North Carolina Now; Episode from 1999-08-16

It's Monday, August 16th, tonight aching muscles and bruised egos in North Carolina now. Hello, I'm Rita Matray, welcome to a new week of North Carolina now. On this Monday edition of our program, we'll talk about a disease once called the cancer nobody talks about, colon cancer. Our guest tonight is a principal investigator of a study that will research the most effective means of raising public awareness to the second leading cause of cancer deaths. A healthy lifestyle is crucial in warding off most any ailment and exercise is an important part of that regimen. Tonight we begin an exciting series looking at some creative ways to stretch those muscles by experiencing the myriad of outdoor adventures our state has to offer. Armed with ambition and a sense of daring, North Carolina now's John Arnold traveled from

the mountains to the coast to take part in a vast array of sporting adventures. For the next five evenings, John will be your guide as he hang glides, gets behind the wheel of a stock car and attempts white water rafting. Tonight it's mountain biking. It's a sport that prompts tens of thousands of enthusiasts of flock to the mountains of western North Carolina each year to ride some of the most popular trails in the country. Beneath the thick canopy of vegetation that covers this stretch of the Nanna Hale and National Forest exists one of the premier mountain biking destinations in the east. This is the Sali Recreation Area where 38 miles of narrow dirt trails known to mountain bikers as single track, snake through the forest and around Fontana Lake. It's a backdrop that draws thousands of mountain biking enthusiasts every month. They say that the numbers of the sales of mountain bikings are actually declining but what we see is the use of mountain biking is definitely growing especially in the southeast.

And especially here at Sali, traffic on these mountain biking trails has exploded over the past decade. The exact number of users is hard to pinpoint but instructors at the Nanna Hale Outdoor Center estimate more than 85,000 of them hit the trails here annually. And they aren't just extreme thrill seekers. Their families on vacation, youth groups on an adventure, couples on a date. People are really enjoying taking trips out to the outdoors and going to see these places that are wild and woolly that they've never been to. Even really for people who haven't done a lot of training for mountain biking, they can do it. It's doable. No, I've got the bike. If you'll step up on the saddle using the puddles. That said, I thought it was time to give it a try. I've ridden on a mountain bike before but never on a real mountain. So instructor Craig Posica agreed to show me how. First things, first we needed to pick out a bike, getting one that fits is important. Fighting there with the fit is getting fit with the helmet, so you're not going to

get bumps. I have some water bottles loaded up already. Always want to have water with you for the day's ride. Depending on how long we're going to be out there, snacks are always a good thing to have on hand. And that's pretty much it. We'll get the helmets, load up the bike and we're on our way. We're aggressively trying to get a little bit smaller. Once at the trail head, I'm eager to head out into the wild right away. Craig has a different idea. He sets up a line of cones in the parking lot and takes me through a series of drills that he says will help me with my balance. Obviously, balance is something I need to work on. So we ride in circles around the cones, between the cones. So you can try both ways. I even manage to ride over the cones. That's all right, you do find until finally I think I'm ready for the real thing. Okay, so what should I be looking out for here? Well, the thing about single track, you need to look up in front of you the faster you

go and the further ahead you want to look. Most importantly, you don't want to get focused in on your front wheel. That's where most people mess up. Just looking down at the front wheel and then they don't see what's coming up. There are, of course, no orange cones on the trail. Instead we find roots, rocks and logs. The more of these obstacles you find, the more technical the trail is. All right, so John, look it up in front of us here. We have a little log down on the trail. Nothing to it. What you want to do is just pick your front wheel up right as you go over it. After a short stretch of single track is behind me, I begin to feel more comfortable on my bike. My senses seem to come alive, the fragrant mountain air. The crunch of the earth beneath my tires. The dense forest before my eyes all tell me I'm in another world. John mustn't forget, however, that this is a vertical world, and my euphoria is quickly replaced by pain in my legs and lungs as we huff it up the mountain to the mouse branch overlook.

