North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 08/05/1996

It's Monday August 5th. Tonight the Panthers were into their new stadium in North Carolina. Yeah. Thank you. Good evening you're welcome to another great week of North Carolina now. I'm Christina Copeland Merida Trey has the night off. Tonight we'll take you from playing on the gridiron to playing piano for a good cause. And we'll talk to a Nash County man who's fulfilled a

dream by writing a novel of the Civil War and its effect on the communities of Tarboro in Rocky Mount. But our first story tonight takes us to Charlotte. The Carolina Panthers started the exhibition season with an impressive 30 to 12 victory Saturday over the Chicago Bears. But this was more than just the start of a new football season for Carolina fans. After playing in Clemson South Carolina last year the Panthers have come home to their new stadium in Charlotte and his producer Michael McGinnis and reporter David Haynes tell that Erickson stadium looks to be a winner as well. Thank God. The reading is off the new home of the Carolina Panthers as cheerleaders went through their gyrations and the

team held an open practice session recently. The fans got their first look at this one hundred eighty seven million dollar facility. Officials in Charlotte believe they got a good deal on the construction of the stadium. The city Mecklenburg County and the state all helped the team by acquiring the land for the stadium. They also built that parking garage right there and they did road improvements on the roads all around the stadium. Total cost for that. Fifty six million dollars. Now no taxpayer money was used for the construction of the stadium itself 72000 seats about 50 percent of the construction costs were financed through the sale of permanent seat licenses sales to 55000 fans who paid between 600 and 6000 for a PSL affectively own a seat for the football games. Many have their names inscribed in monuments around the stadium. There's no one really running about on them and they've been you know you got to think you're going to Everything's good.

When I decided to make this investment in your last Panther Stadium it was just it was a dream we saw field here in Charlotte and look at it now you know credible facility but it was a lot of money but look at what you want to pay for and this is part mine. This is incredible Now I get to walk up to my seats for the first time. Wow. Let's go check and then we sit down. It's comfy even PSL holders must purchase tickets to get into the stadium but the PSL those are transferable and are seen by most of the fans. Even those high up in the cheap seats as an investment. Here is a little this is worth every penny. Absolutely. That's when they know it's going to be fantastic. Not a way with God like that part yet of course we all get there. And 17 we will be here.

Hot or not the PSL is only part of the funding picture for the Panthers. Much of the rest of the millions needed to build the stadium came from corporate sponsors most notably the Ericsson company a Swedish telecommunications firm that paid 20 million dollars for the right to name the facility Ericsson stadium from its earliest planning through construction. The stadium was designed with one thing in mind football and even though a manmade playing surface would be where better the field is natural turf. While the stadium was not planned as a multiple use facility that could accommodate activities like baseball or soccer. The stadium is expected to host concerts and will be the site of a Billy Graham crusade in September. The team the stadium and the financing approach are the brainchild of owner Jerry Richardson a former professional football player who made a fortune through his ownership of hundreds of family restaurants. Richardson worked for nine years to land the franchise

and build the stadium. Members of his family run the team and operate Ericsson stadium. Things will be do you think that people are realizing that the balls when they get going for. South Carolina swears to him and also I will try to do things the right way and a good community citizens and corporate citizens and do things the right way and not embarrass the community and focus on character and doing things like I think it's going to buy stores on a lot of areas. Many football analysts do not predict great things for the team this season even though the Panthers set a league record for an expansion team with seven wins last year. The team is young. The coach Dom Capers has installed a complicated defensive scheme and so far the team's number one draft pick has been reported to training camp and so Ericsson stadium may be the main attraction list season so far it's drawing nothing but praise from fans and players alike.

The fact that the fans put all their you know their hard earned money and helping build it will make. Think that maybe they'll be a little more than a fair weather type round. Not a bad seat with Stadium from what we can see you know you see the field. Great thought about upgrading but no reason to. This is really wonderful and I'm really excited about it it will be here going to be a really great year great season. Let's hope so. The Richardson family proudly points out that it overcame a lot of obstacles to land a team and build a stadium. They are now promising to bring a Super Bowl trophy to the Carolinas in 10 years. Well in a moment we'll talk with an author who has brought Nash County to life during the time of the Civil War. But first let's check in with Michel Louis at the North Carolina now news desk and find out what's been going on around the state today. Hi Mitch. Hello Chris. Good evening everyone. Now that the General Assembly has approved a budget plan and gone home the analysis of what was accomplished during the special legislative session has begun. A package of tax cuts is receiving the most attention. The head of the

