North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 06/11/1996

Ier It's Tuesday June 11th said night. A special program to put the disabled to work in North Carolina now. Good evening and welcome to this Tuesday edition of North Carolina now I'm really damage right. North Carolina's Hispanic community is suffering this year from an unusually large outbreak of rubella in some counties the danger has passed in other counties.

Health officials are struggling to bring it under control. Chatham County was hardest hit. And tonight we'll speak with a representative of that county health department. Also tonight we'll focus on a Charlotte program that's bringing new career potential to physically handicapped people. And of course we'll lighten things up literally with a story from Shannon Vicary about a nonfat whipped cream. Now to our first story. There are more than 370000 people with disabilities in North Carolina according to the North Carolina Division of Vocational Rehabilitation many of them would like to be a ploy to now thanks to a highly competitive computer training program a Goodwill Industries hundreds of people with some of the most severe disabilities like spine and neck injuries and visual impairments are successfully earning a living as computer programmers. Producer Donna Campbell takes us to Charlotte. And we are now. Never thought about a career in computers. He was more interested in hunting and water skiing. Then one day in 1987 his life was changed when he was

caught in the path of a bullet from a 44 magnum. While recovering from the neck wound that left him a quadriplegic and he learned about a new course in computer programming for people with disabilities. After two years of preparation and he was accepted for the intensive 10 month classroom experience at Goodwill Industries in Charlotte. That was six years ago today and he earns close to $40000 a year as a programmer in the automobile division of royal insurance. Oh independence is one of the greatest layers for me that when I came out of it with the knowledge but the things that I'm able to do now that I want from these government programs that are being cut now that you can depend on that you've got to kind of be a pannier and find out exactly what you're capable of doing and follow up on it and. Go for it. Founded in 1987 as a partnership between Goodwill Industries the North Carolina

Division of Vocational Rehabilitation the division of services for the blind and IBM systems integration division. The computer programmer training course excepts up to 20 qualified students each year. Students with many different barriers to employment come from across North Carolina to attend the classes five days a week for eight hours a day at Charlotte's goodwill Center has as you say an individuals have when they start they may lack some self confidence. Not sure about coming to the big city some that come from smaller places and see them began to gain that self-confidence feel good about themselves and just talking with one. In fact last week said it sure was glad he stuck it out several times that he had thought of quitting but the rewards out there working have been tremendous goodwill coordinates the program with the help of a business advisory council made up of senior data processing managers for more than 40 major North Carolina

companies. They take an active role in selecting and evaluating the students and in developing the course of study so that the graduates will be prepared for the real job market. Again not to minimize But I think just like a small step that will really have tremendous payback if we're able to accomplish it. Basically I think the program has a great focus and that focus is taking people out of the environment who traditionally would not have an opportunity at some of the I would say the high tech professional jobs and giving them opportunities to learn or trade in also matching them with businesses. There's so many people out there that don't want to work you know and they're able bodied people and they don't really want to work. But here are so many people that really they want to work more than anything. And we're giving them that avenue to be able to work out of a wheelchair with the capabilities they have.

The technology is made for them. When Danny Jones fell from a bucket truck in Colorado his career as an electrician was over a spinal cord injury left him questioning what to do. He came home to North Carolina and learned about the goodwill computer class with a goodwill program changed my life. I was in a hospital with no idea when I was going to do with the rest of my life. Like many other applicants Danny had little previous training in computer programming. He took courses at a community college in Greensboro before applying to Goodwill. A student really should try to come straight into this program without the computer knowledge and all the years of community college and some kind of classes he needs you to get an idea of do you want to do this. And it isn't just for the wheelchair bound this problem is it has all kinds of disabilities and it's one of the major things that you really want to think about

