North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 09/20/1996

It's Friday September 20th. I mean I feel like people ought to feel safe in their own neighborhoods. The politics of crime in North Carolina. Mail. Good evening everyone and welcome to this Friday edition of North Carolina now. I'm Shannon Vicary Marina try has lead me off. Tonight we take an in-depth look at crime in our state and the impact that issue may have on the November elections. Plus if you're talking to a woman who needs a little boost in your career you may want to try golf. Maria Lundberg shows us how working women find golf to be serious business. And we'll talk with a North Carolina author who's taking

on Habitat for Humanity in his new book. But first we turn to politics. What just over seven weeks left before Election Day the candidates for both state and federal office are starting to hit voters with a variety of campaign messages. But one issue voters say they want to hear more about is crime. In the most recent Your Voice Your Vote poll conducted by a coalition of newspapers and television stations across the state including new and see TV crime is a top concern for North Carolinians. In fact 88 percent of those surveyed say crime is their top concern tying it with education as the number one issue. They want politicians to address. And while many North Carolinians say they no longer feel safe on Tarheel streets. Many also say they are ready to do something about it. Thank Heaven Wade knows what it's like not to feel safe walking alone. He's a postal carrier who delivers the mail to what just a year ago was the roughest neighborhood in Greensboro.

I see a lot of things that people just didn't like for instance the one from Watts. Prostitute little bit of hair and stuff like that. I'm special. Bonnie wiser lives in rural supply North Carolina with her three children. While she worries little about crime in her own neighborhood she is concerned about how crime in general may someday affect ter kids. I keep hoping that things will get better. But in today's age I don't think they will get better. It's just something we have to learn to deal with and keep ourselves safe and do what we can to make our environment safe. Meanwhile in her Greensboro apartment Barbara Moss says she's that up with North Carolina's crime problems. I mean that's you know like people ought to feel safe in their own neighborhoods and ought to be it's feel safe to walk the

street take a walk no matter whether it's day or night without. Being afraid these three people represent a cross-section of the more than 1000 North Carolinians we surveyed and like a majority of those polled they also have opinions on how the state should fight crime. They agree with 61 percent of those surveyed who said more police patrolling communities would effectively decrease crime. Other popular crime control methods or prosecution of hate crimes. More programs to discourage crime and longer prison terms like our poll participants the politicians also say that crime is a top issue for them during this election year. They say that the fine against crime must start right here in North Carolina's neighborhoods in August. Your voice your vote coalition question candidates running for North Carolina's U.S. Senate seat and for governor.

And despite party differences all of the candidates say that before crime can begin to decrease individual communities must decide they've had enough solid police departments are important and in a good system a good criminal justice system is very important. But we bring it all the way down to the neighborhood level community watch programs in which we look out for each other has helped to reduce the level of crime in neighborhoods. So this is going to be very much more aware I think of crime in its impact. I think we all have a leadership role to play. We can become more actively involved in the lives of young people. We can stand up against. I think you know again political posturing about things such as crime. Republican gubernatorial candidate Robin Hayes says he would like to see the community take the lead in fighting crime with less help from the government. Democratic Governor Jim Hunt says he also believes communities must be involved. But by working side by side with state and local government that involves

citizens in keeping their eyes out looking out for their neighbors. That kind of thing. It involves working with police who are doing community policing not just staying in a car but out there walking the beat out there with the people talking to them listening to in the in the kids in Greensboro that's exactly what the police department is doing with its community policing program. It's the community that decides what they'll tolerate. The police enforce the laws they make the arrest. But if you're going to be a member of community you've got to be accepted by that community. And if if members of the community make it clear that they want accept certain activity or certain people in their community because of the activities are involved and that's that's what really makes a difference it's makes a difference when you've got a friend and when you know that officer one on one and even if you're telling him about your neighbor that's doing something crazy is just you're used to talking to him so you don't feel the threat. This complex cleaned up its crime problems after joining with police to create a community

watch group. Today this community is enjoying a decrease in crime but it's still on the front lines of the crime battle. Less than a block away is this condemned building where we found a homeless man sleeping in an abandoned apartment known to be used as a temporary crack house. When we allowed the criminal element to take over our neighborhoods we're the one who suffered the most. OK. We're the ones couldn't go to the stores did they go. That's why across town Fanny Gilchrist is spending her senior years ridding her neighborhood of its chronic ounces and drug dealers. When you think about you that worked all these years to have a place to live and your own days you want to be culpable. And we said we're not going to leave our home. It's it would be easy to sail and go someplace else. But we love where we live and I do I know every inch of my house. When the wife's own that same sentiment is causing other North Carolinians to take

