Leaf alone

This is no time to kill the Golden LEAF Foundation, the group formed to use half of North Carolina's settlement with tobacco companies to help the economies of areas hard hit by the decline of tobacco production. The foundation seems be targeted for abolition by some politicians, specifically in legislation introduced by Edgecombe County Democratic Sen. Clark Jenkins.

Jenkins would have the foundation money, $600 million, go into a trust fund to benefit "tobacco-dependent communities," and it would be distributed by the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center, a private, not-for-profit group that works in rural areas of the state.

Interestingly, the head of that group, Billy Ray Hall, says his organization isn't looking to get the tobacco money and had worked well with Golden LEAF. Hall said he had no plans to support Jenkins' bill.

What's behind all this? Well, of late Governor Easley has put a little heat on Golden LEAF to do more in rural areas. And there's been a push to have the group go looking for places that need help instead of waiting for everyone to come to them. The foundation's chairman says it is going to do just that, so there seems to be awareness on the part of those leading the group that they need to be flexible and friendly toward some fine-tuning.

In Jenkins' case, he apparently is perturbed that a request from Princeville in Edgecombe County for money to build a museum in a former town hall was turned down. The foundation responded that start-up money was one thing, but that it couldn't get in the business of providing continuing operational funding. That sounds fairly logical.

The Golden LEAF group may not be perfect, but it has done a pretty good job and seems to have been careful with the money under its control. And the money isn't just for Eastern North Carolina, though some legislators from that area seem to think so. Communities to the west have felt the weakness of the tobacco economy as well.

There's no evidence indicating this foundation is broken, and thus it doesn't need fixing by lawmakers who may be dissatisfied about this project or that one.