News Clips for November 11, 2004

Triangle Watch - Fewer startups
Michael Walden, agricultural and resource economics

The 'GI Bill' recast America
The GI Bill Experience

GI Bill has given 21 million vets $77 billion
Anna Dahlstein, Libraries

Shoot for the Big Money
Larry Gustke, Cooperative Research Center of Tourism

Students will explore future of manufacturing
Yusef Fahmy, director of NC State University's engineering programs at UNCA

11-Hour Vigil Starts Veteran's Day Observances
NCSU commemorations

Veteran's Day Events
NCSU commemorations

Getting Involved
GI Bill; Education

Driver testifies in fatality
student

HILLSBOROUGH -- Emily Caveness was lost. It was dark, and the CD player in the SUV was loud; the two people in the back seat were either talking or kissing, and the person sitting in the passenger seat was asleep.

But when the car hit something, Caveness told a jury Wednesday, the noise sent the four occupants into various states of panic and confusion. Still, Caveness kept on driving.

She said no one knew about the sparks from under the sport utility vehicle, which was dragging a car door and the body of Stephen Gates. Caveness testified in Orange County Superior Court against Rabah Samara, the sleeping passenger who has been charged with felony hit and run.

Caveness, 21, eventually stopped, pulling along the shoulder of Interstate 40. That's when Samara got out of the passenger seat, she told the jury. A motorist who had stopped behind them told Samara they had hit someone. Samara said he hit no one. He looked at the front end of the SUV, which was mangled by the impact, then got in the driver's seat and drove away, she said.

Orange-Chatham District Attorney Carl Fox presented his entire case to the jury Wednesday, telling them that Samara, 27, broke the law that night in October 2003 when he drove away. Gates, 27, was a reporter for the Tar Heel Sports Network.

One of Samara's attorneys, Duncan McMillan, told the jury that his client was asleep when the accident happened. There was confusion in the car, McMillan said, and Samara didn't know anyone had been hurt until hours later, when a state trooper cursed him, hurled ethnic epithets at him and called him a murderer. Samara is a Jordanian national.

Samara wasn't driving the car when the accident happened, McMillan said. Caveness was the one who drove as far as a half-mile away from the accident before stopping, he said.

"She is prepared to testify against this man to have you all find him guilty and hold him accountable for her actions," McMillan told the jury in his opening statement.

Caveness pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor as part of a plea deal that requires her to testify against Samara.

That October night, the four had been partying at a restaurant in Durham. When they left, Caveness drove because she was the only one who had not been drinking. A student at N.C. State University, she knew nothing about Durham. She took a wrong turn and wound up near Hillsborough.

Witnesses testified that the junction of Interstates 85 and 40 was dark at 2:30 a.m. when the accident happened.

Gates had pulled his Saturn into the emergency lane because one of his tires was flat. Patricia Sawyer and Bruce Cottrell were driving home from a vacation when they saw the Cadillac Escalade that Caveness was driving cut off the Saturn's door and take Gates with it. "It's the worst thing I've ever seen," Sawyer said. "The worst thing I've ever seen, and never a brake light."

Inside the SUV, the other three were still trying to figure out what had happened, Caveness said in court. Samara told her to slide to the other side because she was not capable of driving.

Gates' parents sat in the front row of the Superior Courtroom all day, sometimes sobbing when testimony touched on the injuries to their son.

After Caveness testified, she spoke quietly with George Gates, Stephen's father. George Gates held a tissue. Tears wore trails through her makeup.

"We talked about sorrow and forgiveness," Gates said in an interview later. "It can be very easy to demonize the other party. They're not evil people. They just did stupid things."

Triangle Watch - Fewer startups

You have to be pretty upbeat about the economy to start a business, so it's probably not too surprising that fewer businesses were started in October compared with the same month last year. After all, things were looking up last year.

The nation's gross domestic product, a key measure of economic activity, increased at an annualized rate of 7.4 percent during the third quarter of 2003, twice the rate of growth during the same three months this year.

Now, think back to a month ago: News on the jobs front was disappointing. Fuel prices were on the rise. And the nation appeared bitterly divided over the Nov. 2 presidential elections. In the Triangle and throughout North Carolina, business startups slowed.

"We went from a period of real optimism last year to a period of less optimism this year," said Michael L. Walden, an economist at N.C. State University.

But things may be looking up again. Hiring has begun to improve, fuel prices are coming back down, and the presidential election has been decided.

DURHAM -- Like "Victory Garden" and "Iwo Jima," the term "GI Bill" springs from the Greatest Generation and its increasingly distant past.

Enacted 60 years ago and re-enacted several times since, the bill had profound effects across America -- even if lots of folks these days don't know its legacy.

"Probably the single most important piece of legislation the U.S. Congress ever passed," says Sion Harrington III.

