North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 08/14/1996

It's Wednesday August 14th. Tonight trying to save our beaches in North Carolina now. Hello I'm reading it right welcome to this Wednesday edition of North Carolina now. Tonight former congressman and now candidate for the fourth congressional district David Price will be our guest this interview as part of a series of interviews that we will air spotlighting some of the more hotly contested congressional races. However most of tonight's program focuses on the waters of our state. We'll head to a North Carolina county that is often called the

Land of the waterfalls. But we start tonight at the law and when most of us describe any one of North Carolina's beautiful beaches we generally talk about the sand the sun and the ocean. But ask a group of scientists about those same beaches and many would use terms like hazardous and dangerous to describe these stretches of sand. And as Shannon Vicary reports beach erosion is to blame. On a day like this with the sky so blue and a gentle breeze blowing across North Topsail Island it's hard to believe that a hurricane swept over this same beach just a month ago. Many obvious signs of Hurricane Bertha remain as symbols of the storm strength. But what worries many people on this small barrier island are the subtler signs of Bertha spiri. The most severe erosion the most noticeable erosion takes place during storm advances were just experience with Hurricane Bertha Preston Pate knows all too well the reality of beach erosion as assistant

director of North Carolina's coastal resources commission Pate must continually keep a close eye on North Carolina's beach erosion. He says on average Tar Heel beaches lose between two and four feet of sand each year. The threat of erosion. This is serious on North Carolina's coast because we have such a high energy environment that has to be reckoned with and the cause of erosion our ongoing cost. They occur almost every day as a normal come and go in the waves lapping up against the shoreline and remove sand from from the you know from the island as geologists will tell you. The biggest cause of beach erosion was the pounding ocean or fear of storms like Hurricane Bertha. In fact scientists say we have no one to blame for North Carolina's beach erosion problems but ourselves. We are the problem we are the problem we build. We build buildings right next to the

beach and we build expensive buildings right next to the beach and then we use our political influence on our wealth to try to prevent that shoreline from going back against our building. I'm convinced and I. While I'm convinced that everybody who comes out of topline and other places in North Carolina they all remember their childhood they've grown up and they've got enough money now to buy a second home and they're virtually in heat when they come to the beach. They ignore all the signs of danger that are pretty obvious even to the untrained eye when poky and other geologists talk about the dangers of the beach. They're talking about how beach erosion often undermines the structures that stand near the ocean making them vulnerable. How does that now sit right on the beach at North Topsail Island once sat back behind sand dunes and even a road whose rim that still dot the same land. Today they teeter on the edge of the ocean

with an uncertain future. It's probably only a matter of six or seven years before Roger starts eating away at the foundation of this building. But any time you allow people to come in and live in an environment that always has. Please all then the risk is if they are as hard to read or as mayor of North Topsail Island beach erosion is a problem that Marlowe Bostic Jr. can't ignore especially since Hurricane Bertha has reignited the debate on whether or not North Topsail Island should have ever been developed. A question for which Bostic has a firm answer and especially no top the base of the want to place live. Whenever I see pictures on TV on The Weather Channel or whatever you know they talk about erosion and how it's all emotion that's not helpful I know that many people

fear that may soon be North Topsail Island. That's why in 1982 the federal government passed the coastal barriers resources act that Act prohibits homeowners on North Topsail Island from mean eligible for federal flood insurance and federal emergency aid. With the passage of the bill Congress hope to discourage development on the small island but property owners still continue to build and rebuild even with warnings like this. The north end of topsoil and is an area that should never been development. I consider it to be the most dangerous development in on the East Coast on the North Carolina coast. Maybe on the East Coast but certainly on the North Carolina coast because of its low elevation high erosion rate the lack of dunes lack of a sand supply in general. But it was only after Bertha that many of these problems became evident to even the untrained eye. That's where I hear word original hype that is sand and was prior thought

and you can follow the car all the way down with the steps and everything. Bertha strong winds easily picked up more than five feet of sand flinging it across the entire island and demolishing this in the surrounding dunes. Just last year North Topsail Island initiated a new program to build artificial dunes. The last of these dunes has proven costly not only to area beaches but also to the city's budget. We span across $150000 on a 12 mile stretch. So you're looking at over 10000 now. And as residents here continue to rebuild after Bertha they are also trying to replenish the beach many property owners have created artificial dunes with the help of bulldozers. They will see the dunes with CO2 and other plants later this fall. But geologists say this is only a temporary solution. They say North Carolinians must change the way they build on the beach before they can prevent the problems associated with beach erosion.

