River seen as a lifeline for Robeson

LUMBERTON -- Mac Legerton is sitting on the banks of the Lumber River. If he concentrates on the dragonflies that flit just above its glassy, black surface, he can almost forget what is behind him.

The shells of abandoned mills loom just a few hundred yards away, and around them, the old mill villages, now dilapidated and scarred by drugs and crime.

Legerton, a 56-year-old minister, has devoted three decades to tackling the problems of a county that has long been among the state's poorest and most racially diverse. In 1980, he founded the nonprofit Center for Community Action, which shook up the local power structure and eventually became an institution.

But through it all, Legerton has watched his county sink further into poverty. Recent census data show that a third of the people in Robeson County, hard hit by factory closings, now live in poverty. In five years, the percentage of poor people in the population here rose from less than a quarter to nearly a third, a stunning increase that made Robeson, about 100 miles south of Raleigh, the third- poorest mid-sized county in the nation.

With poverty have come high rates of syphilis, AIDS, teen pregnancy, drug use, prostitution and violent crime.

Now, Legerton, a soft-spoken preacher, is going head-to-head with the forces of globalization, trying to create a new economy for a county that has lost its farms and factories.

At a minimum, he hopes his efforts will shine a light on the epic struggle that so many rural counties now face.

"Rural people have been abandoned," Legerton said. "We, as a nation, have done very little to help the communities that are most hurt by our trade policies."

Factory jobs depart

Robeson County has lost about 9,000 jobs in the past decade, as manufacturing has moved to China and other countries with cheaper labor. Factories that made Converse sneakers, Fruit of the Loom underwear and many other products stand vacant.

Sandra Bailey, a high school dropout who had been working in textile mills since she was a teen, lost her job when Guilford Mills closed its Lumberton plant in 2002.

She joined a program for laid-off employees seeking diplomas, where she met Legerton, who was always popping in to hand out fliers for community programs.

Before long, Bailey said, she gave up her studies to care for her gravely ill mother.

At the same time, the roof of her Lumberton home began to leak and, eventually, collapsed. In 2005, the town condemned her house and tore it down, leaving her homeless with two grandchildren in her care.

"It was just like dominoes," Bailey said. "One bad thing would happen and then another."

Bailey said she spent years looking for work doing the only thing she knew, sewing. She even traveled to Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina hoping to find a job.

Through it all, Legerton kept in touch with her, giving her occasional work in his office. In late 2005, he invited her on a trip to speak before a congressional panel in Washington.

Part of her was embarrassed, admitting to a roomful of men in suits that she was homeless and uneducated. But, she said, she was also amazed that lawmakers were listening to, of all people, a poor factory worker from Robeson County.

"It's almost mind-boggling when I think about all we've done and the places we've gone," Bailey said. "I never would have dreamed that I could have been any part of doing anything to better Robeson County."

Empowering people

Hope and empowerment, many say, are the commodities in which Legerton trades.

"Mac is helping folks to realize that maybe they have more control over their lives than what they believe," said Dale Deese, a lawyer with Legal Aid in Pembroke, who started his career researching Robeson County's criminal justice system with Legerton. "We have to put our shoulders to the wheel and come up with the ideas that are going to save us."