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(10/29/07 4:00am)
Chapel Hill got an unexpected taste of presidential campaign hardball last week when John Edwards' presidential campaign demanded that a UNC broadcast journalism graduate student remove her story about the candidate's headquarters from YouTube.
(10/15/07 4:00am)
North Carolina's troubled mental health care system received another bruise last week in the form of a state audit that pointed to "a serious systemic problem with mental health reform."
The audit highlighted inefficiencies at Albemarle Mental Health Center - including drastically overpaying officials and charging for services available elsewhere for little or no cost - and brought the state to task for its lack of oversight.
John Tote, executive director of the Mental Health Association in North Carolina, said the audit's importance lies in its assessment of ongoing reform efforts and the mental health care system as a whole.
"The state's reform has not done what it's supposed to. At best we're in an awkward position," he said.
Tote attributed the problems to a lack of initial funding when reform began in 2001, a glut of new policies and the absence of a mental health trust fund designed to help providers cover start-up costs.
Albemarle Mental Health is one of the state's Local Management Entities, state-run local agencies responsible for offering mental health care service and developing and overseeing providers.
The state changed the mental health system beginning in 2001 by shifting toward privatization of local community providers and moving LMEs into oversight and management roles.
The changes put many added responsibilities that LMEs used to handle on the backs of local providers. These added duties have caused financial problems for some local providers, as highlighted in a May audit detailing the business failures of New Vistas-Mountain Laurel, a local provider in western North Carolina that went out of business.
"It is obvious that North Carolina's mental health safety net has been shredded," State Auditor Leslie Merritt stated in the latest audit, concluding that the reform envisioned by the state has not been realized and needs to be re-addressed.
John Gilmore, director of the Schizophrenia Treatment and Evaluation Program at the UNC School of Medicine, agreed that privatization has not improved care like many anticipated.
"It has a lot of problems and has resulted in a fragmented system with no safety net for patients."
Albemarle Mental Health pointed to glitches at the state level - including "constantly changing rules, regulations and funding of the system" - to explain some of the harshest evaluations delivered in the audit.
And Tote added that Gov. Mike Easley has yet to be a strong advocate of reform: "Ultimately that's where the buck stops."
The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services' Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services is charged with overseeing LMEs and mental health providers. It is working to clarify the statutes that determine its authority over groups that offer or supervise mental health care throughout the state.
The division also is recruiting to fill seven positions aimed at monitoring LMEs' performance and finances.
Meanwhile the scope of Albemarle Mental Health's state-provided responsibilities is set to expand. According to mental health legislation enacted since the reform beginning in 2001, the area of authority for LMEs has to include a minimum population of 200,000 or a minimum of six counties.
North Carolina's Tideland LME fails to meet those guidelines and is set to merge with Albemarle Mental Health by July 1, adding four more counties to the center's realm of responsibility.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(09/24/07 4:00am)
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina has a new hurdle to overcome in its decades-long fight for federal recognition: intertribal feuding with the Tuscarora Nation of Indians.
Katherine Magnotta, traditional council chairwoman of the Tuscarora, attended a Senate hearing last week that addressed the possibility of federal recognition for the Lumbees, but she was not allowed to testify.
(09/18/07 4:00am)
Minorities and low-income employees of Duke University take advantage of prescription and mental health benefits at a much lower rate than whites and high-income employees, according to a study released last week by Duke law professor Barak Richman.
Despite having the same health care plan and co-payments, whites sought nearly four times the annual health care benefits of blacks and more than three times those of Asians.
Treatment also was sought more frequently by employees with higher incomes.
In effect, Richman said, the disparity creates a wealth transfer from low-income to high-income individuals as benefits are distributed unevenly.
The study, which examined insurance claims from 20,000 Duke employees from 2001 to 2004, attempted to replicate statewide demographics.
Whites constituted 68 percent of those surveyed, while blacks represented 24 percent. Hispanic employees were omitted from the survey because their low numbers at Duke aren't representative of the state as a whole.
Richman said the typical barriers to health care access are much less of a problem at Duke because of the proximity to excellent health care facilities.
"There's a strong likelihood that the national trends are stronger," he said.
The study didn't address why these differences exist.
"This paper raises more questions than it answers," Richman said, pointing to co-payments and cultural differences as possible reasons.
He said he's seen other evidence suggesting that church-provided emotional care appeals more to black communities than navigating the structured health care system.
"Once people have certain patterns of care consumption, they don't deviate from year to year," he said.
Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said cultural factors contribute to a reluctance to seek treatment.
He said one example is that seeking mental health care is more heavily stigmatized within minority communities.
Duke medical professor Kevin Schulman emphasized the problem high co-payments present.
"You could easily imagine that people who make $30,000 may have to think twice about a co-payment, more than someone who makes $100,000," he said.
The study also could have implications for the national debate about universal health care.
"Policymakers should be aware of what the effects are when they issue mandates," Richman said.
And Schulman said the issue is more complex than typically presented by politicians and the media.
