Louisiana: The State We're In; 807

[beep] "[announcer] Funding for the production of Louisiana: The State We're In is provided in part by the Zigler Foundation of Jennings and Gulf States Utilities: helping Louisiana bridge the gap to our energy future. "[Ekings]: David Dansky has Multiple Sclerosis. Over a quarter of a million Americans have the disease which is also known as M.S.. M.S. attacks the central nervous system causing weakness, stiffness, and in some cases blindness - even paralysis. There is no cure but researchers now say there is good reason to believe that help is on the way. "[Johnson]: This is Louisiana's timber country. Millions upon millions of acres of trees. Surrounding them are sawmills, wood mills, paper companies. Now, over the years some have grown and branched out. Others have been felled by economic hard times. But the industry as a whole here in Louisiana remains deep rooted in the state's economy.

"[Courtney]: Good evening, I'm Beth Courtney. Welcome to this week's edition of Louisiana: The State We're In. Today Governor Edwards said he expects President Reagan to declare parts of Louisiana as federal disaster areas following heavy rains earlier this week. Such a declaration of course would clear the way for flood victims to receive grants and low interest loans to repair their homes and businesses. Among the hardest hit areas were Iberia, Vermilion, St. Martin, Lafayette and Evangeline parishes. While most communities were in the process of mopping up, floodwaters continue to rise today in St. Landry and Lone Pine, where some roads are still covered by up to a foot of water. Congressman John Breaux toured several southern parishes yesterday and called the damage

severe. Agriculture Commissioner, Bob Odom, said farmers were especially hard hit. Some expect to lose 50 percent of their crops of soybeans, cotton, and sugarcane. Flooding throughout South Louisiana was triggered by up to 12 inches of rain that fell on Tuesday. In other news this week Governor Edwards said parts of the World's Fair could be kept open permanently as an amusement park-like attraction. The governor made that comment after he was told it will cost more than 8 million dollars to tear down the fair after the financially strapped Expo closes its doors in November the 11th. Edwards says the state doesn't have the money to do the job but he hinted that he may call in National Guard troops to handle the demolition if necessary. Well the news wasn't all bad this week. Following years of planning and fundraising efforts, some help is finally on the way for multiple sclerosis patients. As Robin Ekins tells us tonight, that should come as good news to a lot of people all across the state. "[Ekings]: Well, that's right Beth. This week the Louisiana Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society announced it will soon be opening its first clinic. This is good news for an estimated 2000 multiple sclerosis patients all across Louisiana. Multiple sclerosis or M.S. is a

disease that attacks the central nervous system. Nationwide, new M.S. cases are being diagnosed at a rate faster than that of the polio epidemic that swept the nation some 30 years ago. In the past few years, however, there have been several breakthroughs in the search for a cure for the illness. These discoveries have brought new hope to both pati- patients and researchers in their fight against M.S.. [music] "[new speaker]: I started off [pause] probably 6 or 8 years ago when I had to go to a cane. After that, maybe a year or two, then I had to go to crutches. And finally, uh- to the wheelchair. But it causes a lack of balance. And... after numerous falls I figured, you know, it's a lot safer sitting down than standing up. "[Ekings]: David Dansky has multiple sclerosis. 12 years ago when he was first told he had the disease, he had no idea how it would change his life."

"[Dansky]: Well, my first question is what is it? It is something that is- There's very little known about it. The general public, if you ask uh- 10 people I would doubt if even one would even know what it is. Um. Again, I felt pretty good. I did not, you know, s- have any problems I was not overly alarmed. My. I guess the first question I ran into my mind was, you know, what is going to happen down the line?" Multiple sclerosis or M.S. is a disease that strikes the central nervous system causing the myelin sheathing or insulation covering nerve fibers to disintegrate. The result is impaired nerve impulses and a variety of symptoms including weakness, stiffness, trouble swallowing or talking, and in more serious cases, blindness or even paralysis. The cause of M.S. is not known. Its victims are

usually young adults in their most active years. And no two cases of M.S. are alike. Many of them will begin to go downhill slowly and the attacks will run together. Some people go downhill slowly right from the start - a few go downhill rapidly. Most of them, not most, but certainly many can continue to live fairly normal lives. The average lifespan after the disease onset is the same as in the rest of the population. But there are others who do get quite disabled and end up in wheelchairs or even sometimes bedridden. "[Ekings]: Dr Byron Waksman is the Vice President of Research for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. This week Dr. Waksman was in Louisiana to discuss recent breakthroughs in the search for a cure for M.S.. Over a quarter of a million Americans have the disease. More than 200 new cases are diagnosed each week. That's a faster rate than that of the polio epidemic that swept the nation's some 30 years ago.

