Funding for the production of Louisiana: The State We're In is provided in part by the Zigler Foundation of Jennings; Gulf States Utilities, helping Louisiana bridge the gap to our energy future; and the Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation. The airline industry is in trouble, big trouble. Two major carriers here in Louisiana have filed for bankruptcy, and a third is threatening to do the same. Thousands of workers have been laid off. Thousands of others are on strike. Whatever happened to the friendly skies? Lieutenant Governor Bobby Freeman who has been at war recently with Governor Treen, wants his job back. But critics say he's been in office now for four years and has accomplished nothing. A look tonight at the heated race for lieutenant governor. And finally a story about a man and his art. Dan Girouard of Lafayette is blind, but he sees the beauty of the world through his fingers.
Good evening. I'm Beth George Courtney. And I'm Ken Johnson and this is Louisiana: The State We're In. Well, Campaign '83 may be winding down with the election now just two weeks away, but the political rhetoric certainly is heating up. This week Governor DaveTreen called former Governor Edwin Edwards a liar and a man who would say anything to get elected. Among other things Treen accused Edwards of lying about his financial interest in the Deferred Compensation Corporation of Louisiana. Edwards called the attack on his reputation a smear. Both of the major candidates for governor spent the week campaigning across the state, trying to drum up last-minute support. More on the race from
correspondent Carole Leslie. It was a grueling schedule, but former Governor Edwin Edwards and his campaign staff seemed to enjoy every minute on the road again. It also gives me an opportunity to make one last-minute touch in areas where I think that it's important to let people know the campaign is going well and I want their continued support. The caravan of motor-homes, limousines and helicopters carried Edwards and his entourage statewide from a Kaplan industry to a hometown crowd at Crowley, then on and on. Everywhere Edwards kept up a steady barrage of criticism of Governor Dave Treen, calling him an amateur, accusing Treen of supporting rich man's legislation while trimming services to the poor and elderly. So it was no surprise that Governor Treen had his people in place for counterattack. Truth Squads, he called them, on the scene to tell Treen's side of the story. For two days he was saying that Dave Treen says he's going to raise
taxes on a bottle of beer 24 cents and a pack of cigarettes 44 cents. And that is a total, despicable lie. It is unconscionable to me that a man of his stature, who would be the governor of this state, would come out with a bald-faced lie like that. But if the truth squads worried Edwards, he didn't show it. I'm, well I'm glad to have them. Everything that I say is public. Everything that I say I believe in good faith to be correct. It would certainly be very stupid of me and for all of my faults, I don't think I'm stupid. Edwards motorcade rolled on. Governor Treen labeled it a misinformation machine and stepped up his effort to match Edwards point for point. We have to do what we're having to do, send the truth squad around him from some of the outrageous statements he's been making. At several campaign stops in New Orleans, Treen devoted most of his remarks to those alleged lies and misstatements, but there is one
truth neither candidate would challenge. With two more weeks still to go before the primary, voters certainly haven't heard the last of the honesty issue. The latest poll released this week done by four television stations around the state shows former Governor Edwards has lost some support recently, but still holds a comfortable lead in the race. The poll has Edwards the favorite of 43 percent of those questioned and Governor Treen the choice of 30 percent. One of the issues in this campaign has been Governor Treen's handling of state finances. Well, the news out of the capitol of this week could not have come at a worse time for the Governor. Legislative Fiscal officer Mark Drennen said the state faces a budget deficit this year that could run as high as $180 million. Drennen told a legislative committee that he expects a huge shortfall in the collection of sales taxes, corporate income taxes, and oil and natural gas severance taxes. One lawmaker criticized the report, claiming it's too early to predict a deficit considering the state is bottoming, bottoming out of a recession. He hinted that the report was intended to
