THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 19, 1996 TAG: 9606190389
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: 65 lines
Plans that seemed like they could fizzle at the last minute instead went off with a bang Tuesday night when the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners agreed to host a July 4th fireworks display and contribute $5,000 for the explosives.
By a 4-1 vote, elected officials decided to support an Independence Day celebration in their Outer Banks beach town.
The show, to be staged from the end of Avalon Pier, will mark the first time a large-scale fireworks display has been held in Kill Devil Hills in at least a decade.
Owners of businesses, including Stop & Shop convenience store, the Beach Book telephone directory, Quagmire's restaurant, Jolly Roger restaurant, Awful Arthur's restaurant, Best Western Ocean Reef Hotel, Skippers' beach shop, Outer Banks Beach Club timeshares, Lifeguard Beach Service Inc. and Colony IV motel, pledged to contribute up to $1,000 each - a total of $10,000 - for the colorful cause.
Tuesday night, commissioners voted to kick in an additional $5,000 from taxpayers' money to make sure the show would be a blast.
``I think it's an excellent idea, something the people of Kill Devil Hills can be proud of,'' said Commissioner Jeff Shields. ``I'll support a 50 percent match of whatever funds have been raised.''
Commissioners Bill Morris and James Dean Hanks and Mayor Duncan Wright agreed. ``We certainly can't ask the business community to carry the whole load,''Wright said. ``I have to concur with a 50 percent town match.''
Commissioner E.M. ``Coy'' Harbeson cast the lone vote against the fireworks appropriation, saying he'd prefer to see one Outer Banks July 4th celebration held in a beach town and a separate one in Manteo. ``Unity would be the good word to try to bring the towns back together,'' Harbeson said. ``It may be too late to do that this year. But the merchants and towns should get together and help each other out on this in the future.''
Last week, Harbeson said the eight-member Dare County Inter-Governmental Cooperation of Services Committee discussed such a cost-sharing celebration for future Independence Day events.
Because Kill Devil Hills will host its own fireworks display this year, Wright said it was a moot point whether commissioners would vote to give money to Manteo and Nags Head to help support fireworks celebrations already scheduled for those towns.
Lifeguard Beach Services spokesman Bob Gabriel, who headed Kill Devil Hills' fireworks committee, said hosting an event in his central beach town ``was what I wanted all along.''
``I busted my butt all day for this,'' he told commissioners. ``I know the majority of business people on this list are prepared to go forward with their contributions.''
On Friday, Gabriel sent a letter to town officials saying that since they had not yet pledged any funds or support for the fireworks celebration, business owners wanted to withdraw their contributions. It was too late at that point to plan an Independence Day celebration, he said. But Monday evening, Gabriel said he spoke to coordinators from Zambelli fireworks and the show can go off after all. MEMO: 4TH FIREWORKS
Outer Banks fireworks displays scheduled for July 4th
Corolla: On the grounds at the Whalehead Club.
Kill Devil Hills: Off the end of Avalon Pier.
Nags Head: At the Bonnet Street beach access, over the ocean.
Manteo: On the waterfront overlooking Roanoke Sound. by CNB