The Ocracoke Seafood Company (AKA ‘The Fish House’) is the heart of commercial fishing on Ocracoke. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
By Connie Leinbach and Sam Walker
Leaders from 15 coastal counties in North Carolina met for the first time in Morehead City in August as part of the newly formed Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition.
Formed on the heels of the defeat in late June of House Bill 442, which would have banned inshore shrimp trawling, the group was created to allow North Carolina’s coastal region to address critical issues related to commercial fishing with a unified voice.
Daniel Brinn, Hyde County’s water and flood control coordinator, is representing Hyde County, said Randal Mathews, Hyde County Board of Commissioners chair, who also attended the meeting.
“We’re unifying the commercial advocacy groups,” he said, “and this coalition is going to be the political voice at the legislature for advocating commercial fishing. We need to make it so they’re not pitting recreational fishermen against commercial fishermen, because that’s what they’re doing.”
The recreational fishing industry claims they are worth a lot more than the commercial fishing industry, he said.
“They’re just totally negating the fact that look at all the people buying the seafood, and the wholesale and the retail market,” Mathews said.
Mathews said Hyde County will stay on top of this issue because commercial fishing is about 20% of the county’s economy.
The meeting drew a strong turnout, with over 100 attendees, including state senators, house members and legislative staff—a clear indication of the broad interest in coastal fisheries issues in North Carolina.
Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard will serve as chairman, with Dare County providing administrative and legal support. The coalition will operate as a public body, with participating counties appointing an official representative. All meetings will be open to the public, with advance notice provided to ensure transparency.
“This coalition is more than just a partnership—it’s a united front dedicated to preserving their livelihoods, honoring their heritage and ensuring that this way of life endures for generations to come,” Woodard said.
Several speakers at the meeting shared powerful accounts of how proposed regulations in House Bill 442—a ban on inshore shrimp trawling, which was defeated—would have devastated their livelihoods and the state’s fishing communities.
There was also an emphasis on the need to educate North Carolinians throughout the state about the value of the commercial fishing industry, the people who sustain it and the conservation measures already in place to protect marine resources.
“ ‘Hot spots’ on NC12. Graphic from the NC12 Task Force
The Ocracoke Access Alliance (OAA) has formed to push for greater state and federal investment in ferry services, NC-12, and other critical infrastructure that ensures safe and reliable access.
The following is the first of a series of articles by Justin LeBlanc, executive director of Ocracoke Access Alliance
On a clear morning, NC Highway 12 looks deceptively simple: a two-lane strip of pavement threading along oceanside dunes and sound side marsh, carrying visitors in their cars & trucks, supplies, and residents to doctor’s appointments and other errands along near the entire length Ocracoke Island. But after every storm surge, every nor’easter, and every king tide that chews into its edges, the community is reminded that this road is more than asphalt. It is Ocracoke’s only highway, its economic artery, its emergency lifeline. And it’s not just the Ocracoke hotspot that affects our community, all of NC-12’s hotspots from Oregon Inlet to Ocracoke affect our island’s accessibility.
So when talk turns to relocating portions of the road away from erosion hotspots, most islanders nod. The urgency is obvious. But urgency doesn’t shorten the path a project must take before it becomes reality.
From sand to state house Unlike patching potholes or pushing sand off the pavement, moving a highway is not a maintenance job—it’s a new project. And in North Carolina, new projects face a gauntlet of planning steps before they see a dime of construction money. And even after they do.
For the Outer Banks, the first stop is The Albermarle Commission, the designated Rural Planning Organization (RPO) for Hyde and other local counties. This small but influential body represents Hyde County and other eastern counties too rural to have their own metropolitan planning organizations.
Local governments, NCDOT Division 1 staff, and even community groups can float project ideas. But before they advance, the RPO must evaluate each one — scoring Highway 12 relocation alongside other proposals ranging from bridge replacements to safety upgrades. Criteria include safety, cost-effectiveness, and how well a project matches local priorities.
