Breath Analyzer Is New Weapon
In War Against Drunk Driving
llA LEIGH — Officials of the
Norih Carolina Department of
Tran lortation believe they have
founl a new weapon in the war
again st drunk driving and will be
studying its effectiveness over the
com ing months.
The new "weapon" is a deep-
lun g breath analyzer connected to a
vdnicle’s ignition/electrical system
that prevents the driver from
start ng the engine before he or she
has paBsed-an alcohol breath test
The relatively new technology,
called ignition interlock, is already
in u; e iii 16 other states.
Secretary of Transportation
Thomi J. Harrelson announced
that the department’s Division of
Motoic Vehicles will begin the
igniiidh interlock program on
Januai^ 15, 1990. Harrelson will
name a committee to evaluate the
program and report its findings at
the end of the 12-month project.
Governor James G. Martin called
Harrelson’s action part of the
state’sycontinuing efforts to "slop
the senseless and preventable
alcohol-related death and injury on
our hi^ways."
"W^ hope the ignition interlock
device? will prove to be a valuable
tool irf; keeping the drinking driver
off of Bie liighway," Martin said.
Conim^sioner of Motor Vehicles
Wiliiatn JHiatt, whose office put
togctlifer the proposal after an
exhauative six-month study, said
the cffliuol group for the project
will be tightly reshicted.
"Ttus program will be limited to
a vcife specific classification of
offen&rs who have applied for
reinstatement and a eonditional
restoration of their driving
privileges. In the past, the Division
of Motor Vehicles had no means of
obsi rvatioh or control over these
driveiffi if; wo gave them their
licenses now we do," Hiatt said.
"This carefully controlled pilot
program will allow a period of
close? observation and forced
behavior modification prior to the
offtnijer’s automatic full license
rein statement. While the ignition
intt rl'pek, system is obviously a
dai y; intrusion and regular
con'plication to the participant, it
als( B a valid component of the
stale’s efforts to save innocent lives
on 'hchi,,.iv " Hiatt said.
In additic Icohol test, the
interlock device will also require an
immediate ’’learned" breath code
to help prevent others from starting
the vehicle for an intoxicated
driver. The participant and the
interlock-equipped vehicle wiU be
required to come in for periodic
monitoring and screening.
The cost of the program is to be
paid by the interlock participant at
a rate of $70.00 per installation and
removal, and $50.00 per month
lease and monitoring fee. Officials
expect the cost to be substantially
reduced through insurance
discounts similar to those that have
become available to participants in
other states.
Installation and monitoring for
the pilot program will be provided
in Asheboro by Guardian
Technologies, Inc. of Cincianati,
Ohio, a manufacturer of interlock
devices.
GTE Signs Another Tenant
In SmartPark With Latest
Telecommunications Technology
Research Triangle Paik (RTF) of
North Carolina - one of the nation’s
largest and most prestigious high-
technology parks - has signed an
agreement with GTE Telephone
Operations to become a GTE
SmartPark. GTE will assist RTP in
jointly marketing the Park to
prospective tenants.
A GTE SmartPark is an office
complex designed to accommodate
the latest in telecommunications
technology. Through its pre
planned and flexible environment,
including fiber-optic capability,
GTE can quickly and easily handle
tenants’ current and future voice,
data and video requirements. With
this technology in place, tenants
can readily subscribe to advanced
services such as GTE CentraNet, a
fully featured business telephone
system, video conferencing and
high-speed data uansmission.
Payton F. Adams, president of
GTE Telephone Operations-South
Area, and James O. Roberson,
president of the Research Triangle
Foundation of North Carolina,
jointly made the announcement.
The foundation owns and operates
RTP.
"Our now marketing agreement
will provide increased visibility for
the Park and its advanced
telecommunications services,"
Roberson said. "These capabilities
are important for the high-
technology, research-oriented
tenants to whom we market the
Park’s services."
"GTE insuUlcd a fiber-ontir
around RTP more than six year;
ago in anticipation of its futuri
telecommunications needs," Adam;
said. "We’re pleased to b(
associated with a park well-knowi
for its technological advances. Thit,
SmartPark partnership is an
expression of our mutual
philosophy to provide advanced
services to the Park’s tenants and to
economic development in the
Research Triangle area."
GTE maintains 23 GTE
SmartParks around the country.
Twelve are in GTE’s South Area,
including Central Park, another
SmartPark located in the Research
Triangle area. RTP is home to more
than 50 corporate, academic and
governmental research facilities,
such as Northern Telecom, Glaxo,
National Institutes of Health, IBM
and Burroughs-Wellcomc Co. The
development exceeds 12 million
square feet, representing a capital
investment in excess of $2 billion.
