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Tailgate case delays Miller trial
tailgate shootingSuspects In NCSU Tailgate Shootings To Face Death Penalty
tailgate shootingTropical Storms Didn’t Rain on N.C. Christmas Tree Industry’s Parade
Jeff Owen, forestry extensionUNC to check crime records
UNC system; securityPanel calls for background checks at UNC campuses
UNC system; security
Zoo puts
stock in biodiesel
Solar Center
Fans
asked to respect anthem
James Oblinger, chancellor; Tom Stafford, student affairs
Replay
elicits mixed opinions
Lee Fowler, athletics
Missing
Exploris' attraction
students
Math
winners honored
Todd Fuller Math Competition
Editorial:
A leadership sighting
tuition
Bone
surgeon, clinic founder
Thomas Barker Dameron Jr., poultry science
UNC leader urges tuition freeze
tuitionFake Christmas-Tree Sales Rise as Convenience Trumps Tradition
John Frampton, forestry
Chat's
Positive Side
Josh Boyer, Linda Saunders, libraries
Napster
continues to build its reach into universities
file sharing
Tailgate case delays Miller trial
Dec. 15, 2004
News & Observer
By ANDREA WEIGL
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH -- Ann Miller Kontz probably won't be tried in her husband's arsenic-poisoning death until January 2006 because one of her lawyers also represents one of the men accused in the N.C. State tailgate killings.
Raleigh lawyer Joseph B. Cheshire V represents both Kontz, who is accused in the December 2000 death of Eric Miller, and Timothy Johnson, who is charged with shooting two men to death at the Labor Day weekend tailgate party.
On Tuesday, Wake prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty against Johnson, 22, and his brother, Tony, 20. The two are charged with murder in the deaths of Kevin M. McMann of Chicago and 2nd Lt. Brett Johnson Harman, a Camp Lejeune Marine from Park Ridge, Ill. McMann and Harman, both 23, were shot to death in a tailgate area outside an NCSU football game.
Timothy Johnson's trial has been scheduled to start the week of July 4; his younger brother's trial has been scheduled for Oct. 17.
Wake Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens said the Johnson case takes precedence over the Kontz case because it is a death penalty case and the Johnson brothers have been in jail longer. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty against Kontz, who is being held in jail with bail set at $3 million. The Johnson brothers were arrested Sept. 5. Kontz has been in jail since Sept. 27.
Therefore, Stephens said, Kontz will wait longer for trial. "It's unlikely we'll be able to schedule [the Kontz case] for trial any earlier than January 2006," he said during an all-day hearing to schedule trials in murder cases.
A more specific trial date for Kontz probably will be decided the week of Feb. 7, the next time prosecutors, defense lawyers and Stephens meet to schedule murder trials.
The tailgate shootings
On Tuesday, Wake Assistant District Attorney Susan Spurlin did not indicate what evidence exists to support a death sentence for either Johnson brother.
McMann and Harman were childhood friends. They met several other friends in Raleigh for a weekend of fun before Harman was to be sent to the Middle East.
Investigators say an altercation started when Tony Johnson drove a 1996 Chrysler sedan recklessly through the tailgate area off Trinity Road, hitting a young girl in the leg and running into several cars.
A crowd went after the brothers, pulling them out of the car, investigators told the victims' relatives. But Harman and McCann intervened and helped Tony Johnson get back in the car to leave, the relatives say investigators told them. A half hour later, the Johnson brothers came back with a gun, investigators say.
One of the Johnson brothers tried to attack McCann with a broken beer bottle, investigators told family. Harman tried to intervene and was shot in the neck, investigators said; then McCann tackled the shooter and was shot.
Spurlin has said she will try the Johnsons first on armed robbery charges related to a home invasion in August. Police charged the Johnson brothers and three others in a robbery Aug. 23 at 2100 Mariner Circle in Raleigh. Police said the heist was revenge for the theft of $1,000 and cocaine from Timothy Johnson's apartment. On that night, police say, armed robbers stole drugs, $600, seven guns, car keys and cell phones.
If the Johnson brothers are convicted of armed robbery, Spurlin can use that to support the death penalty in the murder cases. Under state law, a person is eligible for a death sentence if he has a prior violent felony conviction.
The arsenic death
Kontz, 33, is accused of first-degree murder in the death of her first husband, a pediatric AIDS researcher. Investigators say Eric Miller received several doses of arsenic starting in summer 2000, and when he was in the hospital for treatment of an illness that turned out to be arsenic poisoning. He died of cardiac arrest Dec. 2, 2000.
Investigators say that Kontz had access to arsenic at GlaxoSmithKline, where she worked, and that she was having an affair with a co-worker, Derril Willard. On Friday during another hearing, it became public that Willard told a Raleigh lawyer that Kontz admitted to him that she used a syringe to put poison into her husband's IV at the hospital.
Dec. 15, 2004
Asheboro Courier-Tribune
By Kathi Keys
© Copyright 2004
ASHEBORO - The N.C. Zoo received its first 400 gallons of biodiesel, a fuel made completely from vegetable oil, Tuesday afternoon - the initial step to eventually producing its own while providing a cleaner air quality for its visitors and staff.
"We'll start using it right away," said Mary Joan Pugh, the zoo's finance officer and chief of staff, as the biodiesel was transferred from a yellow Piedmont Biofuels tank truck to a recently installed new tank, next to one containing diesel fuel.
The biodiesel, known as B100, contains no petroleum products. It's made from vegetable oil, such as oil from soybeans.
Zoo officials will use the biodiesel to create its own B20 blend of 20 percent biofuel and 80 percent conventional diesel fuel for its diesel trams and buses for visitors, service equipment and mega generator.
