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NC State University News Clips for November 4, 2003

Compiled by North Carolina State University’s News Services, a part of the Public Affairs Office. Listed below are the current news clips. Click on the headline of interest to be taken to the full text. Click on “Return to Headline List” at the bottom of each clip or use the scrollbar to be taken back to this location.

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IN-STATE CLIPS

OLF wears Washington County board thin
After working through routine business, the Washington County Board of Commissioners tackled outlying landing field issues at its regular meeting Monday night.

NATIONAL & REGIONAL CLIPS

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Crash site known as perilous juncture

Nov. 4, 2003
The News & Observer
By Barbara Barrett, Bruce Siceloff and Andrea Weigl, staff writers
 © Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.

RALEIGH -- A traffic signal was being installed but was not yet operating at a hazardous West Raleigh intersection where six people were killed Saturday night in a pair of collisions.

The state Department of Transportation began installing the signal in September at the intersection of Nowell Road and N.C. 54 after studying accidents and traffic volume there. The DOT had planned to have the signal operating by the end of this month.

The events that led to the deaths Saturday began when a Chevrolet Blazer moving south on Nowell ran a stop sign at the intersection and hit another vehicle.

Six people who were trying to help the victims of that accident were killed when a Ford Econoline van barreled through the group in the roadway.

Larry Veeder, 32, who investigators say was driving the Econoline, had his first court appearance Monday. He stood before District Judge Anne Salisbury in a courtroom in the Wake County Detention Center as Salisbury read the charges against him: drunken driving and six counts of involuntary manslaughter.

His bail remained at $120,000, and Salisbury scheduled him to be back in court Nov. 21.

Killed in the accident were Gene-Marie Louise Alfaro, Robert Alfaro Jr., Dennis Wayne Bowes, Christopher Clemons, Nolan Phillips Myers and Bryan Matthew Tutor.

The accident was the third of the year at the intersection. No one was injured in the previous wrecks, but neighbors say that the dark intersection is dicey and that the stop sign on southbound Nowell Road can be difficult to see.

"If you don't pay attention, you're going to go right through that stop sign," said Duncan Jennings, 32, a nearby resident. "If you overrun that stop sign, you're going to be out in the middle of the highway."

The state recently widened N.C. 54 to add left-turn lanes for drivers turning onto Nowell. That, along with the signal, was intended to address problems that contributed to 13 of the 19 accidents at the intersection in a three-year period that ended in November 2001. Most of those accidents involved a turning car struck at an angle by a second car, said Jon G. Nance, the DOT engineer who oversees projects in a seven-county district including Wake.

Nance said he could not speculate whether the planned traffic signal would have made a difference in the accident Saturday, but he said those questions will be investigated.

The chain reaction began at 8:45 p.m. at the crossroads near Carter-Finley Stadium, where 54,000 people had just seen N.C. State beat Virginia in a college football game.

NCSU sophomore Baron A. Fulk, 20, driving the Blazer, ran the stop sign at Nowell and hit an SUV driven by Martha P. West.

Several people stopped to help. Then Veeder's van hit the group as it gathered in the roadway.

Fulk and West were injured, as were William McCoy Woolard II and Walter Allen Manning III, who had stopped to offer aid.

Pending charges

Fulk, a biochemistry student, is in his first year volunteering on the sidelines as a student assistant trainer for the Wolfpack football team. His duties include carrying water onto the field, fetching ice bags and wrapping athletes' limbs in bandages.

Charlie Rozanski, director of sports medicine at NCSU, said Fulk would have arrived at work about four hours before the game. He would have left the stadium at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, just a few minutes before the first wreck.

"He had just busted his tail for us for six hours, and he had literally just gotten into his car," Rozanski said.

Fulk, among the people hit by the Econoline, remained in serious condition late Monday at WakeMed.

State troopers said charges against Fulk for running the stop sign are pending. They had said they were waiting on tests to see whether Fulk had been drinking. But his parents, Dianne B. and Joseph M. Fulk Jr., and the hospital released a statement saying that lab tests revealed no alcohol in his system.

"He has always been a vocal advocate against drinking and driving, and we would like to reassure everyone that he had not been drinking prior to the accident," the statement said.

Fulk's parents also offered their sympathies to the families of the other victims and thanked those who stopped to render aid. "We know in our hearts that Baron would have done the same for anyone in need."

Among the others injured were two college students who were friends of Myers, a Campbell University freshman killed by the van.

Woolard, 18, a student at East Carolina University, was in good condition at WakeMed on Monday. His friend Manning, 18, a Campbell student, was in serious condition. Also in their car was Bill Mallison, who was uninjured.

After the impact

As investigators tried to piece together exactly what happened, people who saw the accident or who knew the people involved continued to mourn and reflect Monday.

Christopher and Robert Alfaro, freshmen at NCSU and the twin sons of Robert and Gene-Marie Alfaro, returned home to be with their younger brother. Friends of Fulk gathered at WakeMed to offer prayers with his family.

Firas Naji, a junior at NCSU, recalled the wreck and how close he came to dying, too. He was returning from evening prayers at a Raleigh mosque when he came upon the first wreck.

Naji, who plans to be a doctor, stopped to help. He told his 10-year-old brother, Sammy, who was with him, to wait in the car.

He saw a man lying on the road who he thought was Fulk, with a woman kneeling, saying, "Don't move your neck."

Naji was talking with the woman's husband and another man a few feet away. The woman, who was Gene-Marie Louise Alfaro, was just standing up when the van came out of nowhere. She and the two men Naji had been talking to suddenly were gone.

The van had passed within a foot of him, Naji said.

"We didn't have time to react," Naji said. "You can hear a car when it's slowing down. It didn't slow down."

After the impact, the scene was silent, Naji said, until one of the Alfaros' sons, who witnessed the accident, cried out, "Someone better get on the phone now!"

Then Naji saw the driver of the white van.

"He walked out and put his hand on his mouth, like 'What had happened?' "

Defendant 'shaken'

At Veeder's court appearance, Rick Gammon, a Raleigh lawyer, told the judge he was representing Veeder at the request of the man's family.

Afterward, Gammon said, "Obviously, he's very shaken. He's not doing well."

Gammon said he couldn't comment about the facts of the case, because he hadn't talked to Veeder about them.

Outside the courtroom, Peter Eichenberger, a columnist for the Independent Weekly, showed up to support his friend Veeder and to offer this message to the victims' families.

"This man is not deserving of your hate. Be mad at him; don't hate him," Eichenberger said.

Staff writer Barbara Barrett can be reached at 839-4870.

Staff writers Cindy George and Benjamin Niolet contributed to this report.

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Commissioners vote 3-2 to let Montagnards develop center

Nov. 4, 2003
The Courier-Tribune (Asheboro, NC)
By J.D. Walker, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 Stephens Media Group.

ASHEBORO - Work can now begin on a new cultural heritage center in the Farmer area.

At Monday's meeting, commissioners voted 3-2 to approve a request from the Save The Montagnard People, Inc. (STMP) that approximately 100.93 acres located at 4836 Waynick Meadow Road be rezoned to allow a camping facility and museum/cultural center with related structures and activities.

Commissioners Darrell Frye and Robbie Mason voting against the request. Commissioners Phil Kemp, Harold Holmes and Robbie Davis voted for it.

Another important decision that would create the county's first scenic business overlay district along a stretch of N.C. 705 leading into Seagrove was not reached by press time.

The STMP rezoning request brought out another adamant crowd of supporters and opponents. Supporters envision a complex that would preserve the cultural heritage of the Vietnamese Montagnards or Degas and give them a common meeting area. Ben Albright, a Ramseur attorney retained by some of the opponents, called the request out of keeping with the residential/agricultural mix of the area.

