North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 04/10/1997

We are Iraq. It's Thursday April 10th tonight. A new leader is chosen for the future of the U.N. see system in North Carolina now. Good evening I'm Maria McRae welcome to this Thursday edition of North Carolina now. Two very significant events taking place today highlight our program late today the U.N. C. board of governors named Molly Corbett

broad as the successor to you would see President CDs Spangler on hand for that long awaited announcement was Maria Lundberg will hear from Maria in just a moment. And paying a visit to Raleigh today was a native North Carolinian and Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles. We'll bring you some of his comments from today's opening session of the emerging issues forum. But first we go to Chapel Hill. Today marked a rare and immeasurably important occasion in the lives of those associated with the University of North Carolina system from educators to administrators students past present and future laborers legislators and so many North Carolinians and probably every walk of life all are in some way impacted by the activities of the 16 campus you and see system today the very future of the University of North Carolina it was defined by the naming of a new president. Maria Lundberg house the story. Through the years the University of North Carolina system has grown to include 16 campuses across the state currently serving more than

150000 students. It's been said that the president of the U.N. system holds one of the most powerful positions in North Carolina perhaps second only to the governor William Friday. The system's first president held the position from 1972 until 1986 when he was succeeded by C.D. Spangler. But now that position is about to change again. Ever since UN see President CD Spangler announced that he would retire this year. There's been a lot of speculation about his replacement. Today the USC board of governors met in special session to decide who would take over at the helm of the USC system after meeting in closed session for over one hour. Former Governor James Hall's Howser chairman of the Search Committee formally presented the candidate to the 32 member board. Even though there has always been strong sentiment that we would like to continue our tradition of university presidents with strong ties to North Carolina the matter of fact that was my sentiment

only the emergence of a truly exceptional person could override that. And that is exactly what the Search Committee brings to the board this afternoon. A truly exceptional person. I've simply been amazed at the comments that we've received. The descriptive phrases seem keep coming all the way through. Don dynamite shining star a real visionary one of the few people with the kind of vision it takes to raise an institution to the next level. So now Mr. Chairman it's my pleasure on behalf of the search committee to place in nominations for the position of president the University of North Carolina. The name of Molly Corbett broad after a unanimous vote the president elect addressed the board. I was thrilled and I am thrilled. Yes I stand here today. The University of North Carolina is one of the absolute finest universities in the entire world. And you

all have a great deal of which to be proud. I look forward to with a lot of enthusiasm to my service to the University of North Carolina. This is a university that has enjoyed over its entire history and it is a very long and distinguished history the kind of support and funding and commitment. There is a culture in North Carolina of believing that the quality of higher education affects the quality of life of the community of the society and of the state. That's the kind of university I am very pleased to be affiliated with. You also have a very long and proud tradition of leadership from the Board of Governors and from the president. And I am awed by the privilege of following in the footsteps of President Spangler

and president Friday. The two of your presidents that I have had the privilege to know today feels like it's a day for celebration. And I want to express my heartfelt thanks for your support and I look forward with great enthusiasm to getting better acquainted with each of you and working closely with you. Thank you very much. This appointment is truly history making in two ways not only is Molly broad the first woman to hold this position but this is also the first time that the leader of the state's public university system will not be a North Carolinian. Well from Chapel Hill we'll turn our attention to Raleigh for the opening day of this year's emerging issues forum. Today's keynote speaker was White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles. Mr. BOWLES spoke before a full house at the McCammon center on the campus of NC State. The focus of this year is that today for him is economic forces shaping the next half century.

And Mr. Bowles pushed the theme of economic progress and touted the successes of North Carolina visit ministration provided federal funds and granted greater flexibility to states like North Carolina willing to raise academic standards make comprehensive education reforms and promote grassroots involvement in education. We made progress over the last four years but as Jim Hunt the education governor if there's ever been an education governor would tell you we have a long long way to go. We have seen the unemployment rate drop from 7.5 percent to five point two percent. And we have stayed under 6 percent unemployment for 31 straight months. In North Carolina the news has been even better in the last four years you have created 300000 new jobs compared to 25000 new jobs in the previous four year period. And your unemployment rate the unemployment rate in our state has dropped from 5.5 percent down to an almost unimaginable three point six