A $2,000 grant has made the purchase of the biodiesel possible for the next several months. There will also be signage letting zoo visitors know about the vehicles being fueled by this energy source.
"Eventually we will make our own from vegetable oil - 100 percent from our restaurants," Pugh said.
The zoo has applied for a second grant to build a reactor to accomplish the transformation of waste vegetable oil into biofuel for its vehicular fleet.
"This is cleaner burning and has a fraction of the emissions," said Lyle Estill of Piedmont Biofuels about the biodiesel delivered Tuesday at the zoo.
He noted that the tank truck making the delivery was fueled by the pure biodiesel. And his 1992 Dodge pickup truck has been operating on biodiesel since January.
Rachel Burton, co-founder of the cooperative based in Pittsboro, said Piedmont Biofuels representatives originally met with zoo staff a year ago to discuss the use and production of biodiesel from vegetable oil.
Two zoo employees were also educated further about the process through Central Carolina Community College in Chatham County where Burton is a biofuels and automotive instructor. CCCC offers, through its continuing education program, biofuels courses.
Information about biofuels was available at this year's Earth Day activities at the zoo.
The partnership has grown as the zoo was awarded the grant to purchase biodiesel. Piedmont Biofuels will also assist with the reactor design, for the state agency to do its own processing, when the zoo receives its second grant.
Additionally, the Pittsboro-based cooperative has received a grant to offer six biodiesel workshops throughout the state. One is expected to be held next spring at the zoo.
Burton said other agencies are also involved in using biodiesel - the N.C. Department of Transportation and all Chatham County Schools buses now use a B20 blend.
The zoo was one of seven state and local agencies recently selected by the N.C. Solar Center, affiliated with N.C. State University, to receive grants to combat U.S. reliance on imported oil and improve transportation-related emissions.
The funding is from the State Energy Office which is encouraging increased use of alternative fuels to support energy security and economic development while reducing harmful emissions.
Panel calls for background checks at UNC campuses
Dec. 14, 2004
Associated Press; Charlotte Observer; NBC 17; News & Observer; WCNC; Winston-Salem Journal; WRAL; WVEC, VA
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Applicants to University of North Carolina campuses should get tougher screening and some should undergo criminal-background checks, according to a university task force convened after two female UNC Wilmington students were killed this year.
In issuing their recommendations yesterday, members of the safety panel went out of their way to emphasize that their investigation showed the 16 campuses in the state university are generally safe places.
"The vast majority of UNC students will not be directly impacted by or become the victim of a violent crime while enrolled as a student on a UNC campus," the report said.
The task force was created by UNC President Molly Broad, who plans to send its recommendations to the system's campuses for implementation.
In each of the UNC Wilmington cases, a male student was charged with killing a female student.
In one case, a student was killed at her apartment complex by a man who had been ordered by a court to stay away from her.
In the other case, a woman's body was found in the dorm room of a male student who lived in the same building.
Research showed that the crime rate on UNC campuses is one-sixth that of the statewide crime rate, said Bobby Kanoy, the task-force chairman and a senior associate vice president for academic and student affairs at UNC.
According to the group's report, more than 250,000 students have enrolled in UNC schools over the past three years; of those who committed crimes on campus, just 21 had a prior criminal record.
Of that group, 13 did not disclose the background in their application.
The panel also recommended creating campus-safety committees, conducting campus threat as-sessments, training campus staff to spot potential threats and standardizing background questions on forms.
Another of the task force's recommendations would bar students with pending campus judicial cases from formally withdrawing from school before the case is resolved, Broad said.
That would prevent students from leaving school to hide the problem.
Kanoy said that officials are working to create a system to screen applicants against a national college-admission database and a locally created database of UNC students who have been suspended or expelled. The university system also hopes to team up with community college and public-school officials to broaden its ability to track students with criminal backgrounds.
Such screening could help catch students who lie on their applications about prior school attendance to cover up disciplinary or criminal problems.
Admissions officials said they also would start giving closer scrutiny to students who have a gap between finishing high school and applying for college.
Background checks would be conducted through a private service, unless the General Assembly makes state resources available, said Leslie Winner, the general counsel of the university system.
Winner said that even if an applicant has a criminal background it does not necessarily mean that their application will be rejected.
In most cases, an applicant would be given an opportunity to explain and a threat assessment might be conducted.
"If somebody has a string of rapes, we would not admit them in the unlikely event they're out of prison," Winner said, adding that armed robbery also would raise se-rious concerns.
George Dixon, a retired admissions director at N.C. State University and a consultant to Broad, said he didn't think that more than a handful of students would raise flags and require closer scrutiny.
"We can't be sure that no one will ever slip through," said Stephen Farmer, an admissions director at UNC Chapel Hill.
"That's not an achievable goal."
Suspects In NCSU Tailgate Shootings To Face Death Penalty
Dec. 14, 2004
WRAL
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for two brothers accused of killing two friends at an tailgating party near a North Carolina State football game.
Tony and Timothy Johnson each face two counts of first-degree murder.
Investigators say they shot and killed Brett Harman and Kevin McCann in September outside a football game.
Both men will be tried separately. Timothy Johnson's trial is scheduled to start first.
Tropical Storms Didn’t Rain on N.C. Christmas Tree Industry’s Parade
Dec. 15, 2004
Lincoln Tribune
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
Raleigh - It may take a few years to determine what impact this year’s tropical storms will have on North Carolina’s Christmas tree industry, but those storms did little to damage this year’s crop.
