North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 01/16/1998

It's Friday January 16th. Tonight an update on our state's sweeping fisheries reform plan in North Carolina. Good evening everyone and welcome to this Friday edition of North Carolina now. Tonight our guest is North Carolina's new poet laureate Fred chapel this distinguished author has been called North Carolina's ambassador of Warde's and he'll join us a little later to explain why poetry is important to the vitality of our state. Plus we'll go to Winston-Salem to dig for clues to some unanswered questions in our state's past. But we begin tonight with a look at our state's fishing industry. In addition to freshwater streams and lakes North Carolina boast an abundance of natural shoreline and two and a half million acres of Marine and estuarine waters policing

protecting and promoting these coastal waters as a response ability of the state's Division of Marine Fisheries. However this year the division also begins implementation of a sweeping fisheries reformat. More on that story from Ted Harrison the calm waters of the hide the turmoil that continually base the fishing industry in this state. It took three years of often contentious debate to come up with the reform package passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Jim Hunt last August before the lawmakers voted a moratorium was imposed to cap the number of licensed commercial fishermen and its current number of about 6000. That compares to about a million and a half recreational fishermen who don't have to pay any fees to fish these coastal waters. Some commercial fishermen such as Willie Etheridge of one cheese feel caught in a bureaucratic net and don't like the way the reform package came about in the first place. The way out of it is for our elected officials

to quit being dominated by the recreational fishing industry that wants to put all the commercial fishermen out of business. Indeed the chairman of the Marine Fisheries Commission during the time the plan was drawn up was Bob Lucas an attorney and sports fisherman. Even though Lucas is no longer head of that commission Etheridge is still rankled. Look at what our governor has done for us here in a state and off the commercial fishing industry. He appointed attorney from the middle part of the state who owns a three quarter million dollar sport fishing boat. He had complete control we run a wholesale Division of Marine Fisheries in North Carolina for over five years. The new chairman runs a commercial cram processing company. Jimmy Johnson is serving on an interim basis but he has experience on the commission and he is in touch with what's needed to implement the plan approved by the legislature. There will be a lot of different and diverse people coming together and sitting down at the same

table to talk about these issues and and hopefully by working on some issues that are important to to all people namely environment water quality habitat. He will be able to build some bridges there before we can get to some of the more potentially divisive issues. One of those issues is a proposed license for the million and a half recreational salt water fisherman. The Marine Fisheries director Preston Tate points out that the license would provide data on recreational landings to make management plans work. It's an important issue from the standpoint of why we need a recreational license and that need is to primarily get some process by which we can account for the effort to succeed. This expanded in harvesting shellfish and fish in in the coast recreationally and what

is being harvested so that we can factor the take by recreational fisherman into the total take by our pursuit and apply that to our fisheries management plan process. While you might think Etheridge would want to see sportsmen pay for a license to fish the same waters that make his livelihood. That's not the case here by the recreational saltwater losses it's just another tax. There's absolutely no need for it. North Carolina has followed some fish management plans in the past. More plans are mandated in this reform law. But Etheridge believes such plans aren't even needed. The ocean is full of fish out there and we're not allowed to catch a break they keep that especially for a little bit and we're just having a throwback so many fish and it's just a travesty to people trying to make a living. Hugh Lee is a recreational fisherman who believes in management plans and supports the license proposal with the marine resources in the status that

they're in with the additional management that's required. We need additional funding to do a lot of the things that will improve our marine stocks and enhance those stocks and you know where we're going get money to do that is through recreational Lashon the commercial industry is afraid of the recreational license they're afraid of the recreational license because they feel that it will empower the recreational community. One one point two million recreational anglers start spending $15 a pop for a license and it's bringing in six million dollars. They feel that it will empower our community more and that would be to the detriment of commercial fishing. I personally don't think that at all. I think that the recreational community is already empowered so to speak. But if the recreational angle is to be the source of such a lucrative catch then the money needs to be kept in a trust. According to Damon Tatum Bell ever makes you want to find Iraq the wife and I used to rape the wife and Hampton I think that's very

important. A dedicated bun would make a big difference that a recreational batsman can knock you out of the money went to the right play to help improve the number that's available for them to get and that everybody gets the last 6 only a feasibility study on the recreational license commercial fisherman may see wide variations in the prices they are paid for the catch. At the same time the retail prices consumers pay seem to withstand such variations. OK Fishman Maria Fulcher says processing and packaging seafood in North Carolina would level that the man also sees the need for fishermen to have parity with marine biologists in developing management plans. The people with the green leaves. Have the ability to manipulate the data they have and come up with a management plan that means nothing in the real world.

And the fisherman that work year after year for a Speccy years know where that fish hears when a certain wind direction. They know where that creation is whether certain water temp they know or that they share it with a certain station tied those Fishman. They are an extension of the resource. These varying opinions are part of what will make up the 1998 chapter of fisheries reform in North Carolina. The new fee schedule for commercial fishing licenses goes into effect July 1st of next year. That's the same date the moratorium on new commercial licenses will end. Welcome. Not a conversation with our state's new poet laureate. But first let's go to Mitchell Lewis for a summary of today's statewide headlines. Climate Hello Shannon. Good evening everyone. Topping our news tonight a federal appeals court has struck down North Carolina's controversial tax on illegal drugs. The fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the fee is not a tax but a criminal penalty.