As approved, STMP and Montagnard supporters can now construct a longhouse and museum/cultural center on the 110-acre site. The group can renovate an existing farm house, construct an interactive farming display, an additional picnic shelter, bathroom facilities, a primitive camping site, an RV parking area and walking trails.

Admission to the complex will be limited to Monday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and Sunday, 1-6 p.m. The RV area will not offer permanent electrical hook-ups and campers will be restricted to seven-day stays.

Parking on Waynick Meadow Road and on the 50-foot easement entering the property will be prohibited. "No Trespassing" signs in English and Montagnard will be placed at 100-foot intervals around the entire property line. There will be no more than four large (in excess of 1,000 attendees) gatherings per year.

Developers must install fencing and buffering as designated by the planning board along the borders of the two largest property owners.

The planning board considered the request at public meeting on Sept. 9 and recommended unanimously that it be approved with the condition that the planning staff work with the applicants to establish an appropriate fence and buffer along the western property line.

During the commissioner's meeting on Oct. 6, commissioners postponed a decision on the request to allow time for STMP to meet with planning staff and Farmer neighbors in an attempt to clarify specifics of the request and to identify areas, if any, where compromise might be acceptable.

The complex has been hailed by supporters as a "one of a kind" development in the world that will save the cultural heritage of some of America's staunchest supporters during the Vietnam War.

Albright said the decision should not be made on the basis of the Montagnard's contribution to America's war efforts. He called the proposed development a commercial endeavor that was out of character for an agricultural area.

Albright also said he and the opponents had discovered what he called a "pattern of deception" on the part of STMP. He said he could not find any record of STMP as a chartered corporation in North Carolina, despite assertions by STMP representatives that the organization was chartered in the state.

George Clark, STMP president, said after the commissioners' ruling that an STMP representative contacted the state's attorney's general office and was told STMP does not have to be registered in North Carolina as a 510-C organization.

Albright said well and septic permits issued in 2001 would not accommodate the proposed development. Hal Johnson, planning director, told commissioners developers would have to apply for new permits for the new construction. It will be up to the county health department to determine whether or not to issue the permits.

If the permits are not issued, development can not proceed.

Albright shared conceptual plans which he said had been displayed on the STMP website at one time. The plans were developed by a North Carolina State University student for an elaborate complex that included a longhouse, cultural center, teaching facility, retail shop, ticket office and administrative offices.

Clark told commissioners the plans were drawn up in 1997 and had long since been discarded as inappropriate for a rural project. He reiterated the organization's plans to abide by the conditions presented Monday.

Albright said the plans are proof that STMP has always intended to build a large commercial facility. He told commissioners the group is going about implementation piece by piece.

After the meeting, Albright and opponents declined to comment on any future action. Opponents have 30 days after the commissioners' ruling to challenge the decision in court.

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Out-of-staters seen giving edge to UNC

Nov. 4, 2003
The News & Observer
By Jane Stancill, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.

CHAPEL HILL -- Amanda Shive, a UNC-Chapel Hill freshman from Charlotte, spent a recent afternoon in the campus hub known as "the Pit," chatting with three good friends -- two from Florida, one from Thailand.

Shive wouldn't mind seeing more out-of-state students at the university her family's taxes support.

"I just think it's more interesting," she said. "It's what you come to college for."

Her friend Rebecca Simon, a freshman from Jacksonville, Fla., is one of those students who helps make UNC-CH more diverse. She racked up more than 40 credits in advanced high school classes, had a 4.7 grade-point average and scored 1450 on the SAT. She is Jewish, runs cross country and speaks Spanish fluently.

Simon was accepted at Stanford, Washington and Vanderbilt universities, as well as the universities of Florida and Virginia.

In the freshman class, Simon can't help but notice "a big dichotomy" between the 82 percent North Carolina majority and the 18 percent nonresidents. She said that when people find out she's from out of state, "they say, 'Wow, you must be really smart.' "

UNC-CH leaders want more students like Simon. And the UNC system's Board of Governors is expected to vote Nov. 14 on a policy that would essentially raise the cap on out-of-state freshmen from 18 percent to 22 percent.

The proposal is opposed by legislators, taxpayers and public school leaders, who say an increase in outsiders would mean less opportunity for North Carolinians.

But at Chapel Hill, the campus pushing for the change, many students and faculty say more brainy out-of-staters would enhance the academic atmosphere for everyone. It also could elevate UNC-CH's reputation among the nation's best universities, they say.

If the change is approved, UNC-CH would implement it over a four- or five-year period, admitting about 229 more out-of-state students during that time while adding an extra 116 North Carolina students. Overall, freshman enrollment is projected to rise from about 3,500 this year to 4,000 in 2010, and UNC-CH officials insist the acceptance rate for North Carolinians -- about 60 percent -- won't change.

Admissions Director and Vice Provost Jerry Lucido said more out-of-state students would lift the level of classroom interaction.

"They are tremendous contributors on the campus intellectually, and they tend to be many of our campus leaders," he said. "That's not to say in-staters aren't. They are. But because of what ends up being the market demand, the [out-of-state] students who come are truly extraordinary."

Higher scores, grades

This year, out-of-state students on campus outscored North Carolinians by an average of about 60 points on the SAT. They have slightly higher grade-point averages, tend to stay in school and have better graduation rates.

A survey by the campus newspaper, The Daily Tar Heel, showed that 29 percent of leaders of the 50 largest student groups came from outside North Carolina. And although they make up 18 percent of the class, they represent 43 percent of students in the honors program and 40 percent of the university's Phi Beta Kappa chapter.

The out-of-staters also come from more wealthy families. Median family income for 2002 freshmen was $86,000 for North Carolinians and $111,000 for nonresidents.

That's a concern for sophomore Megan White of Apex, who attends UNC-CH along with 80 others from her class at Enloe High School. "It's definitely a more elitist group," White said. "If we were to let in more out-of-state students, it could gear us more into the idea of a Southern Ivy League."

Still, she said, her out-of-state classmates have a lot to offer.

Lucido thinks a more diverse UNC-CH student body might persuade some of the state's top high school graduates to remain here for college. Now, 35 percent of the North Carolinians whom UNC-CH accepts decline the offer, and half of those go outside the state.

Economic boost

Luring top academic talent from out of state also could boost the state's economic development, Lucido said. He points to a study by the Southern Technology Council that says states can expect to retain 43 percent of out-of-state students who attend college in-state.

A study conducted by a University of Michigan doctoral student suggests that states can benefit financially by admitting more nonresidents to public universities.

The 2002 study analyzed 27 colleges in 16 states and found that out-of-state students generally have better academic qualifications and more earning power after graduation. The study, which concentrated on marginal students in both categories, showed that lifetime state tax payments of out-of-staters are 23 percent higher than those of in-state students.

"The university can gain by having better students overall, and the state could gain by attracting more students to live in the state in the long run and increase the tax revenues," said study author Jeffrey Groen, now a postdoctoral fellow in labor economics at Cornell University.

That makes sense to Matt Charney, a UNC-CH freshman from Dallas, Texas, who is a National Merit Scholar and scored 1500 on the SAT. If more of the nation's best students enroll at UNC-CH, the university's reputation and rankings will climb, he said. "That's going to help everyone who goes here with job placement."

Despite the widespread perception of an intellectual gulf between in-state and out-of-state students, Charney said, "it's not terribly obvious" in the classroom.

Jim Leloudis, a history professor and associate dean of the honors program, doesn't notice it either. "That's one of the unfortunate myths that gets perpetuated, that there is some sort of huge difference," he said.

Leloudis, who grew up in North Carolina and earned two degrees from UNC-CH, supports raising the cap.

"It's going to hold constant the opportunity we offer for North Carolinians, and at the same time, it's going to enrich the experience," he said.

Catherine Richwine of Virginia Beach, Va., would hate to see the university's geographic mix change, even though her son Robbie is among the 18 percent out-of-state freshmen this year. She said the University of Virginia has made a big mistake by admitting about one-third of its students from out of state, angering many residents.