“If the RPO doesn’t put its points on the project, it’s basically dead on arrival,” said one former state transportation staffer familiar with the process. Good news for Ocracoke, Hyde County Commissioner Randal Mathews is the Albemarle Commission Co-Chair.
The Numbers Game Once the RPO puts its weight behind a project, the proposal moves into the Strategic Prioritization (SPOT) process, where NCDOT analysts crunch the numbers. The scoring system weighs hard data—like traffic counts, crash history, and benefit–cost ratios—against the political weight of “local input points” assigned by RPOs and NCDOT divisions.
Highway 12 relocation would likely fall into the Division Needs or Regional Impact category, competing with dozens of other projects across eastern North Carolina. That means its fate depends not only on how fragile NC-12 hotspots may be, but also how it stacks up against pressing needs in places like Elizabeth City or Beaufort County.
“It’s not that the state doesn’t recognize Ocracoke’s challenges,” explained a transportation advocate. “But every project is fighting for the same limited pot of money.”
The STIP: A 10-Year Roadmap The ultimate gatekeeper is the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), North Carolina’s 10-year blueprint for roads, bridges, ferries, and more. Updated every two years, the STIP determines what gets built—and what gets left waiting.
For Highway 12 hotspots, inclusion in the STIP is non-negotiable. Without it, the project cannot tap state or federal dollars for design or construction.
Draft versions of the STIP are released for public comment, giving Ocracoke residents a chance to weigh in before the N.C. Board of Transportation signs off on the final plan. The current 2026-2035 STIP does not include NC-12 hotspots. Public comment on a new 2028-2037 STIP began this summer. The Pea Island Visitor’s Center is proposed in the Draft 2028-2037 STIP but has not yet been scored by the Albemarle Commission.
A Long Haul for a Short Road For locals, the process can feel painfully slow. Each new breach of Highway 12 after a storm only sharpens the sense of vulnerability. Businesses reliant on tourism, families who depend on the school bus, and patients traveling to mainland hospitals all understand what’s at stake.
Yet the rules of the road are clear: no STIP, no project.
As one longtime Ocracoke resident put it, “The ocean doesn’t wait on Raleigh. But we have to.”
After the STIP: The Real Work Begins But even once a project makes the cut, the journey is far from over. Securing a slot in the STIP is only the first checkpoint. The next steps—funding, design, right-of-way acquisition, environmental review, and construction—can take years.
First, NCDOT must allocate actual funding from its annual budgets to move the project forward, often juggling inflationary costs and competing commitments. Alternatively, the project might get funding from federal grants or congressionally directed spending (formerly known as earmarks). Then, engineers begin the painstaking work of drawing up detailed plans, modeling storm impacts, and ensuring the new alignment meets safety and durability standards.
Land acquisition presents its own hurdles. Negotiating with the National Park Service and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for right-of-way adjustments can add delays. At the same time, projects must undergo environmental review under state and federal law—a significant factor given the island’s sensitive habitats, endangered species, and national seashore designation. This review can vary from almost nothing (a categorical exclusion) to a full-blown, multi-year Environmental Impact Statement depending on the scale and scope of the project.
Only after all of that is cleared can actual construction begin, a stage that itself can stretch over multiple seasons as crews battle weather windows and the logistics of moving materials and equipment by ferry.
In short, securing a project in the STIP is the start of the process not the end. The time to start is now.
The Windfall II sails in the sunset. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
Tuesday, Sept. 16: Ocracoke School middle school and varsity volleyball are home vs. Columbia. The MS game will begin at 4 pm and the varsity game will play after that around 5:30 pm. Canceled
Ocracoke Civic & Business Association, 6 pm. Community Center. See agenda below.
MiniBar at Ocracoke Coffee, 6-8 pm: Family games night
Wednesday, Sept. 17: Roanoke Island Animal Clinic sees patients in the Community Center. Appointments: 252-473-3117.
Ocracoke School home middle school soccer game vs. Mattamuskeet at 4 pm. Community ballfield.
