THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 16, 1994 TAG: 9408160323
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
State Sen. Marc Basnight let it be known without actually saying so Monday that he thinks the Lake Gaston peace talks with Virginia are going along swimmingly.
``Let's not get too deep into what's happening,'' replied the Dare County Democrat when an Elizabeth City Rotary Club member asked him if Virginia Gov. George F. Allen planned to meet soon with North Carolina Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. to discuss the issue.
For 10 years Virginia Beach has sought to pump 60 million gallons of water a day from Lake Gaston. Work has already started on the 76-mile, $142-million pipeline that has been delayed repeatedly for lack of final U.S. permits.
``I think most of you know that private talks between the two states have already started,'' Basnight told the regular Monday afternoon Rotary Club meeting in Tuck's Restaurant.
``I'm working with my side and they're working with their side, and I mean top officials,'' said Basnight, who leads the state Senate. ``I promise you that before too long I'll be able to say more than that.''
Earlier this year, Basnight pledged another Elizabeth City audience to secrecy after he revealed he was meeting with N.C. officials, including Hunt, to urge that Lake Gaston peace talks be started with Virginia.
``We're neighbors - we don't need lawyers to settle our disputes,'' Basnight said. Hunt and other state leaders have consistently opposed the pipeline, saying that diverting water from the Roanoke River source of Lake Gaston would harm North Carolina's ecology downstream.
The first publicly acknowledged negotiation came last month at a Southern Legislative conference in Norfolk, where Basnight broke bread with Virginia legislators to ease the way for further meetings.
``We're closing the communications gap with our good friends in Virginia,'' he said.
Basnight emphasized that the overtures with Virginia would include talks about widening U.S. 17 in Virginia to meet the four-lane section of the highway that begins at the North Carolina state line. Hundreds of North Carolina commuters each weekday travel the two-lane bottleneck section of the road on their way to jobs in Hampton Roads.
Virginia's current effort to get funding for improving Virginia Route 168, a two-lane road through Chesapeake to the Outer Banks, may become an alternate quid pro quo for North Carolina's looking favorably on Lake Gaston, with U.S. 17 improvement coming later. The N.C. Department of Transportation already has approved widening N.C. Route 168 from the Virginia state line to Barco, where a five-lane road to the beaches begins.
In other remarks, Basnight promised that the 1995 General Assembly would continue to practice budget restraint.
``We've already saved taxpayer dollars,'' he said, ``and we'll continue to build our next egg.''
In reviewing the recent special session of the General Assembly, and the previewing next regular session that begins in January, Basnight gave his opinion on several major issues:
Welfare reform - ``This has a high priority on the legislative agenda.''
School funds - ``Money for new schools should be based not so much on population as on needs of a community. Low-wealth counties like Camden will get more consideration.''
Lottery - ``House Speaker Dan Blue says he won't allow a vote on a lottery. Don't expect one.''
When Elizabeth City Rotary President Ed Griffin, of Roanoke Bible College, called upon Matt Wood, an area business executive and Democratic leader, to introduce Basnight, he asked Wood to ``be brief, so our speaker will have time to answer questions.''
Wood jumped up, grabbed the microphone, and made what may be the shortest introduction in Rotary history.
``Here's Marc,'' Wood said, and sat down. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Marc Basnight
``Closing the communications gap.''
by CNB