Head for This Story Goes Here and Fishing on the Outer Banks 30- Point

By CATHERINE KOZAK

by catherine kozak

the virginian-pilot

Whatever the virtue or sins of beach nourishment, the Outer Banks is one of the few resorts along the state’s 320-mile coast where the shoreline has not been widened by extensive replenishment projects.

Dare County has had its hat out to Washington since 2000 waiting for a $21 million appropriation to start an approved U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project. Of that proposed 14.1-mile project, most would involve building up Nags Head’s beaches.

As storm after storm has chewed up dunes, roadway and houses in South Nags Head, town officials have decided to try to go it alone in hopes the federal money will come through in the future.

The referendum election Tuesday is asking property owners to agree to pay a share of the $32 million it will take to replace the beach that has eroded away in the past 10 years. It’s considered an emergency project and won’t hinder future construction by the corps.

"The permit that has been applied for is a permit that would mesh with the federal project," said Bob Muller, the treasurer of a protectnagshead.org, a group working for passage of the referendum.

If Nags Head voters approve the $24 million bond – Dare County has agreed to pay the additional $8 million – their property taxes will be raised for five years, with oceanfront and oceanside owners in a special zone picking up the bulk of the tab. The annual cost: 5.54 cents townwide and another 32.08 cents in the special district along the beach.

Townsfolk are divided: Some think it’s essential to preserve the beach, the biggest draw in the tourist-driven economy. Others think it will ruin the natural beauty of Outer Banks beaches and probably won’t work. Others believe they’d be paying to save the oceanfront property of rich, out-of-town owners.

Up to 4.5 million cubic yards of sand will be pumped from a borrow site about 2 miles offshore into the hold of a hopper dredge. The dredge will then steam to a pump-out point where the material will be sent through a pipeline to the beach.

The material will be a mix of all the sized grains on the 10 miles of Nags Head beach, said coastal geologist Tim Kana, the president of Morehead City contractor Coastal Science & Engineering. Nature will eventually sort the grain sizes as it does now, he said, and deposit the courser grains on the north end and the finer grains on the south.

"This is extraordinarily good sand and there’s a lot of it," Kana said.

Kana said the town is seeking a permit to dredge in the summer and mitigate for turtles by running a trawler in front of the dredge. The usual dredge window from January to April is too hazardous on the Outer Banks, which has frequent nor’easters, he said. It would be nearly impossible to find any dredge company willing to do the work.

Sand will be placed on the beach in four sections, or reaches, in relation to the erosion rate. The first three reaches, by Forest Street, Islington Street and Surfside Drive, will have deposits of sand ranging from 52 cubic yards per foot to 130 cubic yards per foot. The final reach on the south end will taper into the National Park Service beach. The shoreline would advance 50 to 125 feet.

The project is expected to take four to seven months. When and where it will start has not yet been determined.

"It may do a mile to the north, a mile to the south," Kana said. "I think the key point is whichever direction it starts at, no single property will be impacted by the pumping for more than two or three days."

The erosion rate in South Nags Head, according to the state Department of Natural Resources, averages 4 feet to 6 feet per year over 50 years, or a loss of about 275,000 cubic yards per year since 1994. At Whalebone Junction, it is about 2 feet per year, and climbs steadily going south. At Surfside Drive, the erosion rate averages about 5 feet per year.

That means, Kana said, that if you’re standing at Surfside today, and then return in 10 years, the beach can be expected to have retreated about 50 feet.

Maybe. Maybe not, said Dorothea Ames, research associate in the geology department at East Carolina University.

"The average really hides the reality of a situation," she said. "That will not tell a person what they can expect in 10 years or even 20 years."

Research has shown that beaches erode and accrete at vastly different rates even during the same storm. In a study on Core Banks, for instance, one spot on the beach eroded 270 feet in one year, and another place on the same beach gained 130 feet.

People need to realize, Ames said, that the annual erosion rate is a mathematical conclusion that doesn’t reflect how the beach in front of their house will actually respond in a storm.

"The average usually never happens," she said.

In the unfunded federal project, the corps had planned to use about 8 million cubic yards to nourish the Nags Head section, with periodic renourishment planned at about three-year intervals. The beach would be designed to be 150 feet to 250 feet wide initially. After it is "adjusted" by wind and waves, it would be 50 feet wide.