is can you sit in the same planes all day long and stare the screen and enjoy doing this. More than 80 percent of goodwill students graduate and find employment. Most of them are earning $2000 a year more than the average entry level computer programmer Royal Insurance is just one of dozens of area businesses that hire goodwill interns. I don't know whether we look at the individuals as having disabilities. They come to us as qualified from a technical background be they in a wheelchair be they have a sight impairment. So while it's not a disability to us the evidence that we've seen from their their work and their production support and what we hear back from their clients and their peers and their managers. If I was looking at them on paper I would have no idea or have any any thoughts at all that they were that they had a disability. I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. Goodwill is now accepting applications for the fall class anyone

across the state with a disability is eligible. And for more information you can call 7 0 4 3 7 2 3 4 3 4. Coming up the status of North Carolina's rebel outbreaks. But first let's check in with Michel Louis for a summary of today's statewide news. Hello match. Hello Maria. Good evening everyone. Topping the news this evening a Fort Bragg military jury today convicted a soldier of premeditated murder in connection with the sniper shooting that left one soldier dead 18 others wounded. Sergeant William Kreuger last fall opened fire on 13 hundred of his fellow soldiers as they did their morning exercises. The jury must now hear evidence in the sentencing phase of the trial court so it could face the death penalty. The General Assembly today the full House gave its approval to a bill that would allow Chapel Hill to require sprinklers in fraternity and sorority houses. The town sought that authority after five people were killed in a fire last month at a USC Chapel Hill fraternity. Republican lawmaker Russell Capps of Wake

County spoke in favor of the bill but he also said other steps need to be taken such as making sure smoke detectors are connected to each other. Sprinkler systems will not stop smoke a smoldering fire can continue for hours generating smoke. It would trade throughout the building without a sprinkler head ever going up so fire stops or smoke stops. I need it in this case in Chapel Hill. This was an open stairwell and the smoke went immediately up the stairwell after that anything to stop. There was smoke detectors in the building but it did not sound in theory throughout the building that everybody got below. Orange county representative Dan Barnes who co-sponsored the bill told House members other steps are being taken including assessing alarm systems and designing training programs police officials in Charlotte are still investigating leads in the burning of a black church. A white 13 year old girl was arrested in connection with the crime yesterday but police say they don't think that it was racially motivated. There have been reports that the girl

might be involved in a in the occult. And investigators are looking into possible satanic markings on the church. Meanwhile politicians across the country reacted to the fires. Senator Lott fair cloth introduced legislation that makes it a federal crime to burn a church. Also in Charlotte school board officials want students to know that crime doesn't pay. The board is looking at a proposal that would prohibit students convicted of a felony from playing sports or participating in other extracurricular activities. The suspension would last for the rest of the current semester and the following semester. The school board will discuss the policy at its meeting tonight. Right now only one school system in the state Cabarrus County uses this policy. A politician who frequently criticizes environmental laws is now accepting the blame for a fish kill in eastern North Carolina. A spill from a farm owned by Senator Locke fair cloth destroyed wildlife including thousands of fish over a 20 mile stretch of the Black River. The spill was caused when a worker at the cattle farm failed to properly close a

valve on a feed bin allowing 250000 gallons of liquefied sweet potato scraps to seep into a creek. Environmental inspectors say fair cloth was warned last year about the possibility of such an accident. Their client says he will pay any penalty imposed on the farm. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather expect the warm weather to continue across much of the state. With high temperatures in the mid 80s except for the mountains the coastal counties will be the warmest places. Tomorrow's forecast calls for partly sunny skies with a 40 percent chance of afternoon rain and thunderstorms throughout the state. In business news today John Deere and company is making plans that are expected to bring jobs to North Carolina. Company officials say they will build a 30 million dollar manufacturing plant in China. John Deere expects to employ about 250 workers at that facility. The plant will produce golf course maintenance and commercial knowing equipments. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. Several

