North Carolina Now; North Carolina Now Episode from 08/08/1994

Tonight find out which one of our reporters has psychic powers. Good evening everyone and Mary Lou her charge as you just probably saw advocates Bailey is very busy tonight involved with a program we do called ask you in the TV and she'll be here all night long until about 9:00 o'clock if you've ever had any questions about PBS or you and CTV you can call the number that you see on the screen 1 800 900 for nine hundred ninety call that anytime between now and 9 o'clock and ask your questions for now on our show tonight and tomorrow night we devote our newsmaker segment to the controversial Randleman dam project in Greensboro. This evening our guest will be Tom Phillips of the Piedmont triad water authority a proponent of the project and tomorrow night we'll bring you the opposing view. First we begin tonight with our

feature on Paris psychology. Why. Have you ever thought about calling a friend when suddenly the phone rings and it's the person you were just thinking about calling. Is it just coincidence or could it be something more like telepathy or ESB. There are many unexplained phenomena connected with the human mind which have been observed for decades. In fact it's estimated that 10 to 15 percent of people have experiences that cannot be explained by normal means. And as you're about to see a member of our now staff has had such an experience in honor of August being national psychic month reporter Maria Lundberg takes a firsthand look at North Carolina's link to this controversial science. When you mention the word para psychology this may be what a lot of people think. It's here below where you're from originally. Sure but a lot of time and hard

work have gone into making Paris a legitimate science and much of it has been done right here at the Institute for para psychology in Durham. Dr Richard Broughton is director of research at the institute caring on the work which began in 1927 at the college across the street called Duke University really within about 10 years. The parasitology lab became the new Duke University's primary claim to fame throughout the world. That reputation flourished thanks to the work of Dr. J.B. Rhein who headed a team of scientists studying unusual powers of the mind. It was Ryan who popularized the terms extrasensory perception and para psychology. We're still doing what Ryan started decades ago really which is primarily research and also education. We're one of just a few laboratories in the United States that is making

a serious effort to study these phenomena psychokinesis. We decided to put it to a test. My colleague Erica stark and I took part in an ESPN guns filled experiment. Erica would attempt to relay a specific picture to me through telepathy. What I'm going to do is I'm going to go ahead and tape ping pong balls. I read your eyes and then after I leave the room I'll turn off the white lights and I'm going to turn on these red flood lights. This technique creates a mild state of sensory deprivation. Taking away visual and auditory points of reference this is near a meditative condition is conducive to free association of images. Once I was settled in and started relaxation exercises Erica got ready to do her part in another room up here on the TV screen. You're going to see a target picture which has been randomly selected by the computer and you're the only one at the target which is what I'd like you to do is to draw a picture and to write a story about the target picture that you say

anything that you can think of that will help life a message to her. Cut off from any outside contact I described aloud images that came to mind. Something kind of looks like a statue. Sort of think Saddam may be like an African statue over Michael chango some trues missions from the home fans just oncet don't see anywhere after 30 minutes. Cheryl asked me to elaborate on the impressions I received. It felt like there was a lot of movement going on. So something tall like a statue exotic like an African statue you are like a totem pole.

It seemed to have that feeling to it. Closeup of an eye would King and just as if you were looking at somebody close up and it with great concentration then I was shown for pictures and recorded any associations with them that related to my ESB experiment. I ranked them according to familiarity and cast my vote for the picture I felt was closest to my images. Then Erica and Cheryl joined me to reveal the target picture. The gold mask said there was a lot of movement. You know when you think about a lot of movement I was picturing your dancers doing it. Yeah I was like wow. Because you're already drawn that before I set the tone I had drawn the poll I had done their faces yet but I'm thinking I was thinking totem pole but I had this on the stand and the mass sitting on top of the pole. This is much closer to what I saw than the actual mascot. However that make a great back up after I tell

you. No one was more surprised at the results than I did since I was skeptical going into this experiment. And this doesn't necessarily mean that Erica and I have ESPN as individuals but when studied as part of a larger population researchers can learn more about ESB. There's an enormous amount probably most about the mind. We don't know and have yet to discover it. We are just what I think we would like to just take our places among a variety of Sciences who are trying to understand what human consciousness and what the human mind really entails. You set me good saying OK OK well we did make a good team. They get it. Well that was neat but you knew that. Dr Broughton emphasizes that the institute uses a rigorous scientific method to document their experiments. He says the evidence for this phenomena gets stronger every decade and the data suggest some kind of communication is going on whether or not it's called ESPN. The job of

researchers is to find out what it is and what's at the root of this communication. Dr. Broughton says the institute invites anybody with a serious interest to participate in the studies. If you would like to contact the Institute for para psychology the phone number is 9 1 9 6 8 8 8 2 4 1. Well Michel Louis will be here in just a moment with a review of the day's news from around our state. And coming up the first of two interviews regarding the controversial Randleman dam project. Tonight I talk with Tom Phillips who supports the plan. So don't go away. Good evening I'm Michel Louis with a review of today's statewide news. State

