North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 04/04/1997

The It's Friday April 4th tonight starting a course for our state's future route in North Carolina. Good evening welcome to North Carolina now I'm Marina right on this Friday edition of our program we'll head to the general assembly to get caught up on this past week's legislative activities. Well also explore an issue before legislators regarding efforts to crack down on illegal dogfighting. Also tonight we'll bring you the conclusion of our multi-part special report on our

state's growing economic prosperity. And Lisa shell from the Division of Forestry sources will be here to share her concerns regarding this year's forest fire season. But we start first tonight at the legislature and for a summary of this past week's activities at the General Assembly we turn to our legislative correspondent John Bass and good evening John. Hi Maria. I understand that lawmakers focus quite a bit this week on legislation affecting our young people. Let's start with the graduated drivers licensing is this almost a done deal. It is a done deal the governor will sign the bill we're pretty sure students youngsters who are not yet into the process of getting their license don't yet have a learners permit will be going through this three step process. They're going to have more experience before they get out on the road by themselves because a lot of crash data that shows that those first couple of years after you get your license or times when you you don't have the experience and you make mistakes and people get hurt. I also understand that this anti-evolution bill that we've been hearing so much about the last week or so is almost near extinction.

Well I'm not sure I would call it an anti-evolution bill but the sponsor said that evolution was being taught as fact in the schools and he wanted to call on the State Board of Education and local boards to ensure that it was taught as a theory not a fact. But the committee that he brought it up before didn't have much of a stomach for it. And they they amended the bill he did not like the way it was changed. He asked that they stop considering at that point we're not sure where it's going but that committee didn't have a fondness for it apparently and it may not have much of a future. It sounded like it had a lot of activity this week but it doesn't sound like this is something that they're going to consider taking up in the future. I think it will depend on whether the man who represented Russell Capps of Wake County who introduced the original bill wanted to be considered further. But in the in the form that it is right now he's not happy with it. OK. Now the how. Took some action in regard to the teen smoking bill and from what I understand they have watered it down a little bit from its original version what's up with that. Well they've actually changed current law under current law which as you know is almost never enforced. It's a misdemeanor for a clerk to sell tobacco to a minor.

They've changed the law to make it easier to prosecute but they have lowered the penalty that made it an infraction a non criminal offense there is a fine associated but a lot of people feel that we should not be decriminalizing the sale of tobacco products to minors and the Senate passed a version that retains the misdemeanor or criminal penalties for it. So there will have to be some negotiation between the House and Senate on that bill. It's all coming about of course because of the FDA the Food Drug Administration regulating tobacco products. Very quickly John any hopes of a compromise in that regard. It's too early to say but there will be some attempts to work out a compromise bill. There's a lot of time left in the session that one may go to the very end. OK well thanks John for the insight and we'll check in with you next week. Thanks. Lawmakers are also considering ways to strengthen state laws regarding dog fighting. Law officers and Animal Control agents from across the state testified before a House Judiciary Committee about the increasing number of dog fighters moving into North Carolina. Keep in mind that over 40 other states have made dogfighting a felony.

Tonight Sanya Williams takes a close look at dog fighting. But we must warn you that the video that you're about to see is graphic so if you have small children or you think this material material may upset you you may want to leave the room and rejoin us in about five minutes. Two pit bulls locked in a vicious grip as spectators cheer. It's a sight that's becoming all too common in North Carolina. These dogs like many others are specifically bred and trained to fight to the death to some dogfighting is considered a sport. But to others the act is startling evidence of animal cruelty. Sometimes the records are cut so the dogs don't make any noise and so they don't howl and bark at each other. Professional Dog bites like in this video confiscated by the Guilford County Sheriff's Department bring big bucks to those breeding and betting on these dogs. Law officers have reported

finding up to a half million dollars at some fights animal control officers say there is an underground network of dock buyers worldwide and more and more of them are coming to North Carolina because here dogfighting is only a misdemeanor in most other states it's a felony. Statistically what is happening you have these groups of people coming to North Carolina to fight because they know if they get caught here it's just a slap on the wrist Mr. Mayor small fine and when they're making you know thousands of dollars a fight you know what they're not going to worry too much about the fine. The frequency assesses just like driving is a very close network sometimes they pay out by mail. So you can see gambling is going on in the thick of things and all you need is an empty building or a place in a wood. But now law officers and animal lovers are working to take dogfighting out of the back woods in abandoned buildings and bring it to the attention of State Legislators.

