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West Craven Highlights
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DECEMBER 7, 1989
VANCEBOJgjJjORTH^AROUNA
PHONE 244 0780 OR 946-2144 (UPSP 412-110)
25 CENTS
SIX PAGES
Eagles
outrun
Trojans
Coward keys
Eagle success
BvisZin Burnell
Sports Writer
Last night's basketball games be*
tween West Craven and Jones Se«
nior could have been dubbed the
West Craven Indoor Track
Championships.
The Eagles outran Jones Senior
68'43 In the varsity boys' game and
60-40 in the girls'. Jones Senior took
the junior varsity contest 55-46.
In the boys' game. West Craven
blitzed Jones Senior with a 9-0 run
in the final 90 seconds of the first
half to turn an 18-15 lead into a
27*15 advantage.
Craig Coward keyed the run with
a short basket which he followed
with a steal and a slam dunk punc
tuated by the first-half buzzed.
Jaaw Senior was forced to play a
young backcourt because senior
guard Chris Brown was out with an
ankle I injury. Brown averaged 24.3
points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists
last year to lead the Class 1-A Tro
jans to a 22-5 record and a berth in
the state semifinals.
*I looked and it seemed like they
(Trojans) didn't have many back
from last year," West Craven coach
Lorenzo Jones, *we felt we could
press them. We're going to doa lot of
pressing this year.*
The injury hurts our whole of
fense,* said Jones’ coach Al Hobbs,
*1t really hurt our young guards.*
Jones Senior committed 20 tur
novers and >ras foiled by West Cra
ven's 1-3-1 zone press. I^e pressure
keyed the run at the end of the first
half and helped the Eagles put the
game away at the start at the
second.
West Craven's Tony Jenkins
opened the secon d half with another
slam following a Trojan turnover to
start on 8-3 ru n that gave the Ekigles
a 35-18 advantage just 1:57 into the
third quarter. The Trqjans commit
ted four turnovers in the span.
Jenkins led West Craven with 17
points, displaying a nice touch in
side and running the break. He
added three rebounds and two
blocked shots. Lament Cox and
See ElAGLES, Page 5
John Bumoll pholo
West Craven’s Lee Beclon (11) goes for rebound against Jones Senior player In Tuesday night's
varsity boys' win over the Trojans. The varsity Eagles are now 1-1 on the season.
Oil drilling could be delayed
By Betty Gray
Special to ibe
West Craven Highlights
MANTEO — N.C. Attorney Gen-
Thornburg called a federal
report on gas and oil exploration off
the North Carolina coast legally in-
vali d* and the director of the federal
agency that prepared the report has
called for a delay in exploratory
drilling pending further environ
mental studies.
A draft environmental report on
Mobil Oil Corp.'s plans came under
attack Monday night at the first of
four public hearings on it. Thorn
burg was joined by Congressman
Walter B. Jones; William W. Cobey
Jr., secretary of the N.C. Depart
ment of Environment, Health and
Natural Resources; Ed Cassidy, de
puty director of Minerals Manage
ment Service; and N.C. Sen. Marc
Basnight, D-Dare, in calling for a
delay in Mobil's drilling.
' jl^mburg said the report has in-
sulnnent Information about ocean
currents and physical geology off
the state coast.
Jones said plans to drill oft the
North Carolina coast should be
stopped pending further study of
the environmental effects of the
drilling.
*We should not allow drilling off
the Outer Banks unless it can be
proven that no harm will come to
our precious coast,” Jones said.
^Proving this is Mobil's responsibil
ity, and so far, they have not done
so.*,
Jones, chairman of the House
Merchant Marine and Fisheries
Committee, said when Congress re
convenes in January he will intro
duce a bill prohibiting exploratory
drilling off the coast.
Jones has written Manuel Lujan,
interior department secretary ask
ing that approval of Mobil's explora
tion plan Iw delayed until at least
Oct. 1, 1991.