He is a second-generation beneficiary of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944. He is military archivist at the N.C. Office of Archives and History. And Friday, he will be one of the panelists in The GI Bill Experience, a public symposium at N.C. State University.

"It took us from having a small upper class and middle class to having a large middle class, because the GI Bill was what enabled people to move, .." he said. "There's no way you can measure the good that legislation did."

Public Law 346, Chapter 268, "An Act to provide Federal Government aid for the readjustment in civilian life of returning World War II veterans," was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944.

The bill provided employment counseling and job-finding assistance; unemployment assistance of $20 a week ($214 in 2004 dollars); home, farm and business loans backed by the government; and, most of all, education.

Any man or woman with 90 days' service after Sept. 16, 1940, and a discharge not dishonorable was eligible for 48 months' support including tuition, books and living expenses.

"It went from being a privilege almost to a right," said Harrington, a veteran of the Grenada invasion of 1983 and NATO duty in Bosnia-Herzegovina who used his GI benefit to earn a second master's degree, in history, in 1999.

"The whole attitude on college campuses changed, it went from a lark for people with money to a place some serious study was being done," he said.

Indiana University, for example, went from 3,000 students in 1944 to more than 10,000 in 1946. Among IU's veterans were two future professors at Durham's N.C. Central University -- graduate students Ross Townes, health and physical education, and John Stewart, biology.

The GI Bill applied without regard to race or gender. Many black servicemen who already had undergraduate degrees used the benefit to go farther.

"There were quite a number of people here using that to be principals, and things like that," said Ben Speller, library science dean at NCCU. "The more significant thing the GI Bill resulted in was, [NCCU President James] Shepard being able to recruit people with Ph.D.s for the faculty ... That was a very good benefit for Central and other historically black colleges and universities."

Friday's keynote speaker, Milton Greenberg of American University, wrote about the GI Bill's impact on colleges in The Chronicle of Higher Education's issue of June 18.

"Once exposed to the classroom," he wrote, "older, experienced, impatient veteran students pressed for more practical applications of their learning and preparation for work. That was accompanied by a decline of the liberal arts in favor of occupational and technical education, especially in engineering and business. Upward mobility, rather than certification of the upper classes, marked American higher education thereafter."

When the bill was enacted, more than 15 million Americans were in uniform. By the time the original program ended in 1956, 2.2 million veterans went to college, 3.5 million went to vocational school, 1.5 million used its benefits for on-the-job training and about 700,000 got agricultural training.

In 1940, 1.5 million students were enrolled at U.S. colleges. In 1950, there were 2.7 million. At N.C. State, 300 veterans entered in the fall of 1945; almost 1,000 registered for the winter term of 1946. Before the war, State College -- as it was then called -- had 2,500 students. In 1947, there were 5,328 -- 76 percent of them veterans.

The University of North Carolina's fall 1940 enrollment was 4,108; for fall 1947, it was 7,528. Within six weeks of the GI Bill's signing, Duke University received 1,000 applications and 4,000 inquiries from service personnel. Accommodating all those people was a daunting problem.

"I have never had such pressure on the office," Duke Dean Herbert J. Herring wrote to a friend at the Bureau of Naval Personnel on Aug. 12, 1946.

Before the war, Duke had 3,500 students. It faced accommodating about 4,800 in the fall of 1946. More than half that number would be veterans.

In November, Herring estimated that the university would need 155,000 square feet of additional classroom space, 50,000 square feet of laboratories and 76,000 square feet of libraries to handle the anticipated student load through the next two years.

According to UNC Archivist Janis Holder, the Chapel Hill campus was fortunate to have already expanded to house a Naval training program during the war.

That provided some room for the newcomers. But even so, "The university also had to move surplus Army housing to Chapel Hill and convert it into apartments for married students," Holder said.

"Students lived in Quonset huts, trailers, prefab houses, and even the Tin Can, built in 1924 as an indoor gymnasium."

Victory Village, a veterans' community south of the UNC medical school, continued housing students into the 1960s. State, meantime, had its Vetville and Trailwood veterans' villages. Similar collections of "temporary," prefabricated, mobile and war surplus housing sprouted across the country, from Vermont's Trailer Camp to Florida's FlaVet.

"We didn't have a Victory Village-type thing like Carolina did," said retired Duke Archivist Bill King. "We did have students who lived at [Camp] Butner and commuted. There also were prefab housing units there on Markham Avenue next to Asbury United Methodist Church. I know faculty lived there."

In the fall of 1946, the president of Duke's freshman advisory council, the student government president, the YMCA president and the intramural manager were all former prisoners of war.

Jack Lucas had his picture made receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman. Later, he had his picture made with a load of books and a Duke freshman's dink hat.

Former GI Joes, though, more often brought the end of such Joe College traditions.