Representative John Weatherly introduced a bill that would make it a felony to own or train a dog for fighting or to stage or watch a fight. Absolutely amazing. Supporters come forth. Concerning this officials told lawmakers that dog biting can affect everyone in the community. Drugs and illegal weapons are often linked to the activity of inner city teens are staging less organized fights in the streets and using neighborhood pets as practice. And what happened with these dogs and animals. Your cocker spaniel or our set or whatever they can stand up to these dogs kittens are used as blood bags. What they do is they allow the dog to get a taste of blood and the idea that killing is ok. And that's what they go after and so they end up using these animals that are stolen or taken and they use them to train these dogs to get used to doing exactly what those dogs are doing.

Share of barns share portions of the dog fighting video with lawmakers the sites and testimonies were enough to make some push for even tougher penalties. Then the bill proposed making prison time more likely for offenders. It appears that this is serious. Thank God they let you take it and revive and rather than take it we will do something about it let's do something about it. And you're just bill's supporters agreed strengthening the penalties would make dog fighters think twice about fighting in North Carolina. It would also give law officers more incentive to investigate these underground fights knowing that violators could face prison time as it is now. They laugh at us folks fighting lap bars here in North

Carolina because it's not a serious a crime and they'll take a misdemeanor every time. It's no problem with them they're going about their way when people are convicted. You know we would have more bite so to speak in the law. We could do with it and your more professional people need to be given some whorehouse. The bill has been sent to a subcommittee where its penalties will be strengthened the subcommittee will also consider adding cockfighting to the bill. If you would like. A comprehensive review of this past week's action at the General Assembly turned into a legislative week in review tonight at 10:00 p.m. here on U.N. CTV. Well still ahead concern regarding this year's forest fire season. But first Michel Louis is here to bring us up to date on the events making news around our state. Good evening Mitch. Thanks Maria. Good evening everyone. Topping our news a Governor's Office report says welfare rolls have dropped 19 percent since work first took effect. The program which began in June 1995 includes work and training requirements

and sets time limits on benefits for parents who receive government help over one hundred thirteen thousand families received cash assistance when work first started as of last month that number was down to around ninety one thousand five hundred families. The resolution adopted by Mecklenburg County Commissioners regarding arts funding may also affect county funding of some non arts groups. The commissioners voted five to four earlier this week to cut funding for the Arts and Science Council and groups that expose people to quote perverted forms of sexuality. The resolution also prevents any private or nonprofit agency from receiving county money unless a separate allocation is approved for each organization. That means agencies like Planned Parenthood the Mecklenburg Council on adolescent pregnancy and the Metroliner AIDS project could lose county funding at least four of the nine commissioners say they oppose funding for some of these groups. Harnett County has Animal Control Authority is feeling the strain of a rabies epidemic that shows no

sign of lessening in Harnett County alone 26 rabies infected dogs had to be put to sleep in March. Ten of those were puppies on top of that three of the county's four animal control officers walked off the job leaving the county with just one remaining officer Harnett County had 56 confirmed cases of rabies last year. The most of any county in the Triangle area. Looking ahead to tomorrow's weather forecast highs are expected to reach into the upper 70s and lower 80s the mountain regions will climb between 65 and 70 mostly sunny skies are expected for most of the Tarheel State tomorrow. The chance of rain could crop up in the afternoon particularly in the West. And in Business News Charlotte based First Union is announcing plans to expand a fingerprinting identification program to seven East Coast states. The fingerprint ideas for check cashers who don't hold an account with the bank. The fingerprint is placed on the front of the check and must be accompanied by a photo ID beginning Monday the program will include first union branches and states along the Eastern