Jones’ and Thornburg’s remarks
were greeted by applause and
standing ovations from most of the
200 people at the hearing at Manteo
High School. It was sponsored by
Minerals Management Service, the
U.S. Department of the Interior
agency that would issue permits for
outer continental shelf drilling.
The attorney general said the
state vrill challenge the Minerals
Management Service report in ccurt
unless the agency prepares a more
detailed enviornmental study.
*We do not propose to allow Mobil
and Minerals Management Service
to spoil the beautiful environment of
the North Carolina coast without a
full disclosure of adverse impacts,”
Thornburg said.
The federal government will also
nsk for more time to study the envir
onmental effects of exploratory
drilling, Cassidy said. Cassidy's
agency, a division of the U.S. De
partment of the Interior, that pre
pared the environmental report.
A public hearing on the report
will be 3 to 6 p.m. and 7 to 10 p.m. to
morrow at Beaufort County Com
munity College.
Referring to a Memorandum of
Understanding among the gover
nor, Mobil and the federal govern
ment which set conditions under
which drilling could take place, Cas
sidy said, *We knew the process
might require a mid-course
correction.*
Cassidy said his agency had
Town’s landmark
has new local owner
By Joliii Perry
Staff Writer
The Vance Theatre/Launderette
building has a new ewner in Jimmy
RulT of H & B T)» Service.
' Huff told the Highlighta in an in
terview about his ownership of the
VanceboFO landmark that has been
kept under wraps until just
recently.
Hie building, ironically, is di
rectly ta the right of HulTs home in
Vanceboro. This ie one of the rea
sons, according to HufT, for baying
it. Ho says he doesn’t exactly have
any future plane for the building,
but tearing it down right now is out
of the question.
HulT bought the building IVom
Mrs. Annie Mary Edwards of Au
rora, who's father owned the build
ing when it woe both a theatre and a
laundromat. Mrs. Edward’s father
f iassed away, leaving both it and the
and to her.
Mrs. Edwards and Huff have
been friends for years, and the prop
osition woe nothing more than “just
a friendly deal,* said Huff. Mrs. Ed
wards also sold Huff the building
that is now houses his tax service
agency. Huff said his main reason
for buying the old theater is that the
bail ding la basicallyon hie land any
way, with the distance from the two
structures being around 20 feet. But
Huff could not do anything about
‘this inconvenience* because it was
In liated In and records aa two sc pa-
See THEATER, Page 6
Coastal panel
gives approval
to restrictions
New policies address noise,
altitude levels of airplanes
By Mike Voss
Editor
KILL DEVIL HILLS - The Coas
tal Resources Commission last Fri
day unanimously approved tight
new restrictions on operations of
low-flying military aimrafi in coas
tal North Carolina.
Two dozen coastal residents, com
plaining of noise and violation of
fiight regulations by military air
craft, urged the commission during
a public hearing lost Thursday to
vote for the restrictions.
The recommendations were sub
mitted earlier this year by a com
mission task force on flight altitude,
electromognetic radiation and air
craft noise levels.
A member of that task force, Mar
ine pilot Col. Tom Schmidt, said
then the new rules amounted to an
"eviction notice* that would prohibit
all military flights near the coast.
The new rules:
— Adopt Federal Aviation Admi
nistration minimum altitude restr
ictions of at least 1,000 feet above
ground level above populated areas
(towns and cities) and 500 fee t above
less populated areas.
— Prohibit aircraft flights from
increasing average noise levels
more than 10 decibels above back
ground noise, except during take
offs and landings. The policy sets 85
decibels as the maximum noise
level. The coastal region's back
ground level is about 40 decibels,
said state ofHcials. The maximum
level of 85 decibels is a 10,000-fold
increase in sound energy over the 40
decibel mark.
The restrictions now are state
poliQT. The federal government will
undoubtedly seek to overturn them
at a higher level, said Lynn Much-
more, an assistant secretary of the
state's new Department of Environ
mental, Health and Natural
Resources.
The restrictions put the state on
the "cutting edge* of this issue na
tionwide, Muchmore said.
