Serving the students and the University community since 1893
The Daily Tar Heel
VOLUME 116, ISSUE 41
LET THE RAIN FALL
by anika anand
staff writer
Multicolored umbrellas shielding the new
UNC graduates interrupted the usual sea of
Carolina blue at Sunday’s commencement.
The poor weather initially created some
confusion among UNC administrators, grad-
uates and parents. The ceremony, scheduled
to begin at 9:30 a.m., was pushed back to 10
a.m.
But students were undeterred as they stood
outside the entrance gates of Kenan Stadium
waiting to be officially named UNC alumni.
“This sucks,” senior Elliot Greenwald said,
“But it’s okay … we’ve had good enough weath-
er for the past four years to make up for it.”
In the first words of the last speech he made
as UNC’s chancellor, James Moeser said, “I
will always identify with the class of 2008, for
I am graduating with you.”
But even in the rainy weather, Moeser kept
a sense of humor.
“This may be the shortest commencement
exercise in the history of the University,” he
said, followed by cheers and laughter from an
www.dailytarheel.com
anxious audience of about 15,000.
He moved directly into the conferral of
degrees and gave new graduates some last
words of wisdom.
“Graduates, this is my charge to you and to
myself as well: Let us heed the magic, let us
take one more deep drink from the Old Well —
listen to the call, answer the bell and, as often
as we can, let us come home again.”
Other speakers, including the commence-
ment speaker, opera singer Jessye Norman,
were scheduled to speak at the commence-
ment exercises but did not due to the weather
and the shortened ceremony.
Norman was one of four to be awarded hon-
orary degrees by the University. She received a
doctorate of music before the ceremony.
Senior Class President Ashley Shores offi-
cially inducted her classmates as UNC alumni
with the moving of their tassels from right to
left.
Shores went on to honor Eve Carson and
her love for the University. “Eve’s passion for
this place, … for all things Carolina, was over-
powering and so infectious that you could not
thursday, may 15, 2008
dth/Rachel Rodemann
help but be more excited about life’s possibili-
ties in her presence.”
Eve Carson was awarded post mortem a
degree with highest honors. Other students
remembered and honored Carson by donning
an “EVE” pin on their graduation gowns.
“I’m wearing this because Eve should be
here right now,” senior Shefali Chudgar said.
“We are all thinking about her today.”
The UNC Clef Hangers also sang James
Taylor’s “Carolina In My Mind.”
After less than 20 minutes, the ceremony
ended with graduates singing and swaying to
“Hark the Sound.” The commencement cer-
emony typically can last up to two hours.
“I’m proud to be a Carolina graduate,”
senior Kate Cunningham said. “And today’s
weather just didn’t matter. It’s really just about
the Carolina spirit.”
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893
The Daily Tar Heel
VOLUME 116, ISSUE 42
Bus victim ‘at her peak’
Family, friends mourn tragic loss
by anika anand
staff writer
Lisa Carolyn Moran came from
Scotland to Chapel Hill to study
law and econom-
ics and enjoy
the picturesque
scenery of UNC’s
campus.
Tr a g i c a l l y,
though, her life
was cut short May
15 when she was
Lisa Carolyn hit by a Chapel
Moran Hill Transit bus
was killed while w h i l e j o g g i n g
jogging on o n M a n n i n g
Drive near South
Manning Drive.
Columbia Street.
Moran’s roommate, Andrea
Trotta, remembers asking Moran
why she would pick Chapel Hill,
of all places, to live.
“Lisa said she just got on UNC’s
Web site and saw how pretty it was
and just fell in love with it,” Trotta
said. “She knew she had to go.”
www.dailytarheel.com
Trotta said she was shocked and
saddened when she found out, but
she said she enjoys reliving their
memories together.
Though her exams ended at
the beginning of May, Moran had
planned to stay on so she could do
some traveling.
Trotta said Moran was excited
about going to New York for the
first time and was also trying to
book a trip to Washington, D.C.
Moran loved working out and
was “very athletic despite being
so tiny,” Trotta said. She was a
ski instructor and played squash
in Scotland. The two roommates
often went to the gym together, as
well as UNC basketball and foot-
ball games.
According to Moran’s Facebook.
com profile, she identified herself
as “Tar Heel Faithful.”
A third year law student in
Scotland, Moran spent the past
semester at UNC’s School of Law.
“We are deeply saddened by
this news,” said Jack Boger, dean
of the law school, in a statement.
“Our sincerest condolences go
out to all of her friends and fam-
ily, both here and in her native
Scotland.”
According to The (London)
Telegraph, Moran’s father, Fraser
Moran, said, “Lisa was beautiful;
she was fiercely intelligent, fun-
loving and was having a great
time in America.”
Her parents, Fraser and Carolyn
Moran, travelled from Scotland to
Chapel Hill to bring their daugh-
ter’s body home.
Fraser Moran went on to say
what a terrible loss it was. “She
was at the peak of her powers,” he
is quoted in the article.
Her funeral will be held
Friday with her family in Paisley,
Scotland.
After an investigation into
the accident concluded Tuesday,
police found that Moran had tried
to cross the street where there was
thursday, may 22, 2008
not a designated crosswalk.
She also had been wearing her
iPod headphones while she was
jogging, which might have kept
her from hearing the approaching
bus.
Captain Jackie Carden con-
cluded that “Ms. Moran lost her
footing, causing her to eventually
slide under the bus.”
Moran was taken to UNC
Hospitals, where she later died.