"Here's some guy that was a paratrooper, that jumped into Normandy, or some Marine that went up Iwo Jima," said Harrington. "You want him to wear a beanie?"

The typical college freshman is 18. The typical veteran entering college was 25. Veterans brought experience and maturity to campus. Their grades showed it, and put the lie to some educators' claims, opposing the GI Bill, that it would erode academic standards.

"I don't know if you could say that this was a direct effect of the GI Bill," said Holder. "But certainly the needs of returning veterans must have driven President [Frank Porter] Graham's campaign to establish several new academic departments -- like city planning, mathematical statistics, radio and communications."

The state opened its purse to the university, too. UNC got a 50 percent increase in its maintenance budget, which helped raise faculty pay and, in 1947, helped expand the medical school curriculum from two to a full four years.

"I am thankful for my experience in the Navy, because they have helped me to see and understand how the other people of the world live, and had it not been for the GI Bill I would not have been able to attend college. I truly think that a term in the service would be good for everyone."

Joe Sanford Hinshaw wrote that paragraph in an autobiographical essay for a class at N.C. State in 1949.

Horizons broadened by the war and higher education led to changed attitudes at home, and according to the "GI Bill at N.C. State" helped smooth the way for the reformation in race and gender relations of the postwar generation.

That was just one spinoff of an act meant just to maintain peace on the home front.

Before the war, the U.S. was in the Depression, when World War I veterans had marched on Washington, demanding a promised service bonus. The Army was called in to break up the Bonus March.

"People had visions of that even as early as the middle part of World War II," said Harrington. "Gosh, what are we going to do with that? There were four times as many veterans, the job market couldn't absorb them."

Sending veterans to school gave the postwar economy time to expand enough so that there were jobs to go around, an expansion helped along by a better-educated work force and other economic stimuli the GI Bill provided.

"Low-interest loans so people could buy homes and farms and small businesses," Harrington said. "You think of all the jobs that got created because people had money to start businesses."

The process carried on. Harrington's father was a veteran. Without the GI Bill, Harrington said, his dad would have gone back to working in a cotton mill.

"And so would I," Harrington said. "Because he had a chance to get an education, I had a chance to get an education."

About half of the student veterans were married. The typical American college before World War II would not admit married students. Those GI Bill couples also were having babies -- the boomer babies that would create a second educational boom in the 1960s.

"[But] all of a sudden here you are, the government is paying you to go to school," he said.

America's suburbs are another GI Bill spinoff, created by rising incomes and federal loan policies. The building industry boomed, along with those manufacturing home appliances, furniture and cars.

"One of the smartest things the government ever did was to have a GI Bill of some sort," Harrington said. "It was good to me."

DURHAM -- According to N.C. State University librarian Anna Dahlstein, the GI Bill has provided $77 billion in educational and training benefits to about 21 million veterans since its inception in 1944.

The original Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 expired in 1956. But it has been renewed and revised several times and remains in effect for today's servicemen and women.

The present "Montgomery GI Bill," named for former Mississippi Rep. Sonny Montgomery, one of its chief proponents, provides individuals up to $36,000 in educational benefits.

The bill, enacted in 1987 and enhanced since -- most recently in October -- provides active-duty personnel and veterans with financial aid for college, business, technical or vocational courses, certification tests, apprenticeships and flight training.

According to a 2001 congressional report, 266,000 veterans received an average annual benefit of $3,200 in 2000. The Congressional Budget Office predicted that, by 2011, 335,000 veterans would receive an average annual benefit of $4,615, factoring in annual cost-of-living increases.

But the largest change in the bill since World War II -- besides inflation -- is that military personnel now contribute part of their active-duty pay, which is held in the U.S. Treasury until their benefits are paid out at a rate of $400 for every $100 they paid into the system.

According to Dahlstein, about 90 percent of all eligible people take advantage of the bill's provisions, and benefits also are provided to veterans' children and spouses.

To be eligible, service personnel must have completed at least two years of active service after July 1, 1985, must have completed high school or an equivalent certification, and must have been honorably discharged if they are not still in the military.

Milton Greenberg, professor emeritus of government at American University and the keynote speaker for Friday's symposium, "Transforming Society: The GI Bill Experience," said the original legislation also is indirectly responsible for other forms of present-day student support.

"Links to the GI Bill of Rights can be found in the numerous national and state programs that encourage access to higher education with grants, scholarships and loans," Greenberg wrote in a June article for The Chronicle of Higher Education. "The issue now is not whether we should support that legacy but rather for whom and at what cost."

Before the GI Bill was created, Duke University financial aid director Jim Belvin said, student aid for college was largely a matter of a "kindly old dean with a cash box in the drawer."

ASHEVILLE - On Tuesday, students from the UNC Asheville and others could find their own place in the future of manufacturing across the region.

