North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 11/24/1995

It's Friday November 24th. Tonight getting ready for the holidays in North Carolina now. Good evening everyone I'm Christina Copeland reading the TRAI has the evening off. We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We're enjoying the leftovers and you didn't go spend too much money on Christmas gifts today we're kicking off the holiday season here in North Carolina now tonight. They're decking the halls of Nashville's Biltmore Estate and we'll show you what's in store for visitors to the famous mansion. A holiday visit to the Biltmore is only one of many North Carolina Christmas traditions. And you can learn more about them at the Museum of History. And you can learn more about the museum special holiday events later on in our program. When we talk with one of the museum's curators But we start with another holiday tradition.

If you're like many people in the Tarheel State you mark this day after Thanksgiving with a shopping trip to the mall. It's hard to believe but some stores actually open before dawn. Well if you headed out a little later than that you had to brave the packed parking lots in the crowded stores. But we hope you found the bargains you were looking for. Unfortunately not all shoppers are as lucky as Shannon Vicary reports many shoppers visit the mall only to have their holiday cheer stolen. For many North Carolinians it just wouldn't be the holidays without a visit to the mall to see Santa. You know I'm going to you like to help a group. Green a green motorcycle and to shop till you drop your admonition after Christmas shopping today. My daughter lives in Raleigh and I came from Virginia to take her with me so we could get a free one but for some holiday shoppers a trip to the mall can turn dangerous.

You know the holiday season you got a lot of people just up to no good speaking. Carlos Langston is a security guard at Durham's Northgate Mall. He spent many holidays patrolling the malls corridors searching for people who look like they're up to more than just a local people just hanging out in the mall. People carry bags to empty. People just look like the officer they support and he says what they're usually up to is a crime in addition to hundreds of shoppers. The holiday season also brings many criminals to North Carolina's malls looking for an easy target. That's one of the reasons that you see increased criminal activities during this time of the year is because you do have to park quite a ways away a lot of times you walk in with your packages and you do the companies you talk to these people. That's why Jerry Baird and his security company is well a security forces at malls throughout the state have decided to wage a war against criminals this holiday season for the failure of our crime rate is likely go all die off from Thanksgiving through

Christmas here but we're going to focus a lot on visibility of all food that's inside in a limo on a strategy that seems to be working at Northgate Mall where security officers are already out in full force. When Watson is the commander in chief of the small army he starts planning his security tactics every August in the hopes of outsmarting any criminals who decide to hit his mall grimly. And they'll know privately what they do. And if the mall is full of people it takes that right away from the crew. But Watson warns don't let your guard down just because you see a lot of people he says the best indicator that you're in a safe area is an alert security force which I don't like off of writable to where they would be saying you know from working traffic will position and parking back from there if his through them all in addition to patrolling inside the mall. Watson's troops are also stationed in the parking lots. Your security officer becomes a valuable tool in preventing car theft and attacks

security official say it's always a good idea to park as close to the mall as you can. But they realize during the holiday season a close parking place may not always be possible in that case. It's safer to park in an area where you know a security guard will patrol that way there's someone to keep an eye on you and you go along it. The alarm system at Raleigh's Crabtree Valley Mall shows how security becomes high tech. A camera surveillance system monitors the parking lots and mall doors. Often these video cameras become the secret spies of the security forces especially in areas where security guard is not patrolling. In many cases these electronic cops help their counterparts. It's an audio visual system so that a loud noise will trigger a camera to swing around look for the problem and alert the officer in the camera room with an alarm and even then open up a microphone and be able to talk back and forth to a customer or

whomever. And on a day like today it takes many eyes in the ears of both human and electronic to beat the criminals at their own game. But despite all the wizardry of planning that defines a mall security system it can only do so much. Much security official say on a day like today it's the smart shopper who's the safe shopper in a worn is easy target that's walking on without using caution. If the latest Carol him bag I think she needs to have her hand on the back of that drape over a shoulder. I'm a big believer in personal safety and just being very aware of your surroundings wherever you are. And they all agreed that the best advice is to remember almost anyone can be the next criminal looking for a way to steal your holiday cheer. They come in all different types of packages but whether they are there in the end really the most effective one is in what is probably the most unassuming and is going to blend in better than than you would ever imagine.

