MedAssist is offering a free over-the-counter medicine giveaway in Hyde County this month.
Ocracoke residents can submit forms to Teresa Adams at the Ocracoke liaison office in the Community Center from 9 a.m. to noon on Oct. 16 or Oct. 18. Meds will be delivered to the island.
According to medassist.org, NC MedAssist is the only statewide non-profit pharmacy in North Carolina. Through its various programs, they provide prescription and over-the-counter medications to our neighbors in need at no cost.
Although the mobile free pharmacy will be on the mainland on Oct. 20 and the flyer below is geared toward that event, see it for details on how to register to get the meds on Ocracoke.
MedAssist ofrece este mes un obsequio gratuito de medicamentos de venta libre en el condado de Hyde. Los residentes de Ocracoke pueden enviar formularios a Teresa Adams en la oficina de enlace de Ocracoke en el Centro Comunitario desde las 9 a. m. hasta el mediodía el 16 o 18 de octubre. Los medicamentos se entregarán en la isla. Según medassist.org, NC MedAssist es la única farmacia estatal sin fines de lucro en Carolina del Norte. A través de sus diversos programas, brindan medicamentos recetados y de venta libre a nuestros vecinos necesitados sin costo alguno. Aunque la farmacia móvil gratuita estará en el continente el 20 de octubre y el siguiente folleto está dirigido a ese evento, consúltelo para obtener detalles sobre cómo registrarse para obtener los medicamentos en Ocracoke.
As the NC Senior Tar Heel Legislature delegate for Hyde County, I stand in support of Ageism Awareness Day on Saturday, Oct. 7.
Ageism refers to the stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) toward others or oneself based upon age. It is pervasive in every domain of American society. Ageism harms everyone, but it particularly harms our economy. AARP estimated $850 billion in lost gains to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as a result of involuntary retirement, underemployment, and unemployment among older workers. In a 2005 article in the Journal of Social Issues Todd Nelson said, “Ageism is prejudice against our future self.”
Adults age 60+ comprise 23% of NC’s population, yet our state’s appropriations for funding for services that enable us to age with choice, at home, are less than 1% of the state budget each year. None of us want to think we could be guilty of ageism.
This year, the NC Senior Tar Heel Legislature (NCSTHL) recommended to the NC General Assembly the appropriation of $18.75 million in additional recurring funds to address critical issues facing older adults. The five recommendations of the NCSTHL were aimed to ensure that “seasoned citizens” have access to resources that enhance their lives and health outcomes across programs such as Adult Protective Services, senior centers, the state block grant supporting services such as home-delivered meals, and long-term care improvements. The NC General Assembly did not respond to the NCSTHL’s recommendations to support the needs of the growing older adult population.
It is quite concerning that issues for North Carolina’s aging population seem to have such a low priority. On Ageism Awareness Day, Oct. 7, let’s take a moment to consider how we treat older adults and how we want to be treated as we age. Let’s support the NC Senior Tar Heel Legislature and its efforts to ensure that North Carolina is not only a great place to grow up, but a great place to grow old.
— Jan Moore, Hyde County Commissioner for Swan Quarter
About the NCSTHL: The North Carolina Senior Tar Heel Legislature was created as a nonpartisan, unicameral body by the North Carolina General Assembly with the passage of Senate Bill 479 in July of 1993. Its purpose is to identify the most pressing issues facing older adults across the state and propose legislation that will improve their quality of life to the NC General Assembly. The NCSTHL is composed of delegates and alternates representing each of North Carolina’s 100 counties, supported by the Area Agency on Aging serving the state’s 16 service areas.
At a recent public meeting of government officials one of those present was talking about a news story and said, “It was one of the few times a journalist got it right.”
We are dismayed hearing this kind of bashing of newspapers and journalists because most journalists do try to get it right.
Journalism does have a rollicking history –- that includes a young Mark Twain making up outright lies about citizens on the frontier of Nevada and the muckraking newspapers of the early 20th century.
Setting aside the sensational tabloids, that kind of journalism for serious newspapers has subsided quite a bit due in part to many excellent journalism programs in colleges and universities nationwide.
