Redwine Bill Would Allow Area Golf Courses To Sell Alcohol
BY SUSAN USHER
Rep. B. David “Butch" Redwino
has introduced a bill in the state
legislature that would allow golf
courses and certain other athletic
facilities to sell beer, wine and mixed
beverages in otherwise "dry"
Brunswick County.
H.B. 1093 has drawn criticism in an
editorial In an area daily newspaper
as well as from several residents of
area golf course communities.
However, Redwine said he has
received "tremendous amount of
support" for the bill since its in
troduction.
Brunswick County has more "wet"
municipalities (six) than any other
county. However, most of its perma
nent residents live in the unincor
porated area of the county, which re
mains dry, or without an Alcoholic
Beverage Control system, following
defeat of a referendum several years
ago.
Redwine said this week his bill is
intended not to circumvent the out
come of that referendum, but to cor
rect what he sees as inequities.
Many of the courses under con
struction or on the drawing board in
the county will not lie within "wet"
municipalities or within reasonable
annexation distance, he said, restric
ting their ability to offer alcohol os an
amenity, something he said many
golfers take for granted.
"They like to have a beer or a glass
of wine while they're playing or
afterward,” he said.
Inability to offer alcoholic
beverages as an amenity, he con
tinued, "puts ttiesc courses at a
disadvantage to courses in South
Carolina as well as those already
located in a city that is wet."
The only alternative to a bill such
as his, suggested Redwine, is incor
poration. But that's an unlikely op
tion for many of the courses given the
state's position on single-purpose in
corporations and the fact that a
number of the courses will not have
surrounding residential communities
at least in the immediate future.
The courses want to offer alcohol
os an amenity, he suggested, for the
same reason as the county’s “wet”
municipalities—because they depend
on tourist trade for their livelihood.
While applying only to Brunswick
County as written, the bill was sub
mitted as a public rather than local
bill, said Redwine. becaii.se nil bills
dealing with conunerce must be
public or statewide bills.
"This was the only area I have
received any concern about this par
ticular kind of tiling,” he added,
which is why the language of the bill
is restricted to counties with at least
six municipalities with full ABC per
mits, i.e., Brunswick County. It could
be amended during the consideration
process.
House Bill 1093, titled “Sports Club
.‘VBC iMCefisrS," describes a sports
club as an establishment which is
engaged in the "business of pro
viding atliletic facilities" that are
either open to the public or to
members and their guests. It limits
these facilities to golf clubs, tennis
and racquet clubs, physical fitness
centers or a combination of one or
more of these. Redwine said the
definition may be drawn more tightly
before consideration of the bill is
over, since Its intent is specifically to
cover golf courses.
Tlie bill Is now in the House ABC
Committee, which Redwine chairs.
According to the bill, also to qualify
as an athletic club a facility’s gross
receipts for "club activities” must be
greater than iti gross receipts for
alcoholic beverages.
A sports club would not be kept
from operating a restaurant under
the bill; Ln that case receipts
would count as club activities
receipts.
As written, the bill applies to "any
county where the sale of malt
beverages on and off premises, the
sale of unfortified wine on and off
premises, the sale of mixed
beverages and the operation of an
ABC system has been allowed in at
least six municipalities,” even if the
county itself is dry and the clubs are
located outside municipal boun
daries.
In qualifying areas, the Alcoholic
Beverage Commission could issue
permits “for the sale of 1) malt
beverages for on and off premises
consumption; 2) unfortified wine for
on and oU premises consumption; 3)
fortified wine for on and off premises
consumption; or 4) mixed
beverages."
Retail establishments that hold
mixed beverage permits would be re
quired to buy their "spiritous
liquors” at the nearest municipal
ABC system store.
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Twenly-fiflh Year, Number 27 ntt7 me tauNswtcK biacon Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, May 14, 1987
36 Pages Plus Inserts
25c Per Copy
County Ready
To Throw The
Water Switch
by SUSAN USHER
The end—or perhaps one should
say beginning—is almost in sight as
contractors complete the latest and
largest addition to the Brunswick
County water system.
"A week from tomorrow we throw
the juice to this system and see what
happens,” consulting engineer Jerry
Lewis of Shallotte advised members
of the county's Utility Operations
Board Monday.
He expects all to go well, though
breakage of some pipe could occur at
full pressure.
At the outside, he projected, the
county should be able to start accep
ting new customer tap-ons along all
the new lines sometime around the
end of June. Customers will get a
"discounted” tapnin rate if they con
nect within a specified time period.
Customers from Shallotte to
Calabash have been sampling the
water from the county's new 24
million-gallon-per-day surface water
treatment plant for several weeks.
Limited quantities of the water have
been flowing from the Malmo treat
ment plant to points south and west.