embarrass Governor Treen just before the election. Meanwhile the Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association reported this week that Louisiana's oil and gas industry has slowed from its record-setting pace of just a few years ago, but remains the dominant force in the state's economy. According to association figures, companies here drilled five thousand and five new wells in 1982, 300 fewer than in the previous year but that figure still represents the fifth best drilling year of the past quarter century. And employment in Louisiana's oil and gas industry was reported at more than 165,000 people with an estimated annual payroll of $3 billion. Some good economic news this week for Lake Charles: Reynolds Metal company has been approved for tax relief under Governor Treen's Enterprise Zone program. State officials say the action will assure some 250 jobs for the Lake Charles area. Under the program, Reynolds plans to invest $22 million in its existing facility in Lake Charles, saving 70 existing jobs and creating an additional 180 permanent new jobs over the next five years. There are also some happy people tonight in the River Parishes. The new $135 million
Luling-Destrehan Bridge has finally been opened. The huge cable-stayed bridge, believed to be the largest of its kind in the world, towers more than 400 feet above the Mississippi River in St. Charles Parish. Construction on the new bridge began back in 1974. Now that the bridge is finished, state officials say the old Luling-Destrehan ferry will be mothballed. In 1976, 78 people were killed near the bridge site when a Norwegian tanker rammed the ferry broadside. Also this week Roger Geisinger, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources, said the state plans to pump about $10 million into the economy of the Alexandria-Pineville area with the construction of a new 112-bed psychiatric complex on the grounds of Central Louisiana State Hospital. In addition to that project, the state also plans to renovate most of the hospital's existing facilities. Central presently employs nearly 1,100 people and has an annual operating budget of more than $23 million. The news isn't so good for another part of the state. Attorney General William Guste says he is considering suing parishes and cities in Southeast Louisiana to stop the illegal dumping of sewage into Lakes Pontchartrain,
Maurepas and Borgne. Last year almost half of the state's oyster beds had to be closed because of pollution-related bacterial contamination. If stronger measures are not taken in the future, Guste warned, other states are likely to forbid the sale of Louisiana oysters. Guste said the lawsuits are being considered because the Environmental Protection Agency has been unable to do anything about the worsening problem. Although their legal battles are not over, residents of a small central Louisiana community say things are looking up. Three years ago parents in Forest Hill rebelled against a federal judge's desegregation order to close the community's only elementary school. The parents are now asking the United States Supreme Court to reopen their school. In the meantime, residents of Forest Hill have organized their own school and just this year were able to build a home for it. Correspondent Robyn Ekings paid a visit to Forest Hills' new neighborhood school. In this sentence, what do we have? Is it a prepositional phrase as an adjective or an adverb? Underline them and tell me how you used it.
On the outside, the finishing touches are still being added. On the inside, the first year for a brand-new Forest Hill neighborhood school is well under way. Three years ago, parents and students of Forest Hill gained national attention when they refused to follow the orders of a federal court. U.S. District Judge Nauman Scott had drawn up a desegregation plan for Rapides Parish schools that closed Forest Hill Elementary and called for students in the predominantly white school to be bused to a neighboring town. Residents of the small rural central Louisiana community rebelled. They went to court asking the school be kept open and they set up their own squatters school on the grounds of Forest Hill Elementary until federal marshals ordered them to leave. Moving to nearby churches, the squatter school continued with parents volunteering to teach their children. Today the parents of Forest Hill are hoping the U.S. Supreme Court will hear their plea to reopen Forest Hill Elementary.
A school in their hometown, they say, is an important part of their community. In the meantime, enough money has been raised to give a permanent home to what was once the squatters school. A Forest Hill neighborhood school is now in session in a $90,000 building paid for and built by the community. In the court order that closed Forest Hill Elementary, Judge Nauman Scott said that this building could be used for anything other than educational purposes. Parent leader Clyde Holloway says his group has stretched that provision to the fullest degree. The neighborhood school has been built only a few hundred feet from here on private property. The school uses almost every facility in this building except for the classrooms. No fundraisings here. Of course we use the cafeteria facility for our children to sit down and eat lunch. If he ever just closes us out of that, we would just do it in a lunchroom, in our classroom, it wouldn't be a big problem. We use every part of the facility we can. We have, you know, some PE program that we use sometimes but, as a whole, there's nothing that we're using we couldn't get by without.
