A jetty by any other name
Submitted by James on Tue, 02/23/2010 - 5:25pm
Via NCPW and the Greenville Reflector, by Scott Mooneyham. Worth a good read.
Right now, the state’s Coastal Resources Commission is considering softening the state’s ban on jetties and other hardened structures. The group, which sets coastal development policy, has received a draft report from an engineering firm and will make recommendations to the legislature in April.
The biggest push to scale back the ban is coming from the residents of Figure Eight Island, just north of Wilmington. The island’s north end, below Rich’s Inlet, has been eroding for several years.
Some residents, including former North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith and boating supply company owner Parker Overton, recently wrote a letter to try to mobilize their neighbors to support softening the ban.
The letter said that the writers don’t advocate the building of “jetties” and that opponents had circulated “misleading and erroneous claims.” The letter then refers to the main Fort Macon jetty at Beaufort Inlet as an example of a “terminal groin.” (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers documents going back 150 years refer to the “Fort Macon jetties.”)
I certainly don’t understand the science of coastal erosion. I can’t say what effect a jetty on the northern end of Figure Eight Island might have on erosion.
The language, on the other hand, would kind of be my thing.
Read the whole article
It's a good one, even though it's a sad glimpse into how mindlessly people lie to get their way. I'm hoping Dean Smith got suckered into this without really thinking it through. Lies increasingly appear to be the currency of life.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
payback time
But all the politicians want Dean Smith in a photo op for their campaigns. They sure do rally round Dean when they need him. Time for them to repay the favor. There is more political power on Figure Eight Island than in the entire General Assembly. Don't see much difference in this from Basnight's new Whalebone pier.
I know. It's maddening.
I'm still not sure it's a conscious move on his part. I have a sense that he has often loaned his name to things, trusting that the people who've asked him are honest and operating in good faith. Maybe I'm wrong.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.