Price tells Navy landing field site won't work

U.S. Rep. David Price issued a warning Wednesday to the U.S. Navy, telling the service "in the strongest possible terms" that its planned site for an outlying landing field in Eastern North Carolina is not going to work.

In a letter to Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter, Price said the Navy needs to find an alternate place for the landing field, or else run into trouble getting money for the project.

"It is my deep hope that, working together, we can avoid a confrontation over the Navy's request for funding," Price wrote.

Price, a Chapel Hill Democrat, is the state's only member on the House Appropriations Committee, which funds the Department of Defense. Gov. Mike Easley has asked Congress to block the $10 million the Navy requested for the landing field, which the Navy wants to put on a site in Washington and Beaufort counties.

The field would be used by jets out of Oceana Naval Base near Virginia Beach, Va., and from the Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station to practice nighttime carrier landings.

The site, which has ignited opposition from environmentalists, hunters and area residents, is adjacent to a national wildlife refuge that draws tens of thousands of migratory birds.

Price said the Navy needs to begin discussions with Easley, local officials, the Fish and Wildlife Service and the congressional delegation about finding a better site.

"I can say without hesitation that the citizens and elected officials of North Carolina welcome the Navy's decision to build an OLF in our state," Price wrote.

"I can say with equal certainty, however, that [this site] is not a viable option for an OLF because of the threats it would pose to Navy and Marine pilots and aircraft, to local communities and to the surrounding environment."

Price's letter comes as opponents of the landing field are working to draw national media and congressional attention. Ten environmental and sporting groups, including the National Rifle Association, plan a news conference at the National Press Club today in Washington.

Chiropractors off the hook

The N.C. Board of Chiropractic Examiners will not take action against the three chiropractors who gave former House Speaker Jim Black a total of $29,000 in cash and a check while he supported favored legislation.

Board President John Webster, a Whiteville chiropractor, said the board can't take action because its regulatory laws do not cover a case where chiropractors were involved in a crime but were not charged by authorities. The only person charged in the case is Black, a Mecklenburg County Democrat who pleaded guilty to a federal count of corruptly accepting things of value and state counts of bribery and obstruction of justice.

Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby has said the chiropractors -- Fletcher Keith and Thomas Brown of Charlotte and Steve Willen of Greensboro -- would not be charged.

Webster said that ties the board's hands.

"I don't like that, the board does not like that, but that's the way the statute's written," Webster said.

The board sent a letter to its members last week notifying them of the decision. Many had called asking the board to look into what the three chiropractors had done.

"Like all chiropractic physicians throughout the state, the remaining members of the Board of Examiners are embarrassed that some of our colleagues have been implicated in a statehouse corruption scandal," the letter said. "But that unhappy fact does not change the scope and limits of the Board's authority, nor does it change the legal code all chiropractors must obey."

The letter said the decision had nothing to do with the fact that Brown and Willen were on the board at the time of the payments. Willen has since resigned, and Brown was not reappointed.

Webster said the board is talking to lawmakers about revising the law to give the board more authority over such behavior.

"I know that this has given us a black eye, and we're trying to come around and do the right thing," he said.

WFU wants debate in '08

Like the candidates themselves, Wake Forest University is getting out early in the 2008 presidential campaign.

This week, Wake Forest President Nathan O. Hatch sent an e-mail message to faculty and students telling them the university wants to host its third presidential debate.

"Not only do many students get the opportunity to work with various aspects of the debate, but it also gives the faculty more opportunities to link their own disciplines to key issues being addressed by presidential candidates," Hatch wrote.

The university is applying to the Commission on Presidential Debates to be considered as a debate location in fall 2008. The commission is responsible for producing presidential debates.