North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 03/12/1997

The It's Wednesday March 12th tonight some rather unusual vacation destination in North Carolina now. A pleasant Wednesday evening to you on your way to try thanks for joining us tonight on this evening's abbreviated edition of North Carolina now we'll hear from Gregory Richardson the director of the North Carolina commission of Indian Affairs.

Mr. Richardson will be here to tell us about the 22nd annual Indian unity conference which begins tomorrow. But up first tonight the conclusion of our multipart series on travel destinations here in our state. When most people think of vacationing in North Carolina they immediately think of the majestic mountains in the western part of our state and the beautiful beaches in the east. But there are many miles of North Carolina in between these two destinations. And as our roaming reporter Shannon Victoria tells us it is there while you are often find some of North Carolina's most unique attractions. But is it a love values like a trip back in time where you can return to the days of the Old West without ever leaving North Carolina. Let's go to north of Statesville Valley offers everything expected of our western

town including a blacksmith a general store and a seldom used jail to help out the mayor and the rocker is the top cowboy in this unusual Tar Heel tale Valley is his dream come true. The first public announcement I guess I made was when I was in fourth grade or fifth grade stepper from the class and said when they had their wish and bunker built large valley in 1954 were based on his childhood dream since thousands of people have hitched their horses on Main Street for a chance to become a real life cowboy or cowgirl. It's quiet I mean with nature I mean down itself and you get away with it you get away from everything that you do every day. I'm a lawyer. I deal with 500 telephone calls a day I deal with was gone every day. You come up here you have that like all towns love Valley has a few rules that are

strictly enforced. After all you never know who will ride in the tail. View from the beginning mayor Barker has banned cars on main street of love Valley in favor of horses like tommy hawk and you can carry a pistol in LA Vallee but only if it's loaded. Banker says he and forces that last roll because well you don't play with a loaded gun and so far he seems to be right in the last 43 years. There have been few problems as this western town has lived up to its name a color at the valley a love for people and I call it the valley of love and it will also I think love Valley has more than a hundred miles of course trails for you to explore and many of them lead you to a nice meal. Here you can tour the historic mill and watch Billy Lenny make corn milk and other products

just as his grandfather did more than 50 years ago. Billy's given mill tours to thousands of people who he says usually want to see the same thing. The water wheel he Louis lightly. War with Iran. They can weigh in here and tell me about their grandpa run a meal you know. They remember saying to you when they're young say in the middle run their way this right back. Well when we feel there is a return to the days of yesterday can also be found at the ash County cheese factory in West Jefferson. This 67 year old plant is the only cheese factory in North Carolina. Question originally built the plant as a way to quickly turn North Carolina milk into cheese. There was a lot of farms and then right but every household sour milk here I buy have one or two cows and they were just selling holidaying here and got a five gallon can.

Today there are few dairies in Ashe County but the cheese factory continues to produce lots of cheese. If they have the milk the factory can make more than twenty thousand pounds of cheese each day remade chatterers carving my right Jack Munster hot pepper jack and you can watch these cheese makers at work the factory two will show you how the huge vats of milk are swung we turned into Kurds the Kurds are then pressed into molds to become blocks of cheese. The whole process takes about five hours to do to the assembly one way out of the plant. You could see milk turn into cheese in about a half hour. And if you've got the time to explore a mystery you can make an unusual stop between dune and Blowing Rock. Mystery Hill is known to thousands of Tar Heel tourists as the place where you literally defy gravity.

Although no one knows why we feel that the gravity is actually a few degrees in that area. We have had German scientists to yours and other people from other universities ISU and Lenore run colleges come in and test but so far no one has discovered the source of the mystery behind Mystery Hill. In addition to the funny room there are other exhibits to teach your brain like how can this false at run water when it's not attached to any pipes. We don't try to look at it on the scientific endeavor. We look at it that people have formed by being doing something that is different and unusual unusual indeed for more than fifty years people have been searching for a solution to this mystery only to find themselves caught in what could be known as the Tarheel Twilight Zone. There was a small fee to visit Mystery Hill but all the other places in tonight's story are free. If you'd like to read to

