North Carolina Now; Episode from 1999-03-30

We're doing a day, I'll say. I'll say. Okay. It's Tuesday, March 30th. Tonight Pinehurst prepares to welcome the world to North Carolina now. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to this Tuesday edition of North Carolina now. Hopefully you've all managed to shake off the shock of Duke losing last night. Now that college basketball is over, we've got another sporting event to look forward to. It's the 1999 US Open, and just a moment we'll head to Pinehurst, where the excitement is mounting for that premier golfing event. Also tonight we'll examine a common migration pattern, many African Americans who are native southerners returning home from the North. And if you own a car, you'll want to stay tuned for this evening's interview. The DMV is cracking down on expired inspection stickers.

We'll tell you all about it. But up first to Pinehurst. The US Open Golf Championship will be held in the South for only the second time in its history. The 1999 US Open is coming to Pinehurst in June, and the economic impact will be huge. Doug Wilson has the story. Pinehurst, usually a small quaint village of close to 9,000 people. However, that will change in June. For the first time, this golf mecca and the Pinehurst Resort will host the US Open Golf Championship. The sport's biggest national event will be played on course number two, ranked among the top 10 in the world. The open is less than three months away, and businesses in all of Moore County are making their final preparations.

We have some limited edition Sarah Grouse by Mark King and by Leroy Nieman. It's probably the premier event of our history in economic development. There has never been an opportunity in North Carolina quite like this for as many corporations to be in North Carolina's backyard as part of a large familiarization trip. And that has not been lost on the state of North Carolina and they're prepared to take advantage of that opportunity. This is the big test. And if things go as well as we hope they're going to go, I think there will be a lot of interest for people to come back and for other tournaments to be held here in the future. Hi, thanks for stopping in. If you have any questions, let me know. Sure to check everything out. Okay. They tell us anywhere from up to a quarter of a million people are going to be brought into Pinehurst and into the county during the open. So I would imagine we're going to have thousands of visitors walking through the streets and hopefully then tens of thousands in sales. It's going to be delicious.

Very few businesses will be left untouched by the economic impact of the open. The week-long championship will be bigger than any other Pinehurst events. We usually turn about 200 people a day. The Holly Arts is a very busy day for us. It's a busiest day of the year. And we're busy from eight in the morning until we close it for. And we really think this will be like a Holly Arts day every day. And we're looking forward to it. We're a pretty eclectic store. We have all kinds of old golf memorabilia. We've got great artists that we represent. We carry a lot of Scottish and Irish things. So we brought in a lot of extra inventory anticipating our type of customer. Approximately 3,000 hotel and motel rooms have been booked for the third week of June right here in More County alone. Golf fans will be staying as far away as Charlotte and Raleigh Durham over an hour from Pinehurst. So if you don't already have a place to stay, you're probably too late. Is this your first day with us? Yes.

The resort has been booked for the open for close to six years. A $13 million renovation has restored the 104-year-old Holly Inn, the oldest hotel in the village. It is scheduled to reopen in a few weeks. Other landmarks such as the Pinecrest Inn have also been fully reserved. Real estate agents say house rentals are at a premium. Corporate America will be spending millions on accommodations for themselves and their clients. Greg, we're standing on the third hole of the number two course where the US Open is going to be played this summer. How much do homes go for that will actually be on the course for the open? Well, Doug Holmes like this, which is one of 15 old town homes. On the number two course can go for upwards of $50,000. But homes in the village in the area itself will run anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000, depending on the number of bedrooms that it has in the house. What's the highest rate for a one house, you know? Well, there's rumors going around and what we understand it's about $80,000 to $100,000 for one house. What are we doing today, also? Local organizers have had the better part of the 1990s to plan for this event.

The resort was awarded the Open in 1993. Shortly afterwards, the signature logo was stamped on every item possible. Our business over the years has grown tremendously with the US Open logo. Our business is up, essentially started selling up to 40%. What we're selling is trying to appeal not only to the golf customer, but a resort customer that's coming here, we want to give them the true feel upon hers through head wear, through sweaters, through jackets, and golf balls, and other types of accessories, memorabilia that they'll hold on for a long period of time. Close to 40,000 fans will be crowding into Pinehurst each day from June 14th to the 20th. Traffic is a big concern both on the ground and in the air. The plan has been put in place by John Wagner, our championship director, has been to intercept the traffic in different strategic locations outside of the village.

