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Expert: WMDs more like M-80s
James Martin, physicsNC State hosts event on hog waste
With 2,300 hog farmers raising millions of swine at a time, North Carolina is looking at ways to deal with abandoned hog lagoonsCarteret company decides to stay
Industrial Extension ServiceSmith named superintendent of Oxford Research Station
The Oxford Tobacco Research Station is managed by the N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, operating in a unique partnership with the N.C. State University College of Agriculture & Life Sciences and N.C. A&T State University.Her friend lives through deeds
In the summer before her 13th birthday, Michelle Miller organized a school supply drive in her University area neighborhood for low-income students.
Letter
to the editor: Checks and chances
background checks
at UNC
campuses
NC State hosts event on hog waste
Aug. 12, 2004
News 14 Carolina
By staff writer
© Copyright 2004
With 2,300 hog farmers raising millions of swine at a time, North Carolina is looking at ways to deal with abandoned hog lagoons.
On Thursday, NC State University hosts a field day event to talk about how to deal with hog waste.
They're testing a process that could cut down costs for transporting waste sludge.
Aug. 13, 2004
Associated Press; Charlotte Observer; Winston Salem Journal; Wilmington Morning Star; Durham Herald-Sun; NBC 17; WCNC; Myrtle Beach Sun News, SC; WVEC, VA; Sarasota Herald-Tribune, FL
By staff writer
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH - Pipe bombs found in a teen's car this week don't appear to pack more punch than a large firecracker, say explosives experts.
Jarrett William Brown, 17, of Fuquay-Varina was arrested Monday after a traffic accident and held under $100,000 bond on 24 charges of possession of a weapon of mass destruction.
A Cary police officer who stopped Brown's car found devices, ranging in size up to 6 inches long and made of copper pipe and gunpowder.
"Something like that is going to be not a whole lot different than something like an M-80," said James Martin, a professor of physics at N.C. State University. An M-80 is a large firecracker.
If it ignited "right next to your person, you'd be in bad shape," Martin said. "But it's not going to bring down a building. More likely than not, those things take off a person's own finger rather than hurt a bunch of people."
Packed with shrapnel, they would be more dangerous, but copper is so soft that it would rip in a blast and not shatter, he said.
Martin said he was not surprised by how authorities reacted, but he added that "kids will always play with things that go `boom.' "
Steve Rainwater, a demolition expert who brings down buildings with explosives for the Missouri office of Demtech Inc., said a pipe bomb made with standard household copper pipe would not hold much explosive material.
He said he was surprised that Brown was charged with having "weapons of mass destruction."
Under N.C. law, "weapons of mass destruction" are defined as a bomb, grenade, rocket, missile or mine containing explosive, incendiary, poison gas or radioactive material.
The definition also includes a sawed-off shotgun, automatic weapon or a silencer.
Investigators still had no information on whether Brown intended to harm anyone.
Smith named superintendent of Oxford Research Station
Aug. 13, 2004
Henderson Daily Dispatch
By staff writer
© Copyright 2004
RALEIGH - Fred G. Smith of Clayton has been named superintendent of the Oxford Tobacco Research Station. The announcement was made jointly by Agriculture Commissioner Britt Cobb and Dr. Steven Leath, interim director of the N.C. Agricultural Research Service with N.C. State University.
Smith served as superintendent of the Umstead Research Farm in Butner, and as the tobacco supervisor at the Central Crops Research Station in Clayton before accepting the Oxford position.
"Fred's extensive experience and knowledge have proven invaluable to researchers and their ongoing projects," Cobb said. "He has shown strong leadership at the Umstead station during his tenure, and I know he will bring that same dedication to the program at Oxford."
Smith will also continue to serve as station superintendent for the neighboring Umstead facility.
"The North Carolina Agri-cultural Research Service is pleased to see Fred Smith take charge at Oxford. He has a long history working in tobacco research and more recently has gained experience in other commodity programs," Leath said. "We know he will work closely with our faculty and we look forward to continuing that relationship."
The Fuquay-Varina native earned both a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics and a master's degree in public administration from N.C. State University. Before joining the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services' Research Station Division, Smith operated his own farm in Wake County.
