On Tuesdays from June 11 until Aug. 20, the nonprofit Outreach Ministries OBX serves 75 to 90 students a free weekly dinner, donated by a local restaurant or church, in space provided by Dare County. The ministry organizes a group game and has a volunteer share their testimony.

David Daniels and wife Kay have led the ministry at various locations across the Outer Banks for about 20 years.

The students arriving represent a fraction of the likely over 1,000 participating in the U.S. Department of State’s “Summer Work Travel” on the Outer Banks.

In 2023, 1,152 students lived and worked on the Outer Banks with the temporary, nonimmigrant J-1 visas — nearly half the 2,381 student participants in North Carolina, according to the State Department’s J-1 visa website. Official numbers are not finalized until the following year, so it is unclear how many students are on the Outer Banks this summer.

The Virginian-Pilot conducted 23 interviews in June and July of students, employers and volunteers who work with the students, and found concerns surrounding transportation and housing.

On July 9, David Daniels used a van to transport some students to the dinner who live too far to bike, Kay said.

Bicycles are often the only transportation for local J-1 students, she said.

“It’s so unsafe, it scares me,” she said.

Hanson Lai, a student from Taiwan, said this is his second summer on the Outer Banks. Last year, he worked as a housekeeper for the Hilton Garden Inn Outer Banks/Kitty Hawk, and this summer he is a restaurant attendant at the Ramada Inn in Kill Devil Hills.

He wanted a more interactive job to practice his English, and his bike ride to work was also a factor. Last year’s ride took him 30 minutes; this year he has a 2-minute ride.

Jenny Fan, a Taiwanese student working at the Hilton this year, said her bike ride to work is 20-30 minutes; “it’s a little far.”

According to local J-1 students, employers and volunteers, students typically pay $100 to $150 a week — generally the higher end — for a single bed in a room shared by up to five students.

Up to 16 unrelated university students sometimes live in four-bedroom houses, according to several of them.

Hugo Mendoza, 27, of Peru, is studying at the College of the Albemarle on an F-1 visa. Last year, he came to the Outer Banks as a J-1 student and lived in housing secured by then-employer Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant.

“I used to live with three Dominican guys, one guy from Costa Rica,” he said of last summer’s room of five students.

While they were “so friendly, really good environment, the problem was we have different schedules, so that one work at 5 a.m.; another arrive at 2 a.m.”

The mix of cultures among the young adults can in some cases be challenging, according to some students.

“I like the host mom, but I think it’s too crowded,” Taiwanese student Pinky Li said of her living arrangements. Five students from three countries — Taiwan, Jamaica and Macedonia — share one room this summer, and “we only have one bathroom,” she said.

Li and Fan, both 19 and housekeepers at the Hilton this year, said they were surprised to learn they’d be in a room with a total of five students and described their living situations as “kind of hard” and “a little bit hard,” respectively.

This housing arrangement has apparently been a longstanding one, according to Jodie O’Sullivan, the Hilton’s human resources manager.

“We have one host family that, she will take five females every summer,” O’Sullivan said.

The Hilton has participated in the J-1 program since 2008 and owns a three-level, four-bedroom house a few hundred yards away specifically for employee housing, with typically two to four people sharing each bedroom.

“It’s got a pool; it’s a really, really nice spot for $150 a week,” O’Sullivan said. “Then we have established host parents within the community that have hosted J-1s over the course of the years.”

Meanwhile, two students working at Basnight’s Lone Cedar Café as prep cooks said they live in Manteo within walking distance to downtown. However, the imposing Washington Baum Bridge separates them from most other area J-1 students.

Computer science majors Emin Yusuf Ciceldemir of Turkey and Javon Laing of Jamaica didn’t know each other before they became roommates.

They said their housing has two rooms, with four single beds in each. They depend on a co-worker giving them a ride to work, and they lamented the lack of other students in their early 20s in Manteo.

“Manteo is small and boring for the students,” Ciceldemir said. The Tuesday dinner is “a very nice opportunity for us.”

Three students from different countries employed by Food Lion — which has multiple locations across the Outer Banks — spoke to The Pilot on the condition of anonymity.

They said their housing is adequate, but it’s too far from the store to bike. They must depend on a shuttle that Food Lion operates.

They described the shuttle as unreliable, which affects their paychecks, they said. For a shift starting on the hour, the shuttle will regularly drop them off 20 to 50 minutes late, and the company doesn’t let them make up missed hours.

“I am not going to make what I expected to make,” one student said disappointedly.

Though one student said they could earn the same money in their home country when company-limited work hours and local food and housing costs are factored in, “I don’t regret it.”

Roommates have become “new friends. I love them.”

About an hour north of Family Recreation Park, Pastor Jim Southern of Corolla Chapel leads a J-1 outreach program that he said is like Daniels’, providing a weekly meal and a place for 40 to 60 international students in Corolla to decompress and socialize.

Southern said Harris Teeter and Food Lion — the biggest Corolla employers of J-1 students — often put four students per room in houses, so there will be 16 students in a four-bedroom and 20 in a five-bedroom.

“I have been in some that are in real disrepair,” Southern said of the houses. “Most of them are, you know, adequate and safe, but they’re the older houses that are at the end of their rental life up here.”

In the past eight or nine years of his outreach, Southern has gone before the district attorney on behalf of three students after they’d lost jobs — and, therefore, their housing — in hopes their cases could be resolved through community service before their time in the country ended.

In all three cases, the students had been in the U.S. about a week and lost their grocery store jobs after accidentally selling alcohol to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration undercover agents.

“So these students you know, it’s a second language, it’s the pressure of the line that’s behind them, it’s a number of things; and sometimes they just make mistakes,” Southern said.

The employer must follow protocol and dismiss them, but the students must find other jobs and housing, he said.