Meanwhile a North Carolina environmental group is asking the federal government not to help cleanup efforts on top of the law in the North Carolina coastal Federation says using taxpayer money to help repair some of Bertha's damage would only encourage more development in the area. Coming up a conversation with David Price. But right now it's time to head over to the news desk where Shannon Vicary is sitting in for the vacationing Michelle Lewis. Good evening Shanon. Thanks Merida. Good evening everyone. Topping our news tonight Governor Jim Hahn is getting a jump on campaigning. The season traditionally doesn't begin until Labor Day but today kicked off a four day swing through 11 counties in the mountains. The trip combines fund raising stops and rallies in Marcil this morning. The governor announced a $100000 highway grant to be to fly a state road connecting Mars Hill to Interstate 26. A unique system of North Carolina high schools specializing in social studies is being pushed by a retired professor at U and C Pembroke. John remember visions of school similar in function to the

North Carolina School of Science and Math and North Carolina School of the arts. The North Carolina School for Social Studies what occupy space on five different campuses within the U.N. see system Ramberg says the residential schools would be advantageous to students from rural high schools that have limited curriculums. Billy Graham had said that his September crusade in Charlotte would be his last but that could change according to the evangelist son Franklin Graham Billy Graham is planning at least two more crusades next year. The September event is scheduled to begin September 26 at Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte. Attorneys and court employees say they are seeing a steady increase in the number of bankruptcy filings in the state. Observers say bankruptcy petitions have become so numerous they are straining the capacity of the state's bankruptcy courts to deal with the workload. They also say the trend will continue as more and more consumers become familiar with the financial protections offered under the bankruptcy codes. Coastal waters are once

again yielding plentiful catches of crabs in both North Carolina and Virginia. Early season catches were pointing to an all time low for crab fishermen and seafood sellers crabbers are now facing the downside of a recent bounty. A huge drop in market prices in some cases prices have fallen by 50 percent. Some drivers are even being turned away by buyers or limited in the amount they can sell. Well now for a look at tomorrow's weather mid 80 degree temperatures will spread across the middle of the state and out to the coast. Cooler temps are on tap for the mountains look for mostly sunny skies over the western half of the state. Partly cloudy skies are forecast over the eastern half of the state and in business news tonight competition in local and long distance telephone service is on the way. The North Carolina Utilities Commission has approved intermedia communications incorporated to provide telephone service. The Tampa based provider has similar certifications in Alabama Georgia and its home state of Florida. Well now let's take a look at what happened today on Wall Street.

Starting tonight we began a series of interviews with members of North Carolina's congressional delegation and the opponents who hope to unseat them in November. We start tonight

with Democrat David Price who is vying for the Fourth District seat currently held by Republican congressman Brennaman. Mr. Price held that seat before being defeated by Huntsman two years ago. Here is you and see TV's political correspondent Robin minea with Mr. PRICE. Mr. Price thank you for joining us this evening. Your loss in 1994 to Fred Hiatt and then was one of the big surprises of the political year. Do you anticipate the voters in the 4th District are again ready to retire an incumbent congressman. Well it's certainly a very different political climate than we had two years ago. For one thing virtually everything we elect is on the ballot this time and so there's a good deal more interest and involvement in the election. Also I think the subject has changed. It was one thing for Newt Gingrich and his style of politics to be on the outside. Bringing down the agenda. It's another thing for for these people to be in charge.

