North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 07/02/1998

It's Thursday July 2nd. Tonight hashing out an agreement on our state's new budget in North Carolina now. Hello and welcome to this Thursday edition of North Carolina now. I'm Barclay taught in from a read I'm a trite but it actually will be the focus of our legislative coverage tonight. What to the state capitol see where lawmakers are in the budget process and where they stand on a number of important issues currently under budget consideration. One of the states that Marion's will pay us a visit. She'll be here to talk with us about the reduction in the number of rabies cases reported around the state and what that means for us. Well also take a look at a study art exhibit currently on display at the writable house in Winston-Salem. But first the state budget. So Democrats unveiled their 12 billion dollar budget earlier this week a lopsided Democratic vote push the massive spending package although its first hurdle

on the day the budget was supposed to take effect less than a vicar reports the budget echoes many of the priorities set out earlier this session by Governor hot with a few exceptions. And Senate Democrats presented their budget on Tuesday to a packed house at a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting. The audience eagerly waiting to see how more than 12 billion dollars in state funds would be divvied up. Yes it is a large budget. But this is a large state and there's a lot of demands in the state of North Carolina for the services that the people who are taking the lead from Governor Jim Hunt Senate Democrats made education the big winner in their budget the budget is about 70 percent education. What you have before you really does take care of the children of the state from Smart Start all the way through the university system there and from the committee room to the Senate floor on Wednesday. The message concerning the budget remain the same today.

We are setting our priorities. I think you will see from the final product that the Senate invest in education in and its number. Warren Brower who with almost 70 percent of the budget in education. We also set the foundation for reform of our base and the budget by the rest of the states. The Farrelly Senate Democrats say the budget took a hit from a recent court ruling known as the Bailey case which wire the state to pay back state retirees were wrongly taxing their pension funds. The Senate Budget allocates more than 500 million dollars next year alone to settle the case. As for the remaining dollars the budget includes one hundred ninety two point two million dollars for teacher pay raises. One hundred fifteen point six million dollars to continue the ABC s for education plan. There's also 53

million dollars slated for the clean water trust fund. Fifty six point six million dollars to expand smart start to 100 North Carolina counties. Seventeen point three million dollars to begin overhauling the state's juvenile justice system and ninety six point three million dollars for state employee raises. Also the budget sense of priorities for their environment. North Carolina has been hit very hard by this hysteria. The university has stepped up to the plate and with this appropriations that is made available will be able to make great strides toward establishing a center which will be specifically focused on doing research on aquatic life aquatic diseases and that dreaded hysteria disease and the economy. We were if you look in this budget you will find something in there that will make an economic difference for every county almost in the entire

state of North Carolina. This budget is balanced in more ways than one. It is balanced under the our Constitutional mandate. It is balance not only what this fiscal year but it is also and this is significant. It is balanced with recurring projections recurring extended tours for the next five years but not everyone agreed with the proposed budget. Senate Republicans say they'd like to see more tax cuts included in the plan. There is no tax relief in this budget for the people of North Carolina. Taxpayers are left out is but the balanced budget just as Senator Obama said it's a balanced budget but is the budget balanced on the backs of North County taxpayers to Senator Horton was part of a group of Republicans who offered an amendment to the budget bill. This amendment will abolish once and for all the hated food tax

and it will abolish also the inheritance tax. Total taxation eliminated through this amendment will be two hundred thirty seven point one million dollars. But Democrats defeated the amendment saying it would require an across the board 4 percent cut in all areas not related to education. I mean if Democrats refuse to make a. But I believe we're robbing we steal and we take from future generations with this kind of an amendment. And I understand the philosophy the difference of the philosophies of the two different groups. But I plead with you today to say no to reducing that educational opportunity for our children for Father damaging our environment such as we will do if we adopt this resolution. Republicans also complained about how Senate Democrats crafted the bill calling senators whiners and work on the budget. You saw it in a way that most of us to be honest in the Senate in the Senate

