North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 11/20/1995

It's Monday November 20th tonight carrying on the tradition of the blacksmiths arts in North Carolina now. Good evening everyone I'm Marina tri Welcome back to another week of North Carolina now. I hope you enjoyed your weekend I managed to squeeze in just a little bit of Christmas shopping still a lot more to go on this Monday edition of North Carolina now our guest is a very enterprising North Carolinian who is publishing a new magazine aimed at young African-Americans. The magazine is called school and it will soon be available nationwide. Also Ted Harrison profiles the new concealed weapons law that will go into effect on December 1st and will take it to the mountains to Mitchell County to introduce you to a nationally recognized blacksmith. But first poll say

57 percent of North Carolinians oppose a new law to allow citizens to carry concealed handguns at the same time there are estimates that 700000 applications for permits will come into sheriff's offices when the law becomes effective December for just before anyone can apply. They must be tested in the law and instructors must be certified to teach the law. Ted Harrison reports. Used to be some out of Star somewhere that's a good old fistfight nowadays is just simple as that. Med residents Randi and Sarah Mitchell may not be typical of the people who want concealed carry permits firing handguns is a type of recreation for the Mitchells. Three years now and we started class about a year ago and since we used to try to get out but once to week maybe twice to much if you know work.

They were familiar with the range of handguns. It's located near Burlington so it was logical for the metal supply take the classes required by the concealed carry law here. The classes are taught by an experienced and appetitive shooter and law enforcement officer Mike Hinshaw First of all no good in this classroom whatsoever. If you got a gun right now in your pocket book jacket pocket or whatever. Let's just take time to get up. Take it outside. Ammunition here. Time. And Sean has a no nonsense approach to the instruction. His lessons include some very direct observations that law enforcement have been carrying guns. I loan down the number one day off and law enforcement with the farm is being killed with your own gun. The students are undeterred by the 12 hours of instruction Hinshaw teachers outlined by the state's criminal justice standards commission. The course includes videotapes dealing with the new law and when a citizen can use deadly force you are going to run.

I want to know why you cannot use deadly force against threatening words alone. You cannot use deadly force against a person using threatening words were just your conduct not rest and immediate death or great bodily harm. In fact the course of study spends quite a bit of time dealing with the laws of deadly force even in situations that the concealed carry law may not apply. A lot of people are surprised about the use of deadly force against a simple faith as just stated in the TV set and don't have to worry about how deadly force cannot be used. If there's a daily threat against you if you have an immediate threat of death or great bodily harm or sexual assault then you have the right to use deadly force. But it if a thief is just simply picking up a TV set going out the front door or getting in your car and trying to drive it off. There's no want to use deadly force. If the justice Academy uses this course to get across needed lessons to citizens about the laws of deadly force there is also a message in the lessons the academy gives to

instructors. That message is that teaching someone to shoot a weapon carries a liability greater liability to the state made by a former student of yours. Thank you for the school who goes out in the real world and shoots when they don't have the authority to shoot and then blame you for the state. The new law is ambiguous in several respects. It says that instructors must verify that a person is knowledgeable of the laws and competent in the use of the firearm. The citizen seeks to carry. But there are no specifics about how to verify or how to test the knowledge or the competency. So for now citizens take this course as outlined by the justice Academy and given tentative approval by the criminal justice standards commission. Interim rules will come up for review and public hearing after the first of the year and meanwhile Sara Mitchell has some advice for women who are seeking the

training. Do it as quick as you can. And Mike Hinshaw has advice for men and women who come to his class. If you're in doubt any doubt don't k. So far eight hundred seventy instructors have been certified to teach the courses and two more classes are scheduled before December 1st. Well coming up my conversation with Travis Mitchell the publisher of school magazine. But now let's turn to Mitchell Lewis at the North Carolina now News Desk to bring us up to date on today's statewide news events Mitch. Thanks Marina. Good evening everyone. With elections less than a year away a new poll of North Carolina voters has some good news for Governor Jim Hunt and some troubling news for President Clinton. The statewide survey conducted by The News and Observer found that Hunt had a favor ability rating of 70 percent. Twenty one percent view the governor unfavorably he far outdistance is Republican challengers Richard Vinroot Robin Hayes and Steve Arnold. With most voters saying they didn't have an opinion about them