employees are putting the word out to office holders that they're upset with the outcome of the recently finished short session of the General Assembly. The State Employees Association of North Carolina's newly formed political action committee employees Political Action Council has endorsed candidates with the first time and its parent organizations 47 year history. The group sends it wants to send signals concerning the way it feels state workers were treated in the budget process. The group is blaming legislators for what it perceives as growing in equities and the salaries of public schoolteachers and the rest of state workers and the recently approved budget school teachers were given a 7 percent pay hike on average while other state workers got a 4 percent raise. Distrust their dissatisfaction with the wage hike. The state employees Packers left nearly every key legislative leader off its endorsement list. Senate Appropriations cochairman George Daniel of Caswall was the only legislative leader to be given an endorsement by the group. The state employees pack failed to endorse House speaker Dan Blue Senate president pro tem Mark bass night and

House Appropriations co-chair Martin Nesbitt. There may be a tax cut in your future Governor Jim Hunt is beginning a study of the state's tax structure and preparation for a possible tax cut next year. The governor has said he hopes to propose a cut when the General Assembly convenes in January. Hunter appears to be leaning toward a cut in the corporate income tax but he has also hinted that he will seek some kind of tax cut for individuals. Leaders in the legislature are also pushing for various tax cuts. House Speaker Dan Blue proposes cutting the sales tax on food. And Senate President Pro Tem Mark bass night would like the intangibles tax to be repealed on study of the tax structure will examine how North Carolina's taxes compare with those in other states and how various cuts would affect the state's economy. The legislature appropriated $100000 for the study. Forsyth County has the highest infant mortality rate of any urban area in the state. So the March of Dimes Foundation has conducted a study to get to the root of the problem. Researchers with a greater

triad of March of Dimes birth defects Foundation found that health care providers do not provide an adequate job of meeting the needs of poor and under educated patients. There is conflict and competition among various health care providers as well as a lack of cooperation. There is a scarcity of family planning services and private physicians often refuse to accept low income Medicaid patients. The March of Dimes has come up with a list of recommendations for healthcare providers outlining ways the situation can be improved. Partly and mostly cloudy skies covered much of the state today with temperatures in the low to mid 70s in the mountains and in the low 80s across the rest of the state. Asheville got a little rain this morning. Tonight it will be mild and partly cloudy across most of North Carolina except on the coast where there is a slight chance of rain and thunderstorms. Temperatures in the mountains will hover around the mid to upper 50s. Elsewhere we can expect temperatures in the mid to upper 60s. The

entire state should expect a nice day tomorrow from the mountains to the coast it'll be in the low to mid 80s under partly cloudy skies. Tobacco as the States number one cash crop may be going up in smoke. Farming is expected to become the number one cash commodity in North Carolina which is the top tobacco growing state in the nation. While flu cure or tobacco brought in about one billion dollars last year hog farms generated about nine hundred twenty two million dollars. And I figure is expected to increase by one third this year. Tobacco has reigned supreme since it's a pass cotton in 1990. Heavy rains and cooler temperatures last month have created problems for some tobacco farmers blue mold has appeared on some Burley tobacco in Buncombe County. Blue mold is a fungus called by it caused by excessive moisture and cool temperatures. It destroys the leaf tissue of Burley plants and agriculture extension agent says it can

virtually wipe out a tobacco crop and warm damp weather. The stock market finished quite higher today in trading the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly seven points to close at thirty seven fifty three point eighty one gainers lead decliners by five to four. Two hundred fifteen million shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange. The Standard Poor's 500 index was up almost a point and the Nasdaq composite index rose nearly two points. And now for some stocks of North Carolina interest. There are a number of important environmental issues facing the state of North Carolina among them is

the ongoing debate over Randleman dam in Greensboro. Here tonight to discuss this controversial topic is Tom Phillips from the Piedmont triad water authority and Mr. Phillips I appreciate you joining us tonight. I know it's very controversial. I want to take a look first to make sure everyone here in North Carolina understands what is at issue. Let's take a look at a map very quickly and what area we're talking about. The idea obviously if you want to refer to that is to build Randleman Lake is that right out of the deep river am I correct. Yes random Lake will be is where the deep river is right now is south of Greensboro and the high point is right about 18 miles long and will end right at the town of random and is where the dam will be. OK. And the idea is to fulfill the need for drinking water. All right this will provide a future water supply for not only Greensboro but high point Jamestown Archdale Randleman and Randolph County.

