THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 22, 1995 TAG: 9502220445
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
The chairman of the First Flight Centennial Commission, a panel planning the 100th anniversary observance of the first manned flight, said Tuesday he hopes the celebration will be a worldwide event.
``It's unlimited,'' said former state Sen. Melvin R. Daniels of Elizabeth City, during a break in a daylong meeting of the commission.
``I would be less than satisfied if we don't have a world event.''
Daniels also said that he hopes that representatives from Ohio will join in the festivities, but he said recent comments attributed to some Ohio officials may mean turbulence ahead.
``I hope that we can work with Ohio,'' he said. ``I think we must have a spirit of cooperation.''
The commission is the brainchild of Senate leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare, a longtime admirer of Orville and Wilbur Wright, the Dayton bicycle repairmen who conducted the first powered flight Dec. 17, 1903, on the Outer Banks, just a few miles from Basnight's home.
In recent months, some Ohio officials have begun to challenge North Carolina's claim as ``First in Flight,'' the motto that appears on the state's license plates.
Some Dayton officials have begun a move to stamp that state's plates with ``Birthplace of Aviation.''
Some of these officials said that just because the Wright Brothers came to North Carolina for their historic flight does not mean North Carolina is the home to aviation.
Daniels said he hopes these comments do not indicate that Ohio officials, who have been appointed to the commission, will not cooperate with North Carolina in its observance of the flight.
``I hope that we do not get into a dogfight, because someone always loses in a dogfight,'' he said.
Over the next eight years, the state commission - which received an appropriation of $75,000 to begin planning the observance - will organize a series of annual events leading up to a big blast in 2003.
And through the commission, Basnight said, he 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.
Daniels said the commission needs the time - about three times as long as the time the Wright brothers spent in North Carolina preparing for their flight - to work up a centennial observance and a series of smaller observances.
To that end, he appointed seven subcommittees to help with planning the events as specified in the 1994 legislation that created the commission:
A personnel committee to oversee efforts to hire a director for the observance.
A committee to oversee preparation of a logo and other emblems for the anniversary.
A committee to seek grants and gifts to pay for events.
A special events committee to coordinate activities leading up to the 100th anniversary celebration.
A committee to seek funding for a new building at the historic site.
A history committee to develop historical information about the Wright Brothers and other aviation pioneers.
An education committee to coordinate 100th anniversary events with schools.
The commission is scheduled to continue its planning when it and some of the new subcommittees meet next month in Kill Devil Hills. by CNB