any of these unique attractions you can find them in the North Carolina now travel guide and you can learn more about the travel guide following tonight's program during festival 97. Well still ahead North Carolina's Native American tribes gather to promote unity. But before we get to our interview segment it's time for a statewide news break with Michel Louis. Good evening Mitch. Thanks Zoraida. Good evening everyone. A move in the general assembly to place limits on campaign spending tops our news tonight. Durham Democrat Senator Webb Gali is the author of the proposed legislation. The measure provides public financing for statewide office and candidates for the legislature. Under the bill candidates would be allowed to raise startup funds for their campaigns. The likely cost of the campaign would then be determined by specific calculations. The General Assembly would then be required to provide at least as much money deemed necessary by the calculation commission. Graphic photographs and local outcry is prompting Craven County officials to

impose a ban on any new large livestock operations. Pictures of a fungal skin infection and petition signatures from 70 doctors brought the county to action. A physician in the area testified he has treated skin lesions on two patients during the past six weeks. State officials say they had no idea evidence of disease linked to the river was increasing. They also say a study following a rash of fish kills in 1995 found no sign of rising illness. The Craven County moratorium will be in place for one year. The Department of Health and natural resources is announcing an amnesty program for homeowners who practice straight piping. The amnesty program will allow any homeowner to report the illegal practice without fear of fines or legal action. Straight piping direct septic system discharges directly into streams and is reportedly found most often in mountain counties. Reports can be made in writing to the on site wastewater section. Post Office Box 2 9 5 9 4 Raleigh 2 7

6 2 6 dash 0 5 9 4. Or you can call 1 800 9 7 3 9 2 4 3. The amnesty grace period runs until December thirty first. A recent announcement to consolidate federal agricultural offices is not sitting well with many farmers a group of burly tobacco farmers from four counties are joining forces to fight these efforts. The group is trying to prevent the closing of offices in Sparta. Jefferson and Nuland to consolidate them with offices and Wilkesboro and Boon The farmers say that R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company has offered to lend help to their efforts. North Carolina's congressional and Senate representatives have also taken action to keep the offices open. Some North Carolina farmers can now get a helping hand. A new credit program for beginning farmers could provide up to 10 million dollars in loans during its first year. The farm credit associations of North Carolina and the State Agricultural Finance Authority will oversee the program. The loans will last over 20 or 30 years with low interest payments with the

first three years. State agriculture commissioner Jim Graham says he hopes the program will attract young people to farming. Looking ahead to tomorrow's weather 50 and 60 degree temperatures mingle throughout the Tar Heel state for Thursday. The cool spot will be boon with a high of 55 and Wilmington should post the warmest imput 68 clouds move in tomorrow bringing in the threat of rain to the southern beaches and west of the triad. Clouds will fill up the middle section of the state but without the forecast chance of rain. In business news expansion plans are in the works at Lorillard Tobacco. One hundred twenty five new workers will operate the third shift at the Greensboro plant. Company officials say rising demands for its Newport menthol brand is prompting the need for increased production. The new jobs are unrelated to the moving of Lorillard corporate headquarters from New York to Greensboro. By the end of this year Lorillard will have added as many as five hundred seventy five new jobs to its Greensboro workforce. The Wall Street Journal reports that North Carolina is one of six states in the running for a massive auto

manufacturing plant. The auto company pitching the plant is not known but officials quoted in the report believe it is Volkswagen's Audi unit. The plant would create up to twenty five hundred jobs and capital investment of seven hundred eighty million dollars. The North Carolina site is along Interstate 85 in Alamance County. Other states named as possible sites for the plant include Alabama Georgia South Carolina and Virginia. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. The 22nd annual North Carolina Indian unity conference is being held tomorrow or

Saturday. This year's theme ten thousand years and our stories continue in unity. The purpose of the conference is to educate North Carolinians on the wide variety of issues affecting our state's Native American population. Here to tell us more is Gregory Richardson. Mr. Richardson is the executive director of the North Carolina commission of Indian Affairs. Welcome back to North Carolina now. Thank you for having me back. Tell me a little bit about the conference I'm I'm intrigued by the theme that such a poll where take me but what's the meaning behind it. Well it's a thing that tells talks about the continuation of the Indian story in North Carolina. Information in the Indian community is passed on from generation to generation from the elders to the youth. And we want to continue that process through a bringing together of our Indian leadership in the state and we do this each year this is the 22nd year that we've done this. And it's the only form of North Carolina through which we can bring the Indian people together and address the needs and concerns of our people.

