THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, February 4, 1996               TAG: 9602040048
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 
DATELINE: HERTFORD                           LENGTH: Short :   34 lines

EX-DIRECTOR OF TOURISM SUES DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION SHE CLAIMS THAT THE PANEL WRONGFULLY DISMISSED HER FROM HER $59,000-A-YEAR JOB.

A lawsuit charging wrongful discharge has been filed by Estelle ``Bunny'' Sanders against the Northeast Economic Development Commission in Perquimans County Superior Court.

Sanders was one of two economic development directors fired from $59,000-a-year jobs last summer by the commission.

The dismissal of Sanders as tourism director for the panel followed months of bickering over Sanders' handling of the tourism division. Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. had appointed Sanders to the commission.

In an earlier court action, Sanders accused some commission members of holding illegal closed-door meetings to discuss ways to fire her.

The new lawsuit, filed Friday, seeks unspecified punitive damages from former commission Chairman Andrew Allen, a Plymouth businessman, and from Ray E. Hollowell Jr., a commission member from the Outer Banks. Hollowell was chairman of the tourist advisory board of the development commission during the period of controversy over Sanders.

The wrongful discharge lawsuit contains affidavits and other charges by Sanders that accuse both Allen and Hollowell of misleading the commission in a way that caused the General Assembly to transfer power over Sanders' post from the governor to the commission. by CNB