"You'll hear a lot about access to health care insurance, but you won't hear a lot about access to health care services," he said.
UNC has allocated funding for a study of employee health care benefits to be led by family medicine professor Don Pathman.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(08/28/07 4:00am)
College students are leaving money on the financial aid table in huge numbers, a report suggests, as more take on private loans and forgo less expensive federal options.
The August report, released by the American Council on Education, shows that one in five students who use private loans to help finance their education do so despite their eligibility for the cheaper and more flexible federal Stafford Loans.
A number of factors, including ignorance of options, motivate some students to forgo federal loans, said Jacqueline King, the study's author.
"Students may assume that there's no difference in price," she said. "They see the advertising that the private companies use, and they get confused."
King said the cumbersome Stafford Loan application process could be a reason some students go straight for the private option.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid forms the federal government uses to determine eligibility for financial aid are eight pages long and have 100 questions, some of which can be difficult for students to answer immediately.
Steven Brooks, executive director of the N.C. State Education Assistance Authority, said he sees another trend.
"The federal loan program doesn't offer enough money to students," he said. "Even at a place like UNC, $3,500 isn't much, so some students supplement with private."
The lack of federal funds necessitates applying for additional private loans for many students.
Some students, dreading the perceived complications of having to deal with forms for two different loans, skip even partial federal aid altogether. King said this move will cost them more in the long-run.
Brooks said UNC does well with getting students the best deal, adding that the state gives out extra loans to students who need more than the federal program offers.
Shirley Ort, UNC director for scholarships and student aid, said the number of UNC students on private loans is not as high as the national average for several reasons.
"We meet full need through grant aid, tuition is lower than private schools and lots of students come from affluent families," she said.
About one-third of UNC's more than 16,000 undergraduates are on federal financial aid, Ort said. Only 384 students had private loans for the 2005-06 school year.
Ort, who said a lot of lenders are "predatory," pointed to legislation proposed by U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat and contender for his party's presidential nomination, that would add oversight to the private loan industry and prohibit lenders from offering gifts to schools for preferential treatment of their services.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu
(04/27/07 4:00am)
In most states, $900 million in added sales revenue would be a controversy-free boon.
But when that revenue, the amount projected for the N.C. Education Lottery's first fiscal year, comes from one of the most controversial sources in recent state history, the voices that opposed its creation were bound to continue to articulate their disapproval.
The lottery, which started selling tickets March 30, 2006, has had a moderately successful financial start in its first full year, $731 million in revenue as of Tuesday, but failure to meet Gov. Mike Easley's projected $1.2 billion in sales for the fiscal year ending June 30 has left it open to myriad criticisms.
Though lottery officials say that unclaimed prize money and reserved operational funds will help make up the difference, the lower sales figures mean county officials will have to allocate money from other sources to programs the lottery was slated to fund. For example, in Orange County, the state projected $2.7 million from the lottery, but the area's two school systems will receive closer to $2 million. This shortfall won't affect the operating budget, but it will delay paying off debt that the Orange County Board of Education planned on using the money for.
"Orange County is looking for places to make up," said Stephanie Knott, public information officer for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City schools.
On top of budgeting concerns, lottery sales have again given rise to questions of social inequity.
"It's clear that opponents' predictions were correct," said John Hood, president of the John Locke Foundation, a free-market advocacy think tank that opposed passage of the lottery. The foundation based its belief on the fact that it is "state-sponsored gambling."
Its research indicates that one of the foundation's fears about the lottery might be a reality, he said.
"The counties with the highest per capita lottery sales appear to be poor communities in eastern North Carolina; the lowest come in the more affluent western counties."
But Alice Garland, an executive director for the lottery, said that it's too early to judge whether the state's lower classes are spending disproportionate amounts and suggested that the Locke Foundation's numbers were influenced by ideology.
"We want to see somebody study where the players live, not just where they buy," she said.
Garland said most of the lottery's winners of $100,000 or more have had jobs at the same place for years.
She said the lottery has had a successful first year, adding that North Carolina is the first state to start a lottery with every state on its borders already having an established lottery. Many state officials say they believe better payouts in bordering states have led some North Carolinians to travel across the state's borders in search of better odds and prizes.
"Our ability to sell more tickets hinges on flexibility with instant prize payouts," Garland said."
Easley has sought to give that flexibility by increasing payouts, while also cutting the percentage that goes to education, a move Easley is betting will increase the amount going to schools because of a projected increase in sales.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(04/11/07 4:00am)
DURHAM - U.S. Air Force Col. Martha McSally said many people told her that her career was finished.
After she successfully challenged a U.S. Department of Defense policy that required servicewomen, when traveling in Saudi Arabia, to wear the full-body cloak that some Muslim women traditionally wear, many thought she would be ostracized for her actions.
"I know there's a lot of people who don't agree with what I did, but I'm not in a popularity contest. I'm here to serve my country," she said, speaking to a lunchtime audience of about 65 people at the Duke University School of Law on Tuesday.
