Wednesday, November 7, 2001
Sunny High 72, Low 37 www.chronicle.duke.edu Vol. 97, No. 52
The Chronicle
Dynamite Devils The women’s basketball team edged past DynamoMoscow Monday night in their first exhibition game of the season. See page 13
THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
Bell squeezes past Tennyson in mayor race � Although election officials have not counted every ballot, the latest returns suggest that Bill Bell will be Durham’s new mayor.
ts Mayor Bill Bell Nick Tennyson
By MATT ATWOOD and MEG LAWSON The Chronicle
Leading by a slim 366-vote margin Tuesday night, Bill Bell appeared to have defeated incumbent Nick Tennyson to become the next mayor ofDurham. In an officially nonpartisan election marked by strong involvement from the Democratic Party, Durham voters also approved five bond packages for county construction projects totaling $74.7 million, and they elected four incumbents and two fresh faces to the City Council as that body’s size was cut in half. According to unofficial returns, Bell won 50.4 percent of the vote to Tennyson’s 49.3, with a voter turnout of 32,567, or 25.3 percent of city voters—twice as high as in last month’s primary. “I’m pleased,” Bell said. “I thought it was going to be a close one.” But provisional ballots must still be counted, a task which should be completed by
11 a.m. Friday, said Joseph
Fedrowitz, an official for the Board of Elections. Fedrowitz estimated that there might be 400 such ballots, twice the number in last month’s primary. Tennyson and Bell had similar platforms, though they differed on a few issues, including the proper pace of growth in the outer parts ofthe city, public funding for downtown development and the availability of affordable housing. Bell stopped short of officially de-
City Council
50.39% 49.25% -
Ward 1
Cora Cole-McFadden Jefferey M. White
70.07% 29.68%
City Council Ward 2 -
CO
JIS, co
Howard Clement Michael Peterson
61.36% 38.51
City Council Ward 3 -
65.33% 34.44%
John Best Erick Larson
£
City Council -At Large
-gj
Lewis Cheek Tamra Edwards Dan Hill
18.41% 17.58%
Thomas Stith
22.48% 6.26%
•
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v? w
18.98% 16.07%
Angela Langley Joe Williams
THAD PARSONS/THE CHRONICLE
NICK TENNYSON meets with his opponent, Bill Bell, who appears to have barely won Tuesday’s Durham mayoral election. daring victory, and Tennyson did not officially concede. But he turned to address Bell as he left the County Courthouse, where candidates had gathered to watch the election returns. “I congratulate you on the fact that the voters appear to have chosen you,” he said. “I’m waiting to look at the final outcome, but the apparent outcome is obvious.”
Meanwhile, jubilant Bell supportshouted and em-
ers applauded,
65.10% 34.90%
braced each other. “I have seen what a grassroots movement in Durham can do,” said Jackie Brown, chair of the Durham Planning Commission and one of the first people to encourage Bell to enter the race earlier this year. Bell’s campaign may have had a grassroots origin, but it received a significant
77.24% 22.76% 72.42% 27.58%
76.57 23.43%
boost from the national Democratic Party. Terry McAuliffe, chair of the Democratic National Committee, visited Durham two
79.96%
20.04% provisional ballots, am. Friday.
See ELECTION on page 12 >
Committee doles Student groups consider seniority � out culture funds both considering Campus Council Duke Student Government and are
By MATT BRADLEY
resolutions concerning the use of senior-
The Chronicle
ity in the housing lottery.
The Cultural Group Fund Committee decided last Thursday to distribute almost half of the $lOO,OOO cultural event fund set up by President Nan Keohane in September. Thirty-eight proposals from 28 campus organizations were awarded funds that totaled $49,160. Big recipients included Diya with $15,000, Gothic Queers with $5,700, the Black Student Alliance with $4,100, Mi Gente with $3,500 and the Asian Student Association with $2,500. The committee, chaired by Director of Intercultural Affairs Julian Sanchez, picked from among 64 proposals submitted by 40 student organizations. The committee included seven students and five faculty and staff members. Committee members reviewed and rated each proposal separately before group delibera-
By ALEX GARINGER The Chronicle
tions determined the final awards. “Our primary thrust is for programs that are
cross-cultural and collaborative,” Sanchez said. “We’re really looking at building communities across cultural groups.” Sanchez also said the committee concentrated on See CULTURE FUNDS on page 9 � InciHp inolllc
TIM GHOATE/THE CHRONICLE
VICE PRESIDENT FOR STUDENT AFFAIRS LARRY MONETA addresses students at a forum Monday about impending housing changes.
Over a year after the McGovern-Davison Children’s Health Center opened, doctors say they and their patients are pleased with the new facility. See page 4
Former Charlotte mayor Richard Vinroot withdrew from the upcoming U.S. Senate race, choosing to endorse former GOP presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole. See page 6
Resolutions recommending seniority in the housing lottery system will be considered at tonight’s Duke Student Government and Thursday’s Campus Council meetings. The proposals—which call for rising senior independents to receive priority over rising junior independents for singles, doubles and triples on West Campus—indicate student dissatisfaction with the residential plan, as well as a further escalation ofthe mounting power struggle between the two governing bodies. “It does not make sense what the administration is trying to do,” said Mike Lynch, a sophomore and author of the DSG resolution. “It’s unfair for rising seniors who are expecting seniority to not have that privilege. And it’s important for DSG to take on the issue, because we are the voice of the students.” See SENIORITY on page 10 � Duke community members no longer have to pay 7 cents per minute on phone calls to other cities in the Triangle, See page 8