. '
am
JAMIE ORROCK
5^soH
' .r.onRl
SJ-'K x^w
Volume 23, Number 2
S
Boards F
BY SUSAN USHER
County commissioners and
Brunswick Technical College
trustees say they want to work
together to secure funds for development
of the college's permanent
campus at Supply.
At a joint meeting last Wednesday,
members of the two boards indicated
a willingness to not only develop a
financial plan together, but to carry
it out. The meeting was the first of its
kind for the two boards
"We want to bounce the ball to you,
but...," said Chris Chappell, chairman
of the commissioners, suggesting
the board didn't want the college
to submit a funding request and
not be heard from again.
i^eo jonnson, cnairman 01 uie
trustees' finance committee, assured
Chnppell, "I-feel a spirit of cooperation
is there 4on the college board)
and will improve."
Johnson's committee is to meet
with county officials to develop a
plan they think will "fly."
Action during the trustees'
business meeting afterward indicated
the college was encouraged
by the exchange with the commissioners.
The college's preliminary budget
included a request for $800,000 from
Con
BY SUSAN USHER
Menhaden wasn't on the agenda,
but as expected the bony fish was the
main topic of discussion at a Marine
Fisheries Commission hearing in
Wilmington Monday night on proposed
changes in state fishing regulations.
Concerned that none of the proposDOT
Of
BY SUSAN USHER
State transportation officials
visiting Brunswick County last week
made no promises regarding a
Shallotte bypass or other local road
improvements.
However, Shallotte Mayor Beamon
Hewett left a brief meeting with the
visitors satisfied with what he had
heard
"It's close. I can feel it," he said.
"We've got it on the move. We're going
to see some results."
State Secretary of Transportation
Jim Harrington told town officials
and Brunswick County Republican
T? ? -* - C : *
c*? ? ? ?vwun j u an vivr . J ml .rial 1X11
had instructed his department to
honor local priorities" in
esiahlishiiuz funding for completion
of U S. 1? to the South Carolina line.
"It is important," be added, "that
there be a consensus in the local community.
When there's that much
competition, if its controversial it's
easier to ship it and go on to
something else "
Both Hewed and Brunswick County
Republican Part) Chairman John
Dealer assured Harrington that county
residents and local political
leaders sjw the bj?? is the county's
greatest need
"All y ou have to do is go sat up on 17
and rou'll decide Shallotle should he
done firs*," added Dernier don't
>
4 _
State Sa^
i
BY SUSAN USHER
The State Personnel Commission
has upheld a hearing officer's recommendation
thai former Brunswick
County Social Services Director
Jamie Orrock get his old job back.
Or rock was dismissed by the social
services board on Nov. 30, 1983, on a
charge of conduct unbecoming a
public officer. A former DSS
employee had brought charges to the
board that she was sexually harassed
by Orrock while in the agency's
employ.
Orrock's attorney, William Fairley
of Southport, said he received
notification of the commission's decision
in Tuesday's mail.
"It affirmed the hearing officer's
decision and recommended he be
S BOOK BXNDERV^^
aara%*
4 Shallotte, Nort
>!an Join
the county (or the building program,
but that line will be left blank to be
filled in by the finance committee?hopefully
with a larger
figure?after working with the county
on a long-range plan.
"They emphasized they didn't
want us to just give them a budget
and back off, but that they wanted us
to work with them," Trustee l.ewis
Stanley reminded the board as he
made the suggestion.
Earlier, college spokesmen's
remarks stressed that BTC is at a
turning point, rapidly outpacing
available space.
"We're at the point in our growth
where there seems to be no end to the
number of students coming in,"
Jesse Clemmons, dean of instruction,
said. "We could add five new proffrnnw
if urf? HnH *h<* cnnco onH ?lv>
budget."
As it is, he pointed out, staff Juggles
sites, hours and space to schedule approximately
540 day and night
students and 1,500 to 2,000 extension
students.
"We need help," Johnson told the
commissioners. "Whether we go to a
bond referendum or the county commissioners
fund it or whatever, we
need the money from whatever
sources are available for an ongoing
imission Sc
ed changes concerned the menhaden
industry', about 60 area fishermen attended
the session Monday night.
They repeated a message delivered a
month ago at a public meeting also
held at the New Hanover County
Courthouse: the need to join other
South Atlantic states in regulating
the menhaden industry before the
-ficials Make I
think anyone in the county will
disagree with that."
Dozier and the Republican Party's
transportation chairman. Malcolm
Grissett, were escorting Harrington,
Transportation Commissioner Tommy
Pollard of Jacksonville, State
Highway Administrator George
Wells, Deputy Assistant Secretary
Jerry Hardesty, District Engineer
T.E Funderburk and other DOT of
finals on a tour of DOT facilities in
the county. They met with local officials
in Shallotte and Southport and
met with Brunswick County Planner
John Harvey and Planning Board
Chairman Ed Gore to discuss plans
for a county-wide thorougntare plan
that included incorporated and unincorporated
areas of the county.
