1. INTRODUCTIONS
My name is Susan Johnson. I have been Sheriff for 10
years I (entered?) the sheriff office in 1989. I am married.
I live on the mainland on Bell’s Island. I have 4 children
and 3 grandchildren, and I am looking for re-election to
another term.
Good evening. I’m David Palmer, I live in Barco, NC. This
will be my first run for County Commissioner, District 3,
but actually to serve all of you, not just District 3. I’ve
been very involved in the county for the last 10 years,
working on the Land Use Plan- I was Chairman, the
Tourism Board, the Economic Development Board. I am
currently sitting on the Comprehensive Transportation
Plan Committee. I’ve volunteered my time for 10 years to
understand this community and try to be part of the
community and I hope you’ll see I am a good candidate
to represent you as a leader in the government. Thank
you.
Good afternoon I’m Gene Gregory I’m serving (right
now) at large as Currituck Commissioner; I’ve served as
commissioner for the last 16 years. I am just here to
continue serving you as I have in the past. I appreciate
your support.
I am Marion Gilbert. Thank you for having us here to the
beautiful beach area. I am running for the District 5 seat
as Republican candidate. I have over 20 years
experience in Human Resource Management as my
career. I am single home owner, taxpayer, in Moyock. I
am running for the Moyock seat. I am currently the Vice
Chair of the Airport Advisory Board, serving ….???...
and I have worked tirelessly at the airport to make that a

2. good business. It’s a huge asset for the county and its
where some of our tax dollars go. And I’ve worked very
hard at the airport and I am looking forward to serving
as a commissioner I am a grass roots person, I get out
in the community I work in the community. That’s me.
It’s time for me to step up and help. With the open
government and do what I can as a commissioner.
Thank you.
Good evening. I’m Paul Martin. Thank you all for coming
out; the interest generated here is just phenomenal. We
go to these throughout the county and here in Corolla it
seems we have more people here than we do even at the
high school forum. Your interest is just phenomenal as I
said. I have been commissioner before; I served for 4
years, and I thought I did a good job there because I
listened to people. I like to be mentored by the people of
the county because I am not an all knowing person. I
like to listen to what people have to say. Just talking to
one person here gave me a good idea one that I have
really centered on and its something we need to look at
as a commissioner. Mr. Cherry asked me a question
concerning jobs…and I want to say this to you Michael,
here. I welcome the advice and mentoring of all the
citizens of the county I will listen and respond to all of
the people and I promise to work hard and be fair in all
my dealings as a commissioner. I also would like to
introduce my better half, my wife, Charlotte. She teaches
at Currituck County High School. I have just retired after
20-some year in Currituck County Schools. I’ve been
taking care of the children of Currituck for many years
and now I want to continue that public service by taking
care of the problems for the people here in the county.
Thank you all.

3. My name is Butch Petrey and I live in Grandy, NC, and
thank you for having us here. It’s always a pleasure to
drive up the beach. I’ve been coming down here since
1963, I remember when Penney’s Hill was higher than
Jockey’s Ridge but not as big around, and you got on
the beach at Sandbridge and you drove down, and I tell
you what, I love this part of the beach and I told
Kimberlee and I told Lynne ―God doesn’t make this any
more.‖ And I will do everything I can to protect it. Vance
Aydlett and I talk quite a bit and I will say this to you,
Vance is a good friend of the people here and Vance and
I probably talk about once a day and usually its about
how to protect the beach and represent the people here.
The reason I got involved…I’ve never been in politics
before…I started volunteering 4 days a week at the
Lower Currituck Food Pantry and I see unemployment
first hand. I see people swallowing their pride and their
ego. People are looking for jobs. I’d like to focus on
economic development and jobs in Currituck County.
My background- I was a Corporate Sales Manager for a
Fortune 500 Company. I’ve had my own small business
that I started from scratch and sold it after 4 years, and I
think I can make a difference. I think a new face and
some new ideas can make a difference in Currituck
County. And thank you again for having me; it’s always
a pleasure to be here. Thank you.
How are you doing? My name is Donnie Norrell, I’m the
Republican Candidate for Sheriff. I live in Moyock; I built
my house there 15 years ago. My 2 children went to
Currituck County High School and moved on and went
to UNC Wilmington. I live here with my wife, Theresa,
and my dog, my cat, and my two horses. As far as my
career, I did 26 years with the Norfolk Police
Department…the bulk of it homicide and vice narcotics.

