Scouts to honor retiring state Sen. John Kerr
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on March 30, 2008 2:01 AM
State Sen. John Kerr will receive the Tuscarora Boy Scout Council's Distinguished Citizen Award April 14 at Walnut Creek Country Club.
Tuscarora Council Executive Harold Keller said the invitations went out this week for the event, which begins with a reception at 6:30 followed by dinner at 7 p.m. The Distinguished Citizen Award banquet is one of several ways the council raises money for operations through its Friends of Scouting Campaign. He said he expects about 250 people to attend and the event to raise about $25,000.
The committee organizing the banquet each year is made up of past DCA recipients.
"We invite all the DCA recipients each year to select a new one. Kerr was chosen unanimously," Keller said. "Kerr is retiring at the end of the year, and the committee felt it more than appropriate to recognize his 20 years plus service to our local area and the state."
Kerr is a true statesman, Keller said.
The senator was first elected to the State House of Representatives in l987. After serving three terms, he was elected to the State Senate, where he has served since l993.
Currently he serves as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, is on the Finance Subcommittee for Capital and Infrastructure and is a member of the Appropriations Commit-tee, Appropriations Subcommit-tee on Information Technology and General Government, Judiciary II Committee and the Commerce Committee. He serves as chairman of the Study Commission on Revenue Laws and serves on the Study Commission for Transportation and Highway Oversight and is a member of the Joint Select Committee on Economic Devel-opment Incentives.
Born in Warrenton, he is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, president of the junior class, treasurer of the student body and president of the Order of the Grail. After receiving his bachelor's degree, he attended the University of North Carolina Law School, receiving a Juris Doctorate with honors in 1961.
He lives in Goldsboro and is a partner in the law firm of Warren, Kerr, Walston, Taylor, and Smith, LLP. He and his wife, Sandra, have two sons, John H. Kerr IV and James Y. Kerr II and four grandchildren.
He also serves on the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association, the local Board of BB&T, the Board of Wayne Memorial Community Build-ing, the Board of Directors of the Wayne County Boys' and Girls' Club, and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce of Wayne County and its Military Affairs Committee, and the Rotary Club. He is a member of Madison Avenue Baptist Church.