So that does mean Nags Head’s project – with almost half that amount of sand – won’t last? That depends on how you look at it, said Charles "Pete" Peterson, marine science professor at UNC- Chapel Hill.

"Beach nourishment is intended to fail," he said. "What it is is a sacrificial beach." It comes down to the willingness to pay – and keep paying. "Beach nourishment is continuing to feed the monster, rather than slaying the monster."

Nourishment projects, on average, last about five years, with huge variance, Peterson said. One beach still had pipeline on it from a nourishment project when a storm wiped it all away.

After 1993′s Hurricane Emily, sand was pumped onto the beach from the Pamlico Sound to protect N.C. 12 just north of Buxton on Hatteras Island. In the early 1970s, sand from the sound was used to rebuild Buxton’s eroded beaches.

Under Federal Emergency Management Agency rules, a beach is eligible for permanent repair if it had been engineered to certain specifications and maintained with periodic re-nourishment, and it is necessary to protect improved property from an immediate threat. The federal share is typically 75 percent.

Sea-level rise is likely to require putting more material on the beach more frequently. And Outer Banks waves, as well as sediment transport from north to south, Peterson said, are the highest on the East Coast.

"So you are looking at a very unstable system and we all know that," he said. "Outer Bankers who have lived there for generations know it’s not for the meek."

But Peterson said that studies of the inlet filled after Hurricane Isabel showed that coquina clams and mole crabs have returned to the area where sand had been pumped. The key to recovery of nourished beaches is natural sand transport and compatible material – two factors in Nags Head’s favor.

Andrew Coburn, research faculty and associate director of the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at Western Carolina University, said that it’s good that Nags Head is planning to pay for the project itself, rather than taxpayers elsewhere footing the bill. But he has doubts about its success.

Intense wave action is only one of the challenges. By steepening the shoreface by nourishing, he said, the rate of erosion would only be increased.

Coburn, a former colleague of controversial anti-nourishment scientist Orrin Pilkey, said that it would make more sense to look long term and deal with the buildings rather than try to stop a migrating shoreline.

"They may be able to get away with a nourishment or two or three, but eventually, they’re going to run out of sand," he said.

"If you remove those properties proactively – prior to them becoming a hazard and a nuisance, you’re not going to have an ugly beach."

Yet, beach nourishment has been proven effective at Wrightsville Beach and Carolina Beach, where projects were first built in 1965, said Spencer Rogers, specialist in coastal processes for North Carolina Sea Grant. Funded by a room tax, the projects have been maintained successfully since 1980.

Those bigger projects provide impressive hurricane protection, unlike the small ones like Nags Head is proposing. Erosion protection is possible with smaller projects, but it’s hard to predict to what degree. At the least, he said, it would buy time.

"Sometimes, you just have to go in and see how it works," Rogers said. "We’re still in that phase in most of the state."

Nags Head’s project makes sense in light of the lack of federal funds, said Harry Simmons, president of the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association. Pine Knoll Shores, Indian Beach and Emerald Isle, he said, also decided to construct locally funded projects after county voters declined.

Despite the federal government’s stinginess with nourishment funds, Simmons said, Congress is still willing to write checks for beach restoration projects.

"I think it’s a very real possibility," he said. "It’s just a matter of staying the course."

nReach Catherine Kozak at (252) 441-1711 or cate.kozak@pilotonline.com.

WASHINGTON – ONE inch here. This ONE goes out to the ONE I love. (File under fire) This ONE goes out to the one I left behind. A simple prop to occupy my.

TWO inches here. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. A Tale of TWO Cities. It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done before. And I go to some sort of resting place.

THREE inches here. Commander, tear this ship apart until youve found those plans, and bring me the passengers; I want them alive. Apology accepted Captain Need. You can tell him yourself. Is this graf short, too, like the one before?

FOUR inches here. Happiness is a warm gun. Ive got blisters on my fingers. You say you want a revolution. The fad FOUR. In an octopus garden. Paul is dead. John. Paul. George.

