The Hyde County Sheriff department on Ocracoke had a fairly easy winter with fewer visitors typical for that time of the year, followed this spring by the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown.
Corporal Blackburn Warner of the Ocracoke office reported the following infractions in April:
One vandalism of a vehicle; one attempted extortion relating to a cyber scam; one breaking-and-entering of a camper; one vehicle crash; one simple possession (less than a half ounce) of marijuana; and one vandalism of OcraCats property.
For the month of May:
Two injuries to property; one domestic call; and one DWI in a golf cart.
He also reported an internet scam of someone allegedly selling puppies on Ocracoke. One person paid for a puppy that was never received. Warner said the case is being investigated in the jurisdiction where the website was detected, which is near Charlotte.
Warner noted that the first week in June has been quiet following a busy Memorial Day weekend right after the island reopened May 16 to visitors.
But the holiday weekend was fairly quiet, he said, because the late-night revelry is nonexistent without three of the restaurants that stayed open until 2 a.m.: DAJIO (which is being rebuilt), the Ocracoke Bar & Grille that didn’t reopen after Dorian (the Ocracoke Oyster Company has relocated there) and Gaffer’s, which recently announced it will not reopen on Ocracoke and will relocate to Emerald Isle.
The Ocracoke Sheriff Department also will get two more electronic speed detection signs, thanks to a grant from the Ocracoke Occupancy Tax Board. One of these will be permanently placed outside the village at the north end, Warner said.
The Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department reported the following calls for the month of May: 31 medical responders; two medevacs and one vehicle fire.
