By Staff
Staff Reports
Ashley B. “Brownie” Futrell, Jr., publisher of the Washington Daily News, has been appointed to the North Carolina State Parks and Recreation Authority.
The 15-member authority, meeting quarterly, makes decisions on how money from the Parks and Recreation Trust Fund is allocated. The authority is comprised of five members, including the chairperson, who is appointed by the governor, five members appointed by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the president pro tempore of the Senate and five members appointed by the General Assembly upon recommendation of the speaker of the house. Futrell was nominated by Speaker of the House Joe Hackney.
The authority is charged with several powers and duties, including receiving public and private donations and funds for deposit into the trust fund, allocating funds for land acquisition, allocating funds for capital projects, soliciting financial and material support, developing effective support for parks and recreation and advising the secretary of the Department of Environmental and Natural Resources on any matter he or she might refer to the body.
Futrell, 52, has held a lifetime interest in parks and recreation and served for more than 35 years as a volunteer baseball coach with the Washington Parks and Recreation Department. He was administered his oath of office at Goose Creek State Park, Beaufort County’s sole state park facility, by District Court Judge Chris McLendon, with his wife, Susan, and mother, Rachel, as witnesses. Futrell used the Bible his father, the late Ashley B. Futrell, used for his swearing-in ceremony as a member of the state Senate. The elder Futrell and McLendon’s father served in that body together.
Futrell is a 1978 honors graduate of Duke University with a degree in history. In addition to his wife and mother, other family members include his daughter Nan, a Duke graduate who is completing her final year at the University of North Carolina’s law school, and son Ashley III “Ace,” a senior journalism major at the University of Mississippi. The Futrells are active members of the First United Methodist Church in Washington.