THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 10, 1996 TAG: 9604100486
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SOUTHERN SHORES LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
Miniature weather stations are going to be installed at 150 Dare and Currituck County homes in an attempt to learn about the winds of the Outer Banks.
``There's never been any real useful wind data,'' said Cay Cross of Southern Shores on Tuesday. She told the Town Council that the funds for the project are available from Blue Sky, a nonprofit program designed to help builders erect storm-resistant homes.
The council agreed to seek about $40,000 to fund the purchase of the wind data collectors. Cross said private citizens who volunteer for the program would be selected based on their proximity to the ocean at locations along the Outer Banks.
The stations will be calibrated and maintained by Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. Each volunteer will be trained in the use of the instruments, and learn how to transfer the information to the school through computers.
Cross said the stations are the size of a VCR and will be inside, hooked to an outside antenna the size of a pizza pan. If all goes well, she said, the stations will be in operation in July, before the heart of the hurricane season.
Blue Sky is funded in part by the town, in addition to state and federal agencies.
Also Tuesday, Southern Shores joined Kitty Hawk and Nags Head in agreeing to a one-year moratorium on adult establishments.
During the public hearing on the matter, a resident asked the mayor to define ``adult entertainment.''
``After a year, we'll tell you that,'' Mayor Kern Pitts replied.
Pitts said the town will use the time to study the possible impact such entertainment could have on the community and ways to deal with it. The council will seek to work with other Outer Banks towns that are researching adult establishments.
``No business, certainly, has applied to (operate in) Southern Shores,'' Cross said, ``but if one does apply, then it's a little late to say, `Gee, we should study this to see if it fits in our town.'
``We have to see what kind of parameters we will be able to set,'' she said. ``We're trying to get ahead of the horse a little bit.'' by CNB