The N.C. Ferry Division will return to the Hatteras Civic Center for a Career Fair March 13.
MANNS HARBOR – The N.C. Department of Transportation’s Ferry Division will hold career fairs for potential employees on March 13 in Hatteras and March 19 in Morehead City.
“We’re looking for exceptional employees in all positions,” said Ferry Division Director Harold Thomas. “We held similar events last year and ended up hiring dozens of qualified applicants.”
The Hatteras Career Fair will be held at the Hatteras Civic Center, 56658 N.C. 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. March 13.
The Morehead City Career Fair will be held as part of the Eastern North Career Fair from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. March 19 in the Crystal Coast Civic Center, 3305 Arendell St., Morehead City.
The division will accept applications for all positions system-wide, from parking lot attendants and engineers to marine welders, crew members and captains. Positions are also available for the dozens of part-time and temporary summer positions that are needed every season. Career fair attendees are asked to bring a resume, along with any applicable certifications.
The fair is free and open to the public. For more information on job requirements and positions available, contact Alma Fountain at 252-423-5125, or at afountain@ncdot.gov.
RALEIGH: A North Carolina person has tested positive for novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The test, conducted by North Carolina State Laboratory of Public Health, is presumptively positive and will be confirmed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lab. The person is doing well and is in isolation at home, according to a N.C. Department of Health & Human Services press release.
“I know that people are worried about this virus, and I want to assure North Carolinians our state is prepared,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in the press release. “Our task force and state agencies are working closely with local health departments, health care providers and others to quickly identify and respond to cases that might occur.”
The North Carolina person from Wake County traveled to the State of Washington and was exposed at a long-
Gov. Roy Cooper. Photo: Peter Vankevich
term care facility where there is currently a COVID-19 outbreak. Local health department officials are identifying close contacts to monitor symptoms and contain spread. To protect individual privacy, no further information will be released.
Dr. Elizabeth Tilson, the state health director and chief medical officer with North Carolina DHHS, said at a news conference today that In about 80% of coronavirus cases people experience mild symptoms and the mortality rate is about 1.4%.
While awaiting confirmation of results from the CDC, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) will treat presumptive cases as positive and follow CDC guidelines to protect public health and limit the spread of infection.
Today’s announcement represents an isolated case, and COVID-19 is currently not widespread in North Carolina. Because COVID-19 is most commonly spread through respiratory droplets, North Carolinians should take the same measures that healthcare providers recommend annually to prevent the spread of the flu and other viruses, including washing your hands, avoiding touching your face and covering coughs and sneezes.
Last month, Cooper established the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Task Force to support the state’s ongoing effort to monitor, prepare for and respond to COVID-19. State actions include:
Aggressively pursuing containment strategy of rapid identification, testing and contact tracing.
Engaging in daily collaboration with federal, state and local partners to ensure rapid response.
Mobilizing resources for our providers, local public health system, local emergency management, and other.
Developing detailed response plans for multiple sectors for a range of scenarios.
Developing guidance for planning for multiple sectors for a range of scenarios.
Preparing healthcare providers and facilities to streamline and standardize response activities.
Activating a Joint Information Center to provide timely information.
Testing patients in the N.C. State Laboratory of Public Health.
Leading regular calls with local health departments, hospitals and local emergency management.
Providing guidelines for health care providers, child care, employers, schools, colleges and universities, and others.
Monitoring residents who have returned from China through local health departments.
Staffing a COVID-19 phone line to answer urgent questions from the public.
Maintaining an up-to-date website with information about COVID-19 disease, risk and guidance.
It is important to make sure the information you are getting about COVID-19 is coming directly from reliable sources like the CDC and NCDHHS.
For more information, please visit the CDC’s website at www.cdc.gov/coronavirusand NCDHHS’ website at www.ncdhhs.gov/coronavirus, which will also include future positive COVID-19 test results in North Carolina.
