Louisiana: The State We're In; 438

Production assistance for the following program was provided in part by Kaiser Aluminum. Will Southern University and LSU have to merge to meet federal desegregation guidelines? Louisiana: The State We're In looks for the answer this week. (someone calls out) conversation in background As long as we can hobble around and sit in a boat and drive, I think it will be our life. Meet Annie Miller: trapper, alligator hunter, commercial pilot, licensed boat captain, former deputy sheriff, mother of two, grandmother to four and now a swamp tour guide. music Louisiana: The State We're In with Beth George and Ron Blome.

Welcome to this edition of Louisiana: The State We're In. Desegregation of the state's schools has been in the headlines recently. Last week we had a report on the situation in Rapides Parish. This week we'll take a look at what's happening on the college and university campuses around the state. We'll also take a trip to the bayous of South Louisiana where we'll meet an unforgettable lady who guides tours through the wilderness swampland that she calls home. Before those stories, however, a report on a controversial plan to build the world's largest chemical waste plant here in Louisiana. A state hearing on whether to grant a permit to an $85 million complex was ground to a halt this week as one commission member made good on a threat to call for a postponement. Health Secretary George Fisher called for the suspension because of possible conflicts between state consultants and the IT Corporation which has applied for that permit. Already there has been considerable public opposition to the plan, and we have a report on this week's hearing. The Environmental Control Commission began the permit hearing on the IT hazardous waste incineration plant this week with both sides well organized and well represented. IT Vice President

John Feece (sp?) brought two lawyers and expert witnesses that were costing the company $2,000 a day. All the environmental groups Save Ourselves and owners of historic Houmas House retained attorneys to fight the permit. The fight is over whether the state will issue a permit for the construction of the world's largest chemical waste disposal plant to be built here at Burnside. Industry and business leaders would like to see it built, while 10,000 area residents want the plant stopped. As the Control Commission hearings began on Monday, Representative Juba Diaz and Senator Joseph Barrios, who represent the area affected, spoke in favor of the plan. But opposition leader Ruby Cointment says that's not surprising because there's a lot of politics involved. The state of Louisiana and everyone knows about Louisiana politics. We are never going to have any help until the people who are dealing with our environmental problems are immune to politics. Where do you think the political pressure is coming from? Industry? It is political pressure from the top all the way down to the little man. It comes Governor Edwards, you know, said we made concessions, we made deals. What he did not actually

come out and say is we traded your child's life for for a job. And he shouldn't have said that. And he also says that IT Corporation and the Department of Natural Resources have established a cozy relationship that is not in the public interest. The Department of Natural Resources should not be involved in granting the permit because they solicited IT to come to the state of Louisiana. They helped them get the study that resulted, you know, in them applying for this permit. Then they are going to vote on whether they get a permit or not and then they will be responsible for monitoring the same facility. So you definitely have a conflict of interest there. Cointment says her group is not opposed to industry and will accept onsite disposal but she says hazardous waste disposal operators have an established record that is all bad. The person who knows hazardous waste better than anybody else should be responsible for treating it and also the plants are much more financially responsible than hazardous waste companies. There has never been a success story with a hazardous

waste company in the state of Louisiana and there never will, because it's not the way to go. At this hearing, however, the Environmental Control Commission is not as interested in past history as it is in IT's technical proposal. But IT Vice President John Feece (sp?) says he understands the problem of public perception. What it boils down to is this is the rationale for the people's concern and it's a very valid concern. I think that the issue is and the concern is not one of just Ascension Parish and not just the state of Louisiana. But we have a national problem and that is the mismanagement of hazardous chemical waste that has existed for many, many years. And with that there has to be a great deal of concern and a very valid concern. Well, what we're hoping to be able to present today and review before the Commission through this adjudicatory process is, in fact, a technological alternative to what has, in fact, happened in the past. That technological alternative in this particular case stems from the fact that we will not be disposing toxic materials in the ground but, in fact, through high technology,

chemical engineering and a variety of other processing techniques detoxify these materials so that, in fact, they are rendered harmless and will not harm this generation or future generations. And that's really the key. Feece denies Mrs. Cointment's allegation that the company is too close to the Department of Natural Resources. He says the state has just recognized the importance of dealing safely with a dangerous byproduct. But I think that certainly all of the people of the state of Louisiana want to encourage industry to remain with the jobs that they produce and encourage additional industry to come in. I think the concern is that if more industry is to come and the existing industry is to expand, they want to ensure that, in fact, there are environmentally sound methods to handle what is also produced and that's the hazardous waste that is produced. And with that, it is really incumbent upon on behalf of the people the state to, in fact, ensure that environmentally sound alternatives are provided. Those hearings are scheduled to resume again next Wednesday. Ron,

