Piers need our support

Doug Leister is one of those guys you see a lot on the coast. A self-labeled beach bum, Leister cut his teeth surfing. As he got older, his toys got more expensive. Now, at 54, he enjoys big-game fishing and boating.

All along, he has treasured a simple pleasure, one with ties to the past, his hangout, his "home away from home" -- the Sportsman's Pier in Atlantic Beach. Leister doesn't fish much from the wooden structure. Mostly, he sits in the pierhouse, drinking coffee and catching up on local news.

Not long ago, he found his pleasure threatened -- the pier was going to be sold. He didn't get mad, though; he got active.

Together with friends Jim Smith of Greenville and Paul Graham of Raleigh, he helped launch an online petition at www.savencpierfishing.com, where pier lovers can sign a cyber petition to save the structures.

"It used to be hurricanes. Now it's coastal development," Leister said from his office at Fort Macon Marine Sales in Morehead City. "Because of property values, it doesn't make sense for a pier operator to sell $5 tickets."

Leister said nobody blames the pier owners for cashing out, but he also said that someone at the state level should get involved. To that end, he recruited Smith, a philosophy professor, provost and vice chancellor of academic affairs at East Carolina University. Leister met Smith years ago at the Sportsman's Pier and thought Smith had "higher contacts." He was right.

It turned out that Marc Basnight, president pro tem of the N.C. Senate, was giving ECU's commencement address May 6. During the weekend, Smith brought up the idea of the state buying and managing piers.

Basnight's response was, "Do the people want it?"

Smith and Leister would like to show that public access to the beach and water is indeed something "the people" want.

So they, and Graham, created the Web site, where "the people" can say what they want.

"Why can't we have six state-run piers on the Outer Banks?" Smith said. "I hope we can get our state leaders to see that there is popular support for a planned approach for state-run piers. I'm hoping we can present 20,000 signatures in the next year."

It's not a quixotic notion. Jennette's Pier in Nags Head is owned and operated by the N.C. Aquarium Society.

In April, the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission said it will acquire more than 65,000 acres from International Paper Company as part of a multiagency deal. The cost will be about $80 million. More than $70 million will come from public funding sources. The land will join more than 2 million acres the commission already owns or manages for public use.

That said, you'd think there would be a way for the state to step in and help save the piers. Perhaps put the saltwater license fees to work.

If you are one of "the people," there's a Web site awaiting your signature and comments. We've saved the lighthouses. Now, let's work on the piers, the other iconic structures on our coast.