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Twenty-fifth Year, Number 19
1917 1Ml IXUNSWICK UACON
Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, March 19, 1987 25c Per Copy 50 Pages Including Supplement, Plus Insert
Take AAeares Back, Says State Commission
BY SUSAN USHER
Former atlmlnislrative secretary Alinda Mcarcs
sliould be rehircd by the Brunswick County Board of
Social Services with full back pay and benefits, tlie State
Personnel Commission has ruled.
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The commission said Ms. Mcarcs’ dismissal 5ti ago
was without just cause and did not comply with pro
cedural requirements.
The order upholds a series of recommendations sub
mitted to the conunission in January by William l.aw1on,
the officer who heani the Mcarcs case last October.
Parlies in the case, including DSS, the county com
missioners and Mcarcs, negotiated a consent agreement
in August 1986 in which they agreed to let the Stale Per
sonnel Commission make the final determination in the
wrongful firing case. Unless the parties agree otherwise.
commission rulings arc advisory only except in
discrimination cases.
In the consent agreement, however, the attorneys
reserved the right to appeal finding of facts and points of
law to the N.C. Court ^ Appeals. Defendants in the case
appealed several of Uic officers findings before ihe com
mission itself on Feb. 26.
County Attorney David Clegg had no comment on the
panel’s recommendation Monday. “We’re working on it
now,’’ he said.
Neither DSS attorney Mary P. Easley or Mcarcs’ at
torney, Leslie J. Winner of Charlotte, could be reached
for comment. Mearcs has an unlisted telephone number.
The decision will also affect other legal action by
Mearcs. A wrongful-firing lawsuit she filed in U.S.
District Court in September 1984 had been stayed pending
the commission’s ruling. In that suit, she seeks $100,000
jointly from the county, the county commissioners, the
social .services department and DSS Director Jamie Or-
rock, plus an additional $100,000 from Orrock in punitive
damages.
According to the conunission, Mcares' firing on Sept.
as administrative secretary V failed to comply with pro
cedural requirements and was not based upon just cause.
It recommends she be reinstated to a position of the same
pay grade as before, “with similar duties, respon
sibilities and status," and that she be paid $23,161 in back
pay, reimbursed $602.50 in medical expenses incurred
while she was uninsured as well as $3,596.06 to replace the
cost of privately-paid health insurance premiums.
'The commission also recommends that her new
salary reflect all salary increases or across the board
raises to which she would have been entitled and that all
benefits such as accumulated sick leave and petty leave
be re.stored.
Attorneys’ fees are to be paid according to terms of
the consent agreement. Drake Maynard of the State Per
sonnel Commission said he understood those fees were to
jjy j|ig Ouks ArbitrstioH
The case has followed convoluted course between the
courts and the State Personnel Conunission over the past
5W years as Meares has sought to regain her county job.
A spokesman for her attorney said last month that
Mearcs would accept a job with the county if one is of
fered.
Orrock, the director who fired Mcares, in 1981, was
later fired himself for alleged misconduct. Fired
November 30,1983, he was reinstated in 1985 following the
recommendation of the State Personnel Commission.
UOB Recommends
Going Ahead With
Assessment District
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As a U.S. Army Corps of Ehiglneers contractor deepens the capacity for
dredge spoD at Monk’s Island off Shallotte Point, nearby residents arc get
ting a drastic change of view. The island will hold spoil from the Corps’
maintenance dredging along the Intracoastal Waterway.
Education Plan Calls For More Teachers, Space
BY SUSAN USHER
The state’s Basic Education Pro
gram will have an impact on
Brunswick County schools both in
terms of instructional programs and
facilities. Bill Church of the N.C.
Department of Public Instruction
told school board members Monday
night in Southport.
“When you see the teachers and
staff you will require m Brunswick
time at Monday’s special meeting
between an hour-long closed door
session and Church’s presentation.
The plan sets out a program of in
struction that all schcol systems are
to make available to students in
grades kindergarten through 12 aitd
the essentials—other than
facilities—required to meet that
goal. Facilities are covered in com
panion legislation calling for a
next several years from several
sources. Including the system’s share
of both state half-cent sales taxes.
As the program is proposed,'
Church said, Brunswick County can
expect to add 73 teachers over the
next five school terms to meet re
quirements for smaller class sizes
and more program offerings.
Over the same six-year period. If
funding continues as proposed, the
blermium only, the system is ten-
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become a major concern of yours.”
