Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / Jan. 1, 1987, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.) / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
(/ LISTING BEGINS JAN. 1 Tax Office Pace Picks Up As Property Owners Pay Up With ihc busiest season of the year upon it, Brunswick County’s tax of fice fuis installed toll-free telephone lines for taxpayers who need help in cither listing propert)' for 1987 taxes or paying their 1986 taxes. “Everybody's busy,” Tax Collec tor Nancy Moore explained Tuesday. With Jan. 5 the last day to pay 1986 taxes v^ithout incurring a penalty, tills is her office's most liectic time of year. According to Tax Supervisot Boyd Williamson, a lot of property owners pay their taxes before the end of the year for income tax purposes; others *l.cl it ring and cventuallv soiiiei.'iie wait and pay after Jan. 5 bscaus** th^ will answer.* Fur infornvition on payment of *966 taxes, the local miinbcr for Atlantic Telephone Membership Corp. sub.scribers is 253-4351. KesidenLs of other areas of the county may call toll-free l-80P-2224)593. added interest their money cams off sets the penalty charged by the coun ty. This year, Uierc's extra motivation for taxpayers to pay their bills before the end of the year. Starting in 1987, they will no longer be able to claim local property taxes os an Income tax deduction. “Wc'rc getting mhll by the mall bag,” said Moore. By Jan. 5, she expects to have col lected 90 percent of the levy. Payments postmarked after Jan. 5 are |xis( due. A late interest fee of 2 percent is charged In Jnnuory. For each month after that, the fc;.- in creases by three-f ourtlu of a percent lliosc who don't pay property Uixes can eventually face foreclosure by the county, with their pr^rty sold at public auction in the cour thouse to satisfy the debt. The next sale date b in February. Before foreclosing, tho county first pbccs a lien on the property, which means it can't be sold by the owner without the tax having been paid flrjrt. Brunswick County's tax rate may have gone down this year, but revenues will go up, according to Williamson. A tax base of over $2.2 billion and a tax rate of 59W cenb per $100 valua tion brought in revenues of more than $13 millton last year. Thb year, he said, the county’s tax (See TAX OFFICE, Page2-A) ^10 Largest Taxpayers For 1986 PROPKIITY OWNER VALUATION TAX AMOUNT CaroHna Power &Ugbt Co. 75$,701,228. 3,809,887.09 N.C. EafternMnalclpal Power Agency 252,588,813. 1,275,573.51 E. I. Dupont dc Nemours & Co. 232,606,102. 1,081,618.38 Pfber, Inc. 62,011,145. 313,156.28 International Paper Co. 33,808,006. 157,207.23 OdcUWUUamson 31,593,691. M7,4i8.z5 Federal Paper Board Co. 24,828,330. 115,456.07 Bald Head Island, Inc. 23,947,461. 120,934.76 BminwIckEleclrlvMeniberahlpCorp. 15,108,647. 70,259.86 Soathem Bell Telephone & Telegraph 14,870,312. 72,489.53 SOUkCI MumwKHCOUMIV IA(COllKMil>SOfliCi llik I Hoag book binoery SPRINGPORT MI 492:54"^^‘ Twenty-fifth Year, Nunnber 8 1907 IH( 0*umWlCK etACON Shallotte, North Carolina. Thursday, January 1, 1987 25c Per Copy 22 Pages Plus Insert I ertl StAFf PHOlO It lUSAH UIHI* PARROTS, finches and snakes were rescued from u smoke-filled Nature's Closet by Shallotte Rescue Squad VvlUuiCvr Dsnsj Moore^ Shnllotte Police Officer Eddie Rc>TioIds and (in rear) Joe Stanley Friday momlng. Moore was keeping the birds la her garage until the store could reopen for business. Water Heater Said Cause Of Plaza Fire BY SUSAN CSHEiv ucicvuvc nave. • IVOVC* mostat was the apparent cause of an early Friday morning fire that resulted in sid>stantial roof damage to one building in the Resort Plaza shopping center on U.S. 17 South in Shallotte. According to longtime Shallotte firefighter William Hankins, it was the first .shopping center fire in town in which a major building was not lost Resort Plaza owner Al WilUs, of Shallotte, said later, “If they hadn't caught it when they did, they pro bably wouldn't have stopped it" An alert poUcema.n and flre- resbtant construction materiab may have bought critical time for the firefigiiters who contained t'ne blaze. Shallotte Fire Chief Michael Ar nold told the Beacon, “We were lucky, no doubt about it “The biggest thing b to get set up to fight it and not be an hour behind the fire. Still, the fire had been burn ing awhile around the water heater. It had burned the door to the closet and had melted the insuiaiion around the wiring.” While the building has no fire wall, Willis said the construction materials meet fire code specifica- (See DEFECTIVE, Page 2-A) Holden Beach Board Accepts Land Gift BY ETTA SNnTH Holden Beach commissi(Kiers unanimousiy accepted a belated ristmas present Tuesday morning. During the 20-minute session called specifically to consider the gift, Coiromsaioiier William W'l-llantsan told board members his father, Davis Heniford of North Myrtle Beach, S.C., is donating all but about six acres a 45-acre tract to the town. Heniford has owned the property for about 20 years, said William-. Roa