North Carolina counties experienced an unusually high number of rubella cases this year between 1988 1995 there were only six reported cases of rubella or Germany is also in the entire state. So far this year there have been at least 80 confirmed cases mostly occurring within the Hispanic population. So far there have been two separate outbreaks. One taking place in Chatham Randolph and Guilford counties now Chatham County had 60 cases Lee had eight. There were five cases in Randolph and one confirmed case of rubella in Guilford County. The second outbreak involved Union County with six confirmed

cases of those 80 cases 77 occurred within the Hispanic community. And here to give us more information is Brenda done it with the Chatham County Health Department Ms Dunn thank you so much for being here tonight. Now your county Chatham has the highest number of cases what is the current status in your county is it under control. We have a sense that it's under control however we have one or two suspected cases that are reported to us each week and of course then we draw the blood make an assessment and wait for two weeks to get that blood back and then we'll know whether it's actually a confirmed case. But you're mostly over the hump at this point yes. How did you go about bringing it under control. It really was an all consuming effort of our agency and the community as a whole. We pulled in all the possible resources that we could find. Those included students from the university that might be assigned to our health department at the moment. We used the Hispanic interpreters from the school system from

other businesses or agencies from headstart from Family Resource Center from everywhere we can. We actually canceled clinics for a full week. We had maternity clinic on site at the hospital who was very you know they were just very open to whatever we might need how they might assist us we had a lot of calls for help and we called in the National Guard. We we utilized every possible resource that we could and it was like a two to three week thrust. And as I mentioned in the introduction it's not only happening in Chatham County about throughout other counties as well so the concern might be higher in in Union County where the second outbreak is taking place currently than that in Chatham County. But it's mostly happening within the Hispanic community why. Our sense is well it's not a sense we actually know that many of the folks who are come to our county to work are from Mexico and other countries where rubella has not been available if it has been available at all it's been available to the wealthy. Many of the individuals that

we would interview or in our efforts to case for had had measles vaccine they thought and it would have been the red measles not the rubella they did not have available to them that MMR that we give. And this is something that is very common in the United States to receive the the M-R are vaccination but not necessarily in Mexico or other Hispanic countries. Why is rebel of such a concern. Well it's of major concern to pregnant women who might come in contact or even acquire the disease itself especially during an early trimester. Pregnant say the first 16 weeks. If that happens there's up to an 85 percent chance that they will have an infant born with multiple birth defects or major organ birth defects brain heart spinal cord injuries blindness deafness. We're also told in the literature that these babies may be born with congenital

rubella syndrome. And that means that they would shed the virus and be infectious to others for up to a year after birth. So that presents an ongoing problem for anyone that we didn't identify are unable to detect it. Or has it been difficult for you or in the past when this was really at its height to get through to the Hispanic community that this isn't something important that you need to get these vaccinations. It was not difficult to get them to get the vaccinations it was difficult to get them to stay home if they were to travel a lot. They're transients and very social lives and medical care in their country is not a priority as it is in ours and we would inspan someone with symptoms and instruct them to go home and to stay there till 7 days after rationed you'd find them at work the next day or at the grocery store or places that they didn't need to be because they were spreading the disease. That was our problem it was not difficult to get folks to take the vaccine once they

understood what was needed. So what happens now. What happened there for us is to continue case finding us folks present to monitor the women that we have discovered to be. The cases contacts of cases who were pregnant during this outbreak in Chatham County and we identified 60 women five of those pregnant were actual cases. I think it was 10 or 11 who were close contacts and who were not actual cases but they had negative rubella titers which means they are at high risk for having the disease and although we might not have seen symptoms of the disease it's possible and said 40 percent of cases to be symptomatic and have no symptoms. So we will be following those babies as well. So 15 to 20 children over the next six to nine months will need to be monitored throughout their pregnancy and throughout the next several years to get to a city where their

birth defects some might not be evident at birth. It may be sometime after birth before birth defect is detectable and that's in just your county alone and it's magnified across the state. Well as Don I want to thank you very much for being here this evening and sharing this information I believe the most important thing that if you haven't received a vaccination to make sure to get one ride it it's not necessary to be Hispanic. Everybody needs him. OK thank you. If you're not like many North Carolinians who are watching your fat intake and cholesterol that a group of

