Michael Halminsla 



Lifelong 

 Lessons: 



Coastal Themes Resonate 



By Katie Mosher 



G 



'rowing up on the Outer Banks, Marc Basnight learned a bit about weathering 

 storms — like the time his mother, Cora Mae, explained about hurricanes. 



"When Donna came, I remember Momma taking me outside and standing in the eye 

 as it passed over and everything was calm, " he says. "Now don 't get me wrong, she never 

 wanted one — but she told us why the Good Lord brought hurricanes. " 



The storms, his mother explained, were part of the cycle of nature. 'Ihere was a reason. 

 It had to happen," he recalls the lesson, one of many from his youth that resonates as he 

 serves as president pro tempore of the North Carolina Senate. 



"It still affects me — how I look at things. If you live in a city of concrete, you vicariously 

 experience the environment," he says. 'When you grow up in a coastal community, you 

 know the value of the environment — that you need to protect these lands that are part of 

 the food chain." 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 11 