In the meeting at Shanotle, Mayor
Hewett reminded Harrington the
county has proposed to Pollard
breaking the Shallotte bypass out of
the state transportation improvement
plan, then returning to the
nricrtTiCa *s listed in the pian
Harrington also said when the state
has to act prion Pes between projects
of equal status, "the local preference
expressed politically will naturally
get first preference among equals
because there is never enough money
to do them all."
Harrington said the priority hst
meant little from one year to the nex...
-...J
/s Orrocl
reinstated," said Fairley.
Signed by Richard V. Lee, director
of state personnel, the recommendation
accepts the findings of fact and
conclusions of a proposed decision
presented last October by hearing of
illci I>ai oai (i v^owaru.
She had said Orrock should be
reinstated because the agency failed
to show he had sexually harassed the
former employee.
Review of the case by the commission
was been delayed from Feb. 5 to
allow Mary Easley, the social services
board's new attorney, to file exceptions
to Coward's findings.
Both Easley and Fairley presented
oral arguments before the commission
at its April 6 meeting.
Fairley and his client are waiting
to see what action, if any, the
IMClJ&f
IIWK
h Carolina, Thursday, Apr
t Effort T<
i i i.; i ?,i
WILLIAM STANI?Y (right), chalm
Board of Trustees, drives home a pol
chairman of the Brunswick Count) I
jys Isn't Side
menhaden disappears from overfishing.
Fishermen like Dale McDowell of
the Brunswick County Fishing Club
weren't satisfied with news that information
on the fishery would be
studied before the Commission
adopts regulations, if any.
"We don't want another study," he
Mo Promises
t?a statement that didn't surprise
most of those at the meeting. The
Shallotte bypass has moved up and
down, off and on the priority list
several times over the past 10 years.
"Eicept for projects already under
construction, it's almost a zero-base
start every year," he saidPutting
the bypass ahead of other
U-5. 1/ projects shouldn't cause any
delays, Harrington acknowledged,
because the DOT staff has done some
preliminary' work on the bypass segment
as well as th? four-laning to the
north, but not to the south of
Shallotte
"If you go ahead with tire bypass,"
Siiggcstcu IlCWCU, ' tucii n?
(Shallotte) would be relieved of that
traffic by the tune you turned it loose
on us ifrom U.S. 17 northi."
Downtown 17
Shallotte officials didn't get good
news Thursday regarding the unfinished
resurfacing of U.S. 17
through downtown Shallotte
"It's awful I wish you had
waited." Hewett told local and state
DOT officials
"Don't get me wrong?we appreciate
what you're doing."
The top layer of US 17 through
Shallotte was ground off last month a
distance of three-fourths of a mile
and may not be replaced until fall,
leaving a very txsripy ride for local
k Deserv
*
Brunswick County Board of Social 1
Services takes. The State Personnel i
Commission's recommendation is I
advisory only, which means the
board does not have to follow it i
"If they will give him his job back, i
we'd be tickled to death. We wouldn't '
have to do anything," Fairley said. I
"We hope we will be told something i
pretty quickly." i
Orrock was working at the
r>~ ? f. r ;,,u? ?
Uli uiuui runci oc Lugia V/U. yicim <11
Southport Tuesday afternoon and
could not be reached for comment.
DSS Attorney Mary Easley had not
returned a call from The Beacon at
presstime.
If the social services board doesn't
offer Orrock his previous job, he has
two options: drop the matter Or file
suit in either federal or state court,
irirAivnw
il 25, 1985
o Get BT
. | a is
* V"'
?'
i /4a
Kt
(^T
5.
^S ?
'*"*" ' V"*l
ISr"^
ITAII PHOTOS <VSU%ANUMt
ian of the Brunswick Technical College
st In conversation with Chris Chappell,
ioard of Commissioners.
A/
70icrppn iy iv
told the Commission. "We want action."
In his opening and closing
remarks. Chairman John D. Costlow
said the Commission is taking steps
to adopt appropriate menhaden
regulations and is moving quickly,
though it might not appear so to
fishermen.
On Tour
motorists and an estimated 150,000
travelers in the meantime.
If the work isn't completed until
fall rattier than before the summer
season, Hewett said, "We're going to
take a lot of cussing between now and
then. We already have."
District 1 Engineer T.E. Funderburk
said he had funds left over in a
contract for grinding and Shallotte's
street needed grinding and resurfac
Ing. The money for the resurfacing,
however, is proposed for the 19K-66
budget, and won't be available before
July 1.
