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(08/22/06 4:00am)
The Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools are looking for a new lawyer after firing long-time attorney John McCormick.
McCormick's contract was terminated last month after he disappeared. He is now wanted on one count of felony embezzlement.
McCormick has been the school board's legal counsel for more than 20 years. He did not have access to school funds.
"We had no indication that this would happen," school board chairwoman Lisa Stuckey said.
N.C. lawyer Phillip Dixon was appointed as interim counsel until the board hires a new attorney.
Stuckey said a committee has been formed to lead the search. The committee is composed of Stuckey, school vice chairwoman Jamezetta Bedford and board member Mike Kelley. Dixon will work with the committee to develop a plan for soliciting applications and hiring the new lawyer.
Stuckey said she could not comment on whether applicants will be scrutinized more closely because of the allegations against McCormick, who was last seen July 10.
On that day, a representative of home builder D.R. Horton visited his Chapel Hill office to talk to him about $800,000 he owed the company. The funds were from five homes McCormick helped close in June.
After waiting for several hours, the representative learned that McCormick was no longer there.
A car registered to McCormick's family was found parked outside an entrance to Duke Forest on Whitfield Road at about 1 a.m. July 11.
After his disappearance, the N.C. State Bar won an injunction in Wake County Superior Court to prevent McCormick from receiving or dispersing client funds.
A. Root Edmonson, deputy council for the bar, said he does not think the bar will consider pressing charges unless McCormick reappears.
The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation, however, has issued a warrant for McCormick's arrest.
Orange-Chatham District Attorney Jim Woodall, who will prosecute the case if it comes to trial, said he has referred complaints about McCormick to the state bar.
Anyone with information about McCormick's whereabouts should contact the Chapel Hill Police Department at (919) 968-2760.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(08/22/06 4:00am)
Those who get their dancing fix at local clubs now have a few less options as they migrate downtown. Both Avalon and Chi Hi are closed.
Chapel Hill police Chief Gregg Jarvies sent a memo to Town Manager Cal Horton asking that Avalon's business license not be renewed after a club patron was killed in the parking lot of neighboring Keys Food Mart early July 29.
Kedrain Monta Swann, 26, of Durham was shot by an unknown suspect multiple times with an assault rifle, according to Chapel Hill police reports. Days later Avalon's business license expired.
In his memo to Horton, Jarvies documented 25 serious criminal acts at Avalon or in the adjacent streets and parking lots in the past 15 months. Fifteen of the 25 were on Avalon's premises.
In the memo, Jarvies said he's met with five downtown establishment owners in the past three years to discuss public safety concerns. He also said he plans to meet with the owner of Players this month.
The report indicates that the incidents decreased after the meetings everywhere except Avalon and the location now occupied by Chi Hi.
Chi Hi owner Frank Allen said the club is being renovated and will reopen this fall as two, more upscale nightclubs with increased security.
Doyle Alley, deputy administrator for the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, said Chi Hi's state ABC permit was suspended in early July because of "acts of violence occurring in and around the business."
Jarvies said owners and managers need more oversight of their clubs.
He cited admitting fewer people, raising prices, changing the dress code and membership requirements, increasing security, and hiring different promoters as possible ways to handle the crowds.
He also stressed the importance of ensuring that patrons causing a stir aren't just moved into the street.
"They're concentrating on the inside of the club and don't seem to be as concerned with what's happening outside the club," Jarvies said.
Jarvies said many incidents happen as people leave the clubs, which can be harder to control than at a bar because the crowds are bigger, and there's more space to loiter.
Avalon, unlike many bars downtown, has its own lot. And people frequenting Chi Hi often would park in two nearby parking decks.
"People don't just leave the club and go home," Jarvies said. "They have a tendency to just stay and congregate."
Representatives of Avalon did not return calls for comment last week.
Anyone with information about Swann's murder should contact either the Chapel Hill Police Department at (919) 968-2760 or Crime Stoppers at (919) 942-7515.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(08/22/06 4:00am)
When the man who sits at the top of a town's organizational chart announces he's going to retire, it creates a unique challenge and opportunity.
So when both the Chapel Hill town manager and the Orange County manager announced their plans to retire at the end of August, it raised many questions about how the municipalities would deal with the transition.
As the end of the month draws near, plans for dealing with the management changes have been put forward.
Former Fayetteville City Manager Roger Stancil will replace 16-year Town Manager Cal Horton on Sept. 1.
And one day earlier, Rod Visser, assistant county manager, will step up as interim county manager as John Link, the manager for the past 18 years, starts his retirement.
Horton's and Link's praises have been loudly sung by local officials, but most say losing them is part of the inevitable cycle of municipal government.
"Both the town and the county were very well managed," said former Chapel Hill Town Council member Joe Capowski, who served from 1991 to 1999. "There'll be some things that change, but I think there will be more things that continue unchanged."
Capowski said the basic responsibilities of local governments stay the same but might require new techniques to keep up with a changing society.
After announcing its decision to hire Stancil, the council approved the use of $50,000 to hire consultant Tim Dempsey to ease Stancil's transition into the town.
Mayor Kevin Foy said Demspsey will not only be working with Stancil, but he also will help the entire town staff improve the way they go about business, so that the town as a whole can be self-renewing.
"You can't just sort of sit in one place and do things the way they were always done," Foy said. "What we want the whole organization to be able to do is to be flexible, be responsive and to change itself when it needs to change."
Stability during a time of change is a theme understood by county leaders as well.
Barry Jacobs, chairman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, said that he thinks the transition will be smooth but that people will have to adjust to having some things done differently.