Brunswick County Board of Educa
tion members divided much of their
school construction. The county
school board has its own building
plan proposed for funding over the
dltional 94 slots for instructional per
sonnel, aides, clerical support and
supervisors. Also, during the 1987-89
instructional materials and $37,985
for staff development.
However, Church cautioned, if
counties use the state positions and
funds to replace current county fun
ding, it would defeat the aim of the
Basic Education Program to im
prove the schools.
“A lot of county commissioners are
significantly aware of this
program," he said. “We need to be
careful. We need that continuing sup-
(See STATE, Page 2-A)
BY SUSAN USHER
Despite opposition to the move, tlie
Brunswick County Utility Operations
Board will recommend that the coun
ty proceed with plans to install
lateral water lines in several subdivi
sions near Holden Beach at the pro
perty owners’ expense.
TTie board agreed unanimously last
Thursday afternoon to support
member Ed Gore’s motion to that ef
fect. The ^clslop, will be presented
March 23 to ihe C-quiity Cufiunis-
sioners for ratiflcalloh!
“We’ve gone too far to turn back
now,” Gore said after the meeting.
Special A.ssessment District 1
primarily consists of Holiday Ran
ches, Holiday Acres and Holiday
Pines- subdivisions. It was ranked
first in priority for the water lines on
the basis of the number of principle
structures to be> served, the number
of parcels in the area and the cost ef
fectiveness of serving each parcel.
Once the lines are installed, the ap
proximately 500 property owners
there will be assessed the full cost,
plus a smell impact fee.
“I’m against making people do
something like that,” said Ernest
McGee of Iceland. “But if it will keep
a majority from getting it..."
U.S. Attorney s Oftice lo investigate Death
BY ETTA SMITH
The U.S. Attorney’s Office wUi in
vestigate the apparent suicide of a
Southport man who had earlier
claimed he was threatened for testi
fying Ln a fraud trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kieran
Shanahan said he plans to im
mediately begin an investigation into
the death of Corbett Anderson, 78,
who died Sunday at Dosher Memorial
Hospital in Southport.
According lo Brunswick County
Coroner Greg White, Anderson died
as a result of a self-inflicted gunshot
wound to the head.
Anderson recently testified against
two Southport funeral home
operators who were being tried by a
federal grand jury for fraud.
Shanahan said that during posl-
trial detention hearings Special
Agent Charles Mercer testified that
Anderson told him he had bee.n
threatened by two unidentified men
who rode by his house on the day he
was scheduled to testify in the trial.
Shanahan, who prosecuted the
Gilberts, said the two men in the car
told Anderson they would get him for
testifying. He also said that Anderson
claimed he was threatened by
unidentified phone callers.
Southport Police Chief Bill Coring,
in whose jurisdiction the death occur
red, has not returned several phone
calls from The Brunswick Beacon.
White said Southport Police of
ficers told him that Anderson's wife
was home when the incident occur
red, but that she didn’t witness the
shooting.
Thomas E. Gilbert III and his son
Thomas E. Gilbert IV were indicted
by a federal grand jury last October
on charges they defrauded
customers who entered into pre-need
funeral and burial contracU.
In February Thomas E. Gilbert III,
63, was found guilty of 12 counts of
defrauding customers and giving
false statements on bank loan ap
plications. Thomas E. Gilbert III was
found guilty on 11 slmlliar charges.
They are to be sentenced on April 13.
The Gilberts were cleared of
charges that they had burned their
funeral home to collect the in
surance.
State Cabinet Member To Address County GOP
Secretary of the N.C. Department
of Cultural Resources Patric Dorsey
will ’oe tlie 'Keynote speaker when
Brimswick County RepnWicans hold
their biennial convention Saturday,
March 21, at the Brunswick County
Government Center in Bolivia.
Representatives in 1980 and for
Secretary of State in 1984. In 1985, at
governor-elect, she
chaired Gov. Jim Martin’s inaugural
committee.
In addition to cultural and artistic
pursuits, Dorsey has been active in
the Republican Party for more than
10 years, serving as Craven County
Chairman for Reagan and as a state
delegate to the National Republican
Convention in 1976 and on the na
tional platform committee in 1980.
She ran for the state House of
Delegates from each of the
county's precincts are expected to
participate in the 2 p.m. event at the
public assembly building. The
meeting is open to all county
Republicans, said Cnairman John
Dozier.
