DATE: Sunday, September 28, 1997            TAG: 9709260686

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 2    EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: Lane DeGregory 

                                            LENGTH:   38 lines

FROM THE EDITOR

THIS IS MY LAST column for The Coast.

When I took over as its editor almost 18 months ago, I planned to produce about a dozen issues over the summer of 1996 while I waited to have my first baby.

Then, when I came back from maternity leave, I wanted to keep editing the publication until we redesigned it and revamped the contents. Our staff brought you the first updated edition in time for the summer of 1997.

Now, I've produced more than 50 issues of The Coast.

And I want to go back to writing.

So starting next week, my byline will be back inside The Coast and in the daily pages of The Virginian-Pilot. I'll be out working with watermen, walking through wetlands and climbing lighthouses. Then I'll write articles about my explorations - and other issues.

Rob Morris, who is The Virginian-Pilot's North Carolina editor for the paper's daily section, now also will edit The Coast each week. It will continue to carry Chris Kidder's real estate column, Mary Ellen Riddle's art column, John Harper's entertainment column - and scores of stories by staff writers and correspondents. The calendar, music listings and other features will remain.

For our cover story in this week's edition, Steve Stone took off in an antique biplane. He soared over the Outer Banks, watched dolphin leap in the ocean and spotted small islands hidden along the sound's shores. He gained a new appreciation for how thin and fragile these coastal communities really are - a perspective only enjoyed from above.

Dave McCarter, our resident swinger, took a crack at being in the big leagues. He and some friends bombarded the batting cages at Diamond Shoals Family Fun Park with fly balls. They were thrown by slow-pitch softball machines, though. So Dave gave up his dreams of making it to the majors. He wrote about finally getting to bat for this week's ``Fun in the Sun'' feature.

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