"One of the things I admire about North Carolina is the state is taking care of its top students by allowing them into the university," Richwine said. "When you're accepting one-third from out-of-state, you do increase diversity, but it's not fair to taxpayers."

Staff writer Jane Stancill can be reached at 956-2464.

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OLF wears Washington County board thin

Nov. 4, 2003
Washington Daily News
By Bill Sandifer, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 Washington Daily News

PLYMOUTH -- After working through routine business, the Washington County Board of Commissioners tackled outlying landing field issues at its regular meeting Monday night.

Clearly fatigued from the one-two punch of Hurricane Isabel and ongoing OLF woes, the commissioners grew a little testy during debates.

In response to what has become a deafening silence from the state Capitol, Chairman Bill Sexton once again proposed a resolution be sent to Gov. Mike Easley seeking information on what the state is doing to oppose the Navy's plans to locate a practice landing field in the county.

"The county manager has been trying to get up with Franklin Freeman," Commissioner Billy Corey told the board. "Has he called you back?"

(Freeman is Easley's top aide.)

"No, sir," replied County Manager Chris Coudriet, who indicated that Sexton also had received the cold shoulder.

"We can't just keep sittin' here, twiddlin' our thumbs," said Sexton, who explained he had called the Governor's Office four times in one day, "Monday a week ago."

"I've been promised a call ever since and haven't been called back," he said. "We kinda keep gettin' held out here on a string. We kinda need to know what's goin' on."

"You either have to lead, follow or get out of the way," admonished Corey.

Commissioner Bill Forbes, however, indicated he felt additional resolutions would do little to help.

"These resolutions are not worth a hoot in a woods full of owls," said a subdued Forbes.

With the Navy's announced plans to begin purchase offers in January for the property it needs to build the OLF, Forbes indicated the county should mount a legal challenge to the Navy.

Coudriet said the county, in partnership with Beaufort County, had received two responses from law firms that are interested in discussing legal strategies prior to filing a suit.

During the debate, a local farmer who is in the proposed buyout area hurled a few barbs at the commissioners. He took one board member to task at the end of the meeting.

However, the commissioners apparently haven't been sitting on their hands. They announced that tax and legal specialists from N.C. State University, also familiar with agricultural issues, would be on hand Wednesday night to discuss buyout issues with residents and advise them on dealing with the Navy.

The session is slated for 7 p.m. Wednesday in the courtroom at the Washington County courthouse on Adams Street, adjacent to downtown Plymouth. The meeting has no scheduled ending time.

Also on Thursday morning, residents will have an opportunity to talk one-on-one with NCSU representatives, announced the board.

The commissioners also discussed reorganizing the joint Washington/Beaufort County OLF steering committee to link it more tightly to the board.

In other business, the board, at Corey's request, will entertain a proposal from Intelliport, a wireless Internet technology company. The company wants free use of county structures such as water towers to mount high-speed Internet connection hardware in exchange for offering reduced rates to county residents.

With rates ranging from just under $40 to as much as $120 a month, depending on the service, Intelliport's Steve Lane asked the board members if they had a dollar amount in mind for a monthly rate.

"Ten dollars," replied Corey with his best poker face.

Once the laughter subsided, Lane and the board agreed to explore the possibility of a 10-percent discount in monthly fees in exchange for use of county facilities.

In post-Isabel business, the board approved a resolution asking Congress for additional funding for the environmental watershed protection program to help repair an estimated $10 million in damage inflicted on northeastern watersheds.

In more water business, the board agreed to a plan to recoup $85,300 drawn from county coffers to clear canals in the Eddie Smith drainage project. Fees will be assessed over a five-year period to reimburse the county at a rate of $16,800 a year.

In further Isabel business, the county is applying for federal reimbursement of almost $122,000 in costs incurred in salaries, supplies, housing for out-of-area volunteer workers and other expenses associated with the storm.

The board also approved $26,000 for the purchase of a new vehicle for the Sheriff's Department.

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19-Year-Old Dies In Custody Of NCSU Campus Police

Nov. 3, 2003
NBC-17
By staff writer
© Copyright 2003 NBC-17

RALEIGH, N.C. -- A Raleigh family is considering filing a lawsuit against campus police at North Carolina State University after a 19-year-old died in police custody.

Brandon Barnett died Sunday night after he was arrested for driving with a suspended license. Barnett also had an outstanding warrant on drug charges.

After the arrest, Barnett went into convulsions. He was rushed across the street to Rex Hospital, where he died.

Barnett's family wants to know if there was a delay in getting him medical attention.

"I said, 'If you saw him like that why didn't you get more help?'" Barnett's aunt, Isidra Armstrong, said. "He said, 'I am not supposed to.' That is the words he (the officer) said to me."

Campus police Chief Tom Younce denies there was any delay in getting treatment.

Barnett was not enrolled at N.C. State. The cause of death has not been determined.

The State Bureau of Investigations is looking into the case. Its findings will be turned over to the district attorney's office.

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Lines Online: Poetry Journals on the Web

Nov. 7, 2003
The Chronicle of Higher Education
By Lisa Russ Spaar, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The Chronicle of Higher Education.

It was only about a decade ago that my students and I began talking about the fate of poetry in the electronic age.

For a full-text version of this article, please contact News Services at 919/515-3470.

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Bills bring pain

Nov. 2, 2003
The News & Observer
By Mark Minton, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.

In the hierarchy of annoyances that burden people's lives, paying bills ranks up there with a head cold: Nobody dies, but it's a joyless experience that saps energy few have to spare. The biggest problem with bills, of course, is scrounging the money to pay them.
But some bills have become hopelessly complex, as anybody who has sifted a stack of medical bills or really looked at the charges on a phone bill can attest. Complexity not only compounds the hassle of processing the monthly pile, but also provides cover for mistakes and unwarranted charges that add up to billions a year, consumer advocates warn.

resolving billing disputes
The Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights suggests these techniques to resolve problems:

* Read what the bill says you should do in case of an error. Many bills say how to contact the company, and laws require some companies -- utilities, banks and credit companies -- to print a statement on each bill telling you how to protect your rights.

* Call the company. Look for the toll-free number.

* Give the date of the bill and explain the problem in detail. Make sure the person you're talking with has a copy of the bill so he can see the problem and make a correction right away.

If your bill is not itemized or indecipherable, ask for an explanation or request a fully itemized and explained bill. Demand that any overcharges or phony charges be removed. Ascertain from the representative the amount you owe and agree you'll pay that amount.

* If you have a problem, ask for a supervisor.

* Once the problem is solved, pay the bill. Write an accompanying note explaining the mistake and whom you talked to at the company.

* If the company won't fix the problem, you can pay; refuse to pay and risk being sued or have your credit rating damaged; sue the company yourself; or seek help from consumer-protection agencies such as the N.C. Utilities Commission, Better Business Bureau or the N.C. Attorney General's Office.

Finding overcharges in the mystifying columns of fees and taxes can be tough, even for bill-payers reading with a querying eye.

When did I order that add-on? That's not the rate I thought I was getting. Just what is a "bill processing fee," anyway?

Busy with more pressing demands, many consumers give up and just send in the total. After all, who has time to really understand all the obscure taxes, charges and fees, asked Claudio Romero, an assistant manager at a McDonald's in Cary. He hesitates to estimate the time he puts in on bills every month.

"I probably need an accountant," Romero said. "I have a lot of bills."

But he said that he tries to go over the fine print to see what charges he is paying. "A lot of people say, 'Hey, it's just a nickel and dime.' "

But Romero said he has caught mistakes, including a cell-phone overcharge that saved him more than $20.

More people should take the time, advises a consumer group that received so many complaints from those annoyed by inscrutable or erroneous bills that it finally decided to launch its own study of the problems.