The decision could dry up a revenue stream of about four million dollars a year that is collected from drug dealers. State Attorney General Mike Easley said he would ask for another hearing in the case or appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court. North Carolina has been the most aggressive of the states in enforcing the tax since the state began collecting the revenue in 1990. It has brought in more than 26 million dollars. Governor Hunt today signed an executive order giving the state ethics board more power. The order empowers the board to identify potential conflicts of interest before appointees to state panels are sworn in. Under the old policy state board and commission members did not have to disclose business interests until 30 days after their appointment. However last year three Transportation Board members resigned after reports regarding apparent conflicts of interest and also said today he is asking the ethics board to re-evaluate all present advisory board members for potential conflicts as well. A growing number of lawmakers and experts are questioning whether Smart Start Governor Huntsman early childhood education program is raising enough

money according to state regulations the nonprofit North Carolina partnership with children must raise $1 in private money for every $10 it receives from state government to run smart start. But in 1906 the partnership only raised 2.7 million dollars toward their 6 million dollar goal eventually hunt wants the state to spend more than 300 million on Smart Start that would require the partnership to raise more than 30 million dollars in private money. At least one lawmaker feels the matching requirement should be reassessed. Officials with the Transportation Department are warning that pavement conditions on North Carolina's highways have been on the decline since 1988. A new report by a transportation expert predicts the state will be facing a crisis in as little as two or three years. Transportation Department officials say the agency has fallen short of its goal of resurfacing roads every 10 to 12 years. They say most roads are going between 18 to 20 years between resurfacing. North Carolina spent fifty seven hundred dollars per mile on road maintenance in 1995 while on average other

states were spending more than twice that amount per mile. President Clinton has declared Avery and Mitchell counties as disaster areas clearing the way for residents to apply for federal assistance. Governor had also asked for declarations and Yancy what TADA and Transylvania counties after a storm last week dumped more than 10 inches of rain in the area that eclair counties are eligible for aid such as disaster housing grants and low cost loans to cover property loss. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather. High temperatures will be mostly in the 40s and 50s across the state for Saturday may stay in the mid 30s. Cloudy conditions will start the day across the state although partial clearing is expected in the afternoon in some areas. There is the possibility of snow tomorrow in the mountains. And in business news the California company that bought out nearly 800 Hardee's restaurants along with the Hardy's name last year has taken an even deeper bite into the former Rocky Mountain chain CKD restaurants has purchased five hundred fifty seven more Harvey's restaurants for four hundred fifteen million dollars.

C.K. is the parent company of the Carl's Jr. hamburger chain found throughout California and other parts of the country. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. He's been called North Carolina's ambassador of wars our resident genius our

shining light. And after publishing a dozen books of poetry two volumes of short stories and seven novels Greensborough author Fred Chappell has just been named by Governor Jim Hunt as North Carolina's new poet laureate and joins us tonight to tell us more about his new post. Thank you so much for joining us. You were quite a distinguished author but what did you think when Governor Hunt came to you and said I want you to be our poet laureate. I don't measure up to any of those nice words you read today at the front of the interview here and I feel a little well a little ashamed that I haven't done quite so well as I hoped I would do. Nevertheless I'm very proud of course and and I count it a great honor. Does the post of poet laureate have with it a defined role or is this something that you get to decide what you would like

to emphasize on your own. I think it's partly to find that is there are there will be an occasional official duty of one sort or another. But for the most part it will be invented I think as we go along here. I have. Some projects in mind that I would like to accomplish and I hope to be able to make a start on them sometime fairly soon. As you look at this new post what are your goals as poet laureate. I would like to call attention to literature at large that is the broad range of literature to readers in North Carolina and to readers outside North Carolina. I'd like to call attention to the literature of our state so that the writers of the aid our state one of the foremost in literary productions in the United States today.

Wow. Well you brought along a poem that we would like to have you read for us to give our viewers a taste of what it is that you're going to be doing over the coming months. This is a poem called The Garden and it's about the presence of God in nature if you like. That is the idea that you can tell a little bit about the kind of being God is by looking at the world around you. The garden is a book about the gardener. His thoughts set down in vivid greenery the white light and the golden light nourish the firm sentences of Grapevine boxwood paragraphs and stops of peonies and chrysanthemums cut drowsy shadows from the afternoon. Out of their hiding places the humid twilight moors of the stars. The perf humans of the grass lack who curtains across the

mind and what the mind is certain it is certain. So that the twilight fragrances are clearly audible. The garden stroking the senses with slow Rosas. That's ramble overhead tacking from star to early star. As if putting in it ports of call and then the Chinese lantern is lit as it was in childhood. A central in that place as an island lighthouse. The gardener is a book about his garden. He walks among these leaves as easy as morning come to scatter its robins and tender noise as if the plants inhaled the morning and its cool bike. The book is open once again. That was never shut. What now. We do not know. We shall never know all that is beautiful absolutely beautiful place we to say so. What do you think it's going to take then

