THE STATE PORT PILOT
A Good Newspaper In A Good Community
VOLUME 45 NUMBER 40 20 PAGES TODAYSOUTHPORT, NORTH CAROLINA APRIL 24, 1974 10 CENTS A COPY PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY
(Photo by Geof Nesossis)
FOUR HOMETOWN SOUTHERN BELLES served as hostesses last week
for a Cape Fear Garden Club - sponsored tour of Bald Head Island. Ap
proximately 100 persons visited the island as part of the Azalea Festival
program, and toured Bald Head with Diane Ratcliffe, Kim McDougle,
Katherine Hufham and Lynn Flowers, all students at South Brunswick High
School.
By Long Beach Mayor
Last-Minute Decisions
By Manager Criticized
Two llth-hour decisions by
ex-acting town manager Ed
Liggett were criticized
Thursday by the Mayor of
Long Beach.
Before leaving the town Job
earlier this month, Liggett
hired James Hamlett of
Hillsborough as Long Beach
chief of Police for $12,000 a
year, and designated 3rd, 7th,
31st and 49th East as streets
to be paved with Powell Bill
funds.
Both decisions will stand.
Mayor E. Morgan said that
“until last Wednesday (April
10) I didn’t know we were
going to have a chief of
police.” Hamlett, who
resigned his Hillsborough
police Job to come to Long
Beach, said Liggett hired him
on March 21.
Saying that Hamlett “is in
keeping with the
qualifications tor such a
salary ($12,000),” new Town
Manager Frank Klvett said
the board should establish
pay scales for town em
ployees.
Morgan, adding that he had
no doubt of Hamlett’s
qualifications, said he felt It
Related articles about Long
Beach Towd Council meeting,
page 2.
necessary “to bring out” how
the new chief was employed.
He said he understood the
hiring was well-known
around Hillsborough, where a
newspaper report of
Hamlett’s new Job had been
FHA Help For
YFD’s Possible
Representatives of most
volunteer fire departments
serving rural areas of
Brunswick County met
Tuesday night with members
of the board of com
missioners to hear Ed
Johnson of the Farmers
Home Administration explain
conditions governing loans to
these organizations for
purchase of new equipment
and land and for construction
of buildings.
Also present were j^rry
(Continued of Page 2)
published two weeks earlier.
Kivett said It was “un
fortunate that Jim (Hamlett)
gets personally in this.”
The new town manager
said he would check with
municipalities comparable in
size to Long Beach as a basis
for new pay scale recom
mendations, but that it is
“kind of hard to figure out
what the size of this town Is.”
Long Beach has 153.2 miles of
road, but only about 500
population according to the
1970 census.
It was agreed' that present
population is far above that
figure, not counting the
seasonal Influx of people that
starts now.
One spectator said that
because the former chief of
police was also designated
“acting”, that the hiring of
Hamlett should not have
come as a surprise. Another
said Liggett should have had
the “common courtesy” to
tell elected town officials
about the hiring.
Hamlett said his contract
calls for $12,000 a year, but
that he expects “all raises the
rest of the department gets.”
The decision to employ the
new chief for $12,000 a year
was unanimous.
Morgan said the selection
of which streets to pave with
Powell Bill funds was done by
Liggett alone. “To quote him
(Liggett),” the mayor said,
“T selected the streets
myself.’”
The Town Council referred
the making of street-paving
policy to Kivett, who ex
pressed personal concern
over the condition of Ocean
Highway and Yacht Drive.
He also suggested that
financial participation of
property owners may be
necessary if suitable paving
is expected.
Councilman Russ Morrison
noted poor road conditions on
4th and 61st streets; and
Morgan cited "all sorts of
problems” detailed in a letter
from a 10-year-old.
Sales Tax Increases
Collection of the local - option sales and use tax
in Brunswick County increased during March to
$51,786, the best report since the first of the year.
The March total compares to the February
collection of $46,743 and the January total of
$41,906. The three - months’ collection will be
divided among the county and Brunswick
municipalities in the next few weeks.
