North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 07/17/1995

The It's Monday July 17th. What will lawmakers do about the homeplace problem in North Carolina now. Good evening I'm Mary Lou Hart charge glad you could join us and hope you had a great weekend. Coming up tonight you know we've heard

so much lately about the environmental problems surrounding waste in North Carolina. Tonight Adam Hochberg explores the problem and what can be done to solve it. Plus we'll talk with a woman who shares her memories of her dad's involvement in World War 2. A very touching story and a young boy recently found a valuable jam at a North Carolina gem mine. We'll take you to a North Carolina mine tonight. First up though the issue of hog waste. Governor Hunt is calling on legislators to impose new regulations on hog farms. After two recent spills of hog waste in eastern North Carolina the governor has ordered inspections of waste lagoons. But he says legislative action is needed as well. Adam Hochberg reports. If you still think of hog farms as little family owned places with a couple dozen pigs in a pen then think again. Today's modern farms can accommodate as many as 10000 homes. The animals are housed in huge buildings each find its own tiny space.

And as for all the waste on the loose it drains off into huge lagoons that waste from the animals is flushed it's just kind of like your bathroom at home is flush. They own. Well this is where it goes to Grady Dobson and Specks these hog lagoons for a living. It's a job that's got more important in the past few years as big pig farms have popped up all across eastern North Carolina over the next few months stops in as colleagues will be especially busy under orders from Governor Jim Hunt the state plans to inspect the waste lagoons on all thirty five hundred of North Carolina's hog chicken and dairy farms. State officials wouldn't allow our cameras to go along on a rail inspection but they did invite reporters to this mock inspection in Sampson County. One of the things we look for see the color of the well under the skin on the top is kind of a kind of a red one like color. That's a that's an indication that the proper

bacteria is doing its job to break down and actually treat the waste to a certain degree. The stepped up inspection program what one calls a SWAT team is in response to a series of waste spills in the past few weeks. The biggest was this one in Onslow County where a rain swollen lagoon ruptured and spilled 25 million gallons of waste into the New River polluting the water and killing more than 15 hundred fish. To prevent more accidents like that Governor Hodges not only ordered the inspection program but also asked the legislature to pass a new law requiring the farmers to operate waste looking ones to be trained and certified by the state. We can have hog farming chicken farming dairy farming and also a good environment. But we're going to have to pay attention to to doing lagoons in the right way. And it's going to take more time and resources and we put into it in the past even before the recent spills there's been concern about the hog industry in eastern North Carolina. They're in

Bladen County where pigs now outnumber people. A group of about 700 residents has organized to fight the expansion of the hog industry. They say that is the industry has gotten bigger. Their quality of life has gotten lower. You just ignore O'Hare's family has owned this farm outside of Elizabeth town for three generations. There is a small family operation they raise crops no livestock the hares have always enjoyed a quiet pleasant lifestyle here until last year when a huge hog farm moved in next door complete with 7000 animals and a foul smelling lagoon. Temps I have smelled it in my house. We have strong wind and the wind just would be cleansed and yet acrid smell that also anger in my post. Mrs. Harris son Alex worries that the same kind of Abraham a nation that happened in Onslow County could happen here as well. He says if his neighbors lagoon breaks there's nothing to keep the waste out of the Cape Fear River

and if that were going to be a lot of people running that lose their strain right here and I don't know how I'm a coffeeshop property and I don't have this great and great right to do it in a cave. Harris skeptical about Governor Hunt's proposals to inspect hog lagoons to hair the governor's inspection program is too little too late. If he's concerned now why weren't you concerned that when all these would be in be it you know what can I do to change things are going here. The only thing I can do is walk around in a loop and say well it looks good to me. Only one part of the governor's initiative satisfies hair. He's happy haunches supporting legislation that would require farmers who operate like loons to be trained tested and certified by the state just like operators of industrial and municipal waste water systems are but some big pork producers have a problem with that idea. They say they already do adequate training and testing themselves at this very moment today.

