North Carolina Now; Episode from 1999-06-18

It's brought at June 18th tonight, volunteering for a worthy cause in North Carolina now. Hello. I'm Arita Matre. Welcome to North Carolina now. In this Friday edition of our program, we'll focus on the men and women who are giving of their time and their talents to make the upcoming Special Olympics World Summer Games a premier event. Plus, the eyes of the nation are on the slow-moving track. The K-Patterist Lighthouse is making to its new home farther away from the crashing waves of the ocean. Later in the program, we'll share the majesty of that historic landmark. Plus, we'll bring you up to date on the progress of Charlotte School Dissegregation Law Suit. But first, we check up on the progress our lawmakers are making in formulating a state budget. And for that update, we turn to legislative correspondent Sonja Williams.

Hello, Sonja. Hi, Arita. The state Senate has released its version of the budget they did so this week. How does the Senate spending plan differ from the one submitted already by the House? Well, Arita, Senate and House budget writers have been working together on the budget since the beginning of the process, and there are only a few major differences. As the biggest sticking point is the homestead exemption, the Senate put a constitutional amendment in its budget to allow counties to set their own property tax exemption for elderly and disabled homeowners. The House budget expands the income eligibility guidelines and sets the amount of property tax exempted across the state that would also increase the number of people eligible for this tax exemption. So this is probably one of the biggest sticking points because a constitutional amendment has to be put to the voters and let them decide this issue next election. And the House doesn't like the fact that a constitutional amendment is in the budget, so that is a major sticking point. Now, there are some other differences concerning the area of higher education. Both budget proposals have identical tuition increases for community colleges and universities,

nearly 5% for in-state undergraduate students and nearly 7% to 8% for graduate students. But the difference is that the Senate budget also proposes to give the board of trustees at each university the authority to raise tuition by $250 a year for two years. And the money would go to increase faculty salaries and also to find some need-based scholarships. So that's the major difference there as far as higher education is concerned. And the Senate also has planned to increase assistance that it gives to students who attend private colleges and universities. Their proposal raises tuition grants to $300 per student, whereas the House proposal raises only to $150. And there are also a couple of other smaller spending differences, but I'd say the home set exemption is probably one of the biggest. Son, did you have any gauge on how difficult it's going to be to work out the differences between the two plans? Well, budget leaders are optimistic that the differences can be worked out relatively quickly.

The Senate appointed its budget conferees yesterday and the Senate is scheduled to appoint theirs on Monday. And it's likely that they'll get started on negotiations sometime next week and they are very optimistic since they have been working so closely together most of the session that they will get something passed relatively quickly. Now Governor Hunt released a press release yesterday and in there there was some verbiage talking about working towards finalizing this budget plan by June 30th. Any indication that they can meet that deadline? We'll have to wait and see on that. But on the House floor yesterday, Representative David Redwine said that it was their goal to meet that deadline. And he also said that it has been at least 20 years since a legislature has passed a budget and met that deadline. And some political analysts believe that they will try to meet that deadline this session so that they can use that as a historic feat and maybe a platform for next year's election, meaning that the Democrats will be able to say, well, we didn't drag this session on and we came into Raleigh, did the state's business and got back home. So it'll be interesting to see if they will in fact meet that deadline.

The budget's going to be easy compared to this next question. Is the latest on the debate surrounding the tobacco settlement? Well, there are two subcommittees, one handling the tobacco trust fund and the other a health trust fund. And they have held a series of meetings this week, wrestling with how to distribute this money. Now, back in March, lawmakers voted, if you remember, to put 50 percent of the money into a foundation and 25 percent would go to the tobacco trust fund and another 25 percent to the health fund. Well, now these two subcommittees are just, they're wrestling with the proposal to do what's called front loading, meaning to put a much larger portion of that money into the two funds, one for tobacco and one for health rather than into the foundation. Now, the subcommittees, they went through a couple of proposals this week on front loading. And I think as of Thursday, their decision is to front load both funds and then to put only 10 percent from each fund into the foundation. So that's really putting a lot less money into the foundation than the Senate wants.

