North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 07/20/1995

A. It's Thursday July 20th. Tonight a tasty low fat recipe you can make in your kitchen in North Carolina now. Thursday

evening everyone I marry the shark so glad you could join us. Coming up tonight John Mason will give us the latest on what's happening in the state legislature. And we'll talk with the head of the North Carolina and Mary healer still discuss the recent setbacks and new challenges facing the organization. And then it's on to the now kitchen there's nothing like a light summertime salad to keep your cool and please the appetite. Tonight Don Mauer fixes us a Southern salad that even the waistline loves. But first John basin joins us now from our legislative bureau. Good evening John. Hi Mary Lou. John you know big question in this legislative session of course is the budget. Do you expect to be closer to reality budget wise by perhaps this weekend everyone down here I think certainly hope so. Most of the members of the legislature have gone home for the weekend. But two groups are staying here for at least part of the weekend to try to work on that budget they're called the conferees they've been appointed by the House and Senate to try to work out to try to negotiate a compromise version of the budget. And as I say everyone else has gone home but the conferees are here to try to hammer out a few more

areas of agreement and hopefully they can get this budget passed. Soon. You know John we've heard so much lately in regards to abortion legislation in our state in the two bills brought out by Representative Michael Decker. What's the latest on both the right to know Bill and parental consent. Well starting with parental consent that one is a done deal I represented Dekker and other abortion opponents have been trying for years to get that bill passed. This was the year earlier this week the Senate passed the bill they had made some changes to it they sent it. So it came back to the house for the House to decide whether or not to accept those Senate changes. Representative Decker stood on the House floor and recommended to his colleagues that they did that they should accept the changes and they did in that one parental consent is now the law in North Carolina for women under 18. OK. I understand John that a Senate bill has been renamed in remembrance of an 11 year old girl who was raped and killed. Tell me about that. Yes the bill is to register sex offenders. The one of the members of the Senate Senator Hugh Webster stood yesterday and said that recount of the details of a case in Caswell County where 13 year old girl died at the hands

of of a man who had a history of assaultive and sexually aggressive behavior and he made a motion that this new law should be named in her honor so Amy Jackson of Caswell County Her name will be associated with this sex offender registration law in North Carolina. OK. And John even though the 4th of July is a memory there are still I understand fireworks popping in the general assembly. Well there was a fireworks bill that was hotly debated and and actually defeated for a while but it was revived and brought back and passed yesterday. Senator Hamilton Horton was against this bill he said some of the best times he ever had as a child was surreptitiously getting fireworks and setting them off and he was against this bill that would have put some restrictions on the ages of people who can buy fireworks. As you may know recently North Carolina liberalized its fireworks law so that more fireworks available in the state now than there were just a few years ago. And the bill was to put some put some restrictions on some of the fireworks that youngsters might get ahold of and might be hurt by and as I say

senator Horton made some impassioned speeches on the Senate floor a very silver tongued oratory and got enough votes to kill the bill one day but the attempts were made to revive it and it did came back and was passed yesterday enough people change their minds. During the intervening time to pass the bill and so the fireworks safety issue has been settled even after the Fourth of July so he just went and let a firecracker off in the on the chamber floor is that right. Not a firecracker but I think what they call a party popper. OK. And he was saying here's the kind of thing you know isn't it. Isn't it a little overboard to try to keep kids from getting their hands on something like this and then he set it off. Senator Leslie Winter who was supporting the bill said said Senator those words that particular device is not covered by this bill and she went on to say some of the other things that were covered in. And she she won the day. Well interesting. Now what's this I hear about an actual resolution to adjourn this session.

Well that's one of the formalities that the legislature has to go through they have to pass a resolution setting an adjournment date and they have done that that date that they have set is next Thursday and I'm sure everybody down here would love for that to be the case but I doubt too many people would be wagering on it. Usually they set a date that they optimistically would like to be able to adjourn on. But they're not usually able to hit that date and so they'll end up amending the bill moving the date back. Another interesting kind of quirky thing that they do here Mary Lou is they set a time as well as a day for adjournment when the time for adjournment rolls around. If it looks like they might be able to finish up within a few hours of that time they stop the clocks in the House and Senate chamber so that technically their adjournment resolution is still viable even though in truth of course Time marches on whether you stop the clocks or not. John what do you hear also about a special session being called later on this year. There is still a feeling among a lot of people that change is coming down from Washington. Block grants and such will will require a special session particularly a deal for instance with welfare reform. It's sort of been taken as a given around here for the last few weeks and I

