Shucking a freshly steamed oyster. Photo: C. Leinbach
HATTERAS – This year’s Hatteras Island Oyster Roast from 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, at Oden’s Dock celebrates local seafood and a healthy coast while supporting storm relief and environmental restoration.
Fifty percent of the event’s proceeds will support local storm relief through the Hatteras United Methodist Church, and the other half will benefit the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s programs in the Outer Banks.
In addition to fresh oysters, attendees can enjoy seafood chowder and refreshments. There will also be homemade desserts available from the bake sale and live music from a local band, sponsored by the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau.
The first 200 people to purchase tickets in advance will receive a free high-quality, branded oyster knife. These knives are limited to one per household and can be picked up in person at the event.
Tickets can be purchased in advance online, at the federation’s Wanchese office or at Oden’s Dock. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
This event is planned to take place outdoors, so please dress accordingly. In the case of extremely bad weather, the event will take place at the Hatteras Village Civic Center.
Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent, David Hallac, and other members of the Seashore staff will in the Ocracoke Community Center today from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. to answer questions related to the amended Final Rule for off-road vehicle (ORV) management.
Federal Emergency Management Agency and state community outreach specialists are available to answer flood mitigation and recovery questions from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday this week in the Community Center.
The Ocracoke middle school Dolphins basketball game against the Creswell Tigers will be broadcast on WOVV today at 4 p.m. 90.1 FM on the island and online at wovv.org.
Want to make sure you continue seeing this sign? Let your voice be heard about local, wild-caught shrimp and seafood.
The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will continue to accept written comments on a petition for rule making filed by the N.C. Wildlife Federation until 5 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 26.
Commission Chairman Sammy Corbett extended the comment period, originally scheduled to end Jan. 20, to accommodate those who were unable to speak last week during a public meeting on the petition in New Bern.
The public may submit written comments on the petition toNCWFPetition@ncdenr.govor to NCWF Petition, Marine Fisheries Commission Office, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, PO Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557
The petition asks the commission to designate all coastal fishing waters, including the ocean out to three miles, not otherwise designated as nursery areas as special secondary nursery areas; establish clear criteria for the opening of shrimp season; and define the type of gear and how and when gear may be used in special secondary nursery areas during shrimp season.
The commission will address the petition at a business meeting on Feb. 15-16 at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside, 301 N. Water St., Wilmington. A full meeting agenda will be released at a later date.
View a copy of the petitionhere. View a copy of an amendment to the petitionhere.
Travel trailers, such as this one, provide inexpensive housing on Ocracoke, but they do need to be in compliance with septic, water and electricity. Photo: C. Leinbach
By Connie Leinbach
Travel trailers on Ocracoke present an inexpensive form of housing, but local planning board officials caution that they cannot just be placed on land without complying with two sets of regulations.
Travel trailers must be hooked up properly to water, septic and electricity, said Jerry Hardison, Hyde County building inspector, at the Jan. 12 meeting of the Ocracoke Planning Advisory Board (OPAB).
“You need a permit to set up travel trailers,” Hardison said, noting that he recently noticed two travel trailers on the island out of compliance though he is working with the owners to correct that.
Travel trailers have to be installed under directions of the Hyde County and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) rules because Ocracoke is in a flood plain, he said.
To install travel trailers, property owners need both an Ocracoke Development Ordinance (ODO) and a county building permit.
“There are two different set of regulations,” said Tom Pahl, Ocracoke’s county commissioner.
First, all buildings must have a building permit, and those larger than 12 feet by 12 feet must comply with the North Carolina building code.
Buildings also must comply with the ODO, which was enacted in 1986 to control development on the island. The ordinance also established a local, seven-member board to oversee the work. Pahl served on the Ocracoke Planning Board from 2010 to 2013.
Confusion as to whether or not permits for campers/trailers are needed may have arisen from actions surrounding a controversial amendment enacted in 2012 to the ODO.