Ocracoke School cross country team will host a community 5K at 6 pm. Middle school students and adults are welcome to come run and race against the high school team. Meet at the entrance of South Point Rd. around 5:45 pm.
Ocracoke Waterways Commission, 6:30 pm. Community Center. Canceled. The next meeting will be Oct. 15.
MiniBar at Ocracoke Coffee, 6-8 pm: Karaoke
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Thursday, Sept. 18 MiniBar at Ocracoke Coffee, 6-8 pm: Brooke & Nick
Friday, Sept. 19 MiniBar at Ocracoke Coffee, 6-8 pm: Kate McNally
Saturday, Sept. 20 Down Creek Gallery: Jewelry show and sale with Loli from Sea Gypsy Handcrafted of Corolla. She uses all natural elements from the beach in her copper, bronze, and sterling jewelry. 11 am to 2 pm.
Clam Chowder Cookoff, 4 to 5:30 pm. Ocracoke Community Center. All welcome to taste the chowders and vote for $10.
Sunday, Sept. 21 Church services: Ocracoke United Methodist Church, 11 am Ocracoke Life Saving Church, 11 am Stella Maris Chapel: Sunday Mass time at 4:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. Go to Masstimes.org and type in the zip code: 27960, but refresh your browsers for it to work properly.
Clam Chowder aficionados taste the chowders at the 2023 event. this year’s cookoff will be from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Sept. 20 in the Ocracoke Community Center
The Ocracoke Community Pool Association will hold a Clam Chowder Cookoff from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 20, in the Ocracoke Community Center.
The fundraising event will follow the group’s successful closing on Sept. 19 of a 1.4-acre property on which to build their long-sought community pool, said Ruth Toth, board president.
The location and details will be announced at the cookoff on Sept. 20.
Tasting for $10 per person will be from 4 to 5:30 p.m. for two categories: traditional Ocracoke style and innovative.
A people’s choice ballots will decide who is awarded the top prizes.
There also will be a raffle and Pool Association T-shirts for sale.
Toth said there will be 12 chowders to taste that she is still accepting chowder entries if there’s room. Call her at 252-588-2226.
After forming in 2023, through aggressive fundraising the pool association has garnered enough money for a down payment on the selected property.
“We were able to put $75,000 towards it, from the from the money we’d raised and from donations,” she said. “That gave us a nice down payment and closing costs.”
The donations have come from all over, she said, including people who “just thought it was worth supporting, and they took a chance on us, and hopefully they’ll be very pleased that they did.”
It’s been over 10 years since swimming lessons were conducted by the Ocracoke Youth Center, Toth said. They were the last ones to offer it.
Island hotel pools have declined to allow swimming instruction saying insurance liability only covers their guests.
And the Pamlico Sound is not suitable for large-scale swimming instruction.
Toth said that water safety instruction for children from ages of one and four decrease their chances of drowning by 88%.
This just in (Sept. 16) from the NCDOT Facebook page: With ferry service between Hatteras and Ocracoke now resuming, we are reopening NC12 on the north end of Ocracoke Island at 9:30 a.m. Please drive slowly and with extreme caution as there will likely be areas of sand and water on the roadway.
From our news services
Over this weekend, a non-tropical coastal low developed off the Outer Banks, resulting in significant weather-related disruptions. This storm breached the protective berm, causing overwash and sand to be deposited onto N.C. Highway 12 at the north end of Ocracoke Island.
As a result, hazardous driving conditions have emerged, leading to the closure of the highway from the Pony Pens to the Ocracoke Ferry Terminal. The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) is scheduled to assess the conditions on Tuesday morning and will provide updates accordingly.
Due to the highway closure, the Hatteras Island Ferry Service is suspended until the road is reopened. For the latest information on ferry services, you can contact the Ferry Service Hotline at 252-996-6000.
The adverse weather conditions were disruptive. High winds managed to dislodge a portion of a modular home yesterday from its trailer on the Basnight Bridge, which spans the Oregon Inlet. This caused a temporary closure of the bridge as crews worked diligently to clear debris amidst the challenging high wind conditions. All lanes were reopened by yesterday afternoon.