Hard numbers are hard to come by, but the nickels and dimes add up, said Harvey Rosenfield, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights, based in Santa Monica, Calif.

The group's study is not done, but Rosenfield said it's no secret that bills are loaded with phony charges, overcharges, illegal fees and mistakes.

"As consumers and taxpayers, we're being nickel-and-dimed out of tens of billions every year," he said. "It's epidemic."

Established businesses generate fewer complaints than industries where technology and service options change fast, Rosenfield said. Cell-phone and medical bills are frequent sources of ire.

Better Business Bureaus around the country got more complaints last year about cell-phone companies than any other industry, said spokeswoman Sheila Adkins. With 21,534 complaints, wireless companies edged car dealers for first place.

Not all the complaints were about billing, however, and cell phone companies have their own billing gripe: 43 percent of their customers pay late, according to a survey last year by Western Union.

Medical bills are themselves a source of elevated blood pressure. Not only do they often arrive at a time of stress, but they also can be perplexing to figure out and frequently contain mistakes.

A survey published in the January 2003 issue of "Consumer Reports" found that 5 percent of 11,000 readers who reviewed their medical bills had found major errors. Those who paid at least $2,000 out of pocket were twice as likely to have found errors on the bills, the magazine said.

"It drives you wild, the paperwork," said Bob Buzenberg, 85, of Chapel Hill. A retired manager of a Kansas equipment-manufacturing company, Buzenberg figured he has run up as much as $200,000 in expenses from a series of procedures at Duke University Hospital over the past couple of years.

The hospital stays generated a mound of paper for Buzenberg to go through.

"I would get maybe two or three envelopes a day," he said.

"Everything you do, they send some sheets to you, which aren't always bills, but they're something -- and there's always a residual" that the patient is asked to pay, he said.

Hospital bills can be daunting for anyone, acknowledged Ken Morris, chief financial officer of Duke University Health System, which runs a central billing office where 8 percent of the organization's total work force is employed.

But there is little that a medical provider such as Duke can do. Complexity is the nature of the health-care system.

"It would be nice to be able to issue a bill that looks like your MasterCard bill," Morris said. But the form and content of the bills are dictated by insurance companies that want to know "every little detail," he said.

Some of Buzenberg's statements would include charges from three or four doctors, not to mention fees for X-rays and services in the operating and emergency rooms, he said.

Buzenberg said he had no idea which charges were legitimate, which ones his insurance ought to cover, and how much he should pay himself.

"I'd have paid more than I owed," Buzenberg is convinced.

But instead of tackling the mess himself, he hired Medical Claims Rx in Chapel Hill to sort out his bills. The company's business is to help individuals track medical expenses and keep from paying too much. Medical Claims Rx troubleshoots problems and makes sure clients don't get stuck with costs that their insurance should cover.

The existence of the business -- and it's hardly the only one that has sprung up to help consumers handle medical bills -- is an indictment of an overly complex health-care system in need of reform, said Brad Fox, who founded the company 17 years ago.

A typical billing problem he said he encounters: A medical provider, tired of waiting for a payment from the insurance company, bills the patient.

It happens over and over, Fox said. "We stay busy."

Legislative efforts

Aiming to make companies of all kinds more accountable for the bills they send, the Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights is drafting a "Bill-payers Bill of Rights" that would require companies to itemize all bills. Rosenfield's group proposes a fine of three times the amount of the overcharge, up to $1,000, for any company found to have overbilled on purpose.

Once the "landmark" consumer-protection legislation is drafted, Rosenfield said his group plans to introduce it through ballot-box initiatives.

Some consumer safeguards for bill-payers are in place already. The federal Fair Credit Billing Act, for instance, allows consumers to challenge billing errors on credit cards and store charge accounts without the creditor going to a collection agency or damaging the buyer's credit rating.

The Federal Communications Commission adopted "Truth in Billing" guidelines in 1999 to make it easier for consumers to understand their phone bills by explaining fees and charges. The rules were a response to thousands of complaints about cramming: companies tacking on unauthorized fees and services.

Phone companies have since revised their bills.

BellSouth, the Atlanta-based phone company, set up focus groups before announcing a redesigned bill two years ago.

Now some wireless companies are tweaking their bills, too. Alltel, the Little Rock, Ark., phone company, is introducing an easier-to-read bill this month, in response to customers clamoring for a more understandable statement.

"They were asking for this," said Philip Junker, vice president for marketing at Alltel. The company used surveys and focus groups and spent nearly a year redoing the bills in an effort to make them clearer and more concise, Junker said. Among other changes: reordering items on the bill to list the amount due and the due date first, with details below.

A redesign is not always the answer, however -- as American Express and MBNA discovered recently when they changed the way their bills listed the total due.

The credit-card companies caught a backlash from consumer groups for de-emphasizing the total amount due while prominently listing the minimum payment a consumer could pay.

Paying online

Making bills clearer isn't the only possible solution for consumers fighting the bill bogeyman.

Alison R. Taylor of Hillsborough, who pays the bills for her family, said she has reduced her workload with an online bill-paying program that taps her bank account.

"I used to spend maybe an hour or two every other weekend," Taylor said. "Now I just enter the bill as it comes in, and it just goes off. It's paid.

"I don't use a checking register anymore," she said.

Some consumers shy away from online bill paying because of concern about hackers invading their accounts. But Taylor said it has never happened in six years of going online to pay a battery of bills: cell phone, Internet, telephone, student loans, credit cards, mortgage and insurance, in addition to the usual utilities.

Such a stack is typical; the average bill-payer has 12 to 16 monthly bills, including eight credit-card bills, according to Celvia Stovall, family resource management specialist at the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service.

And saving time by paying them all online salves only so much of the pain. Nothing in the computer program insulates a bill-payer from getting nicked by overcharges, so they still must scrutinize the bills -- and find the money.

Said Taylor: "It's still no fun paying the bills."

Staff writer Mark Minton can be contacted at 829-4649.

News researcher Denise Jones contributed to this report.

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Briefs: Officials, fraternity discuss house's fate

Nov. 1, 2003
The News & Observer
By staff report
 © Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.

City officials held a meeting with representatives of the FarmHouse fraternity Friday to talk about the possibility of saving the former home of popular writer and gardener Elizabeth Lawrence, Mayor Charles Meeker said.

The N.C. State University fraternity owns the home and planst to tear it down and build a new, 10,800-square-foot building. The fraternity pledged to hold off construction until a meeting Tuesday to give preservation officials time to look at the site and make any suggestions, Meeker said.

Lawrence, who died in 1985, lived in the house from 1912 to 1948. She based her book "A Southern Garden: A Handbook for the Middle South" on her garden at the Park Avenue house near downtown.

"It's very late in the process to attempt to save the house and the gardens, and the options are limited," Meeker said. "They've already waited a week, and they're waiting another four days as a courtesy to the city. The fraternity is being very polite about it and acting in good faith."

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SBI Investigates Death Of Teen In Custody Of NCSU Police

Nov. 3, 2003
WRAL.com
By staff report
 © Copyright 2003 WRAL.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The State Bureau of Investigation is looking into the case of a man who died Sunday night after he was arrested on the North Carolina State campus.

According to investigators, N.C. State police were stopping cars and checking licenses near the entrance to the McKimmon Center when they stopped 19-year-old Brandon Barnett, from Raleigh, around 9:45 p.m.

Campus police said Barnett did not have any identification. But he did have an outstanding warrant for his arrest with the Raleigh Police Department in connection with a drug charge.

Campus police said they they found a controlled substance in Barnett's car. They were about to take him to the Wake County jail when he had a seizure.

"At one point," said NCSU Police Chief Tom Younce, "one of the officers asked him: 'Are you OK?' And he said: 'Yes.' And then, when they turned back around, that's when he appeared to have some kind of convulsion or seizure.