haven't heard that much talk about it recently. But a lot of folks say there's a strong possibility that there will be a need for a special session come the fall. And OK do you have any idea when that may be I mean as early as September or maybe later October I'm not sure what date. I think more along the lines of October but I'm not really sure what dates if any have been mentioned I think it's just sort of considered a likelihood that it's going to come down the pike. Well of course that will keep you folks down at the bureau very busy once again for the rest of the year is if you don't have a big enough assignment ahead of you and John thank you so much once again for shedding light on what's happened this week in the legislature thank you so much John. Thank you Mary Lou. And coming up we'll have a discussion with a local leader of the oldest civil rights organization in the country. But first a look at the news business and weather affecting us in our state with Michel Louis at the now news desk. Hi Michel. Hello Mary Lou. Good evening everyone. A professor at USC Chapel Hill has resigned in the face of new attempts to fire him. James Williams an English professor had been accused of having affairs with students and was being investigated for possible

misuse of funds that he controlled. Chancellor Michael hooker accepted the resignation today and said he was withdrawing his plans for discharge proceedings against Williams. In a statement Hooker said he regretted the embarrassment the incident had caused the state and the University of North Carolina's local school districts could be getting more money for school construction. The state House gave tentative approval today to a five hundred million dollar bond referendum. The money if approved by the voters would be split among each of the state's local school districts in an amendment proposed by Representative Gene Preston. Half the money would go to schools based on enrollment while the other half would go to schools based on wealth. It's time we as legislators took responsibility for responding to our children's education on AIDS. Children who way they are leaders and are contributing members of society. Or else they'll be our prisoners and our welfare recipients in the future.

The state House will take a final vote on the bill Monday before sending it to the Senate for consideration. If the proposal passes the full General Assembly voters will then decide in November to borrow the money. Overall the state estimates that school construction needs at 5 billion dollars. The state Senate has approved a series of tax breaks for fish farmers soda bottle ors and poultry producers. The biggest break the 25 percent would go to soda bottle. The industry had complained that juices are not taxed poultry farms would get a tax break if they use dead birds for compost instead of burning or burying them. And fish farms would get a sales tax exemption on the buildings or equipment they use. The overall tax reduction will cost the state 53 million dollars over the next six years. The bill has returned to the house where it will either accept or reject the Senate's charges. A federal judge has dismissed a challenge to a school board's requirement that students perform community service beginning with the graduating class of 1997. Chapel Hill High School will require its students to do 50 hours of community service in order to

graduate. That requirement has been challenged by the families of two students who feel the policy abridges parental rights. Judge Franklin Bullock said that it was up to the elected members of the board not the federal courts to establish school curriculum. He further suggested that if the parents didn't agree with the board's decision they should elect different people to the board. The parents have 30 days to file an appeal. The tobacco industry has been very vocal in recent weeks about its claims that they are doing everything possible to keep cigarettes out of the hands of minors. But a new survey shows smoking among teens is on the rise. The National Institute on Drug Abuse found that almost 20 percent of eighth graders smoked regularly or occasionally. That's an increase of nearly one third over the last three years. The director of the Institute says cigarette advertising is to blame for the increase. A Vermont Futurist predicts the reunification of North Carolina and South Carolina a gust St. John says the reunification would have a stabilizing effect on costs preserve the standard of living and increase the

effectiveness of tax dollars. At a meeting in Atlanta he also predicted Georgia Alabama and Tennessee would become one state and that West Virginia would reunite with region yet. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather. Temperatures will not differ very much from today's in the mountains highs will be in the 80s with the Asheville area reaching 88. The coastal and Piedmont regions will experience temperatures in the low to mid 90s. The forecast calls for partly cloudy skies across the state with a fair chance of thunderstorms in business news the Charlotte based rhotic Corporation reports a jump in third quarter profits to eleven point three million dollars. That's up 22 percent from a year ago. Roddick has several different businesses which include making and distributing sewing thread producing business labels and forms a supermarket chain and a venture capital business. Mid-Atlantic medical services will be the next health maintenance organization to compete in North Carolina mid-Atlantic new health plan called optimum choice of the Carolinas will operate in most major areas of the

state. In the triangle alone optimum choice will become the twelth HMO. The stock market moved higher today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose twelve point sixty eight to forty six forty one point fifty three hundred eighty one million shares changed hands. The Standard Poor's 500 Index and the Nasdaq composite index were up. And now for some stocks of North Carolina. The end has just concluded its 86 annual National Conference the

nation's oldest civil rights organization is facing tough times recently rocked by scandal the organization is strapped by financial difficulties and decreasing membership. This is a time when the Supreme Court in the Republican led Congress are eroding many of the civil rights advances accomplished over the last few decades is the NWC up to meeting the challenges it faces. Well here to talk about what happened at last week's convention and what's ahead for the civil rights organization is Mary Peeler miss Peeler is the executive director of the North Carolina. And Mr. Peeler It's good to have you here with us this evening. Thank you for inviting me. Tell me with with what I've just described in some of the the big challenges facing your organization nationally and at the state level is the End up to facing some of these challenges right now as you stand. Well I think I understand where we are today. We have to understand the history of the organization. Number one the people born out of crisis. Thought our history and organization have always been there

