THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 4, 1996 TAG: 9605040375
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 191 lines
More jobs for mainlanders, additional access to services for Ocracoke Islanders and lower tax rates for all county residents are among the goals that candidates for Hyde County's Board of Commissioners hope to accomplish.
Five people will battle for two seats on the five-member board during Tuesday's Democratic primary election. An additional incumbent Democrat commissioner, Barbara O'Neal Deese of Fairfield, is running unopposed to retain her seat in the second district. Although the candidates run by district, commissioners are elected at-large, by all Hyde County voters.
Seats carry four-year terms. The board meets twice a month. No Republicans filed to run for election in Hyde this year, where only 283 of the county's 3,351 registered voters are listed as members of the GOP.
In the third district, three Ocracoke residents are seeking the seat that former board chairman David Styron held. All of Ocracoke's candidates are newcomers to the political arena, never having sought an elected office before. As of Friday, none had spent more than the $10 filing fee on campaigning. No one printed flyers, bumper stickers or posters. And no placards even announced the competitors' candidacy.
The candidates are Peter Stone, Frank D. ``Wayne'' Teeter Jr. and Jeannetta O. Henning.
Candidates for the other contended seat are Charles ``Chuck'' Marshall and Willie Edward Gibbs.
``I don't have a platform. If I get in, good. If I don't, I won't worry about it,'' said Stone, a commercial fisherman who has served as the island's volunteer emergency management coordinator for 11 years. ``It's hard to talk about the issues until I get in and see where we stand. I'm not really campaigning actively for this thing.''
A former military man, Stone, 49, served as chief of Ocracoke's Coast Guard station from 1986 through 1992. He lived on the island in the '70s. And, since he oversees evacuations, fire and police protection for the isolated area, he said the safety of Ocracoke residents would be his primary concern if he's elected to serve on the board.
``We need more funding for fire department equipment and emergency medical technicians. And we have to look at a full-time doctor for the island,'' Stone said. ``You can always use more police and firemen. The question is funding - and, if those services would cause our taxes to go up.''
As for taxes, Stone said, Ocracoke residents need a break from the exorbitant rates they're now forced to pay. ``We need a Homestead Exemption for the old folks who've lived here all their lives and now have fixed incomes and can't afford to keep up their own land,'' he said. ``There needs to be a tax break on people's year-round, primary homes.''
Teeter, 51, fishes commercially and owns Ocracoke Crab House. He's an Ocracoke native who served 10 years in the Coast Guard before moving back to his beloved island.
His primary goal as a Hyde County commissioner, he said, would be to get Ocracoke Island out of Hyde County.
``I'd rather join nobody,'' Teeter said. ``I came home in '72 and hollered, `What in the world are we still doing in Hyde County?' I'm still wondering. Taxes are a big problem here. We have no business being in Hyde County. They're farmers on the mainland. We're fishermen on the Outer Banks. The property evaluation here is 100 times what it is on the mainland.
``We got a ferry that runs to Swan Quarter and takes the better part of three hours just to get to county services,'' said Teeter. ``It could get you there in no more than an hour if it ran through another canal and used the shorter route. You could even use the boats the state already owns and come out at Lake Landing - right on the mainland.''
Teeter is Styron's brother-in-law. He said that when he found out Styron was not going to seek re-election, he signed up for that seat because ``somebody's got to do it. Might as well be me.''
Henning, 59, moved to Ocracoke in 1974 when her husband was stationed on the island through the National Park Service. Now a widow, Henning runs Ocracoke's only liquor store. During summers, she also works at the Pony Island Restaurant.
She's running for the county's Board of Commissioners, she said, because she ``wants to make a difference. Hyde County has so many problems. And Ocracoke is getting the short end of the stick.''
If elected, Henning said, she wants to look into the budget and ``try to find out where all the money goes.'' The heads of each county department should come before the public to justify their funding requests, she said. And commissioners should look into how other depressed areas cope with the rising cost of providing services - while not continuing to raise taxes.
``Our biggest concern is the property tax rate,'' said Henning. ``We get pretty frustrated because more than a year ago we demanded some help from our legislators. . . . Nothing's ever been done. If I'm elected, I'll keep on the coattails of legislators and make them respond to our concerns. We need a closer working relationship with Raleigh.
``We're tired of being used as second-class citizens - paying most of the taxes and getting the least amount of services. We need mainland services that the county provides to be equally as accessible to Ocracoke as they are to the rest of Hyde's residents,'' Henning said. ``We need to have more communication between each county agency and the public. And we need more cooperation between the different agencies themselves. We probably could even use volunteers in some areas to supplement the county's paid personnel.''