That amendment–since rescinded–had regulated the seasonal and permanent living in campers, requiring only one camper per 5,000 square-foot lot, for them to have proper hook-ups to utilities and to be road-ready in case of evacuation.
Prior to Pahl’s election as county commissioner last year, islander John Fletcher was the county commissioner from 2013 to 2016.
When Fletcher campaigned for the seat, his platform was to eliminate that 2012 trailer regulation, which was enacted while Pahl was on the OPAB.
When Pahl’s OPAB term was up in early 2013, Fletcher did not reappoint him and appointed five new members to the planning board. Then in October 2014, the board eliminated the new 2012 restrictions, noting that the FEMA regulations cover the installation requirements.
When Pahl unseated Fletcher in the March 2016 primary, the members of planning board appointed by Fletcher resigned leaving only Corky Pentz, chair, and Tom Payne remaining.
Before leaving office last year, however, Fletcher made new appointments to this board, including Farris O’Neal, Albert O’Neal, Vince O’Neal, Stevie Wilson and Ashley Harrell.
Now, the OPAB wants to make sure property owners understand that although the 2012 amendment was repealed, rules are still in place for trailer installation.
“All the other regulations still apply—set-back requirements, elevation according to the FEMA rules, plumbing, electric and water,” Pahl said at the Jan. 12 meeting. The cost to hook up these utilities alone can be approximately $15,000.
Adequate parking is also part of the local building code, which applies to campers.
The OPAB has been reviewing and revising the ODO as recommended by the state every several years.
The group is also contemplating whether property owners need to supply a survey along with the building permit application. This cost ranges from $700 to over $1,000. If there is an existing survey there would be no additional cost to the homeowner.
Once the local review is finished, the document will be sent to the North Carolina School of Government for review and the public will have a chance to review it before it goes before the Hyde County commissioners for approval.
The OAPB meets monthly, usually the second Thursday of the month, at 5:30 p.m. in the Ocracoke Community Center. Meetings are open to the public.
If you have questions regarding this ordinance, you may contact Hardison at (252)-926-4372, jhardison@hydecountync.gov.
To view the Hyde County building permit information, click here.
To view the Ocracoke Development Ordinance, click here:
The Ocracoke Preservation Society Museum at 49 Water Plant Rd.
The Ocracoke Preservation Society, 49 Water Plant Rd., is seeking to hire an assistant to the administrator.
Pay is hourly and includes Saturdays and weekdays for up to 25 hours a week. Candidates should have computer skills, including social media and website skills. Other skills sought for this position are knowledge of island history and others as needed.
To apply, contact Bill Jones at 252-928-9077, or lidabill@hotmail.com.
Allison O’Neal is the newly hired administrator, who took over Jan. 1 for Amy Howard.
Islanders gather Saturday afternoon at School Road and Irvin Garrish Hwy for Ocracoke’s Women’s March.
Text and photos by Connie Leinbach
Songs of peace and encouragement, words of wisdom and calls to activism were highlights of Ocracoke’s version of the Women’s March Saturday afternoon.
About 120 islanders and some visitors—women, men, children and dogs—gathered on School Road at 1 p.m. to join in similar marches across the country the day after a new U.S. president, Donald J. Trump, was inaugurated.
“It’s our moral obligation,” said Brandon Benecki while he and his wife, Kara, waited for the march to begin.
Mariah Temple, who with her friends created lots of posters to carry in the march, shows her poster with an excerpt from a speech by Hillary Clinton.
The marchers walked, rode on bikes and scooters or were pulled in wagons while carrying home-made posters with a myriad of sentiments.
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept,” “Respect for All,” and “We are the Change” were just some of them.
“There were more people standing up (across the country) for women’s rights today than were heralding a new administration yesterday,” said Jenny Starr, one of several who spoke after the group made a brief march along Lighthouse Road and back to the stage on the Books To Be Red lawn on School Road.
