Mayor tries to get shows on the road.

• Author: Murray, Arthur O.
• Position: Tar Heel Tattler - Mayor of Peletier trying to ban outdoor rock festivals at Carteret County Speedway - Brief Article

In the early days of rock 'n' roll, parents and ministers branded it the devil's music and tried to have it banned. And that was when a good Christian boy named Elvis Aron Presley was singing about his Teddy Bear and Blue Suede Shoes.

These days, it's Walter Vinson, mayor of the small town of Peletier, who is trying to play exorcist. He is seething over an all-day rock festival at Carteret County Speedway that featured heavy-metal band Megadeth and songs such as Prince of Darkness and Go to Hell.

The show spoiled his mother's 83rd birthday party at his house a half-mile away. "We couldn't enjoy ourselves outside after 11 o'clock that morning because of the noise. Ambulances and police were going up and down the road with sirens. That night, at 11:30, people were walking up and down the road hollering and laying in yards drunk."

The concert attracted 4,000 fans. Seven were arrested for drunk-and-disorderly conduct, 25 were charged with underage drinking, and one, with possession of cocaine. Six people went to the hospital. And that's not all, Vinson says. "They had a tent set up inside where they had topless girls. I heard they were not just stopping with their tops, either."

He says neither the speedway's owner, local boy...