Like Teeter, Henning said most of Ocracoke's residents would rather not be part of Hyde County. The majority would rather join Dare County instead, she said. But she doesn't believe that's going to happen. So, to tie the county closer together, Henning suggests moving commissioners' meetings around to different locations, at different times, so more residents can have access to the public sessions and information.
She also wants to help draw new businesses to the mainland to provide additional jobs for that area.
Gibbs, an incumbent board member who has one challenger for his 5th district seat, agreed. ``I'd like to see some type of jobs come into the county. I want to see the county grow economically,'' Gibbs said. ``We have to bring in some type of small industries or businesses that will employ 10 to 12 people. We need to look into different businesses that are trying to relocate and encourage them to move to Hyde.''
Gibbs, a 46-year-old Englehard resident who has been on the county board for four years, is a Hyde County native who works as a correctional officer at the Hyde County Detention Center. He said he doesn't have any specific plans for luring additional jobs to the primarily agricultural area. But since the county is poor and rural, he said, he knows it needs additional employment to help offset the high 89-cent tax rate.
``More growth will help the economic situation around here,'' Gibbs said. ``I don't think doing away with any services will help solve the problems we have. But I would like to see the county employees get raises.''
Gibbs won't commit to trying to hold taxes steady or trying to control spending. He doesn't have any individual accomplishments during his tenure on the board, he said, because he's only one of five members.
``I don't claim to have done any more than the rest of the board,'' he said. ``And I don't see making any promises to anyone as to what I will or won't do. I'm here to try to help the county solve problems as a member of a collective board.''
Marshall, a 38-year-old self-employed builder, is running against Gibbs. An Englehard native, Marshall has never before sought elective office. He said he decided to run because ``the commissioner we have now is not getting out in public and getting around.''
``I work all over the county and am in contact with a lot of people,'' Marshall said. ``I just believe our area needs more effective representation on that board.''
If elected, Marshall said, he agrees with Henning that commissioners' meeting times and locations should be shifted so that more citizens will be able to attend the public sessions. He wants to rotate meeting places so that people won't have to drive as far to see their elected officials in action. And he'd like to videotape the sessions and air them on public access cable TV so that residents who can't attend can at least catch up on the issues.
``Some people on Ocracoke pay $180 a month or more all year just to take care of their property taxes. Ocracoke needs some kind of tax relief,'' said Marshall.
``We need to look into building and operating our own landfill instead of paying Beaufort County to take all our trash. We need to work more closely with Dare County on municipal issues and build tourism and economic growth on the mainland,'' Marshall said, advocating additional jobs for Hyde County. ``They're talking about a theme park right outside of Englehard which would bring more employment and help reduce our tax rate.
``I want to keep Hyde County's money here - where we need it.'' MEMO: 3RD DISTRICT SEAT
PETER N. STONE
Age: 49.
Home: Ocracoke Island.
Occupation: Commercial fisherman.
Memberships: Volunteer coordinator for Ocracoke's Emergency
Management Services.
Family: One dog.
FRANK D. ``WAYNE'' TEETER JR.
Age: 51.
Home: Ocracoke Island native.
Occupation: Commercial fisherman, owner of Ocracoke Crab House.
Memberships: Assembly of God church.
Family: Wife, Belinda.
JEANNETTA O. HENNING
Age: 59.
Home: Ocracoke Island.
Occupation: Manages Hyde County ABC store; works summers at Pony
Island Restaurant.
Family: Two sons, ages 25 and 29; one granddaughter.
5TH DISTRICT
WILLIE EDWARD GIBBS
Age: 46.
Home: Engelhard, Hyde County native.
Occupation: Correctional officer, Hyde County Detention Center.
Memberships: Mount Pilgrim Church of Christ; Hyde County Children's
Center Board of Directors; Cross Creek Nursing Home Advisory Board;
Beaufort-Hyde Community Development Center board of directors.
Family: Wife, Patricia; six children, ages 9 to 29.
CHARLES ``CHUCK'' MARSHALL
Age: 38.
Home: Engelhard native.
Occupation: Self-employed builder.
Memberships: Engelhard Rotary Club president; volunteer with
Engelhard Development Corp.; United Methodist Church.
Family: Wife, Angela; two sons, ages 9 and 19.
KEYWORDS: HYDE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS by CNB