“With the exception of a few growers in the western part of the state, the storms had no direct impact on this year’s harvest,” says Jeff Owen, area extension forestry specialist at North Carolina State University’s Mountain Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Fletcher, N.C. “However, many growers incurred extra costs in repairing roads washed out by the storms.”
Hurricanes Frances, Ivan and Jeanne brought strong winds and heavy rains to western North Carolina in September, resulting in massive flooding throughout the region. A small percentage of trees in this year’s crop could not be harvested because of the floods. In some low-lying fields, flooding was so severe that 6- to 7-foot tall trees were completely under water at the high point of the flood, Owen said.
“The mature trees affected by flooding numbered a few thousand, not tens of thousands,” Owen said. “That’s a pretty small percentage when you’re talking about a 6 million tree harvest.”
Most older, mature trees were left unscathed, but the wind and water washed away seedlings and nursery beds at some sites. The additional wet weather may have also left younger trees susceptible to root disease.
“Sometimes hurricanes provide a positive source of moisture in the fall because often we experience droughty conditions,” Owen said. “This year we had rain from the storms on top of adequate rainfall. Smaller trees are more susceptible to root disease problems, and heavy rains could be a contributing factor for root disease. But that could take several months to show up. The long-term effect on future crops may not be known for a couple of years.”
According to the North Carolina Christmas Tree Association (NCCTA), North Carolina ranks second nationally in the number of trees harvested and first in the number of dollars made per tree. And despite other statistics that point to a recent trend of more households using artificial trees or no tree at all, sales of real, North Carolina-grown trees continue to be strong - particularly for the ever popular Fraser fir, which represents more than 90 percent of all species grown in the state, according to the NCCTA.
“Demand for the Fraser fir has outpaced supply,” Owen says. “It’s been a seller’s market. Even when the market share available to real tree producers has shrunk nationwide, demand for the North Carolina Fraser fir has been strong.
“North Carolina Christmas tree growers have sold out of Fraser fir each season for the last several years. We like to think that this strong market reflects both the high quality of Fraser fir and the efforts of the NCCTA to promote the North Carolina Fraser fir.”
Consumers could expect to pay anywhere from $6 to $10 per foot for a tree this year, Owen said. Those figures would put the cost of a 6- or 7-foot tree between $35 and $70, or about the same price as last year.
Owen and other extension agents recently canvassed different parts of the state and nation to examine this year’s crop of trees. Owen rated the overall quality of this year’s crop as “excellent” and said retailers are taking positive steps to keep trees fresh for consumers.
Owen estimates that between 5 and 6 million trees have been harvested in North Carolina this year at an estimated value of more than $100 million.
Dec. 15, 2004
News & Observer
By JANE STANCILL
© Copyright 2004
CHAPEL HILL -- UNC campuses will take new steps to verify applicants' background information -- including limited criminal history checks -- in the wake of two killings of UNC-Wilmington students this year.
The procedures were announced Tuesday by UNC President Molly Broad, her senior staff and members of a task force that spent six months reviewing safety at North Carolina's 16 public universities.
The group was formed after two female students were slain at UNCW in May and June. The suspects were fellow students who had lied about their troubled pasts on their applications.
"We are committed to doing everything that is feasible, that is reasonable, in order to provide a safe environment on each and every campus of this university," Broad said.
Very few universities in the United States investigate applicants' past criminal behavior. Such background checks in the UNC system are expected to be rare, officials say, with perhaps a handful each year across the system. They will be done only when a student's application prompts questions.
But all applicants will be subject to greater scrutiny beginning as soon as next fall.
They will be asked directly about past criminal behavior. And their names will be put through databases to verify their school history and uncover disciplinary records.
High school guidance counselors will be asked to complete a checklist on a student's behavior.
College admissions officers will be trained to spot potential problems, or gaps, in a student's record. If a red flag is raised, a criminal background check would be triggered. A private agency would do the records search, and the student would be notified.
The new procedures aim to screen for applicants who may pose a threat to fellow students.
"I don't think we can be absolutely sure that no one will ever slip through," said Steve Farmer, admissions director at UNC-Chapel Hill and a member of the task force. "I don't think that's an achievable goal."
He said the steps will force admissions staff to slow down and give a critical eye to all aspects of an applicant's past.
Screening process
A student would not automatically be disqualified for having a criminal record. Admissions decisions would be made case by case, depending on several factors, including the severity and circumstances of a student's offenses. Some applicants, Broad said, deserve a second chance.
Farmer said the admissions offices will have to make tough judgment calls in some cases.
"We want to promote a safe environment, and we also want to promote access," he said. "We have a lot of challenges to balance."
Statistics show that students are relatively safe on public campuses, where the crime rate is only one-sixth of the statewide rate, said Bobby Kanoy, UNC senior associate vice president and chairman of the task force.
The panel looked at three years of data from 2001 to 2004, when 250,000 students were enrolled and 1,086 campus crimes were reported. The most prevalent crime was simple or aggravated assault. During the period, 58 percent of crimes occurred in dorms or other campus buildings, and students were identified as suspects in about half of all cases.
Among serious crimes committed on UNC property, 250 students were identified as suspects. (Simple assault was not considered a serious crime). Of the 250 student suspects, only 21 had a prior criminal history and only 13 had lied about it on their applications, records showed.
Kanoy said the new procedures probably would have alerted campus officials to trouble in at least one of the Wilmington cases.
Violent ends
Neither of those cases will go to trial because both suspects committed suicide.
Curtis Dixon, 21, died in prison last week after he broke away from corrections officers and dove headfirst off a staircase. The former UNCW student had been awaiting trial on charges of murder, rape and kidnapping in the death of Jessica Faulkner of Cary, who was killed in her dorm May 5. Dixon had a misdemeanor larceny conviction and a checkered school history in Charlotte schools and at other UNC system campuses.