FIVE inches here. Point to point point observation. Children carry reservations. Standing on the shoulders of giants . . . leaves me cold. A hundred million birds fly away. FIVE. I am the king of all I see.

SIX inches here. Spackle. Super model. Spaghetti. Syringe. Serum. Salad. Satchel. Smock. Sun-dried. Soup. Simplistic. Statistics. Sandwich. Sorry. Spider. Sinkhole. Serrated. Sample.

SEVEN inches here. Antarctica, North America, Asia, Europe, South America, Australia (Ocean) and Africa. SEVENTH Heaven. Greed, sloth, gluttony, lust, pride, envy and wrath. This graph is way too short.

EIGHT inches begins here. Octopus. Octagon. October. (August?) The Big EIGHT. Octave the octoroon. October Revolution. Crazy EIGHTS. How many English words are octosyllabic? Does anyone really care?

NINE inches starting right here. The square root of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the square roots of the two legs of a right triangle. Pi is equal to the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter.

TEN inches here. Northwestern. Ohio State. Penn State. Purdue. Wisconsin. Iowa. Illinois. Indiana. Minnesota. Michigan. Michigan State. Can you add? The people at the Big TEN apparently cant.

ELEVEN inches here. See this amp. All the numbers go up to ELEVEN. So when youre playing at ten, and you want that extra something, you can go to ELEVEN. Why not just make ten louder?

TWELVE inches here. Aries. Taurus. Scorpio. Gemini. Capricorn. Sagittarius. Aquarius. Leo. Virgo. Cancer. Pisces. Libra. They were really into that zodiac stuff on that Battle star Galaxy show.

THIRTEEN inches starting about here. The road goes ever, ever on. Why did Gallup jump? Because Fred gave him the finger. When the thrush knocks. I am Thor, King under the mountain. Does anyone really read this stuff?

FOURTEEN inches here. Ive never done this before. Youve never lied on the ground xxxx x xxxx before? No, I mean, Ive never done what were about to do before. Oh, thats OK. I lied to you too.

FIFTEEN inches. FIFTEEN birds in five fir trees. What shall we do with the funny little things? Fellowship following the foolish fighters. When all is said and done, a lot more is said than done.

SIXTEEN inches begins at this point here. SIXTEEN Candles. The Breakfast Club. Pretty in Pink. Whatever happened to Molly Ring career? And Anthony Michael Halls for that matter?

SEVENTEEN inches here. SEVENTEEN is a magazine written for fourteen year old (not necessarily those who xxxxx xxxx xxxx xxxxxx, mind you, but thats a different story.) Again, does anyone really care?

EIGHTEEN: The right of citizens of the United States who are EIGHTEEN years of age or older to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of age. I’m going to add a line to this graph.

NINETEEN inches. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. Congress shall have the power.

TWENTY inches begin here. I dont want to buy anything, sell anything or process anything. I dont want to buy anything sold or processed, sell anything bought or processed, or process.

TWENTY-ONE inches here. Gin and tonic meets rum and ginger ale. Henry Wine Private Reserve chases an Ally delight. Leslies father is a big fan of the pina colada. Surely he told you there would be other interested.

(TWENTY-TWO) The man is . . . nefarious. How about this graph has been accidentally eradicated. This may be the problem we’ve been having with short counts. Terrorists blow. They are really, really, really bad. By Lauren King

The VIRGINIAN-PILOT

ELIZABETH CITY – Drive west on Elizabeth Street and shortly before the intersection with Road Street, look to the right and imagine a sign for a boat show inside the old Elizabeth City Middle School gymnasium.

See the building teeming with people eager to pay to see the shiny new boats.

Continue past the old gymnasium and envision the next building as a community resource center.

Turn right onto Road Street, drive past the old school parking lot and watch children on Police Athletic League teams play sports on the fields.

It’s all part of a preliminary draft that Pasquotank County Commissioners Bill Trueblood, Jeff Dixon and Lloyd Griffin presented this month as a potential future for the old middle school that sits on about 8 acres.

Students were moved to a new school on Northside Road in January, leaving behind a historic building erected in the 1920s to serve as a high school. A large annex was added in the 1950s.

Problems have plagued the school, including flooding during heavy rains, peeling paint and stained ceiling tiles. Following Hurricane Isabel, the school was outfitted with a new roof. It has an up-to- date HVAC system and new windows.

