THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080472
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: AF10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CAPE CHARLES LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
It rained all day, but the citizens of Cape Charles were on fire. Sixty percent of the town's registered voters hit the polls. They swept out the mayor and elected three new people to the town's six-member council.
Of the town's estimated 1,300 residents, 416 voted Tuesday. Mayor Alice Brown lost to Alex Parry. Incumbents Chris Bannon, Libby Thomas and Frank Wendell kept their seats on the Town Council. The new members are Donald Clarke, Jo' Anne Smith-Spady and Barbara Stiles.
For Parry, the position will hold few surprises; he was the mayor who preceded Brown. And he's well aware of the controversies that have ravaged the town.
``First thing we're going to have to do is assess the damage,'' Parry said. ``Is there a deficit? If so, how much? You have to get yourself on sound financial footing and go from there.''
In recent months, the town manager was forced to retire, and the chief of police was fired. State police have investigated the town's payroll records. A town employee blew the whistle on illegal sewage-sludge dumping, and council members questioned the transfer of several town vehicles.
Insiders say the town could be as much as $160,000 in debt. But no one is sure.
``A lot of people are feeling things very strongly about the budget and all,'' resident Debra Elliott said as she was going to vote. ``We need someone to get in there and fight for the town.''
When the polls opened at 6 a.m., council candidate Al Longo was already stationed outside, asking for votes. By midmorning, most of the candidates had joined him. They milled around in the street, umbrellas dripping, as a trickle of voters braved the rain to determine the future of Cape Charles.
Some looked forward to a better day, for healing in the town.
``We need unity,'' said Elliott. ``I admire what the mayor said about going forward. We can't afford any more upheaval.''
Others had little hope for improvement. Neoma Detwiler, who remembers when Guy Lombardo and his big band played on the Cape Charles pier, said the town had been ``run into the ground in the past four years.''
``If responsible people don't get in, that will be the end of it,'' said Detwiler of Cape Charles.
Virginia Wilson, 70, voted for the first time in Tuesday's election. Her neighbor, candidate Frank Wendell, helped her register this year, after convincing her that her vote was important.
She didn't know much about the issues. But she walked to the polls in the rain to do what she had never done.
``It had never come to mind to vote. I don't know why,'' said Wilson. ``It was very simple after they told me how to do it.''
Although six open Town Council seats and the mayor's post needed to be filled, Wilson voted for one man: Wendell. She figured that was a good start.
``I didn't know how it was supposed to go,'' said Wilson. ``But another year I'll know more.'' MEMO: A full listing of the results of town elections in Accomack and
Northampton counties will appear in Thursday's paper.
KEYWORDS: ELECTION RESULTS by CNB