on the National Front no one received a favorable rating from a majority of voters. Senator Bob Dole did best with a favorable rating of forty eight percent. He was followed by Senator Jesse Helms with 47 percent and President Bill Clinton at 44 percent. But 50 percent said they were unhappy with the president. When asked who they would vote for in the presidential election next year North Carolinian said that if given a choice between President Clinton and Senator Dole they'd go for Dole 49 to 41 percent. But if Senator Phil Gramm is the Republican nominee the president would come out on top. 47 to 35 percent. Hundreds of federal workers are back on the job around the state today after the White House and Congress reached an agreement last night on a temporary budget plan. Social Security offices and other federal agencies will be trying to handle the backlog of work caused by the six day shutdown. But workers could find themselves furloughed again next month if the two sides can't reach an agreement on an overall budget bill.

North Carolina could see up to eight hundred eighty million dollars more in Medicaid money over the next seven years thanks to U.S. Senator Jesse Helms Helms put pressure on Senate GOP leaders to change a funding formula that determines how much Medicaid money the state will get. Helms pushed for the change after learning that a proposed formula passed by House Republicans would give the state much less money during the fiscal year 1995 North Carolina added 73000 people to its Medicaid rolls. Security measures at the nation's airports are being lifted which should make travel in and out of North Carolina's airports a lot easier this busy holiday week. A spokesman at Raleigh Durham Airport says parking restrictions are gone as are the tow trucks. Security measures were tightened earlier this year because of concerns about terrorist attacks following the convictions of a group of Muslim militants in New York. North Carolinians may soon have to pay a tax on all outdoor goods and services. If a group of wildlife agencies gets its way the

International Association of fish and wildlife agencies wants the tax to go to support wildlife. Currently only hunting and fishing supplies are taxed to pay for conservation programs. However Association officials say much of wildlife is neglected because there's not enough money to go around. They say the proposed tax would give them a reliable funding resource to help all kinds of wildlife. And now for a look at the weather forecast tomorrow will be cool and breezy highs in the upper mountains will be in the upper 30s. The ash will try it and Elizabeth City areas will be in the 50s and the rest of the state will be in the 60s partly sunny skies are expected statewide with a chance of afternoon sprinkles along parts of the coast. In business news a new age drug produced by Glaxo welcome has won approval from the Food and Drug Administration FDA officials have cleared the drug called Three TC to be used in combination with the AIDS drug AZT Glaxo Wellcome makes both drugs and officials there say the drugs boost the immune systems and

HIV patients when they are used together. The Regency is the first new initial treatment drug approved as an anti AIDS weapon since 1987. The new chief of the blank star company is pining his hopes for profitability on Hardies. Jim Adamson has taken over flex star which is the largest single Hardee's franchisee but Adamson isn't that happy with the fast food company. He sounds what Hardies needs is a better marketing plan and a winning recipe Blackstar based in South Carolina has shrunk recently but Adamson must still make payments on two billion dollars in debt created during the company's 1989 leveraged leveraged buyout. The Dow Jones Industrial Average moved past the 5000 mark for the first time ever today but then fell back. The blue chip index into the day down nearly 7 points at forty nine eighty three point zero nine about three hundred thirty three million shares traded hands. The Standard Poor's 500 index was down 3 points while the Nasdaq composite index lost 14 points. And now for some stocks of

North Carolina interest. There's a new publication showing up on newsstands across the country it's called school magazine. It's published by between the lines communication a multimedia communication company based here in North

Carolina. School Magazine is targeted to young African-Americans between the ages of 17 and 34. The publication provides information about career development college opportunities financial tips and other positive reinforcement. Our guest this evening is Travis Mitchell the executive officer of between the lines communication and the publisher of school. Mr. Mitchell thanks so much for being here. Thank you. I should have said the chief executive officer I don't want to slight you on the title you've worked hard to earn it. Tell me a little bit about your magazine How did you get this idea. This idea came about as a student project. Actually I was the editor of the campus newspaper on Morgan State Universities. You are on a campus of more State University and at that particular time I began dialogue with other editors across the country and we realized that there was a need to disseminate broad based information to our readerships case in point. What's pertinent on Morgan's campus was also pretty on the campus of University of Maryland College Park