Construction is under way which
will open substantial new areas to
development.
"We provide high levels of
performance standards in
telecommunications and other
services to our tenants," Roberson
said. "The Park’s residents are
engaged in research, development
and scientifically oriented
prodattBpns, and require the latest
telecommunications services for
their daily operations."
ANHEUSER-BUSCH JOINS BLACK LEGISLATORS AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE — Victor M.
Julien (second right), director of special programs at Anheuser Busch Companies, presents a cqptribution
to members of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) at its annual conference recently
in Miami. Anheuser-Busch’s support for the NBCSL also included a concert performance by vocalist
Phyllis Hyman at the group’s "Prestigious Awards Banquet." NBCSL members shown accepting the
contribution (from left) are: Michigan State Senator David Holmes Pa.; Pennsylvania State
Representative and NBCSL President David P. Richardson; Florida State Senator Carrie P. Meek; and
Maryland State Senator Larry Young.
In Milwaukee
The Street Is No Longer Home
MILWAUKEE — In December 1988, saff
members of an experimental Labor Department-
funded program hit the streets here looking for
people; in particular, they were looking for veterans
who were calling alleys and parks home.
Witli a saff of three and a $50,000 sart-up grant
provided by the Veterans’ Employment and
Training Service (VETS), the Milwaukee Homeless
Veterans Reintegration Program hit the ground
running. ,
"We talked to people in libraries, city half, parks
and places where people eat for free," says Thomas
Wynn, Jr., project director. "When you do identify
a veteran, you can’t push him into the program.
You must first get to know him and prove you can
be trusted to help.”
Sanley Green, a 42-year-old Viemam veteran
who spent two years on the streea, was among the
first to accept that help.
"I was in the gutter and wallowed in it for two
itand a half years, and 1 didn’t like it," Green says.
He lost a full-time welding job prior to becoming
homeless and now credits the Milwaukee project
for putting him in the m^insU'eam.
Now employed by the'city at jiist under $10 an
hour, Green lives in his own aparmient and has
maintained steady employment for several months.
"They got me started," he says of the project
staff. "If it wasn’t for them and tlicir support, I
don’t think I would be here." .
Wynn says there is little the program can do
unless the veteran is prepared to help himself.
Green agrees. "When you’re down, and you’ve
been down so long, either you stay there or you
crawl back up," Green says. "It’s up to you whether
you want to stay there in the gutter."
Nearly 200 veterans took part in the program
during its first six months. Seventy have found
work and 23 have located permanent housing.
Alcohol and drug treatment was provided to 55
veterans.
Wynn shares credit for the program’s success
with many of Milwaukee’s public and private social
service agencies. A list of these agencies reads like
a local Who’s Who of domestic assistance
programs and allows the Homeless Veterans
Project to quickly obtain proper assistance.
With an estimated 3,500 homeless vets in the
Milwaukee area, all with obviously difficult arid
varied problems, access to many different sources
of aid is imperative,
"Creating this network of services and building
more is the backbone of our program," says Wynn,
"and it’s the reason we’ll continue to be successful
in moving American veterans from the streets into
their proper place in the community."
Metro Roofing and
Guttering Company
leO? Fayetteville Street
Durham, N.C. 27701
Robert R. Stevon
? 919) 682-2607
Redditt Alexander
(919)683-8711
Unemployment Situation For African
Americans Shows Littie Change
• flintall's Bail Bonding Company
Courteous, Prompt Service
24 Hours A Day
116'/> E. Main St- (Upstairs)
"A Company that Is Concerned about Your Freedom"
Largest Minority Owned Bonding Company in Durham
With Locations In Burlington, N.C.
Almost A Decade Of Service
682-6171
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
Unemployment for blacks showed
little change from October,
according to the U.S. Labor
Department’s Bureau of Labor
Statistics. The jobless rates for
blacks was 12.1 percent, compared
to 11.8 percent in October and 11.2
percent in November 1988.
For black men, the
unemployment rate was 10.7
percent, compared to 10.3 percent
lin October and 9.8 pe-cent in
INovembcr 1988. Black women had
a 10.4 percent rate of
.unemployment in November,
'showing only a slight change from
‘October’s rate of 10.0 percent and
the November 1988 rate of 9.8
percent.
