North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 12/15/1997

The It's Monday December 15th. Tonight the battle over bussing surfaces in somewhat in North Carolina. Nell. Good evening everyone and thanks for starting your week with us here at North Carolina now. Tonight we take a look at the issue of the worse today in the classroom and the workplace.

Producer David Haynes explores a new lawsuit in Charlotte challenging the way the city tries to make its schools racially balanced. And later we'll take a look at a North Carolina program that's helping to break down barriers for people with disabilities in the workplace. Plus if you suffer from heart problems tonight's guest may have a simple prescription for you simply manage your stress. Well find out more from a Duke University researcher Dr James Blumenthal. But we begin tonight in Charlotte. A decade's old school desegregation plan is under attack in the Queen City in the late 60s and early 70s a lawsuit known as the swan case made it all the way to the Supreme Court where the justices approved the use of force busing to integrate public schools. Since then busing has been the norm for thousands of Charlotte Mecklenburg students. But that could change if the parent of a first grader wins a pending lawsuit. Correspondent David Haynes and photographer Michael McGinnis have our story on this challenge to public school diversity. Call it suburban idyllic. The child gets off the school bus as a

parent waits. But this isn't the school bus Bill Capeci only wants for his six year old daughter and his unhappiness led to a lawsuit that challenges a 1971 school desegregation plan. Let's stop the foolishness let's get off the bus and let's educate him. They don't. African-American children do not have to sit next to white kids to learn Kopecky only challenge began when his daughter Christina was not allowed to attend. Old Providence elementary school the magnet school specializes in communications magnet schools like old Providence are a part of Charlotte's school integration plan that began in the early 70s with court ordered busing grudgingly accepted at first the successful integration of the schools later became a point of community pride. Students at old Providence are selected by race based lotteries. The school is in an all white neighborhood but its student population reflects the district balance of 40 percent African-American and 60 percent of all other races Kopecky only

hopes his lawsuit will put an end to the race based lottery. I have no problem with a lottery system. However the lottery should be one lottery white hat with every name in it. I don't think it should be one set of rules for one race and one set of rules for all other for all others. I just think that's wrong in many ways this legal battle is a growing pain for Charlotte. It's a confrontation between old Charlotte and the way things have been done here for many years. And no Charlotte a community that is filling rapidly with people who have moved here from somewhere else. The patsy oney who moved to Charlotte from California is a part of the rapid growth that is also creating a housing pattern of segregated neighborhoods. The two factors combine to force annual adjustments to the school bussing plan. In the past two years anger over adjustments to the busing plan led to the formation of a group of parents

who support neighborhood schools that are likely to be segregated if that's the only lawsuit stems from this parental anger. On the other side of the lawsuit is the Charlotte law firm that handled the original Swan lawsuit. The firm is now fighting to preserve the status quo of integrated schools through busing and race based lotteries. I think we will take issue with with the plaintiffs and Apache County concerning the reason why the child was not admitted to that magnet program. We don't think that race is the only criteria or the sole criteria. We also think that that there are spaces for her in the identical magnet program at Devon charter school. Patsy only rejected Devon Shire because of the long ride to the school. But for both sides this is about more than where one child goes to school. My opinion is the schools are to educate children. Yes I'll be the first one to admit you know what. Charles

County Charlotte-Mecklenburg School System has made busing work. We bus kids around great. We brought some from here to there and back again. But you know what we're not educating the children. The children are not being educated. I think more broadly the issue is a question of resources of the school system has and how do you distribute those resources to all the students who are in the system and that you have to look at on a system wide basis are we being fair to all the students. And I think that the magnet school program the way the school board has set it up is a fair program for the students overall. Right. But what about the kids. They are the ones in the schools who all this fighting is supposedly for. Students at Independence High School have been going to the segregated schools since kindergarten. I think they're being in school with a lot of diverse people is very good you learn a lot from people.

I feel certain ways towards certain ethnic groups until I got to know the people and then change my own view. Yeah I think diversity really important but I don't think people should go other way to make it diverse I don't think people should be bussed all over Charlotte just to diversify the school. As for Christina who's at the center of the whole thing is her father's lawsuit prevails. She's not so sure about changing schools. We have to discuss that. Right. The Charlotte Mecklenburg School system is also involved in the struggle the school system has asked the court to dismiss the case. It does not yet have a court date. Well coming up why doctors may soon prescribe stress management for the treatment of heart problems. But first let's check in with Michel Louis for a summary of today's news making statewide headlines. Hi Mitt. Hello Shannon. Good evening everyone. Black farmers who allege discrimination in the distribution of federal agricultural loans will present their concerns to President Clinton this Wednesday. The group has filed a billion dollar lawsuit charging they have been shut out of

loans widely made available to white farmers. Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman has launched an initiative to reverse the agency's record after Congresswoman Eva Clayton and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus intervened. Several of the farmers meeting with the president will be from North Carolina home to one out of every nine black farmers in the United States. Governor Jim Hunt is proposing a plan to provide health insurance to more than somebody 1000 uninsured children. The plan would cover children whose parents earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but can't afford the cost of health insurance. A family of four earning thirty two thousand one hundred dollars a year would be eligible. The proposal must be approved by the General Assembly and the federal health care financing agency before it can take effect. An analysis of 1997 freshman applications at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill indicates the school takes into consideration more than S.A.T. scores and high school rank when accepting students according to The Charlotte Observer. If students were admitted on the basis of test scores and ranking about 200 for more white freshman and