‘Nearer my God to Thee’ is the Ocracoke United Methodist Church, which is one of many island buildings being raised. The final height will be a bit lower. Photo: C. Leinbach
Tuesday, March 3 Howard’s Pub opens today at noon for its 30th season with a preseason menu and modified hours: Tuesday to Saturday, noon to 8:30 p.m.
Post-Dorian support group: 4:30 p.m. Ocracoke Lightship Realty.
Wednesday, March 4: Island Trivia. 1718 Brewery. 7 p.m. $2 to play. Form teams of up to 4 people.
Thursday, March 5 Ocracoke Liaison Office: Teresa Adams, Ocracoke Liaison, has regular office hours every Tuesday and Thursday in the Hyde County office located in the Community Center. 9 a.m. to noon.
Ocracoke School at NCCAT seminar room: Parent/Community Information Night with Stephen Basnight regarding the most recent information on Ocracoke School and funding. Two sessions: 5 p.m. and 6:30. Same information will be shared at both meetings.
Ocracoke Advisory Planning Board meeting to further consider a travel trailer ordinance: 5:30 p.m. Ocracoke Community Center. See previous story here.
Saturday, March 7 Family Story Time with Ms. Claire. 9:30 a.m. Ocracoke Library inside WOVV.
Warm hangout at the United Methodist Church rec hall, noon to 5 p.m.
Zoe Ramirez-Ramirez, 4, of Ocracoke, died unexpectedly Saturday, Feb. 29.
Gail Covington, a Hyde County medical examiner, said that per the North Carolina Office of Chief Medical Examiner autopsy results as to cause of death are pending.
Born Feb. 19, 2016, Zoe was the daughter of Maritza Ramírez and Luis Ramírez.
Zoe loved playing outside. It was her happy place. She enjoyed dancing, singing, playing hide and seek with her parents and going to the playground, swinging and sliding down the slide. Using her wonderful imagination, Zoe was often a doctor making her aunts and parents her patients. Her favorite colors were pink and purple, and her favorite candy was gum and anything chocolate. Very outgoing, Zoe greeted everyone with a smile. She never forgot to remind her parents and aunts how much she loved them. Zoe was excited and looking forward to beginning school in August as a kindergartner.
Also surviving are her grandparents, Francisca Monter, Sara Robles and Javier Ramírez; aunts and uncles, Raúl Ramírez, Enrique Ramírez, Ángel Ramírez, David Ramírez, Sonia Ramírez, Angélica Ramírez, Salvador Ramírez, Ricardo Ramírez, Daysi Ramírez, Rosita Ramírez, Irvin Ramírez and Xochilt Ramírez; and many cousins in the United States and Mexico. She was preceded in death by her grandfather, Honorio Ramírez.
A funeral will be held at 2 p.m. on Friday, March 6, in the Ocracoke Lifesaving Church on Lighthouse Road. The family will receive friends and relatives for a viewing and visitation one hour before the service.
Twiford Funeral Homes, Outer Banks is assisting the family with arrangements. Condolences and memories can be shared atwww.TwifordFH.com.
Seventeen years ago, North Carolina officials had a SARS case on their hands. What they learned then changed the way they approach infectious diseases.
By Rose Hoban
Even though it happened 17 years ago, Leah Devlin remembers exactly where she was when she learned there was a patient in North Carolina with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS.
“I was driving back from D.C. and I got a call,” she said.
At the time, Devlin was the state health director, North Carolina’s public health leader, and her deputy called with the news while she was still on I-95.
“It was a sentinel moment,” she remembered recently.
North Carolina handled one of the eight confirmed cases of SARS, the last new coronavirus that emerged in 2003. Like the coronavirus, COVID-19, that’s recently emerged in China, SARS swept the globe, causing widespread concern, and in some places, panic. Over the course of 10 months, SARS caused more than 8,400 confirmed cases, mostly in China. About 11 percent of patients died, a total of 916 people.
Only 33 cases total were confirmed in the United States, with no deaths. North Carolina had the eighth confirmed case, a man who had visited Canada, where there was a more widespread outbreak. He’d been to see a family member in a hospital where SARS patients were being treated.