He said the six acres have been set aside for the construction of the Marsh View Subdivision, and Uie remaining land would be deeded to the town. The su^vision will have sbe 60x125 feet lots which will face Ocean Boulevard. The romoinLng 40 acres extend to the Intracoastal Water way, bordering Dream Harbor Subdivision on the west and an undeveloped tract of land on the east Willianrison abstained from voting on the motion to accept the donated land. The other board members with the exception of Lyn Holden who was absent, voted to accept the offer. The subdlviaion will be located at the front of the property facing Ocean Boulevard, and the town's share will be on the second row. The donated pn^rty includes a ^foot access area from Ocean Boulevard, Williamson said. While much the donated tract is marshland, Williamson said there's a large island on the north end facing the waterway. “There's a possibility ttot with the Corps' (U.S. Corps of Engineers) permission, the Island, coiild be used for {firking,” be said. He added that he didn't think permanent .structures could bo built on the property, but possibly •calkways could. The laianH hnn been used as a spnil area for matcriai dredged from, the waterway, ik> atkled. He said the town could negotiate with the Corps on the possible future use of the island part cf the property for a waterway access. Williamson said he ^dn't know the value of the land because It was in the process of being appraised Homicide Investigators Lack Motive, Suspect BY ETTA SMITH AND SUSAN USHER I.aw enforcement investigators lack both a motive and a suspect in the apparent stabbing death of a Yaupon Beach man whose body was discovered Tuesday momlng. Dead is Thomas Gllbart Summer, 32, the son-in-law of Brunswick Coun ty Sheriff John Carr DavU. “We’re reasonably sure it was a homicide." SBI Agent Fred McKin ney told reporters at a Tuesday night news conference at the sheriff’s department. “We want to be thorough. All homicides are difficult when you don't have a suspect.” He said Sunuuer died late Mertuay afternoon or early Monday night, ap parently from multiple'stab wounds In the chest and abdomen. The exact cause of death is not known, pending results of an autopsy that County Coroner Greg White ^aid was scheduled weanesaay morning al Onslow Memorial Hospital in Jacksonville. Sheriff’s Lt. Douglas “Sonny” Padgett said he discovered Summer’s body at 10:20 a.m. Tues day inside the victim's 1985 Ford van, which was parked off N.C. 133 on a cutoff leading to Orton Plantation and Brunswick Town State Historic Site, approximately 13 miles south of BelvUle. Summer had been reported as missing to the Yaupon Beach Police Departn^nt Tuesday morning. According to family members, said Padgett, Sunuitcr was last seen st 4 p.m. Monday. “The last infCHmation they liad was that he might have gone to Wilm ington to take soil samples to the lab,” he continued. Summer was Amnlny^H hy a Wllminulon soil engineering firm. When no uniformed officer was avaibbic to check for Summcr’.s van along the N.C. 133 route to Wilm ington, Padgett said he decided to check it himself. Six SBI agents have been assigned to assist the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Department in the homicide investigation. Agent McKinney said he didn’t what type of weapon liad been u.sed or whether a weapon or any other items had been recovered. He also said there nnnoared to Ik* no connection between Summer's death and his kin.ship with Sheriff Davis. Summer’s death Is the seventh homicide to occur in Brunswick (^unty during 1986. nr\T D^r-c- I ^ I OWI II 1^1 I ICC Proposed Changes In Bypass BY SUSAN USHER The State Department of Transpor tation has tentatively proposed changing the link between the Shallotte bypass and the downtown business district from Mulberry Street to Smith Avenue. DOT representatives will be In the Shallotte Town Hall council chambers Tuesday, Jan. 6, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. to discuss the proposed revisions with affected property owners and other interested citbens. The change was first recommend ed by the 'Town of Shallotte, accor ding to George Brown, project design engineer. Initially, DOT had proposed an Intersection of tha by'pass with S.R. 1348, Mulberry Street. However, in a July 16 letter to the state, Mayor Jerry Jofs^ remnv mended against that location because the street, tucked between two businesses, is narrow with poor visibility. “Tractor-trailers can’t even nwke the turn,” Jones said Monday, and there is no traffic signal. “Which way are they going to go?” he asked. “They can’t go any way but right—if they can get out.” Brown agreed the intersection is hazardous, saying, “It’s awfully hard to see how to get out of there and awfully dangerous.” He said the Smith Avenue exit would give a much better tie-in to the middle of town and would have vehicles exiting at a traffic light. Under the new proposal, Mulberry Stieet—or Road as it is called beyond the town limits—would be relocated