to facilitate and to deal with and to analyze and form a possible solution to a crisis situation is no different than in the past as it is today. So all our organization yes it is up to the challenge. So saying that you perform best under pressure in basically do you suppose that facing the challenges right now you're actually going to gain more momentum and more support as you see more African-Americans perhaps rallying to your cause. I think that it was best said by a lot of this said that in order to rally people you either have to expose the devil or there has to be a crisis. Well in these times we see both. We are in crisis situations where we look at some of the recent Supreme Court decisions where we look at violence in our communities. We look at some of the other problems that are plaguing our community we are in crisis situations. And yes the devil has been exposed. We see that in our elected officials

many of them not all of them. We see that in some of the rulings that have been handed down by the nation's oldest supreme our Supreme Court and no longer the Supreme Court a champion of those room of these they have been to level the playing field for minorities in general and African-Americans in particular. Specifically now are you referring to affirmative action and some of the recent talk we've been hearing about in the news is that basically what you're saying is affirmative action is one of the areas that we must focus on because that is a remedy. And to actually measure the playing field. There's a lot of myths that have been involved with people who don't understand truly what affirmative action is. And I think it's a quota system. Well number one it's not it is just a way to open the doors of opportunity to those people who have been disenfranchised by the system. President Clinton has said just today has come out basically and said and we've read it over the wire in that sort of thing today that that he's very much in support of keeping

these affirmative the formative action program alive. Do you see this as an ally on your side what President Clinton is saying. I think President Clinton. Posture that he wants to analyze every form of affirmative action where it needs to be fixed. It's good but I also have to take it a step further I think he needs to come out in more support of those programs activities that are working. OK you talked about we talked about the convention recently that you attended. What were some of the big discussions that the group brought up at that time and perhaps what you hope to accomplish and say I don't know what your agenda says about it maybe in the next one year to five years to is there a plan set or what would you like to accomplish. Let me focus first on some of the major priority areas for the NWC period through the rest of 95 voter education registration and participation have to be critical elements of any in the CPA unit meaning branch youth council

hospital or college chapter as well state conferences and our national office because we see that those decisions that are being made are directly the result of elections. So we are mobilizing our sources right now to increase voter registration and voter education. It's not enough just to register people to vote. People have to be able to make an intelligent and informed decision and to choose the candidate of their choice when vote. So there we have to make sure that people go to the polls and vote and that voter participation in North Carolina we have designated the entire month of August as our statewide voter registration effort although voter registration is the only going process. There will be an increased emphasis by every branch has who you've Council in this state on voter registration to the month of August. Then we move to the month of September. That will be our membership campaign. We have set a goal to increase the membership in North

Carolina by 40000 new members. But in 1995 goodness big go but we feel we're up to the challenge to meet it 40000 new members and 1000 new members in North Carolina. And we have basically four months five months to go right is a big goal. It's a big challenge. But we feel that because of the things that are happening right now they're impacting the lives of all of us. That goal is attainable and the idea there is that there is effective strength in numbers basically in double ACP of a membership base organization. We always have been. So our strength come through our membership base is the work that we do. Large portion that work done at the local branch level through volunteers who give of their time their expertise and their service and care and now the mission the goal and the purpose of the NWC Pete.

So Mr. Peeler would you say though after attending the convention that that much of the needs of North Carolina is very reflective of the NWP throughout the country. I think it is. I think that if you look at the southeast region for example North Carolina South Carolina Florida Mississippi Georgia Alabama those are all states there in the southeast region making up about 40 percent of the membership of the NAACP make up about 40 percent of the branches you Council to have two chapters of the page. So making up that larger percentage of the total population of the organization. I'm sure that we're already very much reflective of the training that's going on the rest in the rest of the country. Well you have very high goals and I do hope that you have a lot of luck in achieving them and we appreciate you being our guest and I'm sorry that we've run out of time but I would love to have you back on if your schedule allows it here in the near future I would love to do so. Thank you so rank you so much Mary peeler. While many of us enjoy a good salad in the summer because it's cool and not too heavy to eat in the

heat at times the dressing on that salad may have the fat and calories of a hamburger and french fries. But Don Mauer has a great idea for you a healthy nutritious delicious Southern summer salad with a low fat dressing that your figure will find appetizing. You know I don't think a Summer is a summer without a sail and sail it's really summer for as far as I'm concerned sure and when it's very hot outside you don't have the I don't want something light refreshing and something easy to put together and I have got the classic southern summer salad for you today. Absolutely wonderful. Used to have twenty nine grams per serving now it's only got four. Well I'm sure you've got some trick to this you know only of course I learned it but kept the flavor that's really the trick. If you what you're going to start with tomatoes tomatoes from your garden if you can farmer's market wherever I've got two tomatoes here that I peeled and sliced thinly and placed on this platter. OK that's a foundation on which the sale is going to be Bill or get him out of the garden. Yeah right out of your garden you know.

