THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 23, 1995 TAG: 9507230043
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COLERAIN LENGTH: Long : 151 lines
Other than its unspoiled waterfronts, resource-rich forests and expansive farms, Bertie County doesn't look like a place with much to offer.
It's among the poorest counties in North Carolina, with more than half of its families living below the poverty level. Only 54 percent of all incoming high school freshman are expected to graduate. With 70 percent of its 20,000 residents younger than 20 or older than 65, the work force is hardly enticing to prospective industries.
But above the buzz of farm combines and the shrill call of the cicadas is the voice of a native daughter demanding that Bertie County be noticed.
``This area has so much to offer in terms of talents and gifts,'' says Patricia Ferguson, repeatedly, as she roams the rural roads in her burgundy Toyota Previa.
``I'm trying desperately - as are others - to find opportunities that have not been made available to people in these communities,'' she says.
As a result, Bertie County citizens, particularly the young ones, are finding themselves getting more positive attention, be it exposure in a national magazine, a statewide forum or a community grant program.
People in this county that is 61 percent black are learning, as Ferguson has always believed, that being ``low-wealth'' isn't necessarily a disadvantage.
``I firmly believe in seizing any opportunity that comes along,'' Ferguson says, reeling off recent success stories.
Case in point: Ferguson read a local newspaper article about bicycle safety and, with Ahoskie News-Herald reporter Patricia Everett, this month helped obtain a $4,500 state grant to provide bikes, helmets and training to every fourth-grader in Bertie County public schools.
Closer to home, she learned two years ago about a fine arts program that allowed young musicians to perform at the White House in Washington, D.C. She made ``a hundred calls'' to get her own talented offspring, Daniel, 12, and Joshua, 11, a gig. This year it took only one phone call - from organizers - for a second chance to perform.
``There's a word around here we aren't allowed to use,'' the 37-year-old says after her sons have given a mini-concert for a guest. ``We never say something's hard. Instead we say . . .''
``. . . it's challenging,'' son Daniel continues, on cue.
Ferguson spent her early years living in a small brown bungalow, typical of the older homes lining winding roads in the sparsely populated countryside. Her grandparents now occupy the house, directly across the street from Ferguson's newer, 4,000-square-foot Georgian-style home.
She moved in the eighth grade with her divorced mother and four siblings to Philadelphia, where she eventually became a teacher.
Ferguson's mother, Maggie Witherspoon, says, ``I always taught my children that whatever you can do or wherever you may go, you should try to be the best.''
After earning a master's degree from Kent State University in Ohio, Patricia married her college sweetheart, physician Steven Ferguson.
A few years ago, Patricia Ferguson convinced her husband, ``a city boy,'' to set up a medical practice back in Bertie. Next she worked on her mother and stepfather, who now live down the road from their daughter. More of the family is expected to relocate soon.
``We have all moved back expressly to share our talents with the community in an effort to give back some of what the county has given us,'' Ferguson said.
She hadn't been back long when friends started urging Ferguson to run for public office. The political neophyte easily won the race for Bertie County commissioner and now works on a dozen civic and school boards and chairs a committee for the North Carolina Association of Black County Officials.
A frequent speaker at teen rallies and school functions, Ferguson was recently a panelist for a national assessment program sponsored by the Princeton, N.J., group that oversees the country's Scholastic Aptitude Test for the college-bound.
Last week she learned she'd been selected for one of 25 inaugural William C. Friday Fellowships for Human Relations.
The two-year program, named after the former University of North Carolina system president, was initiated by the Blumenthal Foundation of Charlotte to bring together new community leaders and help solve some of the state's social and economic problems.
Ferguson was chosen among 500 nominees and 52 finalists. She is the only Friday Fellow from northeastern North Carolina and the sole county commissioner among a group of mostly private citizens from larger locales.
With the training she'll receive from six Raleigh-based retreats, Ferguson hopes to provide more information to residents in rural impoverished areas of the state.
``I'm very interested in learning how we can eliminate the barriers to information,'' she says, her own home well-equipped with just about every modern telecommunications device imaginable.
The family's fax machine, cellular phones and intercom system are rare in these parts, where many homes lack even a telephone.
``People need to know how to access and interpret information,'' she says. ``We need to collaborate with other counties and agencies to find the resources to meet our needs.
``A lot of folks in the rural communities - they're not used to controlling their own lives. They're used to everybody else telling them what to do.''
Knowledge is power, she repeatedly tells her constituents. And one of the best places for self-improvement is in the 4,000-student public school system, which is where Ferguson devotes a lot of her time and talents.
Community leaders hope programs such as the state's Smart Start and Save Our Schools, as well as a $1 million grant from the Maryland-based Perdue Farms, will raise students' test scores and expectations.
A mere 27 percent of Bertie County public school children was proficient in core courses two years ago, according to materials prepared by a local Family Resource Center Collaborative Committee.
Teenage pregnancies are common, with one in five county babies born to single, teenage mothers. The infant mortality rate and number of low-birth-weight babies are among the state's highest.
With so few jobs available, and even fewer paying enough to support a family, welfare is pervasive. In addition, the county ranks 59th out of 100 North Carolina counties for juvenile arrests, according to committee literature.
The committee wants to open a family resource center in Colerain, a town of 238 residents who must travel to Windsor or Hertford County's Ahoskie - both about 20 miles away - for most of their commercial, financial and medical needs.
Preserving families, especially her own, is important to Ferguson. That was the crux of her campaign platform. It's a crucial part of her identity.
``How could I be a role model of any kind if I lost my children and my family?'' she said. ``I just can't see saving someone else's family and then losing my own. I just can't fathom that.''
The family's generosity is well-known in these parts. At The Gallery Theatre Inc. in Ahoskie, Ferguson mentions in passing that they sponsor some of the children enrolled in a drama day camp. To spawn private interest in a bicycle safety program, Steven Ferguson donated 40 helmets to area kids.
The walls in the entrance of the Ferguson home are covered with framed and matted prints and paintings of various sizes. Almost every one contains a motto or poem that inspires the young politician as she heads out the door each morning to work on helping this part of the state.
One of her latest projects is the College Support Team, which attempts to lure college graduates back to Bertie to work, invest in the community and, perhaps, provide others with good-paying jobs.
``I believe the more knowledge you have and the more resources you have, the more you should serve,'' she says. ``As long as I live, I want to have the heart of a servant. That's what I want my epitaph to read - `The heart of a servant.' '' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
ANNE SAITA/Staff
Patricia Ferguson attends a meeting of the Family Resource Center
Collaborative Committee in Colerain.
Color photo
MICHELLE FRANKFURTER
Patricia and Steven Ferguson's sons, Daniel, left, and Joshua
perform at the White House during a recent return visit to
Washington, D.C., as part of a fine arts program.
by CNB