2001-02 Broadcast Season
Broadcast Program Transcripts
Episode #1706
A Community Responds

Holloway: Jay Holloway, Host
Woodyear: Dr. John Woodyear, Montgomery County Board of Health
Campbell: 1^st Sergeant Steve Campbell, US Marine Corps
Gentry: Bill Gentry, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management
Sloan: Alona Sloan, East Montgomery High School
Bostick: Ralph Bostick (D), Montgomery County Board of Commissioners
Jordan: Jeff Jordan, Sheriff, Montgomery County
F: Female speaker
M: Male speaker

Holloway: How are rural communities in our state dealing with a national state of alert? Join us for a town hall discussion, next on Black Issues Forum.

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Holloway: Across the country and here in our state we're all in a national state of alert, but how do world communities deal with this? What are the pros and the cons? How do they prepare and cope with the unknown? Tonight we are in Troy, North Carolina on the campus of Montgomery Community College. We have a distinguished panel as well as studio guests to help us answer some of those issues. First I'd like to introduce our panel. First Dr. John Woodyear, member of the board of directors of the Montgomery Community Department of Health and a physician. Also, First Sergeant Steve Campbell of the US Marine Corps, Greensboro Reserve, Active Duty. Also, Bill Gentry, Central Branch Manager, North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, and Alona Sloan, Coordinator and Counselor at Montgomery High School, East Montgomery High School. And last but not least, Ralph Bostick, Montgomery County Commissioner. Thank you all for being with us this evening.

How do we look at surviving today and being on a national state of alert, but also continuing with our normal everyday lives? Who would like to address that first here? Let me ask our friend in the Marines. How can we do that?

Campbell: Well, you just have to be vigilant and you have to be aware of your surroundings, know what's not normal, try to do exactly what you do every single day, just that you have to be more aware. Being in the Marine Corps Anti-Terrorism Force Protection has always been something that we do overseas, so you just need to try to stay calm, follow the directions that you're given by your state and local governments, and just deal with it the best you can. But don't let them win.

Holloway: Dr. Woodyear, is there any need to be really concerned about the anthrax warnings in this community, or in our area?

Woodyear: Well, anthrax is an infection caused by a bacillus which lives in the soil in almost.almost all over the country. It has been with us forever and will certainly continue to be there. It primarily affects livestock, and on rare occasions it affects the people who handle the livestock. Recently we've seen an upsurge in the number of reported cases of anthrax infection. There are two forms. The cutaneous form, which affects the skin and is almost completely benign or harmless, usually responds to antibiotics and we expect a complete cure. The inhaled or pulmonary form, is a much more serious infection. It is far more rare, and we've certainly seen a lot about that lately, but it too can be successfully treated with antibiotics with the expectation of good results on occasion. Unfortunately, it does have a very high mortality if it is detected late or if the person who succumbs to the infection is debilitated or older.

Holloway: Have you all seen any people in this area with flu symptoms that you have had trouble distinguishing between the two?

Woodyear: No, not at this time. In our area any. In fact, the likelihood of any indigenous form of anthrax is extremely remote because our soil doesn't really promote the bacterium. Any flu-like illness in this area would almost certainly be just a flu-like illness.

Holloway: Ms. Sloan, how about parents and teachers and kids? How are they dealing with this?

Sloan: I think they are doing very well. We had our preparation in the past years with all the violence in other schools, and we have in place an excellent emergency program that we refer to, and we have to refer to quite often, in fact, at least once a quarter formally. We, the parents.of course, the first day that this happened, we had numerous phone calls and in precaution, we cancelled all after school activities. We have not shortened our school day once for it. We've had tremendous support from the community.

Holloway: Mr. Gentry, is this community prepared for the worst that could happen here?

Gentry: Well, the good thing about-in all North Carolina communities-is, for better or worse we are very experienced with natural disasters, whether it's hurricanes or the snow storm that came through a couple of years ago, and our system and our plans and the county plans are based on an all hazard approach. So from a response and a preparedness standpoint, we feel like we're as prepared as we can be. We have been doing specific terrorism training for the last five years in North Carolina, so we're a little ahead of the curve. But again, the same results from whether it's a hurricane a hazardous material incident or a snow storm, the same things have to happen even after a terrorist event.

Holloway: Is it generally true across the state, do you think most.emergency management?

Gentry: We have 100 county coordinators across the state. The county is depending on their funding and depending on their population and depending on their tax base. We see a difference in their preparedness levels, but that's what the state system does. We come in and evaluate those levels and then we help supplant where need is.

Holloway: Commissioner Bostick, on a more local level, how is this community prepared? Is the local commissioners or government been talking about that? How you are prepared for this, do you think?

