County asks residents to conserve water
BY WALI PITT
CHRONICLE INTERN
- Nearly all of North Caroli
na Was placed on alert July 12
as Gov. Mike Easley called on
tl)C federal government to des
ignate 54 counties, including
Forsyth, disaster areas due to
severe drought. Easley's desig
nating the state a disaster area
moves counties one step closer
to getting federal emergency
credit loans for those critically
affected by the drought. Feder
al livestock assistance program
dollars may also be available
to farmers in designated coun
ties.
.Easley is now encouraging
mandatory water restrictions
forthfc state.
"We cannot predict what
kind of rainfall we will get this
summer and fall, so we (must)
conserve now to ensure that we
have adequate water supplies
through October," the gover
nor said recently.
The City/County Utilities
Division has been watching the
water consumption rates close
ly. Forsyth County receives
about 80 percent of its water
supply from the Yadkin River.
Although that body of water is
at a historic low. it is fulfilling
the county's need for water,
Forsyth County officials said.
With the central portion of
North Carolina under an
"exceptional drought." the
City/County Utilities Commis
sion is complying with
Easley's request for conserva
tion for the Yadkin.
Residents can significantly
reduce their water usage by
taking simple efforts to con
serve. Avoid watering your
lawn from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
limit vehicle washing, repair
any leaking faucets, stay in the
shower five minutes or less,
operate dishwashers and wash
ing machines "on full loads
only, and do any other water
saving ideas you might think
of along the way, according to
county officials.
This prolonged drought has
caused conditions to be so arid
that there are excessive agri
cultural losses to such crops as
corn, tobacco, soybeans, pas
ture, hay and produce. The
conditions of drought are so
varied throughout the state that
counties are placed in cate
gories of damage. The catego
ry of "excessive losses" is"
given to a county if one or
more of the aforementioned
crops has suffered at least a 35
percent reduction in its normal
yield.
Many counties in the Tar
Heel state have reported losses
as high as 75 to 80 percent on
their crops. The preliminary
estimates from the N.C.
Department of Agriculture
report monetary losses that
exceed $170 million.
Hie rhoto
More and more counties are turning the sprinklers off as the drought drags on.
CAT-TV
from pane Al
same way that CAT-TV does."
said Vance Cabiness. co-organizer
of the concert and vice president
of the CAT-TV board of directors.
Racial and cultural acceptance
may be one of the subthemes for
the event, but making money is
the primary objective.
CAT-TV, founded in 1994
after a group of community resi
dents lobbied forsuch a station,
no longer gets about
$140,000 a year
from TimeWarner
Cable. As the cable
company was rene
gotiating its contract
with the city earlier
this year, aldermen,
over strong objec
tions from CAT-TV
users, opted not to
push for the compa
ny to continue to
fund CAT-TV direct
ly
Instead, alder
men will determine
how much money
should go to the sta
tion from TimeWarn
er money set aside
for not only CAT-TV
but also TV-13 (the
city station) and the
school system station
(cable channel 2).
Earlier this year,
aldermen agreed to
give CAT-TV
$12,500 a month for
a six-month period
that will end in Sep
tember. Members of
the Board of Alder
men also asked sta
tion officials to come
up with ways that the
station can De more
self-sufficient.
Fund-raiser organizer, hope a
successful KAT Jam concert will
show aldermen that the station is
trying to stand on its own - not
looking for a handout hut a help
ing hand from the city.
"We are looking for ways to
get some money coming in." said
Paul Tomlinson, co-organizer of
the conceit and longtime station
volunteer. "We want to have
everything in place before we go
back to the city in September to
apply for new money to show
them that we can do something
with (CAT-TV)."
They hope that at least
$20.0(X> will be made through the
selling of tickets for the conceit,
tickets that organizers say have
been selling steadily at $8 each.
"We may not get that, but any
thing is better than nothing," Cab
iness said.
Fleming El-Amin, the new
chairman of the CAT-TV board,
said the concert is the first of
many fund-raisers that the station
will hold. He agrees with some
aldermen that the station had
become too dependent on the
TimeWarner money. The station is
trying to walk on its own a little
more, he added.
"These are our first baby steps
toward that. We will also be doing
sonic grant writing as well. The
concept is to be more self-suffi
cient. We can't rely on the funds
anymore as we did before." El
Amin said.