"He was compliant during the entire incident and did not resist. There was no force used by the officers other than just putting handcuffs on him."

Barnett died at Rex Hospital. He was not a student at N.C. State and had no affiliation with the university. An autopsy was being performed Monday.

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Tough love from Toni Morrison

Nov. 2, 2003
The News & Observer
By Denise Heinze
 © Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.

Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison never lets her readers rest. She lays down words one at a time, like tiles in a huge mosaic, demanding that readers both follow her lead and participate in the construction of the overall design.

an excerpt from "love":
It's like that when children fall for one another. On the spot, without introduction. Grown-ups don't pay it much attention because they can't imagine anything more majestic to a child than their own selves, and so confuse dependence with reverence. Parents can be lax or strict, timid or confident, it doesn't matter. Whether they are handing out goodies and, scared by tears, say yes to any whim, or whether they spend their days making sure the child is correct and corrected- whatever kind they are, their place is secondary to a child's first chosen love. If such children find each other before they know their own sex, or which one of them is starving, which well fed; before they know color from no color, kin from stranger, then they have found a mix of surrender and mutiny they can never live without. Heed and Christine found such a one.

This is no easy task given the 72-year-old Morrison's penchant for misdirection and irresolution. In her masterpiece, "Beloved" (1987), Morrison turned an old-fashioned ghost story into a linguistic mystery that defies closure. The novel is a brilliant enigma that draws power from its open-endedness. Her last novel, "Paradise" (1998), was a confounding work that left even its closest readers hard-pressed to discern its intricate patterns.

Now comes her eighth novel, "Love," the tale of a powerful man and the women who are drawn to him. Extremely complex, it is both a frustrating narrative maze and a gratifying yarn. It solves mysteries large and small, yet leaves indeterminate the novel's central message. It is a book of revelations in spurts, if not as a whole. Finally, it is, for those willing to do the considerable work in reading the novel, a labor of love.

Though the narrative swings back and forth between multiple story lines and characters, its central figure is Bill Cosey. He is a wealthy, black, seaside resort owner who, during the post-World War II years, wields considerable influence over the small East Coast community of Sooker Bay. Generous with his time and money, Cosey "helped more colored people here than forty years of government programs." Charming and handsome, he sports "a G.I. Joe chin and a reassuring smile." He beguiles blacks, as well as whites, men and especially women, who "looked on him with adoring eyes." Cosey's wealth and success become, for the black people in the community, a dream no longer deferred.

However, as so often happens with the powerful men in Morrison's novels, Cosey is an ambiguous character, by turns admirable and despicable. He is especially inept in his personal life, unable to reel in the sexual appetites and license that his money can buy. His proclivities are perverse, much to the detriment of his much younger wife, Heed; his granddaughter, Christine; and his daughter-in-law May, each of whom becomes warped in some way by his actions.

Morrison has long plumbed the warping force of power in human relations; tellingly, these aggrieved women do not despise Cosey but compete against each other for his attention and money. When he dies under mysterious circumstances, he leaves a cryptic will that severs the already tenuous relationship of the three women.

The story also takes place during the late 1990s. Cosey has been dead for decades but his presence still looms over the women. When Christine returns to Sooker Bay after a long absence to reclaim her share of her grandfather's fortune, she is grudgingly taken in by Heed, who is now bedridden. Though the women profess a mutual hatred, they also, in their old age, need each other. During these sections we also meet a wayward 18-year-old fresh out of prison, watch a series of nefarious schemes unhatch and hear from a narrator who has an otherworldy connection to Cosey.

This summary, pared down as it is, does not do justice to the complexities of the narrative structure. Morrison, once again, makes high demands on her readers. They must pay close attention when she shifts between the voices of her multiple characters, sometimes mid-page; when she declines to specify characters' relationships to one another; when she leaves out convenient transitions; and when she delays disclosure of critical information. Readers must take a leap of faith and trust that Morrison will provide all the narrative tissue necessary to make a story.

And in that respect, she delivers. The plot -- though revealed in fragments and out of chronological, historical time -- comes together at the end, tying up most, if not all loose ends. We learn about a black man who is a study in contrasts, fervent in his belief that blacks deserve a better way of life, yet insensitive to the dysfunction that ruins those closest to him.

Still, readers will be wondering "where's the love?" in this novel that gives full play to hatred, lust, envy, perversion, rage and revenge. Ultimately it is not an emotion but a resource -- power -- that drives Morrison's characters. Bill Cosey misuses his considerable influence to control and manipulate others. The results are infectious and disastrous: A mother who emotionally abandons her daughter; friends who become bitter enemies; a husband and father shockingly oblivious to the needs of his wife and granddaughter. Love plays so small a part in this book that the reader is left to wonder whether Morrison's title is an ironic misnaming or an elaborate joke.

And yet, as trying as "Love" can be, it resounds with Morrison's genius for language. The challenges of plot and theme seem a small price to pay to ride her waves of words. Characters can be revealed in a single trait. Heed's arthritic fingers are "small, baby-smooth except for one scarred spot, each one curved gently away from its partner -- like fins." Old truths are revivified, made new again. When Christine and Heed have a stand-off over Cosey's coffin, "their faces, as different as honey from soot, looked identical. Hate does that. Burns off everything but itself, so whatever your grievance is, your face looks just like your enemy's."

Whether revelatory or discomfiting, Morrison constantly pushes readers to the edge. Perhaps she does so out of her own frustration at advancing age -- so much left to do and so little time. As the mysterious narrator of "Love" explains: "My hum is mostly below range, private; suitable for an old woman embarrassed by the world; her way of objecting to how the century is turning out. Where all is known and nothing understood."

In her passion to jolt readers into understanding, Morrison has neither the time nor the inclination to molly-coddle. If a reader gets lost, confused or angry, Morrison's solution is curt and simple: Just keep turning the page. It is the author's unique version of tough love.

Denise Heinze, who teaches literature at N.C State University, is the author of "The Dilemma of 'Double-Consciousness': Toni Morrison's novels."

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A perfect match graces two lives

Nov. 2, 2003
The News & Observer
By Mary E. Miller, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.

RALEIGH -- At the Southwest Airlines baggage terminal, Shannon Doorhy breathes behind a sterile medical mask, her blue-green eyes nervously scanning the crowd. People stare back at her and her aide dog, Shadrach, an immense blue male Great Dane lying at her feet.

Since she was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia 21 months ago, Shannon has been presented countless times with unimaginable situations. That's what cancer does: metastasizes the unimaginable into routine. Yet the 20-year-old animal sciences major at N.C. State University is the kind of person who takes on anything, and with faith and an indestructible work ethic, aces it: School, sports, music, even pain and illness. Still, a host of emotions course through her body: excitement, gratitude, hope, uncertainty.

"I have absolutely no idea how to act," she says with a laugh of disbelief. "I mean, I've never been in a situation like this."

Her grinning father, John, stands by, rocking on his heels. Their friend Vic Perez sits next to Shannon. They keep their eyes on the arriving passengers. One of those travelers will be a man named Chuck Elliott, the bone-marrow donor whose identity Shannon learned only two months ago and who is coming to spend the weekend with her family.

National Bone Marrow Donor Program rules preclude donors and recipients from meeting until a year from transplant has passed. On July 31, both Chuck, a 29-year-old electrician from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Shannon contacted the registry trying to reach each other. It didn't take long for them to connect.

Over the last months, the telephone and Internet have grafted the beginnings of a friendship that, were it not for the medical procedure, would seem unimaginable given the surface differences in their personalities and life experiences. Chuck Elliott is married, a father who wires million-dollar houses for a living, plays computer games and surfs. He's a guy who has given blood since he was 17, who has been on the registry for four years.

As she waits Shannon wonders: How do you actually greet a person whom you've never met, but whose insides, whose life, you share?

