Group gets a shiner in lighthouse fight.

• Author: Brown, Kathy
• Position: Tar Heel Tattler - Currituck Beach Lighthouse battle

Currituck Beach Lighthouse once guided ships through tricky currents off the North Carolina coast. Today the 162-foot structure itself is caught in the maelstrom between Currituck County and a nonprofit historic-preservation group battling to own the 128-year-old lighthouse.

Federal legislation in 2000 paved the way for ownership of about 300 lighthouses to be transferred to nonprofits or local governments. When the Corolla light came up for grabs in 2001, private nonprofit Outer Banks Conservationists Inc. applied. Since 1981, the group has raised $1.5 million for the lighthouse's repair and preservation. In 1990, it signed a 20-year lease with the Coast Guard, which maintained the tower, to operate it. The lighthouse, the only one in the state open to the public, attracts about 85,000 visitors and generates about $500,000 each year.

However, when OBC applied for ownership, so did Currituck County, where the lighthouse sits. OBC's application trounced Currituck County's in a review by four federal agencies. In March, the National Park Service recommended that ownership go to OBC. Currituck County appealed. The U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees the Park Service, asked Craig Manson, its assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks, to rule within 45 days. In late July, he ordered the General Services Administration to transfer the deed to OBC.

OBC founder and board member John Wilson and his supporters...