‘Realistic’ School Budget
Asks 71% More Funding
All the Board of Education
can do, said Chairman Wilbur
Rabon, is “present what we
feel is a realistic budget” for
consideration by the county
commissioners.
This year’s tentative
request, reviewed by the
Board of Education Monday
night, Involves an 87-percent
increase overall and a 71
percent rise In local funding
compared to last year’s final
budget.
But board members ex
pressed the opinion there was
not much fat in the proposed
$4,735,884 school program.
Over half the total
($2,470,954) would be “capital
outlay,” a category devoted
primarily to construction. Of
this amount, approximately
$1.4 million would pay for
Southport Primary School
(for which bids have already
been accepted) and another
$600,00 is proposed as initial
local funding of a $10-mllllon,
countywide school im
provement program over a
six-year period.
The other sections of the
proposed budget are current
expense ($1,974,369) and debt
service ($290,561). Neither
would have the flexibility of
the capital outlay budget.
Of the approximate $4.7
million proposed budget,
$1,606,147.78 Is “available
funds” that Include state and
federal money and a $749,000
carryover from the Dresent
budget to be applied to
Southport Primary School
costs.
The $600,000 proposed for
the “Capital School Reserve
Fund” Is tied to a $6 million
bond issue requested by the
board of education and now
before the board of com
missioners. At their most
recent meeting April 16,
commissioners tabled the
bond issue request until their
May 6 meeting.
Prospects for approval of
the school budget — even
with the sizeable increase In
requested local funds — have
been enhanced by a
flourishing Brunswick
County economy. County
budgets for this coming fiscal
year are expected to be
figured on the basis of $600
million valuation, and Tax
Collector Homer McKelthan
has one of the best collection
records in the state — over 98
percent.
The funding for county
schools this year exceeded
expectations. Supt. Ralph
King was instructed Monday
night to determine exactly
Water System
Bids Requested
Bids for the construction of Phase I of the
Brunswick County Water Distribution System
will be opened here Tuesday.
The 2 p.m. bid opening, scheduled for the Hood
Building, will be conducted by the county board
of commissioners. Work involved in the project
will be done in the immediate Southport area
(particularly for Pfizer) and the Oak Island
beach communities.
A Phase II project for other Brunswick County
communities is currently being planned.
Bids are being asked on the following Phase I
work:
30,000 lineal feet of 24 - inch water main; 20,000
lineal feet of 12 - inch water main; 15,000 lineal
feet of 8 - inch water main; one elevated tank
foundation and a million - gallon elevated tank.
Contract documents, including plans and
specifications, can be seen locally at the county
manager’s office in the Hood Building.
what the school system
received from local funds
compared with what the
schools are asking for now.
The difference will not be
as great as the actual budget
figures for fiscal 1973-74 and
fiscal 1974-75.
Because of the switchover
to 100-percent valuation of
property the county tax rate
would be 71 cents per hundred
dollars Instead of the $1.42
last year if the same receipts
were expected. To provide
the funds requested by the
schools would required 56 or
57 of the 71 cents, not taking
into account sales tax or
revenue sharing funds which
could reduce the needed
share of ad valorem taxes.
Last year the schools
received 82.3 cents of the
$1.42.
According to Supt. King,
the budget request “basically
represents the needs of the
school system.”
TEACHER PAY
A letter from the Political
Action Committee for
Education (PACE) requested
an $800 bonus for all county
teachers (about $300,000
total) and a $20-per-pupll
local expenditure for In
structional supplies and field
trips to eliminate the need for
fund-raising projects by
children.
No action was taken but the
board will respond to the
letter, a copy of which was
sent to the county com
missioners’ office.
The board also extended an
invitation to representatives
of the Classroom Teachers
Association (CTA) and the
N.C. Association of
Educators (NCAE) to attend
board of education meetings.
ARCHITECT FIRM
The board heard a
presentation by the Raleigh
architectural firm of L.R.