We have chartered over 100 buses, air-conditioned buses, to bring our guests into the racetrack here in Pinehurst, and then they'll walk over to the event from there. During the open week, we're probably going to get 10 times more traffic than we normally have. Normally on the in-season air time, June, May, June, July, timeframe, we'll have probably 10 to 15 jets similar to what we have behind us. We anticipate during the open week, probably 100 plus jets this size coming into more kind of airport. The short-term effects are obvious, but Pinehurst is unique. It is one of the premier golf destinations in the world and has been since the turn of the century. Some golf fans will be visiting this area for the first time in June, and businesses want to make sure those patrons think about coming back. Our expectations aren't to see our visitations jump 20%. We're very happy with a 5 to 10% increase in visitation.

That exposure is something that we could never purchase or manufacture. It's just a wonderful opportunity to tell the world about this great destination. Everyone associated with the open is confident of success. Golf, after all, is part of North Carolina's identity. The pride being displayed here is an expression of what the game truly means to the people who make it their home. Well, probably the most famous quote is that golf is not just a matter of life and death to these people. It's more important than that. And that kind of sums up a lot of the feeling about pinehurst of people who live here have. And if you would like more information on the US Open or the village of Pinehurst, there are two websites that you can access. For Southern Pines and Pinehurst, you can go to www.homeofgolf.com and for direct access to the US Open information, you can call up www.pinehurst99.com. We'll still head on North Carolina now.

The DMV is cracking down on expired inspection stickers. But first, here's Mitchell Lewis with a summary of today's statewide headlines. Hello, Mitch. Hi there, Marita. Good evening, everyone. A new bill under consideration in the state legislature would expand the form of arrest warrant law enforcement can issue. The measure would allow police to legally serve a suspect with a copy of a warrant when making an arrest. North Carolina law currently requires an officer to serve only the original document. The proposed change would allow law enforcement to make better use of new technology like portable computers and patrol cars and substations. Opposition to a state lottery is mounting among influential individuals and organizations around the state. Former Governor Jim Martin and Bob Scott have joined a list of business, government, nonprofit and religious leaders opposed to the lottery. The two former heads of state have added their names to a letter and to lawmakers. The letter sites a number of reasons for the opposition, including a belief that the lottery will not necessarily increase total funding for education and environmental protection. As well as the belief that a lottery promotes gambling.

Court Marshall proceedings moved into the jury selection phase today in the trial of US Marine Corps Captain Joseph Switzer. Earlier this week, Switzer pleaded guilty to charges of obstruction of justice and conspiracy to obstruct justice. The navigator admitted to swapping a blank video tape for the taped record of the flight activity to took place just before his plane severed the cable of a ski gondola over the Italian Alps last year. More than half dozen North Carolina cities are taking steps to get traffic cameras set up to monitor red light runners. Seven cities have introduced legislation asking the general assembly to allow the cameras to be installed. The cities include Greensboro, Greenville, Fayetteville, Highpoint, Hunter'sville, Matthews and Wilmington. The seven cities would follow Charlotte's lead. Since installing the cameras, the Queen City reports the number of accidents have dropped by 38% at the intersections where cameras have been placed. Researchers at UNC Chapel Hill say recent lab results have yielded a way to block a key protein that prevents chemotherapy from working on cancer patients. In tests with mice, the researchers have found a way to shrink human tumors by slowing down a natural mechanism that prevents tumor cells from dying.

The scientists are working to translate the technique to humans and hope to start clinical trials before the end of the year. The UNC findings appear in the April issue of the science journal Natural Medicine. The role of the United States in the economy of the 21st century is the focus of this year's emerging issues forum. The two-day conference entitled Global Economic Storms got underway today with speeches from several of North Carolina's top business executives. The forum is being attended by business and government representatives from around the world and some of the Tar Hill states biggest and best companies. The forum is taking place in Raleigh on the campus of NC State University and will conclude tomorrow. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather, high temperatures will be in the upper 60s to mid 70s across the state. Partly sunny skies are in the forecast for the eastern part of the state. Cloudy skies and possible showers are expected in the west. In business news, plans are underway to establish the state's first credit union for Spanish-speaking people.