We've been going on up this climb. We're a little tired and just to put a little bit of salt in the injury, there's a nice switch back up here to the right. So what you're going to want to do is kind of come into it wide and you're looking up. Look up where you want to go, come in wide and keep on pedaling on up. So here we are, just off here to the right is the overlook, which is why we have come up this part of the trail and I think you'll find it worth it. This little spot just opens up right over to the lake. Pretty sweet, huh? It's beautiful. Careful if you don't get a bit of a downhill slope. But yeah, you look out, you see a few boats out there, some people fishing, just you see a whole lot of nothing. The view is spectacular and so is the feeling of accomplishment. It's a feeling sweetened by the knowledge that what goes up must go down. Here we are back in the saddle of the injury. Inside left foot, stick it out, let it pull you around the turn and you have it there if you need it to tap.

Wait back. Mountain biking is not for everyone. As with any sport, there is an element of danger and it can be physically demanding. But for those who are hungry for that physical challenge and who long for the mind cleansing solitude of nature, this could be the adventure you've been looking for. And if you would like more information on the trails at the Sali Rec area, you can contact the National Forest Service at 704-479-6431. And still ahead on North Carolina now, getting the word out about the second leading cause of cancer death in America. But first, it's time for a statewide news update with Mitchell Lewis. Good evening, miss.

Thanks, Marita. Good evening, everyone. Governor Jim Hunt has announced the formation of a high-level task force to develop smart growth policies to limit overdevelopment of suburbs and preserve open space in the state. Hunt's local government should continue to have the authority to zone land. But he believes the state should devise incentives through road building and water and sewer money to encourage municipalities to adopt smart growth policies. The task force will hold a series of town meetings this fall and issue a report on its findings in January 2001. A private retirement fund for highway patrol officers is at least $1.6 million in the whole. Nearly 1,200 troopers and former patrol members stand to lose thousands of dollars they had hoped to collect after retiring. State auditor Ralph Campbell is examining whether it's proper for troopers to collect money and do other fun to business while on duty. The highway patrol voluntary pledge was started in the late 1930s to help the families of troopers killed or disabled on duty and those who retired. For the past 12 years, the General Assembly has allowed many restaurants and country clubs

to sign step local restrictions and sell mixed drinks. The original rationale for the special provisions was to aid economic development. But those permits may be ended by lawsuits currently making their way through the courts. Today, lawyers for a group of Lumberton residents appeared in Wake Superior Court to challenge a special ABC district the legislature created two years ago to allow the sale of mixed drinks along a three-mile stretch of I-95 through Lumberton. The federal building in downtown Raleigh was officially dedicated today as the Terry Sanford federal building. Local and national officials were on hand as well as members of the Sanford family. U.S. Representative Bob Atherich filed the bill to name the building after Sanford following his death in April of last year. U.S. Senator John Edwards was among those present at the ceremony. It is such an enormous honor for me to be here to show my respect, to show my love and appreciation for a man who has meant so much for North Carolina.

This building can never replace the heart and the spirit of Terry Sanford that is an appropriate trip to him. Sanford served as governor of North Carolina, U.S. Senator and president of Duke University. Geologists at UNC Chapel Hills say they found a new species of prehistoric reptile which predates dinosaurs and crocodiles. The species called a Rasukean is a 221 million-year-old reptile which died out after the first dinosaurs appeared. According to researchers, the newly discovered reptiles probably walked on their heels and toes like humans. Bones for the reptile were found at an undisclosed site in the east central part of the state and currently being displayed at a geology lab on campus in Chapel Hill. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather, highs in the mountains will be in the upper 80s. The rest of the state should see highs in the low to mid 90s, mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies of forecast across the state for Tuesday. In business news, North Carolina State economist Michael Walden is reporting, North Carolina's

economic activity index rose by 8.3 percent during the 12 month period from April 98 to March 99. However, in his quarterly economic outlook, Walden predicts growth in retail sales, residential construction and economic activity will decline in the coming year. Walden does say the unemployment rate will continue to fall and that job growth will speed up. North Wilkesboro based lows, the world's second largest home improvement retailer, is reporting a large increase in their second quarter earnings. Lows total earnings for the quarter were slightly over $230 million, up 27 percent from a year ago. The company says the better earnings are due to increased sales in nursery, appliances and decorating merchandise. Lows currently has 533 stores in 37 states. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. The National Cancer Institute has awarded one and a half million dollars to researchers

