THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502250197
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: OCRACOKE LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
First the lifeguards left. The island's only doctor recently announced plans to move to Wilmington.
And Ocracoke residents fear that now one of the few groups left to look after the island's people may be on its way out, too.
The U.S. Coast Guard has proposed downgrading the 90-year-old small boat station in Ocracoke to a sub-unit and redistributing or reducing much of its 19-member work force.
If approved by Congress, the Coast Guard's presence on the Outer Banks island would be greatly diminished, but it won't disappear.
``It's not going away,'' Chief Petty Officer Frank Jennings of Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., said Friday. ``It'll still be open year-round on weekends. Right now, though, we're not sure of the hours for manning.''
The Small Boat Station Streamline Initiative, part of the Coast Guard's overall $3.8 billion budget proposal for Fiscal Year 1996, calls for the Ocracoke station to cut back its personnel from 19 to seven.
Six people would be reassigned to Station Hatteras Inlet in Buxton, and three others would transfer to Station Hobucken in nearby Pamlico County. Another three jobs would be eliminated through attrition, Jennings said.
The restructuring is part of a national Coast Guard plan to consolidate coastal stations and shift more manpower to busier centers.
In Ocracoke, for instance, members were involved in 74 ``cases,'' while nearby Hatteras Inlet crews responded to more than double the number of calls within the same period.
Now ready for congressional review, the proposal nationwide would save the Coast Guard $6 million by eliminating 100 jobs and shifting 450 more positions to ``high tempo stations,'' Coast Guard officials said.
It would take effect by Oct. 1, the beginning of the fiscal year.
U.S. Rep. Walter Jones Jr., who represents the 3rd Congressional District that includes Ocracoke, plans to meet with Coast Guard officials next week, a spokesman said.
``They'll be discussing the impact on the island community of about 700 people, and he hopes to get a handle on why the Coast Guard has taken this route,'' said Mike McClanahan, Jones' communications director.
Coast Guard officials explained Friday that the streamlining measure is based on a two-year study of how services are delivered nationwide.
``We are trying to match the mission needs with the resources,'' said Lt. Nona Smith, a spokeswoman for the Coast Guard's Fifth District said. ``Certainly all these areas will continue to be covered. It's just that they will be covered a little differently.''
In Ocracoke's case, the Coast Guard would continue to operate from the Outer Banks island on weekends. Station Hatteras Inlet will serve Ocracoke residents and visitors all other times.
The only other North Carolina unit scheduled for downsizing is Station Swansboro near Wrightsville Beach.
News of the possible downgrade began to spread throughout the Ocracoke community shortly after the proposal was unveiled earlier this month.
``It seems like we're losing everybody. I mean, the Coast Guard's the only people we had left to help people,'' said Sharon Ballance, who was working Friday at The Variety Store owned and operated the past 11 years by her parents.
Coast Guard families frequently patronize The Variety Store, described by Ballance as a one-stop shop for islander's grocery, hardware, fishing and tourism needs.
``The main thing that concerns me is the security of knowing they were there,'' said Bill Scott, who has managed the Anchorage Inn marina for the past four years.
Scott said he often refers boaters with navigational questions to the local Coast Guard station. He also has hired Coast Guard spouses in the past.
He also worried about response times for calls coming from the Ocracoke area, especially during the tourist season.
``Just having it open on the weekends does not benefit this area, not in the summertime,'' Scott added. ``We have just as much traffic on a Wednesday as we do on a Saturday.''
The Coast Guard currently includes 38,000 members worldwide and is part of the Department of Transportation. At one time the military branch's entire budget equaled the Department of Defense's advertising budget, Jennings said. by CNB