A Charlotte banker and a group of Hispanic leaders are heading up the effort. The credit union would allow Hispanics to deposit their paychecks into accounts instead of having to store cash at home. Group organizers say they've raised only a fraction of the money needed for the cost of startup, but are hoping to begin offering banking services by next year. Charlotte-based Duke Energy Corporation has sold $2.2 billion worth of natural gas pipelines and assets to CMS Energy Corporation. CMS is the parent company of Michigan's biggest utility. Duke Energy Executive will join CMS as president of the new businesses, which will be run under a new division called CMS Panhandle Pipeline. CMS Energy has annual sales of about $6 billion and owns $18 billion in assets. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. If you're one of those motorists who in the past has let your inspections sticker expire without much concern, you'll want to take notice of this interview.

The DMV is sending out notices warning motorists to get their cars emissions systems inspected or face fines of up to $250 as well as be blocked from renewing their license plates. Vehicle emissions testing is conducted in Cabarris Durham, Forsyth, Gaston, Gilford, Mecklenburg, Orange, Union, and Wake counties. Joining me now is Major John Robinson, the director of the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles emissions testing program. Major Robinson, thank you for being here tonight. Thank you for asking me to come. So this new policy only affects the nine counties where the emissions testing is done. That's correct. Correct. And why have you started doing this? First of all, it's a federal mandate that we come into these counties to implement an enforcement program. Second is a clean air act of 1990 itself and you want to keep air clean in North Carolina.

So exactly how will this work? How do you know if somebody's emissions sticker is expired? Well, we've been working for approximately two years now on a new computer system in able to help us to track vehicles that are not in compliance with this clean air act. We are able now to look at vehicles and give them some time to come in compliance with this clean air act. And we look at vehicles and tell when they were inspected and where, what station, date and time, or to see if they fail or if they pay us. So this is not a case of how it used to be where you've just happened to be driving down the street. And if you're unlucky enough to have a law enforcement officer stop you, he notices your stickers expired. And this is something where you're going to be getting a notice in your home and you don't have to be stopped to get this notice, correct? That is correct. And once you get the notice, what happens? Once you get the notice, if you are not in compliance, what you need to do is go get your vehicle inspected. Once you've had your vehicle inspected, then you take that document and if there's a civil penalty that's been imposed on it, you need to pay that civil penalty.

The civil penalty could be as much as $250 for vehicles that are 81 and newer, or $100 for vehicles that are 75 and 80. Now you had mentioned the differences in the cost of the penalty and that's the age of the vehicle has something to do with that Y. Yes, it does. Those vehicles that are 75 and 80, if you notice, go back to 1975 when your first computer system came with your cars. It has a lot to do with the technology, just old technology on those vehicles and your newer technologies on vehicles that are 81 and newer. Now you're giving motorists a lot of leeway here. You're waiting 60 days to send out the notice and then you're giving them another 60 days to comply with it. If this is so important that they get it done, why wait the four months? Well, first of all, to go back to the four months period, this is law that we give them the four months and what I think is what's happening here is that you're giving people time to come in compliance. Some of the components are very expensive that they've been taken off of, they're broke.

And so this four month period gives them a lot of time to go ahead and come in compliance before they receive a letter or receive a civil penalty. Because this involves, in some cases, people actually having to fix their cars in order to pass inspection. Yes, and it's very important that they do this and stay in compliance so we can keep the quality of air clean and North Carolina. Now currently there are nine counties in North Carolina that require this emissions testing. Are they possibly looking into expanding this to other counties throughout the state? This is definitely, excuse me, being looked at and it could take place in a year or two or a couple of years. I don't know when, but yes, it's been looked at. And the nine counties that have been selected are due to amount of vehicles on the road, air quality and who decides this? The nine counties are chosen or picked by EPA and the vision of our quality. They go in and do testing in these counties and they tell us which counties that has the bad air and we're going to implement a program and enforcement program. And why is it important that people get their cars tested for emissions standards?