a tough look at the candidates ideas on crime control during this election year Kevin White speaks from many of those we surveyed when he says he's willing to do his part to fight crime. Oh yes absolutely I would do anything to help our neighbors. Thank you. More secure if they wanted to raise my state taxes or federal taxes or anything like that yes sure no problem at all. And it does take money the Greensboro Police Department would like to add more officers to their community policing efforts. But right now it's costing them 1.3 million dollars just to fund the current program. Also we want to know that we've repeatedly tried to interview Senator Jesse Helms on his thoughts about crime. But Senator Helms chose not to participate in the your voice your vote candidate interviews. If you'd like to read more about there your voice your vote poll results regarding crime and what the candidates have to say. You can check one of these member newspapers this Sunday.

Coming up we'll find out the link between golf and many working women. But first Michel Louis joins us from the North Carolina now news desk with a look at all of today's statewide headlines. Good evening Mitt. Thanks Shannon. Good evening everyone. Topping our news the latest statewide polling shows Senator Jesse Helms increasing his lead to double digits over Democratic challenger Harvey Gantt. A poll conducted by Mason-Dixon political media research for the month of September has Helms out in front 50 percent to 40 percent with 10 percent undecided demographic information shows Harvey Gantt receiving an overwhelming 89 percent of the black vote while white voters favor Helms by a 62 to 28 percent margin. The poll also found that Helms appeared to pick up support after President Clinton announced new regulations on tobacco state school officials say A B C's of education reform plan may have some unforeseen effects. Among them fewer North Carolina students taking the PSAT test.

Under the plan the money the state used to pay for the PSAT training tests is now going to the individual school districts. So far some districts have decided not to use the money to pay for the test. State officials credit the test with increasing the state's average S.A.T. scores over the last seven years. Budget cuts are forcing Fort Bragg to reduce the number of civilian employees working on post. The announcement came today that 160 of the nearly 5000 civilians now working at the base will be affected. Fort Bragg officials say a number of options are being offered including voluntary retirement and position re assignments. Base officials say Fort Bragg will receive approximately 3.4 million dollars less for civilian pay in fiscal 1997 than in fiscal 1996. Expect major curricular change curriculum changes next fall for North Carolina's 58 community colleges. Changes include a move from quarters to semesters uniformity in courses and the certainty that freshman and sophomore level courses will transfer to any of the state's 16 universities.

Community college system president Lloyd Hackley sess. The changes are the most extensive ever undertaken by the system. Final approval is expected next month. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather. Pleasant temperatures are only half of the forecast picture for tomorrow. Highs will reach between the mid 70s and low 80s. Clouds are expected to move in bringing with them the chance of late day showers or a thunderstorm from Fayetteville out west to the mountains. The coast should be dry for Saturday. In business news North Carolina's economy is showing signs of slowing down after four years of growth. You won't see Charlotte economist John cannot and says he expects the economy to grow at a rate of three point three percent this year and 2.9 percent in 1907. That's down from an almost five percent growth rate over each of the past four years but cannot and says he doesn't expect to see a recession in the Tarheel State anytime soon. He says the state will add more than 85000 jobs this year mainly in the services and retail trade. And Freightliner corporation has announced it will lay off more than

400 workers at its Mount Holly manufacturing plant. The reason is said to be a decline in the country's heavy duty truck industry Freightliner CEO James heve says his company is not alone with a 50 percent drop in demand. Freight liners competitors are following suit with layoffs and production costs. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. How many North Carolinians may remember a fry Gilliard best from his work with The Charlotte

