FROM THE EDITO 



R 



Generational Links 



Ebm time to time, I receive notes 

 from readers. Not long ago, an e-mail 

 message revealed just how far 

 Coastwatch may travel. There was Army 

 Sgt. Adam Dillon, reading an issue in 

 western Iraq. A Special Operations 

 comrade snapped the image during a lull 

 in duties. 



A picture may be worth a thousand 

 words, but the reporter in me needed a 

 few more details as to how and why 

 Coastwatch made the trip to Iraq. So, 

 here is the rest of the story: 



No matter where his military duties 

 take him, coastal North Carolina always 



will be home for Adam, who was bom and raised in Wilmington. "I grew 

 up around Greenfield Lake. That is where I learned to fish and had my first 

 experience with pollution of our wetlands," he writes. 



"My family made sure I learned how to be a proper beach fisherman 

 down at Carolina and Wrightsville beaches. My father, who lived in 

 Brunswick County, would often take me with him and friends out to 

 Rice's Creek and the Intracoastal Waterway to catch shrimp in nets and 

 flounder gig in the bay of Southport." 



His grandfather, Obbie M. Blanton, who retired from the 

 Wilmington Police and later worked for campus police at the University of 

 North Carolina at Wilmington, always emphasized the coastal 

 environment — even sending young Adam to "sea camp" sessions at 

 UNC-W and encouraging him to take oceanography in high school. 



"I would carry him out crabbing and take him fishing when he was a 

 kid," recalls Obbie, who picked up Coastwatch one day at the UNC-W 

 Center for Marine Science. He became a subscriber — and started saving 

 his copies for Adam. 



Army Sgt. Adam Dillon takes a break from war duties 

 to keep in touch with news from coastal North Carolina, 

 thanks to his grandfather and Coastwatch magazine. 



"My grandfather likes to keep the 

 issues for me, and then discuss the articles 

 after I have read them" Adam explains. 



In 2000, when Adam had an 

 extended assignment in Korea, his 

 grandfather began adding the magazines to 

 "care packages" along with other luxuries 

 such as his grandmother's zucchini bread. 

 The magazine had a place of honor on 

 Adam's desk. "Not only did American 

 soldiers read copies of Coastwatch in 

 Korea, but I had several South Korean 

 soldiers working for me. They loved to 

 see the pictures of coastal N.C." 

 The Holiday 2002 issue of 

 Coastwatch arrived while Adam was in Jordan, one of the few pieces of 

 reading material he and his unit received in that deployment. He loaned it 

 out, but kept track of it through several countries. 



"They were asking each other for the copy of that 'North Carolina 

 Ocean' magazine. It was almost as popular as Maxim " Adam writes. 



Our magazine didn't just pass time for Adam. "Coastwatch helps 

 keep me abreast of issues affecting coastal N.C. and colorful stories about 

 tidewater Carolina history and living." 



And now, Adam will continue a family tradition of sharing that love 

 of coastal Carolina with a new generation. He arrived back at Fort Bragg 

 in time to be with wife Jenny for the birth of their first child — a son 

 named Connor — in late June. 



"How can we expect to keep our coastal regions clean, intact and 

 useful for years if we do not educate each other and most importantly our 

 young Carolinians that will inherit this region from us?" Adam asks. 

 Thanks, Obbie and Adam. I couldn't have said it any better. 



Katie Mosher, Managing Editor 



N 



T H 



S S U E 



Contributing Writers: 

 Ann Green D Lilly Loughner a Katie Mosher 

 Sarah Friday Peters Pam Smith D Joyce Taylor 



Contributing Photographers: 

 Darren DeSoi D Dirk Fletcher ° Michael Halminski 

 BillRuss ° Pam Smith D Scott D. Taylor 



North Carolina 's diverse coast offers countless interesting subjects. 

 The large dots on the locator map indicate story settings in this issue - 

 including Manteo, Hatteras Island and Carteret County. 



Morehead City 