Time was when aspiring journalists were taught in vibrant newsrooms, often by crusty editors, to “get the facts right,” which is something that involves constant questioning and fact checking to make sure that, yes, we got it right.
Of course, there are always two or more sides to any story, and most journalists do try to present them.
We don’t know which news outlet this official was referring to, but it may be that nowadays and for the last several years, some people don’t like to read or know “the facts.”
At a time when Americans have more media access than ever, we at the Observer do our best to get the facts right and make us a reliable source of information.
“We are inundated with stories, memes, videos and promotions 24 hours a day,” says Dean Ridings, CEO of America’s Newspapers, in honor of National Newspaper Week, Oct. 1 to 7. “Most of us are on social media, which is built to provide an endless feed of content to keep us glued to our screens. And unfortunately, misinformation is prevalent and much of that content isn’t fact-checked, verified or professionally produced.
“The result is that we’re not always shown what we need to know, or the information that is most likely to impact our lives. That’s where local newspapers come in.”
But local news outlets are becoming fewer.
According to Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media and Integrated Marketing Communications’ October 2022 State of Local News report: “Newspapers are continuing to vanish at a rapid rate. An average of more than two a week are disappearing.
“Since 2005, the country has lost more than a fourth of its newspapers (2,500) and is on track to lose a third by 2025.
“Even though the pandemic was not the catastrophic ‘extinction-level event’ some feared, the country lost more than 360 newspapers between the waning pre-pandemic months of late 2019 and the end of May 2022.
“All but 24 of those papers were weeklies, serving communities ranging in size from a few hundred people to tens of thousands. Most communities that lose a newspaper do not get a digital or print replacement. The country has 6,380 surviving papers: 1,230 dailies and 5,150 weeklies.”
The Outer Banks would seem to be an outlier from these statistics as it has several local news sources. In addition to the Ocracoke Observer, there are online The Island Free Press, The Outer Banks Voice, WOBX.com and OBX Today.
These papers are run by journalists who believe in fairness, accuracy, integrity and getting the facts right, in making a difference.
We aren’t perfect and when we make mistakes, we like to quickly correct them.
But be aware that, as Philip L. Graham, the publisher of The Washington Post said, “Journalism is the first rough draft of a history that will never be completed about a world we can never really understand.”
This is particularly true with major breaking news stories which become more accurate with subsequent updates.
The news business is exciting, and the adrenaline can flow when chasing a major event, striving for accuracy, fairness and good writing.
It’s a lifelong learning job, in which those working in it enjoy learning and illuminating both the good and the bad in society.
Whether you access the content from your local newspaper in print or online, remember that it is produced for you. And behind the articles, columns, and images is a team of local residents who are committed to making your community stronger.
Many years ago, radio was declared dead. It wasn’t. Ocracoke has its own, vibrant community radio station, WOVV (Ocracoke’s Village Voice).
Newspapers are down, but not dead.
It’s time for a resurgence for community newspapers.
Monday, Oct. 2 Hyde County Commissioners, 6 pm. Community Center and on Facebook at Hyde County Public Information.
Wednesday, Oct. 4 Deepwater Theater: “A Binding Truth” documentary film about the North Carolina history of racial divides and civil rights in the Charlotte area in 1965 and reconciliation that has been happening since then between the two hosts, will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Deepwater Theater.
Friday, Oct. 6 Ocracoke School Homecoming: Events start at 5:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students. There will be hotdogs for sale at the new concession stand (Even veggie hotdogs), plus a coed alumni basketball game and coed student volleyball game.
De Kirkpatrick and Jimmie Lee Kirkpatrick will attend the showing.
A documentary film, “A Binding Truth,” about the North Carolina history of racial divides and civil rights in the Charlotte area in 1965 and reconciliation that has been happening since then between the two hosts, will be shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday (Oct. 4) in the Deepwater Theater.
Admission is free but donations will be accepted.
Jimmie Lee Kirkpatrick and De Kirkpatrick, about whom the film was made, will attend.
In 1965, Jimmie Lee Kirkpatrick made a decision that changed history and swept him into one of North Carolina’s most volatile civil rights cases, played out at the explosive intersection of football and race.
