The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 5

IP TRIANGLE TIIE NEWS OBSERVER SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 17 1994 I hope you'll forgive me if I don't show you my slides 6W 6 I don't do slides anymore There comes a time in a person's life when he has earned the right to say no to at least three things -4N III Attending more NA than six weddings be- tween May 1 and Oct 31 (We attended 13 one -74 summer) IN Spending every Christmas Eve at one's in-laws AC I And hours of looking at other peoSNOW ple's snapshots slides or home movies Unless you happen to be in only a tossed salad and a piece of pumpkin pie at the Capital Room" I whis- pered "If we don't eat soon I am going tp have to embarrass somebody" I of course there was nothing she could: do Finally I quietly approached the hostess "Mary we've had a great time but you know I have these early hours and we have to go now" "You can't go! You haven't eaten!" she wailed "I know I haven't eaten and that fact has been troubling me for the past two and a half hours" I chuckled "I'll have it ready in a jiff" she said and scurried into the kitchen She kept her word Just before 10 pm we sat down to scrambled eggs and shrimp I never eat scrambled eggs and shrimp But the toast and strawberry jam were very tasty If you're waiting to see my photos of 1 England and Scotland forget it I like ypu too much for that too mum tor mat flew there in a plane?" my friend asked later "And this is my friend from Durham getting on the plane" the hostess murmured from her post by the slide projec- tor "You may find this hard to believe" my cynical friend said "but her friend got on the plane in much the same way she had gotten on the plane They both just walked up the ramp and disappeared in the plane That was back when they let you go up the steps instead of through the chute" The subject of travel slides came up when we met with friends for a farewell breakfast for two of the group who were leaving to spend a month in Germany "Take lots of pictures" someone suggested "No don't" said Sid Eagles "Or if you do please don't ask me over to look at them later" Sid is a judge He can get away with being candid I'm with Sid And I have sat through an evening or two like one he described when he and his wife visited old friends in Haiti more Without advance warning the hosts brought out their slides As the evening wore on slide by slide a small child in the household became fretful So did Sid He was starving The aroma of a roast cooking in the kitchen did little to appease his appetite The slides kept coming The baby cried louder Sid's stomach rumbled like thunder across the bay "Three of us knew it was time to eat" Sid said later "Me the kid and the roast which by the time we got to it at 9 pm had almost cooked to a crisp" I suffered a similar experience once when we were invited to a friend's house for dinner We were invited for 7:30 After the slide show the hostess was still socializing with the rest of us in the living room There had been no signs of anything happening in the kitchen When 9 o'clock came I called my wife aside "You know that I have to get up at 6 o'clock to go to work And you know that I last ate at 11:30 this morning when I had hen are you going to show us your pictures?" a friend asked soon after we returned from our summer vacation "I'm not" I said Although he protested politely professing his aching desire to see our snapshots he couldn't conceal the flush of relief that momentarily flooded his face When people ask me if I have seen the slides from their trip to the Old Country I always recall what a fellow said when a grandmother rummaging around in her handbag asked "Have I shown you the pictures of my grandchildren?" "No and I thank you!" the man replied crisply The woman snapped her purse shut I don't mind looking at a reasonable number of snapshots of cute children and even some not-so-cute adults But when it comes to spending an entire evening looking at hundreds of color slides of other people's vacation trips I am a little like Erma Hornbeck who doesn't do windows and floors them A friend described an evening watching the slides of a woman who had been to Israel Like many slide-show hosts she hadn't edited her carousel very well "This is me getting on the plane in Greensboro" she began "Now isn't it a given fact that if you've photographed all of Israel you probably i Got a suggestion or comment? Heard a great story around town lately? You can call AC Snow at 881-8254 Rural POLICE DEPARTMENTS ACROSS TRIANGLE TAKING FEWER LIBERTIES WITH LOCKED CARS -1ii-aattiosiitig 4: Caution lotemogo 2 Ni'7if '1 4''4 1 4 1 I 4'1' 0 "A 4 '1' ''''I'': 'ill '3 11 i' 1' 'P' i 1 rules in tn 1 '1 I 42 (:: 4- 4r E': 0 011 1 11': :1: lA' 1 1 i '''''''''i r1 '4 'E: 4iite -1 to 4 7 -14 7 in Cary ty'rks -ideollteNrigit7Etr7 't' 4'4 i) 41 '''''''''74') scJ i1 i fr sr: (e fr 4 -4 4 t- 1: ''''t x'' 1 4 'i '01t V''f 4 I- 1'' i' 4' -r 1''i: '4 --r 4 1: i i''4i 1 'i i i I i4' i''i '717! Le 1 4 iti7 i ::1 izi :4 :4 1t -4 iki---17- 'N '1 I i- I VV land plan 1 retooled Orange County scales back a proposal to preserve the area's rural nature by placing restrictions on housing developments BY GREG EASTERLY i-' ji4 1 -'---i' il S- 1 U77A'11- i''''' f- 