"I joked with one of my friends over Easter that I've been crucified and resurrected more times than Jesus Christ."
Nonetheless, McSally, the first woman in the Air Force to fly a combat aircraft into enemy territory, advanced in rank after the suit and now is a student at the elite Air War College.
She also became commander of the 354th fighter squadron in 2006.
McSally discussed the Department of Defense's risk rules, which keep women from the most dangerous positions, calling them "a very bureaucratic, administrative way of doing things."
"We need to unemotionally evaluate people and assign them to what they are capable of doing," she said.
"If a woman shows up and can complete the training to be an Army Ranger, why would you take the guy that couldn't complete the training as well?"
McSally spent a large portion of her lecture talking about the history of women's roles in the military.
Beginning with the Revolutionary War, female participation in the theater of war has changed over time, but women have contributed significantly throughout the course of U.S. history.
Up until World War II, women primarily served in complementary roles including cooks, nurses and spies.
About 400,000 American women served in uniform in WWII in supporting roles such as instructing pilots and flying aircraft to and from the battle zone.
"We struggle with what are the limits of culture and necessity," McSally said.
Women should continue to take on more of a role in military operations, McSally said, citing the military's lowered standards of acceptance for men as they try to fill their ranks during wartime.
"My personal opinion is that it is a fundamental obligation to defend the homeland," she said.
"If we get to the point where we use the draft again, people who are qualified should go."
Neylan Gurel, a staff assistant in the Duke School of Law dean's office, said she agreed with much of the content of McSally's speech.
"She's right on when she talks about the meeting of standards - that should be the criteria," she said.
"It's amazing to me how she's managed to do what she does without looking like a victim."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(03/21/07 4:00am)
Cooperation between two of the world's largest, most profitable oil companies and two of the West Coast's most prestigious universities has fomented controversy about the relationship between big oil and the schools.
In 2002, Exxon Mobil Corp., along with several other major corporations, made a commitment to give Stanford University a projected $225 million throughout the next decade to create the Global Climate and Energy Project.
According to the project's Web site, its goal is "to conduct fundamental research on technologies that will permit the development of global energy systems with significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions."
ExxonMobil spokesman Dave Gardner said that the company was the largest donor at $110 million, and that the project is the largest of its kind in the world.
The University of California-Berkeley is considering a similar $500 million research project with BP Amoco PLC, though final terms of the agreement have not been finalized, said John Simpson, a consumer advocate with the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights.
The group is opposing Berkeley's potential agreement and is organizing a "Stop Big Oil U" campaign.
Simpson said the controversy ignited earlier this month when The San Jose Mercury News reported that prominent movie producer Steve Bing was canceling a $2.5 million gift to Stanford because of Exxon Mobil advertising that said the company's Stanford project was evidence of its concern for the environment - something opponents contest is inauthentic.
Simpson calls what the companies are doing "greenwashing," a term that essentially means the projects are being used as a public relations tool to give the impression of company concern for environmental health.
"They are essentially buying the good name of the university," Simpson said.
"This is the same company that undermined scientists who showed evidence of global warming."
Simpson also expressed concern that the companies would have too much control in setting research agendas, access to research findings and potential use of public funds for Berkeley's project.
Gardner strongly disagreed that the company was disingenuous in its intentions.
"That's a silly accusation. I would say that's totally without merit and ignores the facts," he said.
"We are a scientifically based company. There are few that understand the science as we do."
Gardner also said that the company recognizes that Earth's temperature is rising and that humans contribute to increasing carbon dioxide emissions.
Though a number of geological science graduate students at UNC are hired by big oil companies after graduation, Larry Benninger, chairman of the geological sciences department at UNC, said oil companies have yet to inquire about funding research in the department
"It depends on what they wanted to do," he said. "Considering our research specialties, I don't think they'd approach us."
But Benninger said the department would consider an offer in the future if it matched department research specialties.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(02/28/07 5:00am)
The influence of third-party candidates such as Ralph Nader and Ross Perot largely has been limited to siphoning off enough votes from one major-party candidate to help the other win. A new ticket for the 2008 presidential election aims to change all that.
The group Unity08 will hold an online primary following the major parties' primaries in summer 2008 to draft a bipartisan presidential ticket.
The objective is to elect a ticket with representatives from different parties, either a combination of candidates from the two major parties or an independent candidate allied with a major party.
If the independent candidate were to win, he would name a member of the remaining party to a high-level cabinet position.
Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., has become the first potential candidate to express significant interest in working with Unity08. In an interview with USA Today, he said the idea was an intriguing enterprise.
Steven Greene, professor of political science at N.C. State University, said he is not impressed by the idea of a unity ticket. "It's a well-intentioned, hopeless gimmick."
Unity08 is the brainchild of a group of political veterans who were once part of the very party establishments they now are trying to defeat, along with political novices like UNC student Zach Clayton looking to take the country in a new direction.
