THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 3, 1994 TAG: 9408030429
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MARGARET TALEV, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COROLLA LENGTH: Medium: 95 lines
When Richard E. Schermerhorn learned his car had been towed one July evening from a Corolla cul de sac where he thought tourists could park, it seemed to him that the Currituck Sheriff's Department had gone out of its way to make his life difficult.
He went out of his way to get even.
The dental technician from Annandale, Va., called the Outer Banks Chamber of Commerce and put together a list of 40 state and local officials, groups, businesses, real estate agents and media organizations. Now everybody from U.S. Sen. Jesse A. Helms to Gov. James B. Hunt to the Tourist Bureau to the Jaycees knows Schermerhorn's story, because he sent three-page letters to them all.
``The towing of a vehicle . . . leaving people stranded in the dark on a strange beach is not only a disgrace, but a total lack of concern for the public's safety,'' his letter said.
Contacted Tuesday, he said, ``The big thing that concerned me about the whole thing is that I'm sure that it's happening to a lot of other people and I think it's kind of a scam.''
Currituck County Commissioner Ernie Bowden said commissioners received at least four other complaints in July from ``people who were not happy with the attitudes the deputies have exhibited, whatever the occasion may be, having their vehicles towed or parking tickets.''
Schermerhorn wrote that on July 1, he and 13 friends and family members wound up a one-week stay at Crown Point by taking some all-terrain vehicles to the beach and riding them on the sand.
They used one 2-wheel-drive and one 4-wheel-drive vehicle to transport the ATVs and visitors about five miles north of their $4,000-a-week rental home, where the paved N.C. Route 12 ends and an unpaved access road begins. They looked for a spot to park the 2-wheel-drive vehicle because it could not manage on the beach, Schermerhorn said.
Several ``no parking'' signs clearly displayed along the road kept him from pulling over, until he saw a small cul de sac off to the side. He did not see any ``no parking'' signs and he had seen other cars parked in the cul de sac earlier in the week.
``There were no signs on that circle. I just naturally assumed that they had put that out there for people who wanted to park and drive out there on the beach. And that's what we did,'' Schermerhorn said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
When they returned an hour later, the car was gone. Stolen, he thought. Schermerhorn called the sheriff's office, and deputy Derwood Lee Twiddy told him the car was towed for being parked illegally.
``The cost for towing was $50, with no parking ticket or police report,'' Schermerhorn wrote in his open letter, ``only a letter, after the fact, from the Sheriff's Department of the laws regarding that area of the beach.''
Schermerhorn said one reason he suspected a ``scam'' was that A-1 Towing is located behind Twiddy Realty. He said the matching surnames of the deputy and the real estate office made him suspicious.
However, A-1 Towing owner Larry Weaver said there was no such deal between him and Twiddy. He said he and Twiddy are not related and Twiddy has never worked for him.
Douglas A. Twiddy, owner of Twiddy and Co. Realtors, does not own A-1 Towing, Twiddy's secretary, Carole Thompson, said. ``We manage the property that A-1 rents,'' she said, adding that Deputy Twiddy and Douglas Twiddy are not related.
Sheriff Norman Newbern Jr. was out of town, and Twiddy and other deputy sheriffs did not return messages Tuesday.
Commissioner Bowden said another disgruntled Northern Virginia vacationer complained about being ticketed recently when he stopped his station wagon alongside Route 12 to unload fishing gear before parking his car in a public lot. He asked his two daughters to stay with the car while he took the equipment and a cooler on to the beach. When he returned, a deputy was writing him a ticket.
``I can't justify any attitude that is not conducive'' to tourist relations, Bowden said. ``At the same time, there are always two sides to a story. We met with members of the Sheriff's Department Monday night and they assured us they were just following provisions of the beach ordinance.
Bowden said in late June or early July he saw another car towed from the same area as Schermerhorn's. ``There was not a no parking sign in place'' at that time, Bowden said.
But he said he did see a sign in place Monday.
``I've said to a number of people that we certainly need to be aware of the value of the tourist industry,'' Bowden said. He said tourists shouldn't have special privileges, but ``at the same time we have to maintain a good public relations with visitors. They make a tremendous contribution to the tax base.''
Schermerhorn said the incident occurred on the last day of his vacation and it was a real letdown. ``I can imagine a lot of people that would drive all the way up that road, park, go out on the beach for a sunset walk and find their car gone. They'd be stranded out there.
``All he would have had to do is just put a note on the door saying, `Hey the rules are. . .' It was not obstructing anything that he would have to have the car towed.'' by CNB