THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, October 11, 1996 TAG: 9610110522
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS LENGTH: 99 lines
The first League of Women Voters' forum for candidates for the Dare County Board of Commissioners was downright neighborly at times.
The evening's most glaring partisan viewpoint was the notion that Republicans would lend some balance to the now all-Democratic board.
Democratic and Republican stands frequently overlapped Wednesday night on several issues: the Hatteras Island N.C. 12 overwash problem, sewage treatment, government downsizing, development concerns and concessions about the possibility of a tax increase to fund a new high school.
``I hate to say it, but I agree with Mr. Skinner and Mr. Owens,'' Republican newcomer Richard Johnson said about the incumbent Democrats. ``I'd like to see government smaller, but with all the changes, I think what we've got to do is hold the line.''
Sporting a red, white and blue stars-and-stripes tie with elephants, Johnson opened by declaring himself a conservative and quoted Abraham Lincoln: ``You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift . . .''
A telephone technician for Carolina Telephone, Johnson, 41, is challenging one-term Commissioner Clarence Skinner for the District 1 seat.
R.V. ``Bobby'' Owens Jr., either commission chairman or a member for most of the past 26 years, almost immediately launched into a defense of several persistent criticisms against him. Addressing comments that he has ``everyone in my family'' working for the county, Owens said his niece by marriage answers telephones for the county, and she is the only person remotely related to him on the county payroll.
And, he said, his residency requirement is ``legal by the law of the land.''
Fielding an audience member's question about his other job as the eastern representative of the governor, Owens said the role ``behooves Dare County. It behooves eastern North Carolina.''
Another question centered on concerns about the impact of proposed state fishing regulations.
Douglas Price, Republican opponent of incumbent Democrat Joseph ``Mac'' Midgett - who was absent - said pollution has had a detrimental effect on fish populations.
``Why are we always picking on the fisherman?'' Price asked. ``These man-made pollutants . . . isn't this killing some of the these resources we're talking about here?''
Price, a Hatteras native employed by the state Ferry Division, said he is opposed to the proposed saltwater fishing license.
``I don't think it's enforceable,'' he said. ``Let's be realistic. Let's find other ways to take care of these things.''
Cheryl Byrd, Republican candidate in District 3, said only the marine habitat part of the state fisheries steering committee moritorium report is the only section without problems.
``The rest has to be refined, improved, even thrown out,'' Byrd said.
Johnson said that as vital as fishing is to the local economy, anglers must be protected.
``We're going to regulate the fishing industry into nonexistence,'' he said.
But Skinner said the committee is open to input and is not shoving anything down people's throats. He added that the license proposal should be looked at.
``If we think about the resource we're tapping, it's not an unlimited resource,'' he said.
Panelists expressed equally strong opinions about ways to keep the highway to Hatteras Island open. Despite the recent moving of part of Route 12 farther from the ocean, the road is still flooded during storms or high tides.
``We've spent $30 million or more over 10 years - it's clear it's not working,'' said Byrd, 53, a Southern Shores resident and retired businesswoman and teacher.
She added that the money should have been put into an elevated road years ago, rather than we wasted on ``a Band-Aid approach,'' an idea seconded by her Republican colleague Stephen Sawin, Owens' challenger in District 2.
``I agree it's the ultimate solution, but it would've been the ultimate solution 10 years ago,'' Sawin said.
Owens said the total cost for a bridge and an elevated causeway from Oregon Inlet to Rodanthe is projected at $130 million.
Tommy Perkins, the Libertarian challenger to Owens and Sawin, did not attend the forum at First Flight Middle School, the first of three sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Dare County.
Candidates were also asked about a tax increase.
Martin Booth, Byrd's opponent in District 3, said he would not raise taxes ``unless it was put to the people in the form of a referendum.''
Booth, 53, a retired Exxon executive, said the proposed high school construction would require that a budget measure go to the voters, and he would support a tax increase only for that reason.
Price, Sawin and Johnson adamantly said they would not raise taxes, although Price conceded schools could warrant a hike.
Skinner said that the school bond is the only issue he ``sees looming in the horizon'' that could result in higher taxes in the near future. Owens flatly refused to promise not to raise taxes, saying citizens have to decide if they want all the services county government provides.
In the event of a major disaster, Owens said, the county has a reserve contingency that will enable the government to operate for one year without a tax base.
In closing, Sawin flattered his opponents, but quickly made his party's point.
``They're good Democrats,'' he said of the incumbents, ``but they're all Democrats. I've never seen a monopoly that benefited the people. Let's have a little controversy . . . Let's have balance.'' by CNB