Neither Food Lion nor Harris Teeter spokespersons answered The Pilot’s questions about the living arrangements or shuttles for their J-1 students on the Outer Banks.

“Out of respect for privacy considerations and to protect proprietary information, we do not disclose specific details about their housing arrangements,” Harris Teeter Corporate Affairs Manager Paige Hamer said in an email. “Ensuring a comfortable and safe environment for all our associates remains our top priority.”

“Our associates are our number one priority, and we are connecting with them directly to learn more about these concerns and address their feedback,” Food Lion Communications Manager Leslie Rasimas said via email.

Food Lion has participated in the J-1 program for 17 years and employs 370 students in Currituck and Dare counties this summer.

Harris Teeter began participating in the J-1 program in 2006 and has 96 students at its Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills and Corolla stores this year, from countries including the Dominican Republic, Thailand, Kosovo, Romania and Taiwan, according to Hamer.

“By participating in this program, we not only meet our staffing needs during our busiest season but also foster a diverse and inclusive environment that reflects the global community we serve,” Hamer said.

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Housing crunch

Local J-1 numbers have not fully recovered from before the pandemic, and housing is a major factor, according to Jamie Banjak of the all-volunteer Outer Banks International Student Outreach Program.

“Pretty much the only people that are able to take part in the program are people that are able to offer housing to their participants,” Banjak said. “I don’t know that we’re ever going to be able to do that (get back to pre-pandemic numbers) with what’s happened to our housing market.”

Seasonal communities in other states have created dormitory-style workforce housing, but such proposed projects here have not been successful, she said.

“We have high-density vacation housing; we do not have high-density workforce housing,” Banjak said.

Patricia Pledger, who retired in 2019 from operating Pledger Palace Child Development Center in Southern Shores, said several corporate businesses approached her, seeking to use her building “illegally” for J-1 housing.

“I have always done things professionally, and I will continue to do things professionally,” Pledger said. She was willing to go through the proper channels to convert the use of her building to try to help solve a piece of the area’s workforce housing crisis — but was denied at every turn.

The Southern Shores Planning Board in a 4-1 vote and the Southern Shores Town Council in a 5-0 vote each denied her zoning text amendment application to allow “shared space-occupancy dwelling” in the Martin’s Point commercial district in May and June 2023, respectively, according to meeting minutes.

Dare County formally absorbed jurisdiction of the Martin’s Point commercial district, and then Pledger applied there.

The county planning board denied her text amendment submittals in March and May, Dare County Planning Director Noah Gillam told the Dare County Board of Commissioners at its June 3 meeting. The commissioners in a unanimous 7-0 vote denied her submittal that day.

Commissioner Danny Couch said the area was “not a suitable location” for such a project. “I don’t know what the answer is, but I don’t think Martin’s Point is.”

Commissioners Ervin Bateman and Rob Ross voiced concerns with eight students sharing a room.

“I’m trying to envision 56 unrelated, unknown folks to each other in seven rooms with eight people in each and on a piece of property about 3/4 of an acre … I have a great deal of discomfort with that,” Ross said.

Pledger later in June said the students would have access to a commercial kitchen and to several common areas within the building. Her plans included having an on-site residential supervisor. She noted that everything students would need is in a 5-mile radius, and multi-use paths make the area safe to access via bicycle.

“It is very important to me to set a standard,” Pledger said. “If I wouldn’t put my child in it, I wouldn’t put someone else’s child in (the proposed housing).”

“The Navy conducted an investigation into the events from last spring,” according to Ted Brown, co-director of media operations/installations and environmental public affairs officer. “The waste that washed ashore was confirmed to have been from USS George H.W. Bush. Appropriate action was taken as a result of the investigation and Sailors [sic] from the ship participated in cleanup efforts.”

Previously, in May 2017, “processed plastic disks” from USS Whidbey Island washed ashore on the Outer Banks, Brown said in an email. The sailors found responsible following that investigation similarly “were held accountable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.”

The 2017 event totaled approximately 860 pounds of garbage. About 43 disks were recovered, each with an average weight of 20 pounds, according to Brown.

“The Navy has very strict procedures for [the] processing of trash and waste while at sea,” Brown said.

“Plastic waste is not permitted to be released into the ocean,” he continued. “All plastic waste is separated onboard, then processed into disks which are stored onboard until they can be properly disposed of ashore.  No fuel or oil waste is permitted to be released into the ocean. Other trash (i.e. metal, paper, food waste) must be processed, and there are requirements for how far offshore the vessel must be to dispose of these trash substances. These requirements have been in place for decades.”

Aside from the Navy’s two confirmed incidents of ocean dumping impacting the Outer Banks, “I think that we have a very strong reputation and history of being extremely environmentally friendly,” Capt. Dave Hecht said in a phone call.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore reported last year that beginning on April 27, its staff and the Town of Nags Head observed “plastic, metal, paper and textile fabric debris washing up in low densities along approximately 25 miles of beaches, from Nags Head to the villages of Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo,” according to an April 30, 2023, National Park Service press release.

The park service reported the incident to the U.S. Coast Guard’s Sector North Carolina. Staff from Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, the Coast Guard, the Navy and the Town of Nags Head had been removing debris for three days at the time of the release and would continue to do so over the coming days, it said.

David Hallac, superintendent of the National Parks of Eastern North Carolina, said in a phone interview this month that staff called him at the time to report beach debris that was “all very similar—lots of flip-flops and Crocs, empty toiletry bottles like shampoo [and] food supplements like protein powder.”

Paper with “identifying marks,” Navy clothing and a Navy-issued boot clued them into the debris’ likely origin, Hallac said. The Navy “sent dozens of sailors down” to help clean up the beach once the park service got in touch with officials.

“Certainly truckloads of debris” were removed from the beach, Hallac said. His understanding was that the loose debris that washed up originated from bagged trash dumped off the ship.