"I think it's a very stable situation, but I think we are going through a very significant transition," Jacobs said. "A lot of active memory of how we came to certain decisions and how we faced certain decisions is going to be leaving at the end of the year."
In addition to Link and Visser, Vice Chairman Stephen Halkiotis, who has been on the board of commissioners for two decades, does not plan to run for re-election in November.
Besides the changing faces in government, many projects that have been in the works also will begin to be seen this year.
Chapel Hill will take a step toward a safer downtown with the hiring of five new officers to patrol the area.
Plans to build parking lots 2 and 5 on Franklin and Rosemary streets into mixed-use developments will be updated for the council next month.
Plans for Carolina North, the University's proposed satellite campus, will begin to be cemented.
And residents of Orange County will have the chance to decide if they want to change the number of commissioners on the board and the way they are elected with a ballot referendum in November.
Although these changes might give the impression that many things are happening at once, Foy said local government is usually on top of the game in dealing with issues.
The things being discussed now are not things that will come to fruition in the next month, and developments happening now are the result of careful planning.
"From the town's point of view, we've moved on," Foy said.
"Those are things we've put together, and now they're in place. The stuff you see happening now is the result of the last couple of years of work."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(08/22/06 4:00am)
The search for a new Orange County manager is running a bit behind schedule.
Manager John Link is set to retire from the post Aug. 31, after an 18-year stint.
And assistant Orange County Manager Rod Visser, who has been appointed to the manager job in the interim, has his own plans for retirement at the end of the year.
Still, county officials say the manager search is moving forward.
Barry Jacobs, chairman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, said the commissioners will meet today to narrow down the applicant pool.
The search, which is being handled by consulting firm The Mercer Group Inc., drew about 90 applications from across the country, Jacobs said.
The commissioners plan to select finalists this week and invite the finalists for interviews in September.
Ideally, Jacobs said they would like to make an offer by early October to give the new manager time to put in notice with his or her previous employer and to negotiate a contract.
Out of the hundreds of county positions, the county manager is one of only three that the commissioners appoint.
Jacobs said it's important to understand the impact the county manager has on the community.
"If you have an animal, if you've dealt with the health department, (or) social services, if you drive out in the country and would like to see some open space, if you care about the arts or what kind of land use impacts there are - all those things are county functions, and the manager is the one who's directly responsible for the daily oversight of all of that," Jacobs said.
The manager also is responsible for overseeing most of the county staff and for carrying out decisions made by the county commissioners, the primary governing body in the county.
The manager is heavily involved in the development of the annual budget and serves as a liaison between county residents and the various government departments.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/28/06 4:00am)
Mohammad Taheri-Azar, the UNC alumnus who drove a rented SUV through the Pit on March 3, striking nine people, is scheduled to appear before a grand jury Monday.
If indicted, Taheri-Azar will face 18 felony counts - nine counts of attempted first degree murder, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury and four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.
If convicted of all the charges against him, he could face about 150 years in prison.
To date, Taheri-Azar has made three court appearances, and he is being held at Central Prison in Raleigh on a $5.5 million bond.
Taheri-Azar said at his first court appearance March 6 that he did not want a lawyer, but Judge M.P. DeVine appointed public defender James Williams to the case.
At his second court appearance March 16, Taheri-Azar declined to have his bail addressed.
Police arrested Taheri-Azar on Plant Road off Franklin Street after he called 911 to turn himself in.
In a letter to police obtained from Taheri-Azar's apartment after the incident, he stated that he wanted to use a gun in the attack but settled on the SUV because it was too difficult to obtain one.
"I would instead use a handgun to murder the citizens and residents of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but the process of receiving a permit for a handgun in this city is highly restrictive and out of my reach at present, most likely due to my foreign nationality," he stated.
Taheri-Azar is a native of Tehran, Iran.
During the probable cause hearing March 24, Matthew Dodson, the investigating officer at the UNC Department of Public Safety, testified that Taheri-Azar told him while in police custody that he committed the act to avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world.
Taheri-Azar's letter reflected a similar motive.
"Due to the killing of believing men and women under the direction of the United States government, I have decided to take advantage of my presence on United States soil on Friday, March 3, 2006, to take the lives of as many Americans and American sympathizers as I can in order to punish United States for their immoral actions around the world," he stated in the letter.
Taheri-Azar justified the attack using the Quran and said that in the holy book, Allah gives permission to any believing man or woman to murder anyone responsible for the killing of other believing men or women.
During the probable cause hearing, he sat silently, reading the Quran to himself and stopping only to jot down a note on a slip of paper.
After the March 24 hearing, Mohammad Taheri-Azar's sister Laila Taheri-Azar read a statement on behalf of the family.
She said they were just as shocked by her brother's actions as everyone else and begged people not to pass judgment on her brother who she described as a giver, not a taker.
"We've been shocked, angry, frustrated but most of all sad," she said.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/28/06 4:00am)
Chapel Hill, like any town, has seen its fair share of crime.
But in the past year, two people have been accused of a less than everyday crime - murder.
Damego Demon Lee, 32, was arrested earlier in the month after his on-again-off-again girlfriend was found stabbed to death in their shared apartment.
Adam Sapikowski, who was 16 at the time of his arrest, was charged in May after his parents were found dead in their upscale Chapel Hill home.
Both men are scheduled to be in court in the next few months.
A domestic problem
(04/26/06 4:00am)
A word that has percolated throughout Orange County for years was again the topic of conversation at a joint meeting of the Orange County and Chapel Hill-Carrboro boards of education and the Orange County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday night.
The groups spent the bulk of the meeting discussing equity, its meaning and whose responsibility it is to define it.
A special district tax that garners about an extra $14 million annually for city schools causes school board members in the county to cry foul each budget cycle. This year is no different.