The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Executive Association will host the 2004 Industry Appreciation Event at the Renaissance Asheville Hotel from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"We do it annually to celebrate the fact that manufacturing represents still a good one-third of our economy here," said Sharon Willen, director of business and industry services at the Asheville chamber. "It definitely is still strong; it's just that the jobs are evolving."

In the same month a notable area manufacturer, Steelcase, laid off the majority of it's 500 Fletcher-area employees, Vertique, an Arden-area company, announced plans to expand its work force by 100 people by early next year.

Organizers, which also include Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, plan to recognize those companies that excel across the region by awarding Manufacturing Leadership Awards during the event.

Company representatives will also showcase "best practices" during a trade show that will also serve as a career fair.

Yusef Fahmy, director of N.C. State University's engineering programs at UNCA plans to take vanloads of engineering students to the event.

He said students could help define their course of study by seeing practical applications of engineering. And, he added, they could find places to put their skills to work once they graduate.

"The thing that can save industry is modern science and engineering," he said. "It makes you lean and efficient and have high performance."

To register or for more information, call 258-6117 or visit www.ashevillechamber.org.

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Tuesday, people throughout the Triangle area are honoring the men and women who served and continue to serve our country as members of the military.

Members of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) at North Carolina State University will mark the day with several events, including the annual wreath-laying ceremony.

The 11-hour ceremony began Wednesday at 7 p.m. with two cadets standing guard every hour at NCSU's Memorial Bell Tower.

"The 11 hours signifies Veteran's Day, which was formed on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918," said C.Col. Alex Macthail of the Air Force ROTC.

ROTC members kept vigil over a single flame and POW/MIA flag reminding them of those who have served before.

"It is to remember the POWs and the MIAs as well as all of the veterans. The flag is often symbolic of veterans in general, so we use it for that reason," Mcthail said.

Before sunrise, 400 cadets ran down Hillsborough Street in the annual Warrior Run.

"It's just to say thank you to the 48 million men and women who over the past 227 years have fought for this county," Mcthail said.

7 p.m.-6 a.m.
Raleigh -- North Carolina State University presents an all-night POW/MIA vigil at the Bell Tower. Information: Dynasty Sicay at 512-7196 or (757) 206-5526. Free.

6 a.m.
Raleigh -- North Carolina State University presents the "Warrior Run" involving approximately 400 ROTC cadets along Hillsborough Street from Dan Allen Drive to the Bell Tower. Run followed by POW/MIA wreath-laying ceremony at the Bell Tower off Hillsborough Street at 6:30 a.m. The wreath-laying ceremony will feature Emily Gile, a retired Woman Air Force Service Pilot (WASP) who served in World War II as one of the first women in history to fly American military aircraft, as guest of honor. Information: Dynasty Sicay at 512-7196 or (757) 206-5526. Free.

6:15 a.m.
Durham -- The Eno River Detachment of the Marine Corps League, representing Durham, Orange and Person counties, will conduct a flag-raising ceremony at Northgate Mall. The detachment will raise 80 flags starting in front of Harris Teeter and working around the mall to North Gregson Street. Information: Dave Young at 274-8800 or Rocky Visconti at 806-2242 or (888) 889-0303. Free.

7-9:30 a.m.
Smithfield -- Wal-Mart on Brightleaf Boulevard in Smithfield will provide breakfast for all veterans. Information: 989-5067. Free.

9 a.m.
Smithfield -- American Legion Post 518 of Clayton will hold prayer breakfast at the Progressive Men's Club in Smithfield. The breakfast is open to the public. Five pastors from the post, including Vice Bishop Richard W. Johnson, a Vietnam veteran, will speak. Information: John King Jr. of American Legion Posts of 270 of Smithfield and 518 of Clayton at 550-2194. $4. To obtain a $1 discount card, see any member of American Legion Post 518.

9:30 a.m.
Hillsborough -- Abundant Life Christian Academy is having a ceremony at the academy on 512 U.S. 70 East, corner of U.S. 70 and Orange High School Road. The academy has "adopted" a platoon of 35 soldiers stationed in Iraq for the holiday season. Family, friends and veterans are invited to attend the celebration, honoring each individual branch of the military. Information: 732-6460, ext. 233. Free.

9:45 a.m. Parade
11 a.m. Ceremony
Raleigh -- The 2004 Wake County Veterans Day will feature 65 participants and vehicles, and include a flyover of the parade route by an Army Apache gunship from the N.C. National Guard. Veterans Day ceremony will be at the Veterans Monument on Capitol Square, including a flyover by F-15 fighters from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base; a speech by Maj. Gen. William E. Ingram Jr., adjutant general of the N.C. National Guard; and a concert by the Enloe High School band. A replica of the Vietnam Wall will be erected on the Capitol grounds, and an exhibit from "Camp Flintlock" on 18th century military life will be on display. Information at 781-5610 or www.bryantkids.com/parade. Free.