1 iI-' 'Z'''4) 4''' 64: I 1::: 4: 4' II -4- 1- '-i' 1 1 -1tl 4 1- '-Aiito'' AP 1 i- ofb 0 4'-' 74: 0 $1k II0 010:0:: lk 1M11 talt 1---- t4 0 0 1L'' 4 :) 1 5 lts 40 Ikf-' 'Ara' allo fa l'- i i 4tk 4- --(4 )1 4: f- :1 -'i' i-- 44 Irg': 1 'I R'4'-- '4' "-t4 'e41 i 7I'' It'': '''0' f't 1 BY SHANNON BUGGS STAFF WRITER As 3-month-old Kay leen Caldwell sat screaming in her car seat trapped inside a stifling hot minivan with the keys that could release her her frantic mother was inside Cary Towne Center mall begging a Cary emergency dispatcher to send police officers to free her child But the dispatcher told Kimberly Caldwell to call a locksmith because if officers were sent to the scene they wouldn't be able to break into the vehicle said 'It's 90 degrees out here and my car windows are rolled up real tight and my child could die if you don't come now' the Garner resident said Friday "But she just said 'Sorry there's nothing we can do'" Caldwell hung up on the dispatcher who chose not to send officers or a rescue team to the scene said Cary police Capt Jim Carver That will not happen in the future Carver said "To help in these situations we now think it's best to send an officer whether the caller wants one or not to assess the situation" Carver said "But they still won't have any equipment to open the cars" For about a decade people unlucky enough to be stuck in Cary when they accidentally locked their children and keys in I When 3-month-old Kay leen Kimberly Caldwell's daughter became locked in a minivan Cary police refused to break in to rescue her STAFF PHOTO BY LANCE POWELL get stranded in Garner "We attempt to open all car doors even those that aren't an emergency" Garner police Capt Ronnie Ford said Two security guards from Cary Towne Center took 12 minutes to unlock Caldwell's car with a slim jim An emergency medical team summoned by the mall security guards checked the child 10 minutes later sign waivers authorizing the extreme action Like Durham Raleigh and Chapel Hill officers also must get waivers to assist in similar emergency scenarios but they do use slim urns to open locked vehicles Chapel Hill restricted its lock service to emergencies partly because of complaints from local locksmiths Lucky are the motorists who cars haven't been able to count on the local police to get them out of the jam That's because Cary's officers will not break into locked vehicles even when crying babies and whimpering dogs are trapped inside "It's not that we don't respond to those situations" said Capt Windy Hunter "We do respond by sending an officer to wait with the people The strict policy ensures that the police department won't be stuck with ungrateful car owners' damage claims But the change in policy still leaves Cary out of step with most other Triangle police departments Durham police are not issued slim km car lock openers but officers are willing to break car windows to free trapped children and pets if the car owners will Court order withholds autopsy results of Goldsboro girl STAFF WRITER HILLSBOROUGH At the heart of the Orange County staff's new proposal to protect the county's rural character is a suggestion that the one-acre minimum lot size be maintained instead of raising it to two acres as some preservationists wanted The proposal is a step back from previous recommendations that the commissioners rezone 43 percent about 173 square miles of the county to two-acre minimum lots But Commissioner Don Willhoit who has taken part in a decade of efforts to develop a long-range plan defended the proposal Retaining the one-acre minimum along with a requirement for developers to submit more than one concept plan for future subdivisions might actually lend greater protection for rural areas Willhoit said "I think it's an improvement because it gets more at the heart of what we're trying to preserve" he said Moving to two-acre zoning might be a scatter-shot approach that wouldn't help much he said The county might wind up with more expensive cookie-cutter subdivisions with larger lots "That alone won't protect rural character" Willhoit said "What we're trying to do is make this more site-specific" Under the new plan developers would submit two plans to county staff prior to approval one for a conventional subdivision and one for an "open space" development that would use clustering and set aside at least a third of the land The developer would still have the option to develop a conventional subdivision but Willhoit said requiring two plans could increase public pressure on developers to conserve land "It would get the neighborhood involved If they see there are these two plans then it will put more pressure on the developer to justify why they're not going with the plan that preserves character" The new proposal also includes provisions to allow septic systems community wastewater disposal systems and connection to municipal water systems It specifies that hookups to water and sewer should be sized to serve only a particular development a stipulation that should ease concerns expressed in public hearings that extension of sewer lines would attract further development Depending on what type of water and waste systems serve the development the plan also would allow some density bonuses