County school board member Liz Brown shook her head in disbelief as city school board chairwoman Lisa Stuckey told the commissioners that city schools could fully fund their budget increases by raising the district tax 4.6 cents.
Brown said she could not believe a school district in the same county as hers would even consider that, retracting an earlier statement that the school boards don't need increased collaboration.
But commissioner Valerie Foushee presented a fresh idea to the boards that seemed to please many in attendance. Foushee said the groups should stop talking about equity and start talking about "fair funding."
Commissioner Alice Gordon, who is running for re-election, agreed with Foushee, saying that equity means fairness and that fairness means funding each district's budget in full, not giving them the same amount of money.
County school board chairman Randy Copeland eagerly agreed, saying, "If you fund us with the money Chapel Hill-Carrboro gets right now, we're actually going to have money running out of our ears."
The conversation later moved into presentations of key factors influencing the two budgets that are at the core of the equity argument.
County Superintendent Shirley Carraway said there are four key drivers in the district: the dropout rate, student achievement, maintaining momentum and the costs of Gravelly Hill Middle School, set to open this fall.
Superintendent Neil Pedersen presented five different drivers for city schools: salary increases, projected student growth, planning for Carrboro High School - set to open in 2007 - changes in the high school schedule and costs passed on from other jurisdictions.
Carraway said if the commissioners don't allocate about $2 million in one-time start up costs for Gravelly Hill, the school board will be forced to eliminate or cutback funding for other programs.
Pedersen also said failure to fund city schools' budget fully would create a pinch, as the district plans to hire a principal and selected other staff members for Carrboro High next year.
But commissioner vice chairman Stephen Halkiotis, who will step down in November after 19 years on the board, did not give the groups much hope.
"You want the whole budget?" he asked in a heated outburst.
"Tell me one entity that funds 100 percent of what people ask for. . Give me a break; nobody does it."
The districts will submit their proposed budgets to the commissioners for consideration in May.
The commissioners are expected to approve a budget June 22.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/25/06 4:00am)
The Chapel Hill Town Council received its first official glimpse at Town Manager Cal Horton's proposed budget for fiscal year 2006-07 on Wednesday night.
If approved, the budget would allow Chapel Hill residents to exhale - it does not include any increase in property taxes. This is after last year's talks were marked by a proposed hike of 10 cents per $100 of valuation.
This year also marks Horton's last budget cycle, as he will step down Sept. 1 after 16 years.
The property tax rate would stay at 52.2 cents under this year's proposal. This means that the tax on a piece of property valued at $250,000 would be $1,305.
Mayor Kevin Foy said after the meeting that he is glad the tax rate won't go up.
Foy said there are years the council must scrounge and pinch to fund the budget and years like this one where it doesn't have to put any extra burden on residents.
"This is a great year," he said.
Taxes in the downtown service district, however, likely will increase by 3.8 cents, or approximately 72 percent.
Council member Ed Harrison reminded those in attendance that the district tax is paid by downtown business owners only. Revenue from the tax is used to support the special needs of the district.
The extra tax money will be used to fund additional downtown police patrol services, hire a groundskeeper for nine months and provide free meter-parking on Saturdays. The money also will be used to promote the safety and cleanliness initiatives of the Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership.
Foy said he does not anticipate much backlash about the hike.
He said the town is planning to put an extra half a million dollars into downtown, so it seems only fair that those who will benefit from that money be willing to pay their share.
"Given that, I don't think that it's too much to ask the downtown property owners to put in roughly an extra $60,000," he said.
Foy added that nobody likes to pay more taxes, but that "the money has to come from somewhere."
Other major plans for the budget include funds to hire additional firefighters, adjust salaries for town employees and provide online video streaming of council meetings.
Meetings already are broadcast on Time Warner Cable Channel 18.
Kay Johnson, the town finance director, told the council during her presentation of the manager's proposal that the high cost of fuel will have a large impact on the budget's transportation fund.
The fund will be $460,200, 3.4 percent larger than fiscal year 2005-06.
The possibility of using hybrid fuel-electric buses to cope with the high price of gas was discussed during the News Talk WCHL 1360 2006 Chapel Hill-Carrboro Orange County forum Thursday.
Foy said that no timeline for making the switch to the fuel-efficient buses has been created, but that it is something the town likely will eventually have to do.
He added that fuel will continue to put a strain on transportation funding as its price goes up.
A public hearing about the recommended budget is scheduled for May 10, and the council is expected to approve the budget June 26.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/25/06 4:00am)
The Chapel Hill Town Council approved a resolution to move forward with building the Southern Community Park near Southern Village during a business meeting Monday night.
More play space
The first phase of the park will include three athletic fields, a 2.5-acre dog park, a basketball court, a picnic area and a disc golf course.
The proposal was amended also to include a second basketball court and an inline hockey court.
The park will include two parking lots with a total of 150 parking spaces.
(04/21/06 4:00am)
"It's a marriage that isn't going to be dissolved," UNC law professor and departing Chairwoman of the Faculty Judith Wegner said of a rather complicated union Thursday.
Wegner was talking to representatives of the University and Chapel Hill about the unbreakable tie between UNC and the community during News Talk WCHL 1360's annual Chapel Hill-Carrboro-Orange County forum .
Community members and government officials discussed nine topics that crossed town and University borders during the 10-hour forum titled "Tomorrow's promise today."
Town-gown relations
Much like last year's forum, the bulk of the town-gown relations segment was spent discussing the development of Carolina North - the University's proposed satellite campus.
A friendlier mood filled the room than in forums past, such as in 2004 when Chancellor James Moeser refused to say he trusted the town with planning for the project.