And here's another shopping safety tip for you. The security experts say if you find yourself alone at the mall at night you can ask a security guard for an escort to your car. They'll be happy to help you in a few minutes we'll talk with Jim Sumner from the North Carolina Museum of History about some special holiday events they have coming up. But first let's check in with Michel Louis at the now news desk which did you have a nice Thanksgiving. Definitely Chris. I went to Greenville North Carolina for Thanksgiving got some turkey and then got some turkey to go. And once I finish this I'm going to take care of that turkey. Sounds good. Good evening everyone. New efforts are under way to protect depleted fishing areas along the East Coast. The head of a congressional subcommittee wants to extend a five year moratorium on striped bass fishing in federal waters including those off North Carolina. Meanwhile the National Marine Fisheries Service has declared a ban on catching gray trout in federal waters beginning

December 21st. Officials say the trout need time to recover from overfishing. There are also a number of proposals being considered here in North Carolina to limit fishing including restricting the number of fishing licenses issued by the state. The Navy is planning to hold three hearings in North Carolina over the next several weeks. It wants to hear what residents in the eastern part of the state have to say about increased operations at local bombing ranges. It's part of a plan to bring about 175 Navy jets to the Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach Virginia. The public comments will be included in the Navy's environmental impact statement continuing budget negotiations between the White House and Congress are expected to get a little hairy next month especially for 12th district Congressman Mel Watt. The Charlotte Democrat says he will not shave until the two sides have come to an agreement. Watt says he knows his decision is not the moral equivalent of going on a hunger strike but he wants his beer to be a reminder to his colleagues of the need to

compromise. A three year old Wake County boy is in critical condition after being mauled yesterday by a Bengal tiger. The 350 pound tiger was owned as a pet by the child's father. The father and police shot the animal to death after the attack. Adam Alexa Berta tried to warn the family about the danger the tiger polls to children and had asked federal authorities to confiscate the animal. State agriculture officials say livestock winners at this year's State Fair came by their ribbons honestly. All drug tests performed on the animals came back negative. The tests were ordered after incidents of cheating tarnished competitions in several Midwestern states. Officials say cheating hasn't turned up here because prize winning animals generally sell for much less than in the states where cheating was discovered taking a look at tomorrow's forecast highs will be in the 50s across most of the state. The mountain area will see highs in the mid 40s. It will be partly sunny across western North Carolina turning over to mostly sunny over the triangle and Greenville. But it

will be cloudy on the coast with a 30 percent chance of rain in business news shopping malls aren't the only place seeing a holiday rush this weekend. So our Christmas tree dealers but consumers may be in for some sticker shock. Prices were Frazier firs the most popular type of Christmas tree are up anywhere from two to ten dollars this year. Meanwhile a 19 foot Fraser Fir from ASH County was cut down this morning and sent on its way to the White House. The tree from Ron huddles farm will be decorated and placed in the Blue Room. The stock market was only open for half a day today but it was enough to send the Dow Jones Industrial Average to another record close. The Dow ended the day up about seven and a quarter points at fifty forty eight point eighty four. Volume was very light with one hundred twenty five million shares changing hands. The Standard Poor's 500 gained one and a half points while the Nasdaq composite index rose nine points. And now for some stocks of North Carolina interest you.