213 fewer black freshman would have been accepted this fall. However the Charlotte observer's analysis is a theoretical prediction because it considers only academic rankings and doesn't take into account factors such as extracurricular activities letters of recommendation and special talents. A lawsuit by Randolph County attorney is prompting state officials to tighten the law governing a moratorium on new or expanded hog farms. The moratorium allows exemptions for hog farms that utilize specific nontraditional waste management methods. But a lawsuit filed against the Department of Environment and Natural Resources claims the agency was considering permits for farms in violation of the moratorium requests or requirements in response department head Wayne McDevitt has issued an order prohibiting the use of the new innovative waste management systems as a criteria for new permit applications. A new poll suggests triad voters are balking at the idea of paying for a new professional baseball stadium. The Mason-Dixon poll conducted for the Winston-Salem Journal

showed that 71 percent of those questioned were opposed to a one cent tax on prepared foods and 50 cents on event tickets to help pay for the stadium. Businessman Don Beaver has been negotiating with Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad to bring the team to the triad. Meanwhile Charlotte is stepping up to the plate to find out if Queen City residents are willing to spend money to bring the team South. The Charlotte Regional baseball partnership is meeting tonight to discuss the issue. Starting today a new 3 3 6 area code takes effect for the triad. The 3 3 6 area code replaces the old 9 1 0 area code for cities like Greensboro High Point and Winston-Salem. The changes angered many in the triad where the 9 1 0 0 0 code has been in place for only three years. A period of transition will the law allow callers to use either 3 3 6 or 9 1 0 until June 14th. The change is the first under a comprehensive plan to split the state's three area codes into six. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather. The jurors are expected to reach a high in the

mid 50s on Tuesday. Sunny skies will brighten up most of the Tarheel State with just a slight chance of rain for the Wilmington area. And business news BlueCross BlueShield will be under examination by a legislative Study Committee next year to determine what requirements the insurer should meet if it converts to a for profit company. Sen. Tony Rand was criticized this year for introducing a bill that would have allowed insurance commissioner Jim along to second issuance for Blue Cross conversion. Critics argue the insurers should be required to give up some of the assets it received through tax breaks as a not for profit company. Rand will co-chair the study which is scheduled to begin January 5th and end by May. Some financial experts are saying a new college savings plan may bring relatively weak returns. Last week state officials introduced the college vision fund a plan that allows parents to pay for college costs through monthly installments deducted from their bank accounts. Financial experts say it is only one of many options parents should consider. And the one that may offer the least in return. But the people who designed the state plan say

it has a lot of benefits a regular mutual fund can't provide. Like the ability to borrow money and pay it back even after college years. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. A Duke University researcher recently made national headlines when he reported on a study

linking stress to heart problems. Here to tell us more about this groundbreaking study is Duke University researcher Dr. James Blumenthal. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. We've all heard. I guess conventional wisdom that stress is not good for your health. Why did you decide then to go ahead and do this study and to look at the connection between stress and heart problems. We write conventional wisdom is that stress isn't good for your health but really what we wanted to study this in a more scientific more objective way. So our interest was first to determine the relationship between stress and coronary disease and we used a marker of coronary disease called myocardial ischemia which there's an adequate supply of blood to the heart. We were also interested in the extent to which behavioral treatment such as exercise and stress management might reduce the risk of further complications and evaluate the impact on myocardial ischemia. Let's start with how you structured this study this study has been going on for quite some time so how did you first started and how was it structured.

Well it was a structured first to identify patients who exhibited this condition called myocardial ischemia. So we studied a group of patients who had documented coronary disease and either had a heart attack or cardiac surgery or a cardiac catheterization that showed they had blockages in their corner arteries. And they have evidence of exercise induced ischemia that is on a treadmill test or an exercise test their heart wasn't getting enough blood to it. So we identify these patients and then put them through a routine protocol in which we evaluated. This is both during daily life using amatory monitoring and during mental stress testing re actually examine the heart functioning during a series of laboratory mental stressors. What then were you able to find after you had completed the study you spent about seven years doing this a long time right. Well our first task was really to identify these patients who had it. So about 40 percent or 45 percent of patients exhibited myocardial ischemia during daily life with amatory monitoring. About two thirds of the patients exhibited ischemia during mental stress

