Board of Directors

Dale Weston, Vice-President

Dale grew up in northeastern Ohio.   Experiences at the family cottage on a lake in the Portage Lakes provided a close bond with water and nature and formed his first memories.  He learned stewardship from church and family.  Caring for God’s creation and loving neighbors remain important values learned early.  Concerning water, first he rowed a little boat.  Then he mowed grass and bought a 7 and a half horsepower Mercury motor.  More grass got mowed and the boats got faster if not bigger.  He worked at a boat store in high school and has remained an active boater and sailor ever since.   After graduation from Otterbein College and earning a graduate degree at the University of Michigan he entered the Air Force where he served permanent duty stations in 5 states and 3 foreign countries.  At his first duty station, Patrick AFB, FL, he met his wife Kathy and they have three grown children.  The Westons arrived in Onslow County to begin teaching careers in 1986.  Dale taught in the public school system and Kathy at St Francis of Assisi Catholic School.   Dale joined with other citizens following the 1995 Oceanview Farm hog waste spill to work to stop pollution of the New River.  He hasn’t stopped.   He has noticed that those who pollute the New River do so for one of two reasons: greed or ignorance.  Greedy commercial interests (mainly consolidated animal feeding operations and developers) short circuit the free market by avoiding the true cost of their products.  These intentional polluters use polluting as a profit builder by achieving lax policy, legislation, and enforcement to avoid costs.  Ignorance of the effects of misusing fertilizers, pesticides, and septic systems by citizens accounts for much damage that can be stopped by education.  Finally stormwater runoff introduces both contaminants and sediments which damage water quality.  Preventing runoff requires investment by municipal and county authorities supported by citizens. Dale works throughout the White Oak River basin with Elmer Eddy and the Stewards of the White Oak to paddle every river and creek in the watershed, clear all trash, clear blow downs, and report problems to authorities.  He volunteers with various water quality and paddling programs with Sturgeon City, Keep Onslow Beautiful, and New River Roundtable.  He maintains membership in The Coastal Federation, North Carolina Conservation Network, and The Sierra Club.  He is also a founding board member of Onslow Caregiver’s, Inc., the sponsors of the annual Festival of Trees which supports Onslow Home Health and Hospice patients. dale@wonriverkeeper.org

 

Sally Ringseth Campbell, Treasurer

Sally was born and raised on the coast of Southern California. Her playgrounds were the Pacific Ocean and many summers the Puget Sound of Washington. Growing up she enjoyed swimming, boating and fishing. She moved to Jacksonville in 1982. The proximity of the Atlantic Ocean and the Rivers were a pleasant feature to life in a new place. Sally spends any chance she gets on the water, whether it be canoeing, fishing, sailing, diving, white water rafting or just watching and enjoying the water. She is a  U. S. Sailing Certified sailing instructor as well as a certified diver. After earning a BS in Accounting from UNCW, Sally went to work as a Budget Analyst for MCCS at Camp Lejeune for 11 years. In 1994, she earned an MBA from Campbell University. Currently, she works for the Onslow County School District and owns her own small business. Sally has served on the Better Our Local Downtown board in the beginning years, and has been a volunteer Guardian ad Litem with the 4th Judicial District for many years.   sally@wonriverkeeper.org