Hatteras Island also faced challenges with standing water and sand accumulations reported in northern Buxton and near Hatteras Village, particularly exacerbated during the high tide cycle. Pea Island experienced similar conditions, while Ocracoke saw some minor flooding in the village, which may recur around the next high tide today at 4 p.m.
Travelers in the Buxton area are urged to slow down and exercise caution, as saltwater exposure can cause damage to vehicles.
A wind advisory remains in effect until tonight (Sept. 16), with sustained northeast winds exceeding 20 mph, leading to hazardous marine conditions.
Ocracoke will continue to experience cloudy skies with temperatures hovering around 70 degrees.
The National Weather Service is monitoring a coastal low and the potential for coastal flooding along portions of the Outer Banks, the Pamlico Sound, and areas along the Neuse and Bay Rivers that will last through Tuesday evening.
It is expected to bring rain, thunder storms, windy conditions, rough surf, the possibility of minor overwash and deadly rip currents.
Winds from the northeast of 20 to 30 mph, with higher gusts, are possible through early Tuesday that could temporarily shut down ferry service
Inundation of one to two feet will be possible for oceanside Hatteras and Ocracoke Island, as well as soundside Core Banks and the Neuse and Bay Rivers.
A High Surf Advisory is also in effect from Hatteras Island north for minor beach erosion and ocean overwash due to large breaking waves of 6-9 feet in the surf zone.
The fig cake array before they are judged. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
By Connie Leinbach
As the fig cake judges were sampling the entries in the Fig Festival Cake Bake-off competition in the Berkley Barn, Kristi Reichard was already contemplating her entry for next year.
Reichard was the winner again this year in the innovative category of the bake-off, the signature event of the annual Fig Festival.
All entries are numbered for the blind tasting and the winners’ names are revealed after the judges have chosen.
Her pistachio fig cake bombs topped the other 12 entries in that category.
Kristi Reichard with her top winning pistachio fig bombs. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
“There were so many different visions at play in this category,” said one of the judges, John Simmins, “but when we saw these pistachio bombs, they really just blew our pants off.”
The green cakes had a white cake bottom layer infused with fig simple syrup, topped by a layer of fig preserves and fresh figs and topped with a pistachio cheesecake dome with a fig center and covered in white chocolate ganache.
“I have a competitive streak,” Reichard said as she and her family watched the judging, but this event is the only one she competes in. “This (contest) is just fun.”
Reichard won the innovative category in 2023 and was tied with Michele Thornell for first place last year.
Islander Debbie Leonard came in second this year with her fig cupcakes.
In the seafood category, three entries were judged by guest chef Dean Neff.
He chose “Figalicious pickled shrimp” in a jar by Cindy Davia of Beaufort, Carteret County.
“This was surprising,” he said about the dish. “It caught me off guard and it was just delicious.”
This was Davia’s first win.
“I had a recipe for some pickled shrimp, and I just reinvented it because I like things that are kind of the savory-sweet, and it just came to me,” she said.
Her grandson Walker Raeburn, 12, and his friend Brayden Morris, 7, both of Beaufort, captured first place in the youth entries with a strawberry fig preserves cake with lemon cream icing.
Walker Raeburn and Brayden Morris with their winning cake in the youth division. Photo by Tina Rucker
Walker has been baking fig cakes since 2019, winning first place in 2021 and second place in 2019.
In the traditional category, Thornell of Emerald Isle captured the top prize out of four entries.
Second-year fig preserves entrant Angela Cox of Darlington won top honors for her jalapeno preserves, judged in a people’s choice way on Friday evening.
It was the second time her preserves won.
“It surprised me,” she said, noting that these preserves are popular at home. “I can’t make them fast enough.”
Next year, she will have a booth at the festival.
A fig barbecue sauce by B.J. Beasley captured first place.
Fest goers who want to taste the preserves pay a nominal fee to do so and proceeds of that go toward a new Ocracoke School scholarship in honor of the late John Simpson, who, with his partner Trudy Austin, enjoyed making fig preserves and fig barbecue sauce, for which he won prizes.
