THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 30, 1996 TAG: 9608300707
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B01 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 61 lines
A court will rule that the historic Coast Guard station at Oregon Inlet belongs to Dare County - not to the heirs of the family that originally donated the oceanfront land to the U.S. government, legal sources said Thursday.
Raleigh lawyer John N. Fountain, who represented the heirs, and County Attorney H. Al Cole Jr. received word this week that Civil Superior Court Judge James E. Ragan III will rule in favor of Dare County in a lawsuit which went to court five months ago.
The judge has not yet signed the order. So the action is not official.
``We're preparing an order in the case now. The judge said he'll sign it,'' Cole said late Thursday from his Manteo office.
``Any plans of what we'll do with the station would be premature at this point.''
In 1897, Jessie B. Etheridge deeded 10 acres of waterfront property on a remote stretch of Hatteras Island to federal officials so they could build a lifesaving station there.
The U.S. Coast Guard abandoned that property 91 years later.
In 1992, federal officials gave that land - and the station - to Dare County.
But Etheridge's heirs said that since the government no longer was using the property for its intended purpose, the station and its land should revert to them.
Wanchese resident Philip Quidley, who owns about 80 percent of the heirs' shares in the station and land, said he plans to keep fighting to retain the property - which he hopes to sell.
``It's a long way from over,'' Quidley said Thursday of the dispute. ``We're going to wait upon the advice of our lawyers. But this isn't the end.''
Fountain said it would be premature to discuss an appeal until he receives an official copy of the judge's decision.
The lawsuit hinges on whether the federal government received a lifetime right to use the land when officials paid Etheridge $200 for the property or whether, when the Coast Guard stopped using it as a lifesaving station, the property should have been returned to Etheridge's heirs.
About 17 heirs scattered across the country initiated the property battle. At least 10 of those people have sold their potential shares to Quidley. About three years ago, Quidley hired a caretaker for the station, changed the locks on the historic building and posted ``No Trespassing'' signs around the property.
In March 1995, Cole filed an ownership title on the station and surrounding land on behalf of Dare County.
Since then, not much work has been done to preserve or repair the 11,361-square-foot station that sits just southeast of the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet. The gabled roof leaks terribly during big blows. Even the outdoor wooden cisterns have begun to crumble.
Two years ago, Dare County officials valued the Coast Guard station at $216,800 and the land at $840,000.
But the building - and property - have deteriorated considerably since then.
Last year, Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robert V. ``Bobby'' Owens, Jr. estimated that it will take at least $1 million to renovate the facility. by CNB