to developers allowing them to decrease the average lot size in exchange for following certain design guidelines The county planning board is expected to vote on the proposal Monday at the Planning and Agricultural Center in Hillsborough County commissioners are scheduled to review it Oct 3 4 1 he only information we are trying to keep private in this case is information we don't want a suspect to know' in the Wake County Courthouse A copy sent to Dr John Butts chief medical examiner of North Carolina says "It is in the best interest of justice and the enforcement of the laws of the state of North Carolina that the findings as to the cause of death of Beth-Ellen Vinson to include any test results and medical opinion be sealed Stephens barred the release to anyone except "the Raleigh police department and Wake County district attorney until the conclusion of the criminal mystery to the slaying and means the public likely will not be able to find out how Beth-Ellen was killed until authorities charge a suspect Investigators continue to dispel rumors that there is a connection between Beth-Ellen's death and that of Tracy Ann Moschette found dead Sept 8 behind a West Raleigh Kmart store "The only information we are trying to keep private in this case is information we don't want a suspect to know" said Capt BC Friese of the Raleigh police Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens who signed the order Sept 13 said Friday that the autopsy results will be released "in the foreseeable future" "It's not routine" Stephens said of the order "But it's something that happens occasionally when there's something about the autopsy that if it were public knowledge might hamper an investigation or possibly be to the advantage of the suspect" "I don't lightly restrict something that might be of public record" Stephens said A copy of the order is not on file BY FRED HARTMAN STAFF WRITER RALEIGH A judge has issued an unusual court order barring the state medical examiner from re: leasing any details about how teenager Beth-Ellen Vinson was killed Beth-Ellen 17 was found dead behind a Wicker Drive business on Aug 23 one week after her car was discovered abandoned less than a half-mile away With few leads police have kept a lid on all information about the case The court order adds an air of 1 Capt RC Friese Raleigh police UNC-CH moves up two spots in survey How To REACH Us GIVE US A CALL Do you hove a story suggestion? Is something interesting going on in your part of town? We'd like to hear from you with tips story ideas picture possibilities comments and criticisms Ft: We're always interested in these ratings and proud when we do well and concerned when we do not' Dick McCormick UNC-CH provost Durham Metro news George Lawrence or Charles Jeffries 956-2400 Orange Metro news Nancy Cook Barnes 932-2003 Wake Metro news' Tom Burton or Jim Rosen 829-4520 General news Lisa Bellamy or Carol Frey 829-4520 4 I 0 in ADDRESS 103 Main St Suite 100 Durham NC 27702 Toll-free outside the Triangle: 1-800-365-6115 Fax number: 956-2403 BY CHRIS O'BRIEN STAFF WRITER CHAPEL HILL University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has halted its slide toward mediocrity according to the latest ranking of colleges in US News World Report For what it's worth and many academics say not much UNC-CH jumped two places to No 26 among the nation's universities "We're always interested in these ratings and proud when we do well and concerned when we do not" UNC-CH Provost Dick McCormick said "However what's most important is not the ratings themselves but the factors that influenced the outcome" Duke University maintained its solid sixth-place ranking from the year before NC State University didn't make the top 25 for the second year in a row Harvard Princeton and Yale followed by slips to 25 in 1991 and 28 in 1993 leaving school officials wondering about the school's image McCormick said there could be several reasons for UNC-CH's drop from the top 25 among them faculty salaries and support for graduate students In recent years many prominent faculty members have left UNC-CH for more lucrative offers University officials continue to lobby the General Assembly for better pay for faculty and staff "If there is a substantive problem behind the rating then we should address it in its own right and solve it rather than focusing extensively on the ratings themselves" McCormick said "I am proud that we are rated 26th but we aspire to do better than that next time" Staff writer Laurie Willis contributed to this report stood at the top of the list of national universities The magazine rates colleges using a survey of presidents deans and admissions directors at about 1400 four-year colleges and universities UNC-CH was hoping to land a spot in the top 25 where it stood in its heyday But the move to 26 ends a slide from the school's perch at No 20 in 1990 That was Schools health environment Ned Barnett 829-4555 North Carolina news Ben Estes 829-4540 State government or political news Van Denton 829-4536 At night Winston Covin 829-4552 Metro Editor Anders Gy tient: 829-4520 CORRECTIONS POLICY The News Observer is committed to accuracy Corrections of factual errors ore published on page 2A To report an error call 829-4520 Oh 4.