Passenger ferry visiting Ocracoke in May 2015. Observer staff photo.
By Sam Walker of the Outer Banks Voiceon June 20, 2016. (used by permission)
Passenger-only service has been discussed as a potential option to alleviate delays for travelers getting across Hatteras Inlet due to shoaling that has forced vessels to take twice as long to cross. Results have yet to be released of a study of the N.C. Department of Transportation instituting passenger ferry service between Hatteras and Ocracoke villages, six months after it was supposed to be completed.
Long delays at the docks have slashed the number of day trips to the island by visitors staying on Hatteras Island and the northern beaches, hurting businesses on Ocracoke.
The Ferry Division has to pay more in fuel and labor costs because of the longer trips and additional vessels running the route to meet demand.
At the monthly meeting of NCDOT Ferry Division officials with Ocracoke residents June 13, Deputy Director Jed Dixon said it has yet to be seen by the department’s oversight panel.
“We haven’t been able to get it in front of the Transportation Board,” Dixon said, according to the Ocracoke Observer. “It keeps getting pushed back. I can’t bring it to you until they approve it.”
Officials said last year the feasibility study, which began in April 2015, was to be completed by December.
“It should be considered at their July (Board of Transportation) meeting,” said Angela M. Welsh, director of the Albemarle Rural Planning Organization on Friday.
The organization is part of the Albemarle Commission, a consortium of the local governments in 10 northeastern N.C. counties, and provides recommendations to the NCDOT on funding of the area’s transportation projects.
According to the N.C. Board of Transportation’s schedule published in August 2015, the next meeting is slated to take place June 29 and 30.
Newly built Ramp 63 on Ocracoke. Photo courtesy of National Park Service
The Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s newest off-road vehicle access, Ramp 63 on Ocracoke, has opened.
Ramp 63 is located a few miles north of the Ocracoke pony pens. Construction began earlier this spring and it is the last of four new off-road vehicle ramps completed in the past two years in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore. The others are on Hatteras Island.
With the construction and completion of the new off-road vehicle ramp, additional access to Cape Hatteras National Seashore’s beautiful beaches are available for visitors to explore, said Outer Banks Group Superintendent David Hallac about the new ramp.
RALEIGH – Gov. Pat McCrory, in a letter dated Tuesday to U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, urges federal agencies to promptly complete their review of applications to permit seismic surveys for oil and natural gas off the North Carolina coast.
Governor Pat McCrory
McCrory writes of his disappointment in the Interior Department’s decision announced in March to remove from consideration offshore lease sales in the mid-Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2017-2.
“At a time when the United States should be moving toward energy security, we should not close the door on offshore energy exploration before we know what Mid-Atlantic OCS resources can be harnessed in an environmentally sound way,” according to McCrory’s letter. “The proposed federal program unreasonably elevates the demands and unsubstantiated concerns of special interest groups above the interests of the vast majority of Americans who seek the economic prosperity and energy independence that offshore exploration would bring to our nation.”
For the rest of the story on Coastal Review Online, clickhere.
Captain Jason Daniels of the Hyde County Sheriff’s Department today reported that his office is investigating a sexual assault that occurred on the island early Friday morning (June 17).
There is no suspect in custody, the case is still active and being investigated by Corp. Jaren Mutro.
He declined to provide more details due to the investigation.
Daniels said that anyone with any information on this case should contact Mutro at 252-542-0617.
The base of the Ocracoke Light Station is open to visitors Monday afternoons at 1. Photo: C. Leinbach
Maker’s Market on Ocracoke
The Maker’s Market begins today (Monday) from 3 until 7 p.m. on the grounds of the historic Wahab House, 161 Irvin Garrish Hwy, across from SmacNally’s.
This is a market of locally-made or offered goods and services that continue every Monday night (except July 4, in which case it will be July 5) into the fall.
Spearheaded by Kim Meacham of Milk Street Soap and Open Source Ocracoke and Helena Stevens, on whose yard the market will be held, attendees will be able to sample Ocracoke culture and business.
“This is a grass-rooted, volunteer effort to get-something started a kind event,” Meacham said.
161 Irvin Garrish Highway.
“This is meant to be a place to sell soulful, handmade products directly to the people, one day a week,” said Kim Meacham, owner of Milk Street Soap and co-organizer with Helena Stevens, on whose lawn the market will be held. “It’s not compete with what already exists but to support these businesses and the whole community,”
Items for sale will be the vendors’ own, hand-crafted items, local foods, wine and beer, and a farmer’s market with fresh, organic vegetables.
“I’ve had this idea for several years,” Stevens added about the project. “It’s a great opportunity to share the works of local artists that don’t have a venue.”
And visitors love to hear the stories of local people and how they live here.