There are more people both nationally and in the state of Louisiana that have multiple sclerosis than have myasthenia gravis, muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis, and hemophilia combined. People just are not aware of the [laughs] magnitude of the multiple sclerosis problem or the fact that we are here and we are here in several locations to help." "[Ekings]: Janet Kleinfeldt is the coordinator of the Louisiana Chapter of the National M.S. Society. Over the past five years the number of M.S. cases referred to the Louisiana Chapter has jumped from 200 to over 1,000. Louisiana is not considered a high risk area for M.S. many patients are living in or have lived the early part of their lives in colder climates. The increase says Kleinfeldt is probably due to more sophisticated methods of diagnosing the illness. It had been very mysterious for physicians down here since Louisiana was a low risk area or a lower, in quotes, lower risk area that they didn't look for M.S. they would look for other things first. Now, physicians are taking a second

look and saying, could this possibly be M.S.?" Over the past few years there have been several significant breakthroughs in the search for a cure for M.S.. One advance for example, has linked the disease to the virus that causes the measles. According to researchers, however, that discovery, among others, doesn't necessarily mean a solution is near to the complicated problem they face. "[Dr. Waksman]: The science operates on a different time scale from people's hopes. And people's hopes are always that something decisive will happen next year. And what I'm telling you is that we have about five major scientific findings within the last year or two but none of them is an actual treatment or an actual vaccine. But they bring us that much closer. You know polio vaccine really did wipe out polio in the United States completely. And yet the research that led up to polio vaccine took 30 years or 40 years. So one has to do the basic work. There's no way around it. "[Courtney]: in the back of your mind are you always hoping that there will be a cure?"

"[Dr. Waksman]: Yes, but I've got to be a realist too. It's pretty hard to not be a realist and say hey, it doesn't exist. Uh- you know, there's going to be a miracle. And, um- the way the disease progresses, I'm not so sure if you can repair what has been a problem. What is the problem. Which is the, uh, the breakdown of the myelin and the spinal column." "[Ekings]: What kind of hope today, as being so closely involved in the research, can you offer M.S. patients.?" "[Dr. Waksman]: Well I think there are two kinds of hope or three. I think that the various immunosuppressive drugs which can actually stop the M.S. disease process. But most of the drugs we have today for that have very undesirable side effects and are not really regarded as acceptable treatments by most of the medical profession. Nevertheless the existence of such drugs leads us to hope that over the next five years we may come up with more

selective immunosuppressive agents that really will stop the disease process. Um- not a real preventive or a cure and certainly less than optimal in the sense that you don't want to suppress all immune responses you just want to suppress that one. That I think is a real hope for the next five years. There is a question about restoring conduction in demylinated nerve. Uh- we are supporting a trial now of drugs that apparently can do that to some extent. And again I think within the next five years we may have drugs that restore quite a lot of function. So people with M.S. within the next 5 to 10 years will certainly be much better off than they are today." "[Ekings]: For David Dansky, the hope of that better day means a reason to keep on fighting a disease that's invaded his body. However it doesn't mean a reason to put the rest of his life on hold until that day arrives. Does a thought, you don't know if it'll progress, you don't know if you'll have remission. That's an uncertain thing to- to live with. As to how far the disease is going to

go." "[Dansky]: I can't worry about that, to be perfectly honest, because I've got to worry about today. And if I spent my time procrastinating what's going to happen 3 years from now or 5 years from now then I couldn't put my effort on living today." There was a time when a lot of people all across Louisiana were worrying about what the future held. Take the people of Bogalusa. Crown Zellerbach was threatening to shut down its aging wood mill there, a move that could have cost 1,200 workers their jobs. But instead the company modernized its plant and, as Ken Johnson found, out it was a decision that's paying off for everyone. "[Johnson]: Beth, it's paying off in jobs, additional taxes, and in countless other ways. But, probably at the top of the list - when Crown Zellerbach made the decision to save the Bogalusa Mill, it also saved a big part of Louisiana's colorful and historic timber industry. Now, you may not realize it, but timber is this state's number one agricultural product. In recognition of this, Governor Edwards has declared next week, Forest Products Week all