When it comes to holiday gift buying We have so many options now it's almost overwhelming. Whatever did people do 100 years ago when there were no modern mail order catalogs or heaven forbid shopping malls. Well if you want to find out what it was like take a trip back in time with the North Carolina Museum of History for next Tuesday through January 7th the museum will

present celebrations a look at Christmas traditions and also explore the traditions of other holidays. Joining me now to talk more about the exhibit is one of the museum's curators Jim Songer And Jim thanks for taking time out of your busy holiday schedule to come visit us. Thanks for asking because this sounds like such a fun exhibit was it fun to put together. It was fun to put together we have a refund for the for the visitors it gives a chance to go into our collections and bring out a lot of very interesting and exciting artifacts that so which I've been saying for a while and give our visitors that just take a look at it. You know we're all out running around the shopping malls trying to find the perfect present. This takes us back to a gentler time when the presents weren't his extravagances they were a what are some of the kinds of gifts and old fashioned things that people see there. Well we we have lots of what you guess you consider classic kind of Christmas items. Jewelry cosmetics ties we have some early technology we have seven from the graph we have an 1890s box camera coming up into the modern

era we have the kind of things that will evoke memories in many of you many of your viewers many of our visitors things like Barbie dolls and chatty cathy dolls and cap pistols and we can get Molly up to a teenage mutant ninja turtle. We are going to be finding all these errors. We actually have a chronological range of dollars to see entries and this year we have a lot of that goes back as far as eight hundred twelve and bring up and publish the present basically. What's your favorite item in the collection. Probably a dress and we find we get some some pictures of the artifacts and the dresses just view this is incredible it was a woman in federal name MARY ROBINSON It was a dress that she had constructed for just for her and she apparently for the Until she never worked outside the house she would wear it when she was hosting Christmas parties year after year. She would throw big Christmas parties and she would wear this spectacular Christmas tree with a huge long train and it is certainly an attention getter.

I have nothing that looks like that in my holiday Werder and I don't think anyone does. That's a tradition a something that every White North Carolina traditions are that we can see at the exhibit. Well we really from this exhibit to Grace and we're focusing on gift giving and we're showing representative samples of the kind kinds of gifts that would be shown that would be would be given at Christmas to children and to adults. We've also got some other things breaking stars for example one of the classic North Carolina traditions and you're going to have a class on how to build the stars right we we have really the entire month of December we have programs built around this exhibit we have December 2nd we will have a workshop on how to build a record store that's one that does require for a virtually everything else does not require a flea exhibit is free as are all exhibits. We're on December 15th it's a Friday night we'll have family night which is a big deal. CT wakes travel again to where we have lots of hands on activities for children to be able to design some Christmas decoration for

some folk dances. Some storytellers really a broad look at the ways that North Koreans celebrate the holidays. Let's talk a little bit more about family now because that really is I think the most special night of the whole month long run aground. That'll be 6:30 to 8:30 on Friday the 15th. It's very very expensive $5 for a family regardless of size and that's mainly to cover supplies for making decorations that sort of thing. And there's lots of hands on activities for kids. How many people do you have come last year me pleading for. We've had some family nights with several hundred people. It's hard to say because of course this time of year it's always depending on the weather but some good weather we have several hundred at least. What kind of musical groups because you also bring in musical groups always we've got a couple we've got on Sunday 10th December it. Three o'clock I believe we have a gospel choir. The Missionary Baptist Church will

come in and sing Christmas gospel songs and then next Sunday the 17th the band will come and play. Question music that Hanukkah begins later on that basis kind of kick off for the Hanukkah season we had both of them last year they were very very probably very successful I think you're getting out of this was when you were them very much. No admission for the want and this is not just a celebration of Christmas traditions but all traditions Hanukkah Kwanzaa and even some celebrations that are associated with the Christmas season. Well we have we have in effect destroyed one we're looking at Christmas gift giving the other we're looking at broader North Carolina holiday celebrations and you're right some of them are around the time when are new years Chinese New Year's which is. Lighter than a Western New Year Kwanzaa you talked about but we also have things like Deval your Hindu holiday. We have we have angels and we have Christmas stockings and we have Greek Orthodox icons and we have reached a