Funderburt was instructed to see
if the money for the resurfacing
C?nH he fnunrl in his budget for the
remainder of the year.
The state delegation also had ideas
for where the money could come
fruui fw aimlcT projcvi Slwuuur officials
have been pushing for about
six months-extending tbe U.S. 17
turn lane 1.500 feet to Coastal Plaza
shopping center at the south end of
town and reducing the speed limit
from i5 mph to 35 rrspn by the entrance
to the shopping plaza
State Highway Administrator
George Wells said the extension
sounded like a good "small, urban
i protect"
Funderburk said design and cost
estimates were being completed now
and that no additional rtght-cf-way
I would be required for the project
es DSS J
Faii-ley indicated, "either of which
would be fairly expensive propositions."
Along with reinstatement, Coward
recommended the agency give Or
rocK oacK pay ana accumulated
vacation and sick leave. She added
that he should also submit an itemized
list of attorney's fees incurred
during the appeals process.
The social services board has been
interviewing candidates for the
director's post, vacant since
Orrock's dismissal on Nov. 30,1983.
Chairman Betty Varnam, the current
acting director, said Tuesday
the board had been awaiting results
of the commission's review before
proceeding.
The commission hears grievances
of employees covered under the State
fir An
i/Lnv
25c Per Copy
C Buiidir
"Sometimes I feel like th(
circus?because that's wI
?Jo
on th
building program."
An anonymous donor will match
money from all sources other than
the county or state. So far $21,000 in
donations have been matched.
Fair Share
While the county has given its fair
share toward BTC's operating
costs?about 10 percent of the
operating budget each year, President
Joseph Carter said, by slate
standards county support of the
building program has lagged. Over
the past three years the county has
appropriated $136,000 in capital
outlay funds compared to 1576,000 ap
propriatcd by the state,
"We're not fussing." he added
"We Just feel we have reached the
point where we need some help."
In addition to its request for
$206,000, of its operating budget from
the county, the college's most immediate
needs are $198,000 to purchase
132 acres for future growth
The purchase qualifies for matching
funds from the state. A five-year op
Ienhaden i.
"I am well aware tlicre is a greal
deal of feeling about the issue and
that there is some feeling we hav<
done nothing about it," he said. "Bui
contrary to what you may have hearc
or been led to believe, we are not at
tempting to sandbag, stonewall
avoid our duty or anything else."
Rather, he continued, the commis
sion is trying to take an objective anc
"intelligent" approach in dealing
with the issue.
SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTA1
Ttoidiy, vkca be met with be?l
SbMOoOe U dbmas brai road fter<
i
II
I
ob Back i
Personnel Act. Its recommendations,
except in specific circumstances
prescribed by law, are not binding.
Former DSS employee Donna Hinson
Rivenbark of Sunset Harbor
testified at an. August 2B-29 hearing at
Bolivia that Orrock had allegedly
repeatedly "leered" at her, was
"overly complimentary" of her appearance,
touched her on one occasion
"in an offensive manner," and
suggested on one occasion use of the
agency van " 'for other purposes,'
to mean sexual contact."
Rather than mistreating the van
driver as alleged, Hearing Officer
Coward concluded, Orrock actually
"was more lenient" toward her in an
effort to work with Rivenbark
(SeeSTATE, Page2-A)
m I f
f I* !
28 Pages
r
iq Funds
xJ
? master of a three-ring
iat we're operating here."
seph Carter, BTC President,
e need for a single campus.
tion to buy the land at $1,500 an acre
expires in November. Carter said it
is some of the best land available in
the county for construction purposes.
But also pressing is the need for
more permanent space. The college
is trying to accumulate the funds
needed for a second building, which
would house the nursing education.
general education and cosmetology
programs.
"We begin our reaccreditatton
study in the fall," noted President
Carter. "We would much rather go
I into reaccreditatton with something
. going up." ;
1984 Options
Ijist year, commissioners considered
several funding alternatives
for the college's building program
and acted on none: 1) making a large
general fund contribution, which
would mean an increase in county
property taxes; 2) establishing a
capital reserve fund for the college,
which would delay construction; and
(See PHENOMENAL, Page 2-A)
I
s sue
t "We are not going to be pressured
I into doing something on a half-baked
' basis just to say we're doing
1 something about an issue you see as
I important and we do too," he con
tinued.
. "I want to make clear we are doing
something and have done
something."
I Recommendations by the commis!
sion's commercial management sub(See
COMMISSION, Page 2-A)
j
j. . .
VAM hCTJ) If '/?>' iAHII
ION Jim Harris* ton m*4e no proofed
paUtlcal ftf ar? ?t Ike DOT tetky la
b.
# ?