THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 11, 1995 TAG: 9501110413
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
Four of the six Pasquotank County commissioners who will select a successor to departing Commissioner William C. ``Bill'' Owens Jr. endorsed former Sheriff Davis N. Sawyer Jr. for the job Tuesday.
Although Commissioner Jimmy Dixon Jr. insisted there was nothing official about the presence of a county board majority when Sawyer declared his candidacy at a Pasquotank Courthouse meeting, the action was a public slap at a group of younger Democratic leaders who oppose Sawyer.
It also showed that even if the 67-year old Sawyer isn't nominated by the Pasquotank Democratic Party executive committee to succeed Owens, he is the favorite of a majority of the county board members who will do the voting.
Under state law, the board members can ignore the Democratic Party recommendation and select their candidate to serve the two remaining years of Owens' term.
Owens will be sworn in Jan. 25 in the N.C. General Assembly as the recently elected state representative of the 1st N.C. House District.
``But as an elected official, I will also be a member of the Pasquotank Democratic executive committee,'' Owens said when he showed up at the meeting called by Dixon to hear Sawyer's announcement. It was Owens' way of pointing out that even if he won't be voting for Sawyer on the county board, he will still support him in the executive committee.
About 20 of the former sheriff's friends joined Owens at the courthouse to applaud Sawyer's decision to declare his entry into the race.
The only other candidate so far is Cecelia Cartwright Austin, a 60-year old Chowan County public school teacher, who is eligible because she is a Democrat and lives in the same Elizabeth City voting ward (1-A) as Owens.
Austin's entry into the race was announced Saturday by Catherine Meggs, chairman of the Pasquotank Democratic Party. Austin is a long-time friend of Sawyer's but she indicated earlier this week that she would remain in the running.
``We've finally found a candidate that I'm sure will be nominated,'' Meggs said last week.
But it turned out that Meggs, who is in her early 30s, had notconsulted senior rank and file members of the county executive committee - including Owens - about Austin's unilateral selection.
Many older Democrats were miffed by the move to ramrod Meggs' nominee onto the county board. Several meetings were held over the weekend and Sawyer was persuaded to announce his candidacy Tuesday morning with the full support of senior Democrats who gathered at the courthouse.
``I have decided to seek this appointment,'' Sawyer told his supporters. ``I want to give back a small portion of the help and support that the people have given me.'' Sawyer has been a lawman for nearly 40-years and since his first successful run for sheriff nearly three decades ago he has been regularly re-elected by heavy majorities.
Of the six remaining members of the Pasquotank county board, the following commissioners were present in support of Sawyer Tuesday:
Hugh W. Clinkscales;
W.C. Witherspoon, a former board chairman;
Horace C. Pritchard;
Jimmy Dixon Jr.
Only Chairman Zee B. Lamb and Patsy R. McGee were absent.
When Sawyer announced his retirement last year, Meggs & Co. successfully pushed the candidacy of Randy Cartwright, a former Sawyer deputy who is now sheriff of Pasquotank.
Around the county, the most frequent explanation for Meggs' opposition to Sawyer was that he refused to support Cartwright in the election. Sawyer's explanation was that several of his deputies were interested in running and he didn't want to play favorites.
Although she did not attend the courthouse meeting for Sawyer, Meggs stuck to her guns Tuesday afternoon.
``We're not - and I'm not - going to be pushed around by a few people who want to run everything,'' she said, ``There's an orderly way to do this under party rules and we're going to follow the procedure.''
Among the senior Democrats who gathered to promise Sawyer their support were former state Sen. Melvin R. Daniels Jr., now an Elizabeth City banker, and state Rep. Vernon G. James, D-Pasquotank. James announced his retirement last year, clearing the way for Owens' successful race for the N.C. House.
``Good government takes practice and Sheriff Sawyer has had a lot of it,'' said James.
``I'm a hard-headed businessman,'' said Daniels, ``and we want the best man we can get. In my opinion, that's Sheriff Sawyer.''
Similar sentiments came from half a dozen other Sawyer supporters. The normally deadpan former sheriff seemed deeply moved as the meeting broke up. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
DREW C. WILSON/Staff
Former Sheriff Davis N. Sawyer Jr. receives congratulations from
supporters after announcing his candidacy for a vacancy on the
Pasquotank County Board of Commissioners at a meeting in Pasquotank
Courthouse Tuesday.
by CNB