on the north side of the bypass to the intersection with S.R. 1357. It would curve over to Smith Avenue, a distance of about 900 feet Smith Avenue would be extended about 350 feet to intersect with the bypass. A prcliiTunary design has been developed to show interested persons next Tuesday. Brown said the new plan should re quire about the same amount of pro perty for right-of-way as the earlier plan, but from different property owners. No right-of-way iias been ac quired yet for that section of the bypass. He said adoption of the ctumges would depend to some degree on the public reaction they receive Tues day. DOT has rejected another of the town’s proposals, for an overpass where the bypass will intersect N.C. 130 West near West Brunswick High School. According to a letter from Mayor Jerry Jones, a proposed grade-lcvci intersection “would pose a high degree of hazard and could result in a large number of accidents.” However, the state replied tliat the planned on-grade intersection with traffic signal should result in "safe and efficient operation." It said no grade-separated inter changes were planned on U.S. 17 bet ween Wilmington and South Carolina and one “would be out of character with improvements planned for U.S. 17 in this area of our state.” Other (See DOT,Pagc2-A) 1986 IN REVIEW Public Access, Water System Expansion Top News BY ETTA SMITH Keeping pace with a decade of tremendous growth made the the news in Brunswick County duri/ig 1986. Dispute.^ over access to beaches and the county's ef forts to extend water service were the top newsmakers during the year. On Suaset Beach and Holder. Beach, citizens' claims to imminent domain ended up in the courtroom—in the form of .separate lawsuits based on the concept of prescriptive easement And while that Issue was being considered in the courtroom, county commissioners were considering how to spend a $1.5 rrdUion revolving fund established to ex tend water laterals throughout the county and work con tinued on Phase H of the county water system. Lawsuits Filed In 1985, a complaint filed in Brunswick CoiUity Superior Court by the Sunset Beach Taxpayers Associa tion, Albert N. Wells, Charles L. Smith, Whaley P. Hunt and Frank Nesmith against Beach Enterprises Inc., Simset Beach and Twin Lakes, Inc., Edward M. Gore and the Town of Sunset Beach claimed an area that had been fenced in in 1978 to keep the public out should be public by virtue of imminent domain. Plaintiffs in the suit sought a court injunction to bar the owneis from restricting the public's use of the road extension or lot. A similar case involving Holden Beach was filed by Concerned Citizer.s of Brunswick County Taxpayers Association, Raymond Cope and Royal Williams, against Jim Griffin, Holden Beach Enterpri.ses and the Town of Holden Beach. Plaintiffs in that suit also claimed that the public had che right to the use of a **oad that extended from the end of Ocean Boulevard West to the ocean. Claiming the properly west of this point had been closed by Holden Beach Enterprises by the erection of a guard station, plaintiffs unsuccessfully sought a court In junction to keep the area open. According to the suit, numerous protestors were arrested for trespassing since the gate was erected. Tlie suit asserted the property should be public by virtue of prescriptive easement, a legal tenn meaning land used continuously by the public for at least IS years. After Judge Giles Clark denied the the motion for an injunction in late May, a new suit was Hied Aug. 13 in Brunswick County Sup^or Court It asked the ^ourt to declare the area a public right-^-way and to declare that a pr^criptive easement exists there. Boti) cases were pending in court at year’.s end. 'rhe Issue of who should have access to certain areas of public beaches and by what means was also addressed by the state Coastal Resources Commission in 1986. That agency voted in September to ask for the Inclusion of boat ranins In access requirements of the Coastal Area Management Act The conuiiission conducted a survey during the year of 724 govenunent and business leaders. The survey ask ed if additional access was favored, and the respoase was yes. Respondents to the survey also said they thought municipaiines should not have to bear the cost of pro viding access, that it should be shared. While public access to the beaches continued to be considered in the courtroom, the Town of Holden Beach became one of only U coastal governments to receive grants for public beach access construction from the state Department of Natural Resources and Conununity Devel^«nent The town received $60,480 in November to construct a regional access with 90-spacc parking lot, complete with restroom facilities and picnic tables. The facility will be built off Jordan Boulevard, where the old bridge used to be. Also in November, the Sunset Beach town board See COUNTY WATER, Page 3-A) vt 1 s
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Jan. 1, 1987, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75