In the other case, Christen Naujoks was shot to death June 4 outside her apartment off campus after she had reported a former boyfriend for stalking her on campus. The suspect, John Peck, had lied to UNCW officials about a sexual assault conviction on a former girlfriend. He eventually shot himself during a chase with police in Western North Carolina.
The deaths stunned the campus and prompted parents and others to call for tighter background checks on UNC system applicants.
Besides the new admissions procedures, UNC campuses also must appoint safety committees and conduct threat assessments and annual safety surveys. Faculty will be instructed on how to recognize potentially dangerous behavior among their students.
Students with pending disciplinary charges will not be allowed to withdraw from school until the judicial process is done.
Broad said it is unclear how much the new procedures will cost.
SAFETY STEPS
New procedures from the UNC Task Force on the Safety of the Campus Community:
* Standardize all UNC system applications to include questions about students' past behavior.
* Verify applicants' previous school attendance and disciplinary records. Conduct criminal background checks if necessary case by case.
* Train campus staff to identify applicants who may pose a safety threat.
* Maintain a safety committee on each campus.
* Conduct threat assessments, annual safety surveys and safety inventories that would identify practices and procedures on each campus.
* Educate faculty on student behavior that indicates potential danger.
* Complete all pending disciplinary proceedings against a student before allowing that student to withdraw from school.
Editorial: A leadership sighting
Dec. 15, 2004
News & Observer
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
A college education is a bargain in North Carolina because of leaders who wrote the concept into the state constitution. To preserve this guarantee for growing numbers of people, leaders are still needed today. So it's heartening to see Brad Wilson, chairman of the UNC Board of Governors, jump out in front of the tuition debate.
Wilson has called on board members, when they meet next month, to reject tuition increases at the 16 state campuses.
He's not saying the university system can singlehandedly absorb the cost of enrollment increases while maintaining high standards of quality. He rightly proposes working with the state legislature toward a realistic budget of public funds to meet the system's needs and help it remain a good value.
That's only fair. Every Tar Heel benefits from North Carolina's universities, not just the current crop of students. University research solves problems and creates economic opportunity in the process. Companies such as SAS Institute, which grew out of N.C. State University, provide employment and pay taxes that improve the quality of life here for everyone.
When state tax revenue slumped along with the national economy, North Carolina called on university students to carry a heavier financial burden. Since 2000, tuition and fees have risen more than 70 percent at UNC-Chapel Hill, 65 percent at NCSU and almost 50 percent at N.C. Central. The annual "financial arms race," as Wilson calls it, has broken for many students the constitution's promise of a college education as close to free of expense as is practicable.
Granted, state spending on financial aid for the poor has likewise risen. That hasn't helped students who come from middle-class families earning just enough to disqualify them for financial aid. Despite working long hours, more such students are graduating with onerous debts.
That's discouraging people from trying to go to college at a time when North Carolina depends on its workers to attract competitive businesses. Let's hope Wilson can begin to reverse these harmful trends. It's in the public interest to make higher education accessible to the broadest possible cross-section of the Tar Heel population, just as the constitution intended.
Dec. 15, 2004
News & Observer
By RICK MARTINEZ
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH -- Before Donald Trump hires his next "apprentice" tomorrow night I suggest he give the finalists one more task.
The showdown should occur in downtown Raleigh, at the corner of Blount and Hargett streets, where The Donald would hand out an assignment that for five years has confounded the best business and political minds in the Triangle. Kelly and Jenn's make-it-or-break it project would be to transform Exploris into a viable enterprise.
That challenge was recently accepted by a group of N.C. State University seniors for a communications class project. If only the Wake County Board of Commissioners were as sharp as Shalonda Arnold, Holly Bard, Kristie Chipman, Kelly Hobbs and Rob Lamarche. They get it. To a person, they're convinced a downtown Raleigh museum that focuses on cultures of the world is a winner, but they're just as adamant that Exploris, as is, is a loser.
The Wake board still believes in the Exploris fantasy. So much so that last month the commissioners torpedoed their own credibility by voting (4 to 3) to fully fund the museum to the tune of another $1.35 million.
Back in September, they had done a lot of huffing and puffing about funding the museum via installments tied to performance and accountability goals. For a fleeting moment it appeared the commissioners understood that instead of providing Wake County a unique window to the world, Exploris has become a financial pit for taxpayers that's teetering on the financial brink.
But last month, Exploris board Chairman Bill Johnson was able to secure the full year's funding. He told commissioners that the museum needed help meeting its expenses before January's scheduled installment. In other words, the joint seems broke. I doubt that was news to the commissioners. If the Wake board had delayed even partial funding in September, Exploris might have missed payroll.
So Exploris is probably in a bigger financial mess than we've been led to believe. I fully expect the museum staff to be back in a few months begging for more money and time. And I expect them to get it. They always do.
If the commissioners sat down with the Wolfpack apprentices, they would learn that Wake County is no longer funding a museum; it's subsidizing an upscale movie house. The students told me that Exploris is better known as a place to catch an IMAX film than as a place to learn about China.
Speaking of which, the numbers from Exploris' "China On Tour" exhibit certainly had to hurt. President Anne Bryan touted the traveling exhibit as the linchpin of an Exploris turnaround. But only around 35,000 visitors showed up, about half of expectations. Staff blamed the turnout on limited marketing funds and a short lead-time.
Exploris' problems are bigger than that. One of the most revealing details of the Wolfpack apprentices' work was that 75 percent of the 200 people they surveyed knew about Exploris, but had trouble describing it. That didn't surprise the team, because Exploris' mission is so esoteric that it fails to communicate its purpose.
