to produce carbon fibres from pitch, which are today, used in military and space applications, as well as aircraft brakes.

Roger Bacon demonstrated the first high-performance carbon fibres in 1958, while working at the Union Carbide Parma Technical Center. He then went on to help develop a method of producing the carbon fibres from heat-stretched rayon that enabled the first commercial production of carbon fibers in the early 1960s. These rayon-based carbon fibres are today primarily used in military applications.

Besides, AATCC delivered the Olney Medal to Harold S Freeman for his achievement in textile chemistry. In 1982, Harold S Freeman joined NCSU as an associate professor of textile chemistry. He became the NCSU Ciba-Geigy professor of dye chemistry in 1990, and the associate head and director of graduate programs for the department of textile engineering, chemistry, and science at NCSU in 1996.

For about 20 years, Freeman has headed the only US-based academic research laboratory dedicated to the design and synthesis of organic dyes for textile applications.

Freeman is an author of nearly 200 scientific publications and six patents. He joined AATCC in 1982, and is also a member of the American Chemical Society, the National Technical Association, the Society of Dyers and Colourists, Sigma Xi, Genotoxicity and Environmental Mutagenicity Society, the National Organization of Black Chemists and Engineers, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was named co-editor of Dyes and Pigments in 1998, and won AATCC's J William Weaver Award in 1992.

In recognition for her outstanding service to the association, AATCC has named Norma M Keyes this year's recipient of the Harold C Chapin Award.

Scientists at Virginia Tech are trying to win federal approval - and money - to build a massive, $300 million underground laboratory in Giles County. Researchers from around the nation could do advanced work at the lab in astrophysics, geoscience and particle research.

Construction of the research site, which would be a national lab similar to the Jefferson Lab in Newport News or the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, would be the largest project ever undertaken by Tech, said Bob Bodnar, chairman of the school's geosciences department and spokesman for the project.

The lab could potentially pump millions of dollars into the local economy every year.

Tech, leading a consortium of universities, wants to build the lab 7,000 feet beneath Butt Mountain, next to the Kimballton underground limestone mine just north of Pembroke and 15 miles west of the Blacksburg school.

Bodnar said research in the lab would include the "study of deep outer space, the particles the sun and other stars send shooting though the Earth, new technologies for creating pure supersensitive radiation sensors, pure fluids for semiconductors, the science of locating and wresting petroleum and minerals from the Earth, how rocks clean up water and what we could learn from that process, how far under the Earth life exists, and mining technologies that will extend our access to the Earth's resources."

Tech's proposal is in response to a request from the National Science Foundation. The agency has asked universities nationwide to submit proposals to build a deep underground laboratory because it says such a site is necessary to conduct types of research that require shielding from cosmic rays. At least eight university-led teams are expected to propose a site for an underground lab by the Jan. 10 deadline.

"At the Earth's surface, cosmic rays are always present," said Bruce Vogelaar, associate professor of physics at Tech and director of the proposal. "Deep underground, this radiation is reduced to the point that you can see rare events. We will place huge detectors thousands of feet underground so that cosmic radiation is filtered out by rock and dirt and we will capture evidence of collisions of rare elementary particles."

The consortium of partners led by Tech includes North Carolina State University, West Virginia University, the University of Tennessee, Iowa State University, the Michigan Technology Institute and Oak Ridge.

Tech officials are scheduled to outline the proposal tonight to representatives of Giles, Craig and Pulaski counties in Virginia, and neighboring Mercer and Monroe counties in West Virginia.

"We believe the citizens of the county, once they find out what it's about, will be supportive of the project," said Chris McKlarney, acting county administrator in Giles, home to 16,700 residents.

Bodnar said the lab would resemble a large honeycomb, with different research "galleries" the size of football fields situated at different depths all the way to 7,000 feet below the surface. Gallery ceilings could be up to 100 feet high.

The lab would employ up to 200 people, ranging from Ph.D.-level scientists and professionals to electricians, plumbers, clerical staff, maintenance crews and computer technicians.

"It would be like a giant skyscraper underground," he said, adding that it could cost up to $400 million to build.

Bodnar said between 50 and 100 scientists would come to the lab every year to do up to $25 million in federally funded research, and millions of that would annually make its way into the surrounding communities.

Richard Boyd, project manager at the National Science Foundation, said a panel of scientists - who would remain anonymous - will be chosen to review the competing proposals early next year and make a recommendation to the NSF. The foundation would then pick a winner and try to win funding from Congress.

Among those expected to compete against the Tech team to build the underground lab are a team led by the University of Washington, which hopes to build a lab beneath the Cascades, and another team that includes the Los Alamos National Laboratory, which wants to build an underground lab at the Homestake Mine in South Dakota.

