North Carolina Now; Interview with Dr. Joanne Harrell

Were enough is enough to a look who's under the gun to school racially if you're another one of them. Which of you is of your book to African Americans. They did a very good book Asians white Americans will easily fit everybody the process is wrong. It's Wednesday July 24th tonight lawmakers get an earful on a proposed plan to redraw our state's congressional districts in North Carolina now. A

pleasant Wednesday evening everyone I'm reading. Thanks for tuning into the night vision of North Carolina now. Results of a statewide study on efforts to improve the physical fitness of North Carolina's children were released today. Tonight we'll talk with the author of that report Dr. Joanne Harrell to hear her recommendations. And Maria Lundberg takes us to western North Carolina to witness a spectacular fall music festival. But we start our program tonight with news from the legislature. The House Rules Committee chaired by Republican Richard Morgan of Moore County held a public hearing today to get input on a plan to redraw North Carolina's congressional districts. Lawmakers are trying to decide how to reconfigure the districts after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled our state's 12th District unconstitutional. Shannon Victoria attended today's hearing and she's here to tell us about what transpired Janet. Well Merida on July 29 the U.S. district court will hold a hearing to decide when the state of North Carolina will redraw its congressional districts. Last

week in preparation for the court date House Rules Committee Chairman Richard Morgan unveiled a new map reconfiguring North Carolina's congressional districts. The new map looks like this. It creates two majority minority congressional districts they are the first district in northeastern North Carolina which would include a majority of African-American voters and the 12th District in South Central North Carolina where the majority of voters would include Native Americans as well as African-Americans. This afternoon around 100 people from across the state attended a public hearing in Raleigh to speak out about the proposed plan. And while everyone agrees redistricting needs to be a top priority. The controversy is over whether or not it needs to be done before the November 5th election. It seems to me that to hold another primary election between now and in November general election would not only be a big expenditure of taxpayers money but it would be unfair to

candidates and to the voters as well. Too much time effort and money has been expended by the supporters of the candidates themselves to start all over again at this juncture. It's very easy to say and do something it's very easy to give excuses for not doing but we believe the evidence of the history of this particular occasion everything concerned with indications of the doing something should be another point of contention about the proposed plan is that still majority minority districts while House Republicans say these districts should fairly represent African-American interest at least one healthy Democrat disagrees. But I would suggest to you that even the plan that has been so kind of decimate it is not necessarily a player playing. We have been told that there are two majority minority districts included in

that plane. And I would agree with you that the first pic on of that plan and just because under that plan when you look at the total population the population of our ages you have created two minority districts by a bare percentage point but when you turn over and look at the voting age population those people who vote you don't have any. You don't have a majority minority. And it's important to know that the proposed redistricting plan has not been voted on by state lawmakers. It must be passed by both the House and Senate before it can be taken to the federal court for approval. Shannon let's get back to these majority minority districts that are included in this new plan the current way that the how the congressional districts are drawn including to majority minority districts now this new plan includes to majority minority districts if the current plan is ruled unconstitutional because of the way the districts are

drawn to favor minorities. Why do lawmakers think that this plan will pass constitutional muster. The main reason that they believe that this plan will work is because these two majority minority districts war were drawn based on geography and not based on race and they say it just so happens that in these two particular areas of the state there are a majority of minorities living there. You had also mentioned the federal hearing that's going to be taking place starting on Monday what do we expect to happen there. Well basically what is going to happen is you're going to have the judges talk about when North Carolina should start reconfiguring their congressional districts. It could be that the court decides that it needs to be done before the November election. Or it could be that they decide to send it back to the legislature and let the legislature decide when and how to do it. OK Shannon Well it's certainly something that we're going to be keeping an eye on thanks for the update. Thank you. Coming up the importance of keeping our children physically fit. But right now Michel Louis is here to bring us up to date on the news making headlines around our state. Good evening