Suddenly, he's standing there, a young-looking guy in baggy jeans and a pullover sweat shirt. Glasses, shaved head, goatee. Blue eyes with dark lashes, not unlike Shannon's eyes.

Shadrach leaps up. Shannon stands, smiles behind the mask until her eyes crinkle.

Like reflex, Chuck lunges forward and folds his arms around Shannon's tiny frame in a big, long silent hug that fills all the spaces awkward words could not.

A hug right through the bones.

In January 2002, Shannon's father was taking her back to school to begin her second semester at N.C. State University. But first she had a doctor's appointment.

For two years she'd been having pain in her knees; for a month, a stitch in her side. She didn't let it get her down; she finished her first semester with a 3.9 GPA. She felt tired a lot, but thought it was a combination of things: an old high-school injury from the time she jumped off the top of a set of bleachers and the stress of adjusting to college.

At first she didn't understand, even as her father put his arm around her, promising "Honey, we'll get through this." She just did not get that the doctor was telling her she had cancer. Two hours later, she wasn't at school in Raleigh, but on the way to the emergency room at Duke University Medical Center. The next week was a painful blur of tests, spinal taps, bone-marrow aspirates. Doctors stressed the need for a bone-marrow transplant, talked about testing her parents and her little sister, Colleen, and sending a test kit to Spain, where her brother, Shawn, was spending the semester.

So many decisions were made over the next two months. She began taking oral chemotherapy drugs, to buy time to have a transplant, and continued her classes.

The doctors said the required chemo and radiation treatments would likely render her infertile, so if she wanted to have children, she had to act soon. Take drugs to stimulate egg production. Pick a sperm donor. She did so in early April, and thanks to the gift of another anonymous donor, somewhere in Durham lie three frozen fertilized embryos, a possible future.

At the same time, she also found out that nobody in the family matched her marrow. The hope would be in the registry. Someone, out there.

Histocompatibility is a big word that medical professionals use to describe the similarity of tissue between individuals. There are proteins on the surface of white blood cells called human leukocyte antigens, which allow the body to recognize self or non-self blood cells. In determining a match, doctors look at six different antigens. A transplant is possible if five of six antigens match, but the goal is to find the most identical tissues possible.

Soon the Doorhys were told there were seven potential donors of the 4.5 million on the registry. A few weeks later came disheartening news: None would work. One was too old. One said no. One didn't match enough. The other four couldn't be found. They focused on the hope of a cord blood transplant, which is more common but less compatible.

Through that semester, Shannon was constantly in and out of the hospital. She reduced her load to 10 hours, but still managed to earn a 3.5 GPA. She and her family waited hopefully for news from the donor registry.

The beginning of June, the worker at the clinic was so excited that she let it slip, John Doorhy remembers. She said the words that were more than an answer to the family's prayers. They were a miracle.

"A perfect match," she said. Six out of six antigens, but even more: This person's marrow was identical in every possible way they could test.

It was a guy in his 20s who was eager to donate.

Sharing their lives

Thirty minutes after he gets off the plane at RDU, Chuck Elliott is on the floor at Shannon's apartment in Cary, playing with Shadrach. She is at the computer, printing out the music she needs to play at a special Mass the next evening. Soon they will head to Sanford for dinner at her parents' house. Shannon wants to show Chuck as much of her world as possible. Tomorrow she will take him to the 5200 ward at Duke University Medical Center, the pediatric bone-marrow transplant floor.

How does it feel, Chuck is asked. He has heard the question so many times in the last 14 months. It's so hard to answer.

Chuck cowers under attention. When he speaks, his voice is halting, his words twinged with a crisp Midwestern accent.

"I don't know. I don't know," he says. "Everybody asks that. I can't say. I didn't do this for any thing, any attention, any 'thank you.' They took blood. Then they took a lot more blood. Then more blood. Then I went to the hospital in Miami and they put me to sleep for four hours and it was over. No big deal, you know?"

Except that, as he has told Shannon on the phone, the doctors hit a nerve when they harvested his marrow. He suffered back pain for months.

He and Shadrach play tug-of-war with a stuffed monkey. Shannon, her father and Vic watch and listen.

Chuck takes a deep breath. "In some ways, I don't think it hit me until today. But I don't know what to say," he says, "except that it feels."

Chuck stares at the dog. "It feels," he repeats a little louder.

With the family

The first time he gave blood was on a dare. He was 17 years old, a high school student in the tiny town of Urbana, Ind. "My buddies on the wrestling team, we went on a dare. And I don't know, I've pretty much been giving blood ever since."

He is standing in the Doorhys' den, a haven of comfort and with its walls of family photos and crucifixes, testimony to the Irish Catholic love of family and of God. The aroma of baked ziti and hot bread fill the air. Shannon's mom, Barbara, pours dressing on the salad. Shannon does laundry. Fifteen-year-old Colleen finishes setting the table. John gets Shadrach's dinner ready. Vic talks computers with Chuck.

Chuck's favorite computer game is called "Half-life."

"It's a shoot-em-up blood-and-guts kind of game, like most of them are," he says. Chuck's game identity is Kamikaze Man.

Shannon walks to the kitchen counter where long plastic trays hold her medications. She takes 21 different pills each day and five other medicines as needed. The transplant was successful, but not without complications. A major artery in her stomach collapsed. For weeks, she vomited. She still battles nausea, chronic headaches, pain, fatigue. The combination of complications make her pass out a lot. That's what Shadrach is for: He senses when she's about to drop and he cushions her fall.

She skipped the fall semester after the transplant, but took three classes in the winter through distance education and made straight A's. She returned to school in August with a full load, but this semester has been a struggle. She had to drop two classes. She's a year behind her plan to become a veterinarian, which frustrates her as much as anything.

Shannon and the family keep detailed progress of her health at www.caringbridge.org/page/shannon, a nonprofit service that allows people going through major life events to update friends and family. Shannon's site is decorated with hummingbirds, fairies and unicorns and lots of prayers of thanks and photos of friends.

At dinner, Chuck sits between Shannon and Barbara Doorhy. "All these forks and bowls and plates," he frets, "I don't know which one I'm supposed to use." Barbara pats his arm and replies, "Any way you want."

The Doorhys' firstborn, Shawn, arrives late. A typical big brother, he immediately teases Shannon and their back-and-forth makes everyone laugh. The parents urge Chuck and Shannon, to eat, eat. John Doorhy looks at his table, his children all home, at Chuck. In this miracle of normalcy, he thinks that it feels just like having another son.

Chuck is asked about his son, his wife, his job. He squirms at the questions. Kim works for a chiropractor; they've been together 10 years, met in Indiana and moved to Florida to be near her family. The baby's name is really Alexander, but they call him Xander. "Got it from 'Buffy,' " he says, referring to the TV show about the vampire slayer.

Asked if he has brothers or sisters, he says, flatly, "No, and it sucks."

"It's great growing up because you get everything," he tries to explain, "but now ... my buddies get to go to family reunions. I got nothing."

"Well," Barbara Doorhy says, "now you have us."

Thank you for the gift

If he feels nervous, Chuck covers up by complaining that North Carolina is so cold. He shivers beneath his University of Michigan ballcap. He is a huge Michigan fan.

In the sprawling lobby at Duke, he grips a canvas bag filled with Halloween treats that Barbara has made for the current transplant patients.

They take the elevators up to the fifth floor, down a hallway decorated with portraits by children. Before entering the transplant ward, visitors must wash their hands for 15 seconds. Chuck is meticulous as he scrubs.

The electric door swings open onto a hushed buzz of activity. The ward's 16 beds are full. Seeing Shannon, nurses stop -- briefly because there is so much always to do -- to tell her she looks great, to say they read about her progress online.

To every adult in the hallway, John or Barbara says, "This is Chuck, Shannon's donor!" He shifts his weight, shrugs and waves "Hi." Thank you, they tell him. Thank you for the gift of life.

