Boiled down to its essence, replacement of the decrepit bridge over Oregon Inlet comes down to building a new span at about the same place as the existing one. So why, after nearly two decades of planning, is the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge replacement project still stuck in a bureaucratic impasse? That’s one dilemma Assistant […]
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Plastic bag ban will expand to all businesses on the Outer Banks on Oct. 1
(Editor’s Note: It’s been almost five years since a ban on plastic bags on the Outer Banks became effective. It has not eliminated litter on OBX highways, but it surely is a good thing to see fewer of the bags flying around on the roadside. Most shoppers have gotten used to taking their cloth bags […]
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(Catherine Kozak, a former reporter for The Virginian-Pilot in the Nags Head office, is now a freelance writer for The Island Free Press and other publications.)
July 23, 2010 | Local News | By: Catherine Kozak
BY CATHERINE KOZAK BY CATHERINE KOZAK The fight over winnings in last month’s 2010 Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament continues after attorneys and representatives of the disqualified boat owners and the tournament locked horns and didn’t budge during an informal meeting this week. The fight over winnings in last month’s 2010 Big Rock Blue Marlin […]
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No money to Big Rock competitors until legal dispute is resolved, judge rules
July 20, 2010 | Local News | By: Catherine Kozak
BY CATHERINE KOZAK BY CATHERINE KOZAK No money will be handed to any 2010 Big Rock Marlin Tournament competitors until a legal dispute about the prizes is resolved. A lawsuit was filed Monday in Dare County Superior Court by Big Rock Foundation, Inc. in answer to a July 1 complaint filed by the owners of […]
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Speakers urge action on bridge, but another environmental study may be necessary
July 8, 2010 | Local News | By: Catherine Kozak
By IRENE NOLAN Monday is the last day for the public to comment on the Environmental Assessment of the Bonner Bridge replacement project that was released in May. The North Carolina Department of Transportation conducted public comment meetings in Dare County in early July and will close the comment period on Aug. 9. Details on […]
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One year later, Ocracoke remembers the horrific fireworks explosion that killed four people
July 2, 2010 | Local News | By: Catherine Kozak
It was a clear morning in Ocracoke. Breezes were light, and it was already near 80 degrees as workers bustled in and out of a white Ryder truck filled with fireworks near the south ferry docks in the village. Firefighters preparing for the July Fourth show planned for that evening were in good humor as […]
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Big Rock still has no winner — with almost $1 million in first-prize money at stake
June 22, 2010 | Local News | By: Catherine Kozak
There is still no official winner in last week’s Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament. Almost $1 million in prize money is riding on whether a mate on the Hatteras-based Citation, the boat that caught a record-breaking blue marlin that should have taken the top prize, had a North Carolina recreational fishing license, which is required […]
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Shipwreck museum has some new exhibits and programs but completion is still way down the road
June 11, 2010 | Local News | By: Catherine Kozak
By CATHERINE KOZAK By CATHERINE KOZAK Twenty-one years since its formal inception, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum will soon be the recipient of an actual shipwreck — an impressively historic one. The wreck discovered recently in Corolla, possibly as old as the 1607 Jamestown settlement, is expected to be trucked down Highway 12 to […]
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East Carolina Health considering closing one of its Hatteras medical centers
April 13, 2010 | Local News | By: Catherine Kozak
By CATHERINE KOZAK By IRENE NOLAN