“Two hundred fifty to 300 bags or sacks of trash may have been dumped over the edge of the vessel,” he said. “Presumably a lot of that sunk. A significant amount of debris did leave that ship…including things that are not normally dumped in the ocean, like plastics.”

On the north end of Hatteras Island, Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge experienced similar debris on its 12 miles of shoreline.

Staff on the beach doing nesting shorebird work last spring reported an “abundance” of plastic and trash, “almost that would be like your household waste-type plastic,” according to Dawn Washington, refuge manager for Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.

The refuge had an interim manager at the time, but records indicated items like water bottles, containers for protein shakes and powder, shampoo and other toiletry bottles, laundry detergent and cleaning product bottles washed up, she said.

Meanwhile, Roberta Thuman, town of Nags Head spokesperson, said “very little” debris washed up in Nags Head last spring from the Navy ship, and she didn’t recall any washing up from the 2017 incident.

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A larger issue with debris

Some trash can always be found on area beaches, from a variety of sources, according to both Hallac and Washington.

“You’re going to see stuff out there, either washing ashore anytime of the year or [from] people leaving it because people are allowed to be on the beach and not everybody does the right thing—pack their stuff out,” Washington said.

“We do have debris washing up every day from offshore,” Hallac said, “from a variety of land-based and marine-based sources.”

Ocean dumping for land-generated waste was common worldwide until its “harmful impacts” became more widely known in the 1970s, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s website.

The Outer Banks Surfrider Foundation partnered with several northern towns in Dare County years ago to coordinate regular beach cleanups through the Adopt-A-Beach program.

This year, for the first time, the National Park Service launched its own Adopt-a-Beach program for its 75 miles of coastline.

Washington, who became refuge manager in December, started organizing monthly beach cleanups this year. The next one is slated for Aug. 1 at 10 a.m. Interested volunteers can meet participating staff at the Pea Island refuge’s visitor center, located at 14500 N.C. 12 in Rodanthe.

Hallac encourages visitors and residents to do their part to keep beaches clean, but to call the park service if any trash isn’t immediately identifiable as safe to clean up.

“Sometimes we find things that are actually hazardous,” Hallac said. During his tenure, fuel containers, flares, “training bombs” and torpedoes have been found on the beach.

Basnight addressed the recent “evolution of misinformation” in the community about the project during his approximately hourlong presentation at a public hearing held the evening of July 10 at First Flight High School in Kill Devil Hills.

Three school administrations dating back to 2015, and “actively since 2018,” have worked toward establishing an early college in Dare County, Basnight said.

Research on early college students in North Carolina shows the benefits of these public schools, formally called cooperative innovative high schools, he said.

“They have higher ACT scores, higher attendance rates, lower suspensions, lower dropout, higher enrollment in four-year universities, are more likely to vote and less likely to be convicted of a crime during late adolescence,” Basnight said.

The early college schools’ focus is on students completing either an associate degree or a trade certification along with their high school degree, he said.

Originally, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction outlined its targeted student populations as first-generation college students, English language learners, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds, students who want an accelerated academic track, minority students and students at risk of not graduating, he said.

Those targets have been condensed into three: First-generation college-goers, students at risk of dropping out of high school and students who would benefit from accelerated learning opportunities.

“I don’t know any students who are left out of these categories,” he said. “That’s why it’s for everyone.”

The Dare County Board of Commissioners discussed the early college proposal in public meetings over several months this year and last year and was poised to vote on the project as part of its budget process on June 3.

But three Democratic county commissioner candidates spoke against the project and what they called a lack of public input on it.

Commissioners also received emails opposing the project, and they ended up voting on budget items except for the early college, choosing to wait for the board of education to schedule and hold a public hearing first.

Commissioner Ervin Bateman said during the June 3 meeting that he received 17 emails asking him to not vote on the project or to delay the vote.

“I used to belong to that entity,” Bateman said. He was registered as a Democrat until 2021, when he switched his party affiliation to Republican, according to an article in The Coastland Times.

“This is political, and that’s wrong,” he said vehemently.

Some of the emails opposing the early college, which The Pilot requested and received from the county, did come from Democratic candidates and registered Democrats. Others came from registered Republicans and independents.

About 80 people attended the July 10 public hearing, which both commissioners and school board members attended, and 14 members of the public spoke. Six public commenters expressed firm support, and eight shared concerns.

Joe Tyson, principal of First Flight High School, spoke passionately in favor of the early college. He called it “a gateway to boundless opportunities for students, [who] can earn college credits [and] invaluable skills, and develop a passion for lifelong learning — all before they even graduate high school.”

Kenny Brite, a Republican candidate for the board of education, also voiced his support. He said he’d talked to community members about it, including one Rodanthe man who said his son had registered for school with his mom’s address in Currituck County specifically so he could attend the early college in Currituck.

Aida Havel, a Democratic county commissioner candidate who spoke publicly June 3 and also emailed her concerns, said at the July 10 hearing that “there has been some suggestion that the opposition to the early college is political.”

Havel said she wanted to clearly share her concerns, noting, “I am not against the idea of early college.”

She continued, “I think it is fiscally irresponsible to build a $20 million building while not promptly taking care of what we already have; what message is that sending to our children?”

Several other speakers asked why the early college concept couldn’t be brought into the existing high schools.

“The early college program sounds wonderful for the kids that get to be a part of it,” said Jim Metzinger, a Manteo High School teacher. “Why can we not embed that model in our current high schools?”

Bobby Outten, county manager and attorney, explained toward the end of the meeting that the funding for the proposed early college, which comes from state lottery funds and “a portion of the sales tax fund,” could only be used for the construction and major repairs of school buildings.

The county cannot “redirect those resources into trying to implement the program” in existing schools because they are “capital resources,” Outten said.