Observer that uncovered the infamous PTL scandal. But in a new book just published failure takes a critical look at Habitat for Humanity. I spoke with the author about his new book earlier this week. Our guest tonight is a former correspondent for The Charlotte Observer and the author of 11 books his latest book is called If I were a carpenter 20 years of habitat for Command humanity frog galliard Welcome to the program. Q Appreciate you having me. Why book about Habitat for Humanity. Well it's the 20th anniversary of Habitat for Humanity this year and it seemed like a good time for an outsider to look in at their story. The story has been told by people within the organization before but nobody from the outside had written a book length about habitat and it seemed like a good time to do it. I've been interested in habitat ever since I was a reporter at The Observer in Charlotte and in 1987 I guess it was Jimmy Carter brought a group of volunteers to Charlotte and there were about a thousand people that worked on 14 houses. And actually completed from

scratch 14 houses in five days. So it was quite a thing to see but the spirit surrounding it was even more interesting to me than just the feat of building that houses the whole idea of bringing people together across those barriers that divide us the barriers of race and class and that kind of thing for a common purpose that was really worthwhile. It was quite a moving thing to say. You have a very different perspective on Habitat for Humanity than the average person our viewers probably remember you as being part of that Charlotte Observer investigation which led to the uncovering of the PTL scandal involving Jim Baker and that was going on right around the same time that habitat came in. It really was that it was reaching its peak the problems at PTL at the time that habitat came in and so much it seemed like there was so much bad news at that time from the world of religion. With Jim Baker and with Jimmy Swaggart his problems were starting to be uncovered at about that time that habitat was a real contrast to that I mean here was an organization in the name of Christianity reaching out to people in need and bringing people of means together with people

who who had a need for a decent place to live. And doing it with no hint of scandal and you know nothing to to distract from the real purpose of the work. And it still has been able to maintain doing its job without any any sort of scandal going on. What do you owe then. Well I think there are a couple things I think the original idea was so deeply rooted in an understanding of particular understanding of the Christian faith. It was really the idea of to me and Clarence Durden who was a Southern Baptist minister and Millard Fuller who was a businessman from Alabama who had decided to redirect his life he wasn't happy with the way things were going even though he's making a lot of money. There were problems in his family and other things and so he decided he wanted to do something that would be of service to humankind. And he got to talking to Clarence Jordan this Baptist preacher who's a friend of his down in south Georgia about the shacks that were so abundant in that part of the South. And they said you know if people did not charge interest

when they loaned the poor people money to buy a house which is biblical not to charge interest then that would keep the house payments low enough for working poor families to afford houses. And if we use volunteer labor they said we can keep the houses the payments even lower than that. So they began to experiment with that idea and it was such a solid idea and it worked so well that I think they just stayed on course because they were they had a good idea to start with and then people of integrity had been drawn to the organization and I think that's made a difference as well. You had mentioned in the beginning of this interview that you were taking an outsider's view of Habitat for Humanity and was that it enabled you to give a perspective that maybe somebody who might be involved in the organization might not have. Well I hope so. I mean I certainly felt free to write about problems when I encountered them and there are problems with habitat as there are with any human enterprise. I mean sometimes they pick the wrong families for houses or sometimes they'll be affiliates that don't function very well or overseas every now and then corruption will

creep into to a local affiliate in Uganda or someplace like that. These are problems that have to be addressed. In most internal kind of writings about habitat people right from the inside writing about it they have not talked about those problems too much they are so understandably caught up in the good news that they have to offer that that's what they focus on. So I thought I could do a more balanced account and I hope that's what that's what came through. You also did quite a bit of traveling in your research of this book. There were so many a wide variety and differences between the different communities that habitat works and did you find any sort of commonality between these areas. Well the commonality is the basic idea of building affordable housing making homeowners of people who wouldn't otherwise be homeowners. No interest loans volunteer labor those kinds of things homeowners working on their own houses. The differences have to do with the different situations and the differences among communities. In the Indian reservation where habitat is working in South Dakota is very different from the Lower East Side of

Manhattan. The nation of Uganda is very different from the nation of Northern Ireland that kind of thing. So there are particular problems in these places that habitat is trying to address sometimes in Northern Ireland it's springing Catholics and Protestants together to build together to paint a picture of what peace might look like as one volunteer said in that in that country in other places Catholics and Protestants working together would be unremarkable. So the differences in environment are the main differences but the same thing basically is going on wherever habitat is working. Very quickly we just have a short amount of time left you started as an outsider. Do you are a member of the organization now. Well I'm not a member but I do volunteer sometimes I have worked on a few houses and it's a very rewarding thing I really recommend it to people it's a great way to spend a little bit of time and feel you can tangibly see what you're accomplishing for the benefit of humanity. So they won you over I guess. Reguly I want to thank you so much for being here this

evening and having the book is if I were a carpenter 20 years of Habitat for Humanity. Thank you thank you. North Carolina has been called the golf capital of the world is home to more than 500 courses across the state. The game of golf continues to grow in popularity but as Maria Lundberg reports it's not all fun and games in this golfing paradise. It's serious business. Visit any golf course.