Clayton, a senior economics major from Raleigh, is one of a small group of students who are closely involved with the campaign.
"I really saw the promise of the Internet to restore some depth to what passes for political debate these days," he said.
To vote, potential participants must register as a delegate on Unity08.com. Voters do not have to switch their party affiliation.
Shane Kinkennon, a retired biotech entrepreneur and spokesman for Unity08, said the focus on eliminating both the influence of special interests and dishonesty in politics drew him to the campaign.
He acknowledged that a Unity08 ticket's chances of reaching the White House aren't good.
"It depends on what mood I'm in," he said. "If I'm being hopeful, I would say yes. If I'm being realistic, I'd say no."
Greene said the organization's goal to fund itself solely through small-money donations of voting delegates is particularly problematic.
Kinkennon acknowledged that weakness. "It's a big sort of Achilles heel," he said.
Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, had significant success building his campaign coffers through small-money Internet donations in 2004.
Thad Beyle, UNC professor of political science, said it is not realistic for Unity08 to win but it could affect the campaign. "It could be that it affects one party's candidate more than the other."
Kinkennon and Greene were both skeptical that Unity08 would be able to get a major-party candidate to accept its nomination.
"If you do this, you lose support in your own party," Greene said.
But in a time of widespread voter dissatisfaction with incumbent politicians, Greene found some value in the goals pushed by Unity08. "It's naive, but in kind of a good way."
Clayton said he was not surprised by the statements made by the political scientists. "Frankly, when we started this, we were skeptical."
He pointed out that Unity08 has had close to 50,000 people join the campaign, and it has received significant media attention in several major newspapers and magazines. "There are tough obstacles, but they are not insurmountable."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(02/14/07 5:00am)
The Greensboro community and hospital system have been dealing with an outbreak of highly contagious stomach flu, known as norovirus, for the last week.
The Carolina community is familiar with the virus, having been hit with it in 2004 and 2006.
Experts warn that everyone in the state should take precautions against the bug.
Dawn Martin, spokeswoman for the Moses Cone Health System, said the system, made up of five hospitals, has adjusted to control the spread of the virus.
"We are discouraging people from visiting if they have any symptoms," Martin said.
(01/31/07 5:00am)
North Carolina could play a significant role in making President Bush's new alternative fuels mandate a reality.
In last week's State of the Union address, Bush laid out the ambitious goal of reducing the country's dependence on foreign oil by 20 percent during the next decade.
The United States imports two-thirds of its oil. Bush raised the federal production goals for renewable fuel - including the alternative fuels biodiesel and ethanol - almost five-fold by 2017.
North Carolina produces only biodiesel, but that soon will change with construction of the East Coast's first fuel-grade ethanol plant in Aurora.
Agri-Ethanol Products, which is building the facility in Beaufort County, said the project will produce $318 million in local economic activity and create 65 jobs.
Paul Sherman, who works for the N.C. Farm Bureau, said economic incentives created by ethanol demand could lead many N.C. farmers to grow more corn.
Many experts question the efficiency of producing ethanol instead of biodiesel, which has a much higher net energy return.
But Douglas Crawford-Brown, director of the Carolina Environmental Program, said that although biodiesel takes less energy to produce, ethanol is tied to economic development in poor areas of the country. Farmers in those areas grew massive amounts of corn due to 1970s farming subsidies that were instituted to combat food shortages that no longer exist.
This in turn yielded a crop excess that led many food producers to explore new uses for the product. More than 25 percent of grocery store products contain corn, and now the country also could depend on the crop to relieve reliance on foreign oil.
But with oil prices down and corn at its highest price in a decade, the impetus for American consumers to switch to ethanol-utilizing vehicles might be questionable.
Crawford-Brown said any switch would be positive. "I'm much less interested in whether it's biodiesel or ethanol, but just that we're moving in the right direction."
But he said there are concerns that Bush's demands might not reduce energy consumption because it's based on projected, rather than current, energy consumption.
"We've got to seriously cut back on miles driven," he said. "We also need policies that raise vehicle fuel efficiency standards."
Evan Ashworth, fuel distribution manager at Piedmont Biofuels in Carrboro, said the plant, one of several in North Carolina, already has a broad customer base including Whole Foods Markets and the towns of Carrboro and Chapel Hill.
Ashworth said the plant produces somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 pounds of biodiesel per year, but growing demand has prompted a goal of producing one million pounds per year.
The planned Beaufort County ethanol facility is expected to benefit from its proximity to densely populated areas that utilize ethanol.
Crawford-Brown said both fuels will be needed to meet Bush's goal.
"You could plant the entire state in corn and not get close to meeting the needs of the fleet."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(01/26/07 5:00am)
DURHAM - District Attorney Mike Nifong is receiving copious media and legal attention, and Thursday's discussion of the role of media in trials at Duke University was no exception.
Nifong withdrew from the prosecution of three Duke lacrosse players, who are charged with sexual assault, amid accusations of withholding evidence and lying to the court and investigators, charges which could disbar him if convicted.
