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for mr; "road
<br />ruig, two high-ranking
<br />-Commerce Secretary
<br />' le and Deputy
<br />'>rtation Secretary David
<br />were among the first to
<br />for Cycle North
<br />a, the recreational bike
<br />n Murphy to Manteo.
<br />Commerce and
<br />~rtation are among the
<br />sponsors.
<br />is following through
<br />;plans to ride one leg
<br />aur; Carlisle is cancel-
<br />ng aheavy workload
<br />FIurricane Floyd.
<br />plans to join the tour
<br />;day in Raleigh and
<br />5-mile leg to Wilson. To
<br />tp, he road his bike 17
<br />unday.
<br />t was my entire training
<br />n, right there," King
<br />'hat's the farthest I've
<br />Iden, so 55 miles looks a
<br />lunting." The good
<br />~e said, is that after 17
<br />2 was surprisingly chip-
<br />lugh hungry as a horse."
<br />sle was scheduled to
<br />lay's leg from
<br />rough to Raleigh. But
<br />~rce spokeswoman
<br />Weiner said her boss is
<br />y helping flooded busi-
<br />reopen. "He's just work-
<br />lard on this business-
<br />rysituation,"she said.
<br />global governor
<br />Jim Hunt has picked up
<br />swards aver the years,
<br />i as important-sounding
<br />he'll get later this
<br />"The 1999 Citizen of
<br />r1d Award."
<br />honor is being bestowed
<br />it by the RTP-based
<br />ational Visitors Council.
<br />-old award
<br />sizes a North Carolina
<br />nt who has contributed
<br />:aptly to the internation-
<br />~n of the area.
<br />recipients are Terry
<br />d, the former governor
<br />S. senator; Dr. LeRoy
<br />:, president emeritus of
<br />5.Olympic Committee;
<br />Watanabe, past
<br />ent of Mitsubishu
<br />inductor America Inc.;
<br />Janette Hyde, former
<br />nbassador to Barbados
<br />e Eastern Caribbean.
<br />~urricnne humor
<br />~'s a joke that made its
<br />hound the Hunt admin-
<br />~n in recent weeks:
<br />-here's the most danger-
<br />ace in North Carolina to
<br />ng a hurricane?
<br />p}a,~.,,. Tyr-,L....,...7 r~..,.,.-~
<br />~ _ _ ~ -
<br />Two residents work on their lawn in suburban Thorn Ridge Road in Forsyth County. Looming
<br />over them is a silo, a reminder of the land's former use as a dairy farm.
<br />THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
<br />Preserving farmland
<br />State funding to keep
<br />open spaces unlikely
<br />THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
<br />KERNERSYILLE -Just one North Carolina county has
<br />its own farm preservation program, and prospects
<br />are slim that the state will devote any more money
<br />to the effort next year with elections on the horizon.
<br />State legislators are unlikely to approve new taxes
<br />for a dedicated source of money for farm preser-
<br />vationjust months before voters go to the polls.
<br />Even Before Hurricane Floyd's floods ravaged
<br />Eastern North Carolina recently, the prospect of
<br />repaying $440 million to taxpayers who won a law-
<br />suit over the state intangibles tax had forecasters
<br />predicting an uncomfortably tight budget next year.
<br />Now, with billions of dollars of flood damage tocon-
<br />tendwith, even farm preservation advocates are wor-
<br />riedaboutthe prospects of getting more state money.
<br />"You can forget farmland preservation now We're
<br />going to preserve the east," said Rep. Frank
<br />Mitchell, a poultry farmer from Iredell County who
<br />has supported preservation programs.
<br />But the issue isn't likely to go away as commuters,
<br />landowners and politicians grow increasingly fed
<br />up with the hassles and costs of suburban sprawl.
<br />Farm preservation gives the state a way to save
<br />open spaces and gives farmers -faced with
<br />increasing property values and property taxes as
<br />development surrounds them - an option other
<br />than selling their land to developers.
<br />The General Assembly put up $250,000 last year
<br />to buy the development rights to six farms and an
<br />additional $500,000 this year. The state House, but
<br />not the Senate, passed a bill that would create a
<br />state farmland-preservation trust fund and let coun-
<br />ties impose a $10 fee on each subdivision plat to
<br />help pay for farm preservation.
<br />One of the six farms the legislature paid to buy
<br />belongs to Rober Blackburn of Forsyth County, the
<br />only county with its own farm preservation program.
<br />Blackburn can point to landmarks such as the nine
<br />pear trees planted by his grandfather that continue
<br />to bear fruit. He also points out landmarks near the
<br />houses springing up on former neighbors' farms.
<br />"I pulled tobacco in that field," he said, pointing
<br />to a new development of $125,000 houses. "It's com-
<br />ingfrom every direction."
<br />Blackburn, a barber and retired mail carrier; sold
<br />the development rights on his 59-acre farm north of
<br />Kernersville this year to Forsyth County's farm-
<br />land-preservation program.
<br />He received $106,000 in federal, state and local
<br />money for the rights. In return, his land can never
<br />be turned into housing developments like those that
<br />increasingly surround his and other farms through-
<br />out the Piedmont.
<br />That's just fine for Blackburn, whose grandfather
<br />bought the property 112 years ago.
<br />"I could've held off and developed it and gotten
<br />more money out of it. But money's not everything,"
<br />he said.
<br />Skeptics warn that reducing the amount of land
<br />available for development will only increase land
<br />prices and ultimately bid up the cost of housing on
<br />the remaining land.
<br />J. Michael Carpenter, a lobbyist for the N.C. Home
<br />Builders Association, said the builders' group does-
<br />n't oppose the voluntary sale of conservation ease-
<br />ments at fair-market value. But the practice will
<br />increase housing costs, he said.
<br />
<br />~:~~ Trial be ins
<br /> g
<br />LAUREL HILL CHARLOTTE
<br />
<br />Body of teen is found
<br />3 bouncers charged THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
<br />CHARLOTTE-Amanwho rejected
<br />near railroad tracks in man's death apleaagreementthreemonthsago
<br /> prepared to stand trial in the abduc-
<br />A 14-year-old boy found dead next Three bouncers have been lion and sexual assault case of a 12-
<br />to some Scotland County railroad charged with murder, three months year-old girl.
<br />*r~,~,r~ ^.-,.r~ri., ~: ~~? afro,- ~or,P ?f+pr ~ ma_n. ~tie.l ~lur±r_~ an alterca- Jur~~ selection was to begin
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