Jimmie Lee grew up in an all-black community on the outskirts of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County. His father left the family when Jimmie Lee was 11 and he was raised by his mother and grandparents. His great-grandmother worked for a wealthy white Charlotte family as a domestic worker and a cook. It was a time when there were separate white and black drinking fountains and negative consequences for crossing societal lines.
A gifted athlete like his dad, Jimmie was a sensational running back, one of the best in North Carolina. He became deeply conflicted when a school boundary changed and presented him with a choice for his senior year: Stay with friends and teammates at all-black Second Ward High, or move to affluent, white Myers Park High, that offered many more opportunities.
Almost 50 years later, in 2013, a Charlotte Observer newspaper series told of the connections between Jimmie Lee’s undefeated 1965 football season at Myers Park, a high-stakes civil rights case filed by Julius Chambers against the Shrine Bowl – the result of Jimmie not being selected to play in the iconic all-star game – and the bombings of four civil rights leaders’ homes in Charlotte.
Jimmie Lee said then he lives in two worlds: “I see my white friends and my black friends, but never together.”
Among those who read the Observer articles was De Kirkpatrick, a forensic psychologist and a white high school classmate of Jimmie Lee’s.
The two weren’t friends at Myers Park, but, because of their last name, had jokingly called each other “cuz.” They made plans to talk for the first time in nearly 50 years.
Many of those years, Jimmie Lee was in search of his genealogy, a complicated family history, and his own identity.
In a shocking phone call, he shared with De what he had discovered – that their connection went back far further than high school, to a plantation in Mecklenburg County on the eve of the Civil War. “Your great-great-grandfather owned my great-great-great grandfather.”
This truth stunned De. Learning that his ancestors were slave owners was a life-changing moment and sparked a journey for both men at age 65.
“Put aside your guilt and I’ll put aside my anger,” Jimmie Lee said to De, “and we have a chance to learn from each other.”
Although this story is rooted in the South, it is also America’s story – one of slavery’s legacy, present-day racial divide, and the hope that by learning from each other, we can heal deep wounds that many of us have never faced.
The national test will consist of two portions: testing WEA and EAS capabilities. Both tests are scheduled to begin at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Oct. 4.
The WEA portion of the test will be directed to all consumer cell phones. This will be the third nationwide test, but the second test to all cellular devices. The test message will display in either English or in Spanish, depending on the language settings of the wireless handset.
The EAS portion of the test will be sent to radios and televisions. This will be the seventh nationwide EAS test.
FEMA and the FCC are coordinating with EAS participants, wireless providers, emergency managers and other stakeholders in preparation for this national test to minimize confusion and to maximize the public safety value of the test.
The purpose of the Oct. 4 test is to ensure that the systems continue to be effective means of warning the public about emergencies, particularly those on the national level. In case the Oct. 4 test is postponed due to widespread severe weather or other significant events, the back-up testing date is Oct. 11.
The WEA portion of the test will be initiated using FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), a centralized internet-based system administered by FEMA that enables authorities to send authenticated emergency messages to the public through multiple communications networks. The WEA test will be administered via a code sent to cell phones.
This year the EAS message will be disseminated as a Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) message via the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System-Open Platform for Emergency Networks (IPAWS-OPEN).
All wireless phones should receive the message only once. The following can be expected from the nationwide WEA test:
Beginning at approximately 2:20 p.m. ET, cell towers will broadcast the test for approximately 30 minutes. During this time, WEA-compatible wireless phones that are switched on, within range of an active cell tower, and whose wireless provider participates in WEA, should be capable of receiving the test message.
For consumers, the message that appears on their phones will read: “THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”
Phones with the main menu set to Spanish will display: “ESTA ES UNA PRUEBA del Sistema Nacional de Alerta de Emergencia. No se necesita acción.”
WEA alerts are created and sent by authorized federal, state, local, tribal and territorial government agencies through IPAWS to participating wireless providers, which deliver the alerts to compatible handsets in geo-targeted areas. To help ensure that these alerts are accessible to the entire public, including people with disabilities, the alerts are accompanied by a unique tone and vibration.
Important information about the EAS test:
The EAS portion of the test is scheduled to last approximately one minute and will be conducted with the participation of radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers and wireline video providers.