The NSF would submit a request for funding to Congress in time for inclusion in the fiscal year 2008 budget, Bodnar said. Construction could not begin until 2009, assuming Congress authorized the expense.

"It's certainly not a done deal," Boyd said. "Congress has given no indication it's going to give the money. But they haven't been solicited, either."

Bodnar also cautioned that, though officials are optimistic, they have not yet done the feasibility studies to show the lab can be built and operated at the Kimballton site. "There are a lot of technical challenges to doing work at that depth. It's been done at mining operations, but it's not trivial."

22 October 2004 - Washington D.C. - Hon. Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Minister of Trade, Commerce and Consumer Affairs, will be visiting Washington D.C. leading a delegation of Senior Government Officials to attend the Fourth Joint Council Meeting under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), which will be held on 26th October, 2004 in Washington D.C. The Joint Council meeting will discuss important bilateral and multilateral issues relating to Sri Lanka and the U.S. including, Sri Lanka's economic and investment polices, Intellectual Property Rights Law, Millennium Challenge Account, WTO - Doha Development Agenda, bilateral trade relations and proposed FTA between the U.S. and Sri Lanka. The U.S. delegation to the TIFA Meeting will be led by Ambassador Josette Shiner, Deputy USTR and will comprise representatives of Department of Commerce, Department of State, Department of Agriculture, Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) etc.

The Trade and Investment Framework Agreement between the U.S. and Sri Lanka, signed in July 2002, provides a cabinet level legal and institutional framework for a permanent trade policy dialogue to broaden and deepen bilateral trade and economic relations. This is the fourth occasion the U.S.-Sri Lanka Joint Council meets two years since the Agreement was signed. This is testimony to the importance both countries attach to the deepening and broadening of the bilateral trade and economic relationship.

Three Joint Council Meetings held so far, have resulted in resolving bilateral commercial issues and building confidence between the two countries. The last meeting was held in October 2003 in Colombo. Both countries have agreed to use TIFA process as a vehicle to engage in further trade policy dialogue between the two countries with a view to expediting the bilateral trade agenda.

The October 26th meeting is the first Joint Council Meeting since the new Government came into office in Sri Lanka in April 2004. The date for the Fourth Joint Council Meeting was agreed at bilateral discussions Minister Fernandopulle had with USTR Zoellick in Washington D.C. in June 2004. The Hon. Minister will meet Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick, USTR prior to the TIFA meeting to review a broad range of bilateral and multilateral trade issues that will be taken up at Joint Council Meeting and explore ways to strengthen and expand bilateral trade ties.

Minister Fernandopulle will address US Corporate Executives at a Luncheon Meeting on 26 October, 2004 at the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington D.C. to present the emerging trade and investment opportunities in Sri Lanka.

Arrangements have been made to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Textile Training & Services Centre (TT&SC) and Clothing Industry Training Institute (CITI) of Sri Lanka and the North Carolina State University College of Textiles to exchange scholars, faculty, research and extension programmes in the area of textile technology. North Carolina State University Textile College is a leading academic and research institutions for textile technology in the world. This is a follow up to the Sri Lanka business promotion delegation's visit to North Carolina in September, 2004.

Minister Fernandopulle will meet with US exporters of poultry products, wheat and wheat flour to explore the possibility of importing these products with a view to ensuring stable supply and competitive prices of these products to the Sri Lankan consumers.

Sri Lanka, which is a trade dependent country with its total external trade accounting for 70 percent of the GDP, is seeking expanded trade relations with the US. A study on the trade related impacts of a Sri Lanka-U.S. FTA conducted by a Washington based research institute, predicts, "The gains in economic welfare to Sri Lanka would be particularly large (3.0 to 3.5 percent of GDP per annum)."

The United States is the largest single export market for Sri Lanka's exports accounting for 38 per cent of total exports. Over 90 US Companies have invested US$ 500 million in Sri Lanka. The US that has worked closely with Sri Lanka to promote economic growth has selected Sri Lanka as a beneficiary country to receive assistance under the Millennium Challenge Account, a $ 3 billion fund of development assistance. The US as a Co-Chair of the Tokyo Donor Conference has strongly supported ongoing Peace Process in Sri Lanka.

The Hon. Minister of Trade, Commerce & Consumer Affairs will be accompanied by Dr. U. Vidanapathirana, Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Tourism & Investment Promotion, Amb. K.J. Weerasinghe, Director General of Commerce and Mr. Saliya Wickramasuriya, Chairman, BOI during his visit to Washington D.C. Ambassador Devinda R. Subasinghe, Ambassador to the U.S. and Mr. Saman Udagedara, Minister (Commercial) will join the delegation in Washington D.C.