A crowd of about 200 students, professors and local residents turned out to hear the commentary and ask questions of the event panelists. The panel, titled "Trying Cases in the Media: The Role of Prosecutor and Press," was held at Duke's School of Law.
The group included Duke law professors James Coleman and Thomas Metzloff, The (Raleigh) News & Observer investigative reporter Joe Neff and visiting professor Michael Tigar.
The discussion revolved around Nifong because he is the most contemporary iteration of the intersection of the media and the courts.
Neff has been covering the Duke lacrosse case while Tigar provided perspective gleaned from his representation of high-profile clients such as Terry Nichols, convicted in the Oklahoma City bombing.
Metzloff talked about Nifong's comments in relation to rules from the N.C. State Bar on trial publicity. The rules state that lawyers cannot make statements that might engender prejudicial attitudes toward one side in a case and should not make statements that do not serve a direct law enforcement purpose.
"Who can blame him for not knowing how to play the juggernaut of media and blogs," Metzloff said. "Nifong has claimed he is a media novice. However, these rules are not obscure, they are known."
Coleman said that he had been critical of Nifong since March, adding that he would have levied the same criticisms no matter the location or standing of the defendants.
"He knew what he was doing would increase racial tensions. He was pandering to black voters during the primary."
Nifong's statements put pressure on Durham police to ignore facts inconsistent with the statements, Coleman said.
He cited the handling of DNA evidence and the procedure used in the police lineup as examples where Nifong's statements had affected procedure.
Neff drew attention to media use of what he termed "meta-narratives" early on in the case.
"The problem with these is that they become procrustean. When the facts come out, you end up stretching them to fit the narrative," he said. "Just cover it like any other news story: Cover your beat and do basic reporting."
The latter portion of the discussion centered on the larger role of the investigation into Nifong's behavior.
"The case will serve us well only if it's the first step in examining the justice system," Tigar said.
Elizabeth Thompson, a first-year Duke law student from Syracuse, N.Y., said that media narratives are not problems that only apply to the lacrosse case.
"It's probably a general issue. They're very quick to put on a headline."
Tigar said that Nifong's comments did a distinct disservice to people in the future who might want to file a complaint of procedural wrongdoing.
"The challenge is to accommodate the need of a free society that needs to think about the social issues but also to build a sanctuary for the case."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(01/24/07 5:00am)
Student reactions to President Bush's seventh State of the Union address were mixed Tuesday night.
Shaddi Hasan and Elinor Benami, both freshmen from Knoxville, Tenn., said they were disappointed with the amount of things that Bush did not address in his speech.
Hasan said he felt Bush could have laid out a more extensive environmental and energy policy.
"The (European Union) is doing a much better job right now," Hasan said.
Bush began his speech by acknowledging the historical significance of the ascendancy of new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Pelosi is the first female speaker in U.S. history.
Addressing a Democratic majority in Congress for the first time in his presidency, Bush touted increases in the job market and outlined his domestic agenda.
His goals included making headway on balancing the budget, eliminating earmarks, making health care more affordable for lower-income Americans, introducing an extensive temporary worker program and reducing gas consumption by 20 percent over the next 10 years.
Mike Radionchenko, a sophomore from Hickory, said he was pleased by Bush's mentions of environmental emissions.
"He addressed some important issues, but I'm skeptical whether they'll be implemented," he said.
Tyson Grinstead, president of UNC College Republicans, said Bush did well to address bipartisanship.
"Bush did a solid job of communicating he was going to work with the Democrats," he said. "He also showed that alternative energy is not just a Democratic issue."
UNC Young Democrats President Jake Anderson said he was skeptical about much of the substance of Bush's speech.
"He mentioned two things that were questionable: health care and No Child Left Behind," Anderson said. "Taking small steps like credits isn't going to solve health care.
"No Child Left Behind has been shown to be pretty much a failure."
Bush also spent time Tuesday explaining his administration's Iraq war policy by defining it as part of larger "decisive ideological struggle."
He also defended his recent decision to send an additional 20,000 troops to Iraq. "We must find resolve and turn events toward victory."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(01/19/07 5:00am)
The N.C. Court of Appeals on Tuesday unanimously overruled a Wake County Superior Court decision that in effect allowed state judges to refuse the use of the Quran and other religious texts in their courtrooms.
The lawsuit, filed in 2005 by the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, centers on the state's required use of "Holy Scriptures" during courtroom proceedings.
Courtrooms across the state generally interpret "Holy Scriptures" to mean the traditional Christian Bible, although some allow witnesses to swear in by raising their right hand and not directly touching the text.
Syidah Mateen, a Muslim woman, joined the ACLU's lawsuit and became a figurehead of the case after a Guilford County court denied her request to be sworn in on a Quran, which the court did not have.
"I felt like I didn't have my Holy Book," Mateen said.
