North Carolina Now; Episode from 1999-03-05

It's Friday, March 5th. Tonight, new leadership for the State Highway Patrol in North Carolina. Now. Hello, I'm Rita Matray. Welcome to North Carolina. Thanks for joining us for this Friday evening. Tonight, you'll meet the new leader of the State Highway Patrol. Colonel Richard Holden was just named to the commander's post by Governor Hunt. Holden is a career veteran of the Highway Patrol and the first African-American to hold the patrol's top spot. Also on tonight's program, we'll examine the implications of a state budget issue involving repairs and renovations to buildings and facilities within the state community college system. But first, we'd like to get caught up on the activities of our state lawmakers. And for that, we turn to legislative correspondent John Basin, who is standing by at our studio in Raleigh. Good evening, John.

Hi, I'm Rita. I'd rather interesting bill pass the Senate this week dealing with contraceptives and insurance companies. Can you fill in the details for us? Sure, the bill is introduced by a state senator Jim Farst or a Republican in a physician. And the bill basically says that if an insurance company provides coverage for prescription drugs, they must also provide coverage for contraceptives. And the bill, part of the emphasis for the bill came about when it was found that some companies that were providing prescription drug coverage were covering Viagra, but were not covering contraceptives. Now, supporters of this bill point out that it's probably in the insurance company's best interest to provide this coverage anyway since contraceptives are less expensive than childbirth. And it was also pointed out that employers would probably benefit because they would increase the chances of them keeping the females that they have employed in the workforce as opposed to them becoming pregnant and leaving the workforce. All of the female senators in the Senate supported the bill, including the Republicans who say philosophically they might not have supported a bill like this. They don't generally like mandating, telling insurance companies or the business world in general what to do. But in this case, because of the equity issue and because it seemed probably as not that expensive for employers to do, they did support it.

There were only a handful of votes against the bill in the Senate. It will head over to the House now. I think its chances for passage are good. North Carolina, I think, becomes only the second state in the country to mandate this coverage. Although I think a half dozen states have legislation that strongly urges insurance companies to make this available or require that at least one of their plans make it available to their employers, please. John Colonel Richard Holden, the head of the State Highway Patrol, is going to be a guest on North Carolina now this evening. And this is the topic that we'll be discussing with him. But I want to get your thoughts on it first. There is some legislation moving through the General Assembly that is going to ask for an accounting to get the statistics of how many African Americans opposed to white motorists are stopped by law enforcement officers. What's the status of that legislation? That bill has passed a key Senate committee, and I think we'll be heading to the Senate floor, which chances for passage are pretty good. It's sponsored by State Senator Frank Balance, who is the number two elected leader in the Senate. It has some powerful co-sponsors.

And Senator Balance and some of his constituents wonder and maybe have a perception that African Americans are pulled over by law enforcement officers more frequently than other drivers. And so what they want to do is collect data on this to see whether it's true, at least within the highway patrol. The patrol says that people are not doing this, but they are willing to gather the information. I might say as an aside, that the Troopers Association is not crazy about doing this. It's more work for them. They say it might increase the chances of people getting a real ticket if they've got to fill out a form as to who they pulled their race, gender, and age. They might just go ahead and write a ticket, whereas before they might have just given a verbal warning. But the bill does seem headed for passage, at least in the Senate. The highway patrol says they're willing to gather the information. There is some concern that if this is a problem, it might be more of a problem with local law enforcement than the highway patrol. So in the future down the road, it's potentially possible that other levels of law enforcement by be asked to collect this information. To either prove or disprove this myth or perception that black drivers are getting pulled more often.

John, when Governor Hunt released his, his version of the budget, there was a big spending gap in it and the governor at that time had proposed to close that gap or to close at least part of that gap by holding back on some much needed renovation and repair us to some state buildings. But some lawmakers are starting to bulk at that idea. Well, the governor did propose to hold back some repair and renovation money actually from last year's budget to possibly help fill the budget hole if needed. The governor wants to wait and see what the court says the state has to pay this year in terms of refunding intangibles taxes. It's not known how much the state will have to pay out of some $350 million will they have to pay it all this year or can they stretch it out, pay it back in tax credits and so on. So there's been some controversy about that and there are a lot of repair and renovation needs in the state and some concern some grumbling that that this money needs to be spent and shouldn't have been held back to make it available to help fill the budget hole. Some of the money was released this week, but there's still a lot up in the air with the state budget and how much of the repair and renovation money from last year will be available to help repair and renovate state buildings and university buildings.