Why is it important to have this forum every year. Well it's very important because as any group or any population in the in the country want to stay in tune with the issues and concerns of the population and is executive director of the North Carolina commission of Indian Affairs it's very important for me to know what those issues and concerns are. So this is a way in which we can bring those issues and concerns to the table whether it's employment housing recognition all those kind of things we can talk about. Let's get into some of those issues that that you had just touched upon there what do you think is the biggest issue affecting the Indian population right now. You know unemployment unemployment is a problem and economic development opportunities most of our Indian communities are in rule isolated areas far from the urban centers. So therefore we need to bring in more economic development opportunities more factories more jobs so that our people have a place to work. And how do you do that I mean and that is something that people have been trying to tackle for a very long time now how do you bring in people from the government to help board. What do you do to try to figure this out.

Well one of the things that we're going to do at this conference Mr. Gary Kimble out of the Washington D.C. with the administration for Native Americans which is an agency that friends administrated. Activities for tribes and organizations and one of their priorities is economic development. What we hope to achieve by bringing him in here and talking with him is hopefully we can share some of our needs and concerns with economic development with him and hopefully get some of our programs funded that will foster some of these economic development ventures that I just mentioned. And you also have a congressman that's coming to the Congress. Congressman Mike McIntyre will be on the program Saturday morning. And of course he's very concerned about recognition federal recognition for the Lumbee Tribe So he's going to be there to talk about his plan of action for that. I notice that there is also a good mixture of cultural awareness seminars Why is it important to focus on those topics because it's so important for Native American and use Native American and American Indian together because we use them interchangeably. It's very important for our youth to know and keep up with history. It's very important for you

to know and understand cultural culture and as far as Indian people so this is why we continue to do this and this is a way that we can really bring cultural related issues to the table through the Indian unity conference. You had when you were touching upon some of the issues you talked about education what's your concern there right now a major concern is the dropout rate in North Carolina. Students are leaving school in tremendous numbers just in between September and December. In one of our counties Hoke County we had a tremendous number of students drop out of believe the numbers like 14 students drop out in one quarter. So you can see that that we've got that to deal with in other counties we're having that same problem. We have also had a number of students who enter college but end up dropping out so the attrition rate is a concern of ours and college system in the universe a system in North Carolina also. How does the state of North Carolina do that. The government as a whole in addressing issues

that are important to your people. Well I think we have a great opportunity here in North Carolina because our government our state government our General Assembly our governors this governor and governors in the past have been very supportive of the Indian needs and concerns in our state. Some of the states really don't have that relationship that we've got here in North Carolina. We're a member of something called the governor's in a state Indian Council and there are twenty seven other states in the United States that have a similar office or similar agency like the North Carolina commission of Indian Affairs. And because of that those states have a better working relationship with with their tribes. In many cases tribes and state governments really don't have a good working relationship and it causes problems. We talk a lot about the important issues that will be dealt with at the conference but I notice that there is some fun activities there as well. Tell me about this powwow that's going to be taking place. And that's an important piece as well as fun it's important like the art contest. It's important and it's a part fun our banquet on Friday night is very important and that's

part for fun but the powwow will bring the cultural flair to the Indian unity conference will bring our Indian youth in to share their culture with with Indian elders in Indian youth will get to the point of in a change in ideas in talk and in caring for that message of Indian heritage at the powwow. So it's a way that we keep Indian heritage alive in the state. Well Mr. Richardson I thank you very much for being here tonight and I wish you well at your conference. Thank you. Thank you. March is Women's History Month and there's a story of a young woman from the past who is having an

effect on young women and men in the present. Duke University has put together a Web site focusing on the diary of Alice Williamson who was 16 years old during the Civil War. The project which is part of the special collections library Adu brings to life for young people what it was like during those times. Project organizers have heard a lot of feedback from kids explaining how they use the site for school projects. I'm just really amazed at how many junior high and high school kids are actually using it and what it tells me is that if you put advanced material out there for kids they will use it they can grasp on they can be challenged by it in the use it. You can see the website address for the Alice Williamson diary there on your screen. It is scriptorium dot L I B dot du dot edu backslash Williamson. Well we need to head out of here early tonight in order to make way for a festival 6:51 our annual pledge drive but before

we go we invite you to make plans to join us tomorrow night for another edition of North Carolina now on tomorrow's program we'll cover President Clinton's visit to the General Assembly legislative correspondent Sanya Williams will have the highlights of the president's speech plus reaction from our state lawmakers and our newsmaker segment will focus on the results of the joint meeting of the North Carolina education governing boards which was held today. It promises to be an informative program that you won't want to miss. So please join us. Have a great night everyone will see it tomorrow. Good night. At that point.