at UNC Chapel Hill to conduct a statewide study on colon cancer. The study will determine how best to raise public awareness about colon cancer and what can be done to prevent it. Joining me now is Dr. Marcy Campbell. The principal investigator of this project, Dr. Campbell, is an assistant professor of nutrition at UNCCH Schools of Public Health and Medicine, Dr. Campbell. Welcome to the program. Thank you. Tell us first about why this study is needed. Well, we're very excited about the opportunity to conduct this study because colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. But it's often been called the cancer nobody talks about. And I think there are a number of reasons for that. People have been embarrassed about talking about colon cancer and other cancers like breast and prostate have gotten more public attention. But colon cancer last year killed about 56,000 Americans. And we want to get the message out to people in North Carolina that there are things that

they can do to prevent colon cancer and also it can be cured through early detection. So tell us exactly what you'll be doing in this study. We will be contacting about 800 North Carolinians from 33 counties and the people in this study will actually be already participating in another study called the North Carolina colon cancer study. Half of the people have never had colon cancer or like healthy adults like the general population. And half actually have had colon cancer but have had it detected early. Have been cured but are at high risk for recurrence. They've had polyps removed or they've had early stage cancer that has been treated and they are now considered to be cured. But as I said they then need to do the same kinds of things as the general public to try to make sure that they don't get it again. And some of the people will receive printed materials that we will develop for the project

and some will receive telephone calls. And what we're really doing is comparing two different ways of giving the information either of which could be done on a broad population-wide basis. Both methods are personalized. They give people information based on their own surveys that they've taken. And we're going to compare over a year how it goes in terms of contacting people four times either through the mail or by telephone and look at whether they've made the behavior changes that are the targets of the study, which include- I was going to ask you- What are those behavioral changes? Eating more fruits and vegetables in particular, getting more physical activity and getting the recommended screening tests for colon cancer. Now you are finding that people particularly in these high risk groups are not carrying out these types of lifestyle changes that they need? That's right. Actually the people who have had colon cancer may be getting screening tests more frequently

than the general public, but they're not necessarily getting the tests according to the recommendations. And we know that in the general population, the rate of screening is quite low, probably only about 20% of the amount of screening that should be going on. And this is mostly we think due to a lack of education and not knowing what tests they should be getting. You say eating more fruits and vegetables, exercising and getting the screening tests- That's right. Seems relatively simple. How effective is this in preventing the onset of cancer or the recurrence of it? Well, we don't know for certain, but there are statistics that suggest that if people got regular screening tests, aid healthy diets exercised and practiced this sort of what we call primary prevention activities, that we might be able to reduce colon cancer by as much as 80%. And with screening, even if people have early stage cancer, we may be able to reduce deaths

from cancer by about half. You're saying that you are going to look at these participants at the end of the study to see if they actually took your advice. How will you determine that? As I mentioned earlier at the beginning of the study, we will call participants on the phone and do an initial survey and ask them questions about things like what they eat and exercise and screening habits and so forth. And then one year later, we'll do another survey and we'll look and see if there have been changes in behaviors. And we're going to compare whether the group that got the printed tailored information did better or did worse than the groups that got the telephone counseling. And we also will be taking a blood sample at the one year follow-up because we can test for certain things called biomarkers in the blood that tell us if in fact people really are eating better than they were at the beginning. This is great for the people that are taking part in the study, but what about the general public?

How is this going to help the overall population? Well, our goal is that if the study is successful and if we can determine that there is a good cost-effective way to get the message out in this population that we can generalize to the larger population of the United States. We anticipate that this type of intervention with either printed or telephone contact could be done by HMOs, could be done by primary care doctors, possibly other kinds of organizations, maybe work sites. And we'd like to try to make it available so that it could be practiced on a much broader basis to try to reduce colon cancer in the whole country. Dr. Campbell, you have a statewide audience in front of you when you are trying to get the message out about colon cancer, so let's reiterate for the general public what they can do to protect themselves from this disease. First of all, there are some simple what we call lifestyle changes that everybody can make. And these things are healthy to prevent colon cancer, but they're also healthy to prevent

heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and many other things. The first is eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, at least five servings every day. The second is get at least some moderate physical activity, most days of the week. It doesn't have to be running a marathon, it can be walking, it can be pushing your child in the stroller, parking far away from the grocery store and walking instead of parking really close, trying to think about ways to get more activity. And then the third thing is starting at age 50, if you're at average risk, and earlier if you're at high risk, which means if you have a family history, or if you have had any type of problem with colon cancer or other kinds of bowel diseases before, to get the screening tests. And they include an annual stool blood test, or also called FOBT, fecal occult blood test. And some doctors also recommend something called a sigmoinoscopy every five years.