4. I also worked in canine; I was hostage negotiator and I
was on a SWAT team. The last 7 years after retiring from
the police department I’ve been with the State Medical
Examiners Office where I supervise …..death
investigators in that office. We handle all the death
investigations in Williamsburg to NC. I have a Bachelors
Degree in Criminology and an Associates Degree in
Liberal Arts. I’m also the head JD Basketball Coach at
Currituck High School. I enjoy working with the youth
and I am concerned about the situation in our High
School and in our County in the increase in property
crimes throughout the county. I am also concerned with
the unique problems that the people in Corolla and
Carova are seeing and increase in over the last years.
So hopefully I can work with the people; if I am fortunate
enough to be elected I will work with the people. I am
eager to be working with different organizations-- I am
looking forward to working with fire fighters and EMS.
Thank you for hosting this.
Janet Taylor (The tape did not record the first few
minutes of the forum, when Janet gave her introduction.
The following biographical information was taken from
Janet’s campaign brochure.) ―I have deep roots in
Currituck County, so I understand its’ needs and values.
I have lived, worked and volunteered in this county for
21 years. I was a member of the Currituck County Board
of Education, serving for 14 years. I served as Chairman
and Vice Chairman. My husband and I are members of
the local business community as the owners of Taylor’s
Total Look, your family hair salon in Moyock. It is critical
that we spend taxpayer’s money wisely. My priority has
and will continue to be to address basic county needs-
infrastructure, schools, Sheriff’s department, Fire and
EMS- to ensure the health and well-being of all citizens.

5. Government is most effective when there is a true
dialogue between elected officials and citizens. I will
continue to strive for an open form of government. I
have worked successfully over the past 4 years with my
fellow Commissioners, county staff, and department,
and citizens to accomplish some great things in
Currituck.‖ Thank you.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
At this point questions were drawn from a hat by each
candidate in turn, first by Candidates for County
Commissioner, then by Sheriff Candidates.
First, below, are the questions directed to the
candidates for County Commissioner, followed by the
reply of the candidate who drew it.
QUESTION: Currituck County is in the process of
updating the UDO (which is the Unified Development
Ordinance, the document that deals with zoning, out
building code) One issue addressed in the rewrite
process that impacts both Currituck’s mainland and the
beaches is the size of single family homes, specifically
citing incompatibility with surrounding homes and
impact on adjoining and adjacent properties. Regarding
the 4x4 community, what are your thoughts on oversize
homes? Should the size of single family homes that
exceed 5,000 square feet or other identified size, have
additional requirements placed on them?
JANET TAYLOR: I do. I think that when we talk about
single family homes that’s your parents, that’s your
children, and it’s not the whole side of your huband’s

6. family coming to live with you. I think that some homes
up here, I don’t think you have that as much of that on
the mainland as you do over her, as far as huge homes.
But I think that there’s a point when you have 24
bedrooms or 16 bedrooms at what point are you not
now a hotel? To house that many people. I understand
that they do that for rentals, to get those people, for
families to be able to come down because nowadays
that’s about the only way people can afford is to come
together with friends and family to rent a place for a
week. But I do believe that there should be a limit on the
size of a home.
QUESTION: As you are aware, the UDO is currently in
the rewrite process. Would you support incorporating
the Land Use Plan policies into UDO ordinances for the
protection and preservation of the 4x4 area, particularly
those that mandate prohibiting commercial
development? If so, which ones in particular should
become ordinances?
BUTCH PETREY: I said when I was here, I think we were
here in March, commercial development – NO. I even
said ―Hell, No.‖ Mr. Nelms said I was trying to be funny.
It’s still ―Hell, No.‖ Commercial development doesn’t
need to be here. The UDO…this is a particular…the
beach is different than the mainland. You can’t put some
UDO policies and rules in place that cover the beach.
This is an entirely different area. Like Janet was talking
about-- the large homes. I realize our resources are
being dried up. Wells are going dry, and you know, there
has to be a line of moderation, and I feel the UDO is the
way to do that. But I also realize that you can’t expect
the people that live here to live under the rules of the