or Coppin State or North Carolina. We decided that we could get together and form a new service to provide this information out of the news service concept evolve the process. The idea of why not a full fledged magazine. And that started about five years ago. The name of the project at first was black college nation publication and then it evolved into school magazine. And this magazine really fills a niche that was out there that really needed to be filled in that it doesn't provide just entertainment news that it provides a lot of other pertinent life information. And what we're seeing is a negative backlash from our readership right now who are responding to marketers. And promoters of the age group calling them Generation X that is no name unknown. Not interested in anything but plan Sega Genesis and listening to hip hop. But what we found is there is a lot of individuals in the age group who are very interested in being a part of what's going on in an international landscape. They have

opinions. They're well-read well educated and they want to be informed. That doesn't mean that they just want to be informed without some entertainment but they want to total package and that's the news to schools film. Having an idea is one thing but actually bringing a project to reality is often quite difficult. Did you have any difficulty in funding the magazine and actually bringing it to the newsstand. I had difficulty when I first launched publication as a black college nation. I learned through failure. That was the biggest teacher. What I was able to do is put together a financial package and resources over the last three years to enable me to sustain sustain myself without the support of advertising so I can publish school magazine and guarantee that it's published. And as advertisers come aboard the magazine's profits will increase dramatically and enable us to do some of the social or unit type projects that we want to do. I have to I have to ask you a personal question because sitting here speaking with you I'm so impressed because you have accomplished so much in such a short time. What is it what is it that

actually makes you go out there and did your how old. 25 25. Did you have any difficulty along the way and people taking you seriously for such a young age. It's always difficult matter of fact I just had lunch with my mother today and I told her that one of the things that I have to make sure that I do no matter what type of speaking engagement or panel discussion on I have to be prepared. There's no way around the youth thing other than to change people's perceptions by you know amount of preparation. The thing that I decided a long time ago at the age of 18 and 19 I was going to put together 10 year plan of growth that was going to enable me to counter those attacks of my age. A 10 year plan of growth have you surpassed your goal. Actually I'm just beginning it. Oh really. This is just a beginning what I would like to do is augment the enterprise or the entrepreneurial type development with some career credential and I'm looking at doing a joint in B.A.

law program at North Central and Ph.D. program and finance it to do school business and that's how I plan on credentialing myself. And again the opportunities in the world are shrinking. So you have to be prepared to be competitive in the global marketplace and that's what we stand for that's what I stand for. Let's talk about another important aspect of the magazine you're not just out to sell copies of the magazine but actually helping to put other young people through college and it's called the Black College anation program tell me about that. Well one of the things we're trying to do is challenge our sponsors and advertisers to match our scholarship go. We're going to earmark a percentage of their advertising revenue. And we'd like for them to match that earmark percentage so that we can give back to the community. There are a lot of magazines that and start up phases today. The thing that I'm talking to readers about and students and the public at large is hey you have to have a publication it's geared toward providing a

service to you not just appealing to you as a reader and reaping the benefits from the advertisers. But we want to be a publications that's in the marketplace providing a service. Historically Black Colleges and Universities have served the need in this country. They've produced a lion's share of the nation's engineers 40 percent of the nation's engineers come off these campuses of black engineers. Ph.D. candidates have reported in 50 percent our range having gone to historically black colleges and universities. Our black students on majority campuses are doing well. We need to promote that. What I want to do with my magazine is make sure that we successfully an able one student a year to continue his or her education on their campus. And that's a private sector program. It doesn't we don't have to depend on public dollars for some of these programs. We can do it in the private sector. I want between the last communications to take the lead in that arena. Well it sounds like a wonderful project and we wish we wish you great success on your magazine and on the

scholarship program. We'll have to have you back in the near future to see how everything's going. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Every year the National Endowment for the Arts brings together 12 of the finest craftsmen and artists of the country craftsmen who not only create some of the finest work in their field but also carefully preserve the traditional techniques of their trade. In September the only North Carolinian called to the White House for the presentation was B. Hensley the renowned blacksmith from Mitchell County and his son Mike also a