No charges are being filed
against the bus driver, though he
was placed on paid leave as per
standard Chapel Hill Transit pro-
cedure after an accident.
Moran’s death, along with
other pedestrian accidents in the
area, have led local enforcers to
search for new ways to improve
pedestrian safety.
Contact the University Editor
at udesk@unc.edu.
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893
The Daily Tar Heel
VOLUME 116, ISSUE 45
Obama stumps in Raleigh
By Anika Anand
Staff Writer
RALEIGH — As he took the
stage on Monday at the N.C. State
Fairgrounds, Barack Obama was
met with an explosion of applause
and standing ovations.
It was Obama’s first appear-
ance in North Carolina since the
primary, and he took the oppor-
tunity to focus specifically on
the issues, a tactic which many
experts expect to continue in
his campaign against presump-
tive Republican nominee John
McCain.
His speech marked the begin-
ning of a two-week national tour
titled “Change That Works for
You.”
Although Gov. Mike Easley
originally endorsed Hillar y
Clinton, when he introduced
Obama, he said, “I know I’m late,
but I am on the train.”
“I’d rather be a bum in the
boxcar on the Obama train than
on the front of the bus with John
McCain,” he said.
www.dailytarheel.com
Newly-announced Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke
on the national economy Monday at the N.C. Fairgrounds in Raleigh.
Easley pointed out that milk
and gasoline are roughly the same
price per gallon, setting the stage
for Obama’s speech on America’s
economic concerns.
The event was only open to cam-
paign staff, advocacy groups and
the press, and 1,500 were present.
Luke Lanier, a student at Emory
and Henry College in Virginia,
stood outside selling political but-
tons hoping to get a chance to go
inside.
As a summer job, Lanier works
for a memorabilia Web site trailing
the Democratic debates across the
country.
“Hillary is brilliant and artic-
ulates her message well. She
is more precise and descrip-
tive than Obama,” he said.
“But, Obama is a better orator. He
knows how to get the crowd excit-
ed,” he said.
Obama will need to get the
N.C. crowds quite excited come
November, experts say. The last
time the traditionally conserva-
tive state voted for a Democrat
dth/Anika Anand
was in 1976 when Jimmy Carter
was elected.
Obama’s speech in Raleigh
comes at a critical time in the
election, as economic issues such
as the rising unemployment rate
and the price of oil are affecting a
greater number of Americans.
“You don’t have to read the
stock tickers or scan the headlines
in the financial section to under-
stand the seriousness of the situ-
ation we’re in right now,” Obama
said.
Obama did not jump to blame
the president for the economic cli-
mate.
“I understand that the chal-
lenges facing our economy didn’t
start the day George Bush took
office and they won’t end the day
he leaves … We live in a more
competitive world, and that is a
fact that cannot be reversed,” he
said.
Linda Bnelans of Durham said
she liked Obama’s specificity.
“It’s important for me to begin
to hear specifics,” she said, “and
thursday, june 12, 2008
that’s definitely what I heard
today.”
Obama also offered tuition
subsidies to students in exchange
for community or national service
upon graduation.
“If you invest in America,
America will invest in you,” he
said.
Obama spoke to the criticism
of his economic policies that he
has faced from Republicans.
“Every single proposal that I’ve
made in this campaign is paid for
– because I believe in pay-as-you-
go,” he said.
Elwood Becton of Raleigh said
Obama’s plan is very ambitious.
“There’s no doubt about it,
things are tough right now,” he
said. “But Obama gives us hope
for a brighter future, that things
will get better.”
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893
The Daily Tar Heel
VOLUME 116, ISSUE 91
Fundraiser contributes to Zanzibar scholarships
UNC students fund girls’ educations
By ANIKA ANAND
Staff Writer
Sophomores Bryanna Schwartz
and Katherine Novinski remem-
ber the moment they first met
15-year-old Shemsa this summer
in Zanzibar, Tanzania.
“When she walked in, we knew
we were going to choose her right
away,” Schwartz said.
Twenty-two girls in Zanzibar
vied for scholarships from UNC’s
nonprofit organization Students for
Students International. The money
the girls received would provide
them with four years of secondary
school education and give them the
opportunity to be competitive in the
career world.
With limited scholarships avail-
able, Schwartz and Novinski car-
ried the responsibility of choosing
the recipients from a pool of dis-
tinguished applicants. For these
scholars, it only costs $295 a year
to sponsor one girl’s secondary edu-
cation.
Schwartz and Novinski said
that in her interview last summer
Shemsa spoke confidently with
a big smile on her face about her
future goals of becoming a doctor.
She did not mention the fact that
her family still lives in Pemba, a
small island near Zanzibar, and
that they use most of the family
income to pay for her to reside in
a Zanzibar hostel. It was important
to Shemsa’s family that she get the
best education possible.
After their trip to Zanzibar,
Schwartz and Novinski realized
how much $295 could change
Shemsa and nine other girls’
lives.
S4Si holds fundraisers through-
out the year to help raise money
for the scholarships. S4Si spon-
sored one such event — a swing
monday, october 13, 2008
www.dailytarheel.com
dance — Friday in the Great Hall
of the Student Union. The event,
The duo were not only impressed
by the young scholars’ academic
“Your decision
which 135 people attended, raised work but also by their way of life.