Charlotte Mecklenburg League of Women Voters says people with power and money will benefit the most. Combining tax cuts approved this year and last year businesses got about a 16 percent reduction in their tax bill while individuals received a cut of about 7 percent. House Speaker Harold drew Baker says lower business taxes help the economy grow. North Carolina's division of alcohol law enforcement is operating under some new policies. The new rules stem from an investigation in which undercover agents witnessed and participated in sex acts. The scandal has prompted the elite to come up with written guidelines were undercover operations. Crime Control Secretary Richard Moore says agents are specifically no longer allowed to take part in such activities while on the job. No Ellie agents or supervisors have been fired over the matter. Researchers at Duke University want to get a better understanding of the stresses children face today. They've started a five year five million dollar study of young people in Granville Franklin Vance and Warren

county's interviews are being held with the families of five thousand nine to 16 year olds and rolled in schools in the four counties. Followup talks will be held in three years. The project is being funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. The population of North Carolina's mountains is growing and it seems the growth is not going to slow down any time soon. Researchers tracking population and growth trends say the mountains are increasingly becoming home for retirees from the West while the northeast rather as well as Florida. Those retirees coupled with the booming tourism industry are drawing more business owners to the mountains. Demographers expect the opening of a casino on the Cherokee Indian reservation and the widening of U.S. 441 from silver to Georgia will bring even more people to our mountains and construction begins this month up in the mountains on an alternative transportation plan. That is one of the first in the state. The five year proposal calls for about 15 million dollars worth of bicycle routes sidewalks and green waste to be built in Boone

and Blowing Rock the pass would also connect the five miles in between the two towns. Planners hope their ideal will become an alternative transportation model for communities across the country. And taking a look ahead to tomorrow's weather temperatures across North Carolina on Tuesday are expected to be in the mid to upper 80s partly sunny to partly cloudy skies are expected throughout the state and everyone can be on the lookout for the summer cycle of afternoon showers. In today's business news a Raleigh company has been awarded a high tech small business contract from the U.S. Navy. The $600000 contract between the Navy and intervention systems called for the development of a system that would allow technicians to electronically access technical manuals with just their voice. And now here's a look at what happened on Wall Street today. If

you're driving along Alternate Route 64 between Tarboro and Rocky Mount you'll pass an old White House known as cool more. It was built in about 1859 just before the start of the Civil War and it's here at Coolmore that Nash County author elder William Everett has chosen to place his tale of the war and its aftermath. Elder ever chains us now thank you so much for being with us this evening. Thank you. You subtitle this book a historical novel of destruction reconstruction and reconciliation. And you did this. You wrote this novel not just to tell a story but you had a very special purpose behind it. What was that.

I really wanted to share some light on the historical events that took place in the coastal plains of North Carolina. Oftentimes the larger events of North Carolina have already been written about. But so much of the coastal plain has been largely neglected. I wanted to cast some light on our historical past. There's a huge amount of historical detail in this book how much research went into writing it. Well that research goes back 30 years ago when I contributed a newspaper article to the local paper in Rocky Mount on its 100th anniversary on the destruction of the Rocky Mount Mills the railroad bridge the rail yards and the shipbuilding at Barra and general Potters raid from Newbern. There was a garrison in Newbern occupied New Bern and

they came out from New Bern by way of Vance Byrd to Greenville to old Sparta and came to a tar barrel and rock him out and destroyed the vital rail links and their vital water traffic that was going on at Tarboro and Rocky Mount at that time. So I took that from the official records of the War of the rebellion and Clark's regimental history. So how much of the book is fiction and how much is fact. Well the destruction is fact how it was destroyed is fictionalized. All of the destruction in Tarboro and Rocky Mount literally did take place and there is an exciting scene of a great railway chase a locomotive chase. Perhaps you've heard of the locomotive chase from Atlanta to Chattanooga. Well there is there was a locomotive chase between King's bar and Rocky Mount

where the federal troops intercepted a locomotive and chased it down and caused that to stop and back and reversed it back to Rocky Mount and took prisoners. All of that is is is in the book. One of the other things that you read through the book is The Primitive Baptist religion and you are an elder in the Primitive Baptist religion a preacher. How did that play an important role in the book for you. In eastern North Carolina the predominant agricultural fate. Prior to the 1860s was of the primitive persuasion and I had access to the literal review records that date back to 1757. I researched those records and I literally relived how they disciplined their members how the blacks and the whites in the same church how they co-existed together

and how they got along together and how after the war that the slaves were named. All of that is in the church history and it came alive so beautifully with the with the official real records that I literally touched and dealt with and I brought that all in. You did that's all in there and it's such an accomplishment first first book and wondering what you're going to do for a second book. Well for a second book I'm not going to really do an entire book I'm working on a short play based again on historical events that took place in Rocky Mount. You know General Lee. He surrendered on April 9th and Appa Maddox for Jr. and then General Johnston surrendered near Durham later but that was a surrender that took place from Nash County. Oh no April the 19th and 20th.

