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A6 U.S. NEWS
Saturday 15 december 2018

UNC system rejects $5M plan to house Confederate statue

By JONATHAN DREW The plan drew sharp criti- time at the end of the se- a main campus quad from entirely, but were restricted
Associated Press cism both for its cost and mester. The threat was seri- 1913 until it was torn down by the monuments law that
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — because it would return Si- ous enough that the chair in August by protesters who allows relocation only in
North Carolina’s public uni- lent Sam to the grounds of of the UNC faculty, Leslie decried its origins, including narrow circumstances.
versity system rejected a the university — sparking Parise, wrote an open let- a racist speech by a former On Friday, Folt said she’s
proposal Friday to build a “grateful” for more time to
$5 million structure to house develop a plan and hopes
a toppled Confederate the added political muscle
statue, opting instead to of the Board of Governors
“go back to the drawing will allow off-campus op-
board” to figure out what tions to be considered.
to do with the monument. She acknowledged that
University of North Caro- the rejected plan, which
lina System Chairman Harry she helped develop,
Smith said cost was a pri- “didn’t satisfy anyone,”
mary concern in turning underscoring the difficult
down the proposal to move issues surrounding the cen-
the statue known as “Silent tury-old statue. It’s been
Sam” into a new building stored in an undisclosed
on the outskirts of the Cha- location since it was torn
pel Hill flagship campus. down.
The statewide Board of UNC basketball coach Roy
Governors passed a reso- Williams, whose team in-
lution Friday to have sev- cludes several signers of a
eral of its members work letter that opposes return-
on a new plan that’s due In this Monday, Aug. 20, 2018, file photo, police stand guard after the Confederate statue known ing the statue to campus,
in March. Smith didn’t in- as Silent Sam was toppled by protesters on campus at the University of North Carolina in Chapel said he supported their abil-
dicate where the statue Hill, N.C. ity to speak about causes
could end up, but said he Associated Press they care about.
believes any move off cam- “I talked to our guys about
pus would require changes a demonstration by hun- ter Friday saying that while Confederate when it was it, told them if they feel
to a strict state law on his- dreds the night after it was the aim of protesting the dedicated. strongly about it, go right
torical monuments. announced. return of the statue was In early December, the ahead,” he told report-
“The $5.3 million dollars is, I Since then, numerous fac- admirable, “withholding Chapel Hill campus trust- ers before the statewide
think, pretty tough for a lot ulty members, students and grades will do much more ees proposed a site about board’s vote. Williams, him-
of us to swallow,” he told current or former athletes harm than good in helping a mile from the main quad self a UNC graduate, add-
reporters. such as NBA player Harrison us reach this goal.” where the statue previously ed: “my own personal opin-
“We’re going to go back Barnes have signed open Several dozen protesters stood, saying they had to ion is I wish we didn’t have
to the drawing board, in a letters or otherwise voiced gathered outside of Fri- balance safety concerns a situation where we’re
team-like approach, and opposition to returning the day’s meeting of the Board with a strict 2015 state his- putting it back on campus.
try to get it right.” statue to campus. of Governors amid a heavy torical law on Confederate I don’t know what every-
A proposal to build a history And about 80 teaching as- police presence. Some monuments. UNC-Chapel body’s motivation was in
center to house the statue sistants have also threat- protesters held signs with Hill Chancellor Carol Folt the early 19-teens, 1913?
was approved in early De- ened to withhold final messages including “No and several of the trustees But right now it’s a very divi-
cember by the trustees of grades on 2,000 student Racist Statues.” said they would prefer mov- sive issue. I wish it would go
the Chapel Hill campus. assignments at a critical “Silent Sam” had stood on ing the statue off campus away.q

California alleges utility falsified pipeline safety records

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — age, PG&E pressured su- example of why we are in- report. “This commission vice to millions of people
Regulators on Friday ac- pervisors and locators to vestigating PG&E’s safety would expect that after throughout Northern Cali-
cused one of California’s complete the work, lead- culture.” such a tragedy, caused by fornia also is under scrutiny
largest utilities of falsifying ing staff to falsify data from A U.S. judge fined the utility multiple proven violations for its role in igniting wild-
safety documents for natu- 2012 to 2017, regulators $3 million after it was con- of law, PG&E would have fires. The California Depart-
ral gas pipelines for years said. victed of six felony charges sought to vigorously en- ment of Forestry and Fire
following its criminal con- The company “had com- for failing to properly main- hance and increase its ef- Protection found that PG&E
viction and multimillion-dol- mon knowledge among tain a natural gas pipeline fectiveness in all aspects of equipment was responsible
lar fine for a pipeline explo- its supervisors that locators that exploded in 2010 and its gas safety.” for starting 16 wildfires last
sion that killed eight people falsified data,” the commis- wiped out a neighborhood PG&E didn’t immediately year.
near San Francisco. sion said. in suburban San Bruno. respond to a request for While a cause has not yet
The California Public Utilities “Utility falsification of safety Regulators also fined PG&E comment. been determined for the
Commission said an inves- related records is a serious $1.6 billion for the blast. The investigation was for- massive fire that wiped out
tigation by its safety and violation of law and dimin- “This is the period immedi- warded Thursday to a the town of Paradise and
enforcement division found ishes our trust in the utility’s ately following the 2010 San judge, who will hear testi- killed at least 86 people last
Pacific Gas & Electric Co. reports on their progress,” Bruno gas explosion and mony on the findings and month, PG&E equipment is
lacked enough employees commission President Mi- fire that resulted in eight will allow PG&E to provide being scrutinized.
to fulfill requests to find and chael Picker said in a state- fatalities, numerous injuries evidence that it didn’t vio- A number of victims have
mark natural gas pipelines. ment. and damage to property,” late safety laws. sued the utility, alleging
Because of the staff short- “These findings are another the commission said in its The utility that provides ser- negligence. q