Jeff Engel was the state epidemiologist at the time. He was in his office when his phone rang with the news.
“My surveillance coordinator said, ‘Jeff I think we have a problem here… This guy has a huge risk factor, he had been in a hospital in Toronto and was sick with a community-acquired pneumonia,’” he remembered.
Engel got a sinking feeling in his stomach, then he said he started implementing his plans.
SARS was only one of several disease outbreaks in the early 2000s that in many ways defined the careers of a number of state health leaders in North Carolina. This state had one of the only anthrax cases that emerged in the confusion after the World Trade Center bombings of 9/11. The state managed SARS in 2003, then pandemic H1N1 flu in 2009. All of these incidents left a legacy in the state that those same leaders say have poised North Carolina for a better response today than if those disease outbreaks had never occurred.
From paper to pixels
It was actually anthrax that got the preparedness ball rolling, said Jean-Marie Maillard, a medical epidemiologist who’s been with the Division of Public Health since the early 1980s. When several people were sent anthrax spores through the mail in 2002, disease surveillance was still being done with paper and telephones.
“Congress realized public health needed significant resources to modernize and to have the tools that were needed to do public health surveillance,” he said.
“The public health enterprise was completely unprepared for anthrax,” Engel said. “And the response was laggard. So the funding began to pour in in 2002, and public health finally, was resourced and got, you know, the billions of dollars that was needed to build a modern infrastructure.”
Hospitals in North Carolina were already collecting electronic data about patients walking into their emergency departments for billing. Devlin got the then-North Carolina Hospital Association on board with having hospitals send that data to one central location so state epidemiologists could scan for patterns.
The result is NC DETECT, an electronic system collecting data from EDs every 12 hours. It’s how the state tracks the incidence of flu, for instance, collecting information on people who walk into EDs coughing and sneezing with a fever every winter. The system collects data on a slew of other symptoms too, allowing for fast identification of sudden surges in people with the same disease appearing at hospital doors.
“We collect information that will allow us to recognize whatever the disease is, whether it’s a rash or a febrile respiratory illness,” said Maillard, who worked on the design and implementation. “We can construct any kind of group of symptoms that are collected in the system and say, ‘if I had a case of that disease, what would it look like before I have lab results.’”
North Carolina was the first state to construct such a system, now every state has a similar capacity.
Come on up to the lab
State Lab technician Christy Spratt inoculates tubes with fecal samples for E. coli testing in 2012, in the old state lab in downtown Raleigh. Before the new state lab was constructed, lab technicians worked in cramped spaces with poor electrical access which wasn’t capable of handling more dangerous pathogens. Photo: Rose Hoban
Sitting in a windowless building on a block between the legislature and the governor’s mansion in Raleigh was the old public health lab. In Devlin’s mind, in the wake of anthrax, it had to go.
“It was under powered electricity-wise,” she said. “When you plugged in one piece of equipment, you had to unplug another. It was dark, it was cramped.”
Devlin walked some legislative leaders across the street for a tour, several commented to her that their local hospital labs were in better shape.
Then Devlin took those same leaders to Virginia to see that state’s new state-of-the-art facility. She spent the next few years walking the halls of the legislature, advocating for funds to build a new state lab, one that could handle bioterror agents such as anthrax or smallpox, or COVID-19.
It took years of asking, but the General Assembly finally appropriated $101 million in 2006 to build a new state lab.
“It’s essential when you’re managing something like anthrax or SARS or any of these other infectious diseases,” Devlin said.
She also insisted the lab be located in its current location outside of the Beltline, instead of downtown.
“You understand that there were school children touring the governor’s mansion and state government buildings, and they were walking right by the lab, which itself could be a target for an act of terrorism,” she said.
The other thing health leaders got from the legislature was more statutory ability to enforce quarantine on sick patients and see their medical records, as well as more due process protections for those people stricken by diseases.