Murphy farms isn't involved in an internal twining program by the end of next month. Every operator company and contract farms will have gone through trying. How would you feel about the state passing a law that would allow you know the part of the state to come out and give these people test give your employees tests and to certify them. Well we give them test. Environmentalists and the governor say those internal hog industry tests and training programs aren't always adequate. They say these fifteen hundred dead fish are proof enough that the government needs to keep a more watchful eye over the hog industry. The House this week may consider legislation to require more training of waste lagoon operators. But the House measure stops short of what the governor wants. He's backing a Senate proposal that would require operators to not only be trained but also tested by the state. Meanwhile there's a new problem in the Department of Environmental management's attempts to inspect hog farms. A 1993 law prohibits the Agriculture Department from releasing

information received from individual farm operators including their addresses and a federal agency that also could have helped originally told inspectors they would need to file a Freedom of Information Act request while higher level officials said that that would not be necessary. The Wilmington Star reports field workers have still been reluctant to turn over the information. Well we will go exploring gem mines in a few minutes but first a check on your statewide news business and weather with Merida trade the now news desk. And good evening everyone. Tobacco farmers are hoping leftover leaf from last year's crop will help them make it through this year. The flu cured sale seasons begin on Tuesday in the central parts of the state. And on Wednesday markets will be open in the eastern portion of the state. Officials estimate the Divakar yield this year is down about 10 percent across North Carolina. Heavy rains and blue mold are the primary reasons for the decline in this year's crop. Agricultural officials say blue mold has been reported in virtually every Burley tobacco field in the state.

Farmers are also worried about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's efforts to regulate tobacco as a drug because of its nicotine content. Environmental groups are calling today for a congressional field hearing on the issue of wetlands protection. The group say proposed changes in the federal Clean Water Act could hurt the environment. Specifically they say laws protecting wetlands could be undercut and some controls of pollution could be weakened. Senator Jesse Helms and Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska are holding a field hearing today in Morehead City with commercial fisherman on the reauthorization of a federal law involving fishery management plants. Commercial fisherman say in the past a federal fisheries regulators haven't listened to their suggestions when making rules. The hearing today involves a federal law creating fishery conservation zones extending from three to 200 miles off shore. The Senate subcommittee is expected to take a look at the results and have them back at a hearing in Washington for their deliberations. And

while lawmakers have been trying to pass legislation making it tougher for people who receive welfare. The state is also making it easier to apply for that assistance. But. Apartment of Human Resources says people used to have to wade through 86 pages of forms to get food stamps Medicaid and other benefits. Now it's been cut down to 20 pages. A spokesperson says having less paperwork to deal with gives caseworkers more time to work with the families. And now here is a look at tomorrow's weather. Temperatures will resemble today with highs in the mountain region in the 80 degrees. Highs in the Piedmont and along the coast will remain in the low 90s and conditions in the Boone area call for partly cloudy skies. The rest of the state will be partly cloudy with a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms. Former company executives of the Charlotte based world weigh corporation are trying to block the company's sales to Arkansas best. A group of investors are making plans to make their own offer for the company formally known as Carolina freight. The

group of 10 began discussing the idea of making a counteroffer after it was announced last week that world way would be sold to Arkansas best for $11 a share. Arkansas Best also plans to take on world ways. Seventy million dollars in debt. Nation's Bank is posting a strong showing in its second quarter profits for the Charlotte based bank rose 7 percent from the same period last year to four hundred and sixty seven million dollars. Nation's Bank says increased loans played a major part in the improvement of its bottom line home building is slowing down across the country including right here in North Carolina that's according to a recent report by the National Association of Home Builders says the number of construction permits for single family homes dropped during the first quarter of this year in 47 of the nation's top 50 housing markets. Three of those markets are right here in North Carolina in Charlotte. The number of building permits dropped twenty five point nine percent from the same period last year. RALEIGH The number of permits dropped two point two

percent in Winston-Salem they dropped 3.5 percent. The stock market was on the upswing today with the blue chip stocks setting another record. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up twenty seven point forty seven points to close at forty seven thirty six point twenty nine. Three hundred twenty three million shares change hands the Standard Poor's 500 Index and the Nasdaq composite index rose to a record close. And now for some stocks of North Carolina interest in. The URL later tonight you'll get to see the next

fascinating installment of the PBS series battlefield right here on U.N. see TV. As the nation marks the 50th anniversary of the end of World War Two we've also been looking at the war and what it meant to some residents of North Carolina. Tonight North Carolina now producer Chris Copeland talks with a Raleigh woman who found a special way to overcome a tragic loss that she suffered as a result of the war. Thanks Mary live on June 6 1944 Frank Elliott was one of the thousands of young American men who gave their lives storming the beaches of Normandy. He left behind a wife and a year and a half old daughter. Fifty years later that daughter who lives in Raleigh published the letters that her parents wrote leading up to D-Day. Randi Elliot is here to talk with us about her own special thoughts about that war what it meant to her family and what has happened in the year since those letters were published. First of all Rhonda When did you discover that your mother had all these letters.

