Hello, Beacon readers!
Welcome, Beacon followers!
Some of you have sent us messages through this website or through the Beacon Facebook page, inquiring about who is on our editorial board. We just posted a response to the Who Are We? (or Who Are You?, if you prefer) inquiry on our Facebook page. The bottom line is that we would like to earn your trust and respect through our reporting, not through our identities. Our reporting will establish our credibility and reliability.
We can tell you, however, that we are a group of 10 people who represent a cross-section of the Southern Shores community. We live in Chicahauk and in the woods and dunes of Southern Shores, as well as on the beach.
Some of us own seasonal rental property. Some of us own small businesses.
Some of us have small children. Others have small grandchildren.
We come from many walks of life and are in different stages of life.
We are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents.
We are transplanted Northerners and homegrown Southerners.
The defining characteristics of our diversity could go on . . .
What unites us is that we have chosen to live in Southern Shores because we love it, and we would like to preserve its character, charm, and beauty for today and for tomorrow. We believe that in order to do that, property owners need to be informed about what’s happening in Southern Shores–from shore to shore and from north to south.
Please give us time to get established and to grow.
And, please, stay in touch.
Thank you so much.
Beacon Editorial Board, April 19, 2018
The Southern Shores Beacon 
What is the towns plan for all the cut through traffic on the weekends this summer? A few times last year when we came down on the weekends, it took us over 40 minutes to get to the Hiilcrest access (our house is on E Dogwood). Have they considered putting in a turn lane in at the Hillcrest light so the tourist can turn and the civic assoc. members can go straight through without waiting?
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Dear Jon: The only plan the town has in regard to the summer cut-through traffic is to prohibit a left turn from Hwy. 158-east on to S. Dogwood Trail during high-peak hours over the June 23-24 weekend. This is simply a trial run to see how the no-left-turn option might fare. There has been no discussion about a turn lane at the Hillcrest-Duck Road intersection. We urge you to direct your question and your comments to Mayor Tom Bennett and the Town Council at council@southernshores-nc.gov. The mayor can be reached directly at tbennett@southernshores-nc.gov. The traffic problem is not viewed as a priority by this administration, despite residents’ complaints, but there’s strength in numbers. Thank you for writing.
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Hi Ann, thanks for IDing yourself. Maybe I can help with some perspective. This looks again to be one of those “Save Southern Shores” things where all you really care about is Dogwood. That’s fine, but if you want to now claim to represent SS, you also represent the beach side. Most of you are well known in the community, and thank you for your attention, but you have also been completely absent when it came to fighting town hall for anything other than your own street. There was no help from your “Southern Shores” collective when the cell tower went up or the dredging spoils were to be dumped in our forest or the fire station almost got stuffed into a residential neighborhood. And people over here asked for your support. Or when the town went after our beach accesses to acquire the land for parking lots. Or when we have requested the speed limit on 158 be lowered. Or when they wanted to build a mini hotel. Or anything else.
Best of luck to you, but from a beach user and someone who does not live on your street, I’m pretty sure this is going to be useless over here near the ocean.
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Thank you for your comments. I take them to heart. I have a 50-year history with Southern Shores and have a stake in all of the issues that you raise. My family owns property across from the cell tower, and we did our part to discourage it, just through email, in-person communication with town officials, and contact other than Town Hall comments. I was very vocal in arguing against the mini-hotel, and, thank goodness, we had the votes to defeat it. I’m not sure we still have the votes to defeat it if it were to come up again. I could go on. Please don’t assume that the group that is behind this blog is the same as the group that you referenced. But you should know that people who were once associated with that group have been active behind the scenes and are very concerned about the beach. No one supported building the new fire station anywhere except on the current site. We used to be able to voice our opinions in committee meetings, but the mayor managed to eliminate all but one of the committees. He also engineered elimination of the second monthly meeting of the Town Council, so there is only the one Tuesday night meeting per month. Speaking of the beach, there is a looming problem now with construction on 50-sq.-ft. lots, such as you see at 103-105 Ocean Blvd. The Planning Board and the Town Council will be considering a change in the zoning ordinance that will address these small lots, and The Beacon will tell you about upcoming hearings. The Beacon is also concerned about how any beach nourishment projects will proceed in Southern Shores. Speaking personally, I have been absent from public discourse for some time because of caregiving responsibilities I have. But my roots in Southern Shores run deep. The goal of this blog is to disseminate information about what’s going on in town. I thank you for getting in touch and hope you’ll stay involved. Best wishes, Ann
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I’m hesitant to filter “tone” from news that The Beacon disseminates in your reporting, due to the fact that you chose to remain anonymous in your writing. I understand that you “would like to earn (our) trust and respect through (your) reporting, not through (your) identities.” However, in the spirit of transparency, why is there a problem here? Any other credible news reporting organization has no difficulty disclosing the names of their authors and/or board of directors: why do you?
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The following is a response that I wrote to someone else today who asked a similar question:
Thank you for your inquiry about The Beacon. So far, I am writing and editing all of the blogs that have appeared on the Beacon website, and I have identified myself in comments. I have not put my byline on the blogs because The Beacon is a group news effort, and we would like it to be perceived as such, even though most of the group is now serving in an advisory capacity, not in a hands-on editorial capacity. I am in need of reporters. We decided to publish now, ahead of our original schedule, because the Planning Board is taking up important actions that we thought town property owners should know about. There is nothing secret about The Beacon: It is a start-up news/editorial operation that is finding its way. I will be writing more later this week about the people who are involved in the operation. Best regards, Ann Sjoerdsma
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