When the Al-Ummil Ummat Islamic Center in Greensboro, where Mateen is the public relations coordinator, attempted to donate eight Qurans, the Guilford County Court's top judges said affirmations could take place only on the King James version of the Bible.
Mateen expressed the importance of the appeals court ruling and the potential significance of the case.
"It's history," she said. "We're one step closer. We overcame one hurdle."
Joe Glover, president of the Family Policy Network, opposed allowing the use of the Quran in court proceedings because, he said, it would be acceptable only if neither the judge nor jury members were Christians or Jews.
"The Quran, according to Sura 4, verse 157, teaches it is acceptable to lie to the infidels," he said.
Kevin McGuire, a UNC professor of political science, said both sides have strong arguments. He said the state will argue that the use of the Bible by witnesses is symbolic.
"They are reflecting the candor and truthfulness of their oath. It doesn't reflect a desire to promote a belief in any creed or any particular god."
Conversely, McGuire said the plaintiffs likely would argue that if the state wants to make people swear in, it needs to be neutral.
"They are confronting people with a document that might be contrary to their beliefs," he said.
Ultimately, Glover said, the particular book was of secondary importance in court proceedings.
"When you get down to brass tack, what goes under the hand is nothing but pulp and ink."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(01/19/07 5:00am)
Deep Throat and Daniel Ellsberg would be proud.
The Wikipedia-inspired Wikileaks.org was created as an outlet for repressed dissidents in countries hostile toward open governments. It allows them to reveal unethical behavior through "untraceable mass document leaking and analysis," according to the Web site.
The site, by being solely user-driven and open in the same fashion as Wikipedia, can be used to reveal important documents, but ostensibly, it will be just as easy for bad-faith users to submit false documents or leak information that could create legitimate national security risks.
Wikileaks states that significant user scrutiny will allow users to determine the authenticity of documents.
Steve Levine, a UNC professor of Asian studies, is skeptical of how effective the site will be in countries like China.
"Chinese society tends to communicate through personal communication-it's safer. The Chinese government has a whole army of people cracking down on the Internet."
Levine cited the work of Columbia University political science professor Andrew Nathan as an example of the interpersonal connection Chinese whistle-blowers trust more than the Internet.
Nathan worked with anonymous sources to get secret Chinese government documents published in "The Tiananmen Papers" and "China's New Rulers." For anybody found to have posted on the site, the penalties could be severe.
Leakers also will have to operate in countries that actively urge companies to accept their censorship.
Google China capitulated to the Chinese government's demands and agreed to self-censor its search results last year.
Steven Aftergood, who runs the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy News blog, said Wikileaks must prove the quality of its product to gain the trust of potential users.
"They will have to develop a track record, and that may involve confrontations with a government," he said. "Only by emerging unscathed from that confrontation will they be able to prove that they can protect sources."
Kevin Hewison, director of the Carolina Asia Center, said he believes that the creation of the site can bring positive change to Southeast Asia.
He said the site is particularly promising for Thailand and Vietnam, where Internet access is more prevalent, but it doesn't rule out the possibility of Westerners using the technology to reveal unethical behavior by governments and corporations.
Aftergood said the creation of the Web site was significant.
"Transparency in many countries is so limited that any initiative like this has a chance of making a real difference."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(01/12/07 5:00am)
Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange, is all but certain to become the next speaker of the N.C. House when it convenes Jan. 24, and local political experts and several of his Democratic colleagues believe his ascension will be a boon for Orange County.
Hackney was voted the Democratic Caucus' choice for the post Wednesday night, and barring any unexpected political deals, should be easily elected by the full House.
"He's the first Chapel Hill or Orange County elected official to get this much responsibility," said Thad Beyle, UNC professor of political science.
Ferrel Guillory, director of the UNC Program on Public Life, said the history of speakers in the House suggests that it is almost assuredly good for the politician's home county.
Hackney, a 14-term representative, brings a wealth of experience to the table; he has served as majority leader and speaker pro tem.
For the majority of his years in the House, Hackney, also a Chapel Hill lawyer and farmer, voted as a liberal Democrat who has consistently been loyal to Chapel Hill and the University.
But in recent years, as is typical of most politicians growing into a party leadership role, he has become more pragmatic and has worked across ideological lines, Beyle said.
Although the Democrats now hold a 68-52 House majority, Hackney likely will forgo a strictly liberal agenda in favor of cross-party consensus issues such as ethics reform, experts predict.
Orange County Commissioner Mike Nelson, a progressive from Carrboro, said he has several issues he would like Hackney and the state legislature to address, including Medicaid funding and mental health reform.
"The state has been trying to do mental health reform, and it has gotten - I'm looking for a good word here - fouled up."
Nelson said he also wants Hackney to add more protections to Orange County anti-discrimination statutes based on sexual orientation, which Nelson says he has been seeking for 15 years.
Guillory said one of the central concerns of electing a House speaker is that the leader will give too many earmarks, commonly referred to as pork-barrel spending, to his own or close associates' counties.