around the state. Tonight, a look at the importance of Louisiana's timber country. In many ways the tall proud looking pine tree symbolizes Louisiana's timber industry. You can chop it down but usually another one grows back in its place. Over the years the timber business has shared much the same fate. Saw mills, wood mills, paper companies. Some have grown and branched out. Others have been felled by economic hard times. But the industry as a whole here in Louisiana remains deep rooted in the state's economy. This year it's estimated that timber will generate more than three billion dollars in total economic activity. Hard to imagine? Well, maybe it's easier if you can relate that in human terms. 40 thousand Louisiana families, that's right 40 thousand of them, depend on timber for their income. But the numbers only tell part of the story. "[new speaker]: A very interesting thing is that we were the first company - our predecessor company was the first company to replant trees here in the south and that was in 1920 in Washington

Parish. And we're now on our third cycle of trees here. We get our trees from seedlings from the state of Louisiana. We do have our own nurseries where we, where we get uh- get super trees, I guess you could call them. They're bigger all the time, they're straighter, they're better for lumber. Each cycle we go through the trees are improved. Then we do our own planting and in the forests we plant as much as we harvest. So, overall we would harvest about 35,000 acres a year and we plant about 35,000 acres a year. So the stand remains constant. So, unlike petroleum or gravel or any other type of mineral type of resource, timber is a constant renewable resource for the state of Louisiana and constant jobs there for- for the state of Louisiana." That wasn't always the case just a few years ago Crown Zellerbach was considering a plan to shut down its Bogalusa mill - a move that could have cost 1,200 people their jobs and turn Bogalusa, the so-called Magic City, into a

ghost town. "[new speaker]: My understanding, that in the early 1900s, the Great Southern Lumber Company, which at that time operated the world's largest sawmill in this area, um- the lumber company was built here. Uh- the town grew up around it, uh- the town got the nickname of The Magic City from the New Orleans news media of that time simply because it did spring up as if by magic almost overnight, they said, around the uh- the mill. Since that time, the term magic city has been used somewhat interchangeably with the name of the city. To this day, you'll find uh- businesses, Magic City Carpets, Magic City Used Cars, things like that in the area. "[Johnson]: But the magic began to fade a few years back when the company was faced with a tough decision: spend at least 100 million dollars to modernize an aging plant or shut the plant down altogether. This is one of the oldest pulp mills in the south. It started up in 1917 and it has been modernized, uh- various pieces of it throughout the years. In the mid [19]70s, Crown Zellerbach

did a study of this plant to determine what we were going to do with it. Uh- one of the options of course was complete closure of the plant. We elected to modernize the plant. We spent about a 120 million dollars between 1978 and 1980, put in a complete new wood mill, new fault mill, new power plant...rebuilt one of our major paper machines. At that time, we elected to get out of the bag business. We had a grocery bag plant and a ?inaudible? plant operating here. We shut those down an- We had eliminated about 500 jobs in the local area. The modernization of the plant of course eliminated jobs too where, with the new equipmentm we're able to operate with less people." "[Johnson] But the key is if you had shut down completely you'd have lost about 1,200 jobs or more?" "[speaker]: That's right." [talking over eachother] "[speaker]: The company elected to keep this site, protect the economy of the local area, and modernize the plant. Which, uh- really came up with 775 secure jobs versus 1,200 very unsecure jobs at that time." Crown Zellerbach is just one of many companies here in Louisiana that have learned the same lesson.

Boise Southern in DeRidder, Louisiana Pacific in Alexandria, International Paper Company, Pineville and Manville Forest Products in Monroe, have all poured money and more money into their facilities to modernize equipment and update production techniques. The results are beginning to show. "[new speaker]: Today is kind of a historic day for us here. About two hours ago we made our first product in this what for Crown as a brand new facility here. It started life 27 years ago as a wall to wall bag plant and the business was one we went out of about 7 years ago and we are starting a tissue and towel converting plant here now called Service Products Midwest, meaning it will serve the middle portion of the country." [machines noise] "[new speaker]: This is a new napkin folder, virtually a state-of-the-art napkin folder that we bought. We've got our own people doing the installation on this uh- on this folder and local contractors." "[Johnson]: Now what's the plan? This whole plant eventually will be filled

up with machines and people?" "[new speaker]: Well, if we do our job properly that's the plan. That means productive, cost effective, and profitable. We have to be able to do it cheaper and faster if we're going to remain in business long term." "[Johnson]: That's the name of the game." "[Lauderdale]: That's exactly right." "[Johnson]: To make any product cheaper and faster it takes money and modernization. Nowhere is the contrast between the old and new more evident than in the Bogalusa Mill. This is part of the old mill bill back in the 1940s. It's being torn down now making way for the future. "[new speaker]: But I would ?inaudible? "[new speaker]: In this area we take the chips from the wood mill and we will cook in liquor and we make pulp. Essentially, what we do is we cook the glue or the lignin out of the wood chips leaving the fibers behind. And we, the fibers are then sent to the paper machine area where they make paper out of em." "[Johnson]: How important is the computer to the operation?"

