
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 13, 1991                   TAG: 9102130163
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WANCHESE, N.C.                                LENGTH: Short

N.C. ISLANDERS CHEER REOPENING OF BRIDGE

About 30 chilled Hatteras Island residents joined state and local officials on the newly repaired Herbert C. Bonner Bridge at sunset Tuesday, 110 days after a dredge slammed into it during an October gale.

"Now, we appreciate what we had," said Sandra Swanner, who works at a craft shop at Rodanthe, a village on Hatteras Island.

"Now we need to let everyone know they can come back," said restaurateur Emily Landrum.

The two women had walked about two miles from the southern end of the bridge to the point where a dredge crashed into the bridge and toppled a 369-foot section.

The dredge broke loose from its moorings Oct. 26. It slammed into the pilings of the 2 1/2-mile bridge. Only the brisk winds at the ceremony Tuesday served as a reminder of the stormy night when the residents of Hatteras and Ocracoke islands were stranded from their jobs, and tourists were temporarily stuck on the Outer Banks.

by CNB