The Behrend Beacon
Dennis hangs around, threatens to settle in off Cape Hatteras
by Kathleen Curry And Stephanie
Gibbs
Knight-Ridder Newspapers
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wilmington
finally caught a break. Topsail
Beach residents couldn't believe
their good fortune. Morehead City
and Atlantic Beach folks brushed
off a few flooded streets and
cheered. Hurricane Dennis bounced
off the North Carolina coast Mon
day, buffeting the southeastern
beaches with gusty winds and high
surf but keeping its powerful eye
about 100 miles offshore. But like
a nagging cold. Dennis hung around
and threatened to settle in off Cape
Hatteras, making the northern Outer
Banks miserable and confounding
hurricane forecasters yet again.
At 8 p.m. EST Monday, Dennis
was centered about 80 miles east/
southeast of Cape Hatteras, mov
ing east/northeast at 17 mph. The
National Hurricane Center in Mi
ami, Fla., predicts the storm will
continue in that direction, but slow
- and possibly stall - by late Tues
day.
Driving sand and surf sheared the
Outer Banks with a vengeance
The White House
be: two Clintons
by Edwin Chen
Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON _ They were com
petitors from Day One. Vice Presi
dent A 1 Gore won the West Wing of
fice just 18 paces from the Oval Of
fice. But first lady Hillary Rodham
Clinton got to redesign health care,
w ith a task force of 500. Gore's as
signment? He got to reinvent gov
ernment, beginning with a staff of
two. Back then, at least Al and
Hillary shared a common goal: ad
vancing a rookie president’s "New
Democrat” agenda. But 6 years later,
with Gore running for president.
Mrs. Clinton eyeing a Senate bid in
New York and a lame-duck Bill Clin
ton minding his legacy, three distinct
and increasingly independent
minded power centers are co
habitating in the While House. And
each side ol the power triangle is
staffed by loyalists doggedly repre
senting the often competing interests
of their high-octane bosses. "It’s get
ting very interesting,” an aide to Mrs.
Clinton said with practiced under
statement. Such tensions - now un
der the surface - could bubble up
even more by autumn.
The three-way competition at 1600
Pennsylvania Ave. is unprecedented
in American history, and it is com
plicating the relationships among the
principals, with their every word and
deed examined in microscopic detail
for its possible impact on the other
two. Although the elections of 2000
are 14 months off, the first lady and
the vice president have begun stak
ing out positions on issues that dif
fer markedly from the president’s.
Mrs. Clinton wants greater Medi
care reimbursements lor New York’s
teaching hospitals, which treat a dis
proportionate share of the poor and
the elderly. Her husband wants to use
his muscle to get structural Medicare
reform out of Congress, not better re
imbursement levels for individual
hospitals. Gore has proposed man
datory gun registration. Ever the
pragmatist, Clinton is willing to settle
for security checks on gun show pur
chases, figuring that’s the most he
can get out of Congress.
For his part, Gore is juggling his
role as Clinton’s loyal vice president
with his political need to show inde
pendence. And sometimes they clash
over emphasis: at a joint appearance
in McAllen, Texas, in May, the topic
was the economy. Clinton wanted to
highlight those left behind in poverty.
Gore wanted to highlight the
administration’s progress. After sev-
World and Nation
Monday, clawing at the barrier is- drift back toward the coast,” Jarrell
lands with 30-foot waves and gusts said. “It has to go somewhere.”
over 100 mph. And it doesn’t ap- Dennis may have contributed to
pear to be leaving the area anytime three deaths. Two people were killed
soon. Monday in a head-on collision in the
“I’m just shocked. From the sound of the
wind last night, I expected our roof to be
gone, trees in the road, water standing
up to my car wheels - the whole deal. ”
Sustained winds weakened to 90
mph Monday, dropping Dennis to
a Category 1 hurricane, the mild
est type. But it is a vast storm, with
tropical-storm winds blowing
nearly 300 miles north of the eye.
