Serving UNC students and the University community since 1893 Volume 124, Issue 11 dailytarheel.com Tuesday, March 8, 2016 When tips don’t add up Investigation launched for Raleigh police shooting Community seeks answers and transparency during the process. By Ana Irizarry Staff Writer A black man was shot four times by a white Raleigh police officer Feb. 29, according to a preliminary autopsy, bringing the Triangle into an ongoing national conversation about race and law enforcement. “We stand here, both present and past elected leaders of the community, to ask for calm, prayer and patience. Any loss of life, regardless of circumstance, is heartbreaking and we offer our sincere condolences to all of those involved,” said Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane in her official statement. D.C. Twiddy, a senior officer in the Raleigh Police Department, pursued Akiel Denkins in an effort to take Denkins into custody for drug charges. Twiddy and Denkins struggled until DTH/ALEX KORMANN Twiddy fired multiple shots at Denkins, even- Alex Vasquez works as bartender at Four Corners Grille. Vasquez supports herself through this job and through being a server at Lime and Basil. tually shooting him out of fear, according to a report to the city manager outlining initial findings of the case. Servers, bartenders work with $2.13 minimum wage But community members doubt the accu- racy of the initial report, said Irving Joyner, By Lauren Kent Adding up to $7.25 Tabor said. “None of your customers have an attorney for the North Carolina NAACP, in a community meeting at Bible Way Temple. Senior Writer money.” All workers in North Carolina must make Restaurants also sometimes “pool” their Witnesses have claimed the scene was blocked Senior Alex Vasquez cannot count the at least $7.25 per hour, said Neal O’Briant, a servers or bartenders’ tips, or combine a por- off and cleaned up before the public was able number of times she’s been stiffed for a tip spokesperson for the state labor department. tion of each server’s tips and divide them to view the shooting site, he said. — or perhaps worse, the number of times a Employers of tipped workers must make evenly among those who worked. In North “We don’t get the information about what customer will leave only 20 cents for a bill up the difference if the combination of their Carolina, employees must retain at least 85 exactly the site looked like before it was sani- that’s $9.80. tips and the $2.13 per hour doesn’t reach the percent of all tips they receive. tized,” Joyner said. “That’s a part of the con- Vasquez supports herself in school minimum wage. State labor laws also allow restaurants to cern that people have and a part of the anger through two different jobs: One as a bar- But no restaurants in Chapel Hill or deduct employees’ wages for inventory short- that people have that they were blocked out tender at Four Corners Grille and the other Carrboro have had complaints in 2015 about ages. If a customer dines and dashes, or even while there was a cleaning up of the blood. as a server at Lime and Basil, both located failing to supplement income. forgets to pay for a drink at the bar, it usually There was a shuffling of leaves and other ter- on Franklin Street. Tips make up the brunt Restaurants don’t have to ensure that tipped comes out of the server’s paycheck. rain around the shooting scene.” of her paychecks. employees make $7.25 every hour they work — Vasquez said living off tips and covering The Rev. William Barber, N.C. NAACP presi- “On a daily basis, you can leave with their hourly wage just has to average out to at the costs of unpaid bills makes budgeting dif- dent, asked for truth and transparency in the almost nothing,” Vasquez said. least $7.25 for the entire pay period, allowing ficult. Her income varies based on the weath- investigation. That’s because her minimum wage as a restaurants to pay them less in the long run. er, the season or even how well the basketball “Truth is the main antidote to unrest … tipped employee is $2.13 per hour, while the Corinne Tabor, a former student who team is doing. Truth. Not predetermined truth. Not truth that federal minimum wage for most workers is worked at Old Chicago during her time at Lake Rosenberg, a server and bartender at is marred by the statements about (Denkins’) $7.25 per hour. UNC, said on average, she hardly reached Top of the Hill, said his income is so varied life that may have nothing to do with what Tipping is ingrained into American cul- $7.25 — even on the best days. because of tips that he didn’t actually know actually happened on that day. Unbiased, ture, with tips functioning as an incentive for Old Chicago would calculate her average what he made per hour — just that it was transparent truthful investigation with the employees to provide better service. tips over a two-week period before supple- very low. fact,” Barber said in a news conference. “But you (as the server or bartender) can menting her income, allowing the weekends “I don’t think that people know that,” he Uncovering the truth takes time, said Lorrin pretty much do whatever, and people come in to outweigh the slow days, and ultimately said. “I do appreciate the idea of somebody Freeman, Wake County district attorney. already knowing how much they’re going to resulting in less income. “We are very lucky that the state crime lab tip,” Vasquez said. “Serving for tips is hard in a college town,” SEE TIPPED WAGES, PAGE 5 is trying to expedite the analysis of that evi- dence, but this isn’t ‘CSI’ — it takes time to analyze all of that,” she said. Freeman asked witnesses to report infor- mation to the State Bureau of Investigation, especially video evidence. Orange County jail UNC political science professor Frank Baumgartner said video evidence is the differ- ence between past and present police shootings. “The officer in North Charleston that shot the receives backlash individual, it seemed like a very similar situa- tion, but it was captured on tape,” Baumgartner said. “If that hadn’t had been captured on tape, A petition is asking the COUNTY JAIL STATISTICS I don’t think many people in the mainstream board not to build the community — not in the white community — $30 million would have believed that it had been true.” new county jail. approximate cost And he said the situation is not confined to the Triangle. Unlike before the Trayvon By Jane Little Martin case, people recognize shootings like Staff Writer 12 percent this happen and are more likely to believe of Orange County population is black DTH/EMMA TOBIN allegations and give these cases attention. A petition to oppose the construc- Mimi Chapman, Rosa Perelmuter and Valérie Pruvost listen “What we’re seeing now is every police tion of a new jail in Orange County during the Faculty Executive Committee meeting on Monday. chief’s worst nightmare — that it could hap- that would cost approximately $30 54 percent pen anywhere,” Baumgartner said. “Raleigh’s million has garnered 106 signatures of the county’s jail population is black not the best. Raleigh’s not the worst. Raleigh’s as of press time. in the middle of the pack as far as I know … The new jail will be located at organizing,” Block said. “We don’t Fire after Duke win Those things are happening, the difference is the intersection of I-40 and Old need more jails.” now we’re finding out about them.” N.C. Highway 86, Orange County She said she believes the petition Raleigh Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown, Commissioner Bernadette Pelissier can make a difference. worried committee an African American, could generate good com- said. “People power should never be munity relations during the shooting investiga- She said the jail will house 144 underestimated,” Block said. “This who is the director of the N.C. tion — but it’s not a guarantee, he said. inmates, though it could be expand- is our community, after all, and we Faculty have taken Jaycee Burn Center. “The initial words that came from the ed to house more if necessary. have the ultimate say as to what hap- formal steps in the Cairns told the Faculty police chief are very similar to the words you “We should be investing in our pens in our community.” Executive Committee on hear every time: we will get to the bottom of people and in our communities, that Orange County commissioners past to stop the fires. Monday that steps have been this, I promise a full and complete investiga- is, taking preventative measures to said they acknowledge the issues taken in the past to stop the tion,” Baumgartner said. stop the cycle of incarceration before people have with the jail. By Amy Nelson unsupervised bonfires. In “What she didn’t say and what is never said: it begins,” Leah Block, a first-year at “I understand the concerns that Staff Writer 2007, there was a resolution check in six months from now or 18 months N.C. State University, said. people have, and we in Orange passed that said bonfires are from now when the internal investigation will Block said she heard about the County have those concerns,” The bonfires following not sanctioned and not sup- be complete and presumably things will have petition from other anti-oppression Pelissier said.