"We have a feasibility study saying the school building is structurally sound," County Manager Randy Keaton told the City Council Monday.

The Elizabeth City-Pasquotank Public Schools board decided to build a new school, he said, because it would cost the same amount of money to renovate and the new building would be on land with space for future expansion.

"Really, the annex building was the only thing that needed to be torn down," Keaton told the City Council.

At Monday’s meeting, Keaton and Dixon presented the preliminary plan to the City Council with the hope that they might be interested in the idea of sharing the gymnasium and fields for programs such as those sponsored by the Parks and Recreation Department.

"It’s a very valuable resource if maintained and utilized," Keaton said.

Dixon also said the city is in need of more indoor exposition space.

"The Kermit E. White Center is booked through 2007," he said. "You can’t find a free Friday or Saturday."

Renovating the gymnasium could bring shows and sports tournaments, Dixon said.

The commissioners will continue to research ideas for the old building, but Trueblood has said he hopes the Board of Commissioners will make a decision before the summer.

In the meantime, Dixon said, the old school is being vandalized: Windows are broken, graffiti is spray-painted on the exterior walls.

Anyone with suggestions for the old school can call the county manager’s office at (252) 335-0865.

nReach Lauren King at (252) 338-2413 or lauren.king@pilotonline.com

By Lauren King

The VIRGINIAN-PILOT

ELIZABETH CITY – There was seating for more than 400 people and most of the seats inside the hangar were taken.

Most local ribbon-cutting ceremonies might draw a few high- profile political officials, but on Friday, the new DRS Technologies’ aviation maintenance facility at the Elizabeth City- Pasquotank County Regional Airport attracted U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield, North Carolina’s Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue, state Rep. Bill Owens and representatives of both U.S. senators from North Carolina.

"Look at this facility, y’all," Perdue said. "This isn’t in Raleigh or Durham . . . this is Elizabeth City."

DRS Technologies, once known as Technical and Management Services Corp., celebrated the grand opening of its new DRS Technical Services facility that helps maintain and repair the U.S. Coast Guard’s C-130s.

The former TAMSCO once operated in Elizabeth City with about 25 employees. As a result of last year’s expansion to the new 110,000- square-foot facility, the company now employs more than 200, said Jeff Berry, vice president of the company’s U.S. Coast Guard Division.

The heavy-lift, fixed-wing maintenance hangar is capable of housing four C-130 Hercules aircraft. It’s completely climate- controlled and conveniently located at the airport, and adjacent Coast Guard base.

"If you just look around," Perdue said. "This is as fine and sophisticated a facility as any facility in the United States, and it’s right here in Elizabeth City."

She said the expansion is a positive step for economic development – not only in Elizabeth City – but in the entire state.

"We are the third-biggest state with boots on the ground, but we’re the 36th-biggest state for military contracts," Perdue said.

"I would like to say thank you for investing your money in northeastern North Carolina."

The expansion received more than $1.1 million from the state – a $1 million Community Development Block Grant for infrastructure improvements and $125,000 from the One North Carolina Fund.

Surrounded by farmland, the airport in Elizabeth City may seem like an unlikely economic development center, but the DRS Technologies expansion is a first step toward a more aggressive development plan.

In February, the airport authority announced a plan to develop a $10.4 million, 65.5-acre Elizabeth City Aviation Research and Development Commerce Park across Consolidated Road from the airport.

It could result in 500 new jobs and more than $150 million in private investments, according to Wayne Perry, chairman of the regional airport authority.

Elizabeth City State University, which offers one of the few aviation science programs in North Carolina, will get 20 acres in the proposed commerce park to expand and include a research and development learning laboratory with interactive training opportunities for things such as air traffic control and flight simulations.

Development costs should be paid for with money from Elizabeth City, Pasquotank County and the airport authority, land lease revenue, and grants, according to a news release describing the project. The North Carolina Department of Commerce awarded $3.5 million for the land acquisition, master site planning and taxiway infrastructure construction.

If the commerce park is as successful as expected, officials envision a park that could eventually encompass nearly 200 acres.

nReach Lauren King at (252) 338-2413 or lauren.king@pilotonline.com.