And by late Monday, Dennis had
slowed its march east/northeast,
bumping into a cold front that
swooped across North Carolina and
Geneva and it will be sitting there
with a couple of days of really nasty
weather. "It could even begin to
eral meetings and calls, Gore’s aides
prevailed. But Gore's speech was so
rambling it was remembered largely
as another example of his awkward
ness at the podium. For her part,
Hillary Clinton is clearly enjoying a
chance, after 25 years as a loyal
spouse, to step out on her own. She
has not flinched at distancing herself
from her husband's White House
policies. Broaching the thicket of
Middle East politics, she recently
said she favors moving the Ameri
can Embassy from Tel Aviv to
Jerusalem, the "eternal and indivis
ible capital of Israel.” And she
backed federal legislation to assure
dairy farmers higher prices - a win
ning political issue in upstate New
York that could drive up the price of
milk for consumers nationally.
As for the president, he is doing
all he can to explain both his vice
president and his wife - confident
their success will validate his poli
cies. But he also has some policy
goals of his ow n. Chief among them:
He wants to make the long-term sta
bility of Medicare and Social Secu
rity the crown jewel of his legacy.
Gore might prefer a legislative stale
mate that ensures him use of a po
tent issue - Medicare reform - against
his Republican opponent in 2000.
The three are competing behind the
scenes for staff talent, campaign do
nations and even media attention.
In mid-June, Mrs. Clinton traveled
to upstate New York to launch her
"listening tour” as a prelude to a pos
sible run for the Senate. At the same
time, the president was conducting
a cross-country poverty tour. The
president got plenty of ink in the lo
cal markets he visited. But it was the
first lady who drew the national cam
eras, including live coverage of her
remarks by CNN. Hillary Clinton’s
camera magnetism is taking some at
tention from Gore. Aides say he
doesn’t begrudge her the spotlight.
Others think he must resent the com
petition.
"After all his loyal service as vice
president, Gore might have expected
complete and total devotion (of the
White House apparatus) to his can
didacy for president,” said Larry
Sabato, a University of Virginia po
litical scientist. Mrs. Clinton, a star
fund-raiser for the Democrats, espe
cially among women, has tried to
soften the blow by appearing at
Gore’s side and hailing his record
among female voters, who polls
show do not flock to Gore’s candi
dacy.
A senior Gore adviser said that a
-Gloria Dedinon, resident of Wilmington
coastal Onslow County community
of Richlands. Authorities said the
two died about 7:30 a.m. as winds
gusted up to 60 mph winds and
heavy rain pounded the area. A
surfer’s death at St. Augustine
Beach, Fla., on Saturday was be
lieved due to heavy surf from Den
Thc southern N.C. coast, mean
while, reopened to relieved residents
and vacationers Monday. Damage
was minor, beach erosion mild and
Hillary Clinton candidacy does not
“take away from the vice president’s
candidacy,” but, heeded, “except to
the extent that she’s not going to he
out there campaigning for him.”
As the divergence inevitably
grows, it also might serve to debunk
the myth that the Clintons and the
Gores are bosom buddies- an image
that stems from their boffo bus trips
together during the 1992 campaign.
In fact, theirs was never much
more than a marriage of convenience
- as suggested by Gore’s changing
comments on Clinton’s sex scandal
and impeachment. On the day that
“ It’s always been
difficult trying to
incorporate and
schedule active
people like the
Clintons and the
Gores. ”
the Republican-dominated House
impeached the president. Gore de
scribed Clinton as “a man I believe
will be regarded in the history books
as one of our greatest presidents.”
But six months later, as Gore de
clared his own candidacy for the
Oval Office, he repeatedly de
nounced Clinton’s conduct in inter
views as “awful” and “inexcusable.”
Those remarks (made while Clinton
was attending a summit in Europe)
reportedly angered and hurt the presi
dent, although Clinton later insisted
that he took “no offense” at Gore’s
remarks, noting that the vice
president’s words were no harsher
than those he himself had used dur
ing self-criticism.
In any case, the flap pointed up the
delicate balancing act confronting
Gore. With much of the public ex
pressing what analysts call “Clinton
fatigue,” the vice president must dis
tance himself from the man he hopes
to succeed. Yet Gore can ill-afford
much daylight between himself and
Clinton on policies that have proven
highly popular, especially those cred
ited with producing the booming
economy. Gore is facing a particu
September 3,1999
Powers that
and a Gore
-a top White House aide
morale high. “I've been surprised
every time I’ve gone outside at
how little damage there is,” said
Cecil Logan, Brunswick County
emergency services director. “It's
like all our hopes were an
swered.”