that's a story we'll be following for some time to come, as is our next report. It concerns a lawsuit filed by the United States against the state of Louisiana. The subject: higher education. And the outcome will affect the racial makeup and the programs offered at Louisiana's University. For more than a decade Louisiana's colleges and universities have been open to students of all races. The principal problem facing college administrators has not been desegregation but lack of money. That picture is changing. The federal government has filed suit against the state of Louisiana, forcing a re-examination of the priorities in higher education. At issue are the remains of a dual system of black and white colleges across the state. The focus is on the state's predominantly black institutions located geographically near majority white schools and existing now with a proud heritage but a history of past discrimination. Well I think it is a bit ironic that after 100 years of service, growth and development, that Southern University finds itself involved

in a lawsuit concerning the question of whether it will be enhanced and, if so, how? And when and to what extent? No one is accusing the state of operating a discriminatory system today. No one is. Everyone agrees that a student regardless of race can enter into any college or university he wants to in the state. No problem. What they're saying is that we have in Louisiana vestiges of a past system which we have not yet corrected, and they are suing us to make us correct those systems. There is a certain irony in the fact that desegregation has placed a heavier burden on the black universities. This year a majority of black students attending college in Louisiana will be going to formerly white colleges. What concerns the Justice Department is the fact that there are few white students at schools such as Southern University in Baton Rouge and New Orleans and Grambling University. There is also concern that fewer

dollars per student are spent on these schools. Thus the lawsuit, charging that certain acts and practices of the state of Louisiana maintain and perpetuate an unlawful dual system of public higher education based upon race. Trial has been set for April the 6th, 1981, and all parties concerned are under court order to negotiate in good faith until that date. William Arceneaux is chairman of the Board of Regents, the group charged with overseeing higher education in the state. This week the Board submitted a response to the lawsuit. But along with that agreement went a counterproposal from the Southern Board of Supervisors, charging that not enough was being done to enhance that university. For the last three or four months, institutions of higher education have been meeting privately to try to come to terms as to what can be done in light of the Justice Department's suggestions to settle the case.

Now I should point out that the Justice Department, about four months ago, submitted a detailed proposal to the state specifying the kinds of things that they think might work in solving this problem that they would like to see the state do. This ranges from a merger of proximate institutions to scholarships for other-race students, where you would try to induce whites to go to black schools and blacks to go to white schools with money, with scholarship money, and a whole range of programs both at the state and the institutional levels. Well then, what are some of the impediments to reaching that agreement? Well, one of the suggestions of the Justice Department is something called exclusivity. That is to say that only one school will offer only one degree program in a particular area. Like the Baton Rouge area, the New Orleans area. The problem is when that program already belongs or is already housed

at one institution and another institution wants it. That's essentially the problem. Say you wanted to be a teacher of special education or something, you would have to go to one campus to get it. That's right. (Beth and Bill talk over one another.) If you want to be an accountant, you know, you have to go to one school to get it. You wouldn't have a choice as you have now, for example. And we're really talking though about graduate and professional programs more than undergraduate programs, and that where they should be and what it will take. The bottom line is they want other race presence on campuses. Now by other race at LSU, for instance, they mean black, and at Southern University, they mean whites. In the faculty, the administration and the student body, not not just, you know, this is a total operation. As far as students are concerned and that, I think, is the biggest problem area, our predominately white schools are not doing too badly. We have Northeast Louisiana at Monroe, for example, has about a

20 percent black enrollment, a very healthy situation. USL, UNO, even LSU has a pretty good. There's a racial presence on there, a black presence. You go to their campus and you can see that. The problem is getting white, a white presence, on the predominately black institutions where we have a very, very difficult time. And it's the Justice Department's contention that if you put the right programs on those campuses, you can get white students to go to those campuses. I'm not sure that's, that's correct. Only time will tell. But we're certainly making a good faith effort to find out. I think we must have more white students at Southern University than we have, but I don't think that's a real problem for us. I think that if we can show ourselves to be attractive to all college-bound students, if we can do the things that will make all college-bound students comfortable here... Southern President Jesse Stone maintains that attracting those students will require the state to spend a great deal of money. All the state would have to do would be to assign a

