THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 16, 1995 TAG: 9502160376
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINDSOR LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
When the Babe Ruth World Series for teenage ballplayers is held in Manteo next year, it could attract the ``largest gathering of people ever assembled in North Carolina - and for all the right reasons,'' the Northeast North Carolina Economic Development Commission was told Wednesday.
Ray E. Hollowell Jr., a Manteo developer and Dare County member of the commission, told the panel that he expects 55,000 tickets will be sold during the third week of August, 1996, when the baseball tournament is held at Manteo High School.
``Before we start playing ball, we expect to have at least one national television network signed up to broadcast the games,'' Hollowell said, ``and there will be scouts from both leagues as well as many colleges on hand to look for talent.''
The Babe Ruth World Series is open to 16- to 18-year-old ball players from all over the nation - and Canada. At least 11 teams will take the field from various regions and communities.
``And you can be sure we'll have a North Carolina team out there,'' Hollowell said.
The four-hour session at historic Hope Plantation near Windsor in Bertie County was one of the busiest meetings for the commission in many months.
With little wrangling, the group voted to:
Pay $10,000 to Vernon G. James to lobby for the Northeast Commission at the General Assembly this session. The influential, 84-year-old Pasquotank County farmer retired from the legislature last year after more than a quarter-century in the state House. He was succeeded in the November election by state Rep. W.C. ``Bill'' Owens Jr. of Elizabeth City.
Earmark $110,000 for a Lake Gaston conference center if that money is matched by several Virginia border counties that would benefit from the center.
Approve a $25,000 grant to help fund a $100,000 plan to print a vacation guide designed by the commission's Tourist Division. The state is contributing $45,000 to six counties to help prepare the guide; the balance is expected to come from paid ads in the brochure.
The suggestion that James be hired to expedite the commission's needs in Raleigh came from member Jimmy Dixon, a Pasquotank County commissioner and area business leader.
Jimmy R. Jenkins, chancellor of Elizabeth City State University and vice chairman of the commission, proposed that in addition to the $10,000 lobbying fee for James, he should be paid per-diem expenses to garner support from his former colleagues in the legislature.
The commission agreed, and James' per diem was unanimously approved.
Bunny Sanders, director of the Tourist Division, told the group she expected to soon receive preliminary recommendations from a Rouse Co. subsidiary that is preparing waterfront improvement plans for several ``Harbor Towns'' in the Albemarle.
The Rouse firm has an international reputation for turning decaying waterfront areas into popular tourist attractions. Baltimore and Norfolk are among the cities that have received Rouse harbor transformations.
Sanders said she expected to soon announce the shipbuilding company that will be given as much as $30 million to build and operate high-speed ferryboats between the towns on the Albemarle's sounds and rivers.
Several Rouse company planners toured 17 northeastern waterfront communities last week. by CNB