On the ground
Like the others, David Weber remembers well North Carolina’s SARS case. He returned from a meeting in New York, donned personal protective equipment and helped provide care for the SARS patient who was being treated at UNC Hospital in Chapel Hill.
The man, who was employed at the university, had been to the doctor several times for his flu-like symptoms before being diagnosed and had also been to work. In the process, he potentially exposed as many as 200 co-workers and family members. Weber, an infectious disease physician who now leads infectious disease response at UNC and for the state, remembers there was a need to screen all of the patient’s contacts.
Overnight, teams from UNC set up tents on the old airfield north of the university, rather than have all of those people show up at the hospital ED.
“They came in and they were screened initially at a desk outside,” he remembered. “And then once they were seen, they were triaged to three different tents where nurses reviewed their symptoms and issues and their exposures. If they were more ill they would then refer to another tent where the physicians examine them. We had a tent that had basic laboratory equipment and X-ray capability right on site.
“We actually found a few people had medical problems, who got sent to the hospital, but none of them were related to SARS,” he said.
Will it be enough?
Weber said that since that time, through the emergence of other diseases, like H1N1, West Nile Virus, Ebola, Zika virus and multiple flu seasons, he and his colleagues have been practicing and preparing for inevitabilities such as COVID-19. His institution and others have been performing “tabletop” exercises, mass casualty practice events and drills, and keeping their staff up to date on a regular basis.
And in his job as the state director of infection control and epidemiology, Weber also pointed to pandemic preparation plans at the regional and state levels.
“I think the early part of the 21st century really got the nation prepared,” Engel agreed.
That’s especially true for leaders from North Carolina, who faced down some of these challenges in person. But Weber and Engel and Maillard and Devlin are all scientists and epidemiologists, trained to plan for the worst while hoping for the best.
That means that they’re not completely sanguine about how COVID-19 will play out in the U.S. From his current perch as the head of a national organization for state epidemiologists, Engel said he’s definitely concerned about the virus’ potential to wreak havoc both in the state and in the country, something expressed by all.
“I think hospitals have been keeping up their preparedness plans and exercising them and I think we’re as prepared as we can be,” Engel said. But, he warned, “there’s no preparation for a severe pandemic, there’s just not enough capacity anywhere in the world.”
Rose Hoban.
Rose Hoban is the founder and editor of NC Health News, as well as being the state government reporter. She has been a registered nurse since 1992, but transitioned to journalism after earning degrees in public health policy and journalism. She’s reported on science, health, policy and research in North Carolina since 2005. Contact: editor at northcarolinahealthnews.org
Editor’s note: This story was rearranged from when it was first published earlier today and the animal control item was corrected.
By Connie Leinbach
The Hyde County commissioners at their meeting tonight at 6 p.m. will hold the first of two public hearings on the adoption of a revised Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance for Hyde County. This ordinance is in response to the new FEMA flood maps, which will be adopted in June.
The Ocracoke Advisory Planning Board on Tuesday, recommended raising the free board level, which is where your living quarters start, to nine feet above mean high tide. Since the proposed flood maps show different elevations all over the village, this level will keep things uniform.
Another item on the agenda seeks approving a resolution supporting the Second Amendment and have Hyde become a “Sanctuary County” for firearms ownership.
The resolution (in packet one) says the right of the people to keep and bear arms is guaranteed as an individual right under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The resolution further states, “…that if the government of the State of North Carolina shall not infringe upon the inalienable rights granted by the Second Amendment, Hyde County shall become a “Sanctuary County” for all firearms unconstitutionally prohibited by the government of the State of North Carolina in that, Hyde County will prohibit its employees from enforcing the unconstitutional actions of the state government.”
If passed, Hyde would join several other North Carolina counties passing such resolutions in recent months.
A few of those counties are Beaufort, McDowell and Currituck. Their resolutions were included in the Feb. 3 Hyde commissioners meeting packets here.
