THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 18, 1995 TAG: 9506150179
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 52 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: BY DAVID STICK
LENGTH: Long : 106 lines
Periodically I pause to reflect on how fortunate I am to be a North Carolinian. I am not a native; my family did not make the move from New Jersey to Dare County until 1929. But for most of the two-thirds of a century since then I have been a close observer of the manner in which the Tar Heel State has been governed.
Throughout that period there have been no crazies in the governor's mansion; no far-out radicals in our statehouse. We have not had rampant stealing from the public till by high-ranking officials, or a legislature that was in the pocket of the crooks. I am proud that North Carolina is so often referred to as the most progressive of the southern states, and that it has been in the forefront in initiating a wide range of important policies and programs, such as those conducted for more than 50 years by the Institute of Government in Chapel Hill, to teach local officials how to better run their county and municipal governments.
I was reminded of this again today when I read a paid advertisement in The Coastland Times, prepared by four individuals identified as the ``principals'' of a new non-partisan political organization. It was signed by approximately 50 others who were said in the advertisement to ``fully support the newly organized DARE CITIZENS FOR BETTER GOVERNMENT.''
The stated purpose of the advertisement is to make the Dare County Board of Commissioners ``more responsive to citizens' views regarding critical policy issues.'' The group calls on the commissioners to reject the proposed three-cent ad valorem tax increase designed to fund programs for county schools. They want the county to ``HALT'' further expenditures on studying the need to build a county office complex until the issue has been placed before the citizens in a referendum, and they issue a call for the governing body to ``REDUCE general county expenditures and IMPROVE the efficiency of county government.'' Among other proposals, the four ``principals'' suggest that big savings can be effected by ``billing and collecting'' a large portion of the $3 million EMS budget and the $500,000 helicopter budget. They also want the commissioners to permit increased ``sunshine'' on their meetings and activities, and they call on the board and on county employees to adhere to the strictest ethical standards and conduct.
The first thing that struck me about the advertisement was that I had heard practically all of it before, including the unfounded implications that the seven members of our elected Board of Commissioners, as well as our several hundred county employees, had not been adhering to the strictest ethical standards and conduct. The second was that the names of most of the principals and several of those listed as supporters were quite familiar; for their writings, containing these very same complaints, have seemed to dominate the ``Letters to the Editor'' columns for the past year or so. As in their earlier letters, just about everything in the advertisement appears to be negative. Also, though few of those listed are household Dare County names, one I recognize has been for years a regular and unsuccessful candidate for a variety of Dare County offices, always on a similarly negative campaign platform.
I am always wary of people who take public positions against their government - but never in favor of it. In this instance, I take vehement opposition to this continual barrage of negativeness, and of unsubstantiated charges, implications, and frequent misstatements of fact. More than once there have been actions by this Board of Commissioners, and by their predecessors, with which I did not agree. There have been individual members I neither liked nor respected. But I am proud that, for as long as I can remember, the majority of our elected officials have been honest, hard-working, reputable individuals who more often than not would prefer taking care of their own business to spending so much of their time planning and working for the benefit of all of Dare County's citizens, even while being the object of wild potshots from perennial nay-sayers.
The qualifications of the four ``principals'' to dictate government policy are not given, but as a former chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners (1960-1962), I am proud that Dare was the first rural county in eastern North Carolina to establish a planning board. I am proud that it was the first to initiate countywide garbage collection and disposal services. I am proud that it has been a leader in providing all citizens with top-quality library service. I am proud that the Dare County recreation program is the envy of our neighbors, as is the case with the numerous adult services operated by the county. I am proud that Dare provides such outstanding modern police services to all parts of the county.
And as a senior citizen, I am thankful that the county commissioners are budgeting $3 million annually for what is without question the finest EMS service in the state, and probably in the nation; and unique among the counties in spending another $500,000 annually to maintain an emergency helicopter service on a 24-hour basis. I abhor even the suggestion that these quick-response emergency services might be denied those unable to pay fees in the thousand-dollars-plus range for the helicopter and the hundred-dollars-plus range for the ambulance service.
In a wide range of other activities, from education to post-hurricane response, Dare County is a leader, and I am proud of it. But the negative approach of the new political group calls for mentioning two other points:
The Dare County Board of Commissioners are elected by the citizens of Dare County to run their county government. If the voters don't like the way the commissioners are going about it, changes should be made through the ballot box, not by four individuals who appear to have elected themselves as Dare County's ``principals.''
Why is it that so many people, searching far and wide for their personal Shangri-la, finally find it here in Dare County - and from then on seem to do nothing else but complain about the county and the way it is governed? MEMO: Mr. Stick, a historian who lives in Kitty Hawk, is the author of
numerous books including ``The Outer Banks of North Carolina'' and ``The
Graveyard of the Atlantic.'' He has served on many Dare County
commissions and agencies. by CNB