He is an active member of the N.C. Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers and the N.C. Soil Science Society. Smith and his wife Shelley, have four sons.
The Oxford Tobacco Research Station is one of 18 agricultural research facilities across the state managed by the N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services, operating in a unique partnership with the N.C. State University College of Agriculture & Life Sciences and N.C. Agricultural & Technical State University.
Carteret company decides to stay
Aug. 13, 2004
Jacksonville Daily News
By JANNETTE PIPPIN
© Copyright 2004
BEAUFORT - An announcement Thursday of a Carteret County company's plans to modernize its manufacturing facility is more than just good news about jobs and a major upgrade for the county's largest industrial employer.
Atlantic Veneer's plans to make $7 million in new investments in its operations near Beaufort are also an example of a successful effort by the state and community to keep a longtime employer from leaving North Carolina.
"Atlantic Veneer's decision to grow in Carteret County and to keep more than 300 North Carolinians gainfully employed is good news for our state," Gov. Mike Easley said in a written statement. "The company had a choice to either boost investment and keep manufacturing jobs here or move elsewhere, and North Carolina's strong business climate and quality of life won out."
Since 1964, Atlantic Veneer has manufactured wood veneers and plywood at its Beaufort facility. When the project is completed, more than 300 people will be employed at the facility, earning approximately $6 million in annual wages.
Carteret County Economic Development Council Executive Director Dave Inscoe said that within the last year, Atlantic Veneer has been courted by two other states that wanted the company to relocate its operations. Many partners at the state and local level have been working with the company for nearly a year to make it possible for it to stay.
"Over the past nine months, they have worked with us. They showed us what they needed to do to stay, and we've worked to help them meet those needs," Inscoe said.
A key component of Atlantic Veneer's modernization plans is infrastructure such as water and sewer, a need with which the town of Beaufort will be able to assist. Inscoe said the assistance package also included state grants and incentives to benefit the company.
The county's legislative delegation praised the work of the many agencies that gave the company plenty of reasons to stay.
"Many of our existing businesses receive offers to go outside of the state, and we have to work extra hard to keep these businesses that contribute so much to our local economy in place," said Rep. Jean Preston of Emerald Isle.
Sen. Scott Thomas of New Bern shared the sentiment. "Atlantic Veneer is a longtime corporate citizen of eastern North Carolina, and I am pleased with the efforts made by the state and local officials to keep them here."
Among the partners who have contributed to the development of the project are the N.C. Department of Commerce, Carteret County and its EDC, Carteret Community College, the town of Beaufort, Progress Energy, North Carolina's Eastern Region, Golden LEAF, N.C. State's Industrial Extension Service, East Carolina Council of Governments and the N.C. Employment Securities.
"Atlantic Veneer Corporation recently celebrated its 40th anniversary in Beaufort, and we look forward to our next 40 years," company president Christian Weygoldt said in the announcement.
"We would like to thank the leaders of our state and local governments, who through their hard work and commitment to North Carolina manufacturing, have ensured us a place in Carteret County and the global market."
In addition to local and other incentives, Atlantic Veneer will receive $50,000 from the Incumbent Worker Development Program administered by the Department of Commerce. The program is designed to benefit businesses by enhancing employee skills.
The One North Carolina Fund has committed to a performance-based grant of $150,000 contingent upon the company making the investment, retaining jobs and increasing wages over a three-year period.
Letter to the editor: Checks and chances
Aug. 13, 2004
News & Observer
© Copyright 2004
Regarding the article "UNC panel previews safety idea" that appeared in the Aug. 3 edition: The recent debate concerning background checks at UNC campuses is controversial and eventually will become discriminatory. The admissions process about criminal background checks is a gateway to students being denied an education. People who have been convicted of a felony or a violent misdemeanor will suffer the most, even if they have been rehabilitated.
North Carolina prisons offer inmates school courses on the collegiate level, which many of them benefit from. Certain trades and degree programs require further education and study once the incarceration period is over. These individuals will feel the direct effect of the biased screening process. Already felons are being overlooked for certain jobs, and now they will be unable to obtain a quality education from UNC campuses. The individuals who return to prison after being released are the ones who found it difficult to find employment and returned to crime.