Business will include election of
new officers of the county organiza
tion to two-year terms, election of 44
delegates to the district and state
conventions and consideration of
several resolutions.
One of those resolutions, said
Dozier, is expected to a.sk the county
convention to bind its 7th Congres-
sirmal District Convention delegates
to the governor's choice to liead the
state GOP, Jade Hawke.
“I know a majority will back the
governor’s choice,” he said, adding,
“I think we have enough votes to do
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mi tied.”
The Congressional Club is
challenging Gov. Jim Martin’s
nominee, supporting a candidate of
its own.
PATRIC DORSEY
hearing were against the project, as
were an estimated 100 residents who
signed a petition presented to UOB
Chairman Robert Nubel just before
last week’s hearing. No mention of
the petition was made during the
hearing. At Thursday’s UOB
meeting, it was noted that staff had
been unable to verify that all signers
were property owners in the affected
subdivisions.
Much of the opposition voiced
came from Holiday Ranches
residents, but UOB members Thurs
day dtsmissed the possibility of strik
ing the area from the district.
A portion of the subdivision would
have to be Included to enter the
district from N.C. 130, said County
Planning Director John Harvey, and
to accommodate tiepins in the future
from subdivisions behind S.A.D. 1
that have asked for water, such as
Barefoot Bay.
These areas can’t be added to the
district without having to start over
the legal process. However, areas
can be deleted from a particular
district, though that might change its
priority ratings, he noted.
In deciding to move ahead with the
project, members noted that the area
with the most opposition is heavily
developed with small lots.
In other business, the board
discussed the possibility of slating
separate hearings for each district
and to slate them as quickly as possi
ble.
They said they want to get this
legal requirement out of the way as
vjuicluj oa |fuSatutc, wrimv oiiutruis
residents of each community an op
portunity to be heard. Gore and
Chairman Robert Nubel said after
the meeting, that whUe opposition ex
pressed at the first hearing did not in
fluence board members to drop the
project, that the hearings are not be
ing held simply because they are re-
nuiro/j l}y low
It's conceivable, said Nubel, that
information could be presented that
would chasige the board’s view of a
project.
With the recent decision by the
town of Sunset Beach to extend water
service to the Seaside Station area,
which had ranked-second in priority,
a new subdivision moved iiito the
i^ks' of funded project; Water
Wonderland/Somersett Landing.
With a projected cost of $91,600 com
pared to $110,400 for Seaside Station,
the project increases the board’s
fund balance by about $20,000. Ex
penditures for all funded projects are
expected to total about $^,000.
At tlie recommendation of the
board’s consulting engineer, Jerry
IjCwU of Lewis & Associates, this last
area would be combined with the
nearby sixth-ranked Whispering
Heights area to form one large
assessment district.
However, members learned that
extra surveying will be required in
tlie Somersett Landing area because
it has not been platted and exa^
front footage is required for assess
ment purpose.s.
Top-ranked behind the North
Holden area on the district Ust is the
area between Brick Landing Planta
tion and Bent Tree Plantation that in
cludes Brunswick Shores, Long
Acres, Shangrila and Stanley’s Cam
pground. The project is expected to
cost about $198,100.
Regarding the third-ranked pro
ject, Brooks Acres and B & B Sub
division, the board also agreed to
consider extending the boundary line
to Include at least a portion of the
Odell Williamson or Hideaway
Estate su’odivision so that Uie water
line would loop back to N.C. 179
rather than dead-ending. That would
improve water quality, said Water
Plant Director Kenneth Hewett.
Nubel warned that minor changes
for engineering purposes, such as
this, are acceptable. But he warned
that the board shouldn’t make major
changes because that would affect
the priority list.
The next project area Is Sea Pines
off Long Beach Road, both adjoining
subdivisions have county water.
In the fifth-ranked project area.
Ocean Pine Acres off N.C. 179/N.C.
994, UOB members agreed Monday,
on a motion by Bill English, to accept
a proposal submitted by Robert
Williamson, manager of Brunswick
Building Supplies. The acceptance is
subject to approval of the county at
torney, with a letter of understanding
to be prepared.
The company has offered to bear
the cost of running the water line
fevvwwi Ki ^ 17Q oIaww Srocics AventwS
to the company’s property line near
its concrete plant, if the county will
bore the tap from Its existing line
under N.C. 179 to the property edge
(See UOB, Page ^A)
—k.