He explained that the money could similarly not go toward teacher salaries, which Basnight also addressed in his presentation.

Several people who emailed concerns had been upset the proposed early college funding wasn’t directed to teacher salaries or to other school improvement projects.

“This is not an either or,” Basnight said during his presentation, stressing that needed school repairs are not being ignored.

The school system’s ongoing capital improvements plan is a plan that is constantly in flux, he explained. He also thanked commissioners for recently providing funding to raise local teachers’ salaries, and he promised to return before commissioners to ask for more.

Sylvester Demetrius Selby’s manner of death was a homicide due to a “stab wound of the anterior left chest” by a 3-inch folding pocketknife, with two gunshot wounds to the torso listed as “contributing conditions,” according to the four-page “report of investigation” by the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).

A .40-caliber handgun and a pocketknife are both listed as the “means of death” in that report.

The OCME’s autopsy report — a separate, 12-page document — lists the stab wound as Selby’s cause of death. It lists two gunshot wounds of the torso and recent cocaine and methamphetamine use as “other significant conditions.”

Selby’s family disagrees with the conclusion of the autopsy records.

“It feels like it’s planted,” Selby’s sister, Ebony Selby, said in a text message. “Because in the video we saw, he walked out of the apartment normal and speaking. He did not stop movement or breathing until the 3rd shot was fired. So none of us believe the knife wound was the cause of death.”

She said both Deputy Edward Francis Glaser III and “John Simms, the man who stabbed him [Demetrius Selby] in our families’ home…should be charged and locked up right now!”

“Deputy Glaser’s bullets killed Sylvester Demetrius Selby, not the knife,” a July 5 statement from the family’s attorneys asserted. “The body camera video of the shooting speaks for itself. The Dare County Sheriff’s Office could put this argument to rest right now by releasing it.”

While immediate family members viewed the law enforcement video footage of the incident, the Dare County Sheriff’s Office has not publicly released its video footage. In North Carolina, the media and members of the public can only obtain law enforcement video footage with a judge’s order.

The family’s and law enforcement’s accounts of the incident differ greatly.

After seeing the footage, Selby’s family filed a $5 million-plus federal lawsuit on Dec. 7 naming Glaser and Dare County Sheriff Doug Doughtie as defendants and requesting a trial by jury.

A court date has not been set for the case, nor has any ruling taken place as of press deadline, according to the online case information.

Christopher Geis, a Winston-Salem based attorney representing both Glaser and Doughtie in the case, said he filed the autopsy report with the court this week.

“Cause of death is pretty important in a wrongful death case,” Geis said.

Doughtie did not respond by press deadline to questions The Pilot sent Tuesday by email, including if there were plans to release the footage or if charges had been filed against Simms or anyone else in the case since the autopsy reported Selby’s death was a homicide by pocketknife.

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The autopsy

The autopsy details that Selby’s stab wound was 3 to 4 inches deep in the direction of “front to back with minimal right-to-left or vertical deviation” and caused six types of injuries, including to the heart and left lung.

The autopsy details injuries from three gunshot wounds, one of which is described as “penetrating” and two of which are described as “perforating.” It also lists two “graze gunshot wounds” as “additional traumatic injuries.”

Entrances and exits are listed for each of the three detailed gunshot wounds, but only one bullet was listed as recovered.

The penetrating gunshot wound was described as entering in Selby’s “left upper back” and exiting his “anterior left chest.”

Injuries from that shot included lacerations of his left lung lobes “left posterior 5th rib with fracture,” left anterior 5th rib, among others.

“Recovered: One large-caliber, deformed, copper-jacketed projectile,” the autopsy said for that gunshot wound.

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Much unknown

The OCME publicly released documents pertaining to Selby’s death on July 3, nearly nine months after the Oct. 10-dated autopsy exam took place in Greenville. A medical doctor with a different name from the medical examiner digitally signed that “the facts stated herein are correct to the best of my knowledge and belief” on the autopsy exam report April 11.

The “report of investigation” by the medical examiner was dated Oct. 7.

It is unclear why the dates differ and why two different dates are listed on the autopsy report.

The special prosecutor assigned to the case cited the autopsy in his February decision, but his statement seemed to attribute Selby’s death to Glaser’s bullets.

Glaser will not face charges for shooting Selby, Charles “Chuck” Spahos, a Cary-based prosecutor assigned to the case, announced on Feb. 21.

“Deputy Glaser was justified under North Carolina law in that it appeared that it was necessary to kill in order to save himself or others from death or great bodily harm,” Spahos said in the statement.

The same release also noted that the autopsy performed in Greenville “discovered that Mr. Selby also had a knife wound to his chest that contributed to his death.”

The only surviving witnesses of the incident were Glaser, Sgt. DuWayne Gibbs and John Simms, the resident of the trailer outside of which Selby was killed, according to the prosecutor’s release.

According to an Oct. 3 Sheriff’s Office press release, two deputies were responding to a “trespassing in progress” call when Selby “came at them with a knife.”

A deputy fired their weapon and struck the individual, who died on scene, according to the release.

In the account shared by Selby’s family’s attorneys in December, Selby was bleeding from a chest wound and “stumbling in the opposite direction” when Glaser first shot him, then was unarmed on his hands and knees the second and third times Glaser shot him.

“Deputies could see the blood dripping from Selby’s wound and the fact that he was holding a kitchen knife in one hand, in a nonthreatening manner, and an apple in the other as he was exiting the home,” according to a Dec. 8 press release from the Law Offices of Harry M. Daniels, LLC, announcing the family’s lawsuit filing.

Two knives and three .40-caliber shell casings from the deputy’s weapon were found on the scene, according to the medical examiner’s four-page investigative report.

One knife was a 4-inch kitchen knife and one was a “three-inch folding knife, which was noted to have blood on the blade,” the report said.