to get more North Carolina. When Ian's interested in both poetry and literature in general. Oh I don't think we need to force things I think we have. A very literary minded state I know for a fact that North Carolina as a state is one of the great consumers of poetry in the United States. In fact where were among the top four or five states and that counts that was heavily populated states like New York and California. And we are the leading consumer of forgery in the south we buy more books. We have more Puerto readings and a budget Nicko. We produce more and better ports than anybody else too. Finally one is North Carolina's legacy when it comes to poetry and literature. I think it will be an enduring one. It's always going to be local in flavor but not local in purpose or local in ambition. And it's that local place to stand that gives us our strengths I think

and the fact that we're not ashamed to be who we are as our state's motto he says we should be. Well Fred Chappell thank you so much for joining us tonight and good luck with your new post. Thank you Shannon. Thank you and good luck to you too. If you'd like to check out some of the work of our state's new poet laureate read topples latest novel is entitled There Well I'm bound to leave you. Written records provide the basis for our history but sometimes those written records leave

holes in the true account of the way our ancestors lived their everyday lives. For Mr. Clay Johnson shows us how an archeological dig in Old Salem this past summer mainly to some revisions in the historical record of that Moravian settlement in Winston-Salem and how a student's visual documentation of the dig may become a historical record. Christie Farina is a graduate student in documentary filmmaking at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I've always had a deep love for history archaeology. I was raised on PBS. She found her calling. She also found out that it's a lot of work. Tremendous amount of ore. It's definitely a labor. Farina spent three weeks this past summer shooting this videotape of her fellow students working on an archaeological dig at Old Salem. Now the real work begins logging more than 20 hours of video writing a script and editing it all down into a half hour or one hour program that will serve as her master's

thesis. I think archaeology is very important and understanding of history. It's extremely important to learn about the process of archaeology the science of it and how it integrates synthesizes with history to make a new story and you know it's constant integration of material and new knowledge to create a more perfect picture of our past. Brad Bartell who is un dean of graduate studies asked Farina to document the dig on video Bartell was an archaeologist on the excavation of the Presidio in San Diego before coming to U.N. S.G. in 1900 to the Presidio was the first Spanish settlement in the United States West Coast. Its excavation made a field school for archaeology students part of a tourist attraction. And I wanted to try to transform that process to something in North Carolina. You can see already had student field schools at archaeological sites in Mexico and the island of Crete.

And we also wanted to do a larger field school that would encompass dozens of students rather than the very few that were privileged to go to these foreign countries. Burchill found the perfect marriage in a relationship he forged between U.N. S.G. and Old Salem. For three weeks of each of the last three summers students from U.N. S.G. and other universities have been digging around old Salem's Herbst tells students who are interested in archaeology have the opportunity to come to. A real site do a real piece of work and learn in the process. Old Salem's consulting archaeologist Michael Hartley says the crew of 22 students helped Old Salem learn a lot too. This gives us an opportunity to look at archaeological sites that we might not be so readily capable of looking at other ones. Hartley has discovered much about Heinrich Herbst and his family who built their house in Old Salem an 18 21 and he's found out much about the work Herbst and other settlers did in

workshops that were built and rebuilt on the same spot right next to the house. We think is represented in the remnants of his Saturn making trade in harness and buckles with stones both coarse and fine and for the sharpening too they are just a few of a thousand pieces uncovered at the Herbst House site that will help fill the missing spaces in old Salem's historic puzzle. The Moravians kept very good records of meetings marriages and other events in their society but their official records often left very big holes in the real story of the way Moravians lived their everyday lives here during the 19th century. Digging this hole will help fill holes in the story of Old Salem frequently the most informative. Thought of all those broken fragmentary objects that in their own right engine the right engine one of the two in the crockery and the personal items and

and the various objects that people live with and use through their lives come together and coalesce. And I mastered your statement in the way that the words on the page of a book. So in it's new relationship Old Salem found a new view into the life of its Moravian settlers and USCG gave its students a new view into the career of archaeology. This is like fantastic for their for their life experience in their field to be able to actually most archeologist tourist to Old Salem have an opportunity to see that North Carolina's bones are uncovered by the likes of Indiana Jones. This gives them a much better understanding of modern archaeological techniques how patient one has to be how slow the process is how careful the process is. So it's a real eye opener for for the lay public. Soon the public will open their eyes to these artifacts on display in an exhibit that will place them in the context of how Moravian settlers live their lives. And Christopher in his

documentary which Old Salem plans to use as part of the exhibit will be placed in the context of how archaeologists live theirs. This is a historical record of its own. You know this is going to take us out of the earth but this is a great historical document and we're going to put that as part of their you know future use of the site. That's really really Kristie hopes to get her documentary aired nationally on PBS POS next month North Carolina now will take a look at an often overlooked part of the Moravian past the role African-Americans have played in the Arabian religion. Well finally tonight would like to mention that funeral services will be held tomorrow for NASCAR legend Wayne Robertson who died tragically this week. Robertson was responsible for NASCAR's premier Winston Cup series. Well thanks for ending your week with us here at North Carolina now please join us again Monday for a special edition of No.