All right, John. Well, as always, thank you so much for the information. Have a great weekend. You too. Thank you, Marina. Well, while legislators wrestle with the executive branch over funding priorities, many of North Carolina's community colleges remain in desperate need of repair. System officials say many community college campuses are delaying necessary repair projects because they simply don't have the money. Tonight, Sonya Williams looks at the construction needs of our state's community college system from the perspective of one of its rural campuses. On the outskirts of the small town of Winterville lies an institution that's making its mark. Pitt Community College was established in 1961. We currently have approximately 5,000 curriculum students per semester, and we will run about 10 to 12,000 non-credit continued education students. That makes Pitt Community College one of the fastest growing community colleges in the state.

We're offering, I believe, 43 curriculum programs, pretty heavy in business, health, and industrial related curriculums. What we're trying to do is make sure that we meet the workforce development training needs of the businesses and the citizens of Pitt County. See, we only serve, or our service area is just Pitt County. Of course, Pitt County has over 100,000 people, and it keeps us pretty busy. So busy that college officials bought an additional 100 acres of land to expand the campus over the next 25 years. One of the first priorities is an industrial construction training facility. We're working with 11 other community colleges to meet the industrial training needs of this region. We also, of course, know that we need a general classroom building. We need a business and technology center. We need a maintenance building. This goes on and on. Dr. Charles Russell, resident of Pitt Community College, says the college needs at least $18 million to meet its new construction needs. It's a mammoth amount, but at the same time, you know, in Greenville, for example, in Pitt County.

In the last few years, we have seen this, the economy become more and more diversified. It continues to grow. And as that's happening, then the enrollment at the college is growing to meet the needs of industry and business for employees. So our workforce development training continues to expand along with business and industry. But the growth of Pitt's facility space isn't keeping pace with its increase in students, which is leading to some undesirable learning conditions. We look at other buildings that aren't big enough to meet the present needs and get examples in the health field. One of our most recently constructed buildings is the Fulford Building, which handles all of our allied health and health programs. And it accommodated the needs we had as of that day we moved in. Since that time, we have added several programs, and so we just jammed up in cramped space. Cramped in some instances is an understatement. Here, the science lab serves as both the computer class and a storage area. What once was a maintenance closet is now a teacher's office, and the faculty and staff can forget about snacking in their lounge. That's become an English classroom.

Officials here at Pitt Community College have come up with some creative ways to use their limited space. For example, they've converted this addict into computer classrooms. It's a matter of what we can't do because we don't have the additional space. As far as adding new programs, new services, we're just in a position where we can't do that. For a building that has been in use for about 30 years, you will have lots of things that need to be repaired. For example, this window. Officials say more than half the windows in this building are on the verge of falling out. Several buildings on campus are over 20 years old, and are in desperate need of repair. But Pitt Community College isn't alone in its struggle with renovating and building facilities. Most of the 58 community colleges are in similar situations. The problem is and has been funding. The community college system faces big needs with little money to meet them.

State funding for these projects has been sporadic, especially in the last five years. Last year, the General Assembly allotted $7.5 million to the community college system for specific projects. But that money only went to four schools. I understand the present situation, the legislature's in. They've got a lot of requests and there's a lot of things going on. That still doesn't relieve the state from the responsibility, I think, to meet some of these needs. And if they want the workforce trained and they want folks to have access to higher education and they want higher education, then there are certain things that have to be done. There's no ears, hands and butts about it. And facilities is one of those things. System officials say as North Carolina works to lead the country and education, the role community colleges play must be remembered. And the longer building and repair projects are postponed, the bigger the expense for everyone. I don't think it's the kind of thing that we can put off another five or six years because it's just going to get worse and worse.

Because the best figures I have is that cost are increasing about 5% per year. So if we wait five years, then before we even start, then we're talking about increasing the cost 25% to get started. It's the kind of thing. Obviously you can put it off, but it's either it's kind of like the fram all field of payment and pay me later. And I think it's just going to get more expensive and the students are going to suffer. State policy requires community colleges to fund construction projects from local budgets, much like the public school system. But officials say these as these colleges continue to grow, local budgets can't cover all the building needs. So this year, system officials are asking the general assembly for $137 million for campus construction. Well, coming up on North Carolina now, a conversation with the new commander of the state highway patrol. But first, here's Mitchell Lewis with a summary of today's statewide headlines. Hello, Mitch. Hello, Marita. Good evening, everyone.