testing. We took those patients then and we put them into either a stress management group an exercise group or a group that simply had routine medical care their physicians follow them over a period of four months. And how did the Stress Management Group do. Well we were very surprised that the Stress Management Group did as well as they did not only did they reduce their stress level but they reduce their risk of having further heart complications. By 74 percent relative to the group that simply saw their physicians regularly the routine care group. So we were very surprised with the size of that effect. On a practical level what does this mean for people who perhaps are at risk for heart problems or have had heart problems in the past. I think from a practical perspective we need to tell our patients not simply to watch their diet and make sure that their blood pressure and cholesterol levels are low. Stop smoking all the traditional risk factors need to be appropriately managed. But also they need to manage stress level as well.

When we're talking about managing stress what are we talking about what are some of the things that people can do to perhaps bring down their stress level. Well that's a good question we we know that our program is effective in reducing stress levels whether or not people can reduce their stress levels on their own is certainly a challenge a lot of times people are aware of even being stressed. And in our particular study people didn't have to experience stress to actually be in the study. So it's a very challenging first to have people recognize that they're under stress and then to do something about it. How then do you recognize that you're under stress people experience stress in different ways for some people they may experience physical symptoms such as headaches or feel. Nervous and tense feel anxious depressed. All those are symptoms of stress and people experience them in different ways. If people have a history perhaps in their family have heart problems or if they have suffered themselves from heart problems in they think that they might have a stress level that is not healthy for them at this time.

Do they need to see their doctors do they need to take some kind of proactive measure at this point I think to monitor their stress levels and certainly important thing to do and to engage in behaviors that would reduce their stress level whether they can do that on their own or they need to get more intensive professional help is certainly an issue. What weve done in our program is first teach people how to recognize the symptoms of stress and to modify situations. Get out of situations alter situations that cause them to be stressed. If they cant avoid situations or modify them then they have to learn ways of changing the response to those situations that they can change. What do you hope happens with this information. Do you think that eventually we might see our doctors or perhaps our insurance companies. Actually prescribe in stress management as a preventive health care method. I think so I think as physicians become more aware of the importance of stress and the value of managing stress effectively. You're going to see more physicians referring patients to programs such as ours to help patients reduce their stress levels in the same way that they would prescribe

medications or other behavioral interventions to lower cholesterol and lower blood pressures are going to do the same thing for stress. So it's a lot more difficult because it's harder to quantify and it's hard to know exactly what to do about it compared to some of these other risk factors. Finally you have just made your report on the study but is it over. Well this study actually is over we're in the final stages now of collecting our follow up data that we have a new study which hopefully we're beginning in the beginning of January where we'll be studying patients with coronary disease and providing a similar kind of interim intervention for them studying some of the mechanisms of a schema that is the factors responsible for the blood not being an adequate supply to the heart. In more detail so we're hoping to do that and start that in January so we'll be recruiting patients in the Triangle area for the study also and looking forward to it. Sounds fascinating and Dr. Blumenthal thank you so much for coming in and sharing this information with. Thank you for inviting me. If you'd like to learn more about the stress study you can read the report Dr. Blumenthal

submitted to the American Medical Association's Archives of Internal Medicine. The October 20 7th edition. There are more than three hundred and seventy thousand people with disabilities in North Carolina according to the North Carolina Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. Many of them would like to be employed and now thanks to a highly competitive computer training program at Goodwill Industries hundreds of people with some of the most severe disabilities are successfully earning a living as computer programmers. We find out more in this piece produced by Donna Campbell and

narrated by Marina Mitra. Andy Arnett never thought about a career in computers. He was more interested in hunting and water skiing. And 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 a neck wound that left him a quadriplegic. And we 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. The independence is as one of the greatest 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

partner 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 it you seen the individuals that when they start I 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 I sure was glad I 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 a value weighting the students and in developing the course of study so that the graduates will be prepared for the real job market. So again not to minimize But I think it's 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 opportunity to to learn a trade and also letting them with businesses.

There are 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 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 that technology has 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 for the 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 and really should try to come straight into this program without computer knowledge you know

that they were a sort of community college and some kind of classes. It's not a good idea 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 stewardess green and enjoying 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 it's not a disability at 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 upcoming class if you want to cross the state with a disability is eligible for more information you can call 7 0 4 3 7 2 3 4 3 4. Finally tonight congratulations go out to the North Carolina Central University jazz ensemble which will play an encore performance at the White House tonight. The band played there last week the President and Mrs. Clinton were able to catch the performance. But after hearing all the rave reviews from the White House staff the president and first lady extended another invitation for the band to play for them at a holiday event tonight. And we have invited the ensemble to play here in our North Carolina Vale Studios early next year. We hope to be able to bring you that performance sometime in January. That's all for tonight show have a great evening everyone will see you tomorrow night.