master blacksmith. Not only received this for a status award in September but were asked to take a longer and Bill to Washington D.C. to demonstrate their craft. Maggie Lauder were visited B and mike in their blacksmith shop back home where there is always a fire burning to stop the Blue Ridge Parkway nears and slowly comes to work here and has almost every day. Forty years. It's a simple structure but inside there is magic and music of the hammer. The beauty it creates and it all starts with a fire. Since the days of King Solomon when blacksmithing began as we know it today the work of metal depends on the heat of the flame as its fingers leap higher and grow hotter. The metal which now also glows a fiery red is ready for the strike of bees hammer today as transforming a rod into a leaf in the end it will be as delicate as nature's but this leaf will not wither in blow away.

It will be part of a piece of art like that sketched Bobby's son Mike on the nearby table B can't remember life without a hammer in his hand. I've born this way. My mother put a blocker would give me a hammer and I'd hammer while the calf. She said I've just been paying to have my own a block of wood hammered I would have been about. Oh that was my favorite poem. Then he discovered a neighboring blacksmith shop than the door of a shop. Watching Martin watch the sparks fly and all of their boy to play with the far you know. And soon he did by the side of old blacksmith Daniel Boone THE SIXTH YOUNG be found his profession. BS story of the hammer has passed on to his son Mike who's been helping his dad since he was 4 years old and be taught Mike as he was taught with the ancient language of the master's hammer as

it instructs with carefully placed beats rather than words more easily do it of dynamics and pounding metal against metal. It's a demonstration of a nice folk and teaching method. Now almost vanish tells me he wants a severed the head of the Dove made so that by how hard they hit the ball he tells me what direction that I feel like my hammer. All with the position of the master's hammer and it strike. Historians say he is one of the last blacksmith in the country to remember. Me and Mike's creations with hammer and fire our remarkably varied from a finely tempered hunting knife which takes about a week to make to this magnificent door built and forged by the father and son team to exquisite aren't gates like these that took the Hinze

least a year to design and forge for a home in Kinston North Carolina. And Mike says every step must be perfectly planned. You have to be able to say the finished product in your mind. How would you know for the first time a lake is going to bake you know where the very lives family and I had it before you can start cutting the metal or anything. B hence Lee has been honored both at home and nationally for the mastery and preservation of traditional blacksmithing and through the 40 years that B and his son Mike have worked together they've never given a second thought to the physical demands of their trade. Nothing is hard when you love it. If there's a way hard yes but mentally if the greatest thing I have ever wanted to do because there's such a wide variety and Bobi is 75 years old now he's decided to retire at the age of one hundred and fourteen Lifeway I've got it.

Kalar set up a course about Reagan helped them probably go a little longer. Oh yeah there were a long time. Even a baguette black a brown car not have a viable you're below your kilometer and if the time ever comes that B can forge he can always prove that in the blacksmith's shop. Well that's beautiful. Congratulations to B and Mike on the recent award and by the way if you're thinking about ordering something from the BE Henslee blacksmith's shop you'll have to wait. They have so many orders from around the country it will take them a couple of years to complete them. You might be able to put in an order for nineteen ninety eight. Well tomorrow night on North Carolina now Joe Parker will be here he is the director of the Governors Highway Safety Program. Tomorrow

the state is kicking off another Click It or Ticket campaign and in the next several weeks more than two thousand seat belt checkpoints will be set up around the state. Mr. Parker will be here to talk about that. Also East Carolina University Medical School has the highest enrollment of African-American students in the south. Tomorrow night Maria Lundberg will profile the success of that program. And as we close on the holidays draw near Samaritans Purse a North Carolina based charity organization is sponsoring its third annual Operation Christmas Child. From now until December 14th families churches schools and various organizations around the state are filling shoe boxes with small toys crayons toothbrushes other small gifts. These gift boxes will be airlifted by Samaritans Purse to war torn areas including Bosnia Rwanda Serbia Croatia. If you would like to take part in what will be the world's largest airlift of children's gifts in history you can contact Samaritans Purse at 9 1 0 7 8 8 7 6 0 0 or

9 1 9 3 8 0 7 7 0 away. Enjoy the rest of your Monday everyone will see you back here on Tuesday. Good night.