THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260645
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Dare County Judge Edgar L. Barnes had to wait for months before he was finally sworn in last year as a governor-appointed member of the District Court bench.
And this week Barnes learned that keeping the job by winning the seat on his own in the November elections is also going to be complicated.
Pasquotank County Attorney Donald Ikerd ``Ike'' McRee Jr. said Thursday he would oppose Barnes for the District Court seat.
``I plan to file Friday,'' said McRee, who was county attorney in Currituck County before taking over the same job in Pasquotank County in 1992.
The 36-year-old Barnes and the 35-year-old McRee are popular younger Democrats who must now winnow the individual support of Albemarle community and political leaders who like both of them.
``I know Edgar Barnes will have a lot of help in Dare County, but I have confidence in my friends, too,'' said McRee at his Pasquotank Courthouse office.
Barnes is a nephew of former state Sen. Henson P. Barnes of Goldsboro, who, as leader of the state Senate in the early 1990s had a lot to do with making Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare, his successor as the present president pro-tempore.
After Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. won a third gubernatorial election in 1992, he was happy to appoint Barnes, a Basnight protege, to a new District Court judgeship that was created in the Albemarle's 1st Judicial District.
Barnes soon learned the virtue of judicial patience.
Civil rights attorneys in the U.S. Justice Department objected to the new judgeship created by the legislature and Barnes had to cool his heels and wonder when - or if - he would be sworn in. The civil rights division lawyers had questioned whether black candidates would have an equal opportunity to be elected to the new District Court seat.
Finally, last year, the Justice Department withdrew its objection and Barnes was sworn in a little more than a year before he he has to run for election to keep his job.
McRee's amiable ability to resolve disputes as a lawyer for Currituck and later Pasquotank counties won him many supporters in Albemarle courthouses. He said Thursday he hopes this will counter Barnes' heavy Dare County help.
``With almost 10 years' experience handling issues related to local government and abused and neglected children, I think I would bring to a judgeship the understanding, knowledge and temperment necessary to decide issues coming before the District Court,'' McRee said.
McRee received his undergraduate degree from St. Andrews Presbyterian College and his law degree from Campbell University. One of his first jobs was in the State Treasurer's office but he soon was recruited as county attorney by Currituck County. In Raleigh he worked for the state treasurer's local government commission and also worked with the North Carolina Department of Justice preparing criminal and civil briefs.
Friends of McRee said he is as proud of becoming an Eagle Scout in 1976 as he is of his other achievements.
McRee lives in Elizabeth City with his wife and daughter and is a member of Caan Memorial Presbyterian Church. by CNB