Moderator Jim Heavner gave Moeser an opportunity to retract that statement Thursday, though Moeser would not whole-heartedly take it back, saying, "I would say we've made some progress in two years."
Despite the unease, all members of the group expressed excitement about the ongoing dialogue between the towns and the University.
Moeser charged the Carolina North leadership advisory committee earlier this year to create a set of guiding principles for the development.
Composed of about 30 members from local governments, the University and community organizations, the committee has met twice.
"When you have a partnership, you don't have to be reactive; you have mechanisms to deal with conflict," local activist Fred Black said.
Committee chairman Ken Broun, a former Chapel Hill mayor, said the group is combining principles from the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of Commerce and the two towns to see where they coincide and where they differ.
Once that is done, Broun said some objectives can be "checked off the list."
Participants at the forum agreed that transportation and transit are the biggest driving issues facing the development.
Citing a report compiled by the recently disbanded Horace Williams citizens committee, Mayor Pro Tem Bill Strom said the development must be transit-oriented from the outset.
Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy agreed, saying that everything revolves around the way people move.
"The reason transit and transportation is the biggest unresolved issue is because the project can't be designed as a sustainable development without being a transit-oriented development," he said.
Despite their unanimity on the importance of the issue, participants did not agree on the steps necessary to address transportation and transit needs.
Gimghoul resident and former president of the neighborhood association Gene Pease challenged town officials, saying taxpayers are eager to see concrete plans for initiatives their tax dollars support.
Foy countered by saying concepts for future transportation needs are already in place. The town's 2030 plan lays out plans for existing roadways until that year.
Traffic and pedestrian safety
Transportation and transit issues were brought back to the table during a later panel devoted to the topic.
Participants on this panel toyed with the feasibility of using hybrid fuel-electric buses as part of the Chapel Hill long-range transportation plan.
Ed Harrison, a member of the Chapel Hill Town Council, said such buses already are in use in larger cities such as New York City.
Kurt Neufang of Chapel Hill Transit said the town is examining all options for fueling buses, but the hybrid seems like the best option.
"The up-front costs for that in the short term we really think would be beneficial to us in the long run," he said.
Chapel Hill provides free bus rides, but Neufang said it is important for transit to become more regional, connecting Chapel Hill, Durham, Orange and Chatham counties.
Kumar Neppalli, Chapel Hill traffic engineer, stressed that it's important to consider transportation and safety not just in terms of cars and buses.
Heidi Paulsen, vice chairwoman of the Carrboro planning board, agreed with Neppalli, saying the towns need more help from the state to install pedestrian safety mechanisms on state-maintained roads.
Crime and safety
Safety issues apart from transportation were addressed during a panel focused on crime.
Orange County Sheriff Lindy Pendergrass, who is up for re-election, told listeners that domestic violence calls are up in the county.
Officer Charlie Pardo of the Chapel Hill Police Department, who specializes in Latino victims, added that reports of domestic violence from the Latino community are significantly higher than last year.
Pardo said there were 62 reported incidents from Latina victims last year. He said he could not be sure if the higher number was because of an increase in incidents, or because Latina victims are beginning to feel comfortable enough in the community to report incidents to police.
Law enforcement professionals also discussed the difficulty in recruiting and retaining new staff.
Pendergrass said TV shows such as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" taint incoming recruits' views of what being a law enforcement official is like.
"They've got to come back to reality," he said. "We've got functions that have to be covered every day.
"It drains them," he added.
Chapel Hill police Chief Gregg Jarvies said his department is looking for a rare breed of officers because police in Chapel Hill must be prepared to work with a student, a resident, a homeless person and a crack dealer all in one day.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/18/06 4:00am)
A probable cause hearing was set for May 1 on Monday for Damego Demon Lee, the man charged with murder after his on-again-off-again girlfriend was found stabbed to death in their apartment April 6.
Police discovered the body of 30-year-old Keara Lynne Hart on the kitchen floor of the couple's shared apartment. Lee was found in Durham early the next morning and charged with her murder.
In a town where murder remains a rare crime, residents often are left shaken by such violent events.
Only three people have been charged with murder in Chapel Hill in the past five years.
Neighbors in Hart and Lee's apartment complex, University Gardens Condominiums, and in nearby complexes on Pritchard Avenue Extension, have had mixed reactions to the news.
Jon Lebreux, who lives two buildings down from Hart and Lee's apartment, said he no longer feels safe at home.
Lebreux moved from New Hampshire about two weeks ago. He said that he checked crime statistics in the area before choosing an apartment and that nothing struck him as out of the ordinary.
"I wasn't expecting this kind of violent crime," he said.
Lebreux's neighbors in nearby public housing complex Pritchard Park Apartments said they do think Pritchard Avenue Extension is a safe place to live.
"The only thing you really worry about is a lot of domestic stuff," said Carlton Hilliard, who has lived at the complex with his wife, Rose Hilliard, and their four children for about five years.
"It's pretty decent," he added. "It's a little loud 'cause there's a lot of kids, that's all.
Because of the dense concentration of apartment complexes and public housing facilities, streets that house them often carry the perception of high crime rates.
But Capt. Bob Overton, who is in charge of maintaining patrol units for the Chapel Hill police, said that stigma is not warranted with Pritchard Avenue Extension.
"That area is no worse than any area in Chapel Hill," he said. "Generally it's not an area we have a lot of trouble with and especially in the last few years."
Between April 10, 2005, and April 9, 2006, the Monday after Hart's murder, there were four reports of aggravated assault on Pritchard Avenue Extension. This accounts for about 3 percent of total aggravated assaults reported in Chapel Hill during the same time period.