And so people have had a much closer look at what Newt Gingrich and his followers like Fred are all about and I think they basically aren't too crazy about what they see. But in any case that's what's on the voters minds this fall. And so that makes for a very different electoral dynamic than what we had in that four. We've had of course a lot of protest elections recently in 92. The people voted out an incumbent president in 94 they voted out an incumbent Congress. And there are still elements of that protest out there now protesting for example against the rule or ruin tactics of Newt Gingrich and the House Republicans. I hope though it will be more than that. I hope that what comes out of this election is a determination to get past mere protest and mere opposition and reach across partisan lines and get these challenges addressed that we need to face as a country. That's the kind of campaign I hope that I can run and I hope that the. The election will produce that

kind of approach in American politics I think it's long overdue. I think people are ready for it. What are in your mind what are those top challenges. Well there's nothing too mysterious about them I think it's what most middle class and working families want for their kids and for their families and for the future. We want to a quality education. We want to train our young people. And our workers in mid career for the demands of a very sophisticated workplace. We want to preserve and enhanced two decades of bipartisan progress in cleaning up our air and water. We want to bring good jobs into our area and build up our transportation our research infrastructure. You know the Research Triangle being the number one area in the country to live and work and do business hasn't happened by accident and it could slip away if we aren't vigilant. You know balancing the budget in this country achieving fiscal responsibility but doing that in a way that's fair and that preserves the critical investments. You know there's

there's so much to work on and so much that we need to come together and try to solve it. It's just too important to be endlessly bickering and endlessly engaged in these partisan rhetorical games. So I am hopeful that this election this year will put us on that more positive path it's a kind of it's the style of politics I've always stood for it's the way our always approach politics when I was in the Congress. And I believe this is the kind of approach that people are looking for this year so we actually confront our challenges and don't let politics get in the way. You have been some of your campaign literature you have been very specific in your references to Newt Gingrich and the House freshman Republicans. Why in particular are they a target for your politics. Well I just think they've been in charge. First of all and my opponent has been uncritical unquestioning follower of Newt Gingrich. And so I think that is the issue in this campaign not so much for

Republicans in general I mean there are there are times when I. Moderate Republicans and Democrats have joined together to stop some of the worst excesses of Gingrich and his and his group. And so I think Gingrich and the House Republicans in particular are are the problem. They're the ones who insisted that the government be brought to a stop. They're the ones who even when people like Bob Dole and more moderate Republicans were ready to compromise we're ready to reach some kind of agreement. They're the ones who had this rule or ruin attitude. So I think it's legitimate to say not only what finally made it through the process thank goodness the Senate Republicans and the president's veto stopped some of these things. But it's very legitimate to ask what were these people trying to do in the first place what were they if they had had their way what would we be looking at now and what we'd be looking at would be drastic cuts in student loans. We'd be looking at the gutting of major environmental protection statutes that both parties have worked

to pass in the past and we'd be looking at a grossly unfair plan for a balance in the budget on the backs of Medicare and Medicaid and education and the environment. Just to give a tax break to people who need it least. And to throw 58 billion dollars at the Pentagon they never even asked for. You know those are radical measures those are those are measures worth fighting. And so Newt Gingrich and that brand of leadership is what's at issue. And of course this is a House race and my opponent happens to have been the most loyal and unquestioning follower of Newt Gingrich in the entire North Carolina delegation. Let me ask you about some of the issues that you've raised how would you approach parenting the budget. Well first of all there's nothing I worked on harder in my years in the Congress than reducing the deficit and getting the budget in balance. I was part of a group of moderates for example in the last Congress that insisted that 63 billion dollars in additional spending cuts be added to the president's proposal.

I blew the whistle on wasteful spending in the Agriculture Department many many times I have worked on this and I think with great success in the budget deficit is coming down and we've got to stay on the glide path to balance by by early in the next decade. But it doesn't matter how you do that job. And the thing you don't do I believe is dig the hole three hundred billion dollars deeper before you start. You don't have an un targeted tax cuts mainly benefiting those who who need it least. You don't throw 58 billion dollars at the Pentagon that it never even asked for. You don't continue this indiscriminate so called corporate welfare and letting foreigners come in and mine federal lands at 2 dollars an acre. You know you don't do those sorts of things before you even start worrying about the deficit. And then of course you know Newt Gingrich and Fred Hanumant of the people who took that approach then of course they had to have devastating cuts in Medicare Medicaid education the environment to make the books come out.

