Observer staff report
In the primary election on Tuesday, March 5, only the Lake Landing Township has an election for a Hyde County Commissioner.
Randal Mathews, Ocracoke’s county commissioner, has filed as a Democrat to run again in the November election. Because he does not have anyone challenging him, his name does not appear on the primary ballot, but it will be on the Nov. 5 ballot.
To view the sample primary ballots, click here.
Three candidates are running as Democrat candidates for the Lake Landing Township. Because the Hyde County Board of Commissioners vote for every action county-wide, the Ocracoke Observer has asked them to provide information on why they are seeking to be a county commissioner.
Below are their views in alphabetical order.
Tommy Loftus
I am married to Floy Stafford Loftus for 39 years. We have two wonderful children, William and Bree.
Some of my experiences are:
Three years with the Hyde County Sheriff’s office as a dispatcher /jailer.
30 years with Hyde County EMS.
17 years with the Hyde County Schools starting as a substitute and currently working for the IT department.
Approximately 22 years of helping with sports in the county, from Babe Ruth to all levels of school sports.
I would like to help end wasteful government spending while trying to promote growth in our county. We need a better infrastructure like high-speed internet, better cell service, housing, jobs and support for our future youth in our schools.
I believe our greatest challenges for Hyde County is our demographics and locations. We live in a very unique county that most counties cannot even fathom.
Let me start with Ocracoke Island. You have a very tightly knit community of great people that work hard for the betterment of the island. When it comes to the needs of the community, whether it is a fire station, a park for the youth, rebuilding a school or just helping a fellow citizen, you are there in force.
Challenges come in the form of the channels, weather and an aging fleet of ferries that allow islanders to get on and off the island for basic needs. For what the mainland takes for granted it is a well thought out game plan for a person to go to a routine doctor’s appointment. If you have to call 911 and possibly have to be transported off the island, that presents another issue: Is the ferry running, and when is the next one running? Is the weather clear to fly East Care or do we need the Coast Guard? All of which takes precious time when more care is needed than EMS can provide. Same with the fire department. You have a great group of volunteers, but what happens if they need mutual aid? How do you get them help as quickly as possible?
I feel that we as commissioners need to petition our representatives in Raleigh and send a representative from the county to ask that they dredge to closest route feasible between Hatteras and Ocracoke. Also to help fix the down time that we are seeing with our ferries, and lastly, coming up with a plan to help repair or reroute the washout areas of highway NC12. It does no good to have a ferry running if you cannot get to it because the road was just washed out.
For the mainland, due to our geographical location, the only real through traffic comes from the Swan Quarter ferry. So, most of the businesses have to rely on local residents for support other than the few months of hunting season. We need a way to keep the local business going with the amount of residents we have in the county. Our local population is shrinking. We need affordable housing to accommodate the needs of our residents. I know (that) when the school (wants) to hire a new teacher who is going to help our children, it has become more and more difficult on both sides to find housing.
I feel the commissioners need to stop with the buddy-buddy system, self-interests or vendettas. We need to work towards a common goal for the good of all the citizens of Hyde not just some special interests. There can be more than one vision for what Hyde County will look in the future. Most people are not looking for massive changes. They just want common amenities: jobs, housing, a bank, grocery store, and some type of entertainment for our families. They want their children to be able stay in this county and raise their family here. We can’t keep doing the same thing for Hyde. It is not working.
Thomas Midgette
I am married with adult children. My wife Theresa is a teaching assistant and bus driver at Mattamuskeet School. I am a retired educator and currently a substitute teacher at Mattamuskeet. I got my BA degree from Livingston College in Salisbury, NC, and my master’s in School Administration from East Carolina University. I grow and sell produce at Big Pompie’s Produce in Engelhard.
I am a member of the Hyde County NAACP and serve on the Davis Youth Center Board. I teach Sunday School at Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church in Slocum, NC.
The greatest issues facing Hyde are lack of employment, lack of affordable housing and fewer educational opportunities for our students. I also feel that the relationship between the citizens and the local government is negatively impacted because of a lack of transparency. The biggest thing the commissioners can do is to be accessible to the people and be willing to advocate for the people and not put their own interests above the interests of the community.
James (Boo Boo) Topping
I was raised in Hyde County and have lived here all my life. I work at the Hyde Correctional Institution and have been for 28 years. The reason I am running for commissioner is there are some things that we need to improve on, and to take care of the people who actually live in the county.
We, the community, need to come together to be on one accord when solving these issues.
I visited Ocracoke and I saw the road conditions at the north end. If you have an emergency, you cannot get off the island with all the water on the road. So, definitely, something must be done about it. We need to get together and figure out how to fix it and look into getting some funding.
On the mainland, Lake Mattamuskeet is endangered at this time. I grew up on that lake fishing all my teenage years and it is nowhere near what it was in the past. It is the major attraction we have on the mainland, so we need to restore it.
I would greatly appreciate your vote on March 5, 2024.