The quarter-mile-long street accounted for 2.3 percent of reported simple assaults, 3.4 percent of reported incidents of trespassing and 2.2 percent of reported incidents of breaking and entering in that same time period.
Lebreux said that despite feeling like he lives in a bad part of town, there is a visible police presence in the area.
"I do see police cruisers moving through here," he said.
Jane Cousins, spokeswoman for Chapel Hill police, said the street is not a community policing neighborhood like the nearby Northside community.
Honey Mitchell, who has lived in the public housing complex on Trinity Court off Pritchard Avenue Extension for eight years, said police are very responsive to her concerns and pointed out that they even maintain a substation within the complex.
"I think that was just an isolated something that happened," she said, referring to Hart's murder.
"I generally feel safe in Chapel Hill."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(04/10/06 4:00am)
A man with a history of assault charges was arrested early Friday on charges of first-degree murder after his girlfriend was found stabbed to death.
Police charged Damego Demon Lee, 32, of 800 Pritchard Ave. Ext., Apt. C-17, with the murder of 30-year-old Keara Lynne Hart, according to Chapel Hill police reports.
Jane Cousins, spokeswoman for the Chapel Hill Police Department, said that Hart and Lee were a couple and that they lived at the apartment at University Gardens Condominiums.
Family members of Hart became concerned Thursday when they could not contact her, Cousins said.
Officers entered the apartment Hart and Lee shared about 6:30 p.m. Thursday and found Hart dead on the kitchen floor, a press release states. Hart had knife wounds to her neck and upper chest.
Lee was found in Durham and transferred to the custody of Chapel Hill police at 1:12 a.m. Friday. He is being held at the Orange County Jail without bail.
Lee made his first appearance in court in Hillsborough on Friday, and his case was assigned to the county public defender's office.
His next court date is scheduled for April 17.
Edward Whitted, who lives in the apartment below Hart and Lee's, said that he heard them scuffle the night of the murder, but that it sounded more like someone moving furniture than an argument.
Whitted said that out of curiosity, he decided to take his trash out.
"I got to the top of the stairs, and I heard her say, 'Stop it,'" he said. "She didn't scream or anything."
Whitted added that Hart has two children who came to stay with her on weekends.
Police reports reveal that this is not the first time Lee has been arrested on charges of assaulting Hart.
According to Chapel Hill police reports, Lee was arrested Oct. 10 on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, breaking and entering, larceny, larceny after breaking and entering, assault on a female, kidnapping, resisting arrest and domestic criminal trespass.
At the time, Lee was listed as a fugitive from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. According to the fugitive affidavit, Lee broke the terms of his parole on charges of false imprisonment and aggravated assault.
Orange County court documents state that Lee was transported to the Broward County Jail on Nov. 9.
In a statement given to police after the incident, Hart said that she had known Lee for about two years and that he was her ex-boyfriend.
She told police that Lee forced his way into her apartment to retrieve some of his items and would not allow her to leave.
The statement said that at one point, Lee held her down on a love seat, held a knife to her throat and bit her nose.
Hart later recanted her statement, saying that she took too much Trazodone - a drug used to treat depression - and couldn't remember her written statement to police.
The N.C. charges were dismissed, and Lee pled guilty to a lesser offence, resisting a police officer, on the kidnapping charge.
Before the October arrest, Lee served time in prison at least twice and was convicted of crimes including assault with a deadly weapon, common law robbery, receiving stolen goods, assault inflicting serious injury and receiving or possessing explosives, the N.C. Department of Corrections Web site states.
Melissa Radcliff, executive director of the Chapel Hill Family Violence Prevention Center, said it is not unusual for a woman who has been abused to recant her statement or refuse to press charges.
"Sometimes people call the police because they want an immediate response," she said. "They may have wanted the abuse to stop, but they might not have wanted the person to go to jail."
Whitted said he has heard Hart and Lee scuffle before, but he didn't call the police because nothing sounded out of the ordinary. He also said Hart usually was friendly.
Radcliff stressed that it is important for women who are being abused to know there are resources available to help them.
The charge against Lee marks only the third murder arrest in Chapel Hill in the past five years.
The last murder charges in the town were filed in May against Adam Sapikowski, then 16, who is accused of shooting his parents.
Jimmy Ray Goldston Jr. was convicted of shooting DeMarcus Smith to death in June 2004 - the first murder in Chapel Hill in two years.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/31/06 5:00am)
Development of a small-area plan to extend services to residences on Rogers Road did not advance Thursday despite much discussion at a meeting of its three governing bodies.
The area falls under the planning jurisdictions of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, the Carrboro Board of Aldermen and the Chapel Hill Town Council.
The three bodies gathered at the Assembly of Goverments meeting to discuss the contested site and other issues pertaining to the three.
A small-area plan could bring the much-needed resources and infrastructure to the neighborhood and a proposed affordable housing site nearby, but no clear consensus was reached by the entities on how to proceed.
Residents of the area along Rogers Road, between Eubanks and Homestead roads and next to the county landfill, long have struggled to obtain standard services such as sewer and clean water.
Council member Mark Kleinschmidt said residents on Rogers Road have waited long enough to get the services they need, and Chapel Hill will proceed with the development of the plan with or without the other municipalities.
After making similar comments throughout the meeting, Kleinschmidt's final message for the other officials was, "Come on board. July 1, the party's starting. If you don't want to come on board, we're starting without you."
Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy, who facilitated the meeting, clarified that Chapel Hill is suggesting - not insisting - that the council create a plan that encompasses only the areas under the town's jurisdiction.
He said if Carrboro and the county are interested in broadening the plan to include their land, the town is willing to do that.