Bostick: We think we are prepared as well as could be, because with this think, you never know what it's going to be and which way it's coming. We have called together all of our emergency people, hospitals, sheriff's departments and health departments-everybody who could possibly be involved and could handle anything that might come up. We feel that we are ready for whatever could come up. Of course with these terrorists, you don't know where it might be or what might happen, but I think the county is as well prepared as can be.

Holloway: What about the public health and the social issues, now? From a public health point of view, are there other concerns and is this community also aware of those other concerns?

Woodyear: If this is directed at me, I'd say that probably our greatest concern is fear, ignorance and panic. At this point, there is no concern in our community for terrorism. I'm very pleased to know that there has been preparation for this well in advance of these most recent incidents, but in the event that there was some sort of release of a biological toxin in our area, anthrax would probably be the kindest because it's one of the most difficult to contract. In fact, to my knowledge it is impossible to contract it person to person. So unless there is some sort of specialized anthrax, which has the ability to be airborne and to infect people, it is of minimal concern. And so again, in our community with the preparations that have already been made, and what I'm aware of, there is really not much to be concerned about except for the panic that's associated with the current anthrax scare.

Holloway: Sergeant Campbell, how about putting this in perspective for us here in homeland, in North Carolina. Is there.should we be very concerned about this happening to us here?

Campbell: I really don't think we. We need to be concerned, and we need to be-again, vigilant is the key word-and you have to be vigilant about what you're doing. I think that the chances of a direct terrorist attack on us in North Carolina with anthrax is very minimal. They hit New York and they hit Washington, DC and they've hit the places where they want to bring the most fear. One thing we might need to be concerned about is residual anthrax, where mail has gone through the system-something goes through New Jersey but it comes to us and it just shows up. Then you have the chance of contamination there, but.a direct terrorist attack on us in North Carolina I don't think is very likely. There's a lot of military in North Carolina that would be able to help, like the gentleman said. You know, we have hurricanes all the time. We are very prepared for disasters to happen here because they do happen here a lot.

Holloway: Speaking of hurricanes, our state, as you said, certainly has a lot of experience at that, but our emergency management as well as students here in this county, were very involved in assisting the people in New York and September 11^th. Mr. Gentry, let me talk.talk.you talk to us about the state's involvement and your involvement specifically, and maybe some of the students here.

Gentry: Well, the one thing we had to realize after the event on September 11^th was, New York City has resources that we're not used to seeing an entity bring to bear. In North Carolina, we're always looking for help after hurricanes or major storms. New York City population is, as most of you know, almost triple that of our state. I was fortunate enough to go up-and I say fortunate enough because it was a great learning experience-to assist the New York City Emergency Management personnel. I went up on September 19^th and got to go down to Ground Zero almost every afternoon for ten days. The sights, the smells, seeing what those people did to come together and react as a city-and they utilized very little outside help because of their preparedness efforts-and a lot of what I saw made me feel good about what we do here in North Carolina, because I actually saw some of the procedures that I felt we did a little better here. And I saw some of the procedures that they were doing that I brought back with me that I knew we needed to do a little more practicing on.

Holloway: I want to remind our studio audience here in Troy, North Carolina at Montgomery Community College that if you'd like to make a comment or have a question, just raise your hand and we'll come to you with the microphone. And speaking of that, I want to talk to some of the students here. You all also went up to New York. You're part of the Emergency Medical Science Program here at Montgomery Community College. Could you give us your insight-either one of you that would like to-on your experiences there and how that's preparing you for a career in this area. Who would like to? How did you get there and what did you do? I'm pointing to you.

F: Well, we were watching the.when the first, after the first plane went in on television in the classroom, and we all just kinda jokingly said that "Let's just pack our stuff up and go." And then it ended up not being a joke when we realized that it was for real and we actually packed our stuff and left that night. And we did contact the Emergency Management in New York and offered our services and we told them that we were on the way. And they told us that they would put us to work when we got there.

Holloway: How.What was the experience like for you?

F: Devastating. It was a very good learning experience, but I think I was prepared to see what I was seeing on television and it doesn't do it justice for what it really looks like.

Holloway: Do you think if we had a situation like this in North Carolina, has that experience prepared you, or is there any way you can be prepared for a devastation like this?

M: Yes, sir. We go through training in situations with mass casualties, and you get prepared as in our program for patient contact. You can either have severity and also the patients that are not so bad, so you can kind of coordinate with the "load and go" situation where you can get patients out quicker and where you have patients who can help you out. I feel pretty much that our training, we will be prepared.I mean if anything did happen, we would kind of know that we would have some background in it and a good understanding of what could go on.

Holloway: Commissioner Bostick, this must make you feel better that your community is this prepared. Do you find unity in this community and how does your office or your fellow commissioners look in terms of this community unity and the state of preparedness?

