NCDOT Poised To Ruin One Of My Favorite Historical Waterfront Towns: Beaufort, NC
Posted: Wednesday, October 26, 2011
by elle kynzer
Now, I'm not usually upset about decisions made by the North Carolina DOT, and up until yesterday I was doing fine. However, if you follow my blog, you would know that I'm toying with the idea of spending my older years near the beaches. Of course, the beach erosion and the sea rising are possible problems in the future, so I am researching those things. We usually take a trip to the ocean twice a year, but I've not been this fall. There are three areas that I love, and that's excluding Myrtle Beach, SC, these are all North Carolina waterfronts.
2. Manteo, Nags Head, Duck, and Kitty Hawk (Wright Bros), but that's not a place to live, it's a place to visit due to Hurricanes, etc. The Outer Banks operate as a barrier of protection for the inland places.
3. Bath, NC is the oldest town in North Carolina, and the former home of Blackbeard, the Pirate. He kept his ships near Beaufort, NC and his wife and family close to Bath, NC.
Yesterday, I was reading one of the Newspapers near Beaufort, NC and I came across an article that told of the plans to tear down the draw bridge in Beaufort, but not for the traffic, as is claimed. In this article, at the bottom, is an online discussion about what is really happening. There is a DRY SULPHER PLANT, which wants to locate near the docks in close proximity to the Historical District of Beaufort. If you have never been there, this historic district flows to the old downtown area where large boats and yachts can dock. It is a small town.
The birds are plentiful in Beaufort and Morehead City, that's why I go there, when I can. It's a much longer drive for us from the mountains across our state, than it is to go to Myrtle Beach, SC, which is about five hours. To Beaufort can be as much as seven, and to Manteo and the Outer Banks about the same. I can even get to Charleston, SC faster than Myrtle Beach due to the directness of Interstate 26, but that's depending on rush time in Columbia.
A Sulphur Plant might bring a few Union Jobs, but it will ruin the Waterfront due to the run-off from it. Marina's may have a few problems, but that can be monitered by taking water samples more often, and enforcing laws. A Sulphur Plant will destroy the beauty that has been preserved for over two hundred years there. There are so many other places that the sulphur plant could locate in an area away from Beaufort. We aren't talking about homes for the wealthy, these are moderate homes with reasonable prices. It's one of those unique out of the way places, that make you want to make it your home.
The pollution, and the cost in bird ecosystems will be unbelievable. Myrtle Beach has become so commercialized, there are times it's hard to find the sea gulls, cranes and other beach birds, unless you go to the landfill early in the morning. The last time I was there I saw mostly pigeons. Some sea gulls still come around, but you almost have to live there to know where they frequent, even the tide isn't a predictor of their presence any more. We need to care more about this type of destruction, which affects places we frequent, where the sea gulls, cranes and the local fish have to live. Myrtle Beach can be fun too.
If you care about this type of destructive strategical planning by State and Local officials, then I am leaving the link to read the article, and the discussion by locals, who really need outside support to protect their waterfront from being destroyed forever. If there was ever a place that needed a protest, it's 'whoever' is behind destroying the waterfronts with things like sulpher plants.
We had a town here in the mountains, that smelled like sulpher or rotten eggs for fifty years, until the employees took over the paper plant, and now you can drive through there without thinking you might smother, before getting to the other side. People need to challenge this type of thinking, because once a place like this is destroyed, it is gone forever. Yes, I am the first to say we need jobs, but where you put it is just as important, as what it will provide.
Link:
http://www.topsailvoice.com/articles/2011/10/18/news-times/news/doc4e9a015807a5b655678673.txt
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