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There has not been a week-day that has gone by in the past several months that we haven't received mail on the controversy surrounding the saving of North Carolina's Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

Although there is a local movement against moving the lighthouse, we have not received one letter in support of that idea.

In the meantime, more and more people, newspapers and politicians are supporting the move. In recent days, I have browsed through the many newspaper editorials and letters to the editor that have come across my desk.

One of the better editorials in favor of the move appeared in the Winston-Salem Journal and in the Raleigh News & Observer Newspaper. This editorial started off with the following, " It's been said before, but it bears saying again: Move Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. There's a better chance of doing that than moving the ocean, which is the alternative."

To those who claim that moving the lighthouse is too risky, the newspaper replied that, "no one is calling the move risk free." However they went on to say that keeping the lighthouse where it is, is just as risky.

But the best part of their editorial came at the end . . . "people's past attempts to control the ocean and dictate the shoreline do not have a history that inspires confidence. Furthermore, it's unattractively arrogant of us to think that we can dominate our environment and mold it to our will. Moving isn't the perfect option. It's just the better option, from both an engineering and a philosophical point of view."

We agree.

This story appeared in the June 1998 edition of Lighthouse Digest Magazine. For subscription information about the print edition, click here.

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