7. UDO that would cover Moyock. If that answers your
question.
QUESTION: Do you believe new and or additional
ordinances are needed for the 4x4 area? If so,
specifically what new ordinances are required. If not,
why do you feel additional ordinances are not needed?
DAVID PALMER: New and additional ordinance were
needed before we got here. And I said this, actually
when we started the Land Use Plan in 2003, ended up in
2005 for the Commissioners adoption, and we put a lot
of policy statements in there. If those had been adopted,
you would have a lot more protection already, and this
goes back to Butch’s question, would you incorporate
those? Absolutely. Barring that, do we need more
ordinances? No, we just need to use what we have. We
can take, and I’ve encouraged people up here to use
that, through a small area plan. Without specific
declarations of an area ---it’s called a UDO- Unified
Development Ordinance--- that means a blanket for the
entire county so you can’t have exclusions per se. But if
you do a small area plan, then you can be protected.
And that’s what needs to be done. This area does need
protection. Putting in more ordinances aren’t really the
way. We have ordinances. We have policies. We need to
put them together, put a small area plan, and protect
this community.
QUESTION: It is essential to protect the 4x4 beaches
from commercial development and to assure this unique
area is preserved. How would you establish protection
and preservation of this very special area?

8. PAUL MARTIN: The Goose. That’s what this area is, that
lays the golden egg that allows Currituck to have the
lifestyle that we have. Carova & the wild horses are the
single biggest draw for a lot of the tourists…and that
had been done by the tourism department that has
shown that Corolla wild horses bring in a tremendous
amount of people. Five years ago I was one of the
founders of a group called COAST? (Can Our Actions
Save Tomorrow?) and it was really based upon what can
we do to protect the Outer Banks and particularly
Carova and the wild horses. The need to do that is even
greater; I think the hard answer very simply is
someone’s got to make the decision, a very hard
decision. We’re talking about restricting the house size.
I think yes, we need to do that. If you want a 23 bedroom
home in Corolla, we have the services. The service is
there: sewer and water that will support it. Up here we
don’t. I think if were going to be good stakeholders for
the next generations, we need to do something now.
And as your commissioner, I will. I will strive to do
whatever it takes to protect the wild horses and the
lifestyle up here in Carova. Thank you.
QUESTION: The County adopted a sustainability policy.
How would you propose to implement relevant elements
of the sustainability policy in the off road area? How
have you considered sustainability issues in your votes
cast on requests that cam before either the BOC or
committees on which you have served?
GENE GREGORY: Sustainability- I guess that means
keeping things the way that they are today. Well I don’t
know that when you go forward, when you move
forward, when you’re progressive, I don’t know that you
can ever get things, that you can keep things, like they

9. were yesterday. You know we are living in a different
day and time. I do realize we have to do--- my biggest
concern now is this public beach, with the day trippers
coming up here, and the crowds of folks that we have up
here I the summertime, especially on weekends. I feel
like we need to put a permit system in some kind of
permit system, we certainly do not need to put a
permitting system in that hurts our tourism or hurts the
people who live here. We have to have those tourists
coning n. That’s the reason our tax base is 32 cents on a
hundred here in Currituck. We do not need to stop those
people. But these day trippers who are coming in here—
I feel most of them are coming out of Dare County or
Norfolk or somewhere. I don’t feel like most of them are
even spending any time in Currituck. I don’t feel they
…but they know they can leave Dare County and
come...where its wide open up here…and I think we are
really being abused by those people coming up here so I
think we do need to establish a permitting system of
some type allowing a certain number---and that number
would have to be derived at--- of day trippers per day.
And when you reach that number I think that’s all that
needs to be allowed in here in the summertime when we
have that abundance of tourists in here.
QUESTION: Many of the problems with the 4x4 off road
area deal with inadequate drainage. There are a number
of considerations with drainage and we understand it
can not be part of a roads service district. What would
be your solution and the process you would follow?
MARION GILBERT: My goal and vision for the county,
and this incorporates behavior county-wide, not just the
off road district, is process improvement. And each one
of us can look in the mirror every day and see where we