A proposal requiring that mili
tary tests and maneuvers not ex
pose the public to dangerous levels
of electromagnetic radiation was re
ferred by the commission to the ra
diation branch of the state Division
of Health and Human Services
About two dozen speakers at the
public hearing — including local,
state and federal ofTicinls — asked
the commission to protect them and
the coastal environment from “as
saults” by the military’s activities.
Many accused the military of having
a less-lhan cnring attitude about
complaints made by coastal resi
dents of low-flying and noisy
aircraft.
The new rules apply to civilian ac
tivities as well as military.
Daniel Besse of New Bern, chair
man of the commission, said the
turnout in support of the proposals
was one of the largest he has seen
since joining the commission.
“What impressed me is that this
was not a lot of people from one or
two groups speaking out,” he said.
"Almost every speaker represented
n different group.”
Several coastal residents de
scribed the low-Icvel flights ns “ter
rorizing.” Others called the flights
and bombs dropped at targets in
public trust waters a threat to the
coastal environment.
Grace B. Evans of Oriental said
she “often feels like a target.” Others
complained of being “attacked" or
used ns targets by military aircraft
while in their fields, on the water or
on highways.
Bonnie Stmwser of the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service’s refuge at Alli
gator River said “in general" the ser
vice supported the proposals. “The
service is concerned about the in
crease of more military aircraft ac
tivity," she said.
She said increased flight activity
could cause waterfowl to vacate
traditional habitat areas. Some re
fuges have negotiated rules govern-
See AIR SPACE, Page 6
“worked in some cases around the
clock” to prepare the environmental
report which was submitted to the
state for its review early last month.
But the department will ask Mo
bil for*an extension of the timeline”
agreed to in the Memorandum of
Understanding.
Federal and state reaction to the
two volume report surprised Mobil
Oil Corp. ofllcials and was hailed by
environmentalists at the meeting
last night as a victory.
“It's a great turn of events,” said
Dorrie Smith, a spokesman for the
environmental group Greenpeace,
after the meeting. “Because the
drilling window for next summer is
closed.”
Mobil had agreed in a Memoran
dum of Understanding signedby the
company, the state and the federal
goverment July 12 to drill its explor
atory well during a “favorable
weather window” from May through
September.
Mobil, the state and federal offi
cials are expected to discuss next
week the specifics of a delay, federal
officials said.
North Carolinians “have been
B«ny Gray photo
Stale Sen. Marc Basnight, left, and N.C. Rep. Waller Jones.
failed in this process,” Thornburg
said. “Minerals Management Ser
vice has used a process that is scien
tifically andlegally invalid,”he said.
“As your lawyer, t can tell you that
what they have done is not legally
defensible.”
In an interview after the meeting.
See MOBIL, Page 6
Jones’ bill to require
additional research, tests
How the theatre appeared many years ago.
MANTEO —• Congressman Wal
ter B. Jones hopes legislation intro
duced early next year will delay ex
ploratory drilling off the North Car
olina coast at least one year, a
spokesman for the Congressman
said Monday.
The bill, the Outer Banks Protec
tion Act, will require that further ac
tion on the Mobil project be stopped,
Jones said last night at a public
hearing on the federal environmen
tal report on oil and gas exploration
off the state's coast.
The bill proposes creation of a sci
entific review panel to develop reli
able information on the effects of
offshore drilling. And it calls for ad
ditional studies on oceanography,
ecological and economics of eastern
North Carolina that would be af
fected by oil and gas exploration.
Jones said he will intr^uce the
bill Jan. 23,1990, opening day of the
second session of the lOlst
Congress.
It also includes language to pre
vent the U.S. Department of the In
terior from issuing any new leases
and approving any exploration plan
or permit to drill before Oct. 1,1991.
The Jones bill has a better chance
of approval than the Ocean Protec
tion Act of 1990, a bill introduced
late last month by Rep. Barbara
Boxer (D-Cnlif.), Dan Ashe, staff
member for the Committee on Mer
chant Marine and Fisheries said.
The Boxer bill, co-sponsored by 24
other representatives, including
See JONES, P'ge 6