DATE: Sunday, May 18, 1997                  TAG: 9705180027

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  179 lines

A COUNTY DIVIDED: THE $59.5 MILLION PROPOSED SCHOOL BOND HAS GENERATED BITTER DISAGREEMENT. AFTER VOTES ARE CAST TUESDAY, CAN DARE COUNTY HEAL ITSELF?

After weeks of sometimes bitter rhetoric, Dare County voters go to the polls Tuesday to decide on a proposed $59.5 million bond issue.

Echoing the sentiments of word-weary residents of this picturesque coastal county, Carlisle Davis, chairman of the Board of Elections, said:

``I can't wait til this is over, so we can all be friends again.''

The vote, which some are calling the most volatile election in the county's 127-year history, has put lifelong friends on opposite sides of the political fence, prompted threats of business boycotts and even violence, and shaken the county to its core.

Supporters of the package say Dare County's schools are overcrowded to the point of bursting. If new facilities are not built now, they will cost more in the future. They say the issue is quality education for children, not political power. They say the plan, endorsed by the Dare County Board of Education, is the best option for the county.

Opponents, however, contend that the plan - which includes a new beach high school - is poorly conceived. Passage of the package will create a dual system, opponents argue, with a comprehensive curriculum at the beach high school, while students on Roanoke Island, Hatteras Island and the mainland are left to suffer. Others say this is another round in the decades-old tussle for political power between newcomer-laden beach communities and the establishment seat of power in Manteo. And a few contend that the issue is race. They say the beach high school will create a separate but unequal school system.

But beyond the issue of bricks and mortar and politics and planning, many are concerned that the wounds inflicted during the bond debate will never heal.

Dare County Commissioner Geneva Perry said the ruckus over the bond is unprecedented.

``I've never seen anything that has had such a polarizing effect and such a divisive impact,'' Perry said. ``There's always been competition between various areas of the county. But it's never been this vicious.''

Geographically, Dare County seems to be a land mass designed for rivalry. Manns Harbor, Stumpy Point, East Lake and Roanoke Island are separated by the sounds from the beach communities of Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores and Duck. Hatteras Islanders must traverse the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet to reach the rest of the county.

Some say this bond issue has taken good-natured tussles into a back-alley brawl.

``There's been competition in sports, and even competition for (political) power,'' Perry said. ``But it wasn't mean-spirited. There are a lot of us from across the county who have worked very diligently to eliminate the bad feelings between the beach and Manteo, between Hatteras Island and the beach towns, and between Hatteras and Manteo. This referendum has torn down a lot of the structures that people have worked to build.''

Ward Barnett Sr., a Frisco businessman and community activist, is also troubled by what he's seen in recent months.

``I think there is a definite need in this county for our school system to get some attention,'' Barnett said. ``But when you have something that has been handled the way it has by all parties, there's something just not right in Dare County.''

The county's newspapers have received and published scores of letters to the editor taking stands for and against the bond. Barnett is troubled by the tone of some of those letters.

``A lot of the editorials that have been published as letters to the editor in the papers have been attacks against individuals,'' Barnett said. ``To heal something, you've got to give it tender loving care. It's a different time now because of the influx of so many different people of so many different minds and so much different economic standings. I'm not sure there can be a healing.''

Many, like Perry, believe that a dialogue among the county's elected leaders, as well as individual citizens, may be a good first step toward binding the county's wounds.

``I do feel the Board of Education and the Board of Commissioners need to sit down in the event the bond doesn't pass and think together and work together to determine what the real needs of education are, and how we can go about achieving the needs of education,'' Perry said.

``I also think we need to work on developing some sort of consensus about those needs from people from all parts of the county,'' she said.

And if the bond passes?

``The two boards need to meet together and see how to go about implementing the conditions set by the bond issue in a way that's in the best interest of the county as a whole,'' Perry said.

As for pulling together a divided citizenry, School Superintendent Leon Holleman suggests establishing a Committee of 100, made up of people from all walks of life, all races and all economic standings.

``Win or lose on Tuesday, I think we need to sit down as a community and look at the things that make us the special people that we are,'' Holleman said. ``I'm concerned about the impact the school debate has had on the county. But it's not the cause of the division. It's a symptom of what's been going on for a long time.''

