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Classifieds, p. 2B
complete
Volume 61/ Number 31
Town puts
stipulation
on easement
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Caswell Beach commissioners want
at least two more stipulations before
they grant neighboring Yaupon Beach
an easement to install sewer lines to
service Oak Island Beach Villas.
The property owners association of
the 172-unit complex decided in late
1991 it wanted to abandon its on-site
package wastewater treatment plant
in favor of tapping-on to a proposed
public sewer system planned by
Yaupon Beach. While unable to block
the move by the villas homeowners,
commissioners said owners will pay
tap fees to Yaupon Beach and may
have to pay similar fees to Caswell
Beach if it ever decides to build a
public wastewater management sys
tem.
The Yaupon Beach public system
may be available as soon as Spring,
1993.
Caswell Beach attorney Elva Jess
said Yaupon Beach has asked for an
easement extending the length of
Robert L. Jones Drive in a 20-foot
section of its western right-of-way to
Throckmorton Street and the Yaupon
Beach boundary.
Under scrutiny by commissioners,
Jess was asked to make clear in the
agreement that the easement was not
"exclusive" and that underground pip
ing which services an existing nitrifi
cation Held off Robert L. Jones Drive
would be replaced by Yaupon Beach
if disturbed. Yaupon Beach already
has agreed to repave any street sur
face it destroys and return the project
area to usable condition.
Commissioner Bill Boyd asked if
the nitrification field ~ serving the
Oak Island Beach Villas complex -
would "go away” if the complex
tapped to the YaupOn Beach sewer
system.
"That's up to them if they want to
abandon the field," mayor Jack Cook
said.
Commissioner Duncan Stuart Was
more concerned the move would pave
the way for additional housing units
at the villas complex.
"The only thing that concerns me is
this would allow -- if that is no longer
a repair area - there is going to be
pressure to build more buildings
there,” Stuart said.
Town cleric Linda Bethune said
property managers at the villas had
expressed interest in constructing
See Easement, page 6
94iss_ ftmuc Mae
Southport lady has helped our
fishing friends the past 58 years
/
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
Announcing her retirement td a visitor on the
front porch of her Brunswick Street home
Mrs. Annie Mae Watts sotinds very much
like somebody getting ready for business
again at the same old stand.
"It's been an enjoyable life,” she says, then in virtu
ally the same breath remarks, "I booked five or six trips
yesterday.”
In fact, the only thing Mrs. Watts is retiring from is
ownership of the charter boat Idle On, the fifth in a
venerable line of sportfishermen bearing that name.
She sold the present, and only remaining, Idle On to
its veteran skipper Jake Jacobson in February, but with
an important understanding: "111 continue booking the
boat for Jake. And as long as I can continue booking it
I'll feel like I'm in it still.”
She's been in it from the start Sportfishing as an
industry began in Southport 58 years ago when Capt.
Hulan Watts came home one night and said, "I've
booked a charter tomorrow on the Little Joe," and Mrs.
Watts said, "You booked a what?"
She learned fast, and took the second Watts charter'
booking on the telephone of a neighbor a few days
later, and that became a career.
From that time the charter business in Southport
grew on the strength of success by Capt. Watts ini
tially and by the able work of Mrs. Watts at the
telephone, taking reservations, giving assurances,
spreading the business to others as the charter fleet
grew, and always being scrupulously attentive to the
weather prospects. If the forecast was bad the party got
a call at home from Mrs. Watts, telling them not to
come.
The Watts fleet built on the twin pillars of Mrs. and
Mrs. Thomas H. Watts went through the Little Joe,
Eva Mae and Sea Girl before World War II. Then after
the war came the first Idle On, a great bear of a
sportfisherman that solidified the family taste for
large, competent boats, and the nucleus around which
the Southport charter fleet began to grow.
When the original Idle On was sold in 19S2 and
replaced by the Idle Ons II, III and IV the local fleet
See Annie Mae, page 6
Library transfer is complete
Southport gives up
claim, obligations to
Moore Street facility
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
With little discussion Thursday
night, Southport aldermen adopted a
resolution transferring rights to the
Southport library branch to Brunswick
County.
The county is to receive use of the
building and a portion of the lot on
which the building is placed. The city
will retain much of the rear-yard por
tion of the lot.
. Under the terms of the joint resolu
tion of the two governments,
Brunswick County will have contin
ued use of the building "so long as it
is used as a public library."
"We're not really transferring any
thing," city attorney Michael Isenberg
said. "We're not actually giving a
deed." , -
. The move isa milestone in the
effort to restructure the historic
Southport-Brunswick County library
system into a system completely run
by Brunswick County. The move to
do this was begun in a series of meet
ings of an ad hoc committee com
posed of two city aldermen and two
county commissioners beginning in
December, 1991. Earlier this year a
public hearing was held on library
management and an almost unani
inous public told local government
officials it made more sense for the
library system to be run as a depart
ment of county government.
Even Southport residents saw the
move as a way to shave city costs.
Last year, the city paid about $22,000
to the library system.
Southportable may be
pur permanent solution
pjeir way to city streets.
v <
"This is what J consider to be a city of picket fences,” Robinson
gjpid of Southport, "so 1 put that idea into the container," The,:
City manager Rob Hites said concrete receptacles sold by other *
* i me wooden receptacles for $7$ each. •
Robinson was asked to refine the container to include a top and
;i» figure a way to anchor the container on city stieefe . "5
"teit 'SouthnermaienC Hites said. .1
Residents of Shallotte and Leland
said it made little sense that the City
of Southport owned 50-percent inter
est in library branch buildings built in
their communities.