11 a.m.
Smithfield -- Representatives from all of Johnston County's veterans service organizations, including the American Legion, the VFW, DAV and Sea-Bee groups, will gather at the Johnston County Courthouse on Second Street in Smithfield. Guest speaker will be Ray Smith of Benson, former national commander of the American Legion and a member of the N.C. Veterans Affairs Commission. Information: 989-5067. Free.

2 p.m.
Raleigh -- The North Carolina Symphony and Broadway Series South will present a concert in Meymandi Concert Hall at the BTI Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh. Doors open at 1 p.m. Reserve tickets in advance by calling 733-275. Tickets are also available at the door until all seats are taken. Free.

2:30 p.m.
Chapel Hill -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will host a Veteran's Day Ceremony to honor past and present service members of the United States. The event begins at 2:30 p.m. and will be conducted at Polk Place on the UNC Campus. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be at the Student Union. The ceremony will include Cadets and Midshipmen of the Army, Navy, and Air Force ROTC programs at the University of North Carolina. Local soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who served in conflict dating back to World War II will be honored. The guest speaker is Colonel Sam Holliday (US Army, Retired) who served as an infantry officer in combat in both Korea and Vietnam. Limited visitor parking is available at Swain Lot on Cameron Avenue. Disabled Veterans and others requiring assistance should contact Master Sergeant Haley, of the Army ROTC program, at 962-5546. Free.

All Day
Cold Stone Creamery's Triangle locations will serve free ice cream for all military veterans. Area locations: Cary (Crossroads Plaza), 858-7754; Garner (White Oak Crossing), 773-4545; Chapel Hill (Franklin Street), 933-2323; and Raleigh (Alexander Place), 957-2653. Garner police officers will scoop ice cream from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. with 50 percent of the proceeds going to Garner Area Ministries.

All Day
Clayton -- American Legion Post 71 in Clayton will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner to veterans. The post is located at 13000 Old Garner Road and will open at 6 a.m. The group will also present a $1,000 donation to the Hocutt-Ellington Memorial Library to help with the cost of a new wing to the library. Information: Bill Spreitzer at 553-1064. Free.

8:30 a.m.
Hillsborough -- C.W. Stanford Middle School will have its second annual Veterans Recognition Day at the school on 308 Orange High School Road. Students will give performances to show their gratitude for all veterans' service. Refreshments will be served. Information: 732-3614. Free.

11 a.m.
Hillsborough -- Downtown merchants and other organizations will conduct a World War II remembrance, "Hillsborough Homefront." Activities will take place on Churton Street, at the Orange County Historical Museum and in the municipal parking lot off West King Street. Events include the collection of oral histories from WW II veterans, performance of swing music and the playing of 1940s favorite songs. Visitors are encouraged to dress in period clothing or uniforms. Information: Julia Williams at Brick Alley Books at 245-0062. Free.

11 a.m.
Chapel Hill -- The Carolina Troop Supporters and the Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund will have a Yellow Ribbon 5K and Support the Troops festivities on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. The race will start outside the Student Union Building on South Road at 11 a.m. Registration begins at 10 a.m. After the race, other events include a flag ceremony, guest speakers, live music, awards, games, prizes and a silent auction. All proceeds and donations, which are tax deductible, will assist in sending children of fallen soldiers to college. More information and registration at www.cfsrf.org. Registration fee $15.

RALEIGH, N.C. - For nearly three decades, This End Up marketed the bulky, basic furniture that two North Carolina State University students first designed out of empty crates after busting up a sofa during a party.

The Richmond, Va.-based manufacturer and retailer built a chain of 240 stores before going bankrupt in 2000 and being liquidated.

A second incarnation of This End Up, now based in Sanford, still gets 100 to 200 phone calls a day seeking the location of their nearest store, said Kevin Kelly, the Silicon Valley turnaround specialist who bought the company's name, product designs, customer lists and financial records for $1 million in late 2000.

"We started with what they gave us in the briefcase," said Kelly, who has built an organization despite having no experience in the furniture business. "The demand existed, which is what caught my eye."

Last month, This End Up opened its first retail store in years in Raleigh. It's one of several conservative steps Kelly has taken to bring the company back.

The restarted company has annual sales of $8 million to $12 million and about 50 employees, Kelly said. At its peak, the old This End Up had annual sales of about $150 million.

For its comeback, This End Up is returning to two markets that made the original company's yellow-pine pieces furniture staples for two generations _ college dormitories and vacation rental homes.

Before its demise, the original company sold about $35 million of furniture annually to institutional customers who were furnishing dorms, halfway houses and drug rehab centers. That market was waiting for This End Up's revival, Kelly said.

The relaunch has also benefited from owners of vacation homes eager for inexpensive furnishings. Kelly said it's not uncommon for customers to drive to the factory in Sanford, load up on furnishings and cart them home.