In contrast, there's no confusion about what a patron will experience at the North Carolina museums of history, art and natural sciences. The point applies to museum staff as well. Folks hired at a history museum know they'll be working on historical subjects. What expertise do you need to work in a venture dedicated to connecting the people of the world?
More than $40 million of public funds and five years of operation have proven the current concept is creatively bankrupt and, I suspect, so are its finances. Asking for state funds, which is a major goal of the new Exploris board, isn't the answer. A state bailout would only prolong the financial hemorrhaging.
Exploris has been given every chance to succeed. It's been the recipient of a world-class facility, bountiful public funds, overwhelming corporate support and more than enough time to prove its viability. It's also unfair to burden the museum's board and staff with the task of continuing to try to make such an incomprehensible concept marketable. The Wake commissioners need to confront reality and turn out the lights at Exploris. Then start over and create a world culture museum that's not burdened with Exploris' ambiguities. Not even Trump and an army of apprentices can make this dog hunt.
Dec. 15, 2004
News & Observer
By T. KEUNG HUI
© Copyright 2004
The winners of the 2004-05 Todd Fuller Math Competition at N.C. State for Wake County high schools were honored by the school board last week.
Andy Tan of Enloe High in Raleigh took the first place individual award.
Jeremy Diepenbrock of Enloe finished second, and Meredith Newmark of Raleigh Charter High finished third. There was a tie for fourth place between Eric Shiue of Leesville Road High in North Raleigh and Gavin Bruss of Apex High.
First place in the team category went to Leesville Road High. The members are Jon Buttaci, Brittany Johnson, Ryan Miller, Angie Sharer, Eric Shiue, T.J. Burnell and Katie Mason.
Dec. 15, 2004
News & Observer
By BONNIE ROCHMAN
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH -- It's a rare man who can claim truthfully to have played football for both Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill, but Thomas Barker Dameron Jr. was of that ilk.
Dameron, an orthopedic surgeon and one of the founders of Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic, died Saturday at the age of 80.
He loved medicine and how it allowed him to help others. He loved church and the structure it gave to his life. And he loved Carolina more than Duke, said his longtime friend, Casper Holroyd.
Dameron, whose nickname was "Huggy Bear," attended UNC-CH as an undergraduate and played football there. World War II was blazing when he began studying to be a doctor at Duke University. The football team was struggling as players left in the middle of the season, and Holroyd, a team manager, was forced to recruit others to fill in.
He found Dameron.
"I always accused him of being a traitor," said Holroyd, 77, an insurance broker from Raleigh. "He knew the Carolina plays because he was on the Carolina team the year before."
Holroyd and Dameron remained close. They both joined Hayes Barton United Methodist Church, and Holroyd taught all five of Dameron's children in Sunday School. Dameron operated on Holroyd's daughter's ankle.
In the mid-1950s, Dameron established Raleigh Orthopaedic Clinic along with two other physicians. He practiced there for 40 years before retiring. But Dameron continued to go into the office until about a year ago, said W. Jason McDaniel, a doctor at the clinic who trained with Dameron. He had his favorite patients he refused to give up.
The clinic closed Tuesday for five hours during Dameron's funeral.
Dameron taught surgery at Duke and UNC-CH in the 1950s and 1960s. He was an adjunct associate professor of poultry science at N.C. State University, too.
His daughter, Nancy Almquist, recalled research-related chickens meandering through her childhood back yard. Apparently, some chicken bones resemble those of humans. Dameron specialized in wrist fractures, Almquist said, and the bone structure of chickens lent itself to his orthopedics research.
Dameron was president of the Southern Medical Association, the N.C. Medical Society, the state Orthopaedic Association, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the American Board of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
He was named physician of the year by the American Medical Association and Rex Healthcare.
In the mid-1960s, Dameron packed up his family and went to southern Ethiopia and Tunisia as a medical missionary. He visited remote villages, where he'd ply his orthopedics trade but also birth babies and do eye surgery, Almquist said.
Despite his honors, Dameron was plain old "Huggy Bear" to his friends and relatives. "He'd hug everyone," Almquist said.
In his practice, Dameron would accept eggs from a patient's farm as payment. "Or he'd say, 'Pay when you can, because your son needs to be able to walk,' " Almquist said.
Dameron and his wife of 55 years, Nancy Jane Henry Dameron, met at Duke during a bridge game. Family lore holds that Dameron gazed at her and announced, out loud, "That's the girl I'm going to marry."
Almquist said her father "was kissing" Nancy Jane until the day he died. She said the family is not certain what caused Dameron's death. "He just gradually stopped being alert," she said. "We don't know what happened. Mother wants it to stay that way."
Dec. 15, 2004
News & Observer
By Lorenzo Perez
© Copyright 2004
After fielding complaints about N.C. State fans' creative liberties with "The Star Spangled Banner," school officials have asked student groups to encourage a more faithful singing of the national anthem's lyrics.
In recent years, pregame performances of the anthem at State sporting events have prompted Wolfpack fans to scream, "Red!" in sync with the line "And the rockets' red glare," as a tribute to their favorite team's color. And when the guest singer brings it home with the line "and the home of the brave," those same fans substitute "Wolfpack" for "brave."
The practice raised few, if any, publicized complaints until State's sparsely attended football finale against East Carolina in Charlotte. After the Wolfpack's Nov. 27 win, however, Chancellor James Oblinger's office received 10 e-mail complaints about State fans chiming in during the performance of the anthem.
"When you get that many at one time, it makes you pay attention," said Tom Stafford, State's vice chancellor for student affairs.
