THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 2, 1995 TAG: 9503020487
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
A meeting billed as a news conference called by the Dare County Capital Improvements Committee almost ended before it started Wednesday due to the arrival of a fourth commissioner who was carrying a camera.
Commissioner Shirley Hassell showed up at the meeting with video camera in hand and left - reluctantly - after she was asked to leave.
At least one expert said that Hassell had a right to sit in on the news conference. David Lawrence, contacted at the North Carolina Institute of Government in Chapel Hill, said that if the gathering was in fact a news conference, and not a public meeting, Hassell could attend the meeting. Commissioner Clarence Skinner, who is chairman of the capital improvements committee studying a proposed county office complex, asked Hassell to leave. He contended her presence would constitute a quorum of the seven-member Dare County Board of Commissioners, and would be a violation of the North Carolina Open Meetings Law.
``We have four commissioners present,'' Skinner said. ``That constitutes a public meeting. Mrs. Hassell is fairly new on the board. If we continue this meeting, we are violating the intent of the open meeting laws. If she doesn't leave on her own, this meeting is terminated.''
When Hassell asked if she could attend the meeting as ``a citizen,'' and not as a member of the board, Commissioner Doug Langford replied, ``Mrs. Hassell is not a member of this committee. I'm not going to be part of a violation of the open meetings law.''
After Skinner again explained the committee's argument, Hassell said she would leave. Langford asked Hassell, ``Aren't you gone yet?''
Shot back Hassell: ``Who do you think you are?''
``I'm a legitimate member of this committee,'' replied Langford. ``I don't appreciate your efforts to disrupt this meeting.''
Hassell left the meeting without further incident. When she was gone, Langford criticized her attendance.
Hassell, reached by phone Wednesday afternoon, said the incident was ``ridiculous.''``I don't know why they (the board) feel threatened by the open meetings law,'' she said. ``They've violated it before.''
Lawrence said no cases have been argued in North Carolina concerning matters of that type.
Lawrence, who authored ``Meetings and Local Governments in North Carolina,'' said ``I wouldn't think of a press conference as a public meeting.
There aren't any cases in North Carolina concerning this. But in at least one state, it's been held that press conferences are not public meetings. I'm not saying the county . . . is wrong. This is something the statute doesn't address.'' by CNB