Seventy Years Ago In The Pacific: August 27, 1943 At Nukufetau

Marines (2d Airdrome Battalion) and Seabees (16th Construction Battalion) occupy the atoll at Nukufetau. The purpose is to set up an air base to support offensive operations later in the year against the Gilbert and Marshall Islands. Army troops (RCT 172 of 43d Infantry Division) land on Arundel Island, Solomons, for the same purpose. 

Nukufetau (178.375E 8.064S) is an atoll in the Ellice Islands group northwest of Funafuti. It is nine miles (14 km km) long and five miles (8 km) wide. Its reef-enclosed lagoon has just two passes on the northwest, of which the larger is Teafua Pass. Deafatule Pass  to its north is narrow and tortuous. The lagoon is too shallow for large ships. Supplies, therefore, had to be brought in by landing craft from Funafuti. The largest islet, Motolalo, was swampy and heavily vegetated.

Within a month after marines and Seabees came ashore, they had built a 3500' fighter runway (ready 9 October), and later in the month completed a 6100'  bomber runway was completed later in the month.

Things Are Hopping In Oriental The Last Few Days - Walmart is coming! Or Maybe Not

A large and growing group has formed to oppose Walmart's plan to open a Walmart Express just outside Oriental's Town Limit.

Walmart Express is a new concept, apparently targeted at small town grocery stores, pharmacies, convenience stores and gas stations. It is being tried in two states (Arkansas and North Carolina) and one large city (Chicago).

Walmart Express won't bring any new economic activity to Pamlico County or to Oriental. It will, at best, replace existing businesses, putting locally-owned stores out of business and taking the profits off to Arkansas or wherever the Walton family vault resides.

There have been some good letters to the editor posted in Town Dock: http://towndock.net/letters/letters-walmart-in-oriental

It's very difficult, but not impossible, to stand in the way of what Walmart wants.

Stand by for further developments.

Pamlico County Commissioners Go For Wind Generators

After several months worth of effort, On Monday night, Pamlico County's Board of Commissioners voted five to two to adopt the Pamlico County Wind Energy Ordinance developed by the County Planning Board. Because the vote was not unanimous, there will be another vote taken at the Board's next regular meeting.

I spoke in favor of adopting the ordinance even though I agree with Neil Jones of Kimley-Horn and Associates that the ordinance is more restrictive than necessary. That can be fixed.

Well done to the Planning Board and the County Commissioners!

Oriental Planning Board: Back To The Future

Last night's meeting of the Town's Planning Board considered a number of issues that, to long-time residents, would have seemed "old hat."

One such issue was a request by Town Manager Wyatt Cutler for the Planning Board to revisit the issue of the Growth Management Ordinance limitation on overall building footprint. Section 77 of the GMO contains a number of limits on lot coverage. What got Mr. Cutler's interest is the provision limiting the maximum footprint for a building to 5,000 square feet in zone R-2, 6,000 square feet in R-3, 6,000 square feet for residential buildings and 8,000 square feet for non-residential or mixed use buildings in MU and MU-1. Wyatt pointed out that, curiously, there is no footprint limit in our most restrictive residential area, R-1.

These numbers were hammered out about six years ago with great acrimony in a series of meetings involving many members of the public. Like every such agreement, the GMO represents a carefully-balanced set of compromises among residents with differing views.

The present Planning Board showed no great enthusiasm to take on the issue of amending this part of the GMO. In fact, when Wyatt repeated his observation that there is no limit in R-1, Board member David White suggested that maybe there should be one.

Another old issue was raised during public comment period when local resident Pat Herlands asked the Board if they were considering reexamining the desirability of conditional zoning. All five members responded that they were not planning to reconsider that.

Here is an earlier post of mine from three years ago on the conditional zoning issue.

Oriental, NC Water Board

Yesterday (Friday, August 16), the Oriental Town Board held a special meeting to discuss the state of the Town's water treatment plant and the related issue of whether to adopt an ordinance officially establishing a town water board.

One of the mysteries to me is why that should even be at issue. The state of the Town's water treatment plant is atrocious, as a number of us learned during an official tour of the plant last May 21st. There can be no doubt that the Town Board of Commissioners needs to receive independent advice on the needs of the plant. All other standing advisory boards are established by ordinance. We know how many members there are, what qualifications are sought, how long the terms of appointment, what are the functions and responsibilities of the board. Why not do the same with the Water Board?

When I sought that information five years ago, I found no ordinance at all. Only rumors that such a board once existed. That is not acceptable.

At Friday's meeting, Captain Jim Barton, United States Navy, (retired) and Oriental resident, provided a well-organized, lucid presentation on what our water plant requires and what it doesn't have. He made it abundantly clear that the plant is not operating the way it was designed, and that these deficiencies have existed for years.

Maintaining water chemistry requirements for the Town's system presented no mysteries to someone who has been responsible for boiler water chemistry of a 1200 psi steam plant. Deviations from those requirements can cause catastrophic boiler failures and loss of life. Compared to that, the challenges of operating the Town's water plant are comparatively small, but nevertheless important.