By LINDSAY NASH

Asheville Citizen-Times

HORSE SHOE, N.C. (AP) – There are no matches or lighters. The only materials available to start a fire are primitive ones: sycamore branches, string, a rock for flint and a knife to whittle a sharp stick.

To start a fire with a bow drill is no simple task – sometimes it takes days to learn, sometimes weeks. But seeing those first sparks of orange and smelling those first wafts of willowy smoke are signs of success after a long journey.

It’s not easy. But neither is life.

It’s a common adage at Four Circles Recovery Center in Horse Shoe, a California-based Aspen Education Group wilderness therapy program that opened last August as a rehabilitation center for young substance abusers.

Using nature to nurture and heal through experiential education, Four Circles is one of a growing number of wilderness therapy programs that have experienced a sharp increase in popularity over the last decade.

There are now some 60 programs similar to Four Circles across the country, serving more than 10,000 clients a year and generating more than $60 million a year in revenue, according to research linked to the University of Idaho Wilderness Research Center.

There are at least seven similar programs in western North Carolina, something Aspen executives attribute to the state’s "long history of outdoors camping," which provides skilled campers and professionals who have the desire to help young people.

"The power of the wilderness is amazing," said Jack Kline, executive director of Four Circles, which sits on a 43-acre slice of serene land near the Pisgah National Forest in Henderson County.

"It gets people out of their comfort zone and it challenges their limited beliefs," he said.

According to the first large-scale study on wilderness therapy effectiveness, 90 percent of clients nationwide say they actively addressed their problems upon discharge.

The study, released in December by the Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare Research Cooperative at the University of Minnesota, also reports that 58 percent of clients nationwide said their problems were a great deal better upon discharge.

Kline, a former drug addict who has been clean for 24 years, saw the power of wilderness therapy early in his career.

As a counselor in Miami he watched an inner city teen with a tattoo of "No Fear" stamped on his chest shake in fright as he stood 40 feet in the air on a ropes course, a tool used in wilderness therapy. He had to be lowered from the course, and Kline saw immediately what the situation did for the teen.

"What he learned up there about himself was priceless," he said. "It would have taken me years to get him to that level of awareness that he just experienced in 15 minutes. I watched the fear on his face and saw him transform into a very subdued young man. That’s what attracted me."

Clients primarily come from across the Southeast to Four Circles, Kline said, where they are housed for their stint. They can sign in and out voluntarily, and are not confined to the center.

The therapists are all master’s or doctoral level clinicians, aided by wilderness field guides who take the clients into the outdoors. In the woods, a therapist can tell within seconds how a client is coping. Dirty campsites and unorganized equipment are telling signs.

"You can look at their shelter, stuff and know where they are emotionally," Kline said. "It’s not something you would see in a hospital setting."

The clients do a lot of hiking, climbing, ropes course programs and survival skills, said Four Circles guide Chris Peckham.

The clients must focus on the 12 steps of recovery – like submitting to a higher power and making a moral inventory of wrongs. But they also are taught wilderness skills, such as how to set traps, how to start a fire with a bow drill, how to throw spears and how to build primitive shelters.

"These are really exercises of patience," said Peckham, 26. "It’s learning how to be patient with yourself. It’s something addicts really can apply to lots of things. It’s difficult for people that are used to instant gratification to learn that you don’t always get that in life."

Greensboro resident Cortni Denny spent 74 days at Four Circles, an experience that tested and challenged her, and in the end, made her a better person.

"It was hard – the physical part," said Denny, 19, who had no prior experience in the outdoors.

She had led a life of drugs and alcohol, taking whatever she could get her hands on-a problem that "controlled my life since I was 15." She credits most of her success to a therapist at Four Circles who became a role model. But the wilderness aspect, while difficult, also added an element.

"The wilderness part irritated me," she admits. "But it made me appreciate things I took for granted. And it helped me with communication skills and patience."

Denny now holds a steady job and has improved relationships with her family, thanks to Four Circle’s emphasis on family involvement.

"I’ve achieved a lot more in the past couple months since I’ve been out than the past couple of years," she said. "I have a stronger relationship with everyone around me."

