North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 07/17/1997

It's Thursday July 7th. A tasty treat getting recognition of Missoni and supported the night on Carolina now. Hello I'm married I'm a try Welcome to North Carolina now so glad you could join us for this Thursday edition of our program. Have you ever wondered what our state was like millions of years ago. This evening's guest is finding the answer through his research he is a paleo botanist from NC State who has unearthed some fascinating discoveries. Also on the historical front but in this case much more

recent history. Billy Barnes will travel a state to showcase some of the old homes of some famous North Carolinians. But up first tonight a Winston-Salem based business that's making history of its own. Today in Washington D.C. The Smithsonian Museum of American history opened the month long display of artifacts and memorabilia from the Krispy Kreme donut corporation. The exhibit is one of the elements of the Smithsonian's campaign to showcase American business icons. And it coincides almost exactly with the company's celebration of its 60th anniversary. Bob Carter has more on the history and recent fortunes of this Tarheel corporation. The first Krispy Kreme swer sold in Winston-Salem on July 13th 1937 from a store in what is now a restored area of Old Salem. Those first donuts were made with ingredients borrowed from a grocery store because founder Vernon Rudolph and his two partners were broke. Fortunately for them Rudolph had already purchased the Krispy Kreme name and recipe from a New Orleans Frenchmen and

what a recipe it is warm. There's nothing about the flavor just the content with there with a cup of coffee that's all American. We get about at least twice a week with them and they're just in this just a nothing any better but they start to die off rise. We know that if we can pretty much look through the window we can tell them coming down below and they always have. The business in town and the prices are very reasonable. So because the queen is always the place I want to go. Residents of 10 southeastern states have known about Krispy Kreme for years but the light sugary pastries are rapidly gaining national exposure. It's characteristic of how well things have been going for the company that just as preparations were underway to celebrate 60 years in business. The Smithsonian approached I think they saw a company that has been around 60 years and they call to say Krispy Kreme would like to come talk about your history and see if there might be some interest in having your collection at the

Smithsonian. And there was documents pictures and artifacts like an early ring King donut maker will be displayed in a special exhibit for three to four weeks then placed permanently in the Smithsonian's archives where they'll be on tap for future exhibits on American business. They saw a company who was part of the fabric of the South who was part of it. The entrepreneurship of a great man very often found in the company who was interested in technology and dancing the Donat industry. They saw a company who franchised in its early years back in the 40s who was advertising and merchandising and all the things that make a company work today. Merchandising has in fact been uppermost at Krispy Kreme in 1989 the company switch from a primary emphasis on selling wholesale to grocers and bakeries to a plan to boost retail sales by showcasing hot glazed donuts which have actually been available for years to retail customers who showed up at just the right moment.

Today new neon signs reading hot donuts now advertise the fact that those moments occur much more frequently. News stories make it even easier for customers to watch the traditional conveyor belt process by which Krispy Kreme donuts are forming deep fat fried and glazed with a liquid sugar mixture. And that process is now visible to customers outside the company's traditional Southern backyard. Here in the south Krispy Kreme donuts have always been kind of a spiritual experience. Maybe it's that baptism of melted sugar but it took a writer from New York where Krispy Kreme is have only recently arrived to some of the best. She said any one of these was kind of like eating your pillow at that moment in the morning when it's so comfortable. You don't want to get out of bed. Plenty of other New York writers have given rave reviews to Krispy Kreme three new outlets in New York thanks at least in part to shrewd publice of the efforts including crashing the NBC Today

show with one hundred twenty dozen donuts and supplying a miniature donut conveyor to talk show hosts Rosie O'Donnell including New York's three there are now around 130 stores in 17 states and they generate some 200 million dollars in annual sales. A good chunk of that comes from selling donuts at a discount to nonprofit groups who resell them as a fundraiser at a 50 percent profit. Besides the company's community involvement employees say they appreciate the positive low stress aspect of their work. It's hard to get upset when somebody's doing a window on us. We're pretty much a laid back company. The people here enjoy what they do. If you look around at some of the employees here most all of them have a good smile on their face and a very friendly despite technological advances some things haven't changed much over the years. Donuts are still filled two at a time by hand. And those chocolate iced donuts are also dipped by hand. But there's a new generation of donut lovers who like the last several generations may not care much about such details

