Reservations about N.C. Indian center.

• Author: Adams, Jerry
• Position: North Carolina Indian Cultural Center - Brief Article

Members of the General Assembly pay lip service to the idea of running government agencies like businesses. But the reality typically falls short of the bromides. In the case of the North Carolina Indian Cultural Center in Pembroke, lawmakers walked their talk. At least, for a while. When they established the center 16 years ago, they told its board it needed to raise $4 million by June 2001 to stay on the state dole.

Lawmakers wanted to see that someone -- corporations, foundations or even regular folks -- valued the center enough to risk their money on it. It didn't happen. Though lawmakers in 1995 lowered the target to $3 million, the center's board raised just $150,000. Rep. Ronnie Sutton, a Pembroke Democrat persuaded lawmakers to scotch the fund-raising requirement. Had he not, the board would have lost its lease to the state land where the center stands.

The center dates to 1985, when the General Assembly budgeted $555,000 to buy 456 acres on Terry Sanford Road about 10 miles west of Interstate 95. The board, local governments and private developers were supposed to create a...