And most people think that this won't fly with the Senate because they do favor putting more money into the foundation as they originally agreed in March. So we'll have to see what happens with that. The subcommittees will meet on Monday and merge their plans into one bill. Well, I'm sure that's something that we're going to be talking about from time to time. In the meantime, Sonya, thanks so much for the information. We'll check in again next week. Thank you. And we want to remind our viewers for in-depth coverage of the activities of the General Assembly to join you tonight at 10 o'clock for legislative week and review. Now coming up on the program, I'll look at some very dedicated volunteers who will manage to pull off this year's world's largest sporting event. But first, let's get caught up on what else is making news around our state by tossing to Mitchell Lewis. Thanks, Marita. Good evening, everyone. Topping the news as Serbian military forces pull out of Kosovo, dozens of that country's refugees are deciding whether to leave North Carolina to return home. About 62 Kosovo refugees are currently residing in the Tar Hill state.

Federal officials overseeing refugee resettlement say the decision to return to Kosovo is up to each individual family. About 1 million people are relieved to have been forced out of Kosovo by Yugoslav forces and reports indicate that close to 10,000 people were killed during the two months of war. A majority of U.S. house members have voted to approve a measure to permit the display of the 10 commandments in schools and other state and local facilities. The Congressional proposal has the support of nine out of North Carolina's 12 congressional representatives. Democrats Bob Atherich and Mike McIntyre joined North Carolina's seven Republican U.S. house members. Democratic U.S. representatives Eva Clayton, David Price and Mel Watt voted against the measure. Critics of the proposal say it is unconstitutional, but the bill sponsors SANS the bill would promote morality and work toward an end to children, killing children. Governor Jim Hunt has joined a bipartisan coalition of governors from around the country in an effort to gain federal approval for a price-setting dairy compact.

The compact would go beyond the federally established minimums and setting wholesale prices for dairy farmers. The legislation would create a 12-state southern compact which would include North Carolina. The farmers say they need to be protected against broad milk price fluctuations. UNC Chapel Hill's projected budget situation appears to be getting worse. Campus officials say the previously reported shortfall of nearly $10 million has widened by another $1.8 million. Delays in renovating the campus's law school and stagnant fundraising are the latest contributors to the rising shortfall. The deepening gap has revived concerns over proposed cost-saving measures like leaving vacant, unfilled jobs and holding off unrequested library purchases. News of the expanded $11.6 million deficit comes one month after Chapel Hill officials first announced a money shortage for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Making a call on a pay phone in North Carolina may soon take two quarters. The state's independent pay phone providers say they will probably have to raise their

fees from 35 to 50 cents after the state utilities commission turned down their requests for lower tariffs. tariffs are the fee's local phone companies charge the pay phone operators to let them use their networks. Looking ahead to the weekend weather forecast, high temperatures will range from the mid-70s to lower 80s. Partly, the mostly sunny skies will spread across the state for Saturday. Governor Jim Hunt was on hand today in Warren County to announce the building of a $60 million distribution center by CVS. The facility is expected to initially employ approximately 250 people with plans to expand the workforce to 600 by 2002. Hunt says bringing jobs to Warren County is part of an effort by his administration to invigorate all areas of the state, especially those that are economically distressed. The average salary at the Warren County facility will reach an excess of $26,000, topping

the county's current median income by nearly $9,000, groundbreaking on the facility is expected to begin early next year. Charlotte-based Coltech industry says an arbitration panel will not issue an injunction, halting its merger with BF Goodrich, a deal which would create the world's largest manufacturer of aircraft landing gear. The panel determined the merger would not disrupt Coltech's 1995 marketing agreement with Allied Signal, which provides wheels and brakes for Coltech landing gear. Allied Signal has sued to stop the merger, claiming the BF Goodrich deal would violate anti-trust laws and break Coltech's marketing agreement with Allied Signal. German chemical company BASF will build a research center at North American headquarters in Research Triangle Park for its new biotechnology research group, 150 jobs are expected to be created by the investment.

