TECHNICIAN
Worker dies on Centennial Campus Deputy News Editor
N.C. State officials are working with the Raleigh Fire Department and the state Labor Department to determine what caused the trench cave-in that killed a construction worker Tuesday afternoon. The construction worker, whose name has not been released, was installing a water line on Centennial Campus near the intramural soccer
field when the trench he was working in collapsed, burying him under three feet of dirt. “Sometimes it’s just too risky,” Frank McLaurin, chief of Raleigh Fire Search and Rescue, said in a WTVD Raleigh News report. “You’ll end up with multiple victims at the same time with the shifting soil.” According to a report from WRAL, the worker’s body was removed from the trench by rescue crews at about 2:40 p.m., two hours
after the cave-in. Emergency crews used heavy machinery to remove the dirt covering the worker and used a large tarp as a privacy screen t o hide the body from the public. The worker was employed by J.F. Wilkerson Contracting Co. Inc., a Morrisville company that specializes in laying water and sewage lines. WTVD reported the company employs about 30 people. “Officials with the N.C. Occupational Health and Safety Division
will determine whether J.F. Wilkerson followed safety standards that could have prevented the worker’s death,” Neal O’Briant, a spokesperson for the state Department of Labor, told the News & Observer. J.F. Wilkerson has a history of violating regulations, including one that requires a trench box, a device used to protect workers from cave-
Football head coach Tom O’Brien was fired Sunday, one day after the Wolfpack picked up a victory over Boston College on Senior Day, marking the dawn of a new era in N.C. State football in a whirlwind 24 hours for the program. O’Brien is the seventh coach to have his tenure end since Athletics
“I had high hopes this year, as did coach O’Brien,” Yow said. According to Yow, the two met early Sunday and she made her decision that afternoon. O’Brien led the Wolfpack to three consecutive bowl victories and five appearances in his six years at State. The Pack is bowl eligible this season and offensive coordinator Dana Bible will serve as the interim head coach for the game. Bible was also
Professors predict fiscal cliff’s next step Joseph Cabaniss Staff Writer
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Director Debbie Yow has been at the helm. He is owed $1.2 million over four years in his buyout. “I appreciate the opportunity to have coached at North Carolina State University and I feel that the program is in a better place now than when I started,” O’Brien stated in a press release. “I’m proud of the young men that I have coached here, for their accomplishments on the field and in the classroom.”
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the offensive coordinator of Boston College, where O’Brien held a head coaching job prior to arriving at State in 2006. “I know I didn’t see it coming,” Bible said. “As a coach you are focused on the now. He’s very proud of the programs we’ve built. He’s very proud of the way we’ve gone about the business of football and he’ll let
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Head football coach Tom O’Brien walks down the sidelines during the third quarter of N.C. State’s homecoming game against Virginia Saturday, Nov. 3. O’Brien was dismissed after a last-play loss to UNC-Chapel Hill and after losing to Virginia, 33-6, at Carter-Finley Stadium.
Sports Editor & Staff Writer
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Congress may bring in the new year with a series of federal taxhikes and spending cuts many have dubbed the “fiscal cliff.” Due to self-inflicted measures, Congress has until Dec. 31 to do something about this potential crisis. According to Douglas Pearce, a professor of economics, Congress can either allow the fiscal cliff to pass, postpone it or compromise to implement some of its features now while implementing others later. Pearce said it’s important for the government to address the issues raised by the fiscal cliff. The government needs the money to pay its debt. However, according to Pearce, Congress needs to be careful that, in the pursuit of a solution, it doesn’t put a stranglehold the economy, because if the government takes too much, the economy may slow down to the point where no one can pay off anyone. Although these problems have been long coming, many of these will culminate with the terms of the Budget Control Act of 2011, which was designed to give the government extra incentive to come up with a solution. According to this legislation if the committee cannot come to an agreement on how to help the economy after Dec. 31 of this year, a large number of acrossthe-board spending cuts and tax increases will be put into effect. “The whole reason why we have the fiscal cliff is because it is self-induced,” Steven Greene, a professor of public and international affairs, said. “When the government was dealing with the debt ceiling a while back, they said, ‘OK, we’re just kicking the can down the road but next time, we’re going to put this little time bomb where the can is so we might actually pick up the can and do something with it.’ Nevertheless, the committee
O’Brien fired after nail-biting season
Jeniece Jamison & Daniel Neal
november
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Sam DeGrave
monday
Students personalize senior class gifts for second year Sara Awad
SAMPLE OF SENIOR GIFTS ACROSS THE DECADES:
Staff Writer
Seniors will not be giving a physical gift to the University for the second year in a row. Instead, the Senior Class Gift Campaign is allowing them to personalize their donations. Last year, the Senior Class Gift Campaign switched from a “projectbased campaign to a passion-based campaign,” said Amanda Pesicek, project coordinator of the Senior Class Gift Campaign. In past years, students were asked to vote on a physical senior gift to give to the University. Students donated to the campaign to raise the funds necessary to buy the gift. According to the Office of Annual Giving’s website, previous gifts have ranged from the 2011 Dan Allen Gateway, yet to be built, to the 1913 sundial outside of Primrose Hall. However, many students wouldn’t donate simply because they didn’t feel “passionate” about the senior
2011: Dan Allen Gateway 2001: New fountain and landscaping for the Mary Yarbrough Court 1991: Reading room for D.H. Hill Library 1987: Contributed to outdoor classroom at the Court of North Carolina 1962-1969: Tile around Strolling Professor 1959: First brick sidewalk in front of Tompkins Hall 1941-1949: Electronic chimes in Bell Tower 1939: Lights on the Bell Tower 1912: Class marker for a possible landscaping project SOURCE: NCSU ANNUAL GIVING
gift that was chosen, Pesicek said. That’s why students are now allowed to give a monetary gift to whatever area or program of academia and
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N.C. State’s Belltower will shortly receive the first of 54 bells, a gift from the class of 2010. N.C. State Alumnus Matthew Craig Robbins started “Finish the [Bell] Tower” campaign after finding out that the bell tower didn’t contain bells, but a speaker that played recorded tones.
november 30,2012 11AM-9pm
NC STATE BOOKSTORE HARRELSON HALL
I T ’S C R A Z Y L I K E A PACK OF SEAGULLS GOING AFTER A HALF EATEN FRENCH FRY