"[new speaker]: It's very important because this is a sophisticated uh- came near continuous cooker. It requires very close process control and without this, uh- computer we would have, uh- we would not have near as good a control of the process." "[Johnson]: In other words you're monitoring the situation 24 hours a day." "[speaker-worker]: That's right. The computer monitors it, our operators also monitor it, and it is, uh- and it is a very closely supervised process and has to be for us to, uh- produce a quality product." "[Johnson]: What are some of the things the computer warns you might be going wrong?" "[worker]: Well it can tell us if, uh- if for example, the wood moves down these huge vessels by gravity flow if it starts to hang, if the- if the flow of the wood is not moving down and cooking as it should on the way and it will tell us this. Uh. It...any a-essentially anything that is, that goes out of range, uh- on any process variable we can, uh- it will identify it and tell us that it is." "[Johnson]: This room then, with the computer essentially serves as the nerve center for this part of the plant." "[worker]: It certainly does it is entirely

operated from this room. We have people in the field that are out there to do some manual work and to, uh- watch the equipment but all the operation occurs right here in this room. "[new worker]: As you know we have uh- spent a 120 million dollars recently here in Bogalusa on the Pulper Paper Mill. And when the Pulper Paper Mill looks productive and profitable for- that means we back up into the forest and wood products plants to be sure we have a supply for such a large mill. That means lumber plants. That means more forests, that means increased employment in the state, and increased availability right in the state. "[Johnson]: But one big question remains... With the increase in demand as well as the increase in urbanization, will there be enough trees to go around?" There probably will be fewer acres of land in growing trees in the future. And there is on a continuing basis. But we're getting much more productive. We are learning. We're putting more management into it. We're putting more fertilizers

into it we're learning a lot of new techniques. Both the state and the federal government help in developing these techniques and doing the research as well as our own people. So we're getting much more productive. We're growing more trees per acre, more corns of wood per acre, if you will, than ever before and I'm sure that that as we get continue to get genetically improved trees, that'll continue. So we've been able to absorb, even with the growing demand for pulp and paper and for wood, we've been able to absorb the pressure of urbanization on the timberlands which does occur particularly in the southern parishes. "[Johnson]: So it'd be safe to say then, as the trees grow bigger and stronger so does the industry." "[worker]: That's correct that's a good way to put it. Louisiana's timber industry has come a long way since the Great Southern Lumber Company began the first reforestation project back in the 1920s. At the time a lot of people thought it was a waste of time and money. But not now. Today thousands of people all across Louisiana in DeRidder, in Pineville, Alexandria and

Bogalusa. They owe their jobs, their way of life, to those early pioneers who planted the seeds and nurtured the growth of Louisiana's timber country. "[Courtney]: The world premiere of an opera is a special event. Especially for an opera company that's barely had a chance to get its feet on the ground. This week the Baton Rouge opera brought the curtain up on the work of a southern composer who until now could not find an audience for his composition. This is only the third season for the Baton Rouge opera but the company has no fears that Minette Fontaine will let them down. "[Ekings]: As leading ladies go, diva Minette Fontaine is not particularly unusual. It's the late 1800s. She has come to New Orleans from Paris to perform. Her visit will mean trouble for all she meets. She has been spurned by society. She doesn't have close friends because she's a performer. She, um, needs money because she's spent it all. And she probably really wants to

pull away and have a little privacy as well. She's always performing. She's- she's capricious. She's manipulative. She's very strong willed. But, there's some little desperation behind all that, I think." If Minette and her story seem to be familiar ingredients for an opera the story of her creator is not. Composer William Grant Steal made his living arranging music for the popular entertainers of his time. Artie Shaw and Sophie Tucker among many others. But his real love was serious music. Music that could be heard on some of the world's grandest stages: opera. But William Grant Steal born in Woodville, Mississippi and raised in nearby Arkansas, was black. And for much of his life his compositions stayed on the shelf. "[new speaker]: There was a period, of course, when uh- the the opera houses were more or less closed. Our society was more or less closed to a black who was a serious composer and this is something he had to contend with. It in many respects it was held back simply