Dare County commissioners passed a resolution at its Feb. 4 meeting expressing support for the U.S. Constitution in general while also vowing to “oppose any and all attempts to infringe upon these rights and freedoms, including the right to keep and bear arms, as defined in the Second Amendment.” The resolution stopped short of declaring Dare County a Second Amendment Sanctuary according to the Outer Banks Voice. Approximately two dozen speakers on both sides of this issue spoke during the public comment period.
The impetus for these resolutions is stated in the Currituck resolution, “the Currituck Board of Commissioners is concerned about any effort by the North Carolina Genera Assembly or the United State Congress to enact legislation infringing upon a citizen’s individual right to possess a firearm and to use a firearm for traditionally lawful purposes as the United States Supreme Court has interpreted the Constitution.”
Last April, the Pender County commissioners, after public discussion, tabled a similar resolution to an unspecified date; it has not been brought back before the board.
According to a report Jan. 23 in the Wilmington Port City Daily:
“The term sanctuary city is typically used when referring to immigration — not firearms — but the term has been co-opted by gun-rights activists in recent years.
“The term ‘sanctuary city’ is a broad term applied to jurisdictions that have policies in place designed to limit cooperation with or involvement in federal immigration enforcement actions. “Cities, counties and some states have a range of informal policies as well as actual laws that qualify as ‘sanctuary’ positions,” according to a 2018 CNN story.
“By this loose definition, a gun sanctuary city or county would, in theory, refuse to cooperate with federal entities if gun rights were restricted by new laws.
“The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution reads, ‘A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.’
“And Article VI of the Constitution reads, ‘This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding.’
“This means that federal law and the Constitution supersede any state or local laws — it is the supreme law of the land.”
Also on the agenda are an amendment to the animal control ordinance creating an Animal Control Advisory board to hear appeals on dangerous dog determinations, and a proposed draft for a solar ordinance, both in packet two.
Update: Amy Klobuchar Drops Out of Presidential Race. This story is updated.
By Peter Vankevich
Described by many of all political affiliations as the “most important election in our lifetimes,” a relatively few voters in mainland Hyde County and Ocracoke took advantage of the early voting option.
According to Viola Williams, Hyde County’s elections director, a total of 125 cast their ballots as of the close of business last Thursday, with 92 at the Elections Office in Swan Quarter and 33 on Ocracoke during the two early voting days on Feb. 20 and 21.
Here is the early voter breakdown: Mainland: Democrat, 62; Republican, 30. Of the 62 Democrats, 31 were Unaffiliated voters.
Ocracoke: Democrat, 29; Republican, 3, Libertarian, 1. Of the 29 Democrat voters, 10 of these were Unaffiliated.
For a perspective on the low numbers, Hyde County has a total of 3,054 registered voters: 1,529 Democrats; 529 Republicans; 16 Libertarians, one Green party; and 936 unaffiliated voters. Within these numbers, Ocracoke has a total of 776 registered voters: 375 Democrats, 108 Republicans, seven Libertarians and 286 unaffiliated voters.
There are some reasons for the few early voters. For the Democrats, many said they were waiting for the results from yesterday’s South Carolina primary where Joe Biden won overwhelmingly; others have still haven’t made up their minds.
For the Republicans, President Donald J. Trump is expected to have token opposition with candidates Joe Walsh and Bill Weld.
On Ocracoke, voting will be from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department, 822 Irvin Garrish Highway. The list of all Hyde County main land voting locations and sample ballots are below.
Dubbed as “Super Tuesday,” North Carolina is among 14 states –the largest in one day– holding primary elections. More delegates to the presidential nominating conventions can be won on Super Tuesday than on any other single day.
North Carolina will join Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia holding presidential primaries.
Unaffiliated voters may vote by choosing the partisan ballot of their choice, but voters who are affiliated with a political party may vote only their party’s ballot.