The Town Board has had in its hands for months an ordinance drafted by Commissioner Summers that would have formalized an advisory board. Some board members argued that the ordinance wasn't perfect, and board member Venturi insisted that the Town Board should meet with the apparently nonexistent water board to discuss the ordinance.

At this stage, it appears that Captain Barton will be an essential member of any Water Board that is established.

Barton explained that under present Town Manager Wyatt Cutler, improvements have already been made. Other planned near term improvements include replacing inoperative control panels with more modern and reliable equipment, as well as replacing and repairing failed control valves.

These failures would not, in my view, have happened with a proper valve maintenance program and an effective Operation and Maintenance manual.

At Friday's  meeting, the Town Board appointed a drafting committee of perhaps a half dozen members.

Good way to get nothing done.

Seventy Years Ago: Invasion Of Vella Lavella

Third Amphibious Force (Rear Admiral Theodore S. Wilkinson) lands Navy, Marine, and Army personnel at Vella Lavella, Solomons, thus by-passing enemy positions on Kolombangara, Solomons.This advanced the Solomons campaign considerably, but many naval battles were to follow.

Meanwhile, to the north, Naval task force under Commander North Pacific Force (Vice Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid) lands U.S. Army and Canadian troops at Kiska, Aleutians. They find Kiska had been evacuated by the Japanese on 28 July 1943. Only casualties in the operation occur because of accidents or friendly fire incidents.

Vegetative Waste: A Case Study

Early last week, at Oriental's Town Board meeting, Commissioner Warren Johnson presented a "show and tell" demonstration of the vegetative waste bags the Town had procured, at a cost of about $4,000.

The "show part" was to demonstrate the enormous size of the reusable bags. Johnson called on the acting Town Manager, Wyatt Cutler, to assist him in spreading one of the bags out. The bag looked to have a capacity of about 100 cubic feet. It presented a rare dramatic photo opportunity, and newspaperman Jeff Aydelette of County Compass took full advantage. Jeff's photo graced one of County Compasses' inside pages. Pamlico News also reported the story.

The "tell" part was when Commissioner Johnson described the process and the cost to the Town. He related in amazement his discovery that Town Public Works employees were delivering bags to residents on request (tying up the employee for the time it takes for delivery) and then returning to pick up the bags full of waste, including branches as large as three inches in diameter.

Since a full bag could weigh hundreds of pounds, it might require a front loader to retrieve the bag. Once retrieved, the Town would have to pay for disposal of the waste.

Members of the public had a big laugh at the description, and the Board quickly voted to suspend the program while the Acting Town Manager examined options.

While both local newspapers reported what happened during the meeting, neither reported the rest of the story - or what might be called the "back story."

The idea of vegetative waste bags was first broached by Town Manager Bob Maxbauer at the Town Board's first retreat at River Dunes in January, 2012. Only three members of the public attended that session. As presented, the bags would be obtained at very little cost, and the vegetative debris would be deposited in a Town compost heap.

The "very little cost" turned out to be around $4,000 and the compost heap was never created.

Occasionally during meetings of the current Board, Town Manager Maxbauer made seemingly hostile remarks directed at Commissioner Johnson. Perhaps he apologized afterwards. I have no way of knowing.

I don't know if there is any connection between these events and Commissioner Johnson's pointed criticism of the vegetative waste project.

Investigative journalists might want to check it out.

Seventy Years Ago: WWII In The Pacific - Bombing Kiska August 12, 1943

ALASKA (Eleventh Air Force): From Adak B-24's and B-25's fly 26 bombing, strafing, and radar and photo reconnaissance sorties over Kiska. From Amchitka P-40's, P-38's, B-24's, B-25's, and A-24s fly 70 bombing sorties over the island and are joined by B-24's, P-40's, and F-5A's flying 6 reconnaissance and photo sorties. Targets included the runway, harbor and shipping installations, army barracks, and the Rose Hill area. Lost is B-24D 42-40309.

My friend Ray Rundle, a Navy Communications Technician expert in communications intelligence then stationed on Adak, told the Army there were no more Japanese troops on the island. The Army didn't believe him. Army pilots insisted that Japanese troops remained and had fired anti aircraft weapons against Army bombing missions.

In fact, the Japanese troops had evacuated the island under cover of fog on July 28, two weeks earlier.

When the US Army invasion force stormed ashore on August fifteenth, the invaders found three dogs. US Navy Chief of Naval Operations Earnest King reported to Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox that all they found were some dogs and freshly brewed coffee. When Knox questioned the report, King responded that Japanese dogs were very clever and knew how to make coffee.

Descendants of the Japanese dogs still lived on Adak when I was stationed there twenty years later. And Ray Rundle, who had been commissioned and promoted to the rank of Navy Lieutenant, had also returned to Adak.