THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9410010255
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
How many government-backed committees does it take to plan the centennial celebration of the first manned, powered airplane flight?
At least two, Democratic Congressman Martin Lancaster says.
Horsefeathers, his Republican challenger, Walter B. Jones Jr., says.
One's enough, contends Marc Basnight, Dare County Democrat who is president of the state Senate.
Last week, in the waning days of the 103rd Congress, U.S. Reps. Lancaster and Tony Hall, D-Ohio, introduced a bill creating a presidential commission to prepare for the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers flight on North Carolina's Outer Banks.
Trouble is, a state-supported panel, known as the First Flight Centennial Commission, is already in the works, thanks to a $75,000 appropriation from the General Assembly earlier this year.
And the flap over the proposed federal panel has created an opening for Jones to criticize the Democratic incumbent.
Lancaster's bill calls for a 25-member commission composed of cultural and government leaders from Kill Devil Hills, Dayton, Ohio (birthplace of Orville Wright and home to the brothers' bicycle repair shop), governors from the two states, the president of the First Flight Society and 12 other interested citizens appointed by President Clinton.
This is virtually identical to a 26-member commission created at the urging of Basnight. Earlier this week, Basnight announced four appointments to the state-sponsored commission.
Basnight grew up on the Outer Banks just a few miles from the site where the Wright brothers made their historic flight Dec. 17, 1903, and, over the years, developed a strong admiration for their accomplishments. In the past, when reporters have asked the Manteo Democrat to name a few of the Americans he most admires, the Wright brothers routinely appear on his list.
But Basnight says one centennial commission is enough. ``You don't need two commissions at all,'' Basnight said. ``It seems that Martin would have called to see how we could merge the two.''
Basnight said he proposed the state commission to protect North Carolina's interest in the celebration, after North Carolina's congressmen ignored his requests for a federal commission and after officials in Dayton, Ohio announced plans to observe the centennial.
``It should have been a federal initiative and it should have happened before now. When I didn't see any response. . . I moved forward with a state commission,'' Basnight said. ``We'll certainly review what (Lancaster) proposed and we will accommodate him in any way we can.''
Over the next nine years - about three times as long as the Wright brothers spent in North Carolina preparing for their flight - the state commission will plan a series of annual events leading up to a major celebration in 2003.
Through the commission, Basnight hopes to get federal money to upgrade a museum and exhibits that are currently part of a National Park Service site in Kill Devil Hills honoring the Wright brothers.
Lancaster spokesman Skip Smith defended the congressman's bill.
``The first flight is a national concept and this is a federal commission,'' Smith said in an interview from Lancaster's Washington, D.C., office.
But Jones, Lancaster's Republican opponent in the 3rd Congressional District race, said a second commission would be a waste of taxpayers' money.
``This is just what people are fed up with today,'' Jones said in an interview. ``The point is, we don't need two commissions.'' by CNB