The Appalachian
TheAppalachianOnline.com
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Vol. 86 No. 26
Noise ordinance strikes sour note with students by KELLI STRAKA Senior News Reporter
Appalachian State University students stood in solidarity with downtown business owners against updates to the proposed noise ordinance at Tuesday night’s town council meeting. “Music is a primary form of art and students enjoy that, and they see the necessity of a more reasonable noise ordinance,” Boone Saloon owner Skip Sinanian said. Musician and junior sustainable development Alex Golden spoke during the public comment time to share his dissatisfaction with the noise ordinance. “I’m against it for dozens of reasons,” Golden said. “I
feel like it’s a cultural setback and something that will discourage students from coming to ASU. Music is what I do for fun. It’s what I do when I’m not eating, sleeping, or studying.” Among the new provisions is an 85-decibel cap on weekend live music between 10 a.m. and 2 a.m. After that, the cap would drop to 55 decibels, according to the Watauga Democrat. Galileo’s owner Mark Dixon said he purchased a decibel meter and found that normal conversation on Galileo’s patio reached about 65 decibels, cars passing by reached 75 and a breeze could reach 85. “You can’t start a car in the morning because it’s over 55
decibels,” Dixon said. Senior elementary education major Rachel Goodman said the ordinance takes away part of Boone. “The music draws people and students to Boone,” she said. “Music is a huge inspiration and if we can’t listen to local live music, we’re losing something important.” The previous ordinance was difficult for Boone law enforcement to impose, which prompted the initial update for the ordinance, Council Member Lynne Mason said. Updates attempted to make the ambiguous sections of the ordinance more understandable, including what noise was considered a violation and procedures to deal
with violations, Mason said. “What we’re trying to do is maintain a peaceful environment for our residential community while having an active and vibrant downtown,” Mason said. “So it’s a real balancing act right now.” Junior electronic media broadcasting major Lilia Spangler said she understands why people are upset, but when moving to Boone, the noise shouldn’t be a surprise. “Not only will it take away from night life, it will also hurt the musicians,” she said. Boone’s town attorney, Sam Furgiuele, will prepare a draft for the town council to review and hopefully adopt by the end of February, Mason said.
Kelli Straka | The Appalachian
Along with 12 others, Mark Dixon spoke about his discontent with the revisions to the noise ordinance during public comment time Tuesday at Boone's Town Council meeting. Other venue owners, including Char's owner and Boone Saloon's owner, joined Dixon in voicing their opposition.
MLK Challenge sees record number of participants ACT office sponsors 13th annual day of service
Chancellor lowers general fee proposal by HANK SHELL News Editor
by JUSTIN HERBERGER Editor-in-Chief
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ore than 200 Appalachian State University students spent their last day of winter break serving Boone and the High Country during Monday’s MLK Challenge. This year’s challenge drew a record number of participants. More than 215 total participants worked at 19 locations in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. “Too often college students get wrapped up in their own lives,” said Kirstie Wolf, a junior archaeology major who participated in the challenge for the second time this year. “Helping others is a good way to learn about yourself and, too, how others live.” An aspect of the challenge many students appreciate is the opportunity it provides to meet and work with other students they might not already know. Participants are divided into groups of about 11 volunteers randomly. Wolf said not knowing anyone in her group ended up adding to the experience because of the opportunity to connect with new people. “You’re uncomfortable at first,” she said. “It creates bonds and it’s a really good learning experience.” While the challenge has benefited some High Country agencies for more than a decade, students this year worked with three organizations new to the challenge. Newly involved organizations included F.A.R.M. Café, a healthy community kitchen that serves patrons regardless of their ability to pay, U Space, which offers cognitive and social skills training, often for those with developmental disorders, and Threads of Hope thrift store, which aides survivors of domestic and intimate partner abuse in Ashe County. “It’s really a great experience to be a part of something that’s so meaningful to Appalachian students but also to the entire nation,” said Kate Johnson, assistant director of student programs. “There’s something about Appalachian students. I can’t put my finger on it. These students just truly enjoy giving back.” The student-led committee in charge of planning the event considered moving the challenge to this Saturday, due to the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. Day fell before classes started. They originally anticipated lower participation numbers. “That was the choice we had to make,”
Olivia Wilkes | The Appalachian
Freshman finance and banking major Ashley Murphy converses with residents of Appalachian Brian Estates Monday afternoon during the 13th Annual MLK Challenge Day of Service. Murphy's volunteer group was responsible for planning and hosting a January birthday party at the elderly community to honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
said Sam Williams, chair of the event planning committee. “We’ve always done it on MLK Day so we decided to keep with that tradition.” Despite the team’s initial concerns that the event would suffer from its timing, Williams said the regular sign up list was filled completely before students went home for break. The ACT office was even able to fill
the wait list prior to break. “It’s never happened before break,” he said. “Normally we’re always filling spots the week before.” The model for the MLK Challenge currently in use was developed in 2000 at Appalachian by Coordinator for Community Service Jenny Koehn and has been adopted by universities statewide as well as nationally.