Festival Organizer Sundae Horn said more than $2,200 from the barbecue sauce tasting and festival proceeds will go toward the scholarship.
She was happy with the three-day event that began with a fig dinner on Thursday night, featuring fig-smoked Cheshire pork ribs with hot sorghum and pickled figs by Neff.
Although a downpour hit the area Friday evening, outdoor events, such as a staging of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by the nonprofit Mended Wing Theater Company, under whose aegis the event occurred, went on inside the Berkley Barn.
Among the festival volunteers were Debbie Leonard, who created the fig fest dinner dessert of a snickerdoodle fig cookie with vanilla ice cream on top and fig caramel sauce with candied pecans.
Sara and Mark Hannum and Margaret Siegal helped each day, Horn said.
Next year’s festival will be Aug. 7 to 8.
Angela Cox with her winning fig jalapeno preserves. Photo: C. Leinbach
Guest chef Dean Neff awaits judging the seafood fig entries. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
Playing Possum were among the bands performing during the festival. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
Fig expert Chester Lynn sold out of fig tree saplings. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
A ‘fig-for-all’ after the judging when everyone can test the entries. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
Part of Sara and Mark Hannum’s volunteer duties involved tasing cakes as judges. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
The Ocracoke Seafood Company is the heart of the commercial fishing industry on Ocracoke. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
In June, House Bill 442 in the N.C. General Assembly originally sought to expand the commercial and recreational fishing season for flounder and red snapper, which was widely praised.
But the Senate tacked on an amendment to prohibit shrimp trawling within a half mile of North Carolina’s coast. It passed and went back to the House Rules Committee.
Days before the Legislature was to recess for the summer, hundreds of commercial fishermen and others descended on Raleigh to protest this bill, and the Rules Committee decided not to move the bill, effectively ending it.
By Susie O’Neal
We know through studies published in the N.C. State Economist and N.C. SeaGrant that commercial fishing provides 300 million dollars of economic impact and over 5,500 jobs to our state.
The N.C. State study was published in 2021. It is likely more than that now.
We know that North Carolina has one of the most regulated and sustainable commercial fishing industries in the country and by extension the world.
Every species of fish, every size, every location, every type of gear used is tracked. N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries was created solely for this purpose.
They control the factors they can control such as pounds of fish caught and areas of marine environment open or closed to fishing.
They cannot control other factors such as stormwater and agricultural runoff or water-quality issues affected by development.
We also know that people vacationing in eastern North Carolina, as well as inland, expect and deserve to eat delicious NC Seafood. Most of them get it through our restaurants and markets. Seafood is central to NC’s tourism industry — a $36 billion-a-year industry.
But it is more than that.
There are intangible ways commercial fishing affects eastern North Carolina and communities like Ocracoke that developed around it.
Every aspect in the making of Ocracoke has been tied to the sea, from the original pilots guiding three- and four-masted schooners through the inlet who decided to stay and settle here to the men lightering those vessels and moving those goods to ports inland.
Then, there were the fish camps where, like the indigenous people, men and women camped on the shore for weeks at a time drying and salting mullet and mackerel.
There were seafaring men who left Ocracoke to work on ships, dredges and tugboats up and down the East Coast.
They came home for births and deaths and storms, always coming and going by the water. Women, resolute, remained tending children and gardens and watching for storms that might do damage or bring menfolk home.
Men onshore patrolled the beaches to rescue other sailors and salvage ships — the future Coast Guard. Ocracoke men captained mailboats and acted as hunting and fishing guides.
There is a direct line from our history to commercial fishing today.
These are men who grow up on boats: Coming and going on the water — not big oceanic trawlers, but skiffs and small offshore vessels catching Blues and Spanish, Mullet and Drumfish in the ocean and Pamlico Sound.
They watch out for each other and feed the thousands of people who flock to Ocracoke and inland.
Many people come to Ocracoke and feel its magic but are not sure where it comes from.