And not all of the complaints came from East Carolina fans sore about the Pirates' 52-14 loss. Some State fans also had a problem with the commingling of school pride and national pride, Stafford said.
For many Wolfpack fans, the improvised lines have evolved into a tradition, similar to Baltimore Orioles fans shouting "O's!" near the end of the anthem at, "O say, does that star spangled banner yet wave," or Atlanta Braves fans shouting "Braves," instead of "Wolfpack," at the end.
In ACC country, Duke students also shout out the "O" in "O say." At Virginia, where the Cavaliers are also known as the "Wahoos," fans have turned "Whose broad stripes and bright stars" into "HOOS! broad stripes and bright stars."
But many others view the practice as disrespectful, Stafford said, and his office has asked State's band leaders and student government leaders in recent weeks to discontinue the practice at home basketball games. State's athletics department and the Wolfpack Club, the school's athletics booster organization, have passed similar messages along to the Student Wolfpack Club.
At recent women's basketball games, the formal groups contacted by university officials have respected the request. Students are not the only ones who have adopted the tradition, however, and it may be difficult to get the rest of the fan base to discontinue the practice.
With State scheduled to play Louisiana-Lafayette tonight, Student Wolfpack Club vice-president Brandon Pearson offered the following solution: Give the pregame microphone to coach Herb Sendek.
"The only way it will stop is if Herb comes out before the anthem and tells us not to do anything," he said.
Dec. 15, 2004
News & Observer
By ROBBI PICKERAL AND LUCIANA CHAVEZ
© Copyright 2004
Atlantic Coast Conference administrators did not reach a consensus Tuesday about whether to experiment with instant replay during the 2005 football season, N.C. State athletics director Lee Fowler said Tuesday.
"It was kind of a mixed bag of opinions from the ADs," Fowler said.
So they decided to further discuss the issue during their winter meetings Feb. 9-12 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. There, ACC commissioner John Swofford will present information about how the experiment worked in the Big Ten this season and how much it would cost.
The Big Ten used it in 57 games. A technical adviser in the press box was the only person with the authority to review a play. This season, play was stopped 44 times, and 21 calls were overturned.
In the NFL, a coach can request a review by throwing a flag. If the call stands, his team loses a timeout.
Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer, a member of the NCAA football rules committee, said that if the ACC and Big Ten put their weight behind instant replay, it might be adopted on a widespread basis nationwide.
"When you have a major conference that takes it upon itself to be a leader, I would say [instant replay] is on its way to becoming part of the way we do things," Beamer said.
The ACC was not in a hurry to come to a consensus Tuesday, Fowler said, because before the league can try instant replay, the NCAA football rules committee must decide whether to approve another trial run. The rules committee will meet next Feb. 6-9 in Fort Myers, Fla.
There, Beamer said he wants to hear Michigan coach Lloyd Carr's opinion about the Big Ten's 57-game experiment; Carr is also on the rules committee.
"He will be able to fill in what's good, what's bad and what works with instant replay," Beamer said. "But I think everyone is for anything that helps get the game right and takes human error out of the outcome of the game."
Wingate University President Jerry McGee, who has moonlighted as a college football official for 32 years, supports instant replay. Over an 11-game schedule, McGee estimated, he sees more than 1,700 plays, and every year, three or four stand out as the most controversial because replays showed different results.
Instant replay, he said, "would have helped" the game officials avoid those controversies.
For instant replay to become permanent policy -- and not just a year-to-year experiment -- it would have to be approved by the NCAA board of directors.
Beamer said the football rules committee, which governs all NCAA divisions, also would need time to determine whether instant replay would be realistic for all divisions, considering the costs.
"The major conferences are in a better position to do it," Beamer said. "The major questions to ask the Big Ten are: Can it work? What did you do to make it work? How can it work better? And No. 2: Will instant replay be just for major conferences, for Division I-A or Division I-A and Division I-AA? How exactly will we separate it?"
ACC athletics directors have plenty of questions, too. Fowler, for instance, said he supports replay because "the more calls we can get right, the better, as long as it's not a big budgetary situation. But that's just my opinion. There was in no way a consensus. I think everyone wants more information."
UNC leader urges tuition freeze
Dec. 15, 2004
AP; News 14 Carolina; WCNC; Winston-Salem Journal; WTVD; Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC; WVEC, VA; USA Today
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- The head of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors wants his colleagues to freeze tuition next year because he believes the state has enough money to provide a good education.
"It is my judgment that the board should not raise tuition this year and I would urge you to vote against doing so," Chairman Brad Wilson wrote in a memo distributed Monday to board members, the chancellors of the 16 state university campuses and to UNC system President Molly Broad.
Fifteen of the state's 16 public universities increased tuition last year and leaders of many campuses are expected to ask for hikes again this year to pay for faculty salaries, technological improvements, libraries and other priorities.
Tuition has soared at the state's public campuses in the past five years. Last year, tuition and fees climbed despite heavy student protest. In-state increases ranged from 7 percent at NCSU to 17 percent at the N.C. School of the Arts. Increases in out-of-state tuition ranged from 2 percent at NCSU to 10 percent at UNC-Chapel Hill.
North Carolina should take a breather from higher education's "financial arms race," Wilson said Monday.
"The tuition increases approved last year have gone a long way to slow the erosion the university is and was experiencing," he said. "We ought to skip a year and hold the line, work with the General Assembly to pass as strong a budget as the state can afford, and see where we are going into 2006."
Under state law, schools can ask for tuition increases even if members of the Board of Governors have indicated they will turn down the request.
Even if the board approves a tuition freeze, there's no assurance costs won't go up. The state Legislature, which can override the board's recommendation, raised rates 5 percent in 2002 after the board asked for a moratorium on increases.