priority to Southern University that is just and fair. And some of the things that the state hastens to do for some other universities, it would also do for Southern University. You see, the Justice Department, the federal government, did not get us in the bind that we are in. And it's just like a parent who may go too far in one direction, and he has to draw in the reins and help some of his other children achieve. And that's the same way it is here. Southern University is a creature of the state. It is a child as it were of the state of Louisiana. Southern has done more. The state of Louisiana has done more for all of its other children than it has for this institution. The truth of the matter is that the state can only afford to have one really major comprehensive university. And, you know, there's some question about the total support for

that institution also. Paul Murrill is chancellor of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. It was this university that was designated the comprehensive school in a master plan for higher education, a plan that the Southern Board feels is unconstitutional. Murrill thinks that all of higher education should be enhanced. But he also feels that any change in program should not be made at LSU's expense. I think this campus has been itself quite successful in doing the kinds of things with which the Justice Department's suit is concerned. For example, you look at this campus and look at the increasingly large numbers of black students who come here and who are successful here. This fall our black enrollment has now grown over fifteen hundred. In the freshman class, if

my memory serves me correctly, I think the black enrollment is 9.9 percent. We're attracting increasingly large numbers of black students here. They're coming here and they are being as successful as white students with the same basic abilities. So we are making good success and I think providing fine educational opportunities to black students in this state. So we feel that we are accomplishing the goal that the Justice Department has in mind. We're doing it naturally, and we're doing it successfully. I don't see where there is any requirement to turn to LSU and say: In order to accomplish something over here, we're going to have to take something away from you. We're going to have to take this program and move it here or

to merge this and sort out that. And I just don't believe those kinds of things make good educational sense. I don't think you'll transfer students when you transfer programs. I don't see that there's any need to do anything to hurt LSU in all of this or LSU students. If there is disagreement on what response should be made to the federal government, there is agreement that an out-of-court settlement is in the best interest of all parties. I always am of the opinion that people who have differences can best resolve them if they will because they are prepared to give some places and to take at other places. The courts could simply draw a hard and fast line. The people involved in this, Louisianians, and by and large they are

educators. And educators can usually make a better, bring about a better solution, to an educational problem than non-educators can. Stone is quick to point out that the universities have reached consensus on a number of major points -- ongoing programs of faculty exchange and cross registration of students. No one we talked to wants a merger of the schools nor involuntary busing of students, but there is a difference on establishing exclusive programs such as an oil and gas curriculum at Southern Law School. This, coupled with the black school's concern that timetables and goals are not clearly spelled out in the Board of Regents agreement, makes it clear that any solution will require major compromises by all concerned. It's a lot easier to deal with non-emotional problems. This is very emotional. People have pride in their institutions. Most of the people I deal with are empire builders. They want to build; they want to get bigger. They don't want to get smaller. They want to lose nothing. They just want to gain.

In a situation where nobody can just grow and nobody can just gain, so it's a very difficult situation. You have long traditions and long histories of institutions. It's like pulling teeth, quite frankly. Ron, there are a number of footnotes to that story. This is not the first time there's been controversy about the direction of higher education in the state. In 1977 the Board of Regents adopted a master plan for Louisiana. This was to be the foundation for a revamping of the state's colleges and universities. This proposal did not find unanimous approval. It was strongly opposed by Louisiana's predominately black universities as a step in downgrading those institutions. That recurring sentiment seems to be an undercurrent in this whole controversy although parties involved seem committed to working out a compromise. But the bottom line may be money -- just how much the Legislature is willing to appropriate to the schools. And that's an entirely different story that we'll be covering later.

Beth, one area where the federal government was in agreement with Louisiana this week was in the field of Coastal Zone Management. After a very long process, the federal government has approved a state plan that will control the future of Louisiana's wetlands. We had a chance to see the state's valuable wetland resource recently closeup as we took a trip into the swamps of Terrebonne Parish to profile a remarkable lady. Lee? Where did he go to? Lee, come on, baby. Come on. That's Lee If it's someone that wants to stay. We get them. If it's one that doesn't want to get near them, we stay far away from them. As long as we can hobble around and sit in a boat and drive, I think it'll be our life. Meet Annie Miller: trapper, alligator hunter, commercial pilot, licensed boat captain, former deputy sheriff, mother of two, grandmother to four and now a swamp tour guide. Annie Miller, who has known the swamps for over 60

years, is sharing her treasured wilderness with the public now and drawing customers from as close as Houma and as far away as Europe. She knows these swamps and marshes in Terrebonne Parish like the back of her hand. She ought to. She grew up here. Annie Miller of Bayou Black and her husband Eddie began running their swamp tours 18 months ago when officials with the Houma Tourist Commission mentioned that a lot of visitors were anxious to see firsthand