Several other efforts are afoot
at the station, efforts aimed at
making CAT-TV mn more effec
tively. El-Amin said soon a part
time executive director will be
hired to coordinate ongoing fund
raising efforts and to act as a com
munity public relations person.
The new position w ill free up the
station manager to just concen
trate on production. El-Amin said.
He added that one of the rea
sons the last station manager.
Todd Davis, may have left his job
was because he was burned out.
There were also allegations that
station funds were misused under
the reigil of the former station
manager. An audit is being con
ducted and should be complete
next month.
El-Amin said he doesn't
believe that funds have ever been
misused at C'AT-TV.
"I think it was more smoke
than there was fire. I think it was
more management style than
(misappropriation) of funds," El
Amin said, referring to the allega
tions that have been leveled at
Davis. "When people didn't have
access to accounts and could not
veiny wnai was
there...thai sort of gen
erated a lot of ques
tions."
Although part of
CAT-TV's mission is
to bring people closer
together, people asso
ciated with the station
freely admit that they
have not always seen
eye to eye. For exam
ple, the name of the
concert is KAT Jam
instead of CAT Jam
because initially the
station's board of
directors did not give
the concert fund-raiser
the thumbs up. The
board has changed
since then and Cabi
ness said the concert
now has enthusiastic
support of board mem
bers.
Cabiness said a
movement is also
under way to bring
CAT-TV users and
board members closer
together. He credits
Thomas Adkins. the
station's interim station
manager, with leading
the way in that effort.
''Hp hnc a rannnil
? ''Ml
with everyone. He is real con
cerned about making everybody
happy." Cabiness said.
Despite the need for some
tweaking here and there. El-Amin
says the current state of the station
is as good as it has ever been. He
says it will be difficult for CAT
TV to function completely on its
own, without any money from the
city. The station, however, has no
qualms with being active partners
with the city to ensure that public
access television stays in Win
ston-Salem.
"We want to show the general
public that we want to be here and
we will do whatever we have to
do to raise funds, become more
diversified and to be a truly com
munity access TV station," El
Amin said.
The Talent
Country & Bluegrass
11 a.m. until 2 p.m.
Bobby & Mark Atkins
Distant Thunder (Bill Brown)
Night Train
Gospel
2 p.m. until 6 p.m.
Downhome Quartet (Ken Welborn)
Gospel Faith (Minister Joyner)
Deliverance
Future Promise
James & Alveta Byers
Blues & Jazz
6 p.m. until 9 p.m.
Davis Tucker Band
Dixon Brothers
Rock & Metal
9 p.m. until midnight
Storm
Meat Rocket
Sabre Tooth
Running With Einstein (Patrick Murphy)
The concert is Aug. 3. Tickets are $8 in advance and
$10 at the door. For tickets, call 725-6676 or 208-0883
IA celebration for all
Kite Photo
Lanterns of Hope Multicultural Festival will be held Saturday at Winston Lake Park,
Shelter 2. The event is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
Entertainment for this year's event will include Chinese and Mexican folk dancers. There
will also be a number of arts and crafts activities for children. The event which is spon
sored by the Forsyth County Public Library, the Hispanic League of the Piedmont Triad
and the city's Parks and Recreation Department, will be held from 6 to 8 p.m.
I
Bill
from page AI
for the bill during the congres
sional break.
Already tf|e bill has found
support among several crimi
nal justice organizations such
as the Center for Community
Corrections, the National
Association of Blacks in
Criminal Justice and the Inter
national Community Correc
tions Association. The Con
gressional Black Caucus and
many other members of Con
gress are also supporting the
bill wholeheartedly.
"The level of support is
picking up every day," Davis
said.
Davis recently returned
from New Orleans, where his
l
bill received the support of the
National Association of Black
County Officials. The NAACP
also enthusiastically endorsed
the bill during the civil rights
group's recent national con
vention in Texas. Operation
PUSH supports the bill as
I
well.
The re-entry of ex-offend
ers into society is a hot topic
these days. The U.S. Justice
Department recently
announced $100 million in
grants to help cities help ex
offenders readjust to life on
the outside.
Although the bill has yet to
have its day on the floor of
Congress, Davis is already
looking ahead. He believes the
bill would help lower the
recidivism rate for ex-offend
ers, thereby helping to
decrease the number of people
incarcerated.
"It would significantly
reduce those numbers. I think
it would more than cut in half
(the number of ex-offenders
re-incarcerated), Davis said.
' I
Davis
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