So, yes, we're using it in every way we can and I do believe we're legal in doing what we're doing. Two hundred and fifteen students in kindergarten through eighth grade fill the small cinder block building. Although parents still volunteer to help run the school, salaried teachers are at the head of the class. Students pay $50 a month in tuition to help cover expenses. Parent Olivia Nash says she wouldn't send her 7-year-old daughter anywhere else. She has the freedom to go to the school that's closest to her home. And I think it's a shame the courts cannot see that. They cannot see the truth, that the people are just wanting a school. When it was opened, Forest Hill Elementary had a 10 percent black population. Only one black student attends the neighborhood school. Clyde Holloway says there are fewer blacks living in Forest Hill than there once were and that those who remain in the area are not discouraged from attending. We've encouraged really, you know, black students from even the outlying area here. We don't have very many here
in Forest Hill so our ratio is not ever going to be very high. But we've encouraged students from the LeCompte and Glenmora area that if there's any of them that want quality education under a discipline-type atmosphere, we'd be glad to have them. So we're really not trying to escape. As long as they're willing to come down for educational purposes, we'll be glad to have any of them that want to come. While many of the students have had a few years to adjust to their new school life, there are those who still say it's just not the same. You miss the public school? Yes, ma'am. What do you miss about it? I miss the, the windows and everything. It's not quite the same, huh? Do you hope someday that you'll be able to go back to the public school? Yes, ma'am. Clyde Holloway says if the community can't win its case to get Forest Hill reopened, it will go to court to get permission to buy the empty building. There are plans to expand the neighborhood school through grade
12, making room for as many as 600 students. Still, says Holloway, it would be nice to get back from the federal government what the community of Forest Hill has lost: the right to choose public or private in its own hometown. Next Friday, the United States Supreme Court will decide whether or not to hear the Forest Hill case. That decision will be made public the following Monday. Our cover story tonight takes a look at the troubled airline industry. Two major carriers serving Louisiana are now in bankruptcy. Braniff has shut down operations in New Orleans and now Continental has done the same in Shreveport. A third airline, Eastern, says it may be forced to cease all flights serving Louisiana. Many people are blaming the chaos on deregulation, but there are other problems as well. As they say in the business, more and more airlines these days are going belly up. Financially they are bruised, battered, some even broke. How
could it happen to a once-flourishing glamorous industry that paid its pilots an average of $90,000 a year and promised excitement to those who flew the friendly skies. Well, times have changed. The rainbows have disappeared and dark threatening clouds have blanketed the industry. In recent months, Braniff, Continental and Eastern Airlines, once mainstays of the business, have all found themselves struggling to survive. Firs,t Braniff filed for reorganization under federal bankruptcy laws followed by Continental. Eastern is now threatening to do the same unless all of its employees both union and nonunion accept a 15 percent pay cut. Even Delta, the number one carrier in Louisiana and historically a solid company, a money maker, has had its problems, recently losing an estimated $500 million. Industry analysts blame the problems on the economy and deregulation. At the present time the cut-rate fares have been the biggest problem and the economy making a slow turnaround. The airline industry has not felt that much good
response from them because of the cut-rate fares. If it's such a cutthroat, risky type of business, why are so many carriers doing it? They're doing it in the hope that the extra passengers that they're carrying will be flying with them in the future if the fares go up. Well, before they were deregulated, the government set the prices and what you were doing is you were subsidizing the non-heavily traveled routes and the marginal routes by allowing the airlines to make a fairly good profit on, say, the New York to Florida runs, and the New Orleans to Lafayette run would be subsidized by by these runs, okay? After deregulation, everybody and his brother got after the or got into the market where the heavily traveled ones were. People were flying from New York to, say, Miami. That was a very heavily traveled route. So what would happen is that you picked up a lot of competition there and the existing airlines that were making a good profit on that run now all of a sudden have to compete with price. They have to lower