Pork-barreling was a concern during the terms of House Speaker, Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg.
However, Rep. Joe Tolson, D-Edgecombe, believes that Hackney will behave fairly.
"His comments to the caucus indicated that he would be good not just for Orange but for North Carolina as a whole."
Guillory said Hackney will be able to get things done in a bipartisan fashion - something the likely speaker fervently expressed following the Democratic Caucus vote Wednesday.
"A big part of being a legislator is mediating differences and building a common ground," Guillory said.
"He has gained in experience and maturity. His views have broadened, and his ability to work across ideological lines has grown."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(10/27/06 4:00am)
The North Carolina men's and women's cross country teams head to Charlottesville, Va., this weekend for the ACC Championships.
The men's team is coming off of a victory two weeks ago at the Furman Invitational, where they were led by senior Pablo Durana, junior Alex Ray and sophomore Tristram Thomas. The competition at the ACC meet, however, will be much stiffer and similar to what the team faced at the Notre Dame Invitational on Sept. 29, where they finished 17th.
The ACC is not extraordinarily strong on the men's side in comparison with other years but still is stacked. Florida State and N.C. State are both ranked in the top 10 - at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively. Virginia is also in the top 30 at No.29.
Clemson, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, Boston College and Duke also have strong squads, and the Tar Heel men will have to have good races to finish ahead of these schools.
Ray said he thinks the team could have a shot at the top four.
"We're a lot stronger this year; a lot of guys trained hard over the summer," he said.
Ray has improved markedly this season, a change he and Coach Michael Whittlesey attribute to Ray's higher mileage training during a summer spent in Europe and a tremendous commitment.
Another one of the team's leaders, Durana, has competed all season long while working full time in Washington, D.C.
"He gets the training from me over the phone, and then he drives to the races on the weekends," Whittlesey said.
Durana graduated last spring but still had some eligibility left.
Whittlesey said he foresees an intense race.
"It's going to come down to who is the most relaxed and ready to compete," he said. "It could be a spread of only 15 to 20 points for the teams that finish 5 through 9."
The women's team is coming off a 14th place finish at NCAA Pre-Nationals two weeks ago in Terre Haute, Ind.
The team faces a stacked field with seven other teams from the ACC either in or hovering around the top 30.
"It's a great academic conference, and that draws great distance runners," Whittlesey said.
The team has been led by a strong front three of sophomore Brie Felnagle, senior Megan Kaltenbach and senior Cassie King. But Whittlesey said many of the team's talented runners are just now getting healthy.
"We came in a bad health situation this season," he said. "We had people just coming off of serious illnesses and injuries."
The coach added he thought the team would have an additional spark from the recoveries.
In order to have a strong finish at the ACC championship, the team's four through seven runners will have to close the gap that has been present in previous races this season.
Both teams will face a hilly course and stiff competition, but Whittlesey's teams have a history of running their best races at the end of the season.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(08/19/06 4:00am)
June 15 - UNC athletes Laura Gerraughty, Justin Ryncavage and Vikas Gowda all won national titles at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championsips in Sacramento.
The coup marked the first time that three Tar Heels won individual titles in the same meet.
In the team competitions, the UNC men tied for a ninth-place finish, their best performance at the competition since 1996. The Tar Heel women finished in a tie for 14th.
Gowda and Gerraughty, quite the prolific tandem for the last four years, finished their UNC careers with a bang.
Gowda, who became the first Tar Heel man to win a national title in three years, won the discus with a throw of 198 feet, 8 inches Friday night to win by 3 feet.
He finished his career as a five-time All-American, not to mention his stint as an Olympian in 2004.
Gerraughty gritted out a title over a pair of tough competitors in the shot put.
On her final throw of the day, in what she called "winning ugly," Gerraughty threw 60 feet, 1 1/4 inches and then had to anxiously wait for Nebraska's Becky Breisch to make her final throw.
Assistant Coach Brian Blutreich watched Breisch's throw for Gerraughty. As soon as he saw that the Cornhusker fell short and informed his athlete of her victory, Gerraughty said, she let out a scream and celebrated with a back flip.
It was Gerraughty's second national title in the outdoor shot. She has also won the indoor shot and participated in the event at the Olympics in 2004.
Ryncavage, a junior, won the javelin title and set a school record with his first throw of 243-4.
Junior Nick Owens and senior Sheena Gordon also garnered All-America accolades in the hammer throw and high jump, respectively.
Owens finished third at the NCAAs with a throw of 229-9, adding 6 inches to his own record.
Gordon, who was sick with a virus and had to apply ice between her attempts to help keep her body temperature down, still managed to finish second with a jump of 6 feet, 1 1/4 inches - her best effort all season.
Distance runners Cassie King, Georgia Kloss and Megan Kaltenbach also competed at the meet in the steeplechase, 800 meters and 1,500 meters, respectively. King and Kaltenbach both made the finals, finishing 13th and 12th.