But the main thing about the screening test is to ask, talk to your doctor, and make it clear that you're interested in prevention, and that you want to get the test. All right, Dr. Campbell, hopefully people will heed your advice. Thank you so much for being here tonight. The research grant of Water to Chapel Hill was one of six given nationally from about 70 proposals from various research groups responding to a National Cancer Institute request for studies of health communication and cancer control. There are certain objects that we can possess, which carry with them the very essence of our families and our lives. The grandfather clock is one such heirloom. Tonight, Billy Barnes takes us to Mitchell County to visit a mountain man whose hand-made clocks carry as much of a history of his family as they do their owners. In the year 1657, a Dutch physicist named Cristian invented a device called the pendulum clock.

It was the tick-tock heard round the world, and for two and a half centuries, pendulum clocks ticked and chimed in almost every home. Today we live in a digital battery powered world, but in a little workshop in Spruce Pine, Luther Strout still lovingly, skillfully builds to grandfather clocks per month. Luther doesn't really have a showroom, but he does have some clocks that are waiting around. This beauty is an award for a Charlotte company's employee of the year. The lucky employee just hasn't yet been picked. This one is a housewarming gift awaiting completion of a young couple's new home. Luther's grandpas started this clock business in 1950, after retiring from a career as a Baptist minister. My grandfather's philosophy was to deliver the best clock you could for the least of

amount of money, while most American companies work on delivering the least product for the most money. Luther's dad followed the sawdust trail and worked with his dad in the clock shop. Then Luther himself pitched in at age 22 to make it three generations of Straups creating some of the world's finest grandfather clocks. Today dad and grandpa have passed on, and Luther and his cat keep vigil over the family tradition. I make about six different styles, but they're all basically a four model clock being of a grandmother or grandfather design. But they're basically your old style paint waste, what's called a paint waste, where they have the wide bottom, the narrow middle, and then the wide and back out at the top. People come to me and they want to know what would this at another, what would I like. I try to keep in stock walnut, cherry, mahogany, I have some maple, oak, we have made them

on a pine teak or any chestnut, but probably the best one I like is the walnut. It has good grain structure, it's a good wood to work with, it's strong wood, it works well. I will, at times, go through a whole stack of lumber. I look at the grains and it sometimes takes me a couple of days to lay a clock out just the way I want it. I don't come in here and just simply pick up a board because it's the right size. And the other probably the hardest part is in my mitering and getting my joints together. It's getting them to match up, to hold together, and setting the doors in, they don't lay over, they fit inside the door. You'll see no packing crates in this workshop. Although straub clocks can be found from Maine to California, Luther delivers each clock personally to make sure it's leveled and running well in its new home. There's a half century of tradition on these walls.

After the hand tools are the same ones used by his grandpa in the 1950s. When a clock takes almost two weeks to build and has one of the world's finest German movements, you might expect it to cost a fortune. Unfortunately, Luther Straub's clocks sell for $1,200 to $3,000 about the price of some fancy sofas. Luther is serious about his craft, but he's not without a sense of humor. In the hallway of a nearby funeral home, there's a massive coffin that he made into a grandfather clock. And what about that big wooden box leaning against the wall in Luther's workshop? Yep. Another funeral home is ordered a clock housed in a casket. If you buy one of Luther's grandfather clocks, it will be personalized with your name and

other pertinent information. This clock is dated. It's made for Amy and Michael Smith as a wedding gift with love from mom and dad. Crafted by Luther Straub, it's the newest of 2,427 clocks made by the Straub family. 80 or 90 years from now, Amy and Michael Smith's grandchildren will find, in an obscure location inside the clockcase, a handwritten signature. Like DeGaugh and Michael Angelo, this artist is proud to sign his work. Luther Straub prefers modesty to bragging. Maybe that's because his business after a half century of success is still called Straub's hobby shop. That's all I've got time for tonight. 8. 5