Members of the baby-boom generation, who benefited from Dr. Spock in their childhood and Dr. Lamaze in their childbearing years, have a new physician activist to help transform their old age. Dr. William Thomas, a self- described "radical geriatrician," says boomers soon will be gearing up for a revolution to change society one more time.

"Creating a new old age will be the boomers' last act on the public stage," says Thomas, who has outlined his pro-aging manifesto in a provocative new book, "What Are Old People For? How Elders Will Save the World," published this month by VanderWyk & Burnham. "We're preparing for a revolution that will transform old age and the lives of elders the world over."

The first step, according to Thomas, is to end the American tendency of equating being old with being sick. Seeing old age solely in terms of disease and disability and condoning ageism damages all of society, especially the elderly. Instead, old age should be seen as a natural, developmental stage of life, rather than a difficult decline.

Research supports his claims. Two recent studies show individuals age better when they are happy and free of negative images of aging. In the first study, researchers at the University of Texas found a link between positive emotions and the delay of the onset of frailty. In the second study, researchers from North Carolina State University investigated how negative stereotypes about aging influences older adults' memory. Results showed memory performance in older adults was lower when they were presented with negative stereotypes than when they were given positive images of aging.

"The anti-aging business wants the public to think of wrinkles and other natural signs of aging as a disease," says Thomas. "They spend hundreds of millions of dollars to sow fear and reap a rich financial harvest. Currently, older adults only have value as long as they appear or act 'young.' It's time to change that."

Thomas, who graduated from Harvard Medical School, didn't set out to develop a radical philosophy on the process of aging. He originally planned to specialize in emergency room medicine until a job in a nursing home changed his mind.

But the insider's view of a long-term care facility made him wonder if there was a better solution to living arrangements for elders who no longer could remain in their own homes. Predetermined schedules and routines, he found, had a deadening effect on both residents and staff. With few spontaneous events and little social stimulation, patients often became withdrawn and depressed.

"Spontaneous events and happenings are the source of interesting conversation. Conversations grow into stories that can be told and retold. Stories become memories," says Thomas. "To live in a typical nursing home is to endure a famine of new memories."

In 1992, Thomas and his wife Judith introduced The Eden Alternative, a philosophy known for encouraging the presence of nature, pets and children in nursing homes and adapted by a number of long term-care facilities across the country. In 2000, they started developing a plan for a new model of long-term care called, "intentional communities," housing as many as 10 elders who choose to live together with the help of several younger adults and strive to become a new community with a shared goal. Prototypes of these communities, called Green Houses, exist in a number of locations, including Tupelo, where United Senior Services of Mississippi built the first four Green Houses and relocated 40 residents from a traditional nursing home facility.

"Baby boomers are not going to accept living out their lives in 'old age archipelagoes,' " says Thomas. "They're the ideal generation to create this new model. With a higher level of education than any previous generation, a higher level of wealth and the well-established habit of re-inventing social norms, I just don't see boomers accepting the fate of a nursing home."

In Thomas' vision, which he calls, "Eldertopia," Green Houses will be mainstreamed into intergenerational residential neighborhoods where elders can maintain their status and share their wisdom and legacy with others.

ARMONK, NY -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 10/22/2004 -- IBM today announced the latest series of Shared University Research (SUR) awards, bringing the company's contributions to foster collaborative research to more than $70 million over the last three years. With this latest set of awards, IBM sustains one of its most important commitments to universities by enabling the collaboration between academia and industry to explore research in areas essential to fueling innovation.

The new SUR awards will support 20 research projects with 27 universities worldwide. Research projects range from a multiple university exploration of on demand supply chains to an effort to find biomarkers for organ transplants. The research reflects the nature of innovation in the 21st century -- at the intersection of business value and computing infrastructure. Universities receiving these new awards include: Brown University, Cambridge University (UK), Columbia University, Daresbury University (UK), Fudan University (China), North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Politecnico di Milano (Italy), SUNY Albany, University of Arizona, University of British Columbia (Canada), University of California -- Berkeley, University of Maryland -- Baltimore County, College Park, and Uppsala University (Sweden) and Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology.

"Universities play a vital role in driving innovation that could have a business or societal impact," said Margaret Ashida, director of corporate university relations at IBM. "The research collaborations enabled by IBM's Shared University Research award program exemplify the deep partnership between academia and industry needed to foster innovation that matters."

-- IBM is working with Oxford University to find better and faster access to more reliable and accurate mammogram images, thereby potentially increasing early cancer detection and the number of lives saved.