It's possible to balance the budget and do that in a way that's fair and that preserves needed investments. I'm not saying it's easy. Nobody ever said it was easy but it is possible. And that's of course what politics is all about is is making those cuts but also preserving those investments and striking that balance is a critical challenge for this country in the next few years. We have just under a minute left but I would like to ask you your perspective on the Medicare problem and the insolvency that we're facing with that fund. Well the Medicare trust fund has been under pressure from time to time. Many times I've voted to extend the life of the Medicare trust fund we've had to find savings in Medicare the critical crucial difference though between what we've done in the past and what in my opinion we should be doing now and what Newt Gingrich and Fred had and that group of tried to do is that they number one have made excessive cuts two hundred seventy billion dollars off of what it would take to maintain current services in Medicare. And then worst of all they've used medicare or tried to use Medicare as a cash cow

to fund their defense increases and their tax cuts and their corporate welfare rather than using those savings to improve Medicare itself. And I'm sorry on that note I know it goes quickly but thank you very much for joining us this evening Mr. PRICE. Thank you very much enjoyed being here. Back to you Maria. Thank you Robin and interview with Republican Congressman Fred Heineman is scheduled for Wednesday August 21st. Oh. Are you looking for someplace tranquil or maybe someplace to take a wild ride. Well

North Carolina's waterfalls offer both producer a new nod takes us to Transylvania County also known as the land the waterfalls. Yes it's rippling water and it's the roar of water too. It's something I think that puts her directly in tune with nature. Transylvania County is known as the land of waterfalls and for good reason. It has close to 200 of them. That's because the French brought in Davidson rivers flow 5000 feet downward falling over cliffs and creating waterfalls along the way. At the end of their journey you'll find white waterfalls which is

over 400 feet tall. As So Wesley has been guiding people to the waterfalls for years. It's a peaceful feeling. It's not the roar of a motor. It's not a dangling Royce's of children. Of course nature isn't always serene here in the piskun National Forest. Thousands of visitors enjoy the hundred and fifty foot ride down sliding rock. The ride itself is pretty gentle except for the shock you get when you hit the freezing pool at the end. Temperatures are around 40 degrees even in summer. If you're more adventurous you can take a ride down driftwood falls or bust your butt falls as they're known locally for all their fun and beauty though Wesley warns that waterfalls can be extremely dangerous. They look passive. They look as if you could rock across the top of it. They look as if you could even spiral down it but you can't. It

is most dangerous way to lose two or three people a year. And I hate to say this brought it away to lose two or three people a year for falling off the waterfalls and getting lodged in the rocks or walking across and and getting caught in the rapids and going over another waterfall. But as long as you're careful these falls can be a source of inspiration and fun. We've shown you four waterfalls here. So that leaves at least one hundred and ninety six more to find on your own. And if you would like to find out more about the waterfalls and where to find them you can contact the ester Westley hotline at 1 800 6 4 8 4 5 2 3. Moving on now to some political news tonight is the night that Bob Dole officially becomes the Republican nominee for president. Members of the North Carolina delegation will join the other 2000 delegates and casting their votes for the former Senate majority leader.

Last night delegates listened to speeches from a number of national political figures. In his latest computer email alternate delegate William Peasley of Kerry says he was most impressed with a speech made by Congressman J.C. Watts of Oklahoma. He writes Representative Watts spoke of hope and optimism. How it is important that as individuals we know that we can achieve perhaps more importantly that we need a government and policies which foster hope and optimism for America and Americans to succeed. They must believe that they can succeed. If a young child is told that he cannot achieve. Why should I. If you would like to read more letters from delegates you can find them on the news our convention Web page at W W1 dot PBS dot org slash news our convention 96 the full text of Mr. Peasley as a letter is also available on U.N. C TVs web page at WW dot UN CTV dot org

and be sure to stay tuned to you and see TV immediately following North Carolina now PBS and NBC News will bring us live coverage of the Republican National Convention from San Diego. Among the highlights at the convention tonight Congresswoman Sue Myrick of Charlotte will address the delegates on the topic of common sense and the especial speech placing Senator Dole's name in nomination will be made by longtime Bowl friend Senator John McCain of Arizona. That's all we have time for tonight. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you tomorrow. Good night everyone.