
DATE: Sunday, November 16, 1997             TAG: 9711160040

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MATTHEW BOWERS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: SUFFOLK                           LENGTH:   55 lines

WORKING TOGETHER, BENNETTS CREEK WINS CHANGES

Influencing the decision-making process in city government - so easy, so hard.

It worked last spring for Bennetts Creek residents. Upset that a proposed school rezoning would split their community, they got together, educated themselves and offered the School Board a counter-proposal - complete with booklet and presentation using an overhead projector.

Success. The zone lines were changed.

``You can't back them up against a wall without giving them an option,'' said Angela R. Watahovich, one of the leaders.

``I think they did realize that we were knowledgeable enough to be dangerous to them,'' said Sarah Fishburne, another organizer. ``And that made them sit up and take notice.''

Watahovich, Fishburne and other neighbors met weekly in the months before the public hearing. They used a School Board member to help them get data from school officials, calculating things like the cost-per-mile of busing students. They drove bus routes. They knocked on doors and posted fliers. They practiced their presentations for the public hearing.

Some 20 of them wrote letters and called School Board members and officials. Over and over.

``Not just one, and not just a letter,'' Fishburne said. ``We did deluge them.''

``That was the big thing,'' Watahovich said. ``We did bug them a lot. That's why we elected them - to take the heat.''

Their main frustration was finding so many neighbors who shared their concern but not their drive.

``We have the freedom . . . to make the School Board, the City Council, accountable,'' Fishburne said. ``All this is just one phone call away. But that phone call is like pulling teeth.''

WHAT'S NEXT:

The Suffolk City Council will hold a public hearing on the city building plan - which includes schools - on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in council chambers, 441 Market St.

They'll vote sometime afterward. Those wanting to be heard may speak at the meeting.

Here are the phone numbers of Suffolk's council members:

Mayor Thomas G. Underwood, Holy Neck Borough: 657-6368.

Vice Mayor Charles F. Brown, Cypress Borough: 934-0904.

S. Chris Jones, Chuckatuck Borough: 483-0198.

Curtis R. Milteer, Whaleyville Borough: 934-0630.

Leroy Bennett, Nansemond Borough: 538-8144.

Marian ``Bea'' Rogers, Sleepy Hole Borough: 484-6001.

J. Samuel Carter, Suffolk Borough: 539-5847. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Angela R. Watahovich KEYWORDS: SCHOOLS BUILDINGS