The verdict in the court marshal at Camp Lejeune of Marine Captain Richard Ashby is causing a real action of disbelief from the international community. Italy's prime minister, who met with President Clinton today, says he is baffled by the verdict. He has vowed that all legal options to ensure justice will be explored. Meanwhile, one of NATO's top commanders is urging alliance members to accept the acquittal of Ashby. He points out that alliance members pledge to accept the rulings of each country's courts. Ashby was found not guilty of all charges against him in the deaths of 20 skiers in Italy last February. The U.S. Senate is working on a plan to allow individual states to keep all money received in the national tobacco settlement. The Senate action is intended to stave off efforts by the Clinton administration to take control of a share of the money. Clinton officials argue the federal government is entitled to a portion of the proceeds because of Medicaid funding and costs related to treating six smokers. As a concession, however, administration officials suggest they may be willing to excuse the Medicaid repayments if the state's promise to use the funds for health and anti-smoking programs. The results of a national reading exam shows an improvement in rankings for North Carolina students.

In state by state testing, that Tarhill 4th and 8th graders recorded slightly above average testing scores. According to the standardized reading test, North Carolina 4th graders placed 17th nationally, while Tarhill 8th graders ranked 14th. The state's placement on the 1998 assessment is the best recorded by North Carolina students in a decade. However, the nationwide test also reveals large percentages of students in both grades, achieving at the less than basic level. In a related story, the public school forum of North Carolina has released a report of its own on what it will take to reach Governor Hunt's goal of the best in the nation in education. According to the forum, if newly proposed student promotion policies were in place last year, 92,000 3rd, 5th and 8th graders would not have been eligible for promotion based on state testing scores. The education watchdog group points out that while recent efforts have taken North Carolina to just above the national average in some areas, the state remains 48th out of 50 in education. North Carolina Baptist leaders have agreed to endorse a plan that lets moderates and conservatives share leadership.

The plan is intended to override years of ideological strife that's divided Southern Baptist. The organization SaaS shared leadership will also help Baptist to focus on issues they agree on, like evangelism and outreach. The plan must still be approved by the convention's executive committee, the general board, and the entire Baptist state convention later this year. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather, highs and amountings will be in the 50s. The rest of the state will see highs mostly in the low to mid 60s, partly to mostly cloudy skies with a chance for showers of forecast statewide for Saturday. In business news, Charlotte-based Duke Energy has received interim approval to move forward with plans to build a power plant in Florida. The next step following approval by the Florida Utility Regulatory Commission is for Duke Energy to receive the go ahead from environmental regulators, Florida state officials, and others. The $160 million plant would be powered by natural gas and would be the first power plant in Florida built by an out-of-state company. Duke Energy intends to sell power from the plant to electric utility companies and municipal electric providers at wholesale prices.

Two Pepsi bottlers have agreed to form a joint venture that will combine businesses in North Carolina and New York. The arrangement will involve Pepsi bottling operations in Winston-Salem and Wilmington, as well as bottlers in Lumberton, Rocky Mount, and Raleigh. The joint venture will transform PepsiCo and the PEPCOM franchise Z rather into the third largest Pepsi bottler in the United States. The Dow Jones industrials finished out the week up by more than 260 points, closing above the 9,700 mark for the first time. Let's take a look at the rest of the numbers. Let's take a look at the rest of the numbers. Our guest this evening has recently been named by Governor Hunt to head up the North Carolina State Highway Patrol.

A wind-down native and a 30-year veteran of the force, Commander Richard Holden, becomes the first African American to take over the helm of the state highway patrol. Commander Holden, welcome and congratulations on your new position. Thank you very much. There has been some controversy swirling around the top spot of the state highway patrol for some time now. Do you feel as though this is having any kind of impact on the image of the highway patrol? I don't think any time you have something negative to happen, it does somewhat tonnage the image, but I think people in general still have a lot of confidence in the patrol. Mostly we've had an isolated incident with the last commander, and I feel like most of the patrol, the morale is great and up, and I think the public view them as doing their job.