Schwartz said that after visiting
determines whether
$884 toward the scholarships.
S4Si focuses on young women Africa, she learned to appreciate or not they get that
because of the growing disparity the girls’ work ethic, humility and
between men’s and women’s edu- simplicity. extra push. It’s
cation. Women often are perceived
by society as “future mothers”
“It’s so hard because all these
girls are telling you these amaz-
incredibly hard.”
and are not given priority when it ing things they want to do in
BRYANNA SCHWARTZ, S4SI
comes to family finances. their future, and all they need is
“If given the decision to send a that extra little push,” Schwartz
boy or a girl to school, a family is said. “Your decision determines
going to send their son,” Novinski whether or not they get that extra
said. push. It’s incredibly hard.”
Schwartz and Novinski
reviewed applications from the Contact the Features Editor
highest-achieving schools in at features@unc.edu.
Zanzibar. They gauged the girls’
academic achievement and com-
mitment to the community, inter-
viewing them in English, their
second language.
They also took into consid-
eration the girls’ family situa-
tions in terms of financial status
and responsibilities around the
home.
“Choosing the scholars made me
realize how much of an impact S4Si
really has,” Schwartz said. “You can
be on campus raising money, but
until you actually see it,  you can’t
really realize how much these girls
are getting out of the scholarship
and how much it really changes
their lives.”
After Zanzibarian students fin-
ish their secondary education, they
have to pass a national exam to
take more advanced courses. They
also must pay for textbooks, sup-
plies and extra classes’ tuition.
Despite coming from a finan-
Courtesy of Bryanna Schwartz
cially poor background and living
away from her family, Shemsa Bryanna Schwartz, a member of the S4Si fundrasing committee, talks
scored at the top of her class on with potential scholarship recipients at a girls’ school in Zanzibar.
the national exams, Schwartz
said.
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893
The Daily Tar Heel
VOLUME 116, ISSUE 117
Student EMTs stage accident
By Anika Anand
Staff Writer
Senior Jenna Brooks rushed to a
bleeding girl who had fallen over on
her bike in the middle of the Pit.
But she stopped worrying when
she realized it wasn’t real.
Students in an Emergency
Medical Technician training pro-
gram staged the accident, complete
with fake blood and broken bones,
in hopes of gaining student interest
in their program.
The trained students demonstrat-
ed their skills handling emergencies
for passersby, checking the girl’s
vitals, putting her in a neck brace and
carrying her off on a backboard.
Brooks, who is trained in first
aid and CPR because of her job at
Rams Head Recreation Center, was
the only student to attempt to help
the girl, besides the EMTs.
“When something like that hap-
pens, it’s hard to take the first step
and respond,” Brooks said.
But if the demonstration’s orga-
nizers, Darshan Patel and Cameron
Lambert, get their way, more stu-
dents will be trained to take action.
Both are instructors of the
University’s EMT-Basic class that is
taught in conjunction with Durham
Technical Community College.
Lambert said he realized the
importance of medical training
when he and two other UNC stu-
dent EMTs were on scene after
Mohammad Taheri-Azar drove
an SUV through the Pit in 2006,
injuring nine people.
Lambert said one of the student
EMTs was the first person to call
the ambulance.
“He was able to communicate
well with the dispatcher. He told
him what type of condition the vic-
tims were in and what resources he
needed to send,” Lambert said.
“After that, we made a goal that
if something like this did happen
again, we could have 20 people in
thursday, november 20, 2008
www.dailytarheel.com
the area who would know what to
do.”
Patel and Lambert hope to achieve
that goal by adding a third EMT
class at UNC. They said the only
prerequisites for the course are to be
University-affiliated, to be 18 years
old and to have a driver’s license.
Lambert, the current president
of the Association for Carolina
Emergency Response and Injury
Prevention, said the organization
was founded at UNC in 2005 and
has since trained more than 320
students.
Students are trained to treat
patients with first aid for trauma,
back grounding, hemorrhage con-
trol and splinting. He said EMT
Basics also can respond to medical
calls from people with diabetes and
respiratory problems.
Sophomore Genevieve Kelly
took the class this semester and
served as the practice dummy for
the Pit demonstration.
“I’m currently pre-med and so I
wanted to get my feet wet by tak-
ing some classes to see if I was cut
out for medicine and trauma,” she
said. dth/Anika Anand
“But you don’t have to have
any medical background experi- Andrew Lu (right) stabilizes Genevieve Kelly’s head as fellow class-
ence, we even have some English mates Shane Broyhill (left) and Brett Weed assist as part of the
majors,” Patel said. Emergency Medical Technician response to a staged bicycle accident
Ricky Hurtado, who watched in the Pit.
the demonstration from a nearby
table, said he thought it was real at
first. He said it helped him recog-
nize the importance of being able
to help someone and that he would
consider becoming an EMT.
“It was a good way to bring the
issue to the surface,” he said. “Too
many people sit and watch and
don’t know how to react because
they are afraid. Preparedness is
really important.”
Contact the Features Editor
at features@unc.edu
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893

