Scotland legislators fielded questions on a variety of issues at a legislative breakfast this week.

The lawmakers were asked about everything from economic concerns and medicaid fraud to broadband and privatizing ABC boards at the event sponsored by the Laurinburg/Scotland County Area Chamber of Commerce and ElectriCities.

Mike Clemmons, of Mohawk Industries, initially stumped the panel made up of Sen. Bill Purcell and Reps. Doug Yongue and Garland Pierce when he inquired about stemming the departure of manufacturing jobs in North Carolina.

"Can you tell us of any events coming along that will reverse the trend of the exodus of manufacturing jobs," Clemmons asked.

The legislators sat contemplating their answers for several moments as the about 50 people in attendance quietly waited for a reply.

Purcell made a single, concise answer for the board – "No" – which elicited laughter from the room.

He then took the podium, saying the issue was a federal issue caused by the North American Free Trade Agreement.

"The NAFTA agreement was done on the federal level," Purcell said. "NAFTA may have helped somewhere in America, but it certainly did not help North Carolina or Scotland County."

The Laurinburg Democrat said he would look to see what the federal government may be doing for relief.

County Economic Developer Greg Icard said from his table that when he was recently in Washington, D.C., he found out the Rep. Mike McIntyre is attempting to depose NAFTA.

Dee Hammond, Laurinburg city clerk and member of the Scotland County ABC Board, asked the delegation about possible privatization of alcohol sales.

"There has been talk about privatizing the ABC stores in the last few months," she said. "What would the benefits be to privatizing ABC stores?"

She noted that the county receives close to $100,000 a year from the sale of liquor.

Yongue attributed the privatization talk to concerns over a handful of stores that he did not feel represented the majority.

"When there are two or three bad apples in the apple barrel, you don't throw all the apples away," Yongue said. "We've had some bad cases as close as Pembroke down here, selling stuff out the back door, and Wilmington and some other places. I think we need to look at the whole concept and not penalize everybody when it is just two or three people."

Pembroke's ABC store was shuttered by the state and it's board dissolved by the town in 2008 after $30,000 in liquor and $19,000 in cash went missing in a three year period.

In Wilmington, the administrator for the New Hanover County ABC Board was making nearly $280,000 a year in salary and bonuses

Yongue opposed punishing the local board for the actions of those two boards.

"The one here in Scotland County has been a model operation as far as I know and I don't think they should be penalized."