percent. Today's visit marks the first time Boles has officially traveled back to his home state since his appointment to the Clinton White House speakers that tomorrow's conference include Alice Rivlin vice chair of the Federal Reserve Board Richard Gephardt U.S. House minority leader and Hugh Price president of the National Urban League on juvenile crime is another issue demanding attention of federal agencies and state government. We've all heard the stories about the growing number of North Carolina's youth who commit crime but during this legislative session state leaders hope to launch an attack on juvenile crime. Reports lawmakers plan to reform North Carolina's juvenile justice system over the next two years in order to make juvenile offenders more accountable for their actions. What a job. Why it's 5:00 a.m. on a weekday morning and about 25 juvenile offenders are gathered behind the Cumberland County Courthouse in them here in the early morning cold. Kids who have committed crimes

ranging from breaking and entering to assault with a deadly weapon are getting a serious wake up call this morning. Each and every one of you said here because of some type of infraction that Jews executed or committed in our society. You hear because you have made the wrong decision or a wrong choice in life. And I am trying to touch each and every one of these to help you turn yourselves around for the betterment. So starting the day we're going to embark on a new way of life. We're going to try to prove to ourselves that we deserve the respect of the normal way of all persons in our society and that we can also display that same respect to others through straight talk and rigorous military drills. Sergeant Roger Read of the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department hopes to give these kids a second chance. But late last year the teenagers who participate in the training program all first time offenders area judges

finish the kids to this program as an alternative to serving time in a juvenile detention center. The kids made in the only morning hours for an hour and a half of physical training. Afterwards they go to class. The entire program lasts for up to one hundred and twenty days. But it's very tough it's very hard and there's one set of rules for all. You do the one right thing and you can graduate. If you don't you find yourself going to department correction so far that philosophy seems to work almost 1000 kids have graduated from the program. Only 16 of them have committed a 2nd criminal offense. That record has earned the program both state wide and national priorities. Just last month Sergeant Reade testify before Congress about the effectiveness of his methods. And Governor Hunt hopes to make this program a model for the rest of the state. Governor haunch proposed budget allocates a million dollars to help establish problems like this one in each of North Carolina's 100 counties. The only

stipulation is that the juvenile offender programs must emphasize rigorous physical trying eat while stressing that respect discipline and most important accountability and accountability is what state leaders hope to stress as they begin to overhaul North Carolina's juvenile justice system. What we have in North Carolina is we have a system that was created by and large in the 40s 50s and 60s when the worst thing that children were doing was maybe are writing a four letter word on the bathroom or sticking their gum under the desk. The world is now different. And do we need a more punitive system. No. But what we need is a system that not just looks at the rehabilitation of juvenile but also looks at public safety. Over the next two years Moore says state leaders plan to transform the state's juvenile justice system already has session. Several bills have been offered to establish support

groups for juvenile offenders and kids who are at risk for committing crime. But Moore says there's still more to do. I would like to see us have a graduated sanctions system where we have both accountability for what someone is and the ability to make sure that that person is treated like everybody else in a fair way. Moore says the first phase of the graduated sanction system would be outreach programs like the one at Raleigh's Haven House through a mentoring program. Haven House volunteers are able to reach out to kids who are most at risk for committing crime. Kids like 12 year old Josh Haley. So right there for us. But Josh is now learning accountability from his mentor Kelly Williams. Kelly and Josh were teamed up when Josh started having trouble in school. Today Josh is

back on the right track thanks to Kelly's advice to him all the time a lot of things he's doing now. They're wrong I've already done before and I'm trying to teach him. You know you are supposed to do those things that way he doesn't fall into some of the same traps I fell into I don't think any child is born bad. It's a learned behavior and if you can teach them that behavior you can teach them any behavior. Robin and Bret Adam say the state needs to do more to help kids at risk of becoming teenage criminals although their son has never committed a crime. Say up until a few months ago he was having serious problems they couldn't deal with at home after being told repeatedly by the state's Human our justice system that the state couldn't do anything for their son. The Adams found Haven House. It wasn't serious enough for really bad punishment but there was something that needed to be done and needed to be taken care of. And so we felt

get him help instead of treating him like a criminal wasn't a criminal yet but he was just like right there I would order them exact their teenage son now lives at one of Haven houses group homes. Here he works with other troubled teenagers to learn how to deal with the temptations that often lead kids to crime. The choices that they have to make nowadays they're not the choices. When I was in school from A to get in trouble would be something like ditching school. Well that's not popular anymore. And now it's drugs and sex. But the choices are just unbelievable the choices the Adams hopes state leaders will take into account as they reform the juvenile justice system. They also want state leaders to realize the value of intervention programs. The Adams say without the program at Haven House it would have been disaster. We would have lost our son completely right.