One man flew from California to Raleigh, bought a heavy-duty pickup truck with dual rear wheels, rented a big trailer and bought $10,000 worth of beds and living room furniture. He told Kelly he'd bought a house at Lake Tahoe that he planned to rent to skiers and thought This End Up furniture could take the hard use.

Furniture-industry analyst Jerry Epperson believes there's no reason This End Up's future can't be its past. In the old days, condo and time share owners were This End Up's most profitable customers and "we've got more time shares and condos than ever," Epperson said.

In addition, the children of baby boomers who were the company's first customers are familiar with the This End Up style and see it as practical starter pieces for their own households. After all, many grew up sleeping on the children's bunk beds that were the company's best seller for years, Epperson said.

Laurie Borshard of Hopatcong, N.J., said durability was the main reason she outfitted a bedroom for her children with a This End Up bunk bed set and a computer desk. She bought the set nine years ago, and her kids are now in their teens and have outgrown it.

Kelly said he's benefited from latching onto a ready-made market and ramping up production to meet existing demand.

"There is a brand, a product, that people want," he said. "We've done nothing more than try to come in here and live up to the brand."

Kelly moved to central North Carolina to run the revived company because hundreds of workers who lost their jobs at two manufacturing plants when the company went bankrupt were available to return to work.

And furniture sales agents were eager to see This End Up return to business. One sales rep contacted Kelly, describing the latent demand from institutional buyers who went unserved after This End Up shuttered its factories and sold off inventory and machinery, Kelly said. They were the new company's first customers.

A couple months later, Kelly started a Web site that offered nothing more than an opportunity for customers to describe what they wanted to buy. The site got more than 100 hits on its first day.

Most people were seeking replacement cushions for sofa sets, so Kelly found an upholstered furniture maker to handle the work, set up a toll-free number and started taking orders.

By 2002, the Web site was attracting several hundred thousand hits a day and people were asking about buying furniture over the Internet. High shipping costs made Kelly leery of mixups, so he set up a phone ordering system that now handles 40 percent of the company's sales.

The Raleigh store is an attempt to gauge customer tastes. It offers the company a chance to display about a dozen room settings, as well as bedding or candleholders and other accessories not shown on the Web site, Kelly said.

"We opened the doors quietly because we wanted to make sure all our systems worked," Kelly said. "We're just going to see what causes people to go shopping. I don't understand because I don't shop. This is going to help me understand."

Kelly is also taking things slowly because This End Up is short on manufacturing capacity for now. He hopes to have a new factory in Sanford up and running by early next year that will allow the company to expand production by 500 percent.

While the domestic furniture industry is being hit hard by low-wage foreign competition, This End Up's brand of furniture is actually cost-effective to make in the United States. It doesn't involve labor-intensive carving and finishing, and shipping the hefty pieces in from Asia would be costly, Epperson said.

The analyst said he would not be surprised to see a revived This End Up also give new life to imitators, who once numbered about two dozen.

If Fort Dobbs could be developed as a state historic site, it could generate a sizable addition to Iredell County’s economy.

That is the findings of a study conducted by Larry Gustke, co-director of the Cooperative Research Center of Tourism at North Carolina State University. The study was released Wednesday afternoon.

Gustke said that the site, which is currently closed, could draw approximately 100,000 people a year, meaning $7.7 million to the economy.

The figures cited in the study were based on a model created by the National Parks Service, Gustke said.

Fort Dobbs is currently a state historic site, but there is little to draw tourists. A cabin is on the site and there are natural trails.

Still, counting Boy Scouts and drop-in visitors, the site attracted more than 5,000 in 2003.

Gustke said with an increase in visitors from 5,000 to 25,000 per year, could mean $1.3 million to the local economy.

“We think you’re in the cat bird’s seat,” he said. With two interstates flowing through the county, and two nearby large cities, Fort Dobbs could draw large numbers of heritage tourists to the county, he said.

In order for Fort Dobbs to draw the visitors, some action is necessary to make the fort a viable tourist attraction, he said.

Gustke recommended the reconstruction of the fort, a visitor center and frontier museum, educational programs, living history demonstrations and special events to make it a top-notch tourist attraction.

Beth Carter, who is heading the effort to restore the site, said Fort Dobbs played an important role in both North Carolina and U.S. history.

Its construction came in the 1700s as protection for settlers from raids by the Cherokees, Carter said. It was on what was then North Carolina’s western frontier.

Later, it played an important role in the French and Indian War, which led directly to the American Revolution of 1776, Carter said.

In order to redevelop Fort Dobbs, Carter and members of the Fort Dobbs Alliance are hoping to raise funds from individuals, grants and other available monies to complete the restoration.

