February 20, 2003
RALEIGH — The John Locke Foundation will celebrate its 13th anniversary on Friday, February 28 with a speech by political commentator Fred Barnes and an awards ceremony honoring former Charlotte city council member Don Reid and Raleigh attorney Gene Boyce.
Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard and a regular commentator on the Fox News Channel, will speak on the political and international issues of the day after a 6:30 p.m. reception and 7:30 p.m. banquet at the Brownstone Hotel on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh.
Reid, who helped found the watchdog group Citizens for Effective Government in North Carolina’s largest city and has long led the fight against high taxes and wasteful spending in the Queen City, will receive the annual James Knox Polk Award for his longtime service on the Charlotte City Council. Reid, who also runs an advertising business in Charlotte, has recently led efforts to block taxpayer funding for a new NBA arena and to question plans for an expensive rail transit system in the region.
Boyce, a lawyer in practice for 43 years in North Carolina, has successfully litigated several pivotal lawsuits striking down unconstitutional state taxes, including the Bailey/Emory/Patton case on retiree pensions and the Smith and Shaver intangibles tax case. Some 435,000 plaintiffs/clients have recovered $1.4 billion in illegally collected taxes thanks to the work of Boyce, who will receive the annual John William Pope Award. He also served as counsel to Sen. Sam J. Ervin and the “Watergate Committee” in 1973, heading the team that discovered that famous Butterfield tapes.
Past award recipients have included mayors, members of Congress, civic leaders, and citizen activists.
The event costs $50 per person. More information is available by calling Locke Foundation Vice President Kory Swanson at 919-828-3876.
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