THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, September 2, 1996 TAG: 9609020042
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINDSOR LENGTH: 85 lines
Henry and Rebecca Vaughan have decided that if they are going to fight City Hall they might as well take on the biggest town in sight. If the Vaughans succeed in a remarkably brash idea, nearly half of Bertie County may become North Carolina's largest city in size.
``Oh, no it won't - that'll never happen,'' said a miffed city councilman in one of the towns that would be absorbed into the Vaughans' proposed new mega-municipality.
``Most of our towns have at least five city council members and I think some folks are afraid they might lose their titles,'' said Vaughan. ``A town commissioner is important in Bertie County.''
For months the Vaughans have been collecting signatures for a petition urging the General Assembly to authorize the creation of four established towns and most of western Bertie County into a sprawling new municipality the Vaughans hope to call ``River City.''
State Sen. Frank Ballance Jr., D-Warren, whose district includes Bertie County, displayed Olympic Gold diplomacy in recent comments to the Vaughans.
``I told them if I saw the names of ALL the involved mayors, council members and city officials on their petition I'd be glad to discuss the proposal with them,'' said Ballance.
The Vaughans live in Kelford, one of the four towns that would be absorbed. The others are Roxobel, Aulander and Lewiston-Woodville.
``River City'' would include about 230 square miles of western Bertie County, Henry Vaughan said. ``That would make it a little bigger than Charlotte's supposedly largest city limits.''
The Vaughans are dealing with area as the measure of city size rather than population. About 400,000 people live in Charlotte, compared with 20,388 for all of Bertie County. Charlotte covers about 220 square miles, Vaughan said.
``They tell us in Raleigh we need 50 percent plus one signatures of the registered voters involved in the new city before we can ask the legislature to authorize a referendum or whatever would be necessary,'' said Vaughan, a 62-year-old retired bakery foreman from Chesapeake.
Vaughan is an ex-Marine who is confident he and Rebecca can handle any difficult job - like creating a new city.
``With the Roanoke River on one side, plus the Chowan River and the Cashie River to the east, what better name could we suggest than ``River City?'' Rebecca asked.
``Henry and I talked for years about revitalizing Bertie County so we'd have more business andindustry here,'' said Rebecca. ``Little by little we started focusing on the idea of a new city that would bring in both people and progress.
``The western part of Bertie seemed like a good place to start - it was close to population centers in adjacent Hertford, Halifax and Northhampton counties, and we hope eventually to convince the present residents that it's a good idea.''
The Vaughans organized an ``Innersearch Committee'' to bring together ideas about how a new city should should start from scratch. After assuring themselves that the basic amenities were available - water, roads, communications and the infrastructure for public safety - they soon had a pretty good idea how to put ``River City'' on the map.
They bisected Bertie County with a line that runs from just east of Hexlena in the north to just east of Cohoba in the south. All of Bertie County west of the line would be the proposed new city.
During the formative period, Rebecca wrote hundreds of longhand pages describing how everything would go together to create ``River City.'' Hundreds of copies of the prospectus were distributed in western Bertie.
The Vaughans felt the northern area of the new city should concentrate on commerce, so they envisioned a ``Merchant's Highway'' connecting in the northwest with U.S. Route 258 (and Interstate 95) at Rich Square in Northampton County and intersecting with Route 11 and U.S. Route 17 to the southeast.
Shopping centers, malls and industrial development would, the Vaughans hope, build up along Merchant's Highway.''
``Tremendous growth can be anticipated in communities served by this highway,'' wrote Rebecca.
Henry Vaughan, meanwhile, has been a missionary-in-the-field, taking on the doubters and skeptics in western Bertie who are quick to say they think ``River City'' is all wet.
``We aren't running into hostility so much as good-natured joking,'' said Henry.
The Vaughans plan to complete their canvassing in September.
``We hope to have everything ready to go to the new General Assembly when it convenes in January,'' said Rebecca.
KEYWORDS: BERTIE COUNTY
by CNB