The test message will be similar to the regular monthly EAS test messages with which the public is familiar. It will state: “This is a nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System, issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, covering the United States from 14:20 to 14:50 hours ET. This is only a test. No action is required by the public.
The weekly morning bird walk begins at the NPS campground. Photo by Sam Corlis
By Lynn Ingram
Why is a willet a willet?
How fast is a ghost crab?
Who eats sea turtles?
Answers to those questions, and a buffet of others, entertained and enlightened attendees of Peter Vankevich’s Tuesday morning bird walk.
The 90-minute event might well have been billed “Amazing Ocracoke 101,” as Vankevich and volunteer park ranger Michaela Davis extolled and explained the island’s natural wonders. The Sept. 12 walk began with a description of the effects of the massive Hurricane Lee, fiercely churning way out in the Atlantic.
Despite forecasts that Lee wouldn’t hit North Carolina, she still threatened Ocracoke with severe rip currents and overwash. Ocean safety was top-of-mind that morning not only because of Lee, but also because of three water-related deaths on the Outer Banks the previous week. (None had occurred on Ocracoke.) Davis’s presentation was punctuated by a whoosh of wings, followed by Vankevich’s observation, “Cooper’s Hawk!”
All eyes searched a nearby treetop, where the bird, barely visible, perched.
Noting that several present did not have binoculars, Vankevich suggested that beginners might have more bird identification success if they hone identification skills not reliant on devices: Learn flight patterns and distinguishing marks, like the Carolina Wren’s white eye line.
Learn songs and calls of birds that frequent one’s viewing area. That will help to know when an unusual bird is present.
As the group meandered toward the beach, the aforementioned Carolina Wren burst into song. Birds, like people, Vankevich said, have accents.
The trilling of Ocracoke’s Carolina Wren varies somewhat from the melody sung by their inland kin, as does that of the Eastern Towhee. The next avian attraction, a Belted Kingfisher, whizzed quickly into and out of view, stridently voicing its rattling call.
An elegant Osprey soared overhead moments later. Ospreys frequently construct enormous nests on utility poles, Vankevich said, prompting utility companies to erect poles with nesting platforms to tempt the birds away from problematic pole-nesting. (See story, page 1.)
Where there are birds, there must be bird food.
Protecting and planting native species such as wax myrtle and yaupon holly, rather than imported exotic plants, is vital, Vankevich said.
Introduced invasive flora may choke out native plants, depriving wild creatures of both food and habitat and then humans of their delightful company.
Everything on Ocracoke—flora and fauna alike—is interconnected, he said; each element lives and thrives in concert with others.
Next, Davis pointed out gaillardia, a gold and red flower, and told the legend why they are known locally as Joe Bell flowers on Ocracoke.
Then, she noted a ghost crab hole in the sand. These transparent-bodied crabs with eyes perched comically on stems above their heads can run 10 miles an hour, she said, making them chief predators of newly hatched sea turtles, along with the ubiquitous black-headed Laughing Gulls, opossums and other mammals.
This year, Davis said, 111 turtles nested on Ocracoke, primarily loggerheads, with a few green turtles and, unusually, one leatherback with 71 successful hatchlings.
Because Hurricane Lee threatened to overwash the remaining nests, rangers were excavating those in the 50- to 60-day hatch window, to release any early hatchlings so that they don’t drown in the overwash. Rangers will rebury unhatched eggs, hoping that they’ll survive the overwash and hatch later.
A party of cavorting Willets welcomed the group upon its arrival at the beach.
A tall shorebird on stilt-like legs, the Willet stalks the tideline, poking its bill into sand in search of tasty crustaceans.
Like many other birds, Vankevich noted, the Willet is named for its call: “Will-it, will-it, will-it.”
Flying Willets are also easily identified by a pronounced white wing stripe.
On cue, providing a fitting finale to the bird walk, a Willet took flight to demonstrate.
Heather Johnson stands in front of an Osprey platform, a project she spearheaded, at NCCAT.
Text and photos by Peter Vankevich
Just off the NCCAT campus in the Pamlico Sound is a new structure.
Though it has a striking appearance, it is not a cell tower or even a modern sculpture. It is an Osprey nest platform.
Islander Heather Johnson, who works at NCCAT (North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching), came up with the idea and got approval to pursue it.