The Daily Tar Heel

VOLUME 117, ISSUE 10 friday, march 6, 2009
www.dailytarheel.com

DTH/Philip Freeman
Four-year-old Tommy Osborne helps musician Dawn Graff play “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” at the N.C. Children’s Hospital on
Wednesday. Graff volunteers with Door to Door, a group that provides music and entertainment to patients staying in UNC Hospitals.

MUSICAL HEALING
Program brings the arts to hospital rooms
By ANIKA ANAND
Staff Writer
Four year-old Tommy Osborne
broke his gaze from the hospital
room television screen as Dawn
Graff entered the room with a
shiny guitar.
“Do you want to hear a song,
Tommy?” Graff asked as she
leaned the guitar on the edge of
the bed.
While she marked the chords
for “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,”
Tommy eagerly strummed the gui-
tar strings. His parents watched
with smiles.
“He really loves music,”
Osborne’s mother said.
Graff, a local musician, per-
forms through the Door to Door
Program at UNC Hospitals. The
program, founded 14 years ago,
brings performers to hospital
patients’ rooms.
“I just think the arts belong in
the hospitals,” program coordina-
tor and founder Joy Javits said.
Graff has been working with
the Door to Door program for the
past five years. Once, Graff visited
a 2 year-old burn victim who was
crying inconsolably.
Then Graff played a few notes
of a nursery rhyme on her key-
board — and the child immedi-
ately stopped crying, Graff said.
“I have this great faith in the
power of music and the arts,” she
said. “But to actually witness it
with such a dramatic transforma-
tion was very moving.”
Graff is also deeply involved in
local music organizations, per-
forming at assisted living centers
in Chapel Hill and teaching music
lessons to children in Apex.
“It’s better than doing 40 hours
of the same job,” Graff said. “It
keeps my job interesting.”
When she plays music at the
assisted living homes, older resi-
dents — who sometimes cannot
remember their own name or birth-
day — will jump up and do a perfect
dance step and sing every word to
the songs, Graff said.
“I’ve seen these reactions of
patients that have made me
believe in music’s healing power,”
she said.
But at the hospital, there’s still
a moment of apprehension before
she opens a door.
“You don’t know how old
they’re going to be, what their
particular medical crisis might
be,” Graff said. “You just need to
be prepared for anyone in any cir-
cumstance.”
To volunteer with the program,
you must have a big heart and the
ability to be spontaneous, Graff
and Javits said.
Graff said she feels privileged
to be able to share her talent.
“It just seems like a calling,”
she said. “I really feel like I’m sup-
posed to be doing this, and I’d like
to be doing more of it.”
At the end of her day, Graff
played “Somewhere Over The
Rainbow” for 10-year-old Lindsay
Suckow. A few chords into the song,
a small smile crept up on her face as
she held a doll. Suckow’s mother’s
face lit up too.
“We’ve had a rough day,” she
said. “This is the first time I’ve
seen her smile in a few days, and
it’s really nice.”
Contact the Features Editor
at features@unc.edu.
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893
The Daily Tar Heel
VOLUME 117, ISSUE 31
Indoor smoking ban threatens hookah
By Anika Anand
Staff Writer
When a bill banning indoor
smoking was presented to the N.C.
House of Representatives, Adam
Bliss knew he had to act immedi-
ately.
Bliss opened Hookah Bliss two
years ago, and the bill, which bans
indoor smoking in all public and
work places, could put his hookah
bar out of business.
Soon after the bill was intro-
duced, Bliss met with local repre-
sentatives to present his case. His
bar, and about 20 other hookah
bars in the state, are dependent on
indoor smoking, he said.
His efforts so far have been
rewarded with an exemption to the
House bill. Before the bill passed,
an exemption was added for bars
and institutions that require cus-
tomers to be 18 or older.
But the bill isn’t guaranteed to
pass in the Senate with the exemp-
tion still attached.
North Carolina restaurant own-
ers, who largely were not speaking
out before, now pose the most vocal
opposition to the bill.
Owners of some restaurants that
stay open as bars after hours oppose
the exemption because they would
lose their smoking customers to
bars that could allow smoking.
A few doors down from Hookah
Bliss, Donna Linford, manager of
Ham’s in Chapel Hill, said she does
not think it’s fair for bars to have an
exemption for the smoking ban.
“I think it should be the same
policies for everyone,” she said.
“Either way it’s a person’s choice to
go out and it’s a person’s choice to
smoke,” she said.
Bliss thinks it should be business
owners, not lawmakers, who decide
tuesday, april 14, 2009
www.dailytarheel.com
who can smoke where, he said.
“And then people will vote with
their pocketbooks,” Bliss said. “If
people don’t want to go into a place
with smoking, they won’t go and
business will drop.”
Bliss feels as if he has become
the hookah lobbyist for the state,
he said.
But some N.C. lawmakers are
more concerned about citizens’
health than social pastime.
The bill has yet to be heard
in committee meetings before it
reaches a Senate vote.
N.C. Senate President Pro
Tempore Marc Basnight, D-Dare,
said he doesn’t support the exemp-
tion.
His spokesman, Schorr Johnson,
said Basnight believed smoking
should be banned in all public
work places. The senator said he
is approaching the bill with public
health in mind.
Bliss is ready to fight.
“Now that it’s in the Senate, I’m
dth/ Bethany Nuechterlein
just going to have to do the same
thing again and meet with some of Hookah Bliss, a hookah bar
the senators,” he said. located on Franklin Street, will
N.C. Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange, have to shut down if a new
supported the exemption because indoor smoking ban passes.
the exemption of cigar bars already
had been made, she said.
She expects some in the senate
to oppose the exemption, but she is
sure the bill will pass in some form
or another.
“We didn’t intend to put anyone
out of business with this bill,” she
said, in reference to hookah bars.
“That was not our goal and that’s
why we are making this exemp-
tion.”
Contact the Features Editor
at features@unc.edu.
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893

