The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • A4

4A NEWS OBSERVER THE HERALD-SUN TUESDAY DECEMBER 6 2022 A More than 2,000 customers without power in the Carthage area Duke Energy officials say they expect power to be fully restored until Thursday. In downtown Southern Pines, drivers inched nerv- ously through intersec- tions without working traffic lights, and the air rang with buzzing gener- ators. Businesses opened their doors in the dark, compar- ing their situation to a hurricane without a hurri- cane. Tom Markey, who man- ages the kitchen at Crepes, wore a wool hat with ear flaps while he tried to hook up a gener- ator. only get to bring it out a couple times a he joked of the hat.

But residents started their work week with the knowledge that someone had deliberately targeted their power supply. think absolutely said Betsy Mar- key, the shop owner. was someone thinking? I under- stand going on in makes no said her son Tom. does that happen in Moore guess it just means we be as comfortable Betsy Markey said. The downtown streets were mostly deserted with nearly every parking space empty.

But Lisa Nines opened Swank Coffee shop and offered java and scones to all comers in the dark, serving 140 cups before noon. just frustra- she said. one girl had a sick child. Frus- tration and why, how could this happen in a little Sunday afternoon, Moore County officials declared a state of emer- gency and set a curfew beginning from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

this week as long as the declaration is in effect. The Charlotte division is also working with state and federal law enforcement to investigate the matter. Charlotte is in- vestigating the willful damage to power facilities in Moore said Shelley Lynch, a spokes- person for the division. are in regular con- tact with local law en- forcement and private sector Lynch said. to the ongoing investigation, the FBI has no additional LOT OF PEOPLE AT Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields called the suspects who damaged the substations at a press conference Sunday afternoon.

The power outages were reported about 7 p.m. Saturday and spread throughout central and southern Moore County. The perpetrators knew what they were Fields said. Fields did not say whether he considered the vandalism an act of do- mestic terrorism, as some community members have called it, citing a drag show scheduled in South- ern Pines on Saturday. Those who study terror- ism say not possible to know if domestic terror- ism occurred until the culprits and their moti- vations are known.

The FBI defines domes- tic terrorism as criminal acts committed by individuals groups to further ideolog- ical goals stemming from domestic influences, such as those of a political, religious, social, racial, or environmental is a distinct category of violence be- cause it is committed for its propagandistic purpos- said Cori Dauber, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill who studies terrorism communication. intended for its audience. communicative by Residents are left won- dering the motive of the perpetrator. In Pinehurst, gas sta- tions all closed and stranded drivers reported long lines as far as San- ford. The Harris Teeter in Whispering Pines was rationing gas.

son got six gal- said Leslie Bailey, a retired Wake County teacher. lucky. We could spend a night at a hotel in Apex and buy a Bailey and her husband Phil, also a retired teacher, posted a Facebook ad offering their heater and four bottles of kerosene to the needy. Emily Thomas claimed it for her 86-year-old grandmother, who has early onset will not leave the house because of the she said. Thomas and Cordell Scarborough, who works at restaurant in Pinehurst, recently lost their 12-year-old son and manage the ex- pense of helping her grandmother weather the outage a common problem in Moore County.

really said Scarborough. know why they did it. They put a lot of people at risk, and just messed up way of Phil Bailey noted that much of Moore County depends on restaurant and tourism dollars, threat- ening people like Scarbo- rough. saving trying to buy Christmas pre- he said. they Moore County covers about 706 square miles in Sandhills region of the state and is home to more than 99,000 people.

The biggest industries are healthcare, tourism and retail business and is also known as a golfing community with the estab- lishment of the Pinehurst Resort. About of the pop- ulation lives in poverty, creating some stark con- trasts between the resort community of Pinehurst, the town of Southern Pines, and working-class communities. At the nearby Pinehurst resort, hotel rooms were down to 61 able to run on a generator. But pursuits there run largely outdoors. playing said Ben Bridgers, golf pro.

need much IS ALL SO WRONG. With businesses shut down across Moore Coun- ty, people went to neigh- boring cities and towns Monday in search of food, gas, batteries and in some cases, overnight accom- modations. Driving north on U.S. 1, the first place with elec- tricity they would come to is the crossroads of Tram- way in Lee County, where gas stations and fast food restaurants starting serv- ing Moore County refu- gees early Sunday. A popular Mexican restaurant there was jammed Sunday night and was telling callers it would be an hour before any takeout orders could be filled.