Well Chris I always knew that my mother had the letters all the time I was growing up I knew my mother kept my Father's letters in a box in her room. And she encouraged me to read them all that time. But I never did because I felt that I would be intruding on her privacy you know these were her love letters. And the thing that made this story I think more dramatic than it may have been was that my mother never married again. She never met anybody else that she loved as much as my father so she's remained a widow her whole life. And they were very young. They were he my father was 23 and she was 24 when he died. And they had been married well just a little longer than when I was born. You know they they it was one of those wartime marriages they got married when he was home for a week and then. Like many people did at that time and the last time that he saw you you were only Howell. I was probably about 9 months old and I don't remember him at all. I have no recollection of him other than pictures and things my mother told me. But I have no memory of him. I was not about 9 months old. It was in September and then in October

he was shipped out with thousands of other people for England where the men waited until June 6th when the invasion took place and that's where most of these letters are written from what yes made you decide to publish them. Well as I said I didn't read them till after my mother's death which was in 1990 and when I read them certainly I had a great personal personally very impacting for me because I had never known this man. And I learned about him through reading the letters that were very moving I could read about three letters and then I'd start to cry and I have to put them away and I come back the next day and read three or four more. But after I finished the whole a whole bunch of letters which were about 100. They were so good they were so well written and they they gave a picture of what a lot of people experienced at that time. And I always felt that. That a lot of mention has always been made about the people who return from the war and you hear about the thousands who didn't return. But you you don't

dwell on that not much is said about that. Not much that attention has ever been given to the men who died really as far as what happened to them and how it was for their families. And so I thought that this might be something that people a few people would relate to. And that's what was interesting. I thought it was only touch a few people. And as it turned out it touched a lot of. Yeah. Last year you went over to Normandy for the 50th anniversary ceremonies of D-Day and the nation got to watch you and you went to your father's grave for the first time. What was that like it's a very private moment done very publicly. I had some reservations about that when CBS and ABC both called me and asked me if it would be possible for them to film my daughter and I. One of my daughters and I was we're both going over there and they asked me if would be if I would permit them to film our first encounter with with seeing the grave and I had some reservations about it. It was very moving of course I mean just being in that cemetery I think more moving than even seeing my father's

own personal grave was walking. Into that cemetery for the first time you come the way it's set up you come around the corner and then you're just suddenly hit with these like 9000 graves. And that was more moving to me. I think almost than seeing my father's my my personal my own personal part of it was the sheer numbers. You know thousands and thousands of white crosses you can't you can't be over there and not just be moved to tears. And your mother Pauline never found out how your father died on D-Day but as a result of the article you did how did that come up bad. Well these these letters were published in American Heritage Magazine about a month before the 50th anniversary of D-Day. And after the magazine was published of course I heard from lots and lots of people all over the country that were touched by the story and moved by the letters and then when we were on national TV a lot of people saw me and saw my parents pictures on television and I began getting phone calls from men that were

with my father that day and it was so. It was so amazing because my mother spent her whole life trying to find out what happened. She never knew it was a big mystery she never knew how he died. She always wondered did he suffer. She didn't know if he was killed in a tank because he was in a tank battalion. She probably thought we we conjectured that he was in a tank and the tank was hit and blew up but that isn't exactly actually what happened. And these men who were with my father told me the whole story. Different men told me different parts of it because there was a lot of chaos on the beach that day. And can you tell us anything about it. Well one man who called who was a member of the five man tank crew and he said that their tank was sunk off the beach not too far. Close enough that they could swim to shore and they were all laden down with these packs and ammunition and so forth and my father and this other man helped a buddy swim to shore his leg was blown off they helped him swim to shore. The medics came and then they were separated in this one man said that was all he knew. Then another man called me who said