The Daily Tar Heel

VOLUME 117, ISSUE 35 monday, april 20, 2009
www.dailytarheel.com

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

dth/Jarrard Cole
Riley Matheson, the leader of Youth for Western Civilization, stands on the steps of South Building. The new campus organization has
recently sparked controversy by sponsoring a lecture by former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, which was cut short after protesting got out of
hand.
By Anika Anand cially recognized this semester, is together, which is why YWC Washington, D.C., after gradua-
Staff Writer a national cultural organization doesn’t like the idea of diversity tion, Matheson said he is interest-
Riley Matheson has always been that focuses on the preservation because it doesn’t draw people ed in teaching high school Latin.
interested in politics but never of Western culture from a politi- together, it separates them.” “For someone with my political
wanted to be in the political spot- cal front, Matheson said. Matheson’s friend Tristram views, what could be better than
light. Now, privacy is harder to come He said the basis of his right- Thomas, who worked on the local teaching the language of Western
by for the president and founder of wing views stem from his tradi- campaign for Barack Obama, said civilization to fellow Westerners?”
the new campus organization Youth tional Roman Catholic faith and his rather than debating Matheson, he he said.
for Western Civilization. respect for former republican presi- tries to find a common ground that Matheson said he was disap-
Matheson and the rest of his dential candidate Pat Buchanan. will advance the conversation. pointed by last week’s protests,
student group is at the center of “I’ve always considered myself a “I respect Riley because we but he hopes the campus will sup-
a controversial debate sparked Buchanonite,” Matheson said. He share a commitment to wanting port this week’s speaker, former
Tuesday after they sponsored a started reading Buchanan’s books to see our country and local com- Congressman Virgil Goode.
talk by former Congressman Tom at a young age and met the politi- munities improve,” Thomas said. “We’ll be able to test our univer-
Tancredo. The talk was cancelled cian last summer. Matheson said his political sity’s commitment to free speech,”
minutes in after student protes- Matheson may be fairly set in mindset is also influenced by his he said. “I’m expecting UNC stu-
tors clashed with campus police. his views, but he is still close with choice to be a Latin major. He said dents to come out and show that
“I don’t like the fact that every- those who do not share his opin- Latin is important because it has the University isn’t the close-
one knows who I am,” Matheson ions. been the most extensively used minded campus that protestors
said, adding that he still holds fast “The way I handle friendships language throughout Western made it look like last Tuesday.”
to his ideals. “The only reason why with people who disagree with me civilization’s history. For example,
I do this stuff is because I really is similar to my political beliefs,” Shakespeare and Galileo both Contact the Features Editor
believe in it.” he said. wrote in Latin. at features@unc.edu.
Youth for Western Civilization, “Your similarities with people While he has received offers
whose UNC chapter was offi- are the things that draw you to work in political positions in
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893
The Daily Tar Heel
VOLUME 117, ISSUE 54
Castillo found guilty of murder
Jury doesn’t accept insanity defense
by ANIKA ANAND
Assistant City Editor
Alvaro Castillo was sentenced to
life in prison after being convicted
of first-degree murder Friday.
The 22-year-old Orange High
School graduate shot and killed
his father, Rafael Huez Castillo,
and opened fire at his high school
on Aug. 30, 2006 in an effort to
mimic the 1999 Columbine school
shooting.
After close to three weeks of
court hearings, the 12-person jury
deliberated for a little more than
eight hours before deciding Castillo
was not criminally insane, as the
defense had argued.
In a CNN video recorded after
the verdict was announced, Castillo
said, “I shocked and hurt a lot of
people, but that wasn’t my inten-
tion. I simply wanted to help, but
now I realize that what I did was
wrong.”
Attorneys presented evidence,
including videos Castillo had
recorded of himself after shooting
his father and diary entries detail-
ing his plans for a school shooting.
“I must have shot him four or
five times in the head. Nothing
can bring him back. He’s dead …
I’ll show you,” Castillo said in the
video.
While both the defense and
prosecution agreed that Castillo
was mentally ill, jurors had to
decide whether that mental illness
constituted criminal insanity.
“This was a unique case because
it had a very narrow point of
contention and that was, was he
insane at the time he commit-
ted the acts?” District Attorney
Jim Woodall said in an interview.
“Even though we all agreed he was
monday, august 24, 2009
www.dailytarheel.com
The story so far
seriously mentally ill, that falls far April 2006 Alvaro Castillo Oct. 30, 2006 The Orange
short of insanity.” attempts suicide, but his father, County grand jury indicts Castillo