Plans already are in the works to extend services to residents living on the west side of Rogers Road, a site recently annexed into Carrboro.
Another issue pertaining to the tract is the fact that none of the three municipalities have paid for the land. County manager John Link said he will document the costs owed by the county and the towns, so they can begin discussing payment plans.
Also at Thursday's meeting, the assembly heard an update on the need for improved facilities and program support for the Inter-Faith Council for Social Services.
The IFC has expressed the need for a new site for the men's shelter and has been considering a site on Millhouse Road off Homestead Road.
Ann Henley, vice president of the IFC's board of directors, asked the assembly for help in two ways - securing a site for the men's shelter and forming two committees to help the council move beyond the planning stage and into action.
"This is a community issue, and we all need to sit down and work on it together," she said.
Both requests were approved by the assembly, and the IFC now will submit a formal petition to all three governments.
Each committee will include one official and one staff member. One committee will focus on finding a site and funding for the men's facility, and one will help with renovations to or relocation of an administrative, crisis intervention and food service management building.
The assembly also briefly discussed the possibility of housing the new men's facility at the site of the Southern Human Services Center on Homestead Road.
The commissioners plan to update the other governments and the council on the feasibility of that idea as the site's master plan progresses.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/27/06 5:00am)
New details about the March 3 incident in which UNC alumnus Mohammad Reza Taheri-Azar, 22, drove an SUV through the Pit were revealed at a hearing in District Court in Hillsborough on Friday.
Judge Joe Buckner found probable cause to pursue charges of nine counts of attempted first degree murder, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, inflicting serious injury and four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.
Taheri-Azar, the Tehran, Iran, native who has confessed to hitting nine people with a rented Jeep in the incident, silently read the Quran throughout the hearing.
He continues to be held in Central Prison in Raleigh with $5.5 million bail. If convicted, he could face about 150 years in prison.
District Attorney Jim Woodall called six witnesses during the hearing - freshman Alex Slater, a student who was hit by the car; junior Bernard Holloway, sophomore Brian Seymour and freshman Jennifer Bellis, who witnessed the incident; Ross Barbee, the patrol officer who first responded to the scene; and Matthew Dodson, the investigating officer from the Department of Public Safety. Public Defender James Williams chose not to call any witnesses.
Woodall said the case now will go before a grand jury, most likely on April 1.
After the hearing, Taheri-Azar's sister Laila Taheri-Azar read a statement on behalf of the family.
"We've been shocked, angry, frustrated but most of all sad," she said.
While crying, Laila Taheri-Azar told a swarm of reporters that her brother always has been a kind, gentle, polite and loving person.
Laila Taheri-Azar, who wore her brother's 2005 class ring, said he was dedicated to his studies and that he was applying to graduate schools.
Mohammad Taheri-Azar, who grew up in Charlotte, graduated from the University in December 2005 with bachelor's degrees in psychology and philosophy.
A letter to authorities that detailed his reasons for the attack, however, stated that he was not interested in continuing his academic studies. The letter was read at the hearing.
"I do not wish to pursue my career as a student any further because I have no desire to amass the impermanent and temporary fame and material wealth that this world has to offer," the letter reads. "However, I made the decision to continue my studies and graduate from the University at Chapel Hill so the world will know that Allah's servants are very intelligent."
The family statement revealed that Mohammad Taheri-Azar has limited comprehension of Farsi, a major Persian dialect in Iran, and speaks no Arabic.
Laila Taheri-Azar described her brother as "a giver, not a taker," and someone who enjoys fishing, camping and NASCAR.
She said that she and her family and friends were surprised by the incident in the Pit and that they learned about it from the media like everyone else.
Laila Taheri-Azar closed by apologizing to those affected by the incident.
"His current actions and words are as much a source of shock and distress to us as they are to you," she said.
Taheri-Azar's mother, who thus far has declined comment, was in Afghanistan during the incident.
During the hearing, Taheri-Azar's motives for the attack were spelled out clearly.
Dodson testified that Taheri-Azar volunteered that he had committed the act to avenge the deaths of Muslims in other countries.
After his arrest, he was taken to DPS headquarters on South Campus, where FBI officials decided Dodson should conduct the first interview because of the statements Taheri-Azar already had made to him.
Dodson read the bulk of the transcript aloud. In the interview, Taheri-Azar told Dodson that he had been planning the attack for several months and that he hoped he had succeeded in killing people.
When asked about a folding knife and pepper spray found in the rented jeep, Taheri-Azar said he might have stabbed people if he had been stopped in the Pit.
In the letter, which officers found after he consented to having his Carrboro apartment searched, Taheri-Azar stated that he wanted to shoot people but that he was unable to obtain a gun.
"I would instead use a handgun to murder the citizens and residents of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, but the process of receiving a permit for a handgun in this city is highly restricted and out of my reach at present, most likely due to my foreign nationality."
During the interview and in the letter Taheri-Azar emphasized that the attack was premeditated and was completed on behalf of Allah as justified by the Quran.
After the hearing Woodall said the statements indicated that Taheri-Azar fully understood his actions.
Laila Taheri-Azar's assertion that her brother has a polite and friendly demeanor also was confirmed by Dodson's testimony.
Dodson said he was polite and smiling while in police custody.
Williams, who was appointed earlier in the month to defend Taheri-Azar, asked Dodson if Taheri-Azar's reaction to the incident struck him as inappropriate.
Dodson responded that it did, adding that Taheri-Azar was smiling and laughing when he talked about hitting people with the car.
When asked after the hearing if he thought the defense was setting up grounds for an insanity plea, Woodall said he would not discuss it at this point but said, "Things like that are always possibilities."
