DATE: Thursday, June 19, 1997               TAG: 9706190426
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: By MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: BARCO                             LENGTH:   36 lines

GEORGE WARNER ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PANEL

To the surprise of hardly anyone on the Outer Banks, George ``Buffy'' Warner was unanimously elected chairman of the Northeast Economic Development Partnership Wednesday in the Currituck County Library at Barco.

Warner is a 45-year old mountain man from West Virginia where he was a state senator until eight years ago when he proposed to Ann Shabb, 37, on a vacation trip to Ocracoke Island.

Now they own Howard's Pub and Raw Bar on Ocracoke.

Warner's laid-back, sockless style impressed his colleagues on the partnership who managed to overlook his conservative Republican politics only faintly disguised by garish sports shirts.

Warner was appointed to a vacancy on the panel a year ago and quickly became one of its movers-and-shakers.

``Ann and I were brought up in families that believed that young people owe their hometown and their state and country the very best of themselves that they can offer,'' Warner said.

Earlier this year, Andrew Allen, a former Washington County chairman of the economic panel, was selected to head a nominating committee to find new officers for the coming fiscal year that will begin in July.

When Allen read a list of officers proposed for the commission, nobody seemed startled when George Warner's name led all the rest.

Grover Edwards, a construction executive of Henrico, was nominated for vice chairman; Jack Runion, a retired power company executive of Littleton, was nominated for commission secretary; and Buck Suiter, an Ahoskie banker, was nominated for treasurer.

All of the nominations were unanimously approved when Jimmy Dixon, the outgoing chairman, called for a vote.

The new officers will be installed next month.

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