When John and Nancy Comstock of Wanchese received an estimate of $10,000 to install a handicap ramp at their home for John’s use, it was disheartening.

The Southern Shores Town Council has selected Charles B. Read to be the new town manager. Read has accepted the offer and will begin work for the town immediately.

To help accommodate traffic to and from Ocracoke during the bridge replacement project this winter, the NC Ferry Division has approved a schedule affecting Cedar Island, Swan Quarter, and Hatteras routes to Ocracoke.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will hold three public meetings in January to allow commercial fishermen to provide input into the management of the Pamlico Sound Gillnet Restricted Area.

With about 95 percent of the design work completed for the restoration of Bodie Island Lighthouse, supporters of the landmark felt certain that funding proposed and sheparded through the US House budget process by Rep. David Price, D-Winston-Salem, was almost a sure thing. If the money had been forthcoming, bids were expected to be let in 2008.

The Dare Education Foundation Board of Directors met on Friday, Dec. 14 and voted unanimously to accept the terms of a $2.25 million interest-free loan from the State Employees Credit Union Foundation to build 24 affordable apartment units for teachers in Dare County.

A fire at the Banks Condominiums in Kill Devil Hills resulted in extensive damage to one unit and sent a fire fighter who suffered from smoke inhalation and exhaustion to the hospital where he was treated and released.

Outgoing National Marine Fisheries Service director William Hogarth says he worries about the future of small commercial fisheries in places like North Carolina.

The Wanchese Industrial Seafood Park may, after decades of using septic tanks, finally be able in the relatively near future to treat the waste from the businesses in the park through the use of a new septic waste plant.

Monday, Dec. 10, the Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners held its monthly meeting and welcomed returning board members.