Starr, who works for Greenpeace, urged the group donate to the causes they believe in and to call their Congressional representatives every day to tell them how they feel about their issues.
She gave out the number 202-225-3121 that folks can simply call, key in their zip code and ask to connected to their representative.
“It’s time for power to come back to the people,” said islander Mitzi Crall in an interview before the march. “We just need to be heard. Donald Trump is mouthing those words. Let’s just see what happens.”
Antonia Ortiz, speaking through an interpreter, said she and her son, Angel Hernandez, and daughter, Amy, attended the march to prove that she is not going to follow what some current voices are promoting.
“Just because the President says (something), I believe that women have rights and will follow that,” she said. Her poster said, “We will not accept ‘He won. Get over it.'”
Pat Garber, left, Ruth Fordon and Lou Castro prepare for the walk.
Sundae Horn, owner of the online newspaper Ocracoke Current and who organized the effort and led the activities, said the march was close to her heart.
“My husband talked me out of going to Washington, D.C.,” she said. “We were looking for local rallies but decided to do one here. I did it for my college daughter, Caroline. I’m glad we had it here.”
Caroline and her friends Jordan Novak and Abby Gregson also had created lots of posters to carry in the march.
Rob Temple, Horn’s husband, noted that it was better to have more rallies across the country than more people in the nation’s capital, which news sources reported estimates of about 450,000 attendees on Saturday.
Across the nation, major and minor cities also had their own rallies.
“Boston was expecting 20,000 people and had 200,000,” noted Mary Vankevich, who also read “Still I Rise,” a poem by May Angelou.
Horn, Marcy Brenner and Lou Castro led off the remarks with a rousing rendition of “Sister Suffragettes,” from the movie “Mary Poppins.”
Sundae Horn, organizer of the event, shows one side of her poster declaring her thoughts for the new presidential administration.
Pat Garber, who helped organized the event with Horn, sang a few songs with Brenner and Castro; Liz Hotchkiss read the words engraved on the Statue of Liberty; Betty Lease read an excerpt from former President Barack Obama’s book “The Audacity of Hope”; Nancy Aldridge recited a piece by Rose Pere, a Maori native of New Zealand; Horn read a piece on feminism by Belle Hook; and Leslie Lanier, owner of Books To Be Red, read a piece by Nelson Hopkins Jr, a 17-year-old who was shot dead in December 2009 as he was walking home from a bus stop with his college application in his pocket.
Though Lanier’s family has guns for duck hunting, she said they do not have handguns.
Sundae Horn, center, with Marcy Brenner, left, and Lou Castro, kick of the post-march event with “Sister Suffragette,” a song from the movie “Mary Poppins.”Leslie Lanier, owner of Books To Be Red, talks about a young man who was randomly shot in 2009.Nancy Aldridge with her poster.One of the many call-for-unity posters.
Update Jan. 24, 2017, 3:15 p.m.: FEMA workers are in the Community Center this week through Friday, and will not be here on Saturday, a FEMA employee told the Observer today. Information below has been updated.
Federal Emergency Management Agency and state community outreach specialists are scheduled to return to Ocracoke from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23 through Friday, Jan. 27, in the Community Center to answer flood mitigation and recovery questions.
In information issued by Hyde County, FEMA has teamed with the state mitigation supervisor to start a Community Education Outreach Project. The team will provide information on the following mitigation and recovery techniques:
Clean-up, tear out and dry out, lower humidity, create air circulation • Proper removal of sheet rock. Replacement with water resistant materials • Elevating mechanicals (washer-dryers-furnace) raising electrical outlets and home elevation • Landscaping ideas • Back flow valves, floor plugs, and sump pumps • Installing interior and exterior flood walls • Draining systems, such as French drains • Anchoring fuel tanks • Benefits of flood insurance • Obtaining building permits-checking with local officials
Numerous free publications also will be available.