Bostick: Well this has.this county has always been unified, and our emergency paramedics have been one of the best in the state. They have won several awards for being prepared and they have also worked several functions-live functions-like the NASCAR races. They've also gone to the inauguration for governors and they have made their mark here by being paramedics. I think we are probably one of the foremost paramedic units in the state. We feel real good and real proud of this unit. They are an excellent unit. They are prepared and they have.I think we probably have more paramedics than any county that surrounds us.

Holloway: Now how would you compare? This is largely a rural county. How would you compare just the whole state of readiness and how people are dealing with this compared to an urban area in our state? Do you think the citizens here-and I want to ask you in our audience-how you are feeling about this situation compared to some of your relatives or friends in some of our urban areas? Is there a difference?

Bostick: Well, with this.there are some areas that probably surpass us, but I would put the paramedic unit and the emergency unit with any city anywhere, because we have been prepared and trained, and the college has done an excellent job with preparing these paramedics for this. This is one of the things that they are trumps in with the paramedic units here. There are some other programs that are good, but this basically one of our best. The law enforcement section of this college is excellent too. We have prepared some excellent law enforcement officers, so Montgomery County is blessed to have this school here that has prepared our citizens for paramedics and for law enforcement.

Holloway: Speaking of law enforcement, I want to come to our sheriff of Montgomery County just a second on our front row here. But let me ask Ms. Sloan, now let's talk a little bit more about younger and the high school level that you're dealing with. Talk a little more about how they are talking about this, how they're coping with it, do they come to your area for counseling, or what has been the discussion between students, teachers and parents?

Sloan: For students who have been directly impacted with this by family members or people they know or they heard of, they have come for some counseling, but nothing very serious. We have to deal a lot with the urban legends because our kids are very computer astute, so they're getting all the rumors off the computer and that's discussed. But one of the things that this has promoted is their interest in biology, economics, sociology, social studies, government, all these things, because since we are in a semi-state of war, some of our rights have been limited. So it's given a whole new air and aura to the civics classes. Since they're talking about anthrax, biology is much more interesting. So it really has spiked their interest in a lot of things, but overall kids are kids. They are so resilient. They don't hold on to it as long as we do.

Holloway: Okay. We actually have the sheriff here first, and then there is another gentleman to comment. Let me ask the sheriff to react, if you can sir, to what you've heard from the panel so far.

Jordan: Well, Montgomery County is a unique place in that the people have experienced difficulties before and we've experienced.well, a couple years ago we had about two feet of snow and all the emergency medical folks came together, the state was here to help us, and everyone came together and got us through that. There are some fears in Montgomery County based on the anthrax scare, but these folk-these country folk that have felt fear before and handled it-they mostly want to talk about it and they.we've had about ten instances where we've picked up-the sheriff's office has picked up-mail that has been suspicious. Two of those pieces of mail were taken to the lab, the health lab, in Raleigh and found to be negative for the presence of anthrax. The other pieces of mail that we've picked up have been just suspicious pieces of mail that we've destroyed.

Holloway: Have you seen greater patriotism during this time of terrorism?

Jordan: Oh yes, absolutely.

Holloway: Well, you said they like to talk about it. We're trying to get this audience to talk a little more. So we want to get some comments. We do have a comment right here. Sir, go right here, please, with a comment or question.

M: My name is Jeff Paul. I live in Salisbury, North Carolina, but I come to Montgomery County every single day to take the gunsmithing program. A point of discussion between a lot of veterans or just people in general is the issue of the homeland defense. During the '60s and into the early '70s we had civil defense, where people would volunteer or would either be employed by the government. My question is, is there something that everyday people can volunteer to get into the homeland defense? Because you hear it on CNN and everything else every day about Tom Ridge and the home defense issue, but you never hear of them opening up the door for everyday people or disabled veterans, or people that just want to show their patriotism and help everybody be more prepared.

Holloway: That's a great question. Sergeant Campbell.

Campbell: Well, I think the important thing you've got to know is that all the homeland defense units or organizations are professional organizations. The National Guard, the military, the police.you have to be trained and you have to know what you're doing. I would not like to see a whole bunch of folks out there with weapons trying to protect us and not know what they're doing and not be properly trained. I think the sheriff would probably agree.

The biggest thing they can do is support us by, if you see me in uniform and you shake my hand and say, "Hey, thank you for doing a good job, or thank you for being there." You see the EMT guys, thank them. You want to do something, take food to the fire department. Take food to the police department. Unfortunately with the mail problem.but send letters or whatever. Let us know that we're doing you the service that you're paying us to do. And we're going to provide the best quality service we can to you. That's the important thing, I think.