Seaboard. A fingerprint is already required in several southern states North Carolina branches are slated to institute the program at a later date. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. Forestry officials are greatly concerned about this year's forest fire season. The dry conditions we've

had lately coupled with the debris left over from hurricanes Fran and Bertha have made this forest fire season potentially dangerous. Here to tell us about those concerns is Lisa shell of the North Carolina Division of forest resources. Welcome. How big is the danger right now. Well we are in our spring fire season and in North Carolina's spring fire season usually is the time when we have our largest fires in our largest number of fires. So with the hurricane Fran and Bertha damage that's down in the eastern part of the state and Hurricane Opal damage and eye storm damage in the western part of the state. The fire danger right now is is pretty high. Is there one part of the state more than any other that you're more concerned about. Well we usually like to watch the eastern part of North Carolina. That's where we have our larger expanse of unbroken timber. And it's also a fire ecosystem. The trees in the vegetation in that part of the state need fire actually to continue through their growth cycles and their life cycles. So that's

kind of a hot spot traditionally And of course with Fran and Bertha the down timber complicating the problem there. That's where we're keeping a close watch. Now we've already had some fires so far. Tell us about those. Well just this week since Easter Monday through Wednesday we've had about 275 forest fires in North Carolina totaling about sixteen hundred acres altogether. When you add up all the acreage from those 275 fires that's just three days worth. Is this a prelude to what you fear may be a particularly strong fire season. It's always hard to tell and hard to speculate. It depends on the weather conditions. If we get more wind higher wind like we had earlier this week continue to have dry conditions with not a lot of rain not a good soaking rain. It could become more intense. Let's make a clarification that we were discussing earlier and that is the difference between the

red flag warning and the fire ban. There is currently a red flag warning but no bans right. The red flag warning is just sort of an alert for folks that we have critical fire weather. We have high winds we have dry conditions and that just sort of alerts everyone to the fact that when they're outside and they're working with fire they need to be careful. If conditions were to get worse if we were to have a severe drought period if we were fighting lots of small fires and taxing our manpower resources then we might consider issuing a burning ban and canceling all burning permits. But we have not reached that point yet. We have not cancelled burning permits we have not issued a burning ban. You're just urging caution and common Exactly. You have brought along a piece of videotape with you and this is a piece of some firefighting equipment that you hope to purchase tell us what we're about to see here this is the Canada air seal to 15 air tanker called the super scooper and it's

an aquatic plane that as you can see scoops up water from rivers or lakes or even the ocean I think this looks like a lake. And it can put about fourteen hundred gallons of water in its tank and then dump that on a fire either all at once or in two shots of seven hundred gallons apiece. And Governor Jim Hunt has included money in his budget to purchase one of these plains North Carolina does not own one now. If we were to get that money we'd be able to actually we'd be the only state in the country to actually own one. Other states we use them particularly California when they have their bad fire seasons but they can put a lot of water on a fire in a quick amount of time it's what we call it. And this whole attack tool it can get to the fire before the fire really has a chance to go much farther. And you can see from the videotape that we had there just how effective it is that water comes van and wish it's pretty much taken care of a big strong area

right after Hurricane Hugo several years ago FEMA's gave North Carolina enough money to lease one of those planes or actually I think to this point every spring fire season so we've had some experience with it and we know that it can save homes and lives. So what do you think your chances are in the general assembly of getting them to pass that part of the budget. Well we're we're very glad that Governor Hunt has included. This in his budget. I think that's excellent support. He's also very concerned of course about the fire danger and has asked us to open some of our fire towers that have been closed several years ago due to budget cuts so it's it's a good good sign and of course we're optimistic. There are steps that your division is taking and of course the state government is taking but what can we all do to help prevent forest fires. I sounded like Smokey buried in debris burning is the number one cause of forest fires in North Carolina. So the number one thing

that folks can do is to be very very careful when they are in their backyards burring yard waste a lot of people are wanting to do that because they have a lot of yard waste debris around their homes because of Hurricane Fran so we would urge them to be extremely careful when they do that. Don't do it near their homes don't near do it near the forest. The. Mindful of wind conditions. I haven't been on it right when I own it start these fires I don't want to always I have a hose ready maybe fill up some buckets of water keep right nearby and stay with it until it's completely out. Because it can get away from you much faster than folks realize. Tell us about some of the other causes of forest fires in addition to the debris burning. Second leading cause of forest fires in our state is arson attentional we set fires. Other common causes are lightning strikes children playing with matches. Those are the main causes really.