While outdoor therapy has proven results, it is an expensive road to recovery. The first six weeks of treatment at Four Circles is about $20,000. The average stay is about twice that long. Some insurance plans cover the costs, some don’t.

Though expensive, the natural setting has proven to be successful, said Mark Hobbins, senior vice president for Aspen Education Group, Four Circle’s parent company, which owns 35 programs in 12 states.

"The environment gives (clients) a dignified way of addressing the very serious issues of substance abuse and other emotional issues," Hobbins said. "Most of us are experiential learners – we learn better when we are doing," he said.

It can be difficult for clients to see the benefits of building a fire from crude materials as they rub sycamore sticks back and forth, waiting for friction to do its work. But the skill is about having patience and implementing a plan, said Josh Gunalda, the program manager at Four Circles.

"I know from personal experience that bow drilling is a super challenging thing," he said.

"If you trace back through this process, it’s amazing the amount of patience packed into this one skill," he said. "It’s such a great example of perseverance."

—

Information from: The Asheville Citizen-Times, http:// www.citizen-times.com

HOW TO REACH US

To subscribe to The Virginian-Pilot, call (252) 338-8123 in Elizabeth City and (252) 441-3628 on the Outer Banks.

To submit a news item or story suggestion, call (252) 338-2590 in Elizabeth City and (252) 441-1620 on the Outer Banks.

For advertising, call (252) 338-1872 in Elizabeth City and (252) 441-1620 on the Outer Banks.

By IEVA M. AUGSTUMS

AP Business Writer

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – A landmark Wild West theme park nestled in the mountains of western North Carolina will remain open through 2010, despite skyrocketing land prices that threatened to shutter its doors.

The Tweetsie Railroad theme park was up against a 2007 deadline to renew land leases or close, but owners negotiated deals so the family-run park could operate for at least a few more years at its current location in Blowing Rock. The park will celebrate its 50th season of entertaining families when it opens May 4.

"It’s been a long battle, and it’s just one more step toward a final resolution," park general manager Chris Robbins said. "We have a little sigh of relief, but we still have a long way to go."

The popular mountain attraction is one of a handful of theme parks surviving from the pre-Disney era, when such attractions were mostly family-operated. But Tweetsie faced an uncertain future two years ago, as its current land leases were set to expire at the end of this year.

Since its opening in 1957, much of the park has been on land just south of Boone that was leased by Robbins’ father and two uncles. With land prices soaring in Watauga County in recent years, it was unclear whether Robbins and his immediate family would be able to negotiate a renewal of the leases on the two parcels of land they do not own.

"Trying to get some commonality with both groups was the hardest part," said Robbins, who in 2005 turned to two consulting companies that helped the family-owned park plan for all contingencies, including a possible relocation.

While moving the vast theme park with its live shows, animal park, amusement rides and its main attraction and namesake – an historic steam locomotive called Tweetsie No. 12 – isn’t ideal, it’s better than shutting down, Robbins said.

The park has identified and secured a site in neighboring Wilkes County for possible relocation if additional long-term agreements on the current leases don’t work out.

"We’ll move the park if we have to," Robbins said. "Tweetsie just has this emotional attachment in North Carolina, for the young and old."

Tweetsie will welcome around 250,000 visitors this year. The park has added three carnival rides and one pirate-theme dark ride, and plans to have several special events throughout the season.

The park also has real historical roots in the mountains. Tweetsie No. 12, one of two steam engines used on the excursion railroad, is the last surviving engine from the 50-mile, narrow- gauge Eastern Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad that ran through the mountains from Boone to Johnson City, Tenn., beginning in the late 19th century.

Locals named the train the "Tweetsie," after the shrill steam whistles that echoed through the hills.

—

If You Go…

DIRECTIONS: On U.S. 321 between Boone and Blowing Rock, N.C. From the Blue Ridge Parkway, exit at mile post 291.

OPEN: Friday through Sunday, May 4-May 20; daily, May 25-Aug. 26; Friday through Sunday (plus Labor Day), Aug. 31-Nov. 4.

ADMISSION: Adults, $29; children 3-12, $21; ages 2 and under, free.

CONTACT: 800-526-5740; www.tweetsie.com

(c) 2007 Virginian – Pilot. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.