Louisiana's famous swamps and marshes. The tour can last from two hours to half a day and includes a look at all the wildlife that Annie can find, which is usually a lot. One group she doesn't have any trouble finding, however, are the alligators. They seem to find each other when Annie's meal bucket arrives. You see there? Well, now you've decided to come get a bite. Hurry up before the big ones get it. Oh, gee, was that good? (Annie's talking to the gators.) Norris's the slits in his eyes. Notice the pupils of his eyes. As it gets dark and that slit will expand tells us when it's completely dark. Those pupils are almost round and you can see them with the headlight from four to five hundred feet. Now. Baby. Come on, Lee. He should be up here. You see him on that side? Watch him. Watch your fingers. I don't know. I don't see him. Oh, there he is. Lee?

Come on, baby. Come on, baby. That's Lee. Did you ever hear about the crushing power of those jaws? They claim that a big one, a big mature alligator, has a thousand pound pressure. Once he clamps down on anything, he cannot let it go. I mean you cannot make him let go. But he has no opening muscle to speak of. With one hand, you can hold those jaws closed. Snakes are also on the tour: water snakes and tree snakes. But they're not as popular with the tourists as the alligators. Some want to see the snakes and they'll even ask them to show a snake or to catch a snake. Some want pictures made with snakes. But some won't get within 20 or 40 or 50 feet of a snake, especially the ladies. They don't like them at all. So we just... If it's someone that wants the snake, we get them. If it's one that doesn't want to get near them, we stay far away from them. Nutrias,

valued by trappers for their fur, play an important role in swamp life. And Annie won't let the tour end unless you see at least one. We found a whole family. But the most impressive sight in the marshes and swamps are the birds. As graceful on land as in the air, the white egrets and the blue heron sweep across the water to nest on a floating rookery. And we are reminded that these graceful creatures were once almost extinct. During the nesting season, these birds will grow 40 plumes which they called nuptial plumes. They're beautiful plumes. And that's on the head, the back and the neck. And prior to 1909, France was paying a dollar a piece for these plumes which is $40 a bird. So, of course, the greedy Americans coming in nearly wiped them out. So in 1909, they passed the Lacey Act protecting the birds and they're still protected. Are most of the people who come into the swamp area, are they conservation-minded?

Are we taking care of the wildlife here in Louisiana or are we abusing it? Well, I think, most people are trying to take care of the wildlife. There's a lot of abuse, I know, going around. Like youngsters maybe shooting an alligator. They'll see the alligators or they'll see a nutria and they'll shoot them for fun or target practice. But the older individuals, I think, are trying their best to protect the birds and the animals and even some of the reptiles. I know the Wildlife and Fisheries agents are doing their best. But is this environment threatened? Do you fear that perhaps this won't be here 30, 40 years from now? Oh, well, no doubt that a lot of it will not be here. I can give you an example of that. You used to be able to look around and see snakes just about anywhere. Now you have to look very hard to find maybe 10 or 15 snakes, even during the early

spring, when you used to be able to find them on every bush. You know, after hibernation, they'd come out and, oh, you'd see them on logs. You'd see them on low branches. And you don't see that many anymore, far from it. Can you ever imagine yourself just being a full-time housewife and not coming out here? No, this is our life. I think Ed and I both like this life very, very much and I like, of course I like our home, but I like to be out in the open. The outdoors has been my life for a long, long time. Is it always going to be your life? I hope so. I hope so. We'll try to make it that way. As long as we can hobble around and sit in a boat and drive, I think it'll be our life. Yeah. I don't think I could be stuck in an office. I wouldn't like it anyway. I don't say I. I guess I could do it if I had to. But this is how I was raised. This is what I like. Annie Miller has found her place in life here in the Terrebonne marshlands. She is a caretaker, not only for the wildlife, but for a

lifestyle. Pay her a visit sometime and you'll share in more than just beautiful scenery. The man behind the camera for those fine pictures was Clay Fourrier, our show photographer, and doing that story was a lot of fun. I wish I'd been on that one. I missed a good time, I think. We'll be back again next week, and we'll hope you'll join us then. I'm Beth George. I'm Ron Blome.

Production assistance for the preceding program was provided in part by Kaiser Aluminum.