were surprised by the budget. This thing is done off in some room. The most important piece of work that we do. No one knows what's happening on this thing reporters. People here who represent interest people who represent millions of citizens of this state. No one knows until 11:30 the day before we vote on this thing. What is being planned for the state in our spending priorities that after more than three hours of debate one final vote on the budget bill split along party lines with 30 senators supporting the bill and 19 in opposition. The budget deal goes the Republican led House of Representatives where some of the House leadership say they want deeper tax cuts than those recommended by the Senate proposal. However Senate Democrats point out the budget does provide some tax relief. It repeals the final portion of the futex next year. Coming up a talk with the state Marian But first

let's go over to Michel Louis for a summary of today's other statewide headlines hi lives. Hello Barkley. That evening everyone. Topping our news a state audit has found substantial mismanagement in a nonprofit organization created to help rural and minority farmers. The audit turned up $400000 in defaulted or unrecovered loans connected with the Fayetteville based North Carolina Coalition of farm and rural families. The organization amassed a 60 percent default rate between 1989 and 1906 auditors also found that the program was intended to be statewide but 21 out of the 35 loan recipients lived in only three eastern North Carolina counties. A plan to extend North Carolina's moratorium on factory hog farms into the year 2000 has surfaced in the state legislature. Representative Joe Hackney surprised colleagues on the house environment committee by proposing to add 19 months to the current ban Hackney says he proposed the extension because the General Assembly will have only a month after it convenes next year to decide whether to

extend the moratorium. The current moratorium is due to expire in March of next year. The proposal would extend it to October 2000 bill a vote on the bill is expected sometime next week. The Neuse River foundation is dropping its lawsuit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In return the EPA has agreed to push state regulators to impose stricter pollution limits for the river. A timetable calls for the state to submit a plan by October 30 first or else the EPA will establish its own pollution regulations by January 1st. The Neuse River foundation sued in 1906 charging the EPA had not enforced a provision in the Clean Water Act requiring states to set firm thresholds on the total waste the river can absorb each day. All new school buses would come equipped with seat belts under a bill currently moving through the state legislature. The bill sponsor says the measure doesn't only address safety but will also help with discipline requiring new buses to have seat belts would add about two million dollars to the annual transportation bill for

public schools. The bill has been approved by the House Transportation Committee and now moves to the House Budget Committee. Supporters of Governor Hunt Smart Start program are touting a study they say shows the preschool program works. The study involved 54 hundred kindergarten students participating in Mecklenburg County Smart Start program. The youngsters took two exams one measuring social and emotional right emotional readiness for school. The other gauge preparedness for first grade reading and math and both exam Smart Start students scored an average of two points higher than none Smart Start students smart study Valuator say the data may not calm critics because the program is operated differently in other areas. Looking ahead to tomorrow's weather high temperatures will range from the low 80s in some mountain areas to the lower 90s along the coast mostly sunny skies are expected to spread across most of the state while partly cloudy skies a forecast for the mountains. In business news major cigarette makers want to exclude Durham based Liggett Group as a defendant in an upcoming class action

trial in Florida. An attorney says Philip Morris R.J. Reynolds Brown and Williamson and Lorillard will be unfairly prejudiced by including Leggett they get broke ranks from the industry last year by saying smoking is addictive and causes disease. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in a case brought by 500000 Florida smokers who blame the tobacco industry for their illnesses. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. Or why.

The abuse epidemic in North Carolina is starting to decline but we're not out of the woods yet. State health officials say the decline does not mean the virus has been eliminated. Recently one of the state's experts took the opportunity to sit down with me to discuss the issue. The number of reported rabies cases have decreased significantly over last year when the recent epidemic was at its peak. As of late June of this year three hundred and five rabies cases have been reported compared to four hundred forty two cases during the same period last year. Joining me now to put these numbers in perspective is state that Marion Dr. Stephanie quartic Dr. Corder Welcome to the program. To what do we attribute this decline in the number of rabies cases. Well the decline may be part of the natural curve of the rabies epizootic in North Carolina and then epizootic is just an epidemic that occurs in animals rather than people that may be the answer. Part of the

