Page 2 The Shoreline August 2007
Lightning
Strike
Continued from Page 1
proper was not accessible from that point,
as was a third section of attic on the far side
of the building. Both of these attic spaces
had become fully involved in the fire.
Teams from Atlantic Beach and Salter
Path fire imits, which had automatically
rolled in answer to the first alarm, entered
the house from the front and sought to
attack the fire
from below through the second floor
ceiling. Unable to extinquish the blaze
with that tactic, all the teams withdrew
from the house, played exterior water
streams on the building and regrouped to
give the interior tactic another try. Also on
hand were fire units from Emerald Isle.
One last route of interior attack was
decided upon and a combined team of
firefighters reentered the building and
succeeded in bringing the fire under
control. Chief Matthias had words of
praise for the firefighters from four
different departments who worked
together to successfully stop a blaze under
difficult circumstances. While the roof
was virtually destroyed, the ground floor
and second floor spaces suffered mostly
from smoke and water damage. One
upbeat note was provided by the fact that
firefighters were able to locate and retrieve
an antique guitar about which Mrs. Curtis
was particularly concerned.
Fire units remained on the scene until
11 a.m. to help with salvage efforts, and
Mr. and Mrs. Curtis reported that a
furnished condo on the island had been
made available to them. At last report Lee
Roy the cat was comfortably being cared
for by neighbors.
Police Report
The June police report shows that there
were 147 calls for service including 2
accidents, 17 assist to other agencies, 16
assist to fire/EMS, two domestic, 36 town
ordinance violations, 48 welfare checks,
two alarms and two unlocked doors.
Police Chief Culpepper was glad that
one statistic is going down; namely,
unlocked doors when house checks are
done. Citizens are being more diligent
about locking their doors.
There were 103 citations involving 121
charges for 11 driving while impaired,
23 speeding, 10 driving with suspended
license, 36 seatbelt violations, 4 drug
violations, 11 alcohol violations and 26
other; 35 warning tickets were issued.
Police did 103 residence checks and 352
business checks.
Emergency
Services
In June, there were 29 calls for service.
There were 14 EMS calls and seven
patients were transported, four of whom
required paramedic assistance.
line fire department responded to 15
calls; four calls were activated alarms,
four service calls, one water rescue, two
structure fires and four mutual aid.
If the public finds an unknown or
dangerous item on the beach, authorities
should be notified immediately.
Commissioner Danehy noted at the
BOC meeting that Fire/EMS personnel
are patrolling the beach.
Jason Baker has assumed the position of
fire marshal. Bruce Flynt has retired but
will volunteer as the safety officer.
On Friday July 20, two days after the
hit on the Curtis home, another storm
crackled through and a lightning bolt
struck the communications mast atop
town hall.
The strike knocked out phone and
internet service and disrupted the air
conditioning system. Little further
damage was done, due in part to the
fact computer systems in the building
Continued from Page 1
in the race for seats on the board of
commissioners are Bob Angle, a director
and past president of the Ocean Glen
Homeowners Association; Clark Edwards
of Carob Court, also a member of the
town planning board; Ed Erickson,
president of the Beacon's Reach Master
Association; Bruce Flynt of Oakleaf
Drive, who formerly served as the town's
interim director of emergency services,
and Charlie McBriarty, vice chairman
of the town's community appearance
commission and a member of the Beacon's
Reach Single Family Homeowners
Association Board of Directors.
Angle is a retired insurance broker
who has lived in PKS since 2000 and has
served on the Ocean Glen board for some
five years. Erickson has had a condo in
Beacon's Reach since 1980 and has served
as president of the master association there
for some lOyears. Heretired lastyearfrom
North Carolina State University where he
Emergency
Management
Three hurricane preparedness classes
were conducted and an expanded public
education program is now on 1610 AM.
Work is continuing on re-activating
the old siren system plus adding a third
siren and the electronics to activate the
system from the public safety building
for use during emergencies. The sirens are
located at town hall and the country club
and a third one will be installed across
the street from the Clamdigger Inn for
the western part of town. The siren will
be an indication to tune to 1610 AM for
complete information on the alert.
Editorial Board
Managing Editor
Bill White 726-7412
Feature Editor
Sue Christman 622-3840
Production Editor
Carolyn Rife 727-5034
Editors at Large
Dick Reeves 247-2947
Bob Ruggiero 247-7208
Carla Dowler ....808-3945
Jane Ashland 808-3661
Charlie McBriarty 726-0602
Jill Cross
Circulation Manager
Yvette Bannen 240-1528
Contributing Reporters
Yvette Bannen 240-1528
Cierra Tomaso
Barbara Milhaven 240-0678
Photographer
Kathy Foy
E-mail:
shoreline@townofpks.com
Published by
ISlu^per
3200 Wellons Blvd., New Bern,
633-1153
Town Hall Target Of Lightning Too
Two-Way Mayoral Race
had been turned off as a precautionary
measure as the storm approached.
Town employees were busy striving
to get things back to normal when town
hall opened for business the following
Monday morning. Solutions proved
harder to come by than first imagined
and most of the kinks were not ironed
out until late the next day..
taught economics and served in several
administrative posts.
Edwards has owned a home in PKS
since 1999 and retired in 2004 from the
University of Massachusetts where
he served as coordinator of the career
planning and placement program. Flynt
moved to Pine Knoll Shores 14 years ago
and has been a member of the town's
fire department since then. He formerly
ran an oil business in Forsyth County
and was fire chief of the South Fork Fire
Department in that county. Also a retired
educator, McBriarty worked in the area of
student services for more than 30 years at
the college level. He moved to PKS in 2002
after concluding his professional career
as special assistant to the president of
Youngstown State University in Ohio.
Biographical sketches of all of the
candidates will be published in the
September issue of The Shoreline.