Yeah now this is what's going to replace the olive oil that's normally in this dressing replace it with chicken broth or what we've got sitting here sizzling away on the stove is a half a cup of chicken broth. There's no fan in it when I've got in this cup here is two teaspoons of arrowroot flour. And I mix it together with two tablespoons of chicken broth the fate of chicken broth and your wood fires just like cornstarch you ready to whisk OK. Going to pour this in there with him. Why didn't you use the corn starch because corn starch is a little bit too sweet for me and there was half of that if you're going to little thicker but it's nice and clear. Okay now that's exactly what I'm going to use and I can use that one but I'm going to children of that over here so I'm going to make a dressing and this is what's going to go together to make this a wonderful wonderful dressing. First I'm going to start with a half a cup of that they can chicken broth just like we made there except it's cold. OK pour that in your mixing bowl. Can you see that's got the viscosity of oil that's really what you want you want to think it's not supposed to be putting it's just oil. Now this is one tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil no extra virgin is a little bit more expensive but it's got a lot of flavor and color it's really wonderful That's one tablespoon of that in there so we've got the olive oil that you

would normally be mistake you've lowered the amount of time that used to be a half a cup and they're OK now. This is two tablespoons of red wine vinegar add that to your bowl. Two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and that's the vinegar that they've aged in OK asked for like four years it's wonderfully sweet it's got a great color and a wonderful wonderful flavor. It has a nice Obama. Oh he's really smelling great here already so fresh too. This is three tablespoons of fresh chopped basil this is right out of my garden my base is about this high right now. So going to three tablespoons of fresh chop is OK. Half a teaspoon of salt can be optional optional if you've got a problem just leave it out and a quarter teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper not now for me. I put a half a teaspoon in her you know I love to do it by Syria and just with this together. OK this looks wonderful. You know I mean there's something you can actually bottle and just keep in that you know absolutely I'm putting a bottle of mix together just in refrigerated in the state beautiful now. Let's bring out our tomato platter and let's pour this dressing all over our

tomatoes. Just like to have that look good not pretty. Yeah you can see that just on the front porch of the glass right. Absolutely yeah. Now when I got here this is one era sweetcorn and you're looking for sweet corn that stays really really sweet once it's picked and I cut the I cook this and I cut the corn kernels off of this and you just want to strew this over the tomatoes and you can see why this is a summer salad I mean these are all the summer kinds of vegetables. Right. Get ready for the garden like we absolutely I mean it's important that it's all fresh absolute freshness is of paramount importance. And finally what I've got here is two green onions that I've sliced thinly OK. And I knew I was going to jump over that. OK. Again sprinkle that again on the darn thing I can grow and make our case. Do you see those are easy to grow here wonderful if you've grown yourself. Well Ballard and there are new this is a classic southern summer sale experience four grams of fat preserving give me or play all of you some of the seeds of the great platter there but this is this is this hopefully this is going to be wonderful. And so you've saved how many that grandma recently

has had 29 fat grams per serving. Right now we've got only four fairgrounds for serving and lots and lots of flavor where you think Oh it's very very fresh. You know a lot of this great if you want to copy the recipe all you have to do is send a self-addressed stamped envelope to North Carolina now P.O. Box 1 4 9 0 0 2 7 7 0 9. If you've got a sweet tooth I want some good country cooking that now kitchens got what you need to satisfy your appetite whether you prefer exotic fare or comfort food. You'll find it all from soup to nuts and everything in between. Low cal high fiber and just plain good for copies of our recipes send a self-addressed stamped on Globe to North Carolina now P.O. Box 1 4 9 0 0 0 RTP NC 2 7

7 0 9. We hope you enjoy the information we shared with you this evening. Here's what we're working on for tomorrow night. A look back into North Carolina history will visit the home of author Thomas Wolfe in Asheville and Mitchell Lewis will examine how state lawmakers will affect local gun ordinances and another piece of information from our guest tonight North Carolina and executive director Mary peeler. Next year the Association's National Convention will be held right here in North Carolina in Charlotte. So look for that during the summer months in 1996. Thank you so much for joining us tonight we look forward to seeing you tomorrow night at 7:30. Goodnight everyone.