Frankly, the editor needs a break from writing this blog.
And we could probably all use a break from more discussion of the challenges facing Hatteras and Ocracoke as we head into the summer season.
I want to say again that Highway 12 is open, the ferries to Ocracoke are running, and businesses are ready for visitors.
Some areas of the seashore beach are closed for resource protection, including perhaps some of your favorite spots such as Cape Point on Hatteras or South Point on Ocracoke, but you can still drive to the beach. And there is plenty of pedestrian access.
I?m going to give you a very quick update on what?s happening out here on the edge, and then throw this blog open to you, our readers, for your opinions and questions.
There is still no news on the Bonner Bridge replacement lawsuit. We can always hope that no news is good news.
Coastal fishermen are gearing up for a battle in the North Carolina General Assembly over giving gamefish status to red drum, striped bass, and speckled trout. A bill in the legislature would make these fish available to recreational fishermen only and make them off limits to commercial watermen. The fish would no longer be available to consumers in restaurants and seafood shops.
Commercial fishermen are being joined in their effort to stop the bill by folks who like to buy their seafood or order it in a restaurant and a whole lot of people who oppose reserving a public resource for one group of users.
The bills to overturn the Park Service?s off-road vehicle management plan are still in committee in the U.S. House and Senate. Both bills are still alive.
There are no new developments in the Cape Hatteras Preservation Association?s lawsuit against the Park Service to overturn the ORV plan. The lawsuit has been handed over to U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The parties to the lawsuit have agreed on deadlines for filing motions for summary judgment and the like, but nothing has happened yet.
There have been few problems with overwash on Highway 12 on northern Hatteras Island since a mid-March northeaster. We are all eagerly awaiting news on when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin an emergency beach nourishment project in the area of the S-curves just north of Rodanthe. Right now the ocean is very, very close to the highway.
And, finally, we are all reeling from the news that the dredging in the heavily shoaled main channel at Hatteras Inlet has been finished after almost four months of work and ferries can still not use it because of safety concerns.
There is still at least one spot in which the channel is too shallow and too narrow for the ferries to use, though smaller boats are finding it passable.
The ferries are continuing to use an alternate route out into the sound that takes about 20 minutes longer.
The Army Corps is working on a solution, but folks on Ocracoke ? and even Hatteras ? are disappointed and unhappy with the results of a dredging project that cost several million dollars.
?After dredging, I never expected this ? never in a million years,? said one Hatteras businessman and civic leader.
The folks on Ocracoke have been hit from all sides with the overwash on Highway 12, the loss of the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry for a month, the longer ferry route that can move fewer vehicles, and the fight in the legislature over ferry tolls.
You can catch up on all of this news on the Beach Access and Local News pages.
Let us hear from you on these and any other issues on your mind.