Well hopefully we can all be mindful of some of those causes and do our part to prevent them and wish you well and in this fire season Hopefully things go well for you. Well thank you for having us here. Thank you. That interview with Lisa show was taped shortly before the state lifted the red flag warning. And now we move on to the conclusion of our multi-part special report on our state's rapid growth. Throughout this series we've learned about managing growth protecting our environment our economy and about social equity aspects of growth developing guidelines or

principles to help focus efforts towards healthy growth is the subject of tonight's final installment produced by Derek long. We know growth is coming. The question is how do we handle it. The consequences of how we plan for and manage growth and development will ripple well into the future of North Carolina. Is the quality of life that we have now going to continue or hopefully improve. Or is it going to deteriorate. And I think in the absence of good solid creative planning that is certainly going to deteriorate. We need to keep growth coming but we need to ensure that we use our land wisely according to good plans of the people that a lot of input into creating that plan for how we want our state to grow requires bringing the diverse interest of people in North Carolina together to develop a coordinated vision for that growth.

One concept to managing growth a lot of people are considering these days is called Sustainable Development. Well as you say sustainable development a lot of times people just kind of glaze over and and don't really understand what you are talking about. Margaret Newbold with the environmental resources program at CS School for Public Health is wrapping up a five year effort to introduce the concepts of sustainable development to the state sustainable development links the economy the environment and social equity and the policies and practices that benefit current generations without compromising future generations to meet their needs. The word sustainable is everybody's favorite buzz word and it doesn't mean anything. It's the easiest or the hardest word to use as easiest word because it doesn't have a specific meaning. It's the hardest because if you use in a real real way then there are big consequences from here than you do. But everything we do already has a tremendous impact whether we acknowledge that or not. And as the state's population increases the effects on the environment the economy and

quality of life multiply the state has to be able to identify its goals or what it wants to accomplish where it wants to be in five 10 15 20 year. Then it has to figure out how it is going to translate those goals you know and true broader principles or objectives. The sustainable development model offers guidelines for charting those objectives. We have recently worked with citizens from across the state. We brought together government leaders business leaders and nonprofit leaders and a conference to work on sustainable development principles specific for North Carolina and through this consensus based conference. The panel came up with 10 sustainable development principles. Those principles include the need to involve the public early in the decision making

process collaboration between groups and various interests. Protection of the environment the development of quality jobs that provide good wages benefits and opportunities for employee growth and advancement. Quality education and respect for cultural diversity if used throughout the state as a guideline and framework that will help to have again what we all want which is a strong economy a clean environment and healthy communities. What it means is simply doing things that we are doing in a slightly different way in order to accomplish those goals so that we go. Earning our living going to school running our hospitals building infrastructure. But we do it with a very specific goal in mind so that the

net result of all of the development is something that is going to be of benefit to all of us. But rater suggests that addressing the effects of population on the environment is not that easy. Finding solutions to those problems suggests fundamentally different patterns of living. Lack of dependence on personal automobiles. Different patterns in the way we use power and consumption generally a very long way from those kinds of of new paradigms for living sustainably on this continent. Our journey into the future is an uncharted course safeguarding our environment and our economy as well as fostering social equity will be challenges we all must encounter on the way. Planners say overcoming those challenges will require strong leadership from state and local government corporate responsibility and most importantly active citizen

participation as individuals every day we all make decisions that will affect the future of this state and. And we can't point to anyone else saying that they are the causes of the problems that the problems we're all involved with and we're all connected in. And if we're going to continue to have the state that we want to live then and to bring up our children and we're going to have to work together to create that state to not lose what we love about the state of North Carolina. If you would like to know more about sustainable development you can contact the sustainable North Carolina project at 9 1 9 9 6 6 7 7 5 4. Well that brings to a close North Carolina now for the week. Thanks for having been a part of it. Please join us Monday when Shannon Viguerie takes us to Campbell as you know where some women Marines are making history.

And we'll talk allergies with an expert from you and see hospitals hopefully will get some tips on how we can make this pollen season a bit more pleasant. Have a great weekend everyone. We'll see you back here on Monday. Good night.