their prices; their costs have gone up. And so you ended up with red ink. Since deregulation, it's estimated the airlines have lost $5 billion. Take Continental as an example. In the past four years the airline, once the eighth largest in the country, has lost $471 million with little hope of turning things around. Continental officials claim they had three options: shut down the carrier completely, lay off most employees and slash the salaries of the remaining ones, or lease the planes to another company. After studying the alternatives, Continental filed for reorganization. First it laid off about 70 percent of its 12,000 employees, instituted new work rules including more flying time for pilots and cut salaries in half. That prompted pilots and flight attendants to walk off the job, accusing Continental of union busting. But despite the strike Continental is operating about 90 percent of its regular flights, with 67 percent of the seats on domestic flights filled. Among the reasons so many people are still flying Continental are new cut-rate, some say cutthroat,
fares. Forty-nine bucks, for example, will buy you a one-way ticket from New Orleans to Los Angeles. Most passengers obviously like discount fares. They say deregulation has stimulated competition. Well, I believe that it makes better for all, because it gives better competition. That way it keeps the price down. Have you noticed the savings in your travels? Most definitely. Now I understand you are in the hotel business. Have the Super Saver fares, the discount fares, the cut-rate fares, have they helped stimulate tourism? Of course, it's been very good, the business is very good since, for instance, Eastern got super rates from New Orleans to Montreal. So we now have a lot of skiers and people coming over to our country. I travel something like 300 days a year. That's a lot of traveling. That's right. How have you found deregulation? Very good. It stimulates competition, better service. They act like they want to
take care of you. Have you saved any money? Well, it's company money, and it saved the company a great deal of money. Deregulation is not the only problem facing the industry. The worldwide recession also has had an impact. At the state's largest airport, New Orleans International, the number of people flying in and out has dropped by more than 600,000 from its 1980 peak of 6.6 million. That decline helped to bury Braniff Airline and is threatening several others. Some people will say deregulation was good. Some will say it's bad. I really have mixed emotions. The thing that concerns me is that here you regulate an industry for many, many years and overnight you turn it loose. And a lot of airlines, in my opinion, did not know how to operate in a free market. And the end result will be that the more efficient ones and the dynamic managers and the guys that are looking ahead and planned out these things and have been able to forecast what's been going on will be the winners or the ones that will stay in the business. The marginal ones like Braniff will drop out and so the market will eventually stabilize or at least that's my opinion.
Under deregulation, industry analysts say the airlines had no choice but to cut costs to remain competitive. That meant laying off some employees and cutting the salaries of others. Union officials in all likelihood will take the fight to Congress and the courts. But in Continental's case apparently the 4,000 people still working decided it is better to take a pay cut and have a job rather than have no job at all. Over the past four years, one top state official has clashed consistently with Governor Treen. Lieutenant Governor Bobby Freeman, a Democrat, says Republican Treen has shut him out of the administration by not giving him a meaningful role. Under the state constitution, only the governor can assign the lieutenant governor's duties. Bobby Freeman wants to keep his job. He says next term he'll have a governor he can work with. Freeman's challengers, on the other hand, say he's had more than enough time to accomplish something but hasn't. More on the lieutenant governor's race tonight from correspondent Robyn Ekings. Good morning, Lieutenant Governor's office.
This has not been a particularly good year for the man who holds the state's second highest elected office. Democrat Bobby Freeman has taken Republican Governor Dave Treen to court in an attempt to keep the Governor from slashing his budget. So far on the campaign trail, the incumbent lieutenant governor has trailed challenger and former lieutenant governor Jimmy Fitzmorris. But now he says things are looking up. I feel real good about it. I think things are developing as we intended them to develop. I think the campaign and our strategy has worked for us at this point. Part of the reason for Freeman's optimism is a new part of his campaign strategy that's been showing up in homes across Louisiana. Lieutenant Governor Bobby Freeman's still the best and Edwin Edwards will let him do the job. By linking his name to gubernatorial front runner Edwin Edwards and tying his main opponent's name to incumbent Dave Treen, Bobby Freeman is hoping he can draw in the winning votes. Former Governor Edwards endorsed Freeman for lieutenant governor four years ago, but has not taken a position in this