Most transplants done here now are cord blood. For the marrow transplants, most donors are siblings. John asks a nurse how often unrelated donors come to visit. The woman, who has worked here more than two years, cannot recall a single time.

Chuck peers through the windows at the small bodies on big white beds. At the end of the hall the Doorhys stop to see 4-year-old Tommy, a patient from California who is on his third transplant, the final hope. He suffers from a rare disease that is slowly killing his older brother and sister, John Doorhy quietly explains. Chuck jams his hands in his pockets and stares at the floor.

The visit is quick, intense, not exactly pleasant. "Sixty-two days we spent here," Barbara tells Chuck as they walk out the door. Before they leave the hospital, she wants to take a photo.

Shannon and Chuck pose together awkwardly beneath the 5200 sign, then break away.

A faith that endures

Shannon started piano lessons at 6, singing at 9. By 14, she began playing at Mass and for funerals.

She's always been a spiritual child, Shannon's mother says, and a health nut. That's why it was so unimaginable that Shannon would get sick. Her diagnosis rocked the congregation. The members rallied around the family, made meals, held a fund-raiser, kept praying.

To do the transplant, John Doorhy explains, the doctors basically had to kill his daughter, destroy Shannon's immune system so that Chuck's could take root. Part of her had to die to live, that's how he sees it.

All of it has been such a test of faith, everyone in the family agrees. One that has brought them closer together and closer to God. So much good has come out of it. So the Doorhys needed to take this opportunity while Chuck was here to thank God and the people of St. Stephen the First Martyr.

Late Saturday afternoon in Sanford, Chuck puts on pressed khakis and a button-down Michigan shirt. He rides with the Doorhys to the old Lowe's grocery building where the congregation meets while a church is built. Shannon and Colleen are already there, practicing. For her solos, Shannon has chosen "Amazing Grace," and "God Loves You," a song she heard on one of her favorite television shows, "Touched by an Angel." Colleen will accompany her on flute.

The Doorhys sit on the front row, with Chuck in the middle, more than 100 members of the congregation behind them. The Rev. John Forbes announces that Shannon's bone-marrow donor is here and will be introduced at the end of Mass. But people begin to applaud until Chuck half-rises with a small, shy smile on his face.

It has only been a couple of months since Shannon has had the lung power to sing again. Before the first solo, Colleen pushes the microphone closer to her sister's face.

As Shannon begins to sing, Chuck turns and stares.

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me."

People tear up. Barbara cries. John videotapes. At communion, strangers file past the Doorhys and some stop to squeeze Chuck's hand.

Afterward in the parking lot comes a time for small confessions. Chuck hates the attention. Before he left, his wife made him take out three earrings, the tongue stud and the lip ring he usually wears.

"Wouldn't have mattered, man," Shannon's brother, Shawn, assures him.

Maybe saying "Yes" to donating his marrow didn't seem like a big deal at the time. Only two holes in his hip, he kept saying, two small scars.

But he has a whole new family now, and even though he didn't want the recognition, well, it's amazing to be part of something so huge.

"Seeing and hearing her sing," Chuck says, "I really thought, Wow. I did something good."

Staff writer Mary E. Miller can be reached at 829-4818.

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Friends, family try to come to grips with deaths of six good Samaritans

Nov. 4, 2003
Associated Press; Winston-Salem Journal; WTVD-11
By staff writer
© Copyright 2003 Associated Press

Todd Miller avoided the television and newspaper Sunday. He couldn't deal with it, and if he read the story it would be true.

But yesterday he finally let it wash over him. He sat on a picnic table outside of Sadlack's Heroes, a sandwich shop and bar near the campus of N.C. State University where on occasion he would hang out with Larry Veeder.

It was there that he read about Veeder being charged with six counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of drunken driving that stemmed from an accident Saturday night that resulted in the deaths of six people.

"I don't think that I could even imagine what he's going through," Miller said.

Veeder was arraigned yesterday before Judge Anne Salisbury of Wake District Court. He just nodded when asked if he understood the charges. Salisbury set his next court date for Nov. 21.

Lawyer Rick Gammon guided Veeder through the proceedings. He said he has been asked to represent Veeder but hasn't been officially retained.

"Obviously, he is very shaken," Gammon said of Veeder. "He is not doing very well."

The chain of events that resulted in the six deaths started when a green 1996 Chevrolet Blazer driven by Baron A. Fulk of Asheville failed to stop at a stop sign on Nowell Road. He collided with a silver 2003 Chevrolet Blazer traveling west on N.C. 54, authorities said.

Two alumni of N.C. State - Dennis Bowes, 28, of Cary and Bryan Tutor, 29 of Coats - stopped to help on their way back from a Wolfpack home football game against Virginia.

Nolan Myers, an 18-year-old Campbell University freshman from Minnesota, also stopped as he left the game.

Robert Alfaro Jr., 46, and his wife, Gene-Marie Alfaro, 48, were visiting their twin sons, Robert and Christopher, for N.C. State's parents weekend. They left their sons in the car when they got out to help.

Christopher Clemons, 41, lived nearby, heard the accident and hopped on his bicycle to see what he could do.

Veeder, traveling east in a white Ford van, struck the group and killed the six pedestrians, according to the N.C. Highway Patrol.

Fulk and Martha P. West, the driver of the 2003 Blazer, also suffered injuries. Patrol Sgt. Barry Hower said that West was treated and released from Rex Hospital Sunday.

Joseph M. Fulk Jr. and Dianne B. Fulk, the parents of Baron Fulk, released a statement yesterday saying that Baron was in fair condition in the surgical intensive-care unit at Wake Medical Center.

They extended their sympathy to the families of the victims who stopped to help their son.

"We know Baron would have done the same for anyone in need," the statement read.

In the statement, the parents also said that Baron Fulk was not drinking before the accident.

Trae Shelton, 26, who was Tutor's brother-in-law, said that stopping to help people involved in an accident was right in line with Tutor's character. He said he would give other people the shirt off his back.

"We liked to fish together," Shelton said. "He was a huge N.C. State fan, as big as they come. He was a great husband and father. He was a great man."

Troopers continued to investigate the wreck yesterday.

Officials measured 24 feet of skid marks from Veeder's van but were still trying to estimate how fast he was going, Sgt. James Williams said.

Renee Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, said that investigators have found a commercial establishment where they say Veeder was drinking before the accident but emphasized that authorities are still investigating.

Veeder has four speeding tickets on his record and convictions for aiding and abetting drunken driving and driving without a license, according to the N.C. Department of Motor Vehicles.

"He's just the sweetest, nicest, kindest, nonconfrontational guy," said Peter Eichenberger, 47, a friend of Veeder's.

Veeder is a part-time clown who painted kids' faces on Halloween and always volunteered for benefits, Eichenberger said.

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Suspect dies in police custody

Nov. 4, 2003
The News & Observer
By Oren Dorell, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.

A simple stop at a traffic checkpoint proved deadly Sunday night to a motorist passing through the N.C. State University campus. The incident left police, medical personnel and family members trying to figure out what happened.

Brandon Burnett, 19, of 2247 Rumson Road in Raleigh, died after experiencing seizures in the back of an NCSU Campus Police car, said Campus Police Chief Tom Younce.

Burnett was stopped at 9:42 p.m. at a checkpoint on Varsity Drive near the McKimmon Center, Younce said. He had no identification on him, and, after a few minutes, police discovered that his license had been suspended and that he was wanted on an outstanding warrant for failure to appear on a drug charge, Younce said during a news conference Monday. Burnett was cooperative and did not resist, Younce said.

Campus Police officer Renee Riley handcuffed Burnett and put him in the back of her cruiser. Police also searched his 2003 Hyundai and found what appeared to be drugs or paraphernalia, Younce said. Within about 50 minutes of the traffic stop, Burnett started experiencing problems, he said.