By lunchtime Monday, residents
of the barrier island beaches of
Brunswick County and the
Wilmington area were almost
giddy with their triumph. Dennis
was the fourth hurricane in as
many years to threaten the south
eastern N.C. coast, and the first
to leave without heavy damage.
“This was like a big dog, all bark
and no bite,” said Stephen
Dedmon of Wilmington, who
lives about a block away from the
Intracoastal Waterway. Added his
wife, Gloria: “I’m just shocked.
From the sound of the wind last
night, I expected our roof to be
gone, trees in the road, water
standing up to my car wheels - the
whole deal,” she said. "But this is
easy.”
On Carolina Beach, Glenda
Hurley was surveying the small
amount of ceiling damage in her
bedroom. She expected much
larly tough balancing act in light of
recent allegations that some Rus
sian politicians and mobsters are
laundering money, including inter
national aid funds, through the
United States.
The vice president long has
prided himself tis a foreign policy’
maveh _ for'instance, servin’g'as’’
head of a U.S.-Russian commission
on bilateral relations. But amid new
questions over whether it is wise for
the Clinton administration so ar
dently to back a regime that might
be rife with corruption, Gore's aides
are energetically distancing him
from any blame in the emerging
scandal. The first lady also has
faced a similar dilemma, according
to White House aides.
Among the philosophical ques
tions that Mrs. Clinton posed, said
a senior administration official who
has worked in the White House for
both Mr. Clinton and Gore, were:
“Where does everyone fit in? Am I
a wife or an independent thinker?”
The upshot is a logistical challenge
of uncommon proportions, with
aides working overtime to mini
mize conflicts among the president,
the first lady and the vice president,
ever-vigilant for opportunities to
“amplify” the administration mes
sage by having them all articulate
a common message simultaneously,
if not at the same location, accord
ing to Ann Lewis, counselor to the
president. “It’s always been diffi
cult trying to incorporate and sched
ule active people like the Clintons
and the Gores. This just presents an
additional challenge,” said a top
White House aide. "It’s largely a
question of figuring out our logis
tics and communicating our long
range plans that already have been
set,” said another White House
staffer. But such synchronization
is likely to become increasingly dif
ficult. When the president appeared
on the South Lawn recently to tout
the comeback of the bald eagle - a
premier environmental event - the
country’s best-known environmen
talist, Gore, was not there, instead
courting New Hampshire visitors at
the National Folklife Festival on the
Smithsonian Mall. “The vice presi
dent has his own campaign to run,”
explained a top West Wing staffer.
Schedulers had more luck last
month, arranging the visit of Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Barak so that
Hillary Clinton could attend.
worse; her roof has always leaked
badly or collapsed when hurricanes
arrive. "This one spared us,” she
said. New Hanover County officials
estimated a total of about $200,000
property damage in Wilmington and
the county’s barrier island beaches,
including Carolina, Kure and
Wrightsville beaches, said Bill
Clontz of the New Hanover County
Joint Information Center. Other
damage estimates were unavailable
Monday night.
The most dramatic damage in
southeastern N.C. may have been on
Holden Beach, where one house col
lapsed in eroding sands. "We're glad
that everybody did well; there's not
a lot of damage like Fran,” said Sally
Gill of Wilmington, who was watch
ing the waves at Wrightsville Mon
day afternoon. "We have a lot to be
thankful for.” Things were more
grim farther up the coast. By 3 p.m.,
Route 12 from Nags Head to
Hatteras Island flooded and was
closed. Electricity was out across
Hatteras. Most stores and restaurants
that had opened Monday morning
closed by noon as the wind picked
up and driving became difficult.
Wind gusts of 75 to 98 miles per hour
System Chancellor never asked
Florida president to resign
by Joni James And Linda
Kleindienst
The Orlando Sentinel
GAINESVILLE, Fla. _ State Uni
versity System Chancellor Adam
Herbert said Wednesday he never
asked University of Florida President
John Lombardi to resign _ nor did
he ask him to slay. Herbert’s com
ments, at an afternoon news confer
ence in Tallahassee, came a day af
ter Lombardi said he would step
down Nov. 1 from the job he’s held
9 1/2 years. Lombardi will become
a UF history professor and lead a re
search institute. Herbert said he is
searching for an expet ienced, out-of
state educator to serve as UF’s in
terim president. Choosing
Lombardi's permanent replacement
could lake close to a year. “It would
be helpful to have someone coming
on campus ... who has no prior in-
volvement with the university,”
Herbert said. "I don't want any per
sonality issues involved.” Herbert
previously picked interim presidents
from other slates. When he left the
presidency at the University of North
Florida in January 1998 to become
chancellor, he brought in E.K.