Mitch. Thanks Marina. Good evening everyone. The presidential election is still months away and already the race in North Carolina between President Clinton and Republican Bob Dole is heating up. According to a new insider Mason-Dixon poll Clinton is gaining support among North Carolinians. As Dole slips in popularity 46 percent of likely voters say they support dole while 44 percent back Clinton and 10 percent remain undecided. That's down from the 48 to 42 percent believe that Dole had over Clinton and may pollsters attribute part of Clinton's gain to firming up the African-American vote. President Clinton came to the end of a lacy peak convention in Charlotte earlier this month. Mr. Dole was scheduled to speak but ended up canceling. A nationwide survey released by a Washington based foundation has recognized North Carolina as having some of the best rules regulating health maintenance organizations. The group Families USA Foundation surveyed him o regulations in 33 states. North Carolina was cited twice once where regulations governing rules on

grievance procedures and again for rules governing how managed care insurers handle the denial of payment for medical treatments. A precedent setting decision giving a Wrightsville Beach Resort permission to erect sandbag barriers is expected later this week. Shell Island Resort has petitioned the state to allow a variance on a policy that prohibits the construction of sea walls. Shell Island has argued they need to protect the resort from Mason inlet which has been moving in the direction of the resort at a rate of 50 feet a month. The North Carolina coastal resources Commission will make their determination on Friday. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather. Thursday will be almost a carbon copy of today with temperatures ranging in the low to mid 90s in most places mountain highs will range between 80 and 85 degrees. The chance of rain increases a bit tomorrow. There is on average a better than 40 percent chance of afternoon thunderstorms across the entire state for tomorrow. And in business news the legate group hopes a committee of state attorneys general can protect them from billions of

dollars on anti-tobacco claims. In March the Durham Bates Liggett Group settled with five states seeking reimbursement for smoking related Medicaid costs. Leggett seeks a similar pact with all 50 states but legal experts call such a blanket settlement unlikely even with state attorney's help. And Wilmington based Carol co studios will soon be under new direction. Screen Gems has won the bidding war for Carroll Coco with a three point four million dollar offer originally SAS Institute of Carrie had made the largest bid for the studio at two point five million dollars but backed out of the deal July 12th. The sale is expected to close in 10 days. A woman film commissioner says the buy means film crews can rest easy because Screen Gems as a known entity and Hollywood. And now here's a look at what happened on Wall Street today. North

Carolina's children are less physically fit than children in other states and children here in the United States are less fit than their European counterparts. But this can all change according to a state wide study on the effects of implementing a basic exercise and nutrition education program within the classroom. Joining me now is Dr. Joanne Harrell she is a professor of nursing at U NC Chapel Hill School of Nursing and the principal investigator of the study Dr. Harold welcome to the program. Thanks for being here. Thank you. So tell me about this study that you conducted how did you go about doing it. We contacted many school principals in grade schools

around the united around the whole state and about one hundred eight were eager to participate in the study. We randomly selected 12 schools from that group and then randomly assigned them to be in the in the in a program intervention program or B Control schools. Of course we had permission from the schools and from the parents before we did anything. And what age groups are we talking we're talking about third and fourth graders. They're aged 8 13 and our average age was eight point nine. We started and all throughout the state you had in rural and urban areas. Yes we had rural and urban. A third of our schools were in the eastern coastal plain a third were in the Piedmont area and a third were in the in the mountains and that half in each area were rural. OK tell me about what you had them do. Well first of all before we started we tested everyone. And then after we finished the testing than we did we did the program to fill in the in the intervention school.

Did you want me to tell you about the testing if you would for testing. We wanted to look at. We're going to see whether our program helps cardiovascular disease risk factors so that we looked at. We brought a team of four research assistants to each of the schools. We packed all of our equipment up. Exercise bikes. We had a van full of equipment and we did our history right in the schools. Sometimes we were going to the library sometimes we were in a classroom one place we were in the hallway and I remember the schools were very flexible for us and our team came in. We gave questionnaires to all the children in the classrooms to find out their eating habits their physical activity habits whether or not they smoked and some other knowledge and attitudes. So you're basically trying to find the level at which you're starting from. And then you go to implement the program to see how well it works yes and then compare the changes in the children receive the program as compared

with changes in children who did not receive the program. One of the elements of the program the program consisted of. It was eight weeks long and for two days a week they gave a classroom knowledge and attitude program. We use the American Heart Association school flight kits was taught by the regular school teacher the regular classroom teacher did it. We brought someone around to do a one day orientation. So it was really cost effective because they didn't have to to hire anyone new. We just could use a regular classroom teachers that covered healthy eating habits. It covered the benefits of physical activity a little bit about risk factors for heart disease what Heart disease is when you get it. And a program. Don't smoke. Smoking is bad for your health. So those are the major effects. It wasn't heavy on nutrition. It was a balanced program that covered all aspects. A healthy

