The Dare County Budget: Separating the wheat from the ‘shaft’ – Part 1 Sometimes, to know and understand what local government is up to, one has to take time to separate the wheat from the chaff, as the adage goes -- or in this case, the wheat from “the shaft.” This is the first of a two stories about Dare County’s current budget process. This first part, “The Wheat,” explains how the new tax rates will be applied throughout the county and what it means to taxpayers. The second part, “The Shaft,” will explore the controversy swirling around the county manager’s proposed three percent cost of living raise for county employees who have lost benefits and have not received raises for several years. ....Read More The Dare County Budget: Separating the wheat from the ‘shaft’ – Part 2 Sometimes, to know and understand what local government is up to, one has to take time to separate the wheat from the chaff, as the adage goes -- or in this case, the wheat from “the shaft.” This is the second of a two stories about Dare County’s current budget process. “The Shaft explores” the controversy swirling around the county manager’s proposed three percent cost of living raise for county employees who have lost benefits and have not received raises for several years. The first part, “The Wheat,” explains how the new tax rates will be applied throughout the county and what it means to taxpayers. ....Read More Budget and tax rate inching up in Dare County It is still a work-in-progress, but the county’s proposed budget of $99,283.383 in the General Fund for fiscal year 2013-14 has been set for public hearing at the Dare County Board of Commissioners’ meeting at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, May 20. The draft budget -- based on a proposed property tax rate of 43 cents per $100 -- was presented to the commissioners at a reconvened meeting held on Monday night and, for the most, part drew little reaction from the board. ....Read More Refuge seeks public comment on CHEC proposal to move transmission lines The draft compatibility determination for the Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative’s request to relocate transmission lines at two sites in the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge has been made available for public review and comment. Refuge manager Mike Bryant found that the CHEC request to amend its right-of-way for the relocation was compatible with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s mission and goals at the refuge – with some stipulations. The public comment period is open until Monday, June 3.  ....Read More Ocracoke still reeling two weeks after visit from state troopers Two weeks after state troopers were on Ocracoke during the Ocracoke Island Invitational Surf Fishing Tournament and passed out 59 tickets and 18 warnings, rumors are still circulating about the events of that weekend. Uniformly, islanders do not condone the vandalism of the two troopers’ cars early Saturday morning of that weekend and several have suggested that the sooner folks stop talking about the whole thing and try to heal the divide, the better. Nor do islanders condone driving while impaired from whatever substance, but many were startled about having been stopped and questioned for seemingly minor -- though still unlawful -- infractions.  More than a few islanders were stopped twice for various infractions. “I don’t have a problem with the state troopers ticketing anyone who deserves a ticket, however, some of the motorists who were stopped felt more victimized than protected,” observed Leslie Monticone, whose comment was echoed by many.  ....Read More Two state troopers choose busy weekend for Ocracoke patrol, get vehicles vandalized Ocracoke Island was in an uproar over the weekend when two state troopers made their presence known during a big tourist weekend that ended with the patrolmen’s cars getting vandalized. Troopers from Troop A, District 4 in Washington (Beaufort County) arrived on the island Wednesday and left Saturday morning, First Sgt. Brandon Craft said today. Over the weekend, 59 citations were issued, including 32 for not wearing seat belts and five for driving while impaired, Craft said.   Eighteen warnings were given, and only warnings were given for bicycle infractions, such as riding at night without a light. ....Read More UPDATE: Shoaling keeps ferries on longer route, but more runs added for the holiday Shifting sand continues to cause problems for returning the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferries to their original route. However, the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division will add  more runs on the route to handle increased demand during the coming Memorial Day holiday weekend.  ....Read More UPDATE:  Another dredge will try clearing sand out of ferry channel Consecutive surveys of the traditional Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry route illustrate the alarming rate of shoaling in Rollinson Channel, especially at the location in the federal navigational channel where utility lines are buried. “Even from the last month’s survey, it’s showing more deterioration,” said state Ferry Division Deputy Director Jed Dixon.  “That section has to be addressed one way or another.” Another U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredge is expected to arrive at Hatteras Inlet on about May 18 to clear the shoaled area at the pinch point.  It will work for about six days. ....Read More UPDATE: Army Corps again surveying inlet after dredging project fails to solve ferry problems A survey team is working to determine the degree of shoaling in the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry channel, which ferries still can’t transit after a months-long dredging project.  “I’m not clear what’s going on,” Roger Bullock, chief of navigation for the Wilmington district of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said late Wednesday. Bullock said that depending on what the survey finds, more work in the ferry channel may be required. ....Read More Dredging finished, but channel still problematic for ferries May is upon us, and the regular Hatteras-to-Ocracoke ferries still are not running because of an inadequate ferry channel. “It’s a mess,” noted Allen Burrus, a Dare County commissioner who has been actively working on the ferry channel problems. Rudy Austin, president of the Ocracoke Civic and Business Association and a former ferry captain, echoed Burrus’ assessment. “I can’t believe it’s turned out like this,” Austin continued. “The Army Corps of Engineers needs to get something in there to correct this—yesterday. We had the understanding that we’d have a proper channel when (the dredging) was done.” ....Read More Annual ceremonies honor British seamen buried in Ocracoke and Buxton….WITH SLIDE SHOW Canadian Naval Attaché Commander David Trudeau was humbled by the annual British Cemetery Memorial Service Friday on Ocracoke. The service honors the four seamen whose bodies were washed ashore here in 1942 and interred on land that is now property of Great Britain’s War Graves Commission and maintained by the U.S. Coast Guard. A ceremony to honor two British sailors interred in Buxton was held the day before.  ....Read More Shipwreck museum presents first plans for exhibit design The presentation was broad, lacked specifics and barely mentioned any artifacts, but after years of waiting, an exhibit design for the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum is finally starting to take shape.  Members of the museum’s design team made their first presentation to the community Wednesday to explain the conceptual plan for the lobby, gallery, and gift shop areas of the museum, which is focused on the dramatic 400-year maritime history of the Outer Banks coast.  A second presentation was held Thursday in Hatteras.  ....Read More UPDATE: Hatteras Island Meals to resume meal delivery on May 13 Hatteras Island Meals, Inc. will resume meals delivery to clients from Rodanthe to Hatteras village on Monday, May 13. The organization experienced financial trouble early in 2013 and delivery was suspended in February. With great generosity, members of the community -- including civic associations, churches, businesses and individuals -- responded immediately when the needs of the organization were made known by the organization’s restructured board.  ....Read More Hatteras Island Meals is making a comeback When Hatteras Island Meals was forced to suspend its operations in January, the future of the organization looked uncertain—it was thousands of dollars in debt and lacked a clear plan to address and resolve its most critical issues.  But now, as a result of some important changes, a little restructuring, and a lot of community support, Hatteras Island Meals is slowly but surely reclaiming its wheels.  ....Read More First-ever Hatteras Storytelling Festival is a smash hit….WITH SLIDE SHOW The first-ever Hatteras Storytelling Festival was, by all accounts, a smash hit, and it’s a sure bet that the festival will become an annual event on the island. The festival, which began on Friday, May 3, and ran through Sunday, May 5, was sponsored by Our State magazine and the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau and was organized by a group of island volunteers, led by Lynne Foster of Hatteras village. Though the weather was cool and windy with occasional showers on each day of the festival, the 185 or so folks who came to the island for the event were warm, dry, and very enthusiastic inside the Hatteras Village Civic Center.  ....Read More N.C. refuges and parks will get $12.3 million in Hurricane Sandy relief North Carolina will receive another $12.3 million in federal funding to repair and rebuild parks, refuges, and waterways damaged by Hurricane Sandy, U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., said this week. The funding was secured through the Hurricane Sandy Supplemental Appropriations Bill, which Hagan fought to pass earlier this year. The funds announced this week are in addition to the $17.6 million the state received in April to repair inlets and waterways. ....Read More UPDATE:  Summer schedule for Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry starts May 7 The North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division plans to move ahead with starting its summer schedule on the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry on Tuesday, May 7, using the alternate route. That will add another 12 trips in each direction from both Hatteras and Ocracoke, bringing the number of trips to 32 a day from each terminal. The trips take about an hour, compared to about 40 minutes in the main channel.   