"He looked like he was sweating," Younce said. "The officer asked him how he was doing. He said he was fine."

A few minutes later, he started having seizures, Younce said.

Riley called Wake County EMS at 10:37 p.m. and drove Burnett to the fire station, near the checkpoint, Younce said.

"As soon as they started transporting him to EMS, they took the handcuffs off," said Sgt. Jon Barnwell of the Campus Police. Emergency workers transported Burnett to Rex Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His body was taken to Chapel Hill for an autopsy. The results were pending Monday.

Burnett's mother questioned whether police sought help early enough.

Maxine Burnett, 54, of 428 Peyton St. in Raleigh, said her son called her on his cell phone at 10:11 p.m., saying that he had been was arrested, and they talked for 20 to 30 minutes while police searched his car.

"His last words to me were, 'Mom, I think they're getting ready to take me to the hospital. I got to hang up,' " she said.

Burnett, the youngest of six children, was always polite and well-behaved, and lately was learning electrical wiring at Wake Technical Community College, his mother said. But she also said he "got with the wrong crowd." He had several misdemeanor arrests on his record and pleaded guilty to felony possession of cocaine in February, according to court records.

Younce referred the case to the State Bureau of Investigation, a routine step when a suspect dies in police custody. Riley, who has been on the department for about a year and was a deputy sheriff for four years in the New Hanover County Sheriff's Department, will be placed on administrative duties when she returns to work Wednesday from her normal days off.

Staff writer Oren Dorell can be reached at 829-8963.

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Opinions might shape a more vibrant Raleigh

Nov. 4, 2003
The News & Observer
By J. Andrew Curliss, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.

RALEIGH -- Quizzed on what they love and hate about downtown Raleigh, about 1,300 people from across the city, and beyond, had more than a few suggestions.

Downtown, they said in response to an N.C. State University survey, has a decent mix of restaurants and bars, and a good variety of arts and cultural events.

But a majority complained about the small number of shops and homes and said they want easier and cheaper parking.

They want it to be safer at night. They want more variety in family entertainment. They want live entertainment, too.

The survey is the first of its kind for Raleigh. It will provide a focus over the next year for those working on making downtown more of a destination, officials said.

It was conducted by NCSU's Center for Urban Affairs and Community Services on behalf of the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, a booster group. The alliance paid $5,000 for the survey and plans to do it again next year.

It was available on the university's Internet site or by mail, and The News & Observer directed people to it with promotional advertisements.

Because it did not aim for a representative sample of the city or region, the survey is not considered scientific.

But the comments are adding detail and voice to even the smallest ideas just as the city and county pursue a massive revitalization that includes building a new convention center and hotel, and ripping up the Fayetteville Street pedestrian mall to add vehicles.

Respondents delivered mixed views, and many passionate pleas, on just about every idea for the city's core.

The opinions came from all parts of the city, and officials were surprised that support and criticism were spread evenly.

A common theme that emerged is that many want downtown to be better than it is and that it should be a focus of the city.

Two-thirds said they would visit downtown more if there were "more things to do."

A similar number wanted free events or street fairs; concerts or live shows; shopping; and eating, drinking or dancing facilities.

A sampling of comments from those surveyed, none of whom was identified:

* "Raleigh is a great place to live but not such a good place to visit. We need lots more venues to take our guests."

* "We have lived in San Diego and Denver and suggest both as role models for wonderful downtowns. Lots of outdoor cafes that one can safely walk to. ... Raleigh is just nasty. City Market and Glenwood are trying, but the areas are too small and don't offer many options."

* "Many would love to live and spend time there if there were things to do."

* "We have to put in shops, restaurants and bars if we ever want Raleigh to move from a tier-three city to a tier-two city."

Margaret Mullen, who leads the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, said the survey was invaluable because of the depth of the information. "It will take us months to go through all the comments," she said.

But she was also getting to work on some of the problems that clearly stood out.

Among them: parking.

"We have to find a way to making parking easier and cheaper," she said. "Parking is an easy fix. You put up signs, and you drop rates at certain times."

Getting that through City Hall might be a tougher sell, she acknowledged, because the city relies on parking income to balance the budget.

Another quick fix: letting people know what's happening downtown.

The alliance has a Web site, www.downtownraleigh.org, that aims to catalog all the information in one place. But few respondents had heard of it.

"We need to figure out how we collectively improve our message and our marketing," Mullen said.

Staff writer J. Andrew Curliss can be reached at 829-4840.

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Opinion: The imbalance in trade: workers' rights

Nov. 2, 2003
The News & Observer
By Michael Schwalbe
 © Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.

How long I asked, have you and your dad been selling furniture at the flea market?

For a full-text version of this article, please contact News Services at 919/515-3470.

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Scientists to study evolution of flies

Nov. 4, 2003
Brisbane Courier Mail, Australia; Daily Telegraph, Australia; NEWS.com.au, Australia; The Australian, Australia;
By staff report
 © Copyright 2003

THEY are a nuisance and spread disease, but they are older than the dinosaurs, and now a five-year study will take place into the evolution of flies.

Scientists from the CSIRO are part of an international team which has won a grant to research the evolutionary history of flies.

As part of the study, the team will investigate the development of insecticide resistance genes in flies.

CSIRO researcher David Yeates, who will work on the project, said there were up to 40,000 species of flies in Australia, and they made up 10 per cent of the world's living species.

"A big part of biodiversity is actually flyodiversity," Dr Yeates said.

Flies evolved about 250 million years ago.

"Their body design has allowed them to diversify and flourish as other groups of animals and plants dwindled and disappeared," he said.

Although flies were pests in agriculture and spread disease, Dr Yeates said they played an important role in the environment by recycling nutrients.

The team examining flies is part of a larger international project by the North Carolina State University to assemble an evolutionary tree for all 1.7 million living species, which will be published on the Internet.

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Logic and memory shown on molecular scale

Nov. 4, 2003
Electronic Engineering Times
By staff report
 © Copyright 2003 Electronic Engineering Times.

Rice University researchers have demonstrated that molecule-sized electronic devices can be used for both logic and memory, despite being randomly wired, error-prone and inaccurately formed at the nanoscale.

"The dream of making memory and logic by programming disordered nanosized arrays via micron-sized addresses is now a reality," said Rice professor James Tour.

Tour said his work demonstrates that today's chip makers can achieve increases of two to three orders of magnitude in chip density by leveraging the lithographic tools they already have to form random-access addresses into arrays of nanoscale molecular memories.

Tour recently showed the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), which is helping to fund his research, that logic gates - not just memory - can be utilized at the nanoscale.

"We have made nonvolatile memory from these disordered arrays, addressing the nano via the micro," said Tour. "We are more recently showing [to Darpa] that indeed we can program logic into these disordered systems as well."

Tour and his team performed the research along with Pennsylvania State University professor Thomas Mallouk and North Carolina State University electrical engineering professor Paul Franzon.

Tour de force
The problem with nanoscale devices - from carbon nanotubes to molecular switches - comes in using them after they are fabricated. Tour has fabricated a variety of molecule-sized electronic devices - from switches to memories to diodes to resistors - but like everyone else, his team had been unable to form working circuits from them. Individual components could be isolated and tested, but connecting them into circuits had remained illusive until now.

By using a search algorithm to find interconnection patterns that perform desired functions, Tour's group was able to demonstrate that his method produced nanoscale functions. His memory nanocells were shown to retain their data for more than a week without refreshing.

Tour cautioned that his work is still research, but pointed out that if only a few percent of the interconnections result in working devices, they might still lead to denser arrays than conventional micron-sized circuits.

"State-of-the-art silicon is so sophisticated that there would need to be a world of improvement and testing [of our devices] before anything commercially viable could be manufactured," Tour said.

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