Now the life of an ex-inmate will become more difficult because he or she will not be allowed entry into a UNC campus. There is no clear way for the admissions personnel to determine that individuals without a squeaky clean criminal record cannot perform well in an educational setting. Profiling is inevitable.
Having no job and not being allowed to obtain higher education only lead individuals to commit crimes. Either it's going to be a lawsuit or increased criminal activity: Pick one.
Vaughn Price
Tillery
The writer is an inmate at Caledonia Correctional Institution.
Her friend lives through deeds
Aug. 13, 2004
Charlotte Observer
By PETER ST. ONGE
© Copyright 2004
In the summer before her 13th birthday, Michelle Miller organized a school supply drive in her University area neighborhood for low-income students. The effort was so gratifying that she collected more supplies the next year, then again a year later.
Each summer, she enlisted the help of her close friend, Whitney Bradshaw. Together, they put up fliers around their Davis Lake community. Together, they rode with Michelle's mom, Joy, to pick up bags of supplies that people left out on their front porches.
Michelle and Whitney had grown up as friends in Davis Lake, swam on the same swim teams, danced ballet and jazz and tap at the same studio. They talked about being roommates in college. They talked about opening a dance studio when they graduated. "Downtown Dancers," it would be called.
On April 1, 2002 -- Whitney's birthday -- Michelle was thrown from the back seat of a friend's Mitsubishi Montero in a one-vehicle crash on Prosperity Church Road. Two teens were killed, including Michelle. She was 16 years old and a sophomore at Vance High School.
Whitney was left with the frozen future of their friendship. She struggled not only with the loss, but with the loss becoming her most prominent memory of Michelle. It became difficult to think of her friend without thinking of her death.
But this summer, while preparing for her freshman year at N.C. State, Whitney began a familiar routine. She drew up fliers and posted them around Davis Lake. She drove around the neighborhood later to collect school supplies from front porches.
On Thursday morning, she drove to David Cox Elementary, a school she and Michelle attended -- but also a school with a growing population of low-income students. She brought with her bookbags and grocery bags stuffed with paper and pencils, scissors and glue.
"I'll bring more next year," she said to principal Kathy Elling, after a hug.
"It's awesome," Elling said.
Whitney also told Elling about Michelle, how this was her project, how she was known around the neighborhood for it, and how this effort was in her honor.
She didn't say that while posting fliers and collecting supplies, she remembered what a generous heart Michelle had, and that she thought not so much about her friend's death, but about the things she and Michelle used to do together, the dancing, the swimming, the hanging out, and this.
"It's a legacy," she said. A friendship. Continued.
Know of a Good Story?
Peter St. Onge writes about ordinary Carolinians and the joys and challenges of daily life. Our Lives appears weekly. Call (704) 358-5029 or write to ourlives@ charlotteobserver.com.
WHITNEY BRADSHAW
ABOUT THE STORY | Whitney Bradshaw and Michelle Miller swam and danced together growing up in the University area. They also collected school supplies, an effort that Whitney continued this year.
A Year After the Big Blackout, a Film Festival Flickers to Life
Aug. 13, 2004
New York Times
By MELENA Z. RYZIK
© Copyright 2004
Like everyone who experienced it, Tom Keefe has a story to share about last year's extensive blackout. His involved a missed job interview, an eccentric new landlord, several East Village bars and a chin covered with stubble.
Now Mr. Keefe, an aspiring filmmaker, can add another twist to his tale. Tomorrow, on the first anniversary of the blackout that knocked out power in New York and across much of the Eastern Seaboard, he will be the host of the Blackout Film Festival at Office Ops, an arts space in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Weather permitting, the free screening will take place at 8 p.m. on the roof at 57 Thames Street. (Information: officeops.org or 718-418-2509.)
Mr. Keefe's original story has an unexpected happy ending: he found the job interviewer in a bar and, sweaty and stubbly as he was, landed the job, as a production assistant on the remake of "The Manchurian Candidate." The festival's story is equally serendipitous.
At first, Mr. Keefe, 25, considered making a film set during the blackout with a friend. But then, of course, a light went on.