Community outreach specialists also will be available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, to Saturday, Jan. 21, in the Hyde County Government Center, 30 Oyster Creek Rd. Swan Quarter.
RALEIGH – The N.C. Department of Transportation has extended the deadline for citizens to participate in its second annual customer survey to Jan. 31. This survey includes the N.C. ferry system.
All citizen feedback will be collected online. Citizens wishing to participate can visit go.ncsu.edu/customerservice2016. The survey takes 15 minutes to complete and the survey link is mobile-friendly.
The N.C. General Assembly requires the survey to gauge how well the transportation department provides high-quality customer service.
Participation can help NCDOT identify ways to make North Carolina transportation services safer, more efficient and customer-focused.
The results will be available to the public on NCDOT.govlater this year.
While several islanders are traveling to Washington, D.C., on Saturday for theWomen’s March on Washington, island women will have their own march, the Ocracoke Sister March.
The march will begin Saturday at 1 p.m. on Irvin Garrish Highway at School Road. It will proceed to the Ocracoke lighthouse and return to Books To Be Red along School Road.
According to theOcracoke Sister MarchFacebook page set up by Sundae Horn, the Ocracoke march is abiding by the non-partisan guidelines of the national Women’s March “so that our gathering is not against any party or person, but in solidarity with our partners and children for the protection of our rights, our safety, our health, and our families – recognizing that our vibrant and diverse communities are the strength of our country.”
The posting notes: All are welcome–sisters and brothers.
When the marchers return to the Books to be Red lawn, they will gather for music and readings at the stage if the weather allows, or at Deepwater Theater if it is raining.
All are invited to the Magic Bean after the march to call and email members of Congress about issues they care about.
North Carolina Catch (N.C. Catch) is seeking to hire a part-time administrative director. This 501(c)3 non-profit organization partners with local catch groups to strengthen the state’s seafood economy through promotion and education. Below is the job description and contact information.
Job title: Administrative Director (part-time) Reports to: NC Catch Board Executive Committee Direct Supervisor: NC Catch Board President
Programs and Responsibilities: This part-time professional position is responsible for the organization’s administrative and clerical duties, facilitates board development and engagement, and manages relationships with sponsors, allied organizations and the media.
Administration
Maintain all organization documents ensuring routine backup
Maintain organization’s meeting calendar and attendance records
Create and distribute meeting materials
Administer the organization’s product labeling and event certification programs
Prepare monthly executive director’s report
Work with executive committee to develop the organization’s annual budget
Work with the Treasurer and CPA to monitor financial performance including state and federal tax filings
Track performance of all grant-funded projects to ensure compliance with spending and performance guidelines
Facilitate a collaborative working relationship with the state’s local catch groups
Communication & Marketing
Maintain public contact database and ensure production and delivery of quarterly email blasts
Issue press releases regarding organization’s activities, coordinating with Communications Committee
Produce annual report
Serve as the public point of contact for inquiries
Facilitate media coverage for organization
Create and maintain annual marketing/events/editorial calendar
Fundraising Support & Coordination
Maintain donor database
Coordinate annual giving campaign with Fundraising Committee
Identify potential sources of project/organizational funding and revenue sources and present to the Executive and Fundraising Committees for their review and action
Previous grant writing experience a plus
NC Catch does not have a physical office. The administrative director will work out of a home office and will need to provide his/her own equipment, including phone, computer, Internet access and scanner. Office supplies and out-of-pocket expenses will be reimbursed monthly with proper documentation. Starting pay is $15 an hour capped at 20 hours of work per week unless otherwise approved in advance. The organization’s ability to offer salary increases will be a function of both job performance and raising sufficient funds to support the position.
The position requires occasional travel, primarily to attend NC Catch board meetings. Approved mileage will be reimbursed at the standard IRS rate.
Application Deadline: February 2, 2017
Hiring Date: March 1, 2017
Mail resume and three professional references to: NC Catch Search Committee PO Box 188 Swan Quarter, NC 27885