Casey Thomasson made the trip Monday morning to gas up his Jeep and fill a can for his own car. Thomasson, who lives in Vass, said his parents and sister, who live near- by, are planning to stay in a hotel in Raleigh until the power comes back on, leaving him to care for their dogs along with his own. Thomasson said he mind, but that he was upset for older people and families with small children. house is freezing Thomasson said. Sunday night, he built a fire to stay warm but when he woke up Monday morning, after outside temperatures had been down around 32 degrees, his dog Weezy was shiv- ering next to him on the bed.

His house has a well but pump more water with the electricity out, so Thomasson said he would be staying at his house, which has city water from Southern Pines, until power is re- stored. want to com- he said, there are so many people who have it much, much worse. But this is all so wrong. Carla Hartsell, another Vass resident, said she was out on her farmland burning brush with her sons and know about the outage until a friend sent her a text. The friend also said that county officials were asking people to go home and stay off the roads.

She was disturbed, she said, that someone would intentionally damage the power grid. she said. did it had to know how to do it. But why would someone take out a whole county? There are so many kids and elderly Since then, Hartsell said, her family has been eating what she can cook on the grill or in the wood- burning fireplace. She ventured to Sanford Mon- day to buy gas, and said she is prepared if the pow- er return until Thursday at 11 a.m.

as Duke Energy last indicat- ed. Hartsell has a generator for lights. just roll with she said. all you can Power outages can be tracked on Duke website at outagemap.duke-energy. com.

Report outages at readync.gov/stay- or at outagereport.duke- energy.com/#/report- account or by calling 800-769-3766. KAITLIN MCKEOWN Lisa Nines, owner of Swank Coffee, cleans up and prepares to close the business Monday after giving away 140 cups of free coffee during the power outage in Southern Pines, N.C. Nines, who used a generator to power the coffee pots, says she also plans to serve up coffee and waffles on Tuesday morning. FROM PAGE 1A POWER OUTAGE The firearms attack on at least two electrical sub- stations in Moore County on Saturday night took out power to most homes and businesses across the coun- ty, officials said, affecting nearly all of its 103,000 or so residents. Moore County covers about 706 square miles in the small but geologically distinctive region of North Carolina known as the Sandhills, about 60miles southwest of Raleigh.

It was originally occupied by Indigenous people, including Siouan. English, Scots and German settlers began arriving in the area around 1739. The county was formed in 1785 and was named for Alfred Moore, a militia officer in the RevolutionaryWar who later served as the attorney general and spent five years on the U.S. Su- preme Court. Early industry in the area came from the plentiful longleaf pine forests: lum- ber, turpentine, resin and pine tar.

After the Revolu- tionaryWar, a gun factory was built in the town of Robbins and a carriage factory was established in the small county seat of Carthage. After the Civil War, the Raleigh Augusta rail line was laid through the Sand- hills, making it easier to export lumber and other products. Towns sprang up along the rail line every 10 miles or so. The town of Aberdeen preceded the rail line but benefited from its passage through the town. In the late 1800s, as the wealthy residents of north- ern industrial cities began looking for healthful places to retreat to, resort devel- opers welcomed them to Ridge, which was later incorporated as Southern Pines.

The Village of Pinehurst was built out of 6,000 acres of prickly pasture land by JamesWalker Tufts in 1895 and touted a with the Holly Inn hotel and a golf course, electricity and a telephone system. Tufts added the larger, 250-roomCarolina Hotel in 1901. Tufts hired renowned landscape architect Freder- ick Law Olmstead to lay out the village in a New England-style design with a central village green and curving, tree-lined streets that emanate out. Guests at the resort included John D. Rocke- feller, John P.

