THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 9, 1994 TAG: 9411090349
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
With all of Dare County's 16 precincts reporting Tuesday night, political newcomer Shirley Hassell appeared to have joined Dare County's all-Democratic Board of Commissioners with a final tally of 3,525 votes to beat Republican Charles D. Elms, who had 3,168 votes.
Hassell, a 54-year-old grandmother who owns a small commercial cleaning company, ran as an outsider, criticizing the incumbent board members and vowing to open government to the people.
In May, Hassell won the Democratic primary for the District 1 seat - defeating incumbent Commissioner Robert Williams.
Hassell lives in Manns Harbor with her husband and three dogs. One of the dogs - a tiny grey poodle named ``Fifi'' - accompanied Hassell to area voting locations on Tuesday. The poodle wore a red-white-and-blue scarf and rode in a backpack covered with ``Vote Shirley Hassell'' bumper stickers.
The other two available seats on Dare County's seven-member governing board both were won by incumbents.
Democrat Douglas W. Langford, who has sat on the board for two years, defeated Republican challenger William L. ``Bill'' Hauschild. Langford had 3703 votes. Hauschild had received 3010.
A Nags Head resident who owns a small real estate company, Langford, 47, will retain his District 2 seat. The seat was newly created by a legislative reorganization of the county board and carried an initial short term in order to stagger re-elections. All board seats now carry four-year terms.
During his tenure as commissioner, Langford has persuaded the county to take over Colington Island's water system from Kill Devil Hills - thereby bringing that unincorporated area's rates in line with the rest of the county. He initiated a proposal which voters approved to get all telephone calls within the county billed at local rates. Currently, calls to Hatteras Island carry long-distance tolls.
Commissioner Geneva Perry, who holds the board's only at-large seat, was unopposed in her bid for re-election. The 63-year-old Kitty Hawk resident is a life-long Democrat and vice president of The Title Company of North Carolina.
Although Perry has sat on the board since the summer of 1993, this is the first election in which she has been a candidate. Local Democrats appointed Perry to the board to fill the unexpired term of former Commissioner Osborne G. ``Ozzie'' Gray. Perry will sit on the board for four more years.
Both of the available seats on Dare County's non-partisan Board of Education were unopposed. Incumbent Donna S. Buxton of Nags Head regained her District 2 seat. Incumbent Lorretta Michael of Southern Shores was re-elected to her District 3 seat. The schoolboard has seven members. Seats carry 4-year terms.
Duck voters had an extra issue to decide on Tuesday. Residents of the unincorporated town on Dare County's northern Outer Banks were asked to vote on a ``Beautification District'' issue which would allow sidewalks to be built in their seaside village.
At the polls, 108 people voted for an additional ad valorem tax while 88 residents opposed it.
Under terms of the referendum, the approved tax cannot be more than 5 cents per $100 property value during the first two years. After that, the tax must not be greater than 1 cent.
KEYWORDS: ELECTION NORTH CAROLINA RESULTS by CNB