whole whole variety of ways that people can examine handle of killing and celebrate the specials special days. Well there's something else that is also associate with Christmas even though it really isn't a Christmas display for I think Christmas and model trains they kind of go to get it. And you've got a big model train display right this is the second year we've done this if this isn't a chance for visitors come in and sort of see how a museum Rose what we've got is a train that the entire train set up this meant to replicate early 20th century hundred nineteen ten or so. So the railway and we will be constructing seeing the set for the train that basically is the model of North Carolina. And from Tuesday through Friday 11:30 12:30 1:30 2:30 visitors can come in what to watch museum staff. But this scene together. I wish we could have shown it to them if they're still putting it was you know knocking out so I know it's still a work in progress but it shows the train going from the cars through the Piedmont to the mountains and all that and it's an ongoing process something we hope to add to every year

and it will get bigger and more elaborate this is the second year we've done it so we're still still very much a work in progress. We should see some of the special events do have a small church associated with them and their special groups for adults and for children. Right we have some program or you know towards children as young as 5 and 7 or 4 0 4 don't really go with things that have charge of the Reagan store work shop and family not in something that was very visible and says again to actually come see The Giver there is no admission George Will. That's the best present of all. Let's have a chance to tell people about where the museum is because the museum is located in downtown Raleigh at 5 east into the street right across from the state capitol. It's open from Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 6. First of all as we said admission to the exhibit itself is free there's a small charge for some of the other parties and programs that are planned. For more information you can call 9 1 9 7 1 5 0

200. And Jim Sumner I want to thank you for taking the time to come talk to us. I hope you have a great holiday. Thank you same to you Chris. Thank you. The Christmas season is a time filled with tradition and beauty and in that spirit 100 years ago Asheville's magnificent Biltmore Estate formally opened with a gala Christmas Eve party. And each year during the holidays the 250 room chateau comes alive again with that same elegance of the first celebration. Tonight producer Maria Lundberg

shows us the splendor of Christmas at the Biltmore Estate. It's that time of year at the Biltmore House. Time to deck the halls with boughs of holly and trim a 40 foot Christmas tree. Of course first that means just getting the tree into the banquet hall not a simple task by any means. Once in place it's time to cover the tree with Victorian ornaments soon. The transformation is complete. And there's a spectacular display of holiday splendor celebrated in every corner of the mansion. The thing that makes this Christmas special at Biltmore is that we're celebrating our centennial year this year we're 100 years old and we are decorating with pulling out all the stops and having a color thing for decoration. This year the main floor is a winter wonderland of silver gold and

white while the rest of the house features the more traditional red and green colors. There are about 35 trees in the house each decorated in a different style holiday accents include hundreds of wreaths and poinsettias rooms filled with light and 20000 feet of evergreen roping. You even find a gingerbread replica of the Biltmore House on display. The overall effect is quite breathtaking. Much like the first Biltmore Christmas so many years ago. The news. Bill

Maher States celebrates the holiday season through December thirty first. The estate is open daily from 9 to 5 except for Christmas and New Year's Day tickets for daytime visits are twenty five ninety five for adults and nine hundred seventy five for children 10 to 15 years old kids under 10 are free. And the atmosphere of this grand home is even more inviting during one of the candlelight Christmas evenings which feature continuous musical entertainment. These are schedule for Tuesday stars Sundays from 6:30 to 11 p.m. reservations are required for the candlelight evenings which cost twenty nine ninety five for adults and 20 to 50 for young people. For more information

call 1 800 9 2 2 0 0 4 6 and would like to thank the Biltmore Estate for the footage used in this report. We hope you enjoyed this edition of North Carolina now and that it helped get you into the spirit of the season. Be sure to join us again on Monday. Bob Garner will begin a five part series on the changing face of North Carolina. Bob will look at the growing ESTA populations in our state and the effect that they're having. So please join us then we hope that your weekend is filled with fun for you and your family. We'll see you here again on Monday. Goodnight everyone.