For Hyde county, the Democrat ballot will have three candidates for the Lake Landing county commissioner, Barbara Gibbs, Marsha Gibbs and Thomas Midgette. Two of these candidates provided their views to the Ocracoke observer and be seen here. They will run against incumbent Earl Pugh, Jr. (R) who is unopposed in his party. Unopposed candidates will only appear on the November ballot.
Republicans will have a choice for the N.C. State House District 6. Rob Rollason will challenge incumbent Bobby Hanig for the Republicans. They have filed candidate statements with the observer that can be viewed here. The Democrat for this seat, Tommy Fulcher is unopposed for this party.
There are many reasons for Democrats and Republicans to vote in this primary.
On the Democrat ballot for president there are 15 candidates. However, only Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Joseph R. Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Tulsi Gabbard remain in the race.
Monday afternoon, Amy Klobuchar announced that she was dropping out.
After Saturday’s South Carolina, Tom Steyer dropped out, and late Sunday afternoon Pete Buttigieg announced he was abandoning his quest for presidency. They join Deval Patrick, Marianne Williamson, Andrew Yang, Michael Bennet, Cory Booker, Julian Castro, John K. Delaney as candidates not to vote for. The ballots were printed before these candidates suspended their campaigns.
Important seats are the U.S. Senate, currently held by Thom Tillis with several candidates in each party running. See sample ballots below.
The race for governor includes incumbent Democrat Roy Cooper challenged by Ernest T. Reaves. The Republicans will have Dan Forest and Holly Grange squaring off.
On both ballots are several state offices will multiple candidates. Some useful voter information on the candidates may be found on Ballotpedia NC.
Here are the Hyde County precinct voting locations for March 3, from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Burgess Mill Ponzer Ruritan Building, 39911 E US Hwy 264, Belhaven.
Engelhard Engelhard Community Building, 34545 US Hwy 264.
Fairfield Mattamuskeet Opportunities, 69 Church St.
Lake Landing St. Georges Parrish House, 31655 US Hwy 264, Engelhard.
Ocracoke Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Dept., 822 Irvin Garrish Hwy.
Sladesville Sladesville Fire Dept. Mtg Room, 123 Sladesville-Credle Rd.
Swan Quarter Quarter Volunteer Fire Dept., 25 Oyster Creek Rd.
For more information regarding any voting procedures, contact the Hyde County Elections Office, 252-926-4194, or by email vwilliams@hydecountync.gov. Office hours are 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Below are sample ballots for the political parties for Hyde County voters:
Nearly 40 islanders attend the Ocracoke Advisory Planning Board meeting on proposed amendments to the Ocracoke Development Ordinance Tuesday in the Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department upstairs meeting room. Photo by Richard Taylor
By Richard Taylor
The Ocracoke Advisory Planning Board came to some conclusions last week on raising permitted building heights but is still working on language for placement and use of temporary travel trailers for islanders displaced from Hurricane Dorian.
Stevie Wilson, board chair, wanted islanders to discuss new building heights and the permitting, placement and use of 35 county-owned travel trailers to provide up to 25-months of temporary housing for flood-displaced residents or workers.
At issue is amending the Ocracoke Development Ordinance (ODO) to increase the maximum Height Above Mean Sea Level, or “free boarding,” permitted for buildings — including new structures and those undergoing renovation or raising.
Tom Pahl, Ocracoke’s county commissioner, explained that three different codes interact to regulate buildings — the minimum elevation of a finished floor (free board) is set by the flood ordinance (i.e., FEMA); the ODO sets height restrictions; and the rest of a structure is covered by the building code.
Understanding that not all areas of the island are at the same physical elevation, speakers mostly agreed the current seven-foot free board height needs increasing. Suggestions ranged from 8 feet to 10 feet.
Attending his first board meeting Garick Kalna said, “I think the current height is too low where 10 feet may be too high.” Ocracoke Volunteer Fire Department Chief Albert O’Neal agreed.
“It’s certain that if you go below the nine-foot level you’re putting people in a bad position,” Ivey Belch, Ocracoke Interfaith Relief & Recovery Team (OIRRT) chair, said. “We already know that some people will get flooded again based on the water level of Dorian.”
