Phi Kappa Phi holds debate

A public debate on coastal development in North Carolina will be held April 3 at East Carolina University with two of the state’s leading proponents of conservation and economic development defending their beliefs.

In the program that starts at 7 p.m. in the Willis (Regional Development) Building, the advocate for development of the coastal area will be Joan Altman, mayor of Oak Island. Her challenger in support of conservation is Douglas Rader, a scientist with the North Carolina Office of Environmental Defense.

The debate is sponsored by ECU’s Chapter of the National Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. The public is invited and refreshments will be served in the lobby of the building starting at 6:30 p.m. Altman had served as the mayor of Long Beach in Brunswick County for eight years before the town recently consolidated with neighboring Yaupon Beach.

She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and worked with the U.S. Navy for over 10 years on the design and construction of nuclear reactors. She later started a construction company that built homes in the Southport and Oak Island areas. Rader received his Ph.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill and has been an outspoken critic of coastal development projects. He has held positions with the N.C. Division of Environmental Management and the N.C. Division of Coastal Management and was director of the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine Study.

The debate will be moderated by Al Delia, ECU’s associate vice chancellor for Economic and Community Development.