Woodall said he has had preliminary discussions with federal authorities and that he does not believe Taheri-Azar will face federal terrorism charges.
More state charges remain a possibility.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/24/06 5:00am)
A neighborhood that long has grappled with its identity as both a permanent home for longtime Chapel Hill residents and a temporary spot for students during their time at UNC took a step toward solidifying itself as the former on Monday.
Roger Waldon of Clarion Associates submitted recommendations to the Chapel Hill planning board for making Pine Knolls a neighborhood conservation district. Among the recommendations is banning the construction of more duplexes.
Conservation districts are designed to preserve historic aspects of a neighborhood's character through a set of zoning ordinances.
This is not the first time the words "duplex ban" have been uttered in the town. From 2002 to 2004 the Chapel Hill Town Council issued a similar ban, thus limiting available rental properties.
Senior Tom Jensen, a planning board member, said this particular restriction is one that's hard for him to accept. "There already is such a problem with affordable housing in Chapel Hill, so anything that would make it harder for students to find affordable housing I'd have a hard time supporting."
Advocates of the ban say it is not designed to keep students out but to deter developers from changing too drastically the neighborhood feel.
"I don't think it will impact the students that are currently living here; it will only impact future development," said Damita Hicks, neighborhood resident and president of the Pine Knolls Community Center.
Waldon said that Pine Knolls has a variety of homes, but that the construction of large duplexes would significantly alter the neighborhood's feel.
"The structures were out of character and out of scale with the character of the neighborhood," he said.
"Prohibiting additional duplexes will help keep the character of the neighborhood in tact."
Other recommendations for Pine Knolls include a maximum home size, restrictions on how much front-yard space is usable for parking and restrictions on the ratio of bedrooms to bathrooms in units with not more than two unrelated persons.
Waldon said the bathroom restriction is to keep developers from building rooming houses without following proper procedure.
"It doesn't mean people won't be renting houses by the room, but it helps prevent structures being built for that explicit purpose," he said.
Jensen said he thinks the bedroom-bathroom ratio is the kind of compromise students and their neighbors should be able to reach.
"I think it's a much better way to deal with it," he said.
Waldon's recommendations did not include an exemption for Lincoln Center, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools' administrative building, which is within the proposed district.
The school board has discussed turning the building back into a school and likely will seek exemption from the council.
The planning board will discuss the recommendations at 7 p.m. April 4 at Town Hall.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/24/06 5:00am)
Students in the journalism class at Smith Middle School learned a First Amendment lesson the hard way Thursday.
School officials confiscated the March issue of the school newspaper, "The Cyclone Scoop," because of a story about students charged with assault relating to an incident on a school bus.
Another contentious story reported about the school's public display of affection policy and quotes a male student who received after-school detention for violating the rule.
Principal Valerie Reinhardt said the paper was confiscated to protect the students' confidentiality.
One eighth-grade male involved in the bus incident is listed as a newspaper staffer and is pictured.
Reinhardt said those facts do not necessarily mean he knew the article would be published.
"I'm not trying to assume that it was gathered inappropriately, I just don't know that students knew that they were being quoted for the paper," she said.
Reinhardt added that she also was concerned that the parents of the students in the articles might not have been aware of the stories.
In Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, the Supreme Court opened the door to censoring student publications by ruling that high school students do not have the same First Amendment protections as adults. The court never defined how the 1988 ruling applies to other levels of education.
Assistant Principal David Lyons made the decision to stop distribution before all 500 issues were out because Reinhardt was not in the building. Neither Lyons nor journalism teacher Becky Burke could be reached for comment late Thursday afternoon.
Alarmed at the events at his school, Jacob Hoerger, an eighth-grader, sent an e-mail to The (Raleigh) News & Observer.
Hoerger, who writes for the Cyclone, said he was upset that the newspaper was taken away.
"I thought it wasn't fair because we had worked really hard on it, and we had learned about freedom of the press in social studies, and you can't just censor something like that," he said.
The incident is raising concern among members of the journalism community outside the school.
"I'm disappointed," said journalism professor Chris Roush, who helps print the paper for the school.
"This is supposed to be a real-world situation for these journalism students, and the student who wrote both of these stories took great care to write this in a very objective way and to not portray his fellow students in a negative light."
The incident is being investigated by district officials, and no action has been taken against the writer or the journalism teacher.
Stephanie Knott, assistant to the superintendent for community relations, said parents of the students involved will be notified, and the district will contact the Student Press Law Center in Virginia for advice.
Mark Goodman, executive director of the center, said he's eager to help address the issue.
"We're here to find a way to ensure that the student message gets out, but everyone stays on the right side of the law, and we'd certainly be happy to help them do that," he said.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/21/06 5:00am)
The Orange County Board of Education held a public hearing Monday night about transferring the future site of Gravelly Hill Middle School to the county, so that the district could receive sales tax refunds on construction expenses.
No one showed up to speak at the public hearing, so the school board moved into its regularly scheduled meeting.
During the regular meeting the board approved the land transfer.
Improving curriculum
(03/20/06 5:00am)
More new buildings might spring up on campus if the Chapel Hill Town Council approves changes to UNC's development plan, which was submitted to the town Wednesday.
At the top of the list of changes are proposals for an expanded dental science building, a new facility for the School of Information and Library Sciences and a replacement of Davie Hall, home to the psychology department.
The proposal marks the third time the University has submitted modifications to the development plan - changes were approved by the council in 2003 and 2004.
The latest modifications would cost approximately $600 million and would result in a net increase of roughly one million square feet.
Other proposed changes include putting fewer parking spaces in the future Bell Tower deck, adding more parking spaces to Craige parking deck, constructing a centralized imaging center and renovating Kenan Stadium.