Castillo has opted to receive Rafael Castillo, prevents him from on charges of first-degree murder
mental illness treatment while he is doing so. Castillo is committed and nine other charges.
incarcerated at the N.C. Department to a local mental facility and Spring 2007 Castillo’s mother
of Corrections, Woodall said. released shortly after. helps convince District Attorney
Besides highlighting a history Aug. 30, 2006 Castillo shoots Jim Woodall not to pursue the
of mental illness in Castillo’s fam- and kills his father, then goes to death penalty.
ily, his attorneys, James Williams Orange High School, where he Feb. 18, 2009 Castillo pleads
and Phoebe Dee, also tried to graduated in 2005. He opens fire not guilty by reason of insanity to
defend him by discussing what on students in an outdoor area, all the charges that had been filed
Castillo, his mother, Vicky, and his wounding two. against him.
sister, Victoria, said in testimonies
Aug. 31, 2006 Castillo is also Aug. 3, 2009 Castillo’s trial
about his father’s abusive nature.
charged with having a gun on begins.
“There are a number of things
school property and assault with a
Alvaro did not choose in his life Thursday Lawyers give closing
deadly weapon with intent to kill,
that made him not only who he is arguments.
among other charges.
now, but who he was on Aug. 30,
2006,” Williams said in closing
arguments.
During the hearings, Woodall
said the defense had been quick to
“demonize” Castillo’s father. While
the defense argued the father had
controlling habits such as man-
dating healthy eating, Castillo had
gotten up to 195 pounds, Woodall
said.
“I’m not saying there wasn’t
some physical and emotional
abuse,” Woodall told the jury. “I’m
just asking you to use your com-
mon sense and look at all the facts.
It just doesn’t add up that he’s this
tyrannical person that has been
described.”
Castillo was also found guilty of
nine other charges related to open-
ing fire on school property and
using a sawed-off shotgun.
Senior writer Victoria Stilwell
contributed reporting.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893
The Daily Tar Heel
VOLUME 117, ISSUE 64
Prisons treat mental health
Castillo lawyers debate quality of care
By Anika Anand
Assistant City Editor
Last month, a jury sentenced a
22-year-old killer to life in prison
despite his lawyers’ best efforts to
prove he was not guilty by reason
of insanity.
Both the defense and prosecu-
tion agree that Alvaro Castillo has
a severe mental illness, but they
disagree about whether he will
receive the same level of mental
care in a state hospital versus a
state prison.
In August 2006, Castillo, a
former Orange High School stu-
dent, shot his father to death then
opened fire on his school in an
attempt to recreate the Columbine
High School shootings. A foren-
sic psychiatrist at Dorothea Dix
Hospital testified that Castillo
has a schizoaffective disorder — a
combination of schizophrenia and
www.dailytarheel.com
mood disorders such as bipolar
disorder and depression.
N. C . R e p . Ve r l a I n s k o ,
D-Orange, is the chairwoman
of the assembly health commit-
tee. She said the Department of
Correction coordinates with the
Division of Mental Health to have
more uniform services, but they
aren’t truly uniform.
“I am under the impression that
prison services are not as exten-
sive or intensive as they would be
in a mental hospital,” she said.
About 40,000 are incarcerated
in North Carolina, and about 10
percent are inmates receiving some
level of mental health treatment,
said John Carbone, mental health
section chief for the Division of
Prisons.
“The care isn’t 100 percent syn-
onymous, but when talking about
the level of care, it’s pretty darn
tuesday, september 8, 2009
close,” he said.
Prisons don’t offer electroshock
therapy and specialty care for con-
ditions like anorexia or post trau-
matic stress disorder, he said.
But the real “meat and potatoes”
of treating someone with an ill-
ness like Castillo’s are medications,
Carbone said. The same medica-
tions are offered in both facilities,
and there is no difference in the
frequency of day-to-day therapy,
he said.
Williams said that the prison
environment makes all the differ-
ence in treating someone with a
mental illness and that it’s a major
stretch to put the two on the same
level.
“For a person who has been
convicted of a crime and sen-
tenced to prison, their primary
focus is going to be on punish-
ment and security,” he said.
If Castillo had been found
criminally insane, he would have
been in a secure facility where the
focus would be treating mental
health, said James Williams, his
public defender.
Before the shooting, Castillo
was hospitalized in April 2006
after attempting suicide. His
mother, Vicky Castillo, suffered
from depression and panic attacks
and testified that mental illness
runs in her family.
Castillo will receive the same
level of care if he wants it, said
District Attorney Jim Woodall.
Some of the same doctors from
Dorothea Dix Hospital who treat-
ed Castillo might also treat him in
prison, he said.
“By being sentenced to the
Department of Corrections, he’s
got to allow them to give him
the mental health treatment,” he
said.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893

