DATE: Saturday, April 5, 1997               TAG: 9704050236

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: JEFFREY S. HAMPTON, CORRESPONDENT

DATELINE: GATESVILLE                        LENGTH:   63 lines

COUNTY CONSIDERING BILL TO GOVERN EVENTS' CROWD CONTROL, SAFETY THE GATES COUNTY ORDINANCE WOULD COVER CROWDS OF 500 THROUGH 5,000.

Gates County commissioners may pass the first ordinance in the state designed to govern crowds at small events such as races or festivals, if a public hearing goes well Monday.

``I haven't found another like it,'' said county manager Ed McDuffee.

Sparked by the reaction of some residents over a monster truck and mud racing event last summer, county commissioners have drafted a crowd control and safety ordinance that mimics the state law for such events but covers much smaller turnouts.

The state law regulates crowds of 5,000 or more, controlling such things as noise, sanitation, parking, fire protection, traffic and medical care. The Gates County ordinance will regulate crowds between 500 and 5,000.

``A law like that may exist, but off the top of my head I'm not aware of it,'' said Ron Aycock, executive director of N.C. Association of County Commissioners based in Raleigh. ``There's no reason why Eddie McDuffie and Gates County can't blaze the way for the rest of the state.''

McDuffee said the commissioners likely will vote for the ordinance. Some residents are not so sure they like it.

``The ordinance looks fine except they left out the part that requires permission of everyone who lives within 1,500 feet of the event,'' said Dale Crounce, one of the leaders of the resident protesters. ``We're going to bring this up Monday. We want this put in.''

William Towne, of Townes Entertainment Group in Sunbury, organized last year's event and plans to do it again this year. Residents feared the worst last year when Towne circulated 10,000 fliers boasting of ``Car Crushing Mania, Mud Racing Frenzy and Harley Dragging Mayhem.'' He called it World Motorsport Jamboree.

The rural countryside of Gates County had never seen such an event. The county's population is only 10,000. But the races drew fewer than 1,000 spectators, according to some estimates, and there was little trouble. Some residents even measured the noise level at the Jamboree's perimeter to make sure it stayed within the legal limit of 70 decibels.

``It went off basically without a hitch as far as I can tell,'' McDuffee said.

Crounce maintains some people who lived nearby were bothered, and at least one man who works the night shift could not sleep through the roaring engines. Crounce and Ronnie Powell led the effort to petition the commissioners to place controls on such events. McDuffie sees the ordinance as the commissioners' response to the public's wishes.

Even with the new ordinance, Crounce sees trouble ahead.

``What if 2,000 people showed up?'' she said. ``The traffic's been terrible here since they've been working on (U.S. Highway) 168. We have five sheriff's deputies here. Who's going to handle the crowd?''

Highway 32 runs through the small community of Sunbury, the site of last year's monster truck show. To ease the traffic burden on Highway 168, officials have detoured some of the flood of Outer Banks visitors through Gates County on Highway 32.

Crounce said the monster truck event will tie up traffic.

``It's a bad place to have it,'' Crounce said.

McDuffee said Towne was very cooperative last year with county officials and followed health, safety and traffic laws already in place.

``If he were the only one who was ever going to do this here we might not have to do this,'' said McDuffee of creating a new ordinance. ``We plan to address their concerns.''

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