In the July 5 statement pushing back on the autopsy’s conclusion, the attorneys said Selby even after being stabbed was able to follow the deputy’s orders to exit the house and put his hands up.

“In fact, Mr Selby was so coherent even after Deputy Glaser shot him once, that he felt the need to shoot him two more times and it was only then that Mr. Selby died laying on the ground choking on his own blood,” the release from Daniels’ office said.

In the redacted 911 call transcript the Sheriff’s Office released Oct. 16, the caller asked for an ambulance and confirmed three times that an ambulance was needed before asking for both ambulance and police.

KILL DEVIL HILLS — First, a truism: Pack some patience if you’re going to any Outer Banks restaurant in the summer.

But on a recent Tuesday, by luck, accidental good timing or some combination of both, my partner and I scored lunch with an under-15-minute wait time at the Kill Devil Grill.

We chose lemonade and ice water for our drinks, but the full bar boasts wine, beer and innovative cocktails. A woman next to us was on vacation and was very pleased with her Black and Blue Lemonade, which involves fresh lemonade, blackberries and Stoli Blueberi vodka, according to the menu.

The restaurant is located in a rather humble-looking, dining car building — “Drinks in a dining car with friends by the beach” reads its current signboard. It was sold to new owners last summer but menu changes seem to have been slight, if any. The atmosphere remains beach chill meets Southern hospitality, with friendly, helpful staff and quick service.

We split an appetizer that I found unique among the selection: Cheese steak eggrolls.

Hear me out. It works. Three of these perfectly crunchy eggrolls filled with cheese and thin-shaved steak come with a side of chunky marinara sauce. They’re delicious.

We chose sandwiches and fries from the daily specials menu. I had the crispy fried flounder sandwich, which perfectly satisfied my palate. The flounder was flaky with a fresh-fried crisp outside, and the portion was generous.

He ordered the drum cake sandwich —“like a crabcake, but with fish,” as the server explained. He hadn’t had a fish cake in a while, and its robust flavors included a smokiness that he wasn’t expecting. We agreed that the fries were perfectly cooked.

He called it “a solid meal. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

Other lunch specials included an oyster spinach salad and a grilled tuna and grits platter.

The regular menu offers salads with land or sea protein additions, burgers and sandwiches, steaks, pasta, ribs and seafood. It’s rounded out with kid and dessert menus.

The restaurant’s cozy quarters are worth visiting, as it’s home to a talented kitchen staff offering a wide-ranging menu.

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If you go

Where: 2008 South Virginia Dare Trail, Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina

Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday

Prices: Drinks $5 to $15; food $9 to $28

Details: 252-449-8181; thekilldevilgrill.com

Corinne Saunders, csaunders@virginiamedia.com

Scott William Dawson, 63, was pushing a bicycle over Washington Baum Bridge toward Nags Head from Roanoke Island when a man driving a 2015 Jeep Wrangler struck him just before midnight on June 30, according to N.C. Highway Patrol Sgt. D.C. Pridgen.

Mark Thomas Sullivan, a 44-year-old Manteo resident, was charged in the incident with felony hit-and-run inflicting serious injury or death, misdemeanor driving with a revoked license and failure to reduce speed, an infraction, according to online court records.

Dawson was transported to the Outer Banks Hospital after being struck, but they “put him straight on the helicopter there” to Norfolk, Pridgen said.

Dawson was known to be homeless, and law enforcement did not know why he was pushing the bicycle across the bridge.

Sullivan’s felony charge remains the same in the wake of Dawson’s death, because the way the statute is written, it is the same charge whether the hit-and-run causes death or serious injury, according to Pridgen.

Officers located Sullivan around 5 a.m. on July 1 at his house, where they arrested him, Pridgen said. Sullivan told law enforcement he’d hidden the vehicle in a Colington neighborhood following the incident.

Alcohol was not determined to be a factor in the incident. Sullivan separately faces a pending DWI charge in Dare County, according to Pridgen.

Sullivan was given a $350,000 secured bond, according to online court records.

A separate fatal car crash took place on July 1 around 3 p.m. in Currituck County.

“Penske (Truck Rental) employees were driving a crossover SUV, coming to the beach from Norfolk,” as they move Penske vehicles around to the different locations, according to Pridgen.

The SUV went left of center on U.S. 158 just south of Shortcut Road, sideswiped a minivan on the passenger side, then hit a Dominion Energy truck head-on, he said. “The (Penske) passenger died on the scene of that one.”

Neither speed nor alcohol were determined to be factors, but that incident remains under investigation as of the early afternoon of July 5, according to Pridgen. No charges have been filed.

Larry Edwin Walter, 87, of Virginia Beach, was the passenger who died. He was a U.S. Navy veteran who, at the time of his death, had worked almost 22 years for Penske, according to his obituary.

Richard Mayes, 69, also of Virginia Beach, was the driver and was in critical condition at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital immediately following the incident. On Friday morning, according to the most recent update Pridgen said he received, the hospital was planning to downgrade Mayes’ condition to a “normal” room, due to improvements in his condition.

Previously, best friends and fishing buddies Janice Bateman and Frances Brinn, both 82-year-old Manteo residents, died at area hospitals following a June 27 crash on Roanoke Island near the Washington Baum Bridge.

The wind sent one blue beach canopy into the air and then into the Atlantic Ocean.

In the upstairs event room at the pier, local ocean rescue and emergency management personnel, along with a representative from the National Weather Service, gave an approximately 40-minute news conference on beach safety.

The beach canopy bungle underscored a safety tip they shared: Take belongings with you when you leave the beach. The main risk at the beach is rip currents, they said.

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Know how to escape a rip current.

Powerful currents of water moving away from shore, rip currents account for about 80% of all ocean rescues, according to the National Weather Service website. Rip currents cause an estimated 100 fatalities annually in the United States.