Evans and Associates for the
possible design of future
schools in Brunswick County.
The firm is associated with
the Pierson and Whitman
engineering consultant firm
that is overseeing con
(Continued on Page 2)
Heritage House
Plans Renewed
A tradition of earlier July 4
celebrations, the “Heritage
House” display of antiques
and other treasures from the
homes of Southport and
surrounding communites,
will be revived during the
North Carolina Fourth of July
Festival, July 2-4, the
festival committee has an
nounced.
The display, a combined
project of Southport’s garden
clubs and woman’s clubs, will
be at Community House, next
door to the Garrison.
Festival President Lee
Aldridge has reminded
householders that in their
search for Heritage House
displays they may run across
unneeded (to them) items for
donation to the May 11 garage
sale to be staged to raise
money for support of the
festival’s activities.
The sale will be in the
garage of Mr. and Mrs.
William H. Crowe at 101
North Atlantic Ave., South
port. Donors of items for the
sale may arrange to have
them picked up and tran
sported to the sale site by
telephoning Crowe at 457-6387
or Aldredige at 278-5237.
Beach Officer
Is Uninjured
Long Beach Police have
reported that officer Wayne
Adams was shot at with a
firearm Tuesday night while
on duty. He was not injured.
The reported shooting
occurred approximately 8:45
p.m. at 79th Street East, near
the town boundary between
Yaupon and Long beaches. A
roadblock was immediately
set-up and maintained by
Long Beach and Yaupon
police and Sheriff’s deputies.
The incident is under in
vestigation.
Part Of County Program
Long Beach Is Seeking
‘Complete Water System’
A contract to develop plans
for a complete Long Beach
water system was awarded
Tuesday night to Pierson and
Whitman, a Raleigh
engineering firm involved In
the county wide water
project.
Pierson and Whitman
representative Troy Doby
met with the town council
during a 45-minute executive
session, then outlined
preliminary plans for the
proposed system that would
be Incorporated In Phase II of
the county water supply.
Also approved
unanimously by the board
was the employment of
Pierson and Whitman to
assist with applications for
87-percent state and federal
funding of a future sewer
system for the town, possibly
within the next 3 or 4 years.
Application to the state will
result in development by the
N.C. Department of Water
and Air Resources of a
“Facilities Plan” which in
turn will create a local
planning district.
"We need to get in the
water system first (for ex
perience and to build a cash
reserve)”, Doby told council
members. “One (system)
will come right on the heels of
the other.”
Local share of the sewer
project, when initiated, would
be 12*6 percent.
The town has had a con
tract with Henry Von Oeseq
and Associates of Wilmington
since at least 1968 for
development of a water
system, but that firm
reportedly will excuse the
town from the pact in ex
change for fair payment for
services rendered. Doby and
Town Manager Frank Klvett
will be expected to review the
material Von Oesen has
compiled to determine what
value It will be to the work
proposed by Pierson and
Whitman.
Klvett Identified three
advantages of employing the
Pierson and Whitman firm:
the contract calls for a 5
percent fee (the same as Is
charged the county); the firm
already Is operating on the
water system In Brunswick
County; and the town owes
nothing If the water system Is
not provided.
The county reportedly
proposes to revise Phase II
plans to Include Long Beach
and 300,000 - gallon storage
tank for the town. The local
system is proposed to be self
sustaining, with no tax funds
of assessment needed.
The new system most likley
would necessitate the
replacement of all present
lines, Doby noted, because
lines now in use could not
meet fire protection
requirements.
Another bond issue will be
required. An earlier bond
issue for a complete water
system was soundly defeated
in January.
The rejection of the first
bond vote was seen by Mayor
E.W. Morgan as a ter
mination of a May 17, 1973
contract with the Dunn law
firm of Bryan, Jones,
Johnson, Hunter and Greene,
but new town attorney James
R. Prevatte says maybe not.
The contract called for
specific payment ($15,000)
for specific work (applying
for a Farmers Home Ad
ministration loan), and
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