Fretwell, president-emeritus of the
University of North Carolina-Char
lotte, as interim president. And he is
searching out-of-state for an interim
president at the University of South
Florida.
On Wednesday, Herbert echoed
Lombardi in characterizing their ne
gotiations the past week as cordial
and positive. He said Lombardi _ not
him _ first talked about leaving
months ago. He said no recent inci
dents _ including allegations just
made public that Lombardi may have
misused university resources for his
daughter’s wedding at the President’s
House in 1997 _ played a role in the
resignation. “The bottom line is, he
was the first one to talk about other
options,” Herber said. The univer
sity system’s inspector general is
looking into questions about the
wedding. “I have no evidence there
has been a misuse of funds by the
UF president, but there has been a
question raised ... and we take our
fiduciary duty very seriously,”
Herbert said. Herbert would not say
where the allegations came from.
Lombardi said he paid for all ex
penses related to the wedding. When
university personnel built a platform
to cover the pool, they did so on their
own time and were paid by him, he
said. He also wrote the check for the
materials used, he said. “I hiccup and
somebody wants to audit me,” said
Lombardi, who spent much of his
were reeorded at the Coast Guard
station in Buxton. At 1:49 p.m., a
gust of 102 miles per hour was re
ported by the Hatteras Island Res
cue Squad.
Charlie Bclik. a clerk at the
Ocean's Drive Thru convenience
store in Buxton on Hatteras Island,
said he and a co-worker drove from
the Comfort Inn to the store across
the street after the doors were blown
off the store. "It was blowing so
hard we couldn't even walk over,”
he said. "The inventory was every
where," he said. "There were chips,
popcorn and beer all over the
place.” Beach erosion has Outer
Banks officials and residents as
worried as the winds. A stalled hur
ricane will act like a belt sander,
trimming the dunes with each wave.
They know that only too well at
Wrightsville Beach, where tons of
sand had to be trucked in after hur
ricanes in 1996 and 1998. This time,
the sand stayed. "It doesn't look
like there's a whole lot of erosion,
said Michael Stokes, director of
Wrightsville Beach Parks and Rec
reation. "Actually, it's beautiful. It
washed all the trash away."
first day as an outgoing president
giving interviews. "That's fine. ...
We knew at the time that everything
the president does will be scruti
nized.”
While Lombardi offered to stay
through the academic year. Herbert
said that he didn't want that. "My
feeling was, if it was tit occur, it
would be belter for the university
to do it sooner rather than later,"
Herbert said. Herbert's and
Lombardi's remarks conflict with
accounts from others _ including
the Board of Regents chairman.
They said the chancellor, looking at
producing an unflattering annual re
view for Lombardi next month, had
sought Lombardi's resignation af
ter he had stepped out of line one
time too many. The final straw, sev
eral regents and others said, was
“The bottom line
is, he was the first
one to talk about
other options. ”
- Adam Herber, a
State University
System Chancellor
when Herbert discovered Lombardi
had given $25,000 to $39,000 in
raises to four top administrators
without consulting him. Those
raises were in April, about the time
some lawmakers were complaining
to Herbert that university adminis
trators’ pay was too high. Dennis
Ross, the regents’ chairman, said
Wednesday that he now understands
Lombardi brought up the idea of
leaving as Herbert started on
Lombardi's annual evaluation pro
cess. "I think Adam (Herbert) af
firmed that the timing made sense
to him.... But he did not initiate the
discussion of leaving," Ross said.
"It was a joint collaboration."
He said his concern over the sal
ary raises did not play a role in
Lombardi’s departure. "Only two
people ... know what we discussed,”
Herbert said. “There has been
mischaracterizations across the
state relative to our discussion.”
Lombardi said his successor won’t
have to worry about having a former
president on campus. "The first rule
of being a president is, when you’re
no longer a president, you never of
fer unsolicited advice,” he said.
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