The North American plant science operation will use research to create modified crops that are better suited to grow in cold or drought conditions or those with higher levels of protein and carbohydrates. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. When the Special Olympics World Summer Games organizers put out the call for 35,000 volunteers

to help with the games, they expected it to take some time to get that many North Carolinians to volunteer, but within six months they had what they needed and more. Reporter Barclay Todd takes a look at these special people who are making the World Summer Games possible. When the Special Olympics World Summer Games come to the Triangle later this month, one of the things you'll notice is that all of the events and competitions are being run by volunteers. In fact the training of the 35,000 plus volunteers is being done by others who have donated their time to the games. Jack Fritz is one of 2,000 leadership volunteers. He along with the others have been helping to organize the games free of charge for the past year and a half.

I had the time and I thought some skills that would hopefully help move the games forward and I think that all of those ingredients made me feel like it was the best thing to do for me at the time and my experience has proven that to be true. Even with his own limitations Fritz has donated 10 hours a week for the past 547 days to make sure that other volunteers get the training they need to perform their assignments. Fritz is doing this by helping to operate the volunteer depot. He says he gets a lot of personal gratification out of volunteering. I feel a sense of worth not only intrinsically for being involved in an event like this but we get all sorts of support from the staff for doing what we do. The staff of the world games say what the volunteers do is making the entire event possible. They say without the help of these volunteers they wouldn't have been able to put together

this year's largest sporting event in the world. We have about 80 paid staff and it's absolutely critical to have all those thousands of volunteers because we're running 130 different venues for 24 hours, for about 20 days, all across the triangle area and somewhat throughout the state of North Carolina. So without the 31,000 to 35,000 folks to help us we would not be able to make it happen. Good afternoon, thank you for calling the 1999 Special Olympics World Games. Still Nicholson says volunteers do everything from manning the phones to organizing schedules to credentialing the athletes, the average volunteer will donate 10 hours of their time training for their specific assignment. So please do show up, ask it, getting their uniforms and becoming familiar with the venues where they've committed to working three, six hours shifts. The volunteers for the world games will be at every venue performing over 80 different

jobs, you'll be able to spot them by what they have on. The medical volunteers will have on this bright red t-shirt, the volunteers who are doing interpretation and delicate assistance will have on the purple t-shirts. The gold t-shirts are for volunteers who are general volunteers and the blue t-shirts are for volunteers who are providing security during the games. Organizers for the games say becoming a volunteer for such a large international competition of special athletes takes a special kind of commitment and training. We've had to train them and orient them to special Olympics, the movement of special Olympics. What's it like to work with an athlete with mental retardation? What's it like to work with someone from another country around the world? We have to train them in those aspects. Then they've had to give up a little bit more time and learn about their specific job. Barbara Malini says volunteering for the world games has indeed been a time commitment for her and her family. For the past two years, she's volunteered to organize the gymnastics competitions.

She says she's in charge of staffing every aspect of the venue to make sure the athletes have a world-class event. I get a lot of gratification out of volunteering, just putting on something for the athletes they deserve. They deserve the chance to see what world-class competition is like. I do it for the athletes. And she admits as the games get closer, her volunteering has consumed her and her family's lines. It's been a tough commitment especially for my family because I've got two young kids at home, but it's been fun, though. It's been difficult and stressful and frustrating at times, but it's going to be all worth it. While most of the volunteers for the world's summer games are like Malini and have hung in there, organizers have planned for about 10 to 20 percent of the volunteers dropping out. While they had expected it to take a year and a half to get all the volunteers they needed along with a reserve pool, they say they were able to do it in half that time. I thought it would take like a year and a half to get this folks all together, and really

we could have done it probably in 68 months. So people are just phenomenal here. They are true volunteers and they've got the right attitude. Many are like Barbara Malini and Jack Fritz, who say despite the hard work and long hours, their volunteering is just their way of making sure these special athletes from around the world have a world summer games they'll never forget. Now Governor Hunt was the game's first volunteer and he plans to be putting in his 18 hours of time throughout the competitions. The games run from June 26th through July 4th in the Triangle. The school desegregation case in North Carolina's largest school system is winding down after

nearly two months of testimony in a Charlotte federal courtroom. At issue is whether the intent of a 30 year old court order to integrate the Charlotte Mecklenburg school system has been satisfied. A group of white parents acting as the plaintiffs in this case say it has and they want to bring to an end using race to determine school assignments. The school board says the intent of the court order has not been satisfied and the schools are still segregated. David Haines has been covering this trial for North Carolina now and he is here with his weekly update. David, thanks for joining us today. Always nice to be here. I understand that the school system attacked the basis of the plaintiffs case this week. They certainly did. The assistant superintendent Dr. Susan Percer testified that Christina Capuchion, she was a five year old girl who tried to get into a magnet school that had a lottery. She basically divided up seats in the school 60, 40% of the seats for African American students.