researchers at North Carolina State University may have some good news for you as Shana Vicary reports they've developed a new type of soybean plant that could have a big impact on what we eat. Imagine sausage hot dogs cheese and whipped cream products that are low in fat low in cholesterol and actually good for you. Hard to bully. Not for a group of scientists that NC State they've developed a new kind the soybean plant that could change our favorite food for the better. This new variety of soybean plant is called proline for a loan to have higher protein concentration see than other soy beans that are grown in North Carolina. And that that is the major thing about it. It's different and it's a higher protein concentration. That's got other scientists like Proctor walk one you excited. He sees many commercial uses for the new soybean.

Thanks to the increase in protein in our society we prefer eating meat. And but the fat that we looking at the restaurant problem and all these problem we would like to replace the meat with vegetable protein and that's where proline A comes in. So we beans contain basically three elements protein oil and carbohydrates. It's the protein in oil content of the soybean that brings profits to soybean formers also of beans contain two primary types of protein called Seven es and 11 S.. And it most soybeans the seven es protein accounts for about 25 percent of the bean while the 11 es protein accounts for 40 percent. The 11 is protein is conscious that to be proved to be better than the salmon is nutritionally. And in the Proline is so we being. There is a measurable increase in the 11 s protein by about 5 percent and increase that should make this new

soybean more commercially desirable. That's why Kuan Yew has developed a process in his in S. state lab to isolate the 11 s protein and turn it into a powder. The powder resembles flour and may be used as a food additive to replace many of the meat proteins found in your favorite foods. The Proline of protein is tasteless and over less low in fat and cholesterol and sense is a natural That's double protein. It has no side effects. Kuan Yew says when it's readily available the Proline of protein may drastically reduce the amount of fat we eat when it ready availability. The impact should be very immediate particularly in term of health in terms of reducing problem with heart disease chorister our problem obesity problem. But that's not all. While the Proline of protein may excite consumers looking for more choices and low fat foods there's another reason why farmers are

interested in growing proline So a being is known for its protein in oil. That usually if you try to increase protein there's a problem of losing oil and vice versa which means farmers get less money for their soybean crop. But over the past 10 years in Sea State researcher Joe Burton has done what many researchers dismissed as impossible. He's created the Proline a soybean variety with an increase in protein without decreasing the oil content. The oil is translate into money to the dollar. Also the same at protein. So even though I do the same but you increase protein you encourage you increase obviously profit and that could mean very good news to North Carolina soybean farmers especially since Martin designed the new variety to grow here. It's it's adapted to the southeast and it's one that.

Armies can grow here in the US while proline a looks like a good deal for both farmers and consumers in the Tar Heel State. It hinges on one thing whether or not the food industry will buy it. But so far the researchers at NC State are optimistic. They say they've developed a plant that's easy to grow and a process for extracting the soybean protein that's cheap. The process as you know a laboratory that I develop is simple enough and it's economic enough for them to do it. And it doesn't require any sophisticated machinery or anything like that. So for the next few months when you will work on specific ways to incorporate the Proline of protein into various foods. He says it could take anywhere from a few months to a few years before you'll find proline of products on your grocery store shelf. They rely on a soybean plant will be available to a selected group of

farmers for a trial run this fall and then to all farmers. By 1997. Meanwhile researchers are looking at other uses for soybeans. A boat is currently on display in Morehead City that runs on fuel made from soybeans. The fuel known as soy diesel doesn't pollute like regular diesel fuel and it's completely biodegradable. So a diesel is widely used in Europe but so far it's only seen limited use here in the U.S.. That's our program for tonight we hope that you'll join us tomorrow when Shannon Vicary profiles a controversial and very outspoken law man Sheriff Gerald hankie from Davidson County and you'll get the latest buzz about the 17 year cicadas. So join us tomorrow for another edition of North Carolina now. Good night everyone.