“Rip currents kill more people in our area than tornadoes, flooding, lightning and wind combined,” said Erik Heden, the warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Since 2000, nearly 200 rip current drownings have been recorded in North and South Carolina, according to Heden, with out-of-state residents representing about half of the deaths.

He encouraged people to check the rip current forecast at www.weather.gov/beach before heading to the beach. Information is also available on the NWS Morehead City social media pages. People living or vacationing in Dare County can sign up for county-specific alerts and forecasts that are part of its award-winning “Love the Beach, Respect the Ocean” campaign.

Anyone caught in a rip current should “relax, stay calm, float to conserve energy” and not try to swim against the current, he said. Those who are able can swim out of the current by swimming parallel to the shoreline in either direction, and those unable to should call or wave for help.

“Lifeguards locally and nationally have understood the most impacting hazards on our patrons are rip currents and what happens if you wait until the last breath,” said David Elder, ocean rescue supervisor for the town of Kill Devil Hills.

“Fifteen years ago, we locally initiated a study on rip currents to identify how to prepare for rip currents, to prevent injury and manage the hazards,” Elder said.

He explained that this effort helped establish a relationship among the local lifeguard agencies and the National Weather Service and yielded the experimental rip current forecast used today.

“Our hope is that eventually it will no longer be considered experimental,” Elder said.

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Mind the flags.

“Don’t ever get in the water if we’re flying red flags,” Heden said.

Dare County ocean rescue agencies use yellow and red flags to indicate moderate and high hazards, respectively.

Yellow flags discourage weaker swimmers from entering the ocean, and red flags discourage all swimmers from entering, according to Chad Motz, ocean rescue captain for the town of Nags Head.

Nags Head earlier this year adopted a flag system that also includes a double red flag, which indicates ocean swimming is unlawful. Ocean entry assisted by a surfboard or by a bodyboard and fins is still allowed on days when double red flags are flying.

That flag system is used at beaches nationally and internationally, according to Motz.

He also cautioned beachgoers on days without flags.

“No flag means low risk; low risk does not mean no risk,” Motz noted.

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Swim at a lifeguarded beach.

Officials urged swimming at a lifeguarded beach for added safety.

Lifeguards can provide beachgoers with all the current local information, according to Mirek Dabrowski, owner and chief lifeguard of Surf Rescue, which provides lifeguard services to the towns of Duck and Southern Shores, as well as to Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

“Just in general they have an infinite amount of wisdom and information on the Outer Banks,” Dabrowski said.

“Ask them the questions you don’t know; they’re there to help you,” Dare County Emergency Management Director Drew Pearson said.

Molly Greenwood, Hatteras Island Rescue Squad supervisor, cautioned beachgoers about shorebreak — waves that break on shore with force and can cause serious injury or death — and rogue waves.

“Rogue waves appear suddenly and unexpectedly, even on calm and small swell days,” Greenwood said.

Children are especially vulnerable to both, and she advised never turning your back to the ocean and keeping a distance from the shoreline, “especially if you’re walking with small children.”

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Be prepared.

Ben Abe, captain of water rescue for Chicamacomico Banks Volunteer Fire Department, cautioned people about “blue sky hazards” at the beach.

Sunscreen, hydration and footwear are necessary precautions for hot, sunny days, Abe said.

He encouraged taking breaks in the shade and limiting alcohol consumption on the beach, since “when you’re outside, it dehydrates you quickly.”

Abe also works as a paramedic for the county, and said he was working on the ambulance that the day prior had transported a man in Duck to the hospital with second-degree burns from walking in the sand “just long enough that it burned the soles completely off both of his feet.”

Beachgoers with diabetes or other medical conditions sometimes will not be able to feel their skin burning, Elder said. He recalled a similar case in Kill Devil Hills where a man had second-degree burns on both his feet from the sand.

“So think about the ability of the least able in your group to deal with heat, and angle everything that way,” Elder said.

Dare County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jack Scarborough, director of the 911 Communications Center, said that people should take note of their location, including which beach access or ramp they used and which direction they went after arriving. Anyone calling 911 should be prepared to answer many questions.

“Know while you’re answering those questions, it is not delaying help; there’s someone else in the room that is sending help as soon as the call comes in,” Scarborough said.

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Don’t dig it.

If you dig holes, keep them shallow and fill them in before you leave.

Digging beach holes gained recent popularity through online trends, “but that’s not necessarily a safe practice,” Mike Henry, chief ranger for Cape Hatteras National Seashore said.

Deep holes are unstable and can collapse on the people digging the holes, causing serious injury, and can also impede emergency responders and wildlife, Henry said.

He suggested not digging holes deeper than knee-deep and filling them in before leaving the area “to ensure that other people coming along can use the beach in a safe manner.”

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Clean up.

Take belongings with you when you leave the beach.

“When we leave items like chairs, umbrellas, coolers and toys on the beach we might not realize the significant impact they have,” Joe Case of Kitty Hawk Ocean Rescue said.

Unmanned beach equipment can become a tripping hazard for other beachgoers or a wind-driven projectile, Case said. It can obstruct lifeguards’ and emergency workers’ paths, potentially delaying assistance for those needing help.

Unmanned equipment can also be hazardous to wildlife, particularly sea turtles.

“Items left on the beach (overnight) can obstruct their path, making it difficult or impossible for them to reach their suitable nesting spots,” Case said.

Unattended objects can also be swept into the ocean by tides or winds, becoming marine debris that can entangle or entrap wildlife. Plastic items break down into microplastic, “which is ingested by a wide range of marine organisms, disrupting ecosystems and food chains,” Case said.

“By being responsible beachgoers, we can protect wildlife, reduce pollution and maintain the natural beauty of our coastal environment,” he said.

