Here she was, walking along her beloved beach littered with staircases and porches ripped loose in a Sunday night storm, and somebody was asking her if beach renourishment was a good thing.

"What do you think?" she said, gesturing to the piles of wood and a house that no longer had a porch.

"I think it's imminent. Without it, we're going to lose this beach, and we're going to lose all the tourism dollars that come with it."

State officials say it's been nearly five years since the state put money into a trust fund for beach renourishment, but help might again be on the way.

Rep. Bill Bowers told Colleton County Council last week that he expects the General Assembly to put $5 million in the Beach Renourishment and Trust Account that will benefit Edisto Beach.

A small part, about $200,000 of the proposed money, would go toward a renourishment study of Pawleys Island, state authorities said.

"We are prioritizing Edisto right now as the No. 1 beach in the state that needs to be renourished," said Steve Snyder of the Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management.

At issue is who will come up with approximately $3 million in matching funds required for the estimated $8 million project.The town of Edisto Beach is "ready, willing and able" to put up its half of $1.5 million, Mayor Burley Lyons said.

But County Council deferred the question until budget time in June. While council members called it a "worthwhile project," they pointed out that some of their money is tied up in a lawsuit with OCRM over an unrelated industrial park.

Lyons said the beach project would require about 600,000 cubic yards of sand dredged from an offshore sand bank. He agreed with Panzica that something needs to be done immediately.

"This is not a want for us, this is a darn need," he said. "Or else somebody's going to lose a taxpayer."

'BIG WASTE OF MONEY'

Some people say beach renourishment just delays the inevitable.

A mile north, Claire and Doug Priester of Yonge's Island walked along the beach, collecting starfish.

They adore the beach -- they owned a beach house here until last year -- but they don't see the point of renourishment.

"I think it's a big waste of money," said Claire Priester. "They've done it before, and Mother Nature just moves the sand somewhere else."

Folly Beach has faced similar problems and its beach renourishment project was not funded in the most recent federal budget. The town had to apply for federal emergency funds for a $16 million beach renourishment project after last summer's storms washed away about 1 million cubic yards of sand in addition to the 1.7 million cubic yards that had already eroded from 1993 levels.

President Bush has slashed federal funding for renourishment projects in his proposed budget. The president is asking for $46 million for shore protection projects, less than half the $102 million Congress approved for similar projects last year.

The governor's office has expressed a similar viewpoint. Last year, Gov. Mark Sanford vetoed a bill that would provide $5 million for a Hunting Beach renourishment project.

Bowers said he hopes it doesn't come to that again, but feels that a veto would be overridden, as was last year's.

"We all know how important Edisto Beach is to us," Bowers said to County Council. "We certainly know the significance to our revenue."

Lyons said the town paid Colleton County about $4.5 million in taxes last year from the tourism it generates.

Bowers said he wanted the council to be prepared to spend $1.5 million. "What I'm concerned about is we must be ready to act," he said.

PAYING FOR IT

All of the Colleton County Council members said they consider the project worthwhile but needed to weigh it with other needs during the upcoming budget process.

They expect to make a decision in June.

With OCRM staff members present at its meeting last week, the council took the opportunity to criticize the agency for not giving the county a permit to start its industrial project because of isolated wetlands in the middle of the park.

The county is suing OCRM and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control, alleging that the wetlands are more like mud holes created by logging trucks when the land previously was harvested for trees.

Some of the councilmen said they weren't eager to commit to a project with the state agency.

"I want to know when you guys will have your ducks in a row before we make a decision," said Council Chairman Steven Murdaugh. "We want to do what we can to help Edisto Beach, but because of OCRM we're in a pinch."