OBX Alert

Dec. 9, 2008

ECU’s Skip Holtz playing it cozy
Says he's undecided about Syracuse
But it seems pretty clear the Pirates’ football coach wants to move on. Earlier this week he said he was “in the beginning stages of exploring what else is out there.” The latest from Greenville...

Emanuel Davis Named To All-Freshman Squad
IRVING, Texas - East Carolina's Emanuel Davis became the 11th Pirate in the last three years to be named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team Tuesday afternoon, as selected by the league's 12 head coaches.

The former Manteo High School star has played in 12 games with four starts this year and currently leads the team in pass breakups (7), while sharing the team lead in interceptions (four). He was named C-USA Defensive Player-of-the-Week on Nov. 10 after picking off a career-best two passes against Marshall (11/8). Davis recorded interceptions in back-to-back contests (UCF and Marshall) and on his first career interception scored from 11 yards out against Houston.

Obituary: ‘Lost Colony’ patron Emma Neal Morrison

Dare County attorney Bobby Outten to become county manager July 1
The decision was made by county commissioners during a closed session on personnel matters at their Dec. 1 reorganization meeting. Robert L. Outten (left) of Southern Shores, better known locally as Bobby, will succeed longtime county manager Terry Wheeler when he retires, July 30 of next year.

No salary or other details were announced. But on Dec. 1 of last year he became county attorney as well as assistant county manager at $225,000 a year. Prior to that, Outten was interim county attorney, an expert on local government who in addition to his private practice also served as town attorney for both Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk.

Limping along ever slowly: Beach driving negotiations
The National Park Service, which was faulted by a federal judge for not establishing rules for off-road vehicles on Cape Hatteras National Seashore, has announced a ninth series of meetings with the public Thursday and Friday. The so-called negotiating sessions will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills.

The lack of established regulations led to a suit by environmentalists against the Park Service and, eventually, last summer’s settlement (consent decree), agreed to by Dare and Hyde county commissioners as well as the Park Service, that resulted in new ORV restrictions and beach closures for the protection of shorebirds and sea turtles.

Shipwreck divers worry protected area will be expanded
An Ocracoke diver says the limits placed on beach driving at Cape Hatteras National Seashore have undermined trust in dealings with the federal government. “Recently,” he said, “we found to our dismay that despite any kind guarantees, there are no guarantees." More...

‘Property insurance disaster’ predicted if Beach Plan isn’t fixed
Insurers want 50% rate increases for Outer Banks homeowners, a 19.5% hike statewide
“The sky is falling,” cried Chicken Little on hearing the latest warning that a hurricane such as Isabel (2003) “could result in higher insurance costs for nearly all North Carolina residents, massive withdrawal of insurance companies from the North Carolina market, and fiscal turmoil throughout the state.”

The prediction came from the usually conservative John Locke Foundation as a special committee of General Assembly House and Senate members held its first public meeting in Raleigh Tuesday on how to fix the under funded Beach Plan, described as a “ticking time bomb” by incoming state Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin.

Insurance companies recommended that Beach Plan rates be raised as much as 50 percent or more for Outer Banks homeowners; also that homeowner rates throughout the state be raised an average of 19.5 percent.

Those increases will be formally requested on Monday. As it is, Beach Plan rates are already scheduled to increase about 9 percent in February. More...

Not just any old bottle...
This one, with a message in it, was tossed off the Jersey shore 39 years ago and eventually washed up at Corolla. It was recently found stuck in the sand by a vacationer from Pennsylvania who was out walking the beach with his 3-year-old daughter. The story...

Slammin’ Sammy’s last night
That was the last Sunday of November when the popular Nags Head sports bar that featured 43 TVs tuned to the games of the day closed its doors for the final time. For the last time at its present location anyway.

Sammy and fellow investors have sold their Nags Head building to Dirty Dick’s Crab House, which will move from its current location in Kill Devil Hills.

And what about all those TV sets at Sammy’s ─ the pool tables, shuffle board, dart board, the pictures on the walls and the laminated bar with a history of its own? They will be preserved. We’re told Sammy’s will probably reopen at another location in the future, “not tomorrow or this year, but eventually.”

Two ambitious politicians cost state major role in recovering $18 million
That is the amount a federal judge says North Carolina has at stake in attempting to recover money on behalf of 820,000 pensioners in the suit against failed mortgage backer Freddie Mac. But squabbling in Raleigh has been costly.

The culprits: state Treasurer Richard Moore and state Attorney General Roy Cooper, who have continually jostled one another for ‘face time’ in their quests for recognition and higher office. The story...

Dare County home sales hit new low, foreclosures now total 170
Kill Devil Hills, Kitty Hawk had the most new ones
The nation’s ailing economy continues to impact Dare County as evidenced by foreclosures and also home sales, which slowed to barely a trickle during the past week. “We hit an all time low again,” reported Mike Ross of Southern Shores Realty.

And he wasn’t just speaking about that company’s sales.

Of 2,814 properties in Multiple Listings (excluding Hatteras Island and the Dare mainland), only 135 were under contract. That’s a sales ratio of 4.7%. “A healthy market,” Ross said, “should be 25 to 35%.”

During the recent real estate boom years on the Outer Banks, the ratio rose to 50& or more “and that’s unhealthy,” Ross added. “It makes prices shoot up. Right now, prices are about where they were in 2003.”

Supply and demand account for that. Further, Ross noted, more foreclosures at discounted prices are “coming on the market, including high-priced properties on the soundside and Martins Point.”

In August of this year, a new North Carolina law was enacted giving property owners 45-day notice before proceedings can begin. Still, Dare County had 36 foreclosures last month, according to RealtyTrac, a national service that promotes the purchase of foreclosed properties at discounted prices.

Kill Devil Hills suffered the most foreclosures in October, 12 (including a $760,000 home), followed by Kitty Hawk (10), Manteo (8), Nags Head (4) and Waves on Hatteras Island with two.

RealtyTrac, in its most recent report, listed 170 foreclosed properties in Dare County, 144 of them bank owned. Currituck County had 173, 72 of them bank-owned. But Currituck had only one new foreclosure in October, a property in the Grandy area.

Home sales throughout North Carolina declined 29 percent during the month of October compared to a year ago and are now down 25 percent for the year, according to the North Carolina Association of Realtors.

Things to See and Do:
* Now thru Dec. 29: The Christmas Show, presented in Kitty Hawk by The Outer Banks Musical Showcase. Call for tickets: 252-261-7505
* Sunday, Dec. 14 - at the Dare County Regional Airport: the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation’s restored aircraft, The Spirit of Freedom. The plane that flew between the divided sections of Berlin during the Cold War of the 1950s will make exhibition flights and be open to the public. 2 p.m. on: reenactment of candy drops to children in East Berlin; Santa will arrive and greet local children.
* Monday and Tuesday, Dec. 15-16: The Spirit on public display.

Avalon Fishing Pier Reports
Cape Hatteras Fishing Reports
Oregon Inlet Fishing Reports
Golf Courses, Conditions
N.C. Lottery Results

Links:
Currituck County
Dare County
- Animal Shelter and Adoptable Pets
- Confederate Fortification Markers
- Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum
- Lighthouses
- N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island
Hyde County
N.C. Fishing and Hunting Licenses
OBX Alert documents
Outer Banks Free Press
Outer Banks History Center
Outer Banks Marinas
Topix - Kill Devil Hills

Email us news tips, your comments and photos of interest.
Thanks, The Editor

Dec. 10, 2008