The Daily Tar Heel

VOLUME 117, ISSUE 96 monday,october 26, 2009
www.dailytarheel.com

dth/Anika Anand
A 24-unit SunStone apartment building was evacuated after the building caught fire Thursday around 4:30 a.m. “It was scary bad,” said
Orange County Red Cross volunteer Scott Madry. “Literally, from the ground to three floors up was covered in flames and smoke.”

‘IT WAS SCARY BAD’

3-story apartment building goes up in flames
By anika anand
assistant city editor
Three days after a fire broke
out in a three-story SunStone
Apartments building, the smell
of burned wood continues to per-
meate the air. Personal belong-
ings like beaded necklaces and a
toy truck are scattered near 207
Conner Drive.
About 34 apartment residents,
all the residents occupying the
building at the time, were evacu-
ated from the 24-unit complex
around 4:30 a.m. Thursday.
Firefighters used a ladder to
rescue two people from a third-
story balcony, and two firefighters
suffered minor injuries, according
to a news release.
Scott Madry, disaster action
team captain for Orange County
Red Cross, said it was the larg-
est incident the Red Cross has
responded to in several years.
“Most of our events are indi-
vidual family home fires or some-
times floods,” he said. “A 24-unit
apartment complex with all of
them occupied is really quite
large.”
The Chapel Hill Fire
Department is still investigating
the cause of the fire, according to
the news release.
UNC graduate student Rita
McFadden, who lives across from
the burned building, said all the
units’ fire alarms did go off. Madry
said the apartment complex did
not have sprinklers.
McFadden woke up to the
sound of sirens and flashing lights
as 10 firefighter units from Chapel
Hill, Carrboro, Durham and New
Hope arrived at the scene.
“I was just
in shock,” she
said. “You don’t expect to see a fire
at 4 a.m.”
Madry, the first Red Cross vol-
unteer on the scene, said the orga-
nization first focuses on people’s
immediate needs by providing
blankets, toiletry kits and toys for
children.
“Firefighters are focused on the
fire and police provide security for
firefighters, but they don’t really
deal with those who are burned
out,” he said. “That’s our job.”
McFadden said she didn’t have
renters insurance before the fire,
but since has researched and
purchased the insurance to pro-
tect her in case of fire, weather or
theft.
Madry said sometimes people
buy renters insurance too late.
“It’s a huge difference in the
impact both financially and psy-
chologically between people who
have insurance and people who
don’t,” he said. “You just lose
everything, and there’s no one to
turn to. It can become a horrible
burden.”
The day before the fire, SunStone
sent out lease renewal notices,
McFadden said. She said she is
going to wait and see the cause of
the fire before making a decision
about renewing.
SunStone has been able to pro-
vide some, but not all, of the dis-
placed residents with unleased
SunStone and Shadowood apart-
ments, which they also own,
McFadden said.
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893