Bruce Runberg, associate vice chancellor of facilities planning and construction, said he is optimistic that the changes will be approved.
"They're important, particularly for research and for academic reasons," he said.
"Therefore, I would hope that the town, the various boards that review this modification and the council would be receptive to these changes."
Under town zoning regulations, the council must review concept plans for changes to the development plan before the formal application is submitted.
The development plan is tied to the UNC Master Plan - the plan for development over the next several decades.
Runberg said he thinks the projects were designed in a way that will appeal to the council's interests.
"Traffic and transportation has always been a concern of the council," he said.
"There would be a zero net increase in parking, so that would be a positive about this packet of projects."
Runberg said he is particularly excited about the new School of Dentistry building and the construction of three genomics research buildings near the Bell Tower.
A smaller building for the School of Dentistry already was approved, but the new proposed facility would add approximately 175,000 square feet - allowing the school to increase enrollment by 50 percent.
John Williams, dean of the dental school, said expansion is important for the school and the profession. "It's something that has become a very critical need because we have a shortage of dentists practicing in underserved areas in the state."
The new building would expand classroom facilities and preclinical labs where students simulate patient care.
The new building also would give the school room to expand its research.
"We currently have a research facility which is 40 years old and has outlived its usefulness," Williams said.
No timeline has been set for the projects, but Runberg said designs could be complete within 12 months to 18 months after funding is obtained.
Construction could begin then.
The University will have to seek outside funding for the projects.
An information session for anyone who would be affected by those developments will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the University's facilities office, off Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
The council will begin reviewing the proposed changes April 19.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(03/20/06 5:00am)
School boards across the state celebrated a small victory Tuesday in its efforts to stop a new state law requiring children to undergo a comprehensive eye exam before starting kindergarten.
Wake County superior court Judge Leon Stanback signed a preliminary injunction against the legislation.
A lawsuit filed by the N.C. School Boards Association and joined by 87 boards, including Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Orange County, asked that the law be declared unconstitutional, stating that the law denies children free public education and creates an unreasonable barrier to access to public schools.
The injunction marks an agreement between Ann Majestic, the lawyer for the association; Michael Byrne, the lawyer for William Andrew Cook III, a parent who filed suit independently; and Attorney General Roy Cooper, who represents the state in the case.
Signed by Stanback, the order will keep the law from taking effect until July 2007, giving the N.C. General Assembly time to debate whether it wants to repeal the law.
Under the measure, children would have to be examined by a N.C. optometrist or ophthalmologist within six months of starting kindergarten.
Concern about the law stemmed from the idea that the cost of the exam would deter potential students from enrolling in school.
"I'm really pleased that the courts intervened right now," said Randy Copeland, chairman of the county school board.
"Some children have needs when they come to these schools, but to make everyone go to the doctor . it's just ridiculous."
Lisa Stuckey, chairwoman of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education, also said she is pleased about the injunction.
The lawsuit will be put on hold until after the assembly closes its short session in the fall.
Byron Nelson, spokesman for the school board association, said he expects the association to continue to lobby against the law.
"The current law must be repealed; it's unacceptable," he said.
If the law is not repealed, Nelson said Majestic is prepared to go forward with the lawsuit.
For local school boards, the back-and-forth means one more year before they might have to consider ways to deal with the effects of the law.
"I think right now we are in a wait-and-see mode in terms of what the legislature decides to do," Stuckey said.
Copeland said he expects individual members of the county school board to lobby against the law so the lawsuit might no longer be necessary.
As for what school boards on the state level will be doing, Nelson said he believes the association has strong support among leadership in the Senate.
Still he said convincing the assembly to repeal the law will be difficult - "I think we'll all have to work very hard to get it repealed."
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.
(02/28/06 5:00am)
The Orange County Board of County Commissioners voted to hold a public hearing on the construction plans for county schools' alternative school open, after the project drew harsh words from nearby residents on Monday.
Granting a special-use permit would authorize construction of a 3,600-square-foot building for the school on a 20.8-acre tract at the intersection of N.C. 86 and Storey Lane, near A.L. Stanback Middle School.
Robert Davis, planning supervisor for the Orange County planning department and developer Mike Hammersley of Corley Redfoot & Zach Inc. presented the commissioners with an abundance of evidence in support of approval including environmental and traffic impact reports.
The plan has received continued support from the county, but phase two of the project, which would add four tennis courts and a softball field, sparked criticism from residents.
Sally Logan, who lives behind the proposed softball field, said residents living behind Stanback before it was constructed were assured a tree buffer would be left between their houses and the baseball field.
No such buffer was left, and Logan said she is concerned that the same thing will happen by her house, causing noise and safety problems.
"We've chosen to live in the woods, and now you're going to cut down the woods," she said.
Similarly, neighboring resident Meg McKeen said after the deforestation of Stanback she began to hear noise from Interstate 40 above the noise of children at the nearby school.
McKeen said she was concerned that this problem would be magnified if further deforestation was required in the area.
Superintendent Shirley Carraway told the commissioners that building the school - not having athletic facilities - is the district's primary concern and the only part of special-use permit already included in the budget. "What we need is phase one," she said. "We need our alternative school."
The commissioners ultimately decided that phase two would have to be struck from the plan before they would be able to vote for approval.
After Hammersly accepted that condition, commissioner Moses Carey Jr. stressed to the public that the commissioners consider construction of a permanent building for the alternative school, meant for students who do not fit into the traditional classroom environment, a public necessity.
The commissioners decided to hold the public hearing open until their regularly scheduled meeting on March 21 when they likely will vote on approval of the permit.
Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.