THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, July 8, 1995                 TAG: 9507080501
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: RALEIGH                            LENGTH: Short :   47 lines

AREA LEGISLATORS CAST "YES" VOTES FOR WEAPONS BILL THE BILL WOULD LET MOST RESIDENTS CARRY HIDDEN GUNS.

Most Albemarle-area representatives have supported a bill that would allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed weapons in North Carolina.

Among those voting for the measure Thursday were Reps. William T. Culpepper III, D-Chowan; Zeno L. Edwards, R-Beaufort; L.W. Locke, D-Halifax; W.C. ``Bill'' Owens Jr., D-Pasquotank; and R. Eugene Rogers, D-Martin.

Rep. Howard J. Hunter Jr., D-Northampton, received an excused absence.

The House voted 90-18 in favor of the measure, which adds North Carolina to a list of 23 other states that grant similar gun-toting privileges to residents.

It allows U.S. citizens who have lived in the state at least 30 days to apply for concealed-weapons permits, which county sheriffs must issue if the applicant passes a background check and a training course. The measure excludes convicted felons and those with a history of drug use.

It also allows businesses and individuals to post signs barring hidden guns on their premises.

A bill setting restrictions on where new large-scale hog farms can locate their waste storage lagoons received nearly unanimous support from the Albemarle-area delegation in the House Thursday.

Voting for the measure were Culpepper, Hunter, Locke, Owens and Rogers. Edwards did not vote.

The bill prohibits future hog farms or waste lagoons within 1,500 feet of a home or within 2,500 feet of a hospital, church or other public building.

The House also approved an amendment by Rep. Cindy Watson, R-Duplin, that prohibits the spraying of hog wastes on fields within 50 feet of residential property.

But the House turned back two amendments by Rep. W.O. ``Billy'' Richardson, D-Cumberland, to require buffer zones around water wells and streams and impose fines when the set-backs are not followed.

The Senate-approved measure had been sidetracked by a House committee in favor of a study of odor and environmental problems associated with large hog operations, but three recent animal-waste lagoon spills in southeastern North Carolina prompted House members to revive the bill. by CNB