short of visiting the Smithsonian. Perhaps they learned all they need to know about Krispy Kreme spy biting into them. Once again if you're in Washington D.C. during the next month or so you can see the Krispy Kreme exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum of American history. Well still ahead we'll explore prehistoric North Carolina with this evening's guest but first let's get an update on the current events that are happening around our state with Roger Cates Bailey sitting in for Michel Louis. Hey Audrey thanks Farai the good in everyone. Topping our news this evening. Army General Henry Shelton says he's honored to be chosen to serve as the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. President Clinton today officially nominated the North Carolina native to the post Shelton's background is quite different from that of past Joint Chiefs. His experiences mostly in special operations and Shelton didn't to go to West Point but to North Carolina State University. Sponsible the other ensuring that our armed forces remain

trained ready and equipped to deal with the threats and dangers of the day as well as an uncertain future. This is a sponsibility that I accept without hesitation or reservation and I certainly look forward to continuing to serve alongside America's best. The great men and women of our armed forces who serve proudly and suffer So if confirmed. Shelton will replace Army General John Shalikashvili who is scheduled to retire at the end of September. Shelton is a Green Beret and former Fort Bragg commander. He also served as head of the troops that served in Haiti several years ago. Governor Hunt is asking for some 15 million dollars in federal funds to improve North Carolina's Child Protective Services wants the money in order to provide more child welfare case workers. He would also like the state to take over poorly performing county social service agencies. And the governor proposes changing a state law that emphasizes the importance of reuniting abused and

neglected children with their biological parents and make the child's safety the top priority. State health officials are recommending that many of North Carolina's one million Medicaid clients be placed into managed care. They say that could help control costs while improving the quality of health care for low income people. Under the proposed system private health maintenance organizations would compete for patients with state funded physicians networks hospitals and clinics. Human Resources Secretary David Bruton says the state must play a larger role in the system to ensure the improvement of medical services for those qualifying for Medicaid. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall is asking the General Assembly to address the issue of telemarketing companies who use high tech methods to sway legislators. Marshall says a potential loophole in lobbying laws was highlighted during a campaign by a marketing committee working for Blue Cross Blue Shield. The marketing company called subscribers

and discussed the legislation that would allow the company to convert to for profit status. Then they transferred concern subscribers to legislators. Blue Cross says it hired the firm simply to inform subscribers about the legislation. Marshall says she will present a draft of changes to state lobbying laws to the House Ethics Committee by the end of the week. Senate leader Mark bass nicest state lawmakers need to reach a compromise and pass campaign finance reform this year. Bess Knight says he supports combining House and Senate measures earlier in the session the Senate unanimously approved a bill that would reduce the amount of money that could legally flow into state campaigns in their own version the House removed spending limits and increased reporting requirements. And now for a look at tomorrow's weather it will be hot and hazy once again across the state mountain areas will be in the mid 80s but the rest of the state will be in the mid 90s. It should be mostly

sunny in most areas tomorrow but there is a slight chance of afternoon thunderstorms across the state. In business news Aetna US healthcare the nation's largest managed health care company has announced plans to build a regional office center in High Point between 1000 and twelve hundred workers will be employed at the center. The company plans to hire about 400 new workers and to move as many as 800 workers from leased office space and grains Baro. The move is expected to be complete by January 1999. And now for a look at what happened on Wall Street today. Bit

by fossilized a bit this evening's guest is piecing together a prehistoric puzzle as a paleo botanist from North Carolina State Dr. James Nicoll is unearthing plants fossils that have fascinating tales to tell about what our state was like millions of years ago. Dr. Michael welcome to North Carolina now. Thank you. Tell me a little bit about your research give us an overview of what you're doing. Well as a paleo botanist essentially what I am is a story and I study the history of the plant kingdom the evolution of plants what types of plants there were in the past how they grew where they grew. This sort of