She is white. She didn't get into the school and the whole basis of the complaint is that she didn't get into the school because she is white. However, the school system pointed out that she would not have gotten into the school even if she were African American because of where her name came up on the lottery. It was just way, way down on the list. So they kind of shot out from under the parents that particular part of their case. They also have, of course, the larger issue of using race in assigning pupils and that, of course, is still in the courtroom matter, what happens on this particular issue. She also had some very interesting testimony this week. She said in a single sentence, we, meaning Charlotte Mecklenburg schools, do not teach black students. That is angered. A lot of the 7,000 or so teachers in Charlotte, Mecklenburg, they've been writing letters to the editors. There's been a lot of chatter on talk radio about it. The teachers feel that they've been doing a good job and have been working hard in the classroom to educate these students and rising test scores over the last couple of years, especially for African American students, would tend to support the teacher's point of view that they do teach the black students and not the school boards point of view, which

is kind of their failure defense in this case, which says we have not done a good job teaching African American students and we're not doing a good job now and we haven't done a good job over the last 30 years. So it's kind of an interesting dynamic, especially in an election year. So what happens if the judge buys into that argument that the schools haven't done a good job? Well, the school system kind of assumes that if he rules in their favor and kind of goes for the failure defense, that he will order them to come up with some kind of a plan to fully integrate the schools, the schools have had a plan on a shelf for the last couple of months now. It's not going to happen allowed to introduce it into testimony in the trial, but the judge they're hoping will say, let's look at this plan. He may of course say, I've got another plan and you've got to follow this plan. So hopefully they'll be some kind of a plan. And I understand that a university president took the stand this week. Yes, Dr. James Woodward, he's a chancellor of UNC Charlotte. And he testified about the importance of diversity in a classroom in higher education.

And kind of an interesting aside, he said that he disagreed with the UNC policy that disallows the use of race in the admission of students into North Carolina's colleges and universities. That was knocked out. I think in 1997, he said that he thinks that there should be a racial component in the admission of students into a college in North Carolina, and that it serves the entire university system well if they do that. It's kind of an interesting aside to the case. So we're coming to an end of this rather lengthy trial. Yes. The school system is supposed to wrap up its side of the case next week. What are they expected to end on? The final witness for the school system will be the school board chair, Mr. Arthur Griffin. Now Arthur is, he's kind of a combative individual. He's expected to continue along this failure kind of approach that the school system has been using in their defense. He, depending on your point of view, he is either a passionate advocate for the disadvantage. He comes from a disadvantage background.

He grew up in public housing in Charlotte, or he is someone who has an enormous chip on his shoulder. Depending on your point of view, he graduated from a segregated high school. One of the last classes to do that in the school system in the 60s. And if you talk to him for five minutes, anytime you talk to him, that typically comes up in his conversation, his anger over the fact that he felt that he did not get as good an education as he should have gotten in the segregated school system. This cross-examination with these very combative lawyers is going to be really, really interesting. Well, it sounds like it will be an interesting last week. In the meantime, thank you for the updates you've provided throughout this trial, and we look forward to a kind of wrap-up report sometime next week, or whatever the trial comes to an end. That's the plan. I think it will come to an end. I hope it will. Thank you, David. Sure. And that wraps up North Carolina now for the week. Thanks for having been a part of it. On Monday, John Arnold will bring us an update on the relocation of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. The lighthouse began its trek away from the ocean on Thursday afternoon and traveled ten

feet four inches in that first day. It's expected to travel 75 to 100 feet per day and take four to six weeks to complete the inland journey. We leave you now tonight with some scenes of the beauty of the lighthouse. Good night. How large are the rollers? Well, there's a continuous track on its end. A continuous track? Very good. I'll be back. Thank you.

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