Bully for Barry

The Daily Advance's View of Politics by Barry:

Our View: Nelms has some 'growing up' to do
Saturday, February 10, 2007

During his campaign for county commissioner last fall, Barry Nelms promised Currituck voters they were in for changes. Well, Nelms has delivered on his promise. But we're not sure his idea of change is what voters had in mind. Instead of the mature leadership he was expected to provide as the Currituck Board of Commissioners' new chairman, Nelms has often seemed more childlike than statesman. We're concerned about two incidents in particular, one involving Nelms' decision to distribute bumper stickers containing an offensive remark about a business rival at a public event, the other his decision to arbitrarily shut down discussion about a highly controversial matter during a public meeting. In the first matter, Nelms had just taken the oath as a county commissioner when he reportedly showed up at a motorcycle "toy run" fundraiser in December with "Maurice Sucks" bumper stickers to pass out to riders. The "Maurice" mentioned in Nelms' stickers is Maurice Slaughter, owner of several Harley-Davidson dealerships in the area.It's not clear why Nelms was handing out the bumper stickers targeting Slaughter; he declined The Daily Advance's request to address the matter. But according to Slaughter, Nelms and the Harley-Davidson dealer apparently have been spatting for some time. Slaughter says the two most recently butted heads over the naming of a biker rally Nelms is planning for Currituck in April. Slaughter owns a federal trademark on the phrase "Outer Banks Bike Week." Nelms apparently has inverted the phrase and has referred to his event on T-shirts and a Web site as "Bike Week Outer Banks." Nelms has also pushed back his event so that it's held the same weekend as the motorcycle rally Slaughter was planning for Currituck in April.The dispute has since evolved into a legal matter. Slaughter's attorney has written Nelms, advising him to stop distributing the bumper stickers and to halt his use of the phrase "Bike Week Outer Banks," threatening legal action if the Currituck commissioner doesn't comply.It doesn't matter whether Nelms is the truly aggrieved party in this dispute. There are legitimate ways for public officials to express their disagreement with others. Passing out bumper stickers with offensive language on them isn't one of them. Nelms also seems to have lost sight of the fact that frat boy humor should be practiced by frat boys, not elected officials.The second matter that gives us pause about Nelms' judgment is even more serious. During a commissioners meeting earlier this week, the Currituck board chairman denied fellow Commissioner Owen Etheridge a chance to express his opposition to an impending board decision.Etheridge, an opponent of ending a county project to convert a former church into a visitors center-library, had asked Nelms for time to present an argument for continuing the county's lease on the property. Nelms denied the request, however, telling Etheridge: "This isn't a discussion on an issue, this is an action on terminating the lease." The Currituck board then voted 4-1, with Etheridge objecting, to terminate the lease for the former church.Again, it doesn't matter whether Nelms was right to end the lease on what has proved a controversial project. He was wrong to deny Etheridge a chance to voice his opinion on the lease. And by so doing, Nelms rode roughshod over the fact that Currituck voters elected five people, not one, to represent them on the county commission.Returning to public life after 20 years - as Nelms, a former commissioner, is doing - often requires a period of adjustment. Let's hope for Currituck residents' sake Nelms' "growing up" period doesn't take too long.