Her fascination with Ospreys goes back a way.
“In my first year working at NCCAT, I watched an osprey land on the nearby rock jetty,” she said. “It was the first time that I was aware of seeing an osprey on the island. I sat there for, like, 20 minutes and just watched it because it was just gorgeous.”
NCCAT Campus Manager Regina Boor was supportive and forwarded the suggestion to Dr. Brock Womble, NCCAT’s executive director, who agreed to the proposal.
Osprey with fish.
“NCCAT is proud be a good community partner in the recent installation of the Osprey nest platform,” he wrote in an email. “It is important to our organization to help whenever we can in Ocracoke community efforts. This project is a great addition and provides a meaningful hands-on learning opportunity as well for North Carolina teachers as we continue the work of supporting teachers while impacting students and families across North Carolina.”
This is a bird with a fascinating life history and ranks near the top for education on many levels.
Ospreys and several other species began experiencing nesting failures when DDT, a synthetic pesticide used to control mosquito populations, was made available for public sale in the United States in 1945.
The dangers of the indiscriminate use of pesticides were brought to light in the 1962 best-seller “Silent Spring,” by Rachel Carson.
For about 15 years, there were no records in North Carolina of successful nesting. A DDT ban was put in place in 1972 and as the chemicals disappeared from the environment, Ospreys and other species, including Brown Pelicans and Peregrine Falcons, began an amazing comeback.
Johnson was so impressed with her sighting because ospreys are large birds of prey, exclusively fish eaters, with wingspans of nearly six feet and body lengths of 24 inches.
Whereas Ospreys historically have selected large trees, rocky cliffs or mammal–free islands to nest, in the last 70 years or so they have used artificial sites for their nests such as channel markers, bridges, tops of utility poles and communications towers.
The Osprey nesting platform
But the most common sites these days are purpose-built nesting platforms.
Electric utility companies have installed nesting platforms for Ospreys to discourage them from nesting on power line poles.
Ospreys often mate with the same partner for life and begin nesting at age 3. Adults often return each year to nest at the same site where they were born. The large nest, called an eyrie, is made of sticks, reeds, bark, sod, grasses, vines, flotsam and jetsam.
The male delivers the materials, and the female arranges it. Nests grow larger year after year as they “renovate” each spring.
Getting the platform and location approved required the cooperation of NCCAT’s neighbors — the NC Ferry Division and U.S. Coast Guard — and a permit from the Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) program.
This was a community effort. NCCAT employee Chip Evans built the 4’x’4’ platform, which includes two perches. Darren Burrus, Erik O’Neal and David Scott Esham assembled it to the pole and placed it in the water.
The minimal recommended depth of the pole holes for these platforms is three feet. This one has a depth of 10 feet that will help it withstand the high winds and swirling water surges of major storms.
Flashing, which will serve as a predator guard, will be added to discourage minks that are frequently seen among the rocks of the jetty from attempting to grab eggs or hatchlings.
Johnson, co-author with Ann Ehringhaus of “Ocracoke A.D.,” which chronicles the emotional toll of Hurricane Dorian, is an example of how educational interest in a fascinating species can evolve.
She now photographs and observes birds more closely. Two years ago, she started a Birds of Ocracoke Facebook page that has grown to 1,400 followers and gets several postings of photos daily.
We won’t know until spring whether an osprey couple will build a nest, but in the meantime, it will serve as a safe perch for pelicans, cormorants, gulls and one of the first birds photographed on it, the Belted Kingfisher.
The beaches of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore remain open. Photo: P. Vankevich
With just hours to spare, the U.S. government avoided a shut down today that would have caused major disruptions, including shutting down the national parks, by passing a stopgap funding bill that allows the government to stay open for 45 days.
This gives the U.S. House and Senate more time to finish their funding legislation.
The House of Representatives voted 335-91 to fund the government through Nov. 17, with more Democrats than Republicans supporting it.
The Democratic-majority Senate voted 88-9 to pass the measure to avoid the federal government’s fourth partial shutdown in a decade, sending the bill to President Joe Biden, who signed it into law before the midnight deadline.
Federal agencies had already drawn up detailed plans that spelled out what services would continue and what must shut down.