yes I was there when your father actually died. And he told me the story about that and it was not pretty. It was very gory actually. But it was it was healing to know the truth and to know the facts. And one of the sadnesses that I have is that my mother never knew those facts because the truth is always. Better than a mystery I think. I think it's just a healing thing to know what really happened. Do you have a particular one of those letters that you really like. Would you like to read part of one. Sure. OK. What what's it about. Well there are lots of letters that are special to me the the ones that are the most special are the personal ones where he talks about God's will and and he writes to my mother in one letter and says don't worry because whatever happens will be Lord's will and and I'll do the most that I can to stay safe. But the one that I'd like to read is more philosophical and more lofty. All right. He was just really he was in college and enlisted right before his senior year in college and he was going to be. My mom

told me he was going to go on he was at Georgetown and he was going to go on in the School of Foreign Service there. So he was kind of interested in politics and he writes about the United States. This is dated March 30th 1944. Somehow when I write out the United States of America it gives me a sort of moral boost. Writing it. Looking at it and reflecting on the powerful meaning of that word united is good for a person. And the immediate reflection and knowledge that it is no trite symbol and that these 48 are really one with one common purpose is some gigantic thought to encompass compare the continent of North America with its one hundred seventy five million AUD and see what other continent is so singular in purpose. Australia maybe. But then it is a midget Europe Asia Africa and even the presently peaceful continent of South America is disrupted with powers and claimants to power with rulers and claimants thereof. It seems that the word united should be the one reason reassuring encouraging word the word that must cause the defeatist and skeptics some

worried moments. Class dismissed. I love you Frank. Randi I think that if your father were here today he'd be my do you proud. Thank you so much for stopping stopping by today. Well thank you for inviting me it's really an honor to be here. And I appreciate that you felt that this was important enough to share with some other people in North Carolina. Imagine sifting through a pile of dirt and coming up with a $35000 sapphire that's just what happened to a 10 year old boy from Virginia recently at the Gold City Gym mine in the North

Carolina mountains. He pulled a 1000 carat sapphire from a pile of dirt that cost $11. And there are still plenty more gems and then there hills as our Elizabeth Hardy found out when she visited a similar mine a while back. There's gold in them thar hills and they were right. Fortune hunters came to the Carolinas in the early 1900s looking to strike it rich. And that's what still brings out the people with dim minds like this one looking for the big payoff. You leave the show with Mark and I'll see you when you come back. Yes. Don't play it's taking awhile. Tell me why do you come here. It's the only social. Acceptable way for an adult to play in that water and there's chance for treasure of Christine Mason in Mason's mind located in the mountains outside Franklin Tiffany's begin mining. Rubies and sapphires here in 1885 pristine. Open your mind to the public.

Fifty years ago she has mining and I left a man dead he was a man and a granddad Iran and being a novice I asked experience to order brides and marriage you've got to look for the job and that's covered in The Matrix for many times when I'm rude but that's when I know so well I would survive for first timers. The secret is that every gemstone going is heavy. If you don't find it in two you find it tomorrow next week next month next year. It's there I discovered Patience is a virtue. Spend hours and days. Everybody has to dream of finding that youth that laid the golden egg. So is there anything left for me to find a mine. Well it certainly is well we just go five times. Yeah. Here's your shovel. Here's the screen. I'll take the buckets and let's go this way. Oh I think we're going to look right over here. We're going to try getting into the

cell. Made me dig dirt today. I thought the brackets were heavy but I managed. I was looking to strike the bridge a kind of minor my free mind what are you got there or so on. I said towards the water. This hand shaking his hand lower over. Yeah I'm going to refer back to your childhood here. Well there's one of them right here. But

what about the front porch. OK I'm at a little trouble with exams. He was there to steer me in the right direction. What about that. It's pretty grim if you're right that's not a good thing in that report or you get another nice nap are right there. Here's another Here's another one after maybe that will help you make your mind your own. If you don't mean it then let them think that we play a game of Nagle what we want. There are several mines in the western part of our state where one can go and try to strike it rich Mason's gem mine is open from March through October for more information the number it Mason minus 7 0

4 3 6 9 9 7 4 2 for information about other mines called the Franklin City Chamber of Commerce. And there's the number on your screen. For tomorrow night's show we will examine the subject of local gun control ordinances and the legislature's role and we will begin the first part of a series on ferry boats getting a paint job reflecting the 16 campuses of you and see you want to stay tuned for that. We'll see you tomorrow night at 7:30. Good night everyone. Thanks. Thank you.