By from General Baker to General Sherman and Rocky you know that very few people know anything about and that his and interesting historical event that I'm writing trying to write a play about that now. Well we'll definitely keep an eye out for that Elder Everett thank you so much for being with us tonight. You're quite welcome and thank you for. The sound of hammers and saws can be music to the ears of people who need help building a home that they can

afford. That's just what Habitat for Humanity provides. The group is very active here in North Carolina and it has caught the attention of a North Carolina musician who has found a way to add his own music to the cause. Reporter Maria Lundberg and producer Bill Hanna introduce us to Gregory McCallum. You're probably familiar with a hammer that looks like this one. Well this is a hammer too. And believe it or not there is a connection between the two of them. Robison County in southeastern North Carolina is an area noted for producing tobacco and cotton. It has also produced an outstanding concert pianist. Gregory McCallum Greg has studied and performed throughout the United States Europe and Central America attributes much of his success to the fact he was from a small town in North Carolina a town that supported and nurtured him as he grew

up. Well I like to think that Rowan is a very special small town because there were two very good teachers there. My piano teacher in high school and from when I started there High School Grace Watson. And there was another wonderful voice teacher there Gene Smith. And it was just a community small community that put a lot of value in the arts. Gregg you have a wonderful background with training as some of the best schools in the world. Can a professional musician make a living here in North Carolina. You have to sort of slowly work your way in and you can't just make your living you know in North Carolina at the moment I make most of my living from teaching. And I love to teach. I have about 18 hours a week and have students of all ages and levels but I just you know hope each year I get a few more concerts and maybe one less student or and balance it out that way.

Get your degree and it's all wonderful when you're suddenly out of the real world is like how do I make a living. It's like us you know practicing six hours a day is not going to pay the rent. So that's when you start hadn't really been creative and see what skills do I have. You know I had taken some organ lessons in high school and I was very grateful for that because if it hadn't had that job I would have been able to pay my rent. But then you know you start learning and I hadn't taught very much for I came to North Carolina. I always been busy in school. So it's all a learning process and every step is very important and very valid for your own growth. But it's a real it's the real teacher I think is being out in the real world. Greg loves to travel. He had a childhood dream of being a musical ambassador touring and performing music all over the world. When he got the chance to go to Guatemala with Habitat for Humanity he was thrilled at the

opportunity. After the trip I got back to the states and it's like I said I was really touched by habitat and how it really not only builds houses it builds community just is a very uplifting experience for all people involved in it not just the homeowners. So I wanted to contribute to Habitat somehow and I thought well you know it's not good for me to be out swinging a hammer hitting nails you know here's your finger right. So I but I got the idea that the piano has hammers a lot of people maybe don't know that very key 88 key there's a hammer that strikes a string and I said Well when I use classical music then piano hammers through benefit concerts to build houses for Habitat at these performances and others. Greg breaks from the traditional formality of the concert stage and talks directly to the audience first.

It's very much like the overtures that we find comic operas for instance. Well this is really a thing where I think you know my growing up in a small town was a blessing to me because I had lots of friends you know garden clubs and you got about music some friends who knew nothing about music. And every time I got up in front of a group of people to play the piano it felt I felt a very urgent need to talk about the pieces because I wanted everybody to be able to understand or have some grasp into the music so they could enjoy it better. And so this has just continued in the habitat conjures a wonderful opportunity because like when I played in Georgia I got up and asked you know how many people are here at a piano concert for the first time. There were 15 or 20 people raise their hand you know it's like I want this to be a great experience for them so they'll come back. And so I just tell stories about composers showing them as real human beings and not just some sort of you know along in a museum just on it like that. But really

to help make the composers as human beings come to life tell about their What's going on in their life when they wrote this you know and and then give. A few musical examples or talk about certain aspects of peace that anybody can listen to him. And that's a very important thing to me in the future to keep doing this and keep educating audiences and making piano recital a really exciting experience because to me it's just the most incredible experience for me on this earth. It's what I do and I want the audience to enjoy it that much so they'll keep coming back and then they'll prescience you know great music anything great music you are.

T. Greg McCallum has just released the first CD of his work. It's called excursions and it features the works of Mozart Liszt Ravel Joplin and Barber. Well with the extinguishing of the Olympic flame in Atlanta last night the 1996 Summer Games are now history and a very lucky 13 athletes from north carolina or with strong ties to the Tar Heel state are part of the long list of Americans who captured medals among them were seven members of the U.S. women's soccer team Mia Hamm Kristine Lilly Carl overbook Cindy Parlow Tiffany Roberts Tish aventure Rini and Stacy Wilson have all played for USC Chapel Hill swimmer David Fox brought a gold medal back to his hometown of Raleigh after winning the 400 meter freestyle relay. Chapel Hills Alan Johnson not only won a gold medal in 110 meter hurdles he set a world record as well. Kim Graham of Durham lift the Olympic track with a gold medal of her own as a member of the women's 16 100 meter relay team. Kendall Krause of Raleigh was one hundred twenty five and a half

pounds of pure gold on the Olympic wrestling mat. And former Duke great Grant Hill took his share of gold as part of basketball's dream team. And finally there was Whitney whose parents live in Rocky Mount. She took two silvers in the 100 and 200 meter backstroke. Congratulations to all of the North Carolinians who competed in the Olympics. We know we'll be hearing more about some of them as preparations get underway for the next Summer Games four years from now in Sydney Australia. Well that will do it for us tonight in this edition of North Carolina now. Tomorrow night Bob Garner will report on the controversy over attempts to protect the Oregon Inlet on our coast. We'll see you then. Have a great evening everyone. Good night. Think

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