"I said, `You know, I have so many friends who are filmmakers, and I bet they could all make something fun about the blackout,' " Mr. Keefe said in an interview in his Greenpoint apartment. "And then I looked at the anniversary date, and it was Saturday, and so I thought we should just throw a party and try to get a bunch of people to make movies."
On six weeks' notice, the Blackout Film Festival — a fittingly makeshift ode to the anything-is-possible bonhomie of that night — was born. The guidelines were simple: 10 minutes or less, blackout-related, go.
"I wanted the films to capture the feeling from that night, and I also wanted people to make the films kind of quickly with that same spirit," Mr. Keefe said.
He commissioned a Web site (blackoutfilmfest.com) to spread the word and used his tax refund money, about $900, to pay for a post office box for submissions and stylish postcards to advertise the event. And then he waited.
"We were all nervous that it wouldn't really work out because we were throwing it together so fast, but people's response to just the basic idea was so positive," Mr. Keefe said. "So that kind of gave me confidence to spend the money and push ahead with it."
He collected about a dozen digital videos. Most are from other young filmmakers; a few came from VisionFest, an earlier festival that explored similar ideas. Ever the film school grad, he aimed for a balance of narrative and experimental work, and then sought out a friend, filmmaker and comedian, Morgan Gold, to make something obscene and vulgar to lighten the mood.
Mr. Gold's two-minute film, "Blackout," didn't disappoint (think frat boys, not electricity). In an e-mail message, Mr. Gold, 24, of Hartford, explained: "One of the things I've noticed about people during times of crisis is that there's often a lot of confusion and a lot of excitement, but very little actually happening. A lot like a keg party."
The alcohol theme surfaces often. "The only establishments that were open were the bars," said Ilya Chaiken, recalling her walk from Manhattan to her home in Park Slope, Brooklyn, that night. "There were no horror stories that we experienced, really. There were just bad hangovers."
Ms. Chaiken, 34, who made the well-received indie feature "Margarita Happy Hour" in 2001, explored the consequences of an ill-advised post-bar hookup in her comedic short, also called "Blackout." Details from her own four-hour trek over the Manhattan Bridge, like people wearing spelunking-type headlights, made it into the film, which makes a point of addressing the specter of terrorism and Sept. 11 in a wry and funny way.
"I think the reality of the blackout experience comes through in the details, like those funny headlamps, and the hotel key cards not working, and the guys who jumped at the opportunity to direct traffic," Ms. Chaiken said. "But for me these were ornaments for the story I wanted to tell."
The story that Martin Glenn wanted to tell was of his East Village neighborhood. Mr. Glenn, 28, submitted a documentary-style short, "Sometimes It's Fun to Be Left in the Dark," which features actual film from the blackout — most strikingly, of a pitch-black Tompkins Square Park with a raging bonfire party going on.
"I just wanted people that don't live here to see what our night was like and experience it without having been here," Mr. Glenn said. "It ended up being a really positive, good vibe in the city that night."
Of course, it's not easy to shoot a blackout. Ms. Chaiken had to resort to flashlights to light some scenes. And Aron Epstein and Daniel Stedman had to create a blackbox, blocking out light, to house their actors.
Luckily, their actors are not very big. Mr. Epstein, 25, and Mr. Stedman, 26, are cousins and co-directors of "The Moth and the Firefly," a four-minute film about a moth who becomes attracted to a firefly after the blackout robs the moth of its beloved light source.
As with any epic, casting the hero was the main problem. "We found that there were plenty of fireflies in Prospect Park and Central Park, but there were very few moths," Mr. Epstein said. They contacted an entomologist at North Carolina State University, who sent them some packets of moth larvae, which hatched in a cheesecloth covered bucket in Mr. Stedman's Brooklyn apartment.
"It was actually ideal because we had 25 duplicate moths," Mr. Epstein said. (Hollywood's dream come true.)
From insect love stories to gross-out comedies, the backdrop of a common experience as large as last year's blackout was inspiration enough for most filmmakers. "The dramatic possibilities are endless," Ms. Chaiken said. "Anything that inspires that many stories is going to inspire the storytellers."
And like so many stories from that night, the festival tomorrow will culminate with a party. Except this time, the festival Web site notes, the beer will be cold.