Morgan, Annie Oakley, Will Rogers, Amelia Earhart, Jack Nick- laus, Arnold Palmer, Theo- dore Roosevelt andWarren Harding. Golfers have come from all over the world to play at Pinehurst, and the resort has hosted three U.S. Open championships, one U.S. Open, the U.S. Amateur Championships, a PGA Championship and the Ryder Cup.

The U.S. Open will re- turn to Pinehurst in June 2024. Demographically, Moore County skews slighter older than North Carolina as a whole, wealthier, and more white. It has become a retirement destination, and besides golf known for having good medical facilities. The county also is home tomanymilitary and civil- ian workers at U.S.

Army Base Fort Bragg in neigh- boring Cumberland County, home to the 82nd Airborne and Special Operations. In addition, manymilitary officers retire toMoore County after their service. The county also is a destination for horse lov- ers, owing in part to the Walthour-Moss Foundation, which has 4,000 acres just outside Southern Pines where riders can enjoy miles of sandy trails and may even spot an endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. Not everyone in Moore County is wealthy; about of the population lives in poverty, creating some stark contrasts between the resort community of Pine- hurst, the town of Southern Pines, and more working- class neighborhoods and communities. Today the biggest industries inMoore County are health care, tourism and retail businesses as well as somemanufacturing.

Martha Quillin: 919-829-8989, HARRY LYNCH Parents and kids enter the main door of The Country Bookshop on West Broad Street in downtown Southern Pines, August 11, 2016. Mix of communities affected by Moore County power outage BYMARTHA QUILLIN Thousands in Moore County remained without power Monday after two electrical substations were intentionally damaged Saturday evening. The outages, which officials say could last until Thursday, also affect some critical care and health services, such as hospitals. One large med- ical facility is continuing to operate on backup pow- er, and additional re- sources are available to provide food, shelter and charging to residents. what to know about how the outages are affecting these services.

MOORE HOSPITALS RELY ON GENERATORS, PARTNERSHIPS FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital a 402-bed, acute care hospi- tal in Pinehurst is oper- ating on a backup gener- ator and has enough fuel to last several with the ability to get more fuel as needed, said Gretchen Kelly, a spokes- person for the hospital. The Clara McLean House, a hospitality house on the campus, is also running on generator power. Local residents who need help charging their medical equipment are welcome to access the hospitality house for those needs, Kelly said. Commu- nity members who have general charging needs should look to shelter sites (listed at the bottom of this story). FirstHealth is working with local pharmacies and medical device companies to provide support and resources for residents dependent on medical devices or who require oxygen, Kelly said.

Moore trans- portation services are operating only for clients who have scheduled dialy- sis, chemotherapy and radiation treatment, the county website says. MEALS ON WHEELS OF THE SANDHILLS OPERATING AS NORMAL Meals on Wheels of the Sandhills planned to serve its meal routes as normal Monday, delivering food to about 75 people in the area, director Rebecca Listrom told The News Observer in a phone in- terview. The organization typ- ically serves one hot, noontime meal per day to program participants, who are generally homebound. Food recipients are divid- ed between nine delivery routes in the towns of Aberdeen, Pinebluff, Pine- hurst and Southern Pines. The kitch- en has power, Listrom said.

For food deliver- ies, the organization planned to partner with a local church in Carthage to provide stew and fresh bread to program partici- pants. The organization will resume cooking its own meals on Tuesday, and has volunteers ready to deliver the meals. The organization also provides extra snacks and food to program partici- pants on Thursdays, so residents may have some of those items left from last week, Listrom said though those food items in the fall and winter tend to be canned or other non- perishable goods and may require power to fix com- plete meals. Meals on Wheels of the Sandhills is independent from the national Meals on Wheels organization, Listrom said. (Source: pinehurstmedical.com/ resources) Korie Dean: 919-335-8507, Critical services operating during Moore County power outage BY KORIE DEAN AND KIMBERLY CATAUDELLA newsobserver.com/.