But meanwhile in Fayetteville Sergeant Roger Redd says the state's juvenile justice system needs to be changed. But in a way that not only punishes juvenile offenders but also helps them get back on their feet. State leaders have to begin looking at specific changes they'd like to make to our state's juvenile justice system. Later this legislative session. Still to come an interview with a man who has written two new books on urban hiking in North Carolina. But first let's get the rest of today's statewide news for that we turn to Mitchell Lewis at the North Carolina now news desk. Hello Meche. Hi there Maria. Good evening everyone. Topping our news House Republicans have introduced their version of Governor Hunt's excellent schools act the House plan assigns roughly the same 219 million dollar price tag estimated by the governor. It also keeps a 6.5 percent average pay raise for teachers. The House version differs from the Senate plan by calling for teacher tenure to come after as many as six years in the

classroom and teachers in low performing schools could be subject to competency testing. House Speaker Howell Drew Baker said the House version makes a good bill better. Legislators debating a solution to reducing environmental water pollution are receiving criticism from both sides. Today demonstrators opposed to the pork industry protested in front of the legislative building in Raleigh. The protesters favor Representative Richard Morgan's one year moratorium on new and expanding hog farms. Morgan's bill attempts to clamp down on hog farms while protecting the interests of more County golf course operations. The governor proposed a two year option earlier in the week. Controversy over access to the Lincoln Group tobacco company documents continues. Lawyers are arguing to get eight of those documents released as evidence in Florida's lawsuit against the tobacco industry. Last Tuesday a Forsyth County judge ruled that Leggett documents should remain sealed saying their release would violate attorney client privilege. An official for the Florida case SAS tobacco companies have misused the attorney

client relationship to keep information about the health risks of smoking a secret. Chatham County now tops the state and rabies cases. County officials report 70 cases of rabies this year. The number of cases statewide stands at two hundred thirty seven. Chatham County animal control officers say the situation has forced them to make an aggressive policy decision. From now on all incidents involving contact between wild animals and vaccinated pets will be treated as rabies exposure cases. Such a determination would require booster shots with a pet and could mean animal quarantine. Well much of North Carolina's apple crop took a hit last night when temperatures in the western part of the state dipped below 30 degrees. However agriculture officials say other crops survive the cold weather with little damage. Weather officials have also issued a frost freeze warning for much of the state tonight but tomorrow temperatures should rebound across the state into the mid to upper 60s partly to mostly sunny skies will also prevail across the state tomorrow. In business news three of Charlotte's biggest corporations are joining

forces to find political ways to combat what they call local intolerance corporate leaders from the nation's bank First Union and Duke Power are also working with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Urban League to decide whether to enter the fray over public funding for the Arts. Stirring The debate was a vote by county commissioners last week to cut funding to the Arts and Science Council overplays with homosexual themes of vice president from first union said a majority of the firm's community was saddened by the presence of hate and the outcome of the vote. And believe it is not representative of the community. A new study says the Raleigh Durham Chapel Hill area has had the most consistent economic growth in the nation for the past 25 years. The triangle fared well because of the area's success in attracting many high tech manufacturing and research facilities in recent years. The triangle also stands out because of its heavy state government employment. The study compiled by a Florida economic consultant measured 13 economic indicators and three hundred thirteen metropolitan areas. And now for a look at

what happened on Wall Street today. Hiking trails are becoming more popular than ever here in North Carolina. And tonight we find out the latest in Tar Heel hiking in an interview that I taped earlier this week.