Before the beginning of the budget
year,county commissioners likely will
have to design a new library system
governing board. Currently, county
commissioners appoint six members
to the city-county library board of
trustees and Southport aldermen ap
point an additional six members.
While it is likely a replacement
board will also be comprised of 12
members, Southport will lose its
power of appointment. Commission
' ets have said, however, some consid-.
elation in the appointment procedure
should be givento communities which
have libraries in them.
Mayor will speak
Long Beach mayor Joan Allman
>m address the Oak Island Lions
Chib luncheon meeting on Thurs
day, March 26.
A question-and-answer period will
follow her talk.
Long Beach
to maintain
its ETJ zone
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Long Beach will stand by its ex
traterritorial zoning jurisdiction or
dinance as it applies to the St. James
Plantation subdivision on the main
land, commissioners decided Tues
day night
The affirmation of a stance taken
by a previously seated board comes
as St James Plantation owners seek
to severely limit the area which may
fall under the town’s jurisdiction for
zoning, building control and land
use regulation.
Kent Smith of Homer Wright,
Inc., a principal developer of St
James Plantation, told com
missioners existing extraterritorial
jurisdiction (ETJ) plans would ad
versely impact that mainland devel
opment.
"It seems the most important cor
ridor ... would be the corridor com
ing over to the new bridge through
the development," Smith said.
As early as 1985, discussion was
begun between Long'lSercKhfib'Sl
James developers and the N. C. De
partment of Transportation to build
a second bridge to Oak Island link
ing Middleton Street with a portion
of land owned by Wright and others
lying on the mainland. Under the
terms of initially floated agreements,
the town was to award right-of-way
‘It seems the most
important corridor
... would be the cor
ridor coming over
to the new bridge
through the devel
opment.’
Kent Smith
St. James representative
on the island side and the con
sortium of developers was to donate
land for eventual access to N. C. 211
at its intersection with Midway
Road. The landowners, it was also
understood, would participate in the
cost of construction of the bridge.
Prospects of a second bridge link
*Tti£:t3ongiii&fc:ft and the St. James
Plantation area prompted Long
Beach commissioners to claim ex
traterritorial jurisdiction last year
over a section of the property run
ning one mile parallel to the town’s
border.
At stake in the St. James request
See Long Beach, page 24
Woman falls from third
floor, critically injured
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Long Beach police are looking
into the circumstances by which a
woman fell Tuesday from a third
floor balcony at West Beach Villas,
across Beach Drive from Long
Beach Pier.
The incident occurred shortly after
5:15 p.m.
Debbie Guadagnoli, 26, of the
villas complex, sustained critical in
juries in a fall from her residence.
She was attended first by members
of the Long Beach Volunteer Res
cue Squad and later Brunswick
County EMS, which intercepted the
Long Beach ambulance at 23rd
Street and began administering ad
vanced life support (ALS) as
sistance, including the administra
tion of intravenous fluids.
"At this time we are going to rule
it an accident," said Long Beach
detective Barbara Harvell.
Ms. Guadagnoli was treated ini
tially at Dosher Memorial Hospital’s
emergency room and was later
transported to New Hanover
Regional Medical Center in Wil
mington, where she was listed in
critical condition with neck and
head injuries, detective Harvell said.
Harvell said information gathered
as of late Tuesday night indicated
Jeffrey Yates, 31, who gave the 1
same address as Ms. Guadagnoli’s,
was in the apartment at the time Ms.
Guadagnoli fell from the balcony.
"At this time it is still unknown
what happened," Harvell said. "He
(Yates) has provided Long Beach
police with no evidence. We have
no definitive proof of a dispute."
Harvell admitted police were in
vestigating the circumstances sur
See Woman hurt, page 24
| OUTSIDE
Forecast
The extended forecast
calls for a Thursday high in
■ the mid-60s with thunder
storms likely. Partly cloudy
on Friday with a high near
60. low near SO; partly
| cloudy again on Saturday
with a high reaching the
low-SOs and a low near 40.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, MARCH 19
8:14 a.m. 2:03 a.m.
8:44 p.m. 2:19 pjn.
FRIDAY, MARCH 20
9:01 a.m. 2:51 a.m.
9:30 p.m. 3D3pa.
SATURDAY, MARCH 21
9:45 a.m. 3:39 a.m.
10:18 pjn. 3:47 pjn.
SUNDAY, MARCH 22
10:31 a.m. 4:26 a.m.
11:06 pjn. 431 pjn.
MONDAY, MARCH 23
11:17 ajn. 5:13 a.m.
11:54 pjn. • * 5:19 pjn.
TUESDAY, MARCH 24
12.-08 ajn. ^ 6:03a.m.
-p.m. 608 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25
12:45 ajn. • .it- 6:57 ajn.
12:59 pjn. 704 pjn.)
The following adjunmenu should be made:'
Bald Head IsLmd, high -10, low -7; Caswell
Beach, high -5, low -1; Southport, Ugh +7,
low +15, Yaupon Beach, high -32, low -45;
Lockwood Folly, high -22, low -8.
.... .4