It's very important that you get it tested. First of all, to clean the air. We need to keep clean air in North Carolina for you, myself, your children, and our children's children. It's very important that we keep the quality of air clean here in North Carolina. You started to send out these notices for people whose inspection stickers expired in December and it's just been a little bit of time since you've been starting to send them out. What kind of response are you getting? We're beginning to get some response back from those notices and some people begin to get their cars inspected. And we've seen a slight difference. It's been about a week now since most of them have been out on the list of going out. But yes, we've been beginning to get a response. The response has been pretty good. All right. Well, Major, thank you so much for taking the time to explain this to us. I know it's important information for everyone. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Now, if you've received a notification about your expired sticker and you need additional information, you can call the DMV Consumer Hotline at 1-888-999-3044.

For the past two and a half decades, there has been a quiet but steady revolution going on in North Carolina and other parts of the South. Young educated professional African Americans have been moving to or returning to the South in record numbers. Reporter Barclay Todd looks at why the Tar Heel State is looking more attractive to African Americans who in the past went North or West seeking greater prosperity. The first substantial migration of African Americans saw black southerners fleeing the South in droves following the Civil War up into the 1970s.

During that time, more African Americans left the South than those who stayed or relocated to the region. From the 1940s through the 1960s, record numbers of blacks left the South during the period known as the Great Northern Migration. Reverend Thomas Walker has been the pastor at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Rocky Mount for the past 29 years. He says there was a time when young kids couldn't wait to graduate from school to catch the first train or bus out of town. Basically, you see them make a concerted effort to get out of town, you know, to go to Washington, D.C. New York, some go to Chicago, wherever they could to leave the area. Patricia Williams was one of those youngsters lured by the bright lights of the big cities in the North.

Twenty years ago, the single mom of two left-eastern North Carolina for Washington, D.C., looking for better job opportunities. The opportunities were slim, especially back in the 70s. Transportation was a problem. Child care advantages, the programs that would supplement and give you after school and before school care programs back in the 70s that were not clinical in the South at the time. And the city offered me a lot of those opportunities. North Carolina Central University Sociologist Dr. Isaac Robinson says the migration of young educated blacks like Williams from small rural towns in North Carolina continued until the mid 1970s. He says it was then that the northern cities started experiencing economic and social decline. And blacks started seeing the South as a more desirable place to live and work. For the first time since the Emancipation Proclamation, census data showed that there were more African Americans coming into the southern region than left the southern region. In fact, the most recent U.S. population census shows that 51% of all African Americans now live in the South.

Robinson has studied the migration of blacks from the South and has found the reasons for the return migration are both economic and cultural. And that there has been a culture and perhaps structural changes in the southern region that would make the southern region be perceived by African Americans as less hostile and perhaps even a more desirable place to live and work. And that's exactly what brought Williams back to Rocky Mount, a good paying job and living environment for her kids. Williams recently purchased her first home, something she says wasn't possible when they lived up north. She says whether South, like many other areas in the country, still has racial problems.

It has come a long way for when she was growing up. The South has changed a lot. There are a lot of opportunities for African Americans that was not as much as they are now. It's somewhat seems like the north, the whole north issue is moving to the South. I think what the city was offering, the South has said that we're going to do this too, but they still have that sense of warmth. Those tracking black migration and the subsequent return migration to the state attribute the growth in metropolitan communities like the triangle and Charlotte for attracting and keeping blacks in North Carolina. Reverend Walker says he can see the changes in the black population light in his own church. You can really tell what's happening in the community based on what is happening in the congregation. We see more of the trend to stay. Of course, people can get the education, maybe go to the triangle area and work the opportunities there.

Many blacks like Williams also return to the South because it's home. I want to be home, you know. It's no place like home. You don't actually say it. It's a dark place. It's no place like home. There is no place like North Carolina. There's no place like the South. Sociologists predict that African Americans and others will continue to migrate south as long as the region's economy remains robust. For blacks who do leave the South, the studies show that they are more likely to move west rather than north. Well, that wraps up tonight's edition of North Carolina now. Thanks for having been a part of it. We'll see you tomorrow. Good night. Good night.