And this is a typical site trying to get the grip just right or the perfect stance. But in fact it's actually much more than mastering technique. For years men have used the golf course as a place to entertain clients and conduct business. But these days you're just as likely to find business women on golf courses doing exactly the same thing. Just see. These women are playing golf not just for the fun or exercise but to get an edge in the corporate world. They've come from Chicago Orlando and Boston to play at Pine Needles golf resort in Southern Pines. These senior executives influence their companies at the highest levels and they say the ability to play golf has a dramatic impact on their careers. I work with individuals who are well as corporate heads and in the competition in my businesses is male dominated but also there's women coming into my field and I feel like I can get out there and play

with the the owners of the businesses and individual individuals as well I can do a lot of business planning out here. It's also helpful to me personally from the standpoint that the type of loans that I make or which that are generally a million and over to corporations when I'm playing with the CEOs or CFOs. It gives me an opportunity to really get to know many North Carolina Business Women are finding the same thing. Tired of being left out and missing opportunities. They're learning to play golf and record numbers. Golf Pro Dana raters says she gets from 30 to 80 calls a day from women wanting to get into the sport. Well I think the biggest benefit for women is establishing relationships on the golf course. When you go out on a golf course you're going to be with someone for four hours so you're going to be in a golf cart with that person driving from one shot to another you're going to be talking about other things other than business and you're going to be in an environment that's non-threatening on either side. So it's a wonderful instrument for women to use to just get to build relationships with their customers.

In her position as director of corporate communications for Sprint gen Dempster has many opportunities to play in charity tournaments along with helping the community. It's a tool that enhances her career. There is no doubt that it has helped me be more effective in my job because of the many opportunities that we get to participate and the customers as I said that we imbibe in the quality time that you get to spend with them. It will open some doors give her some opportunities and and I think that's really important. The more people you get to know. The better off you are the more you grow as a person and the more you grow as a person. Better job you do in your job. Although she's well known as the driving force behind in sea States women's basketball team Coach Kay Yow is also an avid golfer. She believes the game helps give business women a competitive edge. I think you gain a lot of respect as you're on the course and you hold

your own and you shoot a good score. I think you gain respect and that respect helps you to communicate. I want you know the word that we've heard so much network in that there is what happens when you're out on the golf course you're able to meet a lot of people not only the people in the group that you're playing with but whenever you stop to to get something at the more you have an opportunity to meet a lot of people in and around the golf course in is that network in that so very important. Attorney Barbara Pearson finds that her skill on the golf course has a positive effect on her career. She says Golf also helps women to physically be where deals are made. You've got to be in the same place that they are and that's not just in the boardroom or in the conference room inside the offices. You've got to be ever where they are. Men like to do business with men because that's who they're used to dealing with.

So I think the more women are out there. Doing the things that men do the more comfortable men will feel having women as their colleagues. Sally Campa nosie is a sales manager with Remax real estate company. She's also president of the triangle chapter of the Executive Women's golf league which was formed three years ago and already has a membership of 165 professional women. When there are women from such diverse backgrounds and diverse businesses you know we can really help each other in many many ways that we can actually learn from each other help each other and network together and friendships are certainly formed. There's a real bonding when you're out there on the golf course. The women in this league say it's an opportunity to play a game they enjoy and to meet other business women. But it also gives them the chance to refine their skills before taking to the course with important clients. Yet one more way to level the business

playing field the biggest. Thing that I hear from women is that they are being asked by male counterparts or two to come in and be a part of the program and playing golf with them so they don't get left out anymore. Interesting story. Well finally tonight a Winston-Salem teacher was recognized today by the National Council of Negro Women. Felicia Millen is an English and journalism teacher at Mount Tabor high school. She received the excellence in teaching award for inspiring a high level of achievement among African-American students. Congratulations to her on that honor. That's it for tonight. You won't want to miss Monday night's show with Baumgardner takes a closer look at adoption in our state. Until then have a great weekend. The friends of their And

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