For more information, visit LoveTheBeachRespectTheOcean.com. To sign up for daily text messages of Dare County beach condition forecasts and alerts, text “OBXBeachConditions” to 77295.

Staff found the first leatherback nest June 19 in Avon on Hatteras Island and the second nest on Ocracoke Island one week later, on June 26, the National Park Service said in a Monday afternoon social media post.

The nest on Ocracoke Island was laid in an area prone to ocean overwash, and staff relocated it to a safer location, according to the park service post.

Female leatherbacks typically lay four to eight clutches in a season, nesting approximately every 10 days. “Given this pattern, it’s highly likely that both nests belong to the same female,” according to the post.

The sea turtle nesting season on the Outer Banks typically runs from May through September.

Last year, the park service recorded the latest-ever nest for North Carolina in the Frisco area of Hatteras Island on Dec. 3.

Four sea turtle species are known to nest on the Outer Banks, although two rarely do. Loggerhead sea turtles nest in the area by far the most frequently, followed by green turtles, records show.

Last year on the Outer Banks, only Cape Hatteras National Seashore reported any Kemp’s ridley or leatherback nests. Staff found three Kemp’s ridley nests and one leatherback nest, out of 380 total nests on the national seashore beaches.

Last year’s leatherback nest successfully hatched, according to Monday’s post.

Leatherback sea turtles are classified as endangered at both the federal and state levels, migrate over great distances and eat jellyfish, according to the post.

He declines an interview for that reason, but, eager to help, indicates as a possibility the cashier at the next checkout line, who is also from his home country.

Chahapat Siripanishpong, a 20-year-old from Bangkok, Thailand, said her nickname is Sanya.

“I have come here before with my parents, like traveling when I was young, but this is my first time doing a work and travel program,” she said.

Her family visited Los Angeles and San Francisco when she was a child — but this marks her first time coming to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She is living and working in Kill Devil Hills from May to mid-August on a J-1 Visa.

In Thailand, she’s studying to become a pharmacist or pharm tech — she hasn’t decided quite yet — but on June 7, she said she was just trying to find a second job for the summer.

Siripanishpong is one of likely over 1,000 students on the Outer Banks this summer on the short-term, nonimmigrant visas.

The students hail from many countries, spanning at least four continents, and play a crucial role bolstering the local workforce for the annual summer tourist season on the Outer Banks, according to local employers.

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Significant numbers

Official numbers are not finalized until the following year, but 1,152 students participated in the U.S. Department of State’s “Summer Work Travel” program on the Outer Banks in 2023, according to the U.S. Department of State’s J-1 Visa website.

The Outer Banks accounted for nearly half of the 2,381 J-1 student participants in North Carolina last year. Of the Outer Banks participants, 835 lived and worked in Dare County, while 317 were in the Corolla area of Currituck County.

Nags Head was Dare County’s town with the most participants, at 299, followed by Kill Devil Hills, with 187, and Kitty Hawk, with 173, according to the website.

“They leave here with a good impression of the U.S., better English, lifelong friendships, and tell everybody what a cool summer they had,” said Jamie Banjak of the all-volunteer Outer Banks International Student Outreach Program (ISOP).

The students arrive based on their university’s semester dates. Employers at Outer Banks restaurants, hotels, retail and grocery stores say the exact numbers depend on embassy situations in participants’ countries and visa denials that can be for a host of reasons, including financial.

Many participants from Jamaica, Colombia and the Dominican Republic arrived in May, and Asian students from Thailand, Taiwan and China “are already showing up,” Banjak said on June 6.

Eastern European countries tend to have later university dates, she said, meaning “peak numbers” of students coincide with the Outer Banks’ busy July 4 holiday. By the end of August, J-1 student numbers “taper down…and then pretty much most of them are going to be gone by the end of September,” as they go back to school, Banjak said.

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Employers’ perspectives

“They’re grounded,” said Karen Overbey, general manager for Awful Arthur’s Oyster Bar and Awful Arthur’s Beach Shop in Kill Devil Hills, which participated in the program last year for the first time.

Overbey said she is impressed with the students’ gratitude and graciousness and is protective of them while they are here.

As the mother of two adult children, Overbey said, “I’m going to treat them like I would hopefully have my children treated.”

Fellow employees have also taken to the students, “and they make sure that, you know, everybody’s got what they need” — be it bread, fruits or vegetables, she said.

This year’s seven J-1 employees range in age from 20 to 39 and come from four countries: Colombia, Jamaica, Croatia and Macedonia.

“Being enrolled full-time in college makes them applicable for the program,” she said.

The Hilton Garden Inn Outer Banks/Kitty Hawk opened in 2007 and began hiring J-1 student employees the following year to meet its seasonal staffing demands: “We get busy really, really fast,” said Jodie O’Sullivan, human resources manager.

“It’s the best part of my job,” O’Sullivan said of working with the student employees. “I’m their Hilton mama. They come to me for everything, and I’m happy to be there for them.”

Over its 17 years with the program, the Hilton’s J-1 numbers have generally trended upward, from 15 students requested to this year’s 28. Students work as housekeepers, dishwashers, line cooks, hosts, expo and servers — and many end up returning the following summer, having been pleased with their experience.

Their typical age range is 19 to 25, but the J-1 Visa is available through around age 50, “so we get the odd older person here and there,” she noted.

“They’re not just coming here to get a paycheck,” O’Sullivan said. “They’re coming here for the full cultural experience. They’re passionate. They want to be here, they want to work, they want to learn, they want to learn all different positions.”

She added, “Their work ethic is definitely unmatched. You can’t really teach that.”

The hotel guarantees students between 35 and 40 hours a week, but they often acquire second jobs for 10 to 20 hours a week while they’re here, she said.

“They pay a considerable amount of money to get here, so they’re all eager to get second jobs,” O’Sullivan said. “They’re definitely nonstop workers.”