because he was black. And people would not take seriously the work of a black composer." "[Ekings]: Donald Dorr is the artistic director for the Baton Rouge opera it was Dorr who decided to bring Minette Fontaine alive on stage. Although William Grant Still was criticized for relying too heavily on what other composers had done, Dorr joined a growing number who felt recognition was long overdue. "[new speaker]: Drawing with his criticisms of his writing, his idioms, is that at the same time white composers were using the same idioms as Wagner, Delius, and so forth. And people would sit back and say oh yes isn't- that's not un remarkable at all. You just know- he just has the current influences are at work in his music. But for Steal, this was a terrible thing. He should be com- composing black bottoms and things like this, you know. Black bottoms, I think that came from Nashville, of that area. But anyway this was unheard of but still made him sit up and listen because he was- it was performing in the [19]30s.

Increasingly his Afro American symphony was premiered in Rochester in 18- in 1933, I believe it was, and New York Philharmonic picked it up in '35 it was played all over Europe. And this was a real breakthrough for the black composer. And [pause] this is before the days of Jackie Robinson. This is before the days of Quincy Jones you know, [laughing] and uh- he was out there." "[Ekings]: For the world premier of Minette Fontaine, the Baton Rouge opera cast metropolitan opera soprano, Gail Dobish, in the leading role. And Louisiana native Donald George as the man she must have at all costs. While some of the scenes could only take place in New Orleans, like the mysterious ceremony with voodoo queen, Marie Laveau, there are other elements that expand the drama beyond Louisiana." "[New speaker]: There's a lot of American, not so much Louisiana, but a lot of American rhythms, American harmonies. And also tries to bring in a little bit of the Cajun music I think - Acadian music, a little bit of French music... There's a combination of a little of all of

the different styles of music of the world. So, a little bit of Puccini in the love music for example. William Grant Still will not be able to see his work as it's performed on stage. He died several years ago when the hope of seeing this moment was still a dream. "[new speaker]: The unfortunate thing, of course, is that these operas simply sat on the shelf, undone. How I wish he had had out of town openings, had the chance to do some rewriting, sometimes and I as a director say I need more time to get this person from here to there, you know. But we didn't have that. It- it was a matter of he was composing when there was no market for his works. Now, there is a market and he's no longer here. So we have- we did- changed not a note of music. But, uh-" "[Ekings]: So you're ready whether you like it or not." [laughing] "[other speaker]: [laughing] Ready whether you like it or not. And that uh-, I think that's part of art isn't it?" [sigh of acceptance] [opera singing]

[applause] "[Courtney]: For presenting the premiere of a work like that must be a very sort of tension-filled time, Robyn, I would think." "[Ekings]: It was the hardest part about it. Uh- They told me was actually dealing with an original work, creating the characters for the first time, reworking blocking the scenes because you have nothing to work from. Nobody's uh- past performances to work from. "[Courtney]: Well, we certainly have a cast of characters that has become familiar to all of us in this country, uh- concerned with this recent, uh- presidential election that's about to have the curtain come down on it shortly and we're going to have a really, uh- look at uh- politics in Louisiana next week, I think." But really we haven't heard a lot in Louisiana in terms of seeing the candidates here however there has been a lot of action going on in the terms of voter registration for this election. The Republican registration

is way up especially among young voters that is something new for Louisiana. And we're going to take a look at that. I think that at this time Louisiana hasn't been a swing state so things have changed a little. "[new speaker]: It really has, particularly for a state that is so political. Where has Ronald Reagan been during this campaign, where's Geraldine Ferraro? Where is Walter Mondale? Of course George Bush made a guest appearance of about one Dave. But for the most part the major candidates spurned Louisiana and next week we're going to try to find out some answers why." "[Courtney]: I think Jesse Jackson was here this past week and I understand Maureen Reagan was in Monroe and Festus, who was on Gunsmoke, was in Lafayette. But, we're going to examine all the impacts of the presidential election on Louisiana and we'll hope you'll join us then. Thank you for joining us this week. Good evening." [music] "[announcer]: Funding for the production of Louisiana: The State We're In is provided in part by the Zigler

Foundation of Jennings and Gulf States Utilities: helping Louisiana bridge the gap to our energy future.