Our guest tonight is best known as the author of his bestselling book North Carolina hiking trails having hiking more than 30000 miles of trails all across the world. He's right. For a new adventure urban hiking He's written two new books on the subject they are trails of the triad and trails of the triangle. The author is Alan to hard to joins us this evening welcome Mr. Hart. Thank you. So tell us about these two new books why books on urban hiking. Well it's very it's very simple and that the city is the towns have created their own greenways and trail systems at the same time they've being developed in the forests and the parks nationwide frequent they're not given the same amount of attention because they are walkways cement places for people to walk along streams or along the streets themselves or into the parks. And so with that kind of

increase in trail systems I felt that more details needed to be created and particularly with mapping because it is easy to get lost in the city on the trails as it is and the forests. And so these two areas the triangle and the triad had the larger number of trials that were available to write about and disk. And when I first heard this term urban hiking it made me think of walking on a cement walkway through you know downtown Greensboro something like that and that's not necessarily the case a lot of these enter into state parks and other areas that you would said absolutely. For example the longest trail that we have here in the Triangle area is completely on the ground through the forest. It's called the Falls Lake trial so in that area there aren't any cement walkways for that whereas if we were going to discuss say the asylum like trail which is in

Winston-Salem and gets into almost downtown with and just a few blocks of downtown much of that is cement. What's the value of an urban trail as opposed to going out in the woods. Well I think that all trails are somewhat therapeutic of breaking you away from the work of the day or from other kind of. Activities that maybe are not as strenuous but it's just the nature pretty much as it is to meet the people along the way. I think also that we might not completely call it hiking trails. We might more easily call them walking trails and in that respect it's a way to get away from the word. Some people just take off at lunch break and take a walk in some of the trails even and here in the Research Triangle there's such a place for that and they're probably a little bit more accessible to people in their day to day how soon you're going to see some inline skaters there and you're going to see some bikers and and

you may see strollers. Maybe even people in wheelchairs and some of the trials. Well let's give our viewers an idea of what's included in the book by my asking you what's your favorite trail in your triad book. Well it's always difficult to answer. Which might be my favorite. Let me mention the one I think around the triangle. There's two I need really to say about Triangle. One would be the Falls leg trail which is the longest and it's close to the lake and it's also crossing streets or roads and close to some residential areas so you you have the feeling that you're out there with nature but that you're not too far away from residential areas. And then the other would be the roads which are in the Far East. This book for the first time in some detail describes them because they have all been measured. And also because they are a road like a fire road in areas Vikas and hikers even equestrians can go in

many of those trials. There are a few that are strictly just for hikers but there again you feel like that you're in a great forest which you are but you're just a mile or two are within the sounds of the traffic with and within the Duke University campus itself. And what about the triad. Well it was the triad Actually I go out for all the way in the countryside than we do in the triangle so we have places like the North Wilkesboro which might be in that group. There's a there's a trail also that comes out of high point that is paved near the High Point University and then it connects up close to about Centennial area and then eventually through Jamestown we'll somehow across the interstate and connect with trails like close to those such as at Lake Brandt. And so we're talking about miles and miles of trails when that's all done.

Now you have a big hike coming up in the month of May. Tell us about whether to start already with my associate Allen household or the 18th of April. You started Klingons don't start walking toward the Atlantic. I've already done the first three hundred and thirty five miles. So I will join him somewhere close to Boone and then we will hike together in the mountains to the sea trial where we get to Stone Mountain. Will come down from Stone Mountain to where we get on a bike trail and we'll either be on bike trails or back roads or some state park trails and the current town National Forest Trail all the way to Cape Hatteras. How long of a hike is that. Approximately eight hundred twenty five miles and that will take you how long. Well I'm 70. I'm going to go as slow as I feel like it and he's 41 he'll probably stay ahead of me which suits me fine because then he can get there and get some other things Red is such a silly thing to eat. You'll

both get there faster than I would so we have some others who are going with us so it'll be interesting to see how many of them actually stay with us for a whole day. We're looking volatile how exciting and good luck to you in what they do. Your new books that are out are trails of the triad and trails of the triangle. I wish you well thanks for being here tonight. Thank you I appreciate this. That does it for tonight's program be sure to join us tomorrow for our regular Friday discussion with

legislative correspondent John basted about this past week's events at the General Assembly. And we'll have a spectacular preview of Wilmington's Xillia festival. All that and more tomorrow so please join us until then have a good night.