race. Former Lieutenant Governor Fitzmorris endorsed Governor Treen four years ago and served as head of Treen's Board of Commerce and Industry. And I think now that the people see that there is a definite tie, that he's a big part of that administration, that he has to answer for the failures of that administration. That he can't say divest himself of David Treen any longer or say I'm running independent. If he endorsed Dave Treen last time, that's his candidate. And so I think the people are beginning to see that. Good to see you. Fine. How're you getting along? Nice to see you. Good morning. Jimmy Fitzmorris says he's not worried about his position in this race. He says his experience as lieutenant governor and as member of the Board of Commerce and Industry can help him do what Bobby Freeman has not done -- solve Louisiana's economic problems. You've got to sell this state. Just because we say we've got a lot of oil and gas here and because we say Louisiana has a great river and because we say we have a very
fine tax incentive program. That doesn't mean anything unless you're able to market it. And that's what we need, a strong marketing program. I believe Jimmy Fitzmorris has the ability to market Louisiana. With Louisiana's unemployment rate well above the national average, restoring health to Louisiana's ailing economy has become a major issue in this race. Fitzmorris says he takes credit for already helping the state get on the road to recovery. As bad as last year was with people unemployed, Louisiana did $3 billion, 516 million worth of new or expanded industry. Now I want you to know that that is the largest number in the history of this state. He may have been responsible for bringing in $5 billion worth of construction, but they don't create permanent jobs. You know, it costs, for example, $3.5 billion to build a nuclear power plant today. I don't know where his figures are coming from, but the bottom line is Louisiana's economy is going
down, not up. It's getting worse, not better. You might say Natchitoches businessman Bill Long has politics in his blood. Former Governor Huey Long was a cousin. Congressman Gillis Long is an uncle. This is Bill Long's first run for public office, an office he says he wants to use to put Louisiana back to work. We need leadership. We need creative, informed leadership. We need to turn away from the old school and get on with rebuilding our economy. As lieutenant governor, Long says he'll work to diversify Louisiana's economy, putting an end to its dependence on oil and gas. Long says he'd establish task forces statewide to help local governments attract new industry to their areas. The fourth candidate in this race is banking on something none of the other candidates have. The basic vehicle I would use to the advantage of all Louisianians is my blackness and the associated opportunities that flow from that at the federal
level for contract opportunities for business in the state of Louisiana. Oil and gas man Larry "Boogaloo" Cooper is the only Republican in the race. Cooper has pledged to spend some $2 million on his campaign. That's four times as much as the leading candidates say they plan to spend. As a black, says Cooper, he will be a magnet for more minority programs that will bring in valuable jobs. All four candidates in this race agree on at least one thing: that the lieutenant governor himself needs a job. Only the governor can assign the lieutenant governor's duties. Incumbent Bobby Freeman has accused Governor Treen of denying him a meaningful role in the Treen administration. He says next term, with a governor who cooperates, he'll make good on his promises. His opponents agree that promises will be kept, but there the agreement ends. Instead each one says he will be there to make sure it all happens. In our final story tonight we travel to Lafayette. Eight years ago painter
Dan Girouard began losing his sight to diabetes. To continue his work, which he loved so much, he turned to sculpture. Producer Charles Bush asked Girouard to share with us his experience and the sculptures he used to express himself. When I first found out that I was losing my eyesight, it was not that much of a tragedy because I was used to the door slamming in my face, being in the advertising world and applying for jobs and they would say, no, we don't need anyone. Come back next month or come back next year. So in that aspect it wasn't a tragedy. I just had to somewhat look at the world differently, you know, and still keep it in an artistic fashion. The reason why I stayed in art as opposed to getting into
computer programming or any other facet is that something inside of me just told me to keep doing art plus, if you really want to be an artist, I think you'll sacrifice just about anything to be able to have that opportunity, to express yourself. Fascinating things about these birds is that different people look at them differently. A lot of people don't view them as birds. That's the intriguing thing about them. It's like a different feedback from different people, what they are and what they could be. And that's pretty neat. A wonderful story of personal courage and a love of art. A story that should serve as an
inspiration to us all. Next week on Louisiana: The State We're In, correspondent Robyn Ekings profiles the two major candidates for governor. Some of the experts are predicting a record turnout of voters for the October 22nd primary, an election that could be one of the most important in Louisiana history. That's our show for this week. I'm Ken Johnson. And I'm Beth George Courtney. Thank you for joining us. Good night. Funding for the production of Louisiana: The State We're In is provided in part
by the Zigler Foundation of Jennings; Gulf States Utilities, helping the Louisiana bridge the gap to our energy future; and the Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical Corporation.