The concept also supports Meacham’s “Open Source” mission to help Ocracoke’s small businesses and creators extend a seasonal work cycle.
Artists, crafters and food vendors are invited to contact Meacham for details and an application at millkstreetsoap@gmail.com, or call 252-588-2205.
A preview of who what vendors will be there are as follows:
Casey Winslow of Stillwater Spa will give chair massage, sell products, talk benefits and book massages.
Fresh, organic produce from farmers of Hyde and Currituck counties
Local art
Greek and Mexican take-away dinners
Bridges on N.C. 12 update
The N.C. Department of Transportation will hold an open-house type meeting on the proposed bridge on Pea Island around Rodanthe, Dare County, from 4 to 7 p.m. tonight (Monday) in the Ocracoke Community Center.
On hand for public review will the a Revised Environmental Assessment (EA) for Phase IIb (Rodanthe Breach) of the Bonner Bridge Replacement Project.
This phase is a long-term solution for the section of NC 12 in Pea Island Wildlife Refuge that was washed out during Hurricane Irene in 2011 and over which is a temporary bridge. It also includes the area of Highway 12 north of Rodanthe (at the “S” curves) that is subject to continued over wash after storms.
According to information from NCDOT, the preferred plan would build a 2.4-mile bridge starting north of the S curves, swing out into the Pamlico Sound and join the land in Rodanthe. In the Refuge, the existing surface road would be removed and that land would be returned to the refuge.
In Rodanthe, the existing NC 12 roadway would remain to provide access to private properties.
Traffic would be maintained on NC 12 throughout construction of the new bridge.
Study team members will be available to discuss the projects and receive comments. Written comments for the record can be placed in the comment box, mailed, emailed or faxed until July 5.
Eighth annual WOVV Women’s Arm Wrestling Champion is Kim Hansen, center, with third-place winner Melessa Owsley, second from right, and second-place winner Katelyn Murphy, right. Giles Russell, referee, is at left.
Amidst a cheering crowd, islander Kim Hansen captured the Eighth Annual WOVV Women’s Arm Wrestling Tournament championship Thursday night in the Ocracoke Community Center.
Melessa Owsley as “Fat Jesus,”of Rittman, Ohio, defended her 2015 title against about 20 other competitors in the double elimination contest, but came in third. Second-place winner Katelyn Murphy of Atlanta, a first-time island visitor, vied as “the Ripped Reader.”
Hansen, whose moniker was “Wrestles with Bears,” competed for the first time in the contest that drew more than 180 viewers and volunteers.
Kim Hansen, aka ‘Wrestles with Bears,’ right, takes down ‘The Ripped Reader.’ Volunteer scorekeeper Charles Temple holds the championship belt at rear while referee Giles Russell monitors the wrestlers’ form.
Competitors are encouraged to wear costumes, and on their registration form to create colorful personae.
Islander Bill Cole donned a rainbow-colored wig and announced the contestants as if it were a WWE Smackdown accompanied by loud hollering from the audience.
It was Hansen’s first time competing, and as she cradled the victory belt the champions pose with after winning, said she was overwhelmed.
“It’s nice sometimes to be a powerful and a woman, and that’s OK,” she said. “Sometimes being a strong woman pays.”
Chrissi Gasklill, calling herself “Girl-zilla,” was the first-place winner for the costumes with her full-body, inflatable Godzilla costume.
“It was like living in a greenhouse for three hours,” she said after the event.
Chrissi Gaskill, left, as ‘Girl-zilla.’
Gaskill has competed in seven of the eight contests since it began.
“It’s so much fun,” she said. “It’s an excuse to get into a costume and drink alcohol.”
Other costume winners were islander Connie Leinbach, second place as “HB2,” and three visitors who all dressed Jolly Green Giant-fashion as “The Green Team” won third place.
Event coordinator Tommy Hutcherson said the event cleared about $3,800 for the community radio station 90.1 FM.
Hutcherson said the committee decided to move the event from the original location of behind the Village Thrift across from Community Square after rain deluged the island on Wednesday and again on Thursday.
But they were happy with the inside location that was away from mosquitoes and had air conditioning.
“It went really well,” Hutcherson said Friday about the event. “All and all, it was a very good time with great response.”
The organizing committee consisted of Hutcherson, John Simpson, Cole, Debbie Wells, Brad Yeatman and Sarah Fiore.
Among the major sponsors were Dajio Restaurant and Devil’s Backbone Beer.
Concerning the recent massacre in Orlando, FL, and the many others before it. We should look to those who are responsible for these deaths: our elected Representatives and Senators in Congress who support the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA I grew up with – an organization for hunters and sports enthusiasts – is no longer. It has been taken over by big gun manufacturers who contribute massive dollars to politicians to support the sale of weapons, terrorism and money to line their pockets while putting hundreds of thousands at risk every day.
