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Requests from pet owners who want to take their dogs with them to Cape Lookout National Seashore prompted Karren C. Brown, the park's acting superintendent, to temporarily lift the ban on dogs in the park.
From July 1 to Oct. 31, dogs will be allowed in the park as long as they're kept on a leash. Owners of unrestrained dogs will be fined $100. No warning tickets will be issued, Brown said. "If this trial period is successful, it may be possible to lift the ban entirely," she said. "If it is not, then park management will seek specific legislation banning pets from Cape Lookout National Seashore."
Park officials were compelled to prohibit dogs from the seashore because few owners controlled their pets, Brown said. "Over the past several years, dogs have been running loose at the seashore -- chasing and sometimes killing wildlife, pestering visitors and their children, and often being tied to docks, boardwalks and other public access points intimidating visitors who are not necessarily dog fanciers," she said. "The dogs are not the problem. They are doing what dogs do naturally. The owners who allow their dogs to run loose are responsible for events which led to the prohibition of
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dogs from the entire seashore."
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Brown has been filling in for Bill Harris, who was relieved of his duties as the park's superintendent earlier this year after his management plan for the Shackleford Banks wild ponies angered some Carteret County residents and some of the state's most powerful politicians.
A 19-year veteran with the National Park Service, Brown came to Cape Lookout from the Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site in Hodgenville, Ky., where she was superintendent. She has worked in national parks in Texas, Arizona and Washington.
Brown grew up in San Antonio, Texas, but has been all over. She's currently unmarried and has four grown children and five grandchildren.
She says she loves to read, travel, crochet and WORK, WORK, WORK!
Brown doesn't expect a permanent superintendent to be named by Oct. 1. She is one of 50 Park Service employees who has applied for the job. "I hope it's me because I love it here," Brown said.
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The Internal Revenue Service now recognizes the Davis Island Fishing Foundation as a non-profit neighborhood association.
Davis Island is a pretty big neighborhood, but we weren't about to argue with the IRS when it made its ruling earlier this year on the club's application. The club had applied for tax exemption under a different section of the tax law, but the IRS said we qualified as a 501(c) 4, or neighborhood association.
The ruling means that the club won't have to pay income taxes and will get a greatly reduced postage rate -- hence the little bulk-mail box on the front of the
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newsletter. The ruling doesn't mean that dues, donations or the cost of raffle tickets are tax deductible. They're not.
But being relieved of paying income taxes and qualifying for cut-rate postage will amount to sizable savings each year. DIFF President Alvin Tans was largely responsible for making the application and sheparding it through the IRS. Shake his hand the next time you see him fishing on the beach. He saved us a bunch of money.
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