Chancellor Kenneth Peacock lowered a proposed General Fees increase for Appalachian State University students last week. The move followed a recommendation from the UNC General Administration that the General Fees increase be lowered to 6.5 percent. Peacock lowered the Athletics fee by $15 and the Health Services fee by $4, according to an email Interim Associate Vice Chancellor of Business Affairs Rick Presnell sent to members of the tuition and fee committees. “I think that asking for a decreased amount for fees is only a step in the right direction,” Student Body President Lauren Estes said. “Students paying for a higher education cannot continue to be jabbed with tuition and fee hikes, especially if the increased cost has little to no impact on the actual education they receive.” Currently, resident undergraduate Appalachian students are facing a 9.3 percent or $506.26 increase in tuition and fees for the 2012-13 year. That includes a 12.3 percent increase in tuition alone, which Student Government Association representatives formally opposed in November, before it was sent to the Board of Trustees. “I’m thankful to see that students’ voices are being heard, but I will be discouraged on behalf of the student body if this is as far as the decrease conversation goes,” Estes said. During tuition and fees negotiations, student representatives did not oppose the proposed fee increase. The UNC Board of Governors, the final body in the tuition and fee setting process, reviewed the current proposal Jan. 12 and will make a final decision at their meeting Feb. 10. Currently, Appalachian’s proposal falls in limbo. UNC President Thomas Ross will make an intensive recommendation to the Board of Governors before its February meeting, which will be specific to each university, UNC Vice President for Communications Joni Worthington said. Ross has already expressed a desire to keep tuition and fee increases below 10 percent, which satisfies Appalachian’s current proposal of 9.3 percent. The Board of Governors, however, has maintained that it will try to adhere to a 6.5 percent cap on tuition and fee increases – far below Appalachian’s proposal. “The president has yet to make his final recommendations to the Board of Governors,” Worthington said. “He indicated he expected those to come within the next couple of weeks.”
Students have big plans for future community art and music center by CATHERINE HAITHCOCK News Reporter
Appalachian State University students, community members and local organizations are coming together to create a local community center, formally known as the Boone Project Incubator and Community Space. “Essentially, the idea is to create an alternative community space in Boone that incorporates music and art, a local radio station and a platform for local issues and local initiatives,” said Devon Tuttle, a junior sustainable development and entrepreneurship double major. “We hope it bolsters the local economy and businesses by providing another space, by incorporating local elements and allowing people to organize in one place.” “The focus is really going to be on specific projects that need a space to incubate and expand themselves,” said Ben Paynter, a junior sustainable development major. Project members said they hope to renovate a vacant house at 122 Moretz St. that would serve as the location for the center. However, the group has not yet obtained permission to use the space from the Town of Boone, which owns the house.
“We’ve already worked on a proposal and we’re planning on presenting it soon,” Paynter said. Although the house needs some aesthetic work, it is structurally sound, Tuttle said. “The idea is to, hopefully, get the appropriate technology department involved to see if students, graduate students or labs could take part in the house and make it more ecofriendly as an educational tool that would allow students to actually exercise what they are learning,” he said. Although the initiative encourages the community of Appalachian State University to get involved, their main focus is on strengthening the cultural, economic and social aspects of the Boone community. “We want to ensure that this center works cooperatively with the school, yet very independent from the school,” Tuttle said. “It is very important to us that this is a community space, not a school space, but we as students can benefit from having this space that could easily be shared with other community members, too. It is the creativity and the interest of students that drives this whole idea, but we want it to be a community thing that will involve people of all ages, true lo-
Catherine Haithcock | The Appalachian
Students and community members hope the house at 122 Moretz St. (pictured) will serve as home to the Boone Project Incubator and Community Space. Supporters must first acquire the house from the Town of Boone, which owns it.
cals and students.” So far, the Boone Bicycle Initiative, High Country Community Radio, the Free School of Boone and Papergirl of Boone are supporting and contributing time and services towards the effort. “Our original idea was to try
and obtain non-profit status, but so far we’re not seeing many benefits to that,” Appalachian alumnus Alex Moody said. “This initiative wouldn’t be impossible without nonprofit status, but it would give us a formal organization for people who might not take us seriously
that otherwise would.” Although another meeting time has not yet been determined, anyone interested in becoming a part of Boone Project Incubator can visit its Facebook page at “Boone Project Incubator and Community Space.”