It will be money well spent, said Lisabeth Evans, secretary of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

“Heritage tourism is the fastest growing segment,” she said. In North Carolina, which ranks sixth nationally in terms of heritage tourism, brings 49 million people to the state each year, and adds more than $12 billion to the economy, she said.

She said heritage tourists also tend to stay longer when visiting a place. “They stay longer and they spend more money,” she said.

Dr. Jerry Cashion, a native of Statesville and chairman of the North Carolina Historical Commission, said he has longed wanted to see development of the site.

“Many of us had dreams for the future of that site,” he said. “This is a very important part of our heritage.”

One of the keys to redeveloping Fort Dobbs will be gaining community support, said Chandler Bryan, chairman of the Fort Dobbs Alliance.

“We’ve got to get to the local people,” he said. “We have to keep it in the forefront.”

Tracey Gibson, interim president of the Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce, said she believes a fully developed Fort Dobbs will have a positive impact on Statesville and Iredell County.

“We receive calls from people wanting to know things to see and do,” she said. Having Fort Dobbs as a drawing card will mean more tourist dollars in this area, and will attract those visitors to other spots in Statesville, she said.

GI BILL: The NCSU Libraries will hold a free symposium on "The GI Bill Experience" from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Friday at the McKimmon Center. The keynote speaker will be Dr. Milton Greenberg, who worked on the 1997 PBS documentary "The GI Bill: The Law That Changed America." Information, www.lib.ncsu.edu/exhibits/ gibill or call the D.H. Hill Library at 515-7188.

EDUCATION: Dr. David Imig, president and chief executive officer of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, will present "Teacher Education: Meeting High Expectations in Difficult Times" from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday in 216 Poe Hall on the campus of N.C. State University. The event is free. Information, call 513-0034.

WASHINGTON — People don't usually associate intelligence with weeds or cabbages. But plant scientists, taking advantage of new genetic information, have discovered a surprising level of what looks like brainy behavior in the vegetable world.

"It's amazing what plants can do," said Johanna Schmitt, a plant geneticist at Brown University in Providence, R.I. Plants have to do clever things since they're stuck in place and must find ways to cope with enemies and hard times.

"They can't just walk away," said Leslie Sieburth, a researcher at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. To compensate for their immobility, plants have genes strung along long threads of DNA that direct them to perform some remarkable feats. Though plant behavior may seem obvious to farmers and gardeners, it's only recently that biologists are learning exactly how they work, down at the level of individual genes and molecules. Researchers have identified genes that help plants recognize when days are growing longer or shorter. Other genes force a plant to sit through a cold winter before allowing it to blossom. Another maintains a 24-hour internal clock. Some genes help plants "remember" the experiences of their "parents," the plants whose seeds gave them birth, Schmitt said. Plants use color and smell to lure insects that spread their pollen or to repel hungry predators.

Plants aren't above using dirty tricks, such as attracting wasps to lay their eggs inside caterpillar larvae so the caterpillars won't grow up to eat them. Some plants can solve math and logic problems of a sort. They calculate the ratio of two different hues of red light to decide when there's too much shade and they need to grow taller. When roots sense that water is short, a gene called BYPASS1 sends a signal to the stem telling it to produce fewer, smaller leaves.

"This is a logical response to drought because leaves are the major place where water is lost," Sieburth said. Of course, plant talents are a far cry from animal — not to mention human — mental powers. Plants don't have a brain or central nervous system.

Researchers expect their work will have practical value for farmers and home gardeners. Judith Roe, a plant geneticist at Kansas State University in Manhattan, said understanding how plants synchronize their flowering with the state of the environment will help researchers predict and manage the effect of climate change on future crops. "Ongoing climate change is already influencing flowering time in many plants," Schmitt said. "Many British wildflowers are now blooming earlier than they did 50 years ago."

"In flowering plants, the time of flowering is probably the most critical period in their life cycle," Roe said. "At this point, they are particularly vulnerable to environmental stresses."

To figure out how plant genes work, the National Science Foundation awarded a $5 million research grant this fall to an international team of scientists headed by Schmitt. Their task is to identify the molecular mechanisms by which plants know when to grow and when to flower — two distinct stages of vegetable life that must be kept apart.

A gene called FRIGIDA, for example, prevents plants from flowering prematurely, before winter has passed. "If the gene is faulty, it may flower too soon," Schmitt said. "Successful reproduction and the development of seeds and fruits depend on flowering at the right time," said Jo Putterill, a biologist at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. To make smart choices, plant genes must take in multiple cues from their environment — light, temperature, moisture, gravity, etc. — and assemble them into a meaningful whole. That's a rudimentary version of the way an animal's brain integrates various signals from its eyes, ears, fingers and stomachs. The messages that tell a plant it's time to blossom turn on several series of genes, called "pathways," which lead to other master genes controlling the roots, stems and leaves.

"The balance of signals from these pathways is integrated by a common set of genes to determine when flowering occurs," Putterill said.