There might be some programs the police departments may have where you can volunteer to do things, but when you're talking homeland defense.when I hear that, I think of the person with a weapon, trained to observe, trained to protect, and if need be, trained to utilize that weapon, and you don't want to do that without the proper training and without understanding what your rules of engagement are, and what's the right thing and the wrong thing to do.

Holloway: So, thank those that are doing it, and you didn't say anything about recruitment though, but they could sign up for.

Campbell: Well, I have unique views on recruitment. I think every 18- to 21-year-old should serve in the service. That's just my own view. But if that's something you feel you want to do, and you bring to the service a qualification or just the willingness to serve your country.I would love to see hundreds and hundreds of people lined up at the recruiter's office joining the service, whatever branch of the service they would want to.

Holloway: You also said thank the mail carriers. In rural communities, many of the mail carriers don't drive-the ones you see in the urban areas-the U.S. Mail trucks. They drive their personal cars, and drive on the other side, and they work very hard. Do they have any other unique concerns here in the rural community that they may not have in an urban area? Who might be prepared to address that? Mr. Gentry?

Gentry: A follow-up answer, I guess, would be on the emergency management side. Each of our county emergency management coordinators is promoting a program that dates back to the old civil defense era when they used to have civil defense wardens in the communities. In the more rural areas, they were that much more important, because they helped give proper education, proper public information, and kind of keep in touch with everybody in their particular district. We have revitalized that program under a little program called Community Emergency Response Training. Basically what we do is have the communities come in, and it's somewhat like what law enforcement has done in years past with their community watches. We do train communities to be a little more vigilant of who's in their communities, check on one another, and be a little bit more prepared to share information with each other.

Holloway: We are in Troy, North Carolina, at Montgomery Community College. We have a full house here. We only have about four minutes left, so if you have a question, please raise your hand. Let me go to Dr. Woodyear now. How close is Public Health working with Public Safety in these times? Any difference?

Woodyear: One evening this week there was a meeting convened by the County Commissioners, at which the Department of Health, the fire services, the police services, the hospital, and citizens of the community were invited to attend, and at that meeting we were all given the opportunity to contribute anything that we could to the personal well-being of our county. At that time, a suggestion was made, which this may be an opportunity to extend to the other communities, that the newspaper run a survey of, or publish a survey, that would be filled out by citizens, in which they could list any services that they could provide, drop this off at the local county office, and the county sheriffs would be able to coordinate those emergency activities, or those skills from the community.

One of our advantages as a small town, or as a small community, is everybody knows everybody. We are neighbors. We are friends. We support each other. We saw that in our snow emergency, and we're seeing it now. In answer to a question you answered earlier-asked earlier-larger communities seem to be more anonymous. They keep to themselves. I used to live in a city, and I know that was the case then. I feel more like I'm a part of this community, and I feel very gratified to live in a situation where I think I have, I have the support of my friends and neighbors, and I know they-they know they have mine as well.

M: Mr. Bostick, speaking of a close-knit community, we had initially invited a gentleman of Muslim background, who owns a pizza store, I believe, who said he had had some problems, he thought, being profiled. Have you heard that they any problems, and does a rural area like this have those problems?

Bostick: Well, I think that probably comes from the media. A lot of people of Muslim descent have had some problems. But I don't think that we've had any that is monumental here. I'd just like to assure that.assure the county here that we have put in measures to protect the citizens of Montgomery County. The sheriff is patrolling our target areas-such as our water plant, the dams that produce hydro power-and we feel that the county is in good hands, and we've done everything. Of course you'll always have some, somebody that's gonna threaten or say somethin' because a person doesn't look exactly like that particular person. But I don't think it's any major problem here.

Holloway: Time's just about out, we're on our last 30 seconds. Sergeant Campbell, give us some more words of assurance as to our state of readiness here in North Carolina.

Campbell: Well, there are a lot of military units in North Carolina. You have Fort Bragg, Camp Lejeune,.we are prepared to protect our citizens of our country. The military and the law enforcement.it's what you pay us to do, is to protect you. And you pay the military to take care of matters overseas. In a community like Troy, and Montgomery County, I think the ruralness helps. Because everybody knows everybody else. And when something's out of place, you know it's out of place. And it's suspicious. And you call your local police department. I grew up outside of Chicago. Chicago is a big city. You don't know everybody, and not everything looks the way it's supposed to be. So I think we have to have faith in our country. We have to have faith in our officials, and we have to have faith that all of us, after 9/11, are going to know what's going on.

Holloway: Thank you so much. We've run completely out of time. We want to thank our studio audience, and our guests, as well, and thank you for joining us on Black Issues Forum. From Troy, North Carolina, Montgomery Community College, you have a good night, and blessed evening.

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