research that that type of thing is is essentially that the the major thrust of my research what the plants looked like and what areas of our state are you currently working in where you have some projects going on. Well I have several projects going on along some of the major river so I have one going along going on along the Tar River near Greenville. And then a couple of localities on the Neuse River one at Goldsboro and then also a couple of localities that are along the Cape Fear River south of Fayetteville especially. And then there's a locality in southern Sampson County near the little town of Ivanhoe that I've been collecting at and tell us about some of your discoveries I know that you've brought along a couple of the fossils and you can tell us some of the things that you found and what's going on. Well I have discovered a couple of fossils. From these these localities that are of interest one is a conifer that's similar to a southern hemisphere conifer and it shows that southern hemisphere plants once lived up in North Carolina. This was about 80 million years ago during the late Cretaceous. So then our climate was much warmer. Yes

much warmer than probably 10 to 15 degrees centigrade on average warmer worldwide during the late Cretaceous than now. No I'm interested in this fossil here and if you could tell us what it is we're saying with this one. Sure this one is a Triassic age fossil. It's from a locality near Sanford. It's the boring clay products clay pit. It's not of man and it's on the monitor. This particular fossil is a type of plant called a sago home or a psychopath and that's the picture there that yes if you are seeing on the left hand side of the screen it is what the plant would have looked what it looked like it was about five feet tall or so. And then one of the leaves or a portion of one of the leaves can be seen on the right there in the fossil itself. And I'm sorry Doctor Where did you say that you found this particular specimen is from near Sanford and it's boring clay pit. And what is this big one over here to your left is this this particular fossil is from the same locality

and it's similar markings as the other one only they're a little bit smaller. Yeah it's similar material probably a different species. Psych had this particular locality was interesting. The material is roughly two hundred fifteen million years old and this again is of Triassic age and this particular material was probably growing near a lake. And so the as the lake sediments filled in plant parts would be washed in and preserved. Let's pick up the small one here because this one really fascinates me because I know that I know that the viewers can't see this one but there's tiny tiny little detail in how very small this is. And we have an example of it up on the screen where you can see a little bit better but you can tell so much by just these small little markings. Yeah a lot of what we study is very subtle. The Cretaceous material that I've been working with is like this in that it's very subtle. This particular fossil is from the a legacy in of Texas and it's called you know in the soil it was an early lagoon.

And as you can see the the reconstruction shows that it was a series of flowers called an inflorescence of very small pedalled flowers with very long anthers or reproductive structures probably very brightly colored. So doctor what this is all very all very interesting but what does it tell us other than the fact that there were plants that lived millions of years ago. Well it can tell us a bit about what the environment was like. It can tell us a good bit about the climate. It can tell us a good bit about where continents were placed in the past. Some of the early evidence for Continental Drift actually came from. From comparisons of fossil plants across continents and by piecing together where the fossil plants were found the workers were able then to discern which continents were attached to each other and for example Africa used to be butted right up against North Carolina.

So similar fossils that you'll be finding in North Carolina they've also found in Africa some African fossils are similar. In fact the conditions in which this was formed this fossil was formed it was a rift valley from when Africa was breaking off from North America and in the Atlantic oceans warming. Is there any good indication you had talked about how our climate was so much different way back when than it is now. Any hints as to why it changed. No not really we don't have good good data on that right now and that's an active area of research but lots of hypotheses but not really good solid ideas yet anything we can learn about the future. I think one of the things we can learn from the future is about the future is that the Earth is a very changing place and the earth has changed a great deal in the last hundred million years from being a very warm equable climate with virtually no polar ice caps to the period now which is one of the coldest periods in earth in recent history. The earth is