The magic of Ocracoke comes from our history on the water: boats going out; boats returning — the resilience of enduring.
We had a close call recently with the amendment snuck on to House Bill 442 at the end of June.
And we will again with special interests who want to own the Pamlico Sound and sea.
The water surrounding Ocracoke contains our history and to lose commercial fishing would take away the magic that is Ocracoke.
NC Highway 12 on Ocracoke needs action if it is to survive, according to UNC researchers who presented their findings at a meeting Sept. 10 on Ocracoke on the perils to the highway after a year-long study.
Their presentation in the Community Center, attended by about 60 islanders, focused on the section at the north end that’s currently shored up with sandbags to hold back ocean waves during storm and high-wind events.
Dr. Laura Moore presents the findings of a year-long study of NC12. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
That area that has increased in just the past couple of years to about two miles long. After the recent impact of Hurricane Erin, it experienced two to six feet of sand on the road which NCDOT workers continuously scooped away.
The natural progression of barrier islands is for the ocean to overwash them resulting in sand buildup in the interior, Moore explained. Ocracoke’s (and the Outer Banks on Pea and Hatteras islands) accretion is impeded by the road.
The team’s study involved a model the group created to predict how sea level rise, in the next 25 to 100 years, will further encroach on the island, both from the sound and ocean sides, in this most vulnerable area of the island.
Soundside sea level rise has impacts but not for decades, according to their models.
Moore explained three scenarios:
Status quo would be to continue the current management strategies as has happened with continual overwash and repair. Coupled with sea level rise, this area would eventually be under water, or “drowned,” Moore said.
According to their model, beach nourishment would add an indeterminant number of yards of beach to this area to hold back the ocean and stem the loss of land mass, though for how long is unknown.
Although beach nourishment is expensive and eventually ultimately futile since sand washes away, it could buy the island time while it develops a plan for the road.
The third alternative would involve an elevated road(of undetermined length) under which the ocean could flow and nature could take its course.
But Moore said that stabilization leads to more rapid loss of beach/land.
“If you’re slowing down (beach loss) somewhere, you’re speeding it up elsewhere,” she said.
Ocracoke must be creative and find new ways of managing living on a barrier island, she said, or (the island) will manage itself out from under us.
“I don’t know what the answers are,” she said. “You are at the forefront of and have the opportunity to do something different. It will take creativity.”
Katherine Anarde, a postdoctoral scholar in coastal Geomorphology, said the situation is not hopeless.
“The next step is knowledge of the landscape,” she said.
One islander mentioned the methods that the Netherlands, which is below sea level, have been successfully holding back the sea for centuries.
Dr. Reide Corbett, executive director of the Coastal Studies Institute, who attended the meeting and was part of the research team, said in an interview afterwards that hardened structures, like jetties, don’t solve the problem of beach erosion.
Moreover, he said, the Netherlands doesn’t have answers for coastal North Carolina.
NCDOT works to protect N.C. Highway 12 on northern Ocracoke Island April 2024. Photo by the National Park Service.
“Their dikes and levees are inland,” he said. “Our dynamics are wind-driven rain and storms. They have tide issues. We need beach nourishment and to build dunes.”
Representative Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort), who was on Ocracoke that day to visit and hear islanders’ concerns, attended the meeting. He represents House District 79 which comprises Hyde, Beaufort, Dare and Pamlico counties.
“If we can’t do something to stabilize the island, it’s going to disappear,” he said.
Earlier in the morning, he met with business owners and others in an hour-long session in the Community Center.
Representative Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort) talks with islanders on Sept. 10. At left is Randal Mathews and Tommy Hutcherson. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
Kidwell said he is part of a legislative Coastal Coalition Caucus, with members from both parties, which includes the area of Wilson to the coast.
“We realize we have an issue and we gotta deal with it,” he said about the beleaguered NC12 as well as the underfunded ferry system. “Congressmen Greg Murphy and Budd are on board.”