I really don't see it as completely tonnage the patrol is somewhat has, but I think people look for the patrol to continue the traditional job they've been doing and provide an excellent service to the public. We are doing that, and I think this is something the view is it happened, and we've gone from it, and we're making sure that we, those in management and those headed patrol, ensure that we do the things that are ethical and in keeping with professional law enforcement. What did you tell your troopers when you took over the helm of the highway patrol? Well, I convinced them that I wanted them to do a professional job, but I told them I wanted them to do a professional job, and that's what the public expects from us, that we had to be very ethical in all our contacts with people in our actions. We had to continue to have the public trust to do our jobs, and I think when you continue to be ethical in your decisions and the things that you do, you continue to have the public trust, because they look for you to do a lot of things and to our safety as well as a setting example.

There's some legislation currently working its way through the General Assembly, and that is to get an accounting of the statistics to find out if African American motorists are stopped more for traffic stops by law enforcement officers than white motorists. You've been in the highway patrol for 30 years. What does your experience tell you is happening in this regard? Are blacks being stopped more than whites? I certainly hope that's not the case. I've not experienced it in the places that I've been stationed, and I've been in several parts of the state. I didn't feel that way, but I do know that there is some perception in the public that may be happening. I say that if it is, I don't think it is within the patrol, but if it is happening, we will certainly do some about it, and we, in fact, welcome the legislature that's been presented by Senator Balance. I think he had that up.

We met with Senator Balance at a news conference and commend him for it, because I think there's a lot of valuable things that can be learned from it, and I don't know that. We welcome going through the research to find out if in fact there is. If there is, we accept that, and we do what we need to do to take care of it. If we've got anyone that's, in fact, targeted anyone because of race, we definitely is going to take quick action to take care of that matter. We've done a couple of stories on North Carolina now regarding the highway patrols efforts to recruit more women to its ranks. Where do you currently stand in that effort? Well, we're doing some targeted recruiting in reference to minorities as well as females, and I think we've done very well. I think if you look at the last few recruit class, you'll see that we've had females amongst the bunch, and I remember when I came on, there were no females on, and we welcomed that, and we're currently aggressively recruiting females to join the ranks of the patrol. What are your goals for the state highway patrol?

That we don't have any deaths over the highway to the state. Our main focus is saving lives and making sure that we have safe travel on the road. That's the first goals, and along with that comes making sure that we have the right kind of twos and technology for our troopers. I don't know how to do those jobs. That surely enhanced the travel of safety, traveling and making sure that we don't have deaths and maiming injury on the road, removing drunk drivers and ensured that people wanted seatbelts. There is legislation working its way through the General Assembly to toughen the seatbelt laws and also to raise the age that it's required to keep a child in a car seat. How important is it that these types of legislation are passed? I think it's real important, but even more so than that, I think it's important that we educate our people through education, and we do have public information, individuals that work within the patrol, who try to get out and try to educate our people. But legislation sort of ensures that people understand and reminds them that they have a responsibility to that child who can't fasten their own seatbelt, they have a responsibility to themselves.

When we have people that are injured and maimed, we cost everyone. If we have a lot of those injuries, surely the insurance goes up. We all had to pay for that. Same as with drunk drivers, if we don't remove those. When you have a large number of deaths, then we have a large number of settlements, we have a large number of payment to people. When you have that kind of situation, it all comes from everybody, not just that individual that's involved, because the insurance look at that as a risk. But even with the legislation, we definitely want people to voluntarily fasten their seatbelts. It's obvious that from past legislation of seatbelts or laws and also with enforcement from the patrol and with education and knowledge for those three things, surely has helped save lives. We see it every day when we go to the accident saying people are buckling, you see that they come out of a pretty bad accident where normally if they hadn't had that seatbelts, they would have been injured very severely or possibly dead. Governor Holden, thank you so much for being here tonight. We appreciate your time and hope that you'll come back from time to time. Thank you, Maria. Glad to be here.

Thank you for the patrol's basic training class. That wraps up North Carolina now for the evening and for the week. We hope that you'll tune in to festival 99 throughout the weekend and then join us again on Monday at 734 North Carolina now. Our guest on Monday will be the director of the State Division of Tourism. He'll be here to talk about the upcoming US Open and Pinehurst.

And often controversial, Davidson County Sheriff Gerald Haguey is in the news again. We'll profile a new radio program that Sheriff Haguey is spearheading. Have a wonderful weekend. Good night. You