Charging a toll for Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry under discussion in Raleigh By CONNIE LEINBACH By CONNIE LEINBACH By CONNIE LEINBACH Charging a toll for the Hatteras-Ocracoke ferry and raising rates for the sound ferries may be a reality before June if the North Carolina General Assembly demands it. Hyde County Manager Mazie Smith reported on this […]
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Mazie Swindell Smith is rarin’ to make a difference as Hyde County’s first female county manager. A Hyde County native, Smith, 55, began work Jan. 3, was officially named county manager Feb. 3, and loves every 12-hour day of it. Perhaps that’s because she feels her varied professional life has been preparing her for what […]
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A 17-month-old Ocracoke boy and his parents are breathing easier after the child was airlifted by a Coast Guard HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter to a Norfolk hospital on Friday, Feb. 28. Uriah Johnson, son of Mike and Amy Johnson, is home and is much improved after receiving treatment at Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters Friday […]
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Hyde County property owners should expect a tax increase in 2012, according to Interim County Manager David M. Smitherman. Smitherman made his comments when he attended the Ocracoke Civic and Business Association meeting on Nov. 10 to discuss the county budget in detail. When he became the interim manager in June, the budget was “out […]
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Continued requests by the commissioners to see financial details of the operations of Hyde County’s two ABC stores yielded a report at the Nov. 15 board meeting by Kenneth W. Chillcoat, a certified public accountant from Washington, N.C. Chillcoat’s balance sheet showed that the liquor business is about break-even. Operations show total gross income at […]
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Sound-class ferries are all repaired, but routes to and from Ocracoke are now on winter schedule The sound-class ferry Pamlico, newly repaired, arrived back on Ocracoke on Friday, Oct. 29, after undergoing extensive repairs for almost a week. Since Oct. 21, ferry runs on the Swan Quarter-Ocracoke and Cedar Island-Ocracoke routes were modified due to […]
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By CONNIE LEINBACH By CONNIE LEINBACH Anicipation had been building for weeks on Ocracoke. I hadn’t seen this much excitement among my peers for Halloween since the sixth grade. It began in August when my neighbor, Lyn Taylor, began talking about what she and her husband, Jamie, were contemplating for costumes. I had to […]
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The Hyde County commissioners voted Monday night, Oct. 18, to retain paramedic-level emergency services in Hyde County. In a 4-to-1 vote, the commissioners approved Interim County Manager David M. Smitherman’s recommendation to hire two additional full-time paramedics, which will reduce overtime and the over-reliance on part-time staffers. On staff currently are five paramedics with one […]
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By CONNIE LEINBACH Ocracoke had more paramedic-level calls in 2009-2010 than any other type of emergency call, according to figures released at a special meeting Sept. 22 about the cost of emergency medical services in Hyde County. Brian Carter and Jeff Hibbard, chief paramedics on Ocracoke and the mainland respectively, made a presentation to the […]
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Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of articles on the financial problems in the Hyde County Department of Emergency Services, which will directly affect Ocracoke in some manner. The Island Free Press will run more articles as the attempts to avert a crisis continue.) After a special work session and two public […]
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