When Food Lion first implemented the program — also 17 years ago — its initial program site was a store was on the Outer Banks, according to LaTonya King, Food Lion’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion, organizational development and talent acquisition.

“Food Lion is proud to participate” in the J-1 program, King said in an email response to The Pilot. “Each year, we welcome students from countries across the world and immerse them in Food Lion’s brand, strategy and culture.”

This year, Food Lion is welcoming 555 students from 12 countries, with 370 of those students employed at locations in Currituck and Dare counties, according to King.

In 2023, Food Lion employed 590 students across its locations, she said.

“Students are paid hourly, hired at entry-level and are trained in every department across our stores including Food Lion To Go, Front End, Deli/Bakery and Produce,” King said. “As part of the exchange program, we ensure students learn about local culture. Associates enjoy gathering for potlucks and celebrations that involve sharing food and cultural traditions.”

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Students’ perspectives

University students working here for the summer gushed about being so close to the beach and the kind people they’ve met. For many, the proximity to the Atlantic Ocean helped draw them to choose jobs on the Outer Banks.

“The sea is very beautiful,” said Hui Jung “Nini” Kuo, a 22-year-old from Taiwan who studies mass communication.

She said the ocean is a 15- to 20-minute drive from her home in Taiwan. But here, biking to and from work, she also really enjoys seeing the wildlife, including deer and — for the first time this year — a red fox.

“I think here, people are very friendly,” Kuo said. “I very like it here!”

Kuo returned this summer to again work as a housekeeper at the Hilton in Kitty Hawk. She said she feels her English improved from being here. As a bonus, she has a Taiwanese manager and works with several other Taiwanese students, none of whom she knew before arriving.

Shawn Thomas, 35, from Jamaica, said on June 21 he was enjoying his first time living and working on the Outer Banks. The fact the Hilton was on the oceanfront sealed his choice.

“It looked beautiful on the internet, and then when I actually came here, it was like, even better,” Thomas said.

A former police officer, Thomas said he is now studying psychology and plans to work as a counselor after graduation. He works as “kitchen back-of-the-house” at the hotel restaurant, washing dishes and doing food prep, from May 16 to Sept. 1.

“It’s very quiet,” he opined of the Outer Banks. “The people here are extremely friendly, very nice. I haven’t had any bad experiences so far.”

Thomas lives about an hour away from the ocean in Jamaica. He said while the water there is clearer, he has gone swimming “quite a few times” since he arrived, and was excited to see dolphins in the wild for his first time.

He also was enthusiastic about his recent visit to the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills: “That was awesome. I mean, airplanes, right there, invented!”

Ashley Onfroy, 22, of Jamaica, graduated last August with a degree in business management and is working at the Hilton as a yearlong intern, from this April to next April.

She had done the Summer Work Travel program in the U.S. while in college, working at an amusement park in Texas — “I hated that experience; honestly wouldn’t recommend” — and at a hotel in Maine, which she didn’t like, either.

She chose the Outer Banks because of the beach, and it seemed like somewhere she could enjoy for a year.

She’s shadowing different department leads and hopes the experience will help her launch a career in hotel management.

“I’m just hoping to see what life is like at the Hilton because I have met team members that have been here for years, and it’s so beautiful to know that you could be at one place for so long,” Onfroy said.

She has also enjoyed meeting people, both at work and around town when she’s off work.

“I have met some people that really, in a short space, they became family,” Onfroy said.

“The decision was a collaborative effort between the Dare County Board of Education’s Recruitment and Retention Committee and the Dare County Board of Commissioners,” the release said. “This initiative underscores the district’s and the county’s commitment to valuing and supporting its outstanding educators and employees; [and] recognizing their ongoing efforts to support the students in Dare County Schools.”

Commissioners recently approved a $1,631,841 increase in its local appropriation to the school system, according to the release.

Because of that, effective July 1, licensed (certified) Dare County Schools teachers will see increases of up to $2,000 annually, meaning teachers will now have local supplements between $6,000 and $8,250, according to the release.

The new teachers’ supplement scale, based on years of experience, is as follows:

● 0 – 5 Years: $6,000

● 6 – 10 Years: $6,250

● 11 – 15 Years: $6,500

● 16 – 20 Years: $6,750

● 21 – 30 Years: $7,000

● 31 – 35 Years: $8,000

● 36 and Above: $8,250

Additionally, “for the first time, full-time support staff (classified employees) will receive $1,000 annually,” the release said. “This applies to all classified employees who are currently not eligible to earn incentive pay.”

Currently, local salary supplements range from $4,000-$6,250 based on years of teaching experience and are only available to certified Dare County Schools teachers.

“I am so grateful to everyone for their efforts, hard work, and unwavering commitment to make this increase a reality,” Dare County Schools Superintendent Steve Basnight said in the release.

“We are all thrilled to be able to provide our staff with this additional compensation in acknowledgment of the tremendous job they do for the students in Dare County Schools,” Basnight continued. “As we are wrapping up a successful 2023-2024 and looking forward to the possibilities of 2024-2025, I want our staff to know that their hard work and dedication to our students is greatly appreciated and is not going unnoticed.”

While the majority of all public school staff salaries comes from state funding, individual school systems in North Carolina often choose to offer a local supplement on top of the state salaries to attract and retain staff.

This year’s state budget has not yet passed, so it is unclear what the statewide salaries will be for the upcoming school year.

However, according to the current North Carolina salary schedule, effective July 1, 2023, beginning teachers earned $39,000. The schedule tops out at $55,100 annually for teachers with 25 years or more of experience and a bachelor’s degree.

Higher pay for individual North Carolina teachers is only attainable through the National Board Certification process or for teachers who earned a master’s degree prior to 2013, when former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and the Republican-controlled General Assembly eliminated new master’s pay salary increases for teachers.