THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230356
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: 42 lines
Trying to prevent what he calls an impending disaster, state Sen. Marc Basnight wants U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms and other top state and federal officials to go to the Outer Banks and see Oregon Inlet for themselves.
``I believe the magnitude of the situation can only be fully appreciated and understood by actually viewing the inlet in its current condition,'' the Manteo Democrat, who is president pro tem of the Senate, wrote in a May 21 letter to the officials. ``If the Oregon Inlet closes, many . . . citizens will suffer irreparable harm.''
Many of those invited are Republicans, including Helms and North Carolina's other U.S. senator, Lauch Faircloth, and U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. Also invited were Martin Lancaster, who is assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, and Col. Robert J. Sperberg, the Army Corps of Engineers chief in Wilmington.
The inlet, opened by a hurricane about 150 years ago, is the only passage to the Atlantic between the Chesapeake Bay and the Hatteras Inlet. Politicians, fishermen and local business leaders have expressed repeated and increasingly desperate alarm at the rapid rate at which the inlet is shoaling.
Hopefully, if all the parties that have concerns about the inlet meet at the scene and personally see what's happening, some solution to the problem can be found, said a spokeswoman in Basnight's Raleigh office.
``The purpose of the meeting is to talk to all those folks,'' said Norma Ware, Basnight's counsel.
The Dare County Board of Commissioners recently appealed to Basnight to help the county get federal help for the problem. Ware said there is no federal money allotted for either a short-term solution, like dredging, or a long-term solution, like placement of jetties.
``It's becoming increasingly treacherous,'' she said. ``It's right dangerous.''
Basnight's office will coordinate the scheduling of the meeting, which will include helicopter tours of the inlet. Ware said the intention is that the officials themselves, and not their aides, turn out. She said the meeting hopefully will be held within six weeks. by CNB