The Committee of 100 would be people from all corners of the county, aimed at dealing with the challenges associated with a growing, changing county.

``We all agree that this is a growing community,'' Holleman said. ``We all agree that this is a changing community. We need to find creative ways to manage our areas of agreement for the benefit of the community.''

Michael McOwen, a Manteo publishing executive and father of two, said dialogue between people from the various county communities is one solution.

``This is how you work things out,'' McOwen said. ``Whether it's a husband and wife or a community, you have to sit down and talk about what everyone wants, and what you share and where you differ.''

Commissioner Perry doesn't buy into the idea that the bond debate is merely a catalyst for revealing deeper problems within the county.

``I don't agree with that at all,'' Perry said. ``I really believe the way the issue has been handled is at the root of this. I think the board of education didn't listen to the entire county to get a consensus in the county before they went forward.''

McOwen agreed. ``What we were lacking from the start in this thing is leadership,'' he said. ``This didn't have to be such a divisive issue. We should have taken the time to address some of the issues that the individual communities have.''

McOwen recalled an issue that emerged not so many years ago that resulted in an unprecedented show of county unity - the battle with Mobil Oil over natural gas drilling off the North Carolina coast. McOwen is an active member of LegaSea, an environmental watchdog group that monitors the offshore drilling issue.

``The conflict (over the bond) is overblown in one sense,'' McOwen said. ``When we took on Mobil, we had one shared vision and one shared enemy. It was a wonderful thing - we had real estate people joining together with the most hardened environmentalists to fight the oil company. The Outer Banks was really together.

``There are still plenty of challenges for us as a community,'' McOwen added. ``Educating our children is one of those. This should be something that brings us together, not something we fight about.''

But for Barnett, the businessman and community activist, who works in his off time helping deliver ``Meals on Wheels'' to Hatteras Island's shut-ins, the medicine needed to heal the county's ills is a remedy as old as the scriptures and as powerful as an Outer Banks hurricane.

``The only thing I can see that will heal this is to tell each other that we love them,'' he said. ``We all lose when our children don't get what they need.''

Barnett used a presidential analogy to drive his point home.

``It's just like Bob Dole,'' Barnett said. ``I think he lost the election because he couldn't tell people that he loved them. Bill Clinton could do that. That's what we have to do, just tell people we love 'em.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

DREW C. WILSON/The Virginian-Pilot

First-graders wait for their bus at First Flight Elementary School

on Thursday. The school is targeted to receive $1.7 million for

renovation.

Graphic

BOND BASICS

\ WHAT VOTERS WILL DECIDE: Dare County residents go to the polls

Tuesday to vote yes or no on a $59.5 million school construction

bond issue. The total amount needed for construction is $65.3

million. However, Dare County will get $5.8 million as its share of

a statewide school bond approved by North Carolinians last November.

HOW THE MONEY WILL BE SPENT:

A new beach high school: $25.9 million

Renovations at Manteo High School: $4.08 million

Renovations at Manteo Middle School: $3.8 million

Renovations at Cape Hatteras School/Auditorium: $11.2 million

New Manteo K-2 school: $8.68 million

Renovations at Manteo Elementary School: $744,000

Renovations at First Flight Middle School: $1.7 million

The proposal also includes $7,171,200 for deferred maintenance at

all county schools, as well as $2 million for land acquisition for

future facilities construction.

WHAT IT MEANS TO YOUR TAXES: The current base rate for property

taxes in Dare county is 40 cents per $100 in value. County finance

officials project that taxes will increase 18 cents to repay the

bond. For the owner of a $100,000 home, property taxes would rise

$180 annually.

WHAT SUPPORTERS SAY: The new construction is needed because Dare

County schools are bursting at the seams. If schools are not built

now, they will cost much more in taxes down the road.

WHAT OPPONENTS SAY: The plan is ill-conceived, will require too

big a boost in property taxes, and will create separate but unequal

schools in terms of curriculum if another high school is built on

the beach.

WHAT IF THE BOND PASSES: The first monies will not be released

for a year. Construction on the new high school is not expected to

be completed for at least four years.

WHAT IF THE BOND FAILS: North Carolina law sets no specific

waiting period for another referendum if the bond issue fails to

win voter approval on Tuesday. A new referendum could occur as soon

as the county meets statutory requirements for a new vote.

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