reason for the decline may be simply that this spring we had a very cold if you remember back to the cold and wet spring that we had I know it's a fond memory at this point. It may have resulted in fewer people going outside and coming into contact with a rabid animal in order for an animal to be found to be rabid. Somebody has to encounter that animal suspect that it's rabbit and they actually have to have contact with the animal or their pet has to have contact with the animal in order for the lab to test it. So it's still really too early to tell. It may be a little bit early in the season and we still have the rest of the summer to go through we have the fourth the Fourth of July holiday coming up. It may be a little bit early to tell for this year and this this is a single year. So far we're early in the year. This may not be an indication that the epizootic itself is on the decline we may have an increase next year this may just be an abnormal year for some reason. Eventually though we do expect it to decline hopefully hopefully this is the beginning of that

period. So so we hope it is but it may just be an aberrant spring. You know is there still then a reason for concern. Oh yes yes. Once even even if the numbers are declining at this point we don't expect rabies to disappear from North Carolina. Primarily we have a problem within the rec Hoon population. Raccoons are the primary species affected with rabies they're the most common animal to be diagnosed as positive at the state lab of course records can infect other animals if they fight with your dog or your cat. They can infect that dog or cat or horse or or any other species they come into contact with. So even if our numbers do decline and if we are in an actual period of decline they're not going to go away. Once rabies works through the rec population it will probably kill off a number of the wreck. There will be fewer records in the area. Eventually though the population will build back up there are fewer reckons competing for scarce resources. New baby records will be born and it's possible that we may have resurgence again in the future of rabies within the

record population and then secondarily among our pet animal population among other species. So what then do we need to do in order to protect ourselves the same things that we've been saying all along it's very important of course to keep your dogs and cats vaccinated for rabies that's our primary one of our primary goals. Our partner our primary goal is to prevent cases of rabies among humans dogs and cats have much more contact with humans than raccoons do then skunks foxes other wild animals that tend to. Be reported as positive for rabies. One dog or one cat can and can expose part of me one dog or one cat can be responsible for exposing anywhere from 15 to 20 even more people to rabies in this commonly occurs when we do have a dog or cat who's rabid. We find a tremendous amount of people in the family in the neighborhood at the veterinarians office where the animal has seen a tremendous number of people are exposed to the saliva of the animal maybe they've been bitten maybe they've been scratched. Maybe they've had some type of contact with the saliva children are down on dog level and you know they've they

may have been licked it licked in the face or they have some type of exposure which could potentially transmit rabies. So it's very important we keep our dogs and cats vaccinated because these are the animals. These animals are part of our lives. With a raccoon you're not likely to have a lot of contact with the reco and at most when we find one to be positive at most maybe one or two people are exposed to it and need to be treated as a result of that exposure. But with dogs and cats that number is much greater much greater danger with dogs and cats. Therefore we really need to make sure that our dogs and cats are current on their rabies vaccination. They're also out often they're out mingling with the wild animal population if they're out roaming around which we don't recommend but if they are roaming even in their own yard animals Raccoons can climb over fences. Foxes can can get through fences and get into yards. Also in. In the households with cats who are strictly indoor cats we've had situations where a bat has been found in the home and that has been positive and there were a number of cats exposed to that bat and the owner thinking that the

cats were safe because they were indoor did not happen vaccinated cats can also slip out at any time there. They're masters of escape. The other important thing to remember is to stay away from any animal that you don't know and teach your children to do this especially because children are very susceptible to animals even if they're wild animals. Fox who has rabies or record who has rabies may appear more friendly they actually lose their fear of man that could be one of the signs of rabies. So if that animal approaches a young child you know the child sees that you know is maybe familiar with the cartoon and allows the animal to approach. They're very susceptible to being bitten also stray animals so it's important to children to stay away from any animal that they don't know. And yourself as well that you should stay away from wildlife any strays report any any stray animals that you see in the neighborhood. Dogs and cats that don't belong. An animal acting funny. Be sure to stay away from it. Don't don't do things that would attract wild animals to your art such as leaving dog food out leaving animal food out overnight. Make sure that any garbage can lids are