healthy heart living. Did you also do physical exercise. Yes that was for two days a week we had the classroom. Then the other three days of the week we implemented a physical activity program and it's probably not so much exercise as physical activity. People tend I think discovered that a lot of people think when they think of exercise they think of oh that's a program that you have to have expensive equipment you have to go to a gym and it's hard. And I can never do that. And we implemented a physical activity program that incorporated some aspects of what would be more exercise but it's primarily in moderate to vigorous physical activity. What did you find when you finished the study. Well when we finished the study we found we were very excited but what we found because we found that the average cholesterol of the children who received the program dropped five milligrams for deciliter more than the children in the control group and that was that's an important amount it was statistically and clinically Cigna. Again

you know children this age don't have a high cholesterol. The average cholesterol for children and age is about one hundred sixty five. Actually the children in our intervention group happened to have a mean cholesterol of one hundred sixty eight before the intervention. Afterwards it was 161. And we're starting to run out of time and let me interrupt I'm college guys but it sounds like this was a very successful study and it sounds like something that you want to promote the implementation of within the school districts. But we're hearing so much about the inability of our schools to teach reading and writing and math. And there were going to be some people out there that say we can't do the basics. How can we do this extra. It's far as I'm concerned and this is an opinion. You can do the basics better if you are teaching children who have a healthy body if they are physically active they will be able to learn better. I believe firmly the kid can process what you what they're being taught better they have a chance to be active. Burn

off some energy. And plus you're building for a lifetime future of health. So I think that it would not be easy perhaps logistically it's simple. The program itself is not heard it the problem. The challenge is to find time in the curriculum. And so what each school has to do is look at their priorities and what is relevant to a child as they're going through the school system. And they vary the total curriculum. Dr. Hiro on that note we'll end it but I want to thank you so much for being here tonight I wish you well on getting your message out. Thank you. This

week the eyes of the world are on Atlanta and the Olympic Games but there is quiet international festival going on here in our state as well. It's called folk mood U.S.A. the largest festival of its kind of the United States. Maria Lundberg takes us to the North Carolina mountains for a look at the sights and sounds of Main Street in the mountain community of Waynesville has been transformed into a mini United Nations as this parade kicks off the 13th Annual Folk Festival featuring more than 350 folk dancers and musicians from 12 countries where thousands of residents said it's a great opportunity to learn about the many

countries around travel around the country we have an RV and we will be here in the in the park. We've never seen let's you know what these people live in. You know with the stuff it helps you understand. Right. This colorful parade is only the beginning of folk mote. During the 11 day festival international musicians and dancers will perform all across western North Carolina General Admission their opening night in Maggie Valley provides a chance to see all 12 groups as spectators file inside dancers and musicians warm up for an evening packed full of incredible entertainment. For them it's a chance to share the beauty of their culture through music dance and colorful native costumes. You

know a new ANY now an n. Thank ye I an't. Thank you. Thank you. Each night after performing the groups congregate at Waynesville Middle School which has been

turned into a dormitory for all of them. That's when they have their own cultural exchange trying out some new skills learning each other spoke dances and making new friends. The very most special thing is the friends that you make. You wouldn't think in two weeks that you literally could fall in love with people that you can barely talk to verbally and that you will never forget that you sometimes travel to visit they sometimes travel back to visit here. But it's people people in the world are really much more like than we are different. For the participants the festival is an opportunity to visit the United States and to meet people one on one. It's also a great way to fulfill the festivals goal the understanding of international friendship and goodwill. Most of people don't even know where creation is and that's sad but it isn't isn't it. And if we can show them and share with us with them

our I know our How can I say we can share our happiness with them. You know full well the people you lay cold takes so maybe next year we're going to be busy lives to invite to do a show and countries and we also hope to be invited to their countries and I think that he's also one of the. Goals for and festival Longview we think that's a stimulus or to provide people to know to know about their culture send it together a lot of people together and we have a very good time. Kids are from North Caroline that tit it is for you to like us because what you know about United States only big cities like Miami New York Washington and here we are in the countryside and they are much more hot. Can you understand this.

Yes like us like Brazilians professed civil goers who attend folk roots performances. It's like opening a window to the world a unique chance to promote friendship and understanding through the universal language of music and dance. That was shown here at least a little bit. The Pokemon festival continues with daily performances through Sunday July 28 this Saturday

more than 20000 people are expected to attend international day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Main Street in Waynesville. In addition to dance performances by several countries handcrafts an international food will also be on sale. For more information on performance locations times and ticket prices you can contact the full office at 7 0 4 4 5 2 2 9 9 7. Well that's all we have time for tonight. Thanks for joining us we'll see you tomorrow night. Good night everyone. You're

with me.