Others argued that higher houses compromise traditional island aesthetics and would make handicapped access more difficult.
Kelly Shinn asked why FEMA is changing the flood maps to be lower. County Manager Kris Noble explained that FEMA has worked on the new maps for two years, based on statistical modeling from previous storms.
But Wilson noted that the FEMA flood maps have different elevations and that making the free board height uniform island-wide saves a lot of confusion.
“If you don’t have a uniform building code in the ODO, you’ll have different height requirements around the village and we don’t want that,” he added. “We need to base it on Height Above Mean Sea Level, since the new maps will not show a uniform flood level for the whole village.”
Others suggested that raising the free board height too much might keep owners from qualifying for historic preservation tax credits as they rebuild. Pahl said 100 island houses await raising.
Nevertheless, building homes above the FEMA flood levels will potentially reduce flood insurance rates, Wilson said.
Pahl also suggested that reduced insurance costs resulting from higher elevations could offset the additional construction costs to raise buildings, except for higher stairs. O’Neal said going up just one foot would reduce his insurance by $1,100 a year.
OIRRT vice-chair Darlene Styron noted that raising the free board regulation meant also raising the maximum permitted building height.
After more discussion, Ashley Harrell’s motion to raise the free board height to nine feet passed unanimously, as did Kalna’s motion to raise a permitted building’s height by two feet (41 feet) to match the additional two feet of free board.
Non-habitable accessory structures are still allowed underneath homes. Commissioners are expected to adopt new flood maps June 1.
“The main reason we need a new (height) definition is because of our new flood maps,” Wilson said. “We want the community to own the ODO, and it not be something the board makes arbitrarily which the community has to live with. This board represents the community’s interest.”
It will take another planning board meeting and a public hearing before the amendment goes before the commissioners for approval.
The evening’s lengthy travel trailer discussions focused on the number of trailers permitted per lot, distribution of yet un-promised trailers, water hookups, whether some trailers could be placed at Jerniman’s Campground and the proposed 25-month “sunset” period.
Belch said caseworkers had approved requests for 29 of the 35 trailers. Most are going to lots already owned by or available to displaced residents. Eight residents still need properties on which to place trailers.
“By doubling the current density, we could put two trailers on every 5,000 square foot lot,” Belch said. Allowing three trailers per lot, which was Pahl’s proposal, was also discussed.
But nothing was decided and will be further discussed at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 5, in the Community Center because the board needs more information and input from the community.
Wilson appointed a sub-committee of Harrell, Kalna and Lena O’Neal to meet with Pahl and Belch to iron out the language for the proposed travel trailer amendment.
“I don’t see us coming to consensus tonight,” Wilson said. “I would rather call another meeting than look for a multi-faceted solution. I think it’s important that we get this (language) right for the community.
“This was a big nut to crack (tonight),” Wilson continued. “Prior to Dorian, this would have probably taken 10 meetings. If there’s anyone extremely disgruntled about it, I’m sorry. We tried to do our best for the community.”
When the board approves the ODO amendments, a public hearing is required before the county commissioners adopt them.
Nearly 40 islanders packed the firehouse meeting room Feb. 25 for the lively 2½-hour public meeting.
Editor’s note: To help island voters decide in the March 3 primary, the Observer will run statements by local candidates as we get them. The following are two of the three Democrat candidates running for county commissioner for Lake Landing. The third candidate, Barbara Gibbs, did not provide a statement to the Ocracoke Observer.