Along with hundreds of people descending on Raleigh in July, the coastal caucus stopped a bill containing a ban on shrimp trawling in inshore waters.
“When it hit that caucus we were like, not just ‘No. Hell, no,’” Kidwell said.
One of the best ways to change legislative minds, he said, is for constituents to physically show up in Raleigh—as what happened for the shrimp trawl ban.
Physically showing up in the legislative hallways is the best way to make our voices heard, he said.
Kidwell said coastal House and Senate representatives, Bobby Hanig, Norman Sanderson, Frank Ihler and Ed Goodwin are on board with finding solutions.
Hyde County Manager Kris Cahoon Noble said she was with the Board of Transportation when they visited Buxton following Hurricane Erin and one member noted that abandoning the north end is not an option.
“Because I told them how I’ve got to have that for quick ambulance transport and for our economy, too,” Noble said.
But the road belongs to the DOT, she said, and we need an engineering study to determine the costs of beach nourishment. This should not take a long time nor cost a lot of money, she said.
“I’m going to be advocating for the DOT go ahead and do a short-term closer look at what a beach nourishment project would look like,” she said.
The audience for the NC12 presentation. Photo: C. Leinbach/Ocracoke Observer
The area of study.
This slide shows the different scenarios over 100 years.
Ocracoke native Andy Horne O’Neal, 62, passed away on Sept. 1.
Born on April 4, 1963, in a Coast Guard helicopter 800 feet above Camden Point while in route from Ocracoke Island to Elizabeth City, he was a son of Stella Spencer and the late Edward Carlson O’Neal.
Andy spent his early childhood years moving around the country with his family, as his father was in the U. S. Coast Guard.
After his father’s retirement, Andy spent his teen years enjoying the beach and water, taking “scuds” and playing his music loud, simply enjoying the freedoms only Ocracoke could offer.
Andy went on to graduate from Ocracoke High School. He was a Dolphin and proud of his heritage. He spent his early adulthood on the water as a commercial fisherman, and not many people could navigate the waters of Ocracoke like he could.
He was an old salt at heart, and a generational pound netter. Ocracoke was in his soul. His life on the water was not just a profession but a testament to his enduring love for the island and its traditions.
Andy enjoyed the outdoors and loved to hunt and connect with wildlife. He was also a “cat guy” and was known for caring for his many cats.
Andy was preceded in death by his father, Edward Carlson O’Neal, Jr., his grandparents, Edward Carlson O’Neal, Sr. & Edna Mae Styron O’Neal and Andrew Sommers Spencer & Etta Carter Styron Spencer “Ogga”; and his sister-in-law, Teresa Coffey-O’Neal.
He leaves behind a legacy of love and cherished memories with those who survive him, including the love of his life, Cathy Beck; his mother; his siblings, Edward Carlson O’Neal III and his wife Pam; Stephanie Jane O’Neal and Albert Reid O’Neal.
He is also survived by his nephew Chad Sommers O’Neal (his early morning talk buddy) and his wife, Erin; his niece, Jacquelyn Nicole O’Neal and her fiancé Juan; his great nieces and nephews Carter Sommers O’Neal, Kyler Diego Luna, Amaya Jane Luna and Johnny Cole Flores, who he lovingly referred to as “the knuckleheads,” as well as his cousin Bradford Earl Midgette Jr., who was more like a brother.
There are many people to thank for being there to support Andy on his journey, but the family would like to mention his friend, buddy and constant supporter, Jamie Jackson, who was always there for him.
The family would also like to extend gratitude to Mary Jane Cougan, R.N., for her compassionate care and kindness during his short time on hospice care.
The family will hold a service at a later date to honor Andy’s life and legacy.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department, PO Box 332, Ocracoke, NC 27960, or to Ocracats, PO Box 993, Ocracoke, NC 27960.
Andy will be remembered for his dedication to his family, friends, and the island he called home. His spirit will live on in the hearts of all who knew him.
Twiford Funeral Homes, Outer Banks is assisting the family with arrangements. Condolences and memories may be shared at http://www.TwifordFH.com.