Black teens had the highest
jobless rate at 32.8 percent, down
slightly from the 34.2 percent rate
Would You
Boliovo
'^ulefide Greetings
TtaU !• the time to remember friends old
nnd new...like you, our patrons. The
season's beat from all the people here at
A man picked up a little
porcelain dish at a convent
rummage sale for $3 that
the nuns had been using
for sugar. Curious as to
what it could be worth, he
took it to Sotheby’s in
New York only to find it
was rare and valuable,
fetching $30,000.
Although gorillas look
ferocious, they are really
rather quiet apes. At
night, the father gorilla
sleeps on tlie ground, but
the mother and the baby
goiillas sleep in big ne.sts
of sticks and leaves, or in
lower branches of trees,
where they are safe from
prowling animals.
of October and up slightly from the
31.1 percent of November 1988.
The jobless rate for teen men, at
33.1 percent, was comparable to
that of black teen women, with a
rate of 32.6 percent.
Overall, employment rose in
November and unemployment
showed little cliange. The Jobless
rate was 5.3 percent and the
civilian worker rate was 5.4
percent; they had been 5.2 and 5.3
percent, respectively, in the prior
two months.
Nonagricultural payroll
employment, as measured by the
survey of business establishments,
rose by 210,000 from the October
level, which has been revised
downward. Total civilian
employment, as measured by the
survey of households, increased by
240,000 in November.
Unemployment (Household
Survey Data)
The number of unemployed
persons, 6.7 million, and the
civilian worker unemployment rate,
5.4 percent, were about unchanged
in November. The jobless rale has
hovered between 5.0 and 5.4
percent for more than a year now.
There were also few changes in the
jobless rates among individual
worker groups. The rate for adult
men was 4.7 percent, identical to
that for adult women.
Unemployment rates were virtually
unchanged for teenagers (15.5
percent), whiles (4.6 percent),
blacks (12.1 percent), and
Hispanics (7.8 percent).
Although the total number of
unemployed was little changed, the
number of jobless persons who
were on layoff from their jobs rose
substantially over the month; the
November level was nearly 1
million, up from a range of
750,000-875,000 over the past
year.
Civilian Employment and the
Labor Force (Household Survey
Data)
Total civilian employment rose
by 240,000 in November to a
seasonally adjusted level of 117.8
million. Adult women accounted
for all of this gain. Over the past
year, civilian employment has
expanded by 1.9 million, with the
increase about evenly divided
between adult men and adult
women. This raised the proportion
of the working-age population that
is employed to 63.0 percent, as
compared with 62.6 p)crccnt a year
earlier.
The seasonally adjusted civilian
labor force rose by 410,000 in
November to 124.5 million and the
labor force participation rate
matched June’s all-time high of
66.6 percent. Over the past 12.
months, the labor force grew by 2
million persons.
January 12 Deadline For
State-Funded Youth Games
The term, "the 400,”
the wealthiest and most
fashionable members of
society in 1892, was de
rived after the number of
people Mrs. Willitim .\s-
tor’s ballrooni ..'.-'itd
aecommodaic.
The new year could bring cash to local youth groups and organizations j
to help them implement community I'rojccts.
Annually $6,500 is available to North Carolina organizations ;
composed of young people, ages 13 to 18, who want to implement new
programs that will benefit their peers. The mini grants arc administered
by the N.C. Youth Advisory Council (YAC) and average $500 each. '
Jan. 12 is the next application deadline, one of three during the fiscal '
year. ^
According to program administrator James Rochelle, dozens of youth
groups and tlie youth they serve have benefited from the funds. Recent ^
recipients have included the
* Alfordsville Rural Community Organization, Maxton, $800 towards
completion of a recreational field and purchase of playground equipment
* Substance Abuse Youth Intervention Organization, Thomasville, ,
$500 to sponsor Project Graduation, an alcohol-free celebration;
* Triangle Youth Philharmonic, Cary, $700 towards purchase of ;
orchestral music;
* Youth Awareness Club, Fayetteville, $250 for the publication of a ,
youth newsletter.
"Mini-grants are a wonderful opportunity for youth organizations to ,
obtain funds for special projects," Adminismation Secretary James S. ,
Lofton said. i
The N.C. Youth Advisory Council functions under the Youth
Advocacy and Involvement Office in the N.C. Department of
Administration. i
Applications will be screened by die board of directors of the State
Youth Council when it meets Feb. 2-4 in Goldsboro and will be reviewed
by the YAC before grants are made.
For application or information, contact the Youth Advocacy and
Involvement Office, 121 W. Jones St., Raleigh, N.C. 27603-1334 or
telephone (919) 733-9296.