Campus officials, who already started planning for increases, say they need an increase again this year.
"The trustees of the individual campuses know a whole lot more about their needs than the Board of Governors," said Richard Vaughn of the North Carolina State University trustees, who recommended a $300 tuition jump for all students in each of the next two years. "They can sit over there and make any decision they want to. We happen to believe it's appropriate for our tuition to be increased."
Matt Calabria, UNC Chapel Hill's student body president, said Monday students will line up to support a tuition freeze.
"Among students, there is a presumption against tuition increases," he said.
Along with the tuition freeze, Wilson, the board chairman, wants his board to explore a new approach to tuition that would give incoming freshmen a set tuition rate for four years, as some other states do.
"It locks in certainty for a four-year financial plan for the student and the family," Wilson said. "It's a concept worth considering."
Dec. 15, 2004
Library Journal
By Carol Tenopir
© Copyright 2004
"I have absolutely no regrets about enhancing our reference services through chat." "It's been a smooth and successful expansion of our existing reference service." "It's so successful we've moved from being a pilot project to an ongoing service." These are the positive voices of virtual reference, the librarians who feel chat reference is now an integral part of their library. After giving time in my column last month to negative views ("Rethinking Virtual Reference," LJ 11/1/04, p. 34), this month I've asked librarians in notable virtual reference services to tell their stories.
Finding a niche
In the successful implementations, virtual reference finds its place in the
entire suite of reference services. It isn't the only service, sometimes
not even the busiest one, but it fills an important, unique niche. Often
that niche is built on the capabilities of virtual reference that go beyond
chat or what you can do via email or telephone.
Josh Boyer, assistant head, distance learning services at North Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, admits there are many questions he'd rather answer on the phone, in person, or by email. But some questions "are perfect for virtual reference—the ones where you have to show a patron a procedure—how to log in, where to find that database, etc. If a patron asks, 'Do you have books on stained glass?', I can demonstrate searching and put a list of books from our catalog right onto her screen. Moments like that make me want to say, 'Ta da!'…has anyone ever had a 'ta da!' moment in email?"
Cobrowsing is another robust feature that makes virtual reference unique. Boyer employs it to see how users search and to troubleshoot their strategies.
At the University of California– Irvine (UC-I), some librarians show patrons how to approach a search, others talk them through the process so the patron clicks and browses. In both instances, the reference interview is just as important as it is in traditional reference, says Heather Tunender, electronic reference services librarian.
Remote users
Reaching remote users is an important niche. The AskNow! service at the National
Library of Australia serves a wide range of users spread over the continent
(and beyond). In only two years the service has answered over 71,000 questions
and continues to grow. Although the highest proportion of users are under
16 (29 percent) and from metropolitan areas of Australia (70 percent), AskNow!
hopes to attract more rural and remote users, according to Carmel McInerny,
AskNow! service manager.
NCSU's Linda Saunders, head, research and information services, says they are able to "answer thousands of questions from patrons we might not otherwise encounter. Many undergraduates don't like coming to the library on weekends and at night. They can still get immediate, one-on-one attention through virtual reference…. They don't have to stand in front of someone and ask what they may perceive as a 'stupid question.'"
Chat users are not always remote, many students at the University of Tennessee (UT) and UC-I access the service from inside the library. No one wants to give up their computer, but anonymity is probably the most important factor. Students intimidated by the reference desk may appreciate asking a question anonymously. UC-I is culturally diverse, and "patrons may choose chat reference instead of approaching a desk where they might have more difficulty expressing themselves verbally. For them, typing a question may be easier than finding the right words and grammar in English," said Tunender.
Round-the-clock access is not necessarily a part of successful chat reference. According to Rita Smith, head, reference and instructional services, UT, "The 24/7 thing was way oversold. Reference services staff should feel that they can develop a very successful virtual reference service without having it monitored locally or remotely for 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Just another part of reference
At UT and UC-I every reference librarian has chat and email reference shifts
in addition to physical reference desk duties. At UT it was always "just
another facet of our general reference desk service rather than something
special and different. It has been very much a team approach, and we now
consider ourselves 'old pros,'" said Smith. Successful virtual reference
services provide "what our users would come to expect: a way to link
to us wherever they might be."
Smith believes "strongly in offering what has become known as a hybrid of services that includes face-to-face, telephone, and computer-mediated communication. It is possible to balance it all if you encourage a positive attitude among librarians and staff and if you are creative."
Use of chat may be slow at first but will likely grow every year. Good virtual reference does not replace other reference services. Rather, it is an important part of the full-service modern library.
Fake Christmas-Tree Sales Rise as Convenience Trumps Tradition
Dec. 15, 2004
Bloomberg
By Christopher Donville
© Copyright 2004
Dec. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Apryl Belland-Smith, an Oakland, California, police department clerk, said she tried to reduce the stress of the holiday season with a 4 1/2-foot artificial Christmas tree.
"It's strictly for the convenience," Belland-Smith, 40, said as she bought the tree, including built-in lights, last week at a Sears, Roebuck & Co. store. At $43.97, the tree made by Santa's Best Craft Ltd. of Northfield, Illinois, cost the same as a real one, without the hassle, she said.
Belland-Smith isn't alone. The National Christmas Tree Association said U.S. sales of fake trees rose 30 percent last year to 9.6 million, led by manufacturers such as Carlyle Group's Boto International Holdings. Natural-tree sales, still 70 percent of the market, have fallen 37 percent since 1995.