10. can make improvements. What I would like to do is look
at processes. As far as the roadways…what are we
doing? I’m willing to entertain any thoughts, any
suggestions, what I can do is look at the current
policies, of course some of it is out of my jurisdiction as
far as the state and the roads, the DOT, but I certainly
can work with them …review that all of the processes
and procedures in place and see what I can do to
improve that. I can’t come here and get rid of the water
that’s standing; I would love to be able to come in and
suck up some of the water I Paul and I saw as we came
in tonight, right up here at the entrance to the fire
department, there’s a big puddle there. I was down here
a couple of summers ago my aunt kept property up here
on Sandpiper and my brother and I came down here to
look at the property because it’s where we grew up in
the summertime in a single wide trailer---when a lot of
these nice homes were not here--- and we were driving
back and driving through a puddle this guy in a big
truck obviously out of state came by and flooded the
engine of the vehicle we were driving. So I recognize
and understand the issue with the water and the
drainage…I will do anything and everything I can to
make a difference in the roads. I will do what I can to
work on this process.
The following questions are directed to the candidates
for Sheriff, whose answers follow.
QUESTION: Enforcement of ordinances in the 4x4 area
can be difficult. What would your plan of action be

11. allowing for adequate enforcement and implementing
said enforcement?
SUSAN JOHNSON: Enforcement of the ordinances in
the 4wd area is made difficult. I don’t think that there is a
fault…it’s a situation that’s been created over years
where there are not enough deputies allocated for the
enforcement of the ordinances. The ordinances …we
contacted the County Attorney some time this summer
in the process of review of the ordinances…, some of
them are very unclear and some of them need to
change, that until we have staffing, that is adequate to
address the population that comes down here in the
4wd area, the enforcement is going to be ???
(somebody coughed…), because the deputies cannot
address all the issue and concerns that are occurring
because it makes it very difficult to get to situations
when you only have one person up here working in the
4wd area and one person as their backup and possibly
one …and when the Sergeant is not on duty, it may be
that you have only two deputies down here for the entire
beach. So if they are working up here in the 4wd area it
makes it very difficult for them to do something…during
the summer…two deputies out here from the hard top to
the state line and expect them to do enforcement.
They’re busy all the time just trying to move the traffic
into the middle of the beach so we can have a passable
roadway for everyone to travel on. And I don’t think it’s
the county ordinances that are unenforceable. I think it’s
the staffing that makes it inadequate ??to address
something be done?? (Not clearly audible here).
QUESTION: Safety on the 4wd beach area is an ever-
present and growing concern. What are your thoughts

12. regarding safety on the beach? What would you suggest
be done to improve safety?
DONNIE NORRELL: You are never going to be able find
enough paid deputies to handle the volume of people
that come down here in the summertime. In the spring
forum I suggested some type of auxiliary. I have ideas of
using auxiliary or an addition to part time an addition to
third and fourth year college criminal justice majors that
live in our county that attend college. They’re home for
the summer. Other cities up and down the Atlantic coast
have used (this). The Sheriff said she was negative on
auxiliaries. Well I’ve got news for you---tell the fire
department that auxiliaries don’t work, because our
volunteer fire department does a really good job. I know
they do in Moyock. I’ve never experienced yours but I’m
sure you’re just as good. There are people in our
county, and not so much on this end, but in Moyock we
are loaded with military people and ex-military people
that have all kinds of expertise, and we don’t need a
$40,000 a year deputy to tell people to move back into
the proper areas to park. We can use those types of
people for this, and those deputies are getting paid, they
can enforce the ordinances. So it relieves the deputies
from doing those trivial things. And so that’s one of my
ideas because I’m telling you, we’re going to have to do
something or eventual somebody is going to get killed
or seriously hurt because of too many people down on
the beach. And Mr. Gregory hit it right on the nose an I
know a lot of people aren’t going to be happy with this,
but we’re going to have to do something to limit the
amount of people that come down on the beach. The
day trippers, we want them to come down and enjoy it
but they don’t contribute to the economy of the county,
but you don’t want it, you don’t want to say ―you can’t

13. come down here‖ but we do have to regulate the amount
of people eventually that come down on the beach. I’m
not talking about Currituck residents or the people who
are living or renting down here.
Questions were then taken from the floor. The tape ran
out at this point. If a synopsis of the questions from the
floor is made available it will be forwarded to you.