constantly changing and will continue to change and I think that's a major lesson learned from this. Well Dr. Michael great stuff here I'm glad you were able to come out tonight on this whole area fascinating so appreciate your time this evening and wish you well in your future research. Thank you. Thank you. If you're looking for a different way to spend a quick summer getaway why not plan of and vacation visiting the various old homes of some historic North Carolina residents. Tonight producer Billy Barnes takes us on a tour to peek into the personal lives of some of these

famous people who were at one time or another called North Carolina home. Well we don't put up as many statues as managed to preserve. Help us remember like Julia Wolf's boarding house in downtown Nashville where Thomas will spend his boyhood years on the way to becoming a world famous novelist. You can tread the same hallways that Tom walked in the evening as he searched for a bedroom that was rented by tourists or a traveling salesman. If your imagination listens carefully it may hear that clink of silverware and boisterous conversation as several dozen boarders smacked their lips over Julia's southern cooking Tom Wolfe's prolific typewriter fell silent when the novelist died at age 37 but his brother rescued the old machine from a room in New York's Chelsea Hotel and fetched it back here to

remind us of the books that poured out of it. Look no more danger of time in the river. You can't go home again. His mother called his place Old Kentucky Home in his writing Tom called it Dixie land we call it. Hello. Midway between Greensboro and Burlington there's a shrine to another great North Carolinian Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Born in Henderson North Carolina she spent most of her childhood in Massachusetts. But as a young adult she returned to her home state to teach in a one room schoolhouse. Her courage and determination built a school that attracted African-American students from every state in the country. Each student worked two hours a day cleaning dorms cooking meals growing food on the school's 300 acre farm. Charlotte Brown amazed and inspired our students by bringing famous visitors to the campus. Langston Hughes Eleanor Roosevelt met King Cole

Marian Anderson in later years enrollment shrank due to the integration of public schools in colleges. Charlotte died in 1961 and lives here under a cedar tree that she planted. Her spirit is planted here as well it lives on in many workshops tours and festivals held on the campus each year. This magnificent schoolmistress once wrote I may sit in a Jim Crow railroad car but my mind keeps company with the Kings in Queens I've known Charlotte Brown isn't the only North Carolinian whose efforts created a legendary school in Durham just a short rabbit run north of Interstate 85 there's an honest old ante bellum farmhouse that looks as lived in today as it did at the time of the Civil War. It isn't hard to imagine 45 year old Washington Duke standing at this very window having a second cup and looking out to see his hired hands arriving for work all the time he's dreaming of the day when his smoking tobacco

brand will be known around the world. The great Duke empire of tobacco electric power in textiles began in these old shades. In later years Washington Duke moved to town and built impressive brick factories placer Wright substantial little townhouse and his son went on to build a great university. One time watched Duke return to the homestead for an afternoon of picture taking in his black vested business suit. Today we can follow him home and watch as a guide demonstrates how to play in the back alleys with sassafras stick at the shreds into little bags of roll your own tobacco. Deep in the North Carolina flat rock lies America's most famous goat farm Connemara home of Carl Sandburg. Sure Sandberg wrote a lot of points about Chicago but he lived the last 22 years of his life in the North Carolina mountains in the mornings Sandberg sat in his

study creating a constant flow of novels points children's books in an autobiography titled always the young strangers afternoon as he relaxed in this easy chair played a tune or two and looked out on his two hundred forty five acres of North Carolina heaven. In 1967 Sandberg died in the same friendly old room. This is the stuff of our hearing. Samberg and Washington are our guided tours are offered at all four of these homes the wolf Brown and Duke buildings are state historic sites and you can get more information by calling 9 1 9 7 3 3 7 8 6 2. Carl Sandburg Connemara is a national historic site and it can be reached by calling 7 0 4 6 9 3 4 1 7 8. Well that's our program for tonight we hope you

enjoyed it tomorrow state school superintendent Mike Ward will be our guest here to talk about the importance of parents helping their children to continue to read during the summer months. Also tomorrow we'll have the latest from the legislature and we'll profile the accomplishments of CDs Spangler as he steps down as the president of the University of North Carolina. It's shaping up to be a great program so please make plans to join us. I was grading the room one tomorrow night. Right right.