Is it do we feel that there is a shortage of water in the area. Yes we're quickly running out of water. For example Greensboro is water supplies from lakes that we have just north of the city that have a capacity of about thirty six million gallons per day. We're currently using a little over 30 million gallons per day and they estimate that by the end of the decade we'll be right at our limit a attribute that also to a growing area as well I'm assuming yes that Greensboro High Point areas is growing. Let's talk about the price tag for this and who's fitting the bell. Total cost will be about ninety six million dollars 60 million basically to build the lake and system made about 36 million for a water treatment plant and distribution lines and Greensboro is taking about 60 percent of the water so they'll have about 60 percent of the bill. Okay and it's the taxpayers have approved spending this kind of money. Well it's under water and sewer area there hasn't been a vote on it

with the city. The projects that they're going to need the water they already are taking money out of the water and sewer fund setting aside for the Randleman project. And then when it's time to build the water treatment plant they'll issue revenue bonds. OK now we I talked about it at the very beginning here that there is some opposition why do you have opposition and what what is their point of view. Well there have been some concerns about the quoter of the quality of the water. We do have the high point landfill and a hazardous waste facility up at the headwaters of this like the engineering studies though have shown that these will not present problems that the water will still be safe but people seem to not want to believe that and we've done further studies and indicates that conditions getting even better. For a lot of people though that if you ask them long enough and ask the right questions you really find the true issue is growth and there are some people who just don't want to see

our region of the state grow in the future. And if you limit water that will certainly limit growth. OK now you said that this has been sort of ongoing since about nine hundred sixty eight. Is that right what is taking so long. Yes Ridgeley it was a flood control project with the federal government. There were reasons mostly political that that got delayed and finally through budget cuts in 1987 the federal government dropped the project and the Regional Water Authority was formed by the governments I mentioned to carry on the project to you know provide our future water supply. It was much scaled down though from the federal version instead of taking 10000 acres were going to be using 6000 acres. OK let's talk about that. The federal agencies here for a moment I understand the feds did drop out of this because of budget reasons but let's talk about the environmental impact in the EPA are they involved with this in any way.

Well any time you're going to build a water supply like this there are a variety of governmental agencies and a lot of hoops that you have to jump through. And that's good to have that happen. And we're currently dealing with the Army Corps of Engineers to get a permit for building the dam we had previously been for the state Environmental Management Commission. The EPA will have to sign off on the water quality issue before it's all done. But I mean you have to do wetland meant a Geisha and study wildlife and plants and any number of things that you don't feel that you are. We are close to reaching an agreement and settling this and actually building this reservoir. Well this is a normal process if you look at any reservoir that's been built in the past that you always go through this. We're still on schedule to have this completed by the year 2000 courser in too much room for error at this point. And there are things that will have to be resolved but we're going to get them resolved.

OK and some of the things to be resolved. Just speaking as someone you know a citizen I would be very concerned if someone were talking about a reservoir being built in an area where I knew about tank farms chemicals and hazardous waste I don't want to hear about those things associated with my drinking water. Are you finding opposition in that regard. Well it's very easy. Easy to. Get the public hysterical about that in the media has a habit of doing that unfortunately. We used a model of the state that the state requested we use that's been used on 300 lakes around the country. The engineering studies indicate that the water will be pure. This is going to be an 18 billion gallon Lake we'll be taking about 54 million gallons a day out of it. Yes to the landfill in High Point the state will be directing them to take some measures to pump things away from Randleman like the seaboard chemical hazardous waste plant the

EPA is involved there along with the city of High Point. And that will be cleaned up and measures will be taken to to make sure that if you we have minimum pollution going into the lake. But even the studies without those things happening indicate that the water will be clean and remember we will have a water treatment plant to treat the water. Ok I'm afraid our time is up and I know that this is an issue of great controversy in that area and we will keep everyone posted on this and again Mr. Phillips thank you so much for joining us this evening. Thank you. We want to hear from you. Simply call our viewer comment line at 9 1 9 5 4 9 7 8 0 8. Or write us at P.O. Box 1 4 9 0 0 RTP NC 2 7 7 0 9. You can fax a message to 9 1 9 5 4 9 7 0 4 3 or try our Internet address UN CTV at aol dot com and please give us a daytime phone

number in case we need to follow up. OK a reminder tomorrow's guests will present the other side of the reddleman dam controversy and our features tomorrow night will be the Vanderbilt treasures and the Rachel Carson estuary so you want to join in for that tomorrow night at 7:30 but for now what's going on is ask you and CTV. Now this is an opportunity until there's a lot of folks here from the TV station standing by to answer any phone calls you might have about public television or un see TV. So just dial the number on your screen right there and you can ask any question until about 9:00 o'clock tonight. We thank you so much for joining us here in North Carolina now. And we'll see you back here tomorrow night. Good night everyone.