-- IBM is collaborating with Penn State University, Arizona State University, Michigan State University and University College Dublin to create supply chain research labs to conduct research on advanced supply chain practices that can be used to help businesses respond on demand to changing market conditions.

-- Columbia University and IBM researchers worked on a project to develop core technologies needed for using computers to simulate protein folding, predict protein structure, screen potential drugs and create an accurate computer aided drug design program.

As research drives innovation and growth, new skills are required to staff the emerging disciplines. This announcement complements the recently launched IBM Academic Initiative, a new program to deepen IBM's partnership with academia in preparing students for the information technology jobs of tomorrow through no-charge access to technology, training and curriculum development resources. Last week, North Carolina's largest research universities -- Duke University, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and North Carolina State University -- became the newest partners in this initiative, joining other leading universities from around the world.
About IBM's SUR grants

IBM's highly-selective SUR program awards computing equipment (servers, storage systems, personal computing products, etc.) to institutions of higher education around the world to facilitate research projects in areas of mutual interest including: the architecture of business and processes, privacy and security, supply chain management, information based medicine, deep computing, Grid Computing, Autonomic Computing, and storage solutions. The SUR awards also support the advancement of university projects by connecting top researchers in academia with IBM researchers, along with representatives from product development and solution provider communities. IBM supports over 50 SUR awards per year worldwide.

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM works with companies of all sizes around the world to deploy a full range of IBM technologies. For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com.

Less than two weeks before Election Day, Republicans are likely to retain control of the U.S. Senate, but Democrats have a realistic chance of pulling off an upset, political analysts, pollsters and party officials said.

In a contest nearly as tight as the presidential race, control of the Senate is expected to hinge on the outcome of nine closely fought races, nearly all of them in states where the electorate tends to favor Republicans.

The question of control may not be decided until December. If no Senate candidate captures a majority in the Nov. 2 vote in Louisiana, the top two vote getters will meet in a runoff Dec. 4.

"I give Democrats a 35 to 40 percent chance to takeover," said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato. "I think Republicans will wind up with 52 or 53 seats overall, but there are nine seats as tight as a tick and control of the Senate could switch depending upon coattails in the presidential race."

Republicans currently hold 51 seats, while Democrats hold 48, with the Senate's lone independent, Jim Jeffords of Vermont, voting with Democrats.

That Democrats should close out the election within striking distance of regaining control of the Senate is remarkable given that they are defending 19 seats in this election cycle to the Republicans' 15, including five Democratic vacancies in conservative Southern states _ Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina and South Carolina.

"When people first started talking about these retirements, Democrats were in despair thinking that if they'd have to defend these five seats and plus pick up two more, it's really tough. They thought they were going to lose all five," North Carolina State University political science professor Andrew Taylor said.

"Against those doomsday scenarios six months ago, it doesn't look quite so bad now for the Democrats," Taylor said, "but it's still an uphill battle."

Republicans will almost certainly pick up a seat in Georgia, where conservative Democrat Zell Miller is retiring. Democrats, however, are expected to pick up the seat of retiring Republican Sen. Peter Fitzgerald in Illinois, where polls show Democrat Barack Obama with a massive lead over Republican Alan Keyes.

If elected, Obama will be the first black man to serve in the Senate in 26 years.

Democrats have waged surprisingly strong races in the South, with polls showing close races in Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Louisiana is a wild card, but Democrats appear to have a reasonable chance of holding on to that seat as well, Taylor said.

Meanwhile, Republicans have found themselves on the defensive on traditional GOP turf _ Alaska, Colorado, Kentucky and Oklahoma.

Democrats have been helped by gaffes and missteps by several GOP candidates. In Kentucky, where two-term Republican incumbent Jim Bunning was expected to cruise to re-election, a series of incidents has led to public speculation that Bunning has health problems that sometimes cause him to behave in a bizarre and erratic manner. Bunning has denied any health problems and released letters from his doctors in response to the speculation.

	Easley	Ballantine	Undecided
May 2004	55%	24%	21%
July 2004	50%	28%	22%
September 2004	53%	36%	11%
October 2004	55%	35%	10%

	Easley	Ballantine	Undecided
Northeast NC	53%	37%	10%
Southeast NC	48%	44%	8%
Raleigh-Durham	65%	26%	8%
Greensboro- Winston-Salem	47%	42%	12%
Charlotte	63%	27%	10%
Western NC	49%	40%	11%

	Easley	Ballantine	Undecided
Democrats	81%	12%	7%
Republicans	19%	70%	11%
Independents	52%	.31%	17%

NC State University News Clips for October 23-25, 2004

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College kids rockin' to vote