NASA is also interested in plant genetics. The space agency is financing research at North Carolina State University in Raleigh to study how plants will respond to changes in mechanical force and gravity on a spaceship, the moon or Mars. Researchers have identified 64 genes that respond to gravity, according to Heike Winter Sederoff, a botanist at N.C. State.

"When a plant is blown by the wind, flipped over or its roots are disturbed by an animal, specific genes responsible for keeping the plant stable" and roots growing respond very quickly, often within one minute of the disturbance, Sederoff reported.

Schmitt said scientists still don't understand how plants accomplish many of their clever tricks. "There are huge unanswered questions," she said. "That's what the National Science Foundation project is all about."

The Delaware chapter of AARP will be kicking off its three "Aging in Place" workshops next week at the Embassy Suites in Newark. Dick Duncan of North Carolina State University's Center for Universal Design will present a keynote speech on how incorporating universal design features in homes can make lives easier. The workshops will provide information to seniors and their children about how they can increase the number of years they can remain in their home as they age, said AARP spokesperson Lisa Wolfe.

All sessions begin with breakfast at 8 a.m. and end just after noon. The first session on Tuesday will be at the Embassy Suites 654 S. College Ave., Newark. The second on Wednesday will be at Dover Downs, 1131 N. Du Pont Highway, Dover. The third will be on Nov. 18 at the Atlantic Sands, 101 N. Boardwalk, Rehoboth Beach. The three workshops are part of the AARP Issues & Answers Series.

CORVALLIS – Oregon State University will play a significant role in a 10-year, $4.8 billion initiative that was announced Tuesday – the development of the nation’s premier laboratory for nuclear energy research, development and education.

Increases in the university’s research, educational programs, student scholarships and faculty base are all planned, officials say, mostly in the OSU Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics. OSU could receive $10 million or more over 10 years under the new initiative.

Officials of the U.S. Department of Energy said Tuesday they have selected the Battelle Energy Alliance to establish the Idaho National Laboratory.

This alliance is made up of a consortium of universities and institutions, including Battelle Memorial Institute, OSU, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, North Carolina State University, Ohio State University, the University of New Mexico, the Idaho universities and a number of industry partners.

The alliance was selected over three other finalists in the bid to run the new lab.

“OSU has been working to promote university collaboration within the state,” said OSU President Ed Ray. “But clearly, partnerships across states with other major universities also represent an important way that we can bring Oregon to the forefront of important national research and economic development opportunities.”

Todd Palmer, an associate professor in the OSU Department of Nuclear Engineering and Radiation Health Physics, said that “we are extremely excited to have been awarded this contract.”

“This is a testament to our collaboration with other universities, and our work as the lead institution in the Western Nuclear Science Alliance,” Palmer said. “We’re committed to working with other schools to improve designs for the future of nuclear power.”

Universities involved in this alliance will conduct regional outreach and take the mission of the Idaho National Laboratory to other universities.

“The contract will also bring a major influx of money through Oregon State for nuclear energy research, and many departments can benefit from that,” Palmer said. “In addition, each school in the consortium is involved in different areas of research and faculty members from across campus will be able to bid for the money going through the partners.”

MIT will house the Center for Advanced Energy Studies, North Carolina State will operate the Center for Simulation, and OSU will expand its nationally recognized Advanced Thermal Hydraulic Research Laboratory. The OSU lab has become a national leader for studies of thermal hydraulics and reactor safety, officials say.

The contract will also provide OSU half the funding it needs for six new faculty positions. Faculty will be added in research areas that relate to national goals of energy independence and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the initiative should also generate a greater number of scholarships and fellowships for students.

"Large, multi-institutional collaborations, such as the one represented by this contract are increasingly important in the federal research environment,” said Rich Holdren, vice provost for research at OSU. “We have been working strategically over the last several years with Battelle to make opportunities such as this one accessible to us."

Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham, in making the Tuesday announcement, said that “the Battelle team brings an outstanding reputation, an excellent plan and a superior management team that will make the INL a world-class, multi-program laboratory."

“This new laboratory was the missing element in our strategy to provide long-term energy security for the nation,” Abraham said. “We needed a laboratory that can work with the other labs in our complex, academia and industry to advance nuclear power technology and create an entirely new type of nuclear energy plant for the longer term future.”

The Idaho National Laboratory will conduct science and technology research across a wide range of disciplines, including materials, chemistry, the environment, and computation and simulation. It will also play a key role in ensuring the nation's security by helping to protect the country's critical infrastructure and preventing the spread of nuclear material.

One of the laboratory’s first major tasks will be to lead an international research and development effort to create an advanced nuclear energy technology called the Next Generation Nuclear Plant, which could produce both inexpensive electric power and large quantities of hydrogen – a way to reduce the nation’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.

NC State University News Clips for November 11, 2004

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