The names of each of the elected officials who receive campaign contributions from the NRA need to ring out, far and wide: they know who they are. The NRA has contributed millions of dollars to NC Senators Thom Tillis and Richard Burr. Nine U.S. Senators have received over $22 million in campaign contributions from the NRA.
Sen. Tillis, a Republican, NC, is among the top nine raking in a total of $4,418,833. According to Tillis’ contributions from the NRA include direct campaign contributions, independent spending (PACs and other groups) and independent spending against their opponents. To date Senator Richard Burr has received $805,219 from the NRA. Source: USA TODAY.
Senator Burr is up for re-election this year.
Is it not surprising, then, that both NC Senators Tillis and Burr recently voted against requiringbackground checks for private sellers, the single largest gap in the federal background check requirement? Unlicensed, private sellers are not required to conduct background checks resulting in convicted felons and other ineligible people who can quickly and easily buy guns in most states nationwide. Senators Tillis and Burr also voted against banning the sales of assault weapons to an expanded terrorist list comprised of hundreds of thousands of “individuals of concern” who have free access to purchasing assault weapons.
People have chastised the FBI for “dropping the ball” on the Orlando tragedy. It is our elected officials who are currently responsible for the hundreds of deaths that we are seeing each day, each month, each year. Our elected officials who place their political agendas before the health and safety and well-being of the American people.
The National Weather Service in Newport/Morehead City is forecasting drier weather tonight into the weekend as a cold front moves offshore, but an associated deepening offshore low will pump up the winds and seas along the Outer Banks.
The Weather Service has issued a high wind advisory and a high surf advisory for the area. Gale warnings are also in effect for coastal waters and the Pamlico Sound.
The high wind advisory is in effect from 11 p.m. this evening until 5 p.m. on Saturday. Winds are expected to be northeast 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 45 or 50. Winds will diminish Saturday night into Sunday, but could still gust to 35 through the period.
The high surf advisory is in effect from 11 p.m. this evening until 5 p.m. on Saturday. The increasing northeast winds will build near-shore seas to 10 feet north of Cape Hatteras. Breaking waves heights will be in the 7- to 9-foot range, resulting in some beach erosion and minor ocean overwash on east-facing beaches.
The Weather Service says that conditions will improve late Saturday evening, though elevated surf heights will continue into Sunday because of the persistent northeast winds.
There is also an enhanced threat of rip currents along the beaches this weekend into next week.
Showers are expected this afternoon into this evening when the chance for precipitation is 60 percent. The rain will quickly diminish as the front moves offshore overnight and early Saturday.
After a slight chance of a shower early Saturday morning, mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies are expected over the weekend with highs in the upper 70s.
‘Seymour,’ an agave century plant is about to bloom.
Text and photos by Connie Leinbach
One of these days soon, Seymour will suddenly bloom, bask in a short glory, then die.
Seymour is a century agave plant that began as a small plant about a foot high 20 years ago and has been thriving in Cindy Fiore’s front yard ever since.
About two months ago, Fiore noticed a stalk growing out of its center.
“Then it just shot up so fast no one could believe it,” Fiore said as she and a reporter admired its height of about 30 feet.
Every day, she checks to see if it has bloomed.
“It only blooms once, then it dies,” she explained, and blooming is imminent.
“I’m betting for the summer solstice,” she said.
“Seymour” is so named for the musical-comedy “Little Shop of Horrors” that features a human-eating plant from outer space, named Audrey II, who cries out, “Feed me!”
Cindy Fiore with Seymour outside her Middle Road home.
Seymour, however, is the male lead character who harbors the plant. One of the songs is titled “Suddenly Seymour,” and “Seymour” is what came to Fiore’s mind one day after the giant stalk had made its appearance.
The unmistakable plant is a bold sentinel in front of her house at 347 Middle Road.
Fiore has adorned its hard, spike-edge leaves with odd objects over the years. The most noticeable is a single, bejeweled woman’s sandal.
“I found it in the road and just hung it on one of the leaves in case whoever lost it came back to look for it,” she said.
As the bottom leaves wither from the outside in, Fiore has trimmed them off over the years, but that’s a delicate activity because of the plant’s razor-like edges.
“So many people see it and they don’t know it’s lethal,” she said. “You have to be super careful with these guys.”
Once, when she was trying to trim it, one of the leave’s points pierced her forehead.
“It went right through the skin to the bone,” she said. “That hurt.”
So, she and her partner Tim Fields will have to be super careful when they eventually remove Seymour.
While she’s waiting for Seymour to put on his show, Fiore continues to tend her garden that contains a variety of herbs, flowering plants and trees and decorative objects. She mused, “Gardening is one of those things you co-create with nature.”