The schedule that will be in effect May 7 through Oct. 7 has daily trips out of Hatteras at 5, 6, 7 and 8 a.m., then every half hour between 8:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., then 8, 9, 11 and midnight. Ocracoke departure times are at 4:30, 6:30, 7:30 and 8:30 a.m., then every half hour from 9:30 a.m. until 8 p.m., then 9, 9:30 and 10:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m.   For more information travelers can sign-up to receive messages on Twitter by going to www.twitter.com/ncdot_ferry or visit the N.C. 12 Facebook page. State representatives visit Ocracoke to talk ferry tolls…WITH SLIDE SHOW Three state representatives who visited Ocracoke on Friday, April 26, pledged to do all they can to find an alternative to tolls on all North Carolina ferries. The visitors were Paul Tine, a Democrat of Kitty Hawk, who represents Dare, Hyde, Beaufort and Washington counties; Charles Jeter, a Republican of Mecklenberg County, and John A. Torbett, a Republican of Gaston County and co-chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation. They were part of a contingent that traveled from Raleigh Thursday to visit the coast for a first-hand look at what tolling and raising tolls would mean to its citizens.  ....Read More Ocracoke youngsters will soon have a real baseball field…WITH SLIDE SHOW Ocracoke students will have a real baseball field by the end of the summer. The field, which will be called Ocracoke Community Park, is at the end of Maurice Ballance Road and is being prepared on a 3.8-acre tract purchased from Dal and Darren Burrus. “If you wanted to play flag football, you had to find a drain field,” said Bob Chestnut, president of the Ocracoke Youth Center, Inc., the nonprofit organization for the field, about the scarcity of land on the island. “It’s all about keeping the kids as busy as possible,” Chestnut said recently about the benefits of more team sports for the island.  ....Read More 300 folks participate in second annual Ocracoke road run…WITH SLIDE SHOW It was an unofficial fitness day but official race day on Ocracoke on Saturday, April 27, as almost 300 local and off-island runners participated in the second annual Miller Lite Ocracoke Island 5K/10K road run to benefit three local organizations. Alfonso “Chito” Guerrero, 32, of Ocracoke won the 10K race out of about 65 runners with a time of 37:04 minutes.  Guerrero repeated his win from last year when he won the inaugural event, which was only a 5K.  This year, race organizers simply had the runners repeat the 5K route twice for the 10K.  ....Read More Proponents say Mid-Currituck Bridge still on track A proposed bill that would change the funding mechanism for the planned Mid-Currituck Bridge and Cape Fear Skyway may be giving proponents the jitters, but even if the bill passes, the projects are not necessarily doomed. An amendment to House Bill 10 would lift dedicated “gap” funds and place the bridges in the funding mix to compete with other projects in the division. State Rep. Bob Steinburg, R-Chowan, said he is confident that 7-mile bridge between the Currituck mainland and Corolla will survive the legislative churn.  ....Read More USFWS seeks comment on compatibility for Pea Island Inlet Bridge The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Draft Compatibility Determination on the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s request for a temporary easement permit for construction of a new, permanent bridge at Pea Island Inlet is open for public comment and review until May 3. Comments are being sought on the benefits of and impacts from issuing a permit granting temporary construction easements in the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.  ....Read More Community is enthusiastic about Emergency Response Teams Dare County, state, and even national emergency management and  relief disaster personnel have responded after recent storms, but many believe the success of response and recovery efforts are significantly enhanced by—if not dependent on—the work of individuals within the affected communities. It was a lesson that Kenny Brite, a volunteer with the Avon Fire Department, learned first-hand in the wake of Hurricane Irene, and one of the reasons he is spearheading the creation of the Hatteras Island Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)—an island-wide initiative that provides basic emergency-response training to community members and organizes a team that can facilitate and supplement the efforts of certified emergency management personnel.  ....Read More Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department breaks ground on new building...WITH SLIDE SHOW Ocracoke will have a new fire house in about eight months, following the long-awaited ground breaking at the site of a new Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department building along Irvin Garrish Highway Monday. About 60 residents came out to support the event as crew members from Premiere Construction Inc. of Kitty Hawk began laying out the foundation. ....Read More UPDATE:  CHEC files suit against four Mirlo property owners On Wednesday, April 10, the Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative attorney filed suit against four Mirlo Beach property owners to enforce the CHEC bylaw provision regarding easements. CHEC is planning to move transmission line farther to the west to get them away from erosion at the S-curves in northern Rodanthe, and the four owners would be affected. ....Read More CHEC begins condemnation proceedings to get power lines moved The Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative’s board of directors voted at its meeting last week to begin condemnation proceedings against some Mirlo Beach property owners in order to obtain easements to move the 115 kV transmission line to the west. ....Read More Cancer Foundation’s Spring Dance raises almost $6,000 ….WITH SLIDE SHOW About 150 people who weren’t bothered by a not very spring-like windy and chilly evening turned out for the Hatteras Island Cancer Foundation’s annual Spring Dance on Saturday, April 6, at the Hatteras Village Civic Center. The 13th annual dance raised about $6,000 to help islanders pay for cancer treatment not covered by insurance.  ....Read More Weather Channel predicts another active hurricane season The Weather Channel has released its first 2013 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, calling for another active season. The forecast calls for a total of 16 named storms, nine of which are expected to become hurricanes, including five major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale).  ....Read More Bonner Bridge replacement project awaits federal judge’s decision Beach erosion and ocean overwash are hardly the only headaches the state Department of Transportation has with the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge replacement project. Two pending legal challenges have the potential to hinder or even stop progress on the new bridge over Oregon Inlet as well as the permanent fixes to Highway 12 hot spots.  ....Read More Governor declares state of emergency for highway at S-curves With an emergency declaration signed yesterday by Gov. Pat McCrory greasing the notoriously creaky regulatory process, North Carolina Department of Transportation officials are confident that a beach widening project near Rodanthe can be started before summer. The nourishment, they hope, will help protect Highway 12 from storm-driven waves until there is a long-term solution in the area.  ....Read More Governor, DOT secretary hear concerns about Highway 12....WITH VIDEOS They came, they saw, they listened. That's the story in a nutshell about Monday's visit to the Outer Banks by North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory and recently-appointed Department of Transportation Secretary Tony Tata. McCrory and Tata toured Highway 12 to get a first-hand look at the continuing overwash that has frequently forced closure of the road since Hurricane Sandy blew through in late October. Later, they listened to residents’ concerns about the only road to Hatteras.  ....Read More Ocean continues to pound northern Hatteras Island...WITH SLIDE SHOW The coastal storm that brought high winds and soundside flooding to Hatteras last Wednesday, March 6, is long gone, but heavy surf has continued to pound the island, closing Highway 12 for hours at high tide for the past five days. And the heavy seas could continue to close the road at high tide – perhaps into Wednesday.    ....Read More Soundside flooding subsides, but ocean overwash has begun...WITH SLIDE SHOW  All of Hatteras Island saw moderate soundside flooding on Wednesday from the high winds generated by a coastal storm. The water quickly went down overnight, and this morning was sunny and bright. However, the ocean was churned up, and it began coming onto Highway 12 this afternoon.  ....Read More New report says ferries still not an option for access to Hatteras Island No high-speed ferry exists today that could safely carry millions of vehicles a year across the heavily shoaled Oregon Inlet and Pamlico Sound, according to a new transportation report released this month.  And even if engineering a shallow-draft, high-capacity ferry were possible, it said, the cost would be prohibitive. In response to renewed public questions about a ferry alternative to the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge replacement project, the Federal Highway Administration and the state Department of Transportation took a new look at the feasibility of using ferries rather than a bridge to carry vehicles and people across Oregon Inlet.   ....Read More Website by: Hatteras Designs