Jocelyn White and Marija Kurtovic competed in the discus, while Adam Montague competed in the javelin.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(06/15/06 4:00am)
UNC athletes Laura Gerraughty, Justin Ryncavage and Vikas Gowda all won national titles at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championsips last week in Sacramento.
In the process, all three cemented their place as some of the greatest individual performers the North Carolina track and field program has ever had.
The coup marked the first time that three Tar Heels won individual titles in the same meet.
In the team competitions, the UNC men tied for a ninth-place finish with 26 points, their best performance at the competition since 1996. The Tar Heel women finished in a tie for 14th with 18 points.
Gowda and Gerraughty, quite the prolific tandem for the last four years, finished their UNC careers with a bang.
Gowda, who became the first Tar Heel man to win a national title in three years, won the discus with a throw of 198 feet, 8 inches Friday night to win by 3 feet.
He finished his career as a five-time All-American and as the school-record holder in the discus and shot put - not to mention his stint as an Olympian in 2004.
Gerraughty gritted out a title over a pair of tough competitors in the shot put.
On her final throw of the day, in what she called "winning ugly," Gerraughty threw 60 feet, 1 1/4 inches and then had to anxiously wait for Nebraska's Becky Breisch to make her final throw.
"I couldn't look," Gerraughty said.
If only winning ugly were as easy for the rest of us.
Assistant Coach Brian Blutreich watched Breisch's throw for Gerraughty. As soon as he saw that the Cornhusker fell short and informed his athlete of her victory, Gerraughty said, she let out a scream and celebrated with a back flip.
It was Gerraughty's second national title in the outdoor shot. She has also won the indoor shot and participated in the event at the Olympics in 2004.
Ryncavage, a junior, won the javelin title and set a school record with his first throw of 243-4.
Junior Nick Owens and senior Sheena Gordon also garnered All-America accolades in the hammer throw and high jump, respectively.
Owens finished third at the NCAAs with a throw of 229-9, adding 6 inches to his own school record.
Gordon, who was sick with a virus and had to apply ice between her attempts to help keep her body temperature down, still managed to finish second in the country with a jump of 6 feet, 1 1/4 inches - her best effort all season.
Distance runners Cassie King, Georgia Kloss and Megan Kaltenbach also competed at the meet in the steeplechase, 800 meters and 1,500 meters, respectively. King and Kaltenbach both made the finals, finishing 13th and 12th.
Jocelyn White and Marija Kurtovic competed in the discus, while Adam Montague competed in the javelin.
The Tar Heels lose point-hoarders Gerraughty, Gordon and Gowda next year but return with a strong group of athletes in many areas, several of whom were injured or sick in the spring season.
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(05/25/06 4:00am)
Saturday's NCAA women's lacrosse quarterfinal at Northwestern was a tale of two halves for North Carolina.
In the first half, the No. 5-seeded Tar Heels came out strong against the No. 4 seed Wildcats. UNC netted four straight goals to take a 5-3 lead 27 minutes into the contest.
The tide started to turn after the Wildcats called a timeout with three minutes left in the half.
When Northwestern broke the huddle, they blitzed the Tar Heels with three quick goals to end the half with a 6-5 lead despite turning the ball over nine times.
The onslaught continued in the second half, when Wildcat shots relentlessly peppered the UNC goal. Northwestern netted another five consecutive goals and rolled to a 17-6 win.
UNC coach Jenny Levy said that once Northwestern built the lead, the Wildcats started stalling, making winning back possession difficult for the Tar Heels. At that point, senior Stephanie Scurachio said, the team was forced to "mark out" the Wildcats, which allowed them to take advantage of their speed.
"You can't play with them from behind," Levy said.
The Tar Heels threw the ball away several times after they managed to gain possession in the second half, Levy said.
The Wildcats, who Levy considers the best team in the country, advanced to the Final Four in Boston to face Duke.
The Tar Heels faced a tough draw for the tournament after some controversial seeding from the tournament selection committee.
UNC, ranked No. 5 in the latest Intercollegiate Women's Lacrosse Coaches Association poll, had to face ACC rival Maryland in the first round. The Terrapins were ranked sixth in the last poll but were left out of the top eight seeds for the tournament. Northwestern was ranked first yet received a No. 4 seed for the tournament.
Duke, whose coach - Kersten Kimel - played a prominent role on the selection committee, was given the top seed in the tournament after being ranked No. 3 in the final IWLCA poll.
Scurachio said the team could not control its ranking and tried to concentrate on the task at hand.
The Tar Heels hope to get a higher seed next season. The team will only lose three seniors and two starters heading into next year.
"I thought we had a really good season, but not as good as we can be," said junior Christina Juras.
Both Juras and Levy did take solace in the fact that the team played perhaps the toughest schedule in the county, suffered five of its six losses to the top four teams in the country and beat ACC rivals Virginia once and Maryland twice.
Levy said the team is optimistic about its chances for next season.
"We'd like to win it next year," she said. "These guys aren't satisfied with what they've accomplished so far."
Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.