The Daily Tar Heel

VOLUME 117, ISSUE 118 monday, november 30, 2009
www.dailytarheel.com

Latino nonprofit forced to shutter

Cites decrease in grants, donations
BY anika anand
assistant city editor
The local Latino community
has lost one of its greatest advo-
cates.
El Centro Latino, the Carrboro-
based Latino advocacy group
and resource center, announced
its closure Wednesday due to a
decrease in donations and grants,
leadership turnover and the eco-
nomic recession, according to a
press release.
El Centro officially opened in
2000 and has since offered pro-
grams such as employment assis-
tance and English as a Second
Language classes to an average of
150 clients per month, according
to its Web site.
The nonprofit made $211,831
in revenue in 2008, according to
IRS forms.
T he press release states
El Centro Latino’s Board of
Directors is not dissolving the
organization and will hold a
meeting in January to discuss El
Centro’s future and how best to
serve local Latinos.
El Centro Latino founder
Mauricio Castro, who now works
with the N.C. Latino Coalition,
said there is no question that
these services are just as needed
today as they were needed nine
years ago.
Leadership turnover
Many nonprofits are strug-
gling in the current economic
recession, proving why running
a nonprofit requires tremendous
commitment and leadership,
Castro said.
He said everyone who has
held a leadership position in El
Centro had good intentions but
were not equipped with what
they needed.
Since 2001, there have been
at least five different executive
directors.
“Running a nonprofit requires
being able to look ahead at the next
year or two,” he said. “If someone
thinks this is a job that can be done
from nine to five, they are totally
misled.”
Carrboro Alderman Randee
Haven-O’Donnell also identified
high turnover in leadership as a
key issue El Centro faced, say-
ing strong leadership is directly
related to successful funding.
Serving a growing group
According to a 2008 U.S.
Census Bureau report, 6.3 percent
of Orange County’s population is
of Hispanic/Latino origin.
Carrboro had the county’s
highest Hispanic/Latino popula-
tion with 12.3 percent in 2000,
according to U.S. Census data.
With such a significant Latino
population, UNC sociology pro-
fessor and immigrant advocate
Judith Blau said the effects of El
Centro’s closure will be immedi-
ately felt by the Latino commu-
nity.
Blau, who runs the Chapel
Hill and Carrboro Human Rights
Center in Abbey Court, a pre-
dominantly Latino housing com-
plex, said El Centro was like the
Human Rights Center’s big sister.
She said the many programs it
offered will be a loss for the com-
munity.
“But they also provided some-
thing more complicated than
that: social inclusion,” she said.
Jakelin Bonilla, co-chairwoman
of Campus Y’s Linking Immigrants
to New Communities, said El
Centro was providing its clients
with weekly updated job openings.
This was especially significant due
to the recent unemployment cri-
sis, she said.
“At this moment, people will
have a lot of questions about
resources, employment, food
stamps … things that are high
necessities right now,” Bonilla
said. “I feel like there will be a
huge void of information.”
Both Blau and Bonilla said they
will do their best to fill that void,
but when it comes to offering ser-
vices like maintaining a job data-
base, neither have resources like El
Centro’s.
“El Centro Latino did a lot for
just being one organization,” she
said. “I don’t think we’ll ever be
able to fill their shoes, but I see
us collaborating more with other
organizations in the area to do
what El Centro did.”
Contact the City Editor
at citydesk@unc.edu.
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893

The Daily Tar Heel

VOLUME 116, ISSUE 58 tuesday, august 26, 2008
www.dailytarheel.com

dth/Anika Anand
Sophomore Greg Little’s starting spot is safe, but his No. 2 is still uncertain. “At some point in the ball game we’ll
get a chance to see Ryan Houston play; we’ll get a chance to see Shaun Draughn play,” coach Butch Davis said.
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893

The Daily Tar Heel

VOLUME 117, ISSUE 118 monday, november 30, 2008
www.dailytarheel.com

Wheels in the air

dth/Anika Anand

A
fter finishing a ride, sophomore Daven Quinn
fixes the shifting on his bike to help the machine
run smoother.
This summer Quinn participated in Bike and Build,
a cross-country riding trip from North Carolina to
California with stops to build affordable houses along the
way.
He was not a serious biker before participating in the
program, but he has kept riding to stay in shape.
“It’s a lot more fun than running and it’s easier to
hold a conversation with someone while biking.”
 Serving the students and the University community since 1893

The Daily Tar Heel

VOLUME 116, ISSUE 120 tuesday, november 25, 2008
www.dailytarheel.com

Aprendiendo a nadar

dth/Anika anand

S
usan Wooden, una estudiante de primer año, ayuda
a Mariana Moctezuma, 5, a flotar durante un curso
de natación para Hispanos el domingo pasado. El
curso toma lugar cada Domingo a las 3 p.m. en la Piscina
Cubierta Bowmen-Gray en South Road en la Universidad
de Carolina del Norte. Además de enseñar a niños como
nadar, el curso consiste de una charla en Español dada
por voluntarios sobre diferentes temas de salud para los
padres. El curso cuesta $1 por niño. Si hablas español y
estas interesado en ser un voluntario o quieres más infor-
mación sobre el programa, contacte al coordinador del
programa, Jorge Fernandez, en jlfernan@email.unc.edu.