secured tightly. And if you do have an exposure if you are bitten if you are scratched by any animal. Make sure that you contact animal control let them know. Contact your physician and your physician can tell you what to do as far as immediate wound care. You can come into the office they can help you determine whether or not you need to receive treatment. Rabies treatment. Your health department can also help you the local health department can help you make this decision as well. And also bats are something we have to think about in North Carolina there are most cats are not rabbit at all a very small percentage of bats actually are rabid But we do have bats rabies and that spread throughout North Carolina so in every county if if there's any possibility that you've been bitten by a bat a bat flying around in the room is not cannot transmit rabies to you but a bat that lands on you a bat that maybe bumps into you if you're asleep and you wake up and there's a bat in the room and there's any possibility the bat may have bitten you. It's very important that if possible you're able to call Animal Control have them come in collect the

bag or safely. Can find the bag yourself and call animal control and have them pick it up. If we can test the bat and the bat is negative there is no reason for you to be treated but if the bat escapes we have to consider the possibility that it was positive and again a bat simply being in your house is not a risk for rabies but because their bites their teeth are so small and their bites can be very insignificant. You may not realize that you've been bitten if you wake if you're asleep or if there's a small child in the room. They may not may not cry so it's very important if you have this type of situation that you let your health care personnel. OK well Dr. Corder thank you so much it's important vice and I appreciate you being here tonight. Thank you. Though I know the house in Winston-Salem is known nationwide as the former home of tobacco tycoon

RJ Reynolds and his wife Catherine Smith Reynolds this summer the home is celebrating its 30th anniversary as a museum of American art for this special occasion the Renault of the House decided to celebrate with style. Reporter Shannon Vickery shows us how when deciding how to celebrate its anniversary. The folks at the Renault House decided to do something special to mark the occasion and with the help of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and Saint John's Museum of Art in Wilmington Reno the house executive director Nicholas Bragg and curator Joyce Schiller at mounted what is perhaps one of the House's most significant one person show the work of the action as America sat. What does it mean to the Rinaldo house to be able to exhibit Merica SAT's work. There

have been other exhibits here but typically in the last 30 years Nicholas has created a system where you and when somebody borrow something from us we in turn buying something from them. These are free along with nothing in trade which is unusual for us. I'm a first timer so has been planned for the institution and is an independent concept. Why is it important to have an exhibit like this in North Carolina. Well we feel it's important to have national art in North Carolina in a time we can get this collection has about one hundred fifty pence Brunson sculptures and we've collected over these 30 years the best of nationally known authors and so we think it's very important to show our public the best that American painters have done 1760 to the present. That's our mission.

How do you describe the paintings in this exhibit. Well we are illustrating we're using America side in terms of children mothers and children. We have a magic a set amount of action. And that count is the seeds of the US. And then that's two of the three we borrow and then the same jobs go around Wilmington and I had a one of a collection of friends and they were willing to loan us five or six images. We are very pleased in many ways it's the ideal kind of exhibition for us not only because they are from the right time period they are obviously an American woman painting and we are a museum of American Art but most of all those works that you see out there were created for living spaces and were intended to look the way they look on walls of living rooms and food wars and places where people had furnishings. When you walk into the living room and you see them you see them in their

appropriate frame. And even the curator from the Met and everyone else has come in has said they have never looked better. America sat like to depict every day life but she was able to do it in a way that made it special. How would you describe her work her work is. Well it's it's many things. She is the only American artist who was also an American impressionist who showed with the Impressionists and the 1870s and 1880s she was not the only woman but she certainly is one of the few women who became a big name in her own right. She unlike the rest of the impressionist who predominantly did landscapes and the city streets of Paris and the environments of France she did interior scenes household scenes every day life scenes and those are remarkable in her time. What do you hope people take away with them when they come to visit the exhibit. Well I know it's taking away because you tell us every day the beauty of

America so that was very important. And the evolution of American Art. She was a great player. She was one of the fresh lemon panel probably the first prelude to achieve recognition of her wonderful pain and pain. It's kind of I have a reaction to the love which is very nice too. The America said exhibit runs until August 3rd at the Rinaldo house in Winston-Salem. For information call them Area Code 3 3 6 7 2 5 5 3 2 5. Well that's all we have time for tonight. You guys have a great evening.