Statement from candidate Marsha Gibbs:
I have lived in Hyde county for most of my life, moving here at a very young age. Most of my family lives here. There are many reasons why I decided to run for this position. The main reason being, I love this county. I have worked for Hyde County, providing emergency medical services to our citizens. I currently volunteer with Engelhard Volunteer Fire Department, and I deliver meals on wheels every week. While out and about, I hear the concerns. Our citizens have these concerns that need to be addressed. We can no longer sit idle and hope for things to change. We have to be the ones who make the difference, or at least try to make the difference. There are many areas that need addressing, such as businesses leaving our communities, services being offered in one area and not the other. And most of all, county spending. We are a very poor county, and we cannot afford wasteful spending. Jobs are another issue. We need more businesses that offer employment. We need ways to keep our kids off the streets experimenting with drugs. We need ways to keep them here to grow our communities. Instead of them leaving when they graduate high school and our county continuing to shrink. We need to offer more services to our elderly, promote our senior center more and ensure all of our citizens have access. We need to be able to provide hospice over on Ocracoke like it is provided to our citizens here on the mainland Ocracoke is a large asset to Hyde County. So, we need to promote it more and provide more services to our islanders. There are many issues and many I have not addressed but I am willing to listen to everyone who has concerns. I cannot make anyone any promises to correct any of these issues. But what I can promise is I promise to do my very best and try to make the difference for each individual here in this county. That is a promise.
Statement from candidate Thomas Midgette:
Thomas Midgette.
I am a retired teacher\school administrator with 30 years in public education. I was born raised in Hyde County. I played football at Livingstone College in Salisbury, N.C., where I earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. I have three adult children, Thomas Jr. and Camille and Jaleel. I am married to Theresa S. Midgette. I currently teach 3- and 4-year-olds I am running for Hyde County commissioner because I feel that currently my community is not active participants in county government. I am tired of our leaders saying, “That won’t work.” We need leaders who ask, “How can we make that work?”
I want to make Hyde better by focusing on 1. Education: how we can better support our teachers and students. 2 Employment opportunities: find and or create jobs within the county and training for jobs outside of the county. 3. Economic improvement for citizens: not just jobs, but jobs that allow people to provide for today and tomorrow.
Ocracoke Observer co-publisher Peter Vankevich and Connie Leinbach, editor and co-publisher, win 10 awards at the N.C. Press Association annual conference in the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree. Photo by Paul Jones
Raleigh–The Ocracoke Observer received 10 awards tonight at the North Carolina Press Association annual conference including first place in breaking news coverage for its Hurricane Dorian reporting and second place in editorials.
The honors were conferred at the conference and awards ceremony held in the Raleigh Marriott Crabtree Valley hotel where more than 150 newspapers across the state won hundreds of awards from 4,400 entries for 2019 work.
The Observer is a member of the NCPA in the online division.
Since Dorian hit Sept. 6, swamping the island in a devastating flood from which the island continues to rebuild and will be for many months to come, the Observer has published more than 200 stories.
Observer writers and photographers won the following other awards:
First place in sports photography: Casey Robertson, Ocracoke School baseball, “They did it! Dolphins capture middle school baseball tourney.” The judge noted, “Keen eye of the photographer to capture such a remarkable shot. Creative, outstanding inclusion of design elements and provides a feeling of suspense/tells story in single frame.”
This photo of Dolphins pitcher Daymon Esham by Casey Roberston won first place in sports photography in the online division of the North Carolina Press Association.
First place in spot photography: Connie Leinbach, “Debrisremoval begins.”
Second place in spot photography: Peter Vankevich for “Summer beauties” photo of a black skimmer in flight.
Third place in spot photography: Peter Vankevich for his photo” of an eagle on the roof of the Portsmouth Island lifesaving station in “Portsmouth Island Christmas Bird Count ends the year.”
First place in Religion and Faith reporting: Peter Vankevich, for “New United Methodist pastor: ‘Come walk with me.’”
About the editorials, the judge wrote: “Not every issue worth writing about is deep, deep, deep. Everyday life is worth writing about, too. Doing so also gives the reader a sense of place, as the Observer’s editorialist does so effortlessly.”
The winning stories were published on ocracokeobserver.com between October 2018 and September 2019, where all the winning stories and photographs can be found.
This photo of a Black Skimmer in flight by Peter Vankevich won second place on spot photography in the NCPA Online division.