The slowdown in retail tree sales valued at almost $1 billion in North America threatens 100,000 jobs in the U.S. and income for more than 20,000 family farms from British Columbia to Maine and Oregon, the St. Louis-based tree association said.
"People aren't just scared by the magnitude of the drop in sales, but by the speed of that decline," said John Frampton, a North Carolina State University tree geneticist who knows many of the state's growers.
The decline in natural-tree sales reflects in part changing lifestyles and regulations in North America that bar live trees from some offices and apartment buildings because of concerns the pines or firs may pose a fire hazard, Frampton said.
"Convenience and the look are the No. 1 consumer factors," said Vivian Kao, 32, chief executive officer of Hong Kong-based Boto, the world's largest maker of artificial trees. The company hopes to someday develop a tree that sets up with the push of a button, she said.
Shipments to Retailers
Boto, which says it supplied almost half the fake trees bought last year, is boosting shipments to retailers such as Target Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. The company, three-quarters owned by Washington's Carlyle Group, is seeing growing demand for its "Staylit" plastic tree that comes with a 10-year warranty, Kao said in an interview.
Carlyle, an $18 billion buyout fund, got into the tree business in 2002 when it paid about $136 million for 75 percent of then-publicly traded Boto in a management buyout that riled some minority shareholders.
Boto, which designs custom trees for wholesale buyers such as Target, Wal-Mart, Costco Wholesale Corp., Sears Canada Inc. and Canadian Tire Corp., will ship more than 6 million artificial trees this year from factories in southern China, Kao said.
Hollywood Tie-up
Tree farmers are fighting back by helping to fund research at Washington State University and other U.S. schools that they hope will lead to methods to prevent needles from dropping off, enhance tree color and shorten the six to 10 years it takes to grow a natural tree.
U.S. growers are also pitching in 12 cents from every tree they sold a year ago to fund a $1 million marketing campaign linked to the Time Warner Inc. movie "The Polar Express," starring Tom Hanks, about a boy's belief in Christmas. Ticket stubs entitle filmgoers to $3 off a tree.
"We need to wake up and come into the 21st century," said Betty Malone, a co-owner of Sunrise Tree Farm near Corvallis, Oregon, who said the industry needs to do more to stem the popularity of fake trees. The "Polar Express" promotion "is a big effort because we see the problem," she said.
To reverse the slide, growers are trying to emphasize the environmental benefits of natural trees over fake ones, which will last forever at the local garbage dump, Malone said.
Too Lazy
Fake trees are "pre-lit by cheap labor in China that's putting lights on the tree for people too lazy to do it themselves," said Hal Gimlin, 58, who operates Omni Farm Inc. near West Jefferson, North Carolina, with his son Wiley, 33.
The tree association goes so far as to urge children visiting its Web site to play "Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees," an Internet game in which the villains deliver fake trees that have "mutated and are sucking the spirit" out of Christmas.
"This isn't about morality," said Austin Kirk, a founder of EZ-Tree.com, whose Williamsburg, Virginia-based Internet business of designing and importing fake trees and other products from China is growing so rapidly that he's moving to Shanghai with his family. "Christmas isn't about the kind of tree you display or where it comes from."
Some industry observers say makers of fake trees have done a better job of giving customers what they want.
Better Trees
"They're making much better artificial trees now," Bob Jacobson, senior director of live goods at Atlanta-based Home Depot Inc., the largest retailer of natural trees. "The artificial business is definitely increasing."
Since 2002, Carlyle has expanded closely held Boto's market research in North America, imposed stricter financial controls and beefed up forecasting, said Kao, who is the daughter of Boto co-founder Kao Cheung Chong.
Carlyle holds four of seven seats on the board, though it has left control of Boto's Shenzhen, China-based tree-making "to us because they believe we're the experts on manufacturing," Kao said.
Janine Feng, a Hong Kong-based Carlyle director responsible for Boto, didn't return messages seeking comment.
Boto Chief Executive Kao says research shows consumers want natural-looking "bluish-green" trees with lots of "in-and- out," or irregular branches. Boto's sales are more than $150 million a year, she said.
Roadside Sales
Tougher times aren't confined to tree growers. Roadside tree sellers, including the Monroe Association for Retarded Citizens, a Key West, Florida, non-profit group that sells holiday trees to raise operating funds, are feeling the pinch of increased competition.
Since 2000, the percentage of natural trees sold from retail lots in the U.S. has slumped by more than half to 13 percent while the chain stores' percentage rose to 21 percent from 14 percent, the Christmas Tree Association said.
In Key West, sales last year from the Monroe association's lot behind the Harris School on Southard Street fell 15 percent after a Home Depot opened a mile away, said Diana Flenard, Monroe's executive director.
"What kind of bothers me is a Christmas tree, and all that it entails, used to be a kind of entertainment that brought the family together," said Gimlin, the North Carolina grower. "We seem to be struggling with our values."
Napster continues to build its reach into universities
Dec. 15, 2004
Internet Retailer
By staff report
© Copyright 2004
To build on its metamorphosis from a renegade file-sharing service to a legitimate seller of digital music, Napster continues to build its legal presence in the college community—the hotbed of illegal file-sharing.
Napster, a division of Roxio Inc., has added four universities—Eastern Michigan University, the University of North Carolina, North Carolina State University, and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville—to a program that offers Napster’s digital music subscription service to enrolled students at a discount from its usual $9.95 monthly subscription price.
Napster now offers the discount program to a total of 13 universities. The participating universities work with the Campus Action Network, a group headed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment and other recording companies, to foster the use of legitimate digital music services on college campuses.
"It is extremely rewarding to have the academic community share our dedication to providing a safe and fun means of discovering music," said Napster chairman and CEO Chris Gorog.