Transmission lines ranging from 42
inches in diameter down to 24 inches
have been tested under stress for
leaks and breaks, flushed and
chlorinated.
Final “punch list” adjustments are
being completed on four segments,
Lewis told the board, while minor
problems are being worked out at the
Brunswick Technical College and
Sunny Point pumping stations. Com-
piitc-rizeu telemetry must be install
ed at uie new ShaUottc puniping sta
tion and repairs are being made on
several leaks at the Bell Swamp sta
tion and along the N.C. 87 line.
Contractors had expected to begin
chlorinating the N.C. 87 line Tuesday
if welders had repaired all breaks by
late Monday.
The project is the last part of the
Pliase II water system construction,
financed primarily through a $37
million bond referendum. It includes
the Malmo treatment plant and
water mains that stretch from
Malmo to Leland, then along U.S. 17,
several pumping stations, elevated
tanks and a 4 million-gallon storage
tank at Bell Swamp, where it forks.
One main continues along U.S. 17 to
Shallotte while the otlier follows N.C.
87 past Boiling Spring Lakes to
Southport
Both lines tie into existing distribu
tion networks.
According to Jerry Lewis of
Shallotte, consulting engineer for the
project, the county’s existing
(See COUNTY, Page ^A)
Environmental Commission
Meets In Brunswick Today
Today (Thursday), for the first time ever, the state’s Environmen
tal Management Commission is meeting in Brunswick County.
The session was to begin at 9 a.m. in the old county courtroom,
upstairs in the Southport City Hall.
Jerry Lewis, of Lewis & Associates engineering firm in Shallotte, is
a member of the board. Another Brunswick County resident, Tommy
Harrelson of Southport, is a former chairman of the panel.
Following business, the commission was to join county and
municipal and chamber of commerce officials for dinner on Bald Head
Island.
According to Lewis, some of the agenda items the Commission was
to consider include the proposed reclassification of waters around
Wrightsville Beach and a proposed resolution that would ask the
Legislative Research Commission to study the issue of septic tank
siting.
"There’s a tremendous amount of inconsistency on this statewide,”
said Lewis.
The Commission’s meeting is open to the public.
r>c>r.i¥ T, 1 . A- SIAffPMOiosrUMVPOPt
CECIL LOGAN, Brunswick County Emergency Management coordinator, uses an ax to try to open the doors to the car where two Long Beach women
were killed Monday afternoon.
Two Women Killed In Fiery Auto Accident Near Supply
BY TERRY POPE
Two Long Beach women were kill
ed Monday afternoon in a fiery car
accident near Supply.
Dead were Irene Denning Bryant,
68, and Eva Boozer, 89, both of 201
61st Street, Long Beach.
According to N.C. Highway Patrol
reports, Ms. Bryant was driving
south on N.C. 211 about five miles
east of Supply when her car ran off
the roadway oh the left and struck a
pine tree.
The car then burst into flames, said
Ruby Oakley, Highway Patrol
spokesperson.
”We just don’t know what happen
ed,” Ms. Oakley said. "To be sure
she was not speeding, not a driver of
that age. The investigation will con
tinue.”
Flames from the accident set the
adjacent woods on fire. The first
emergency crew to arrive on the
scene were members of the N.C.
Forestry Service, said Cecil Logan,
Brunswick County Emergency
Management coordinator.
Logan said there were no
eyewitnesses to the accident, which
occurred around 1:30 p.m. A passer
by stopped to try to help but could not
get into the car because of the fire, he
added.
"It was a very bad accident to be
just one car involved,” Ixgan said.
"Apparently, the driver either went
to sleep or liad a heart attack. There
was no sign of her applying brakes.”
Members of the Supply Volunteer
Fire Department and Coastline
Volunteer Rescue Squad responded.
The accident occurred in Shallotte
Volunteer Rescue Squad’s territory,
but squad members immediately
asked Coastline for assistance since
they were on another call, Logan
said.
The ear was destroyed by the fire
and the bodies were burned beyond
recognition, he added.
(See AUTO, Pagc2-A)
Ocean Isle Accepts Land Trade For New Town Hall
BY TERRY POPE
Ocean Isle Beach commissioners
agreed to a trade Tuesday with
developer Odell Williamson that will
give the town a site for a new town
haU.
Williamson’s offer will provide the
town a double lot (100 foot X100 foot)
behind the Ocean Isle Beach
Volunteer Fire Department. In ex
change) the deed for the present town
hall building and lot (50 X 50) will
revert back to Williamson.
Mayor LaDane Bullingtdn also told
the board Tuesday that $235,000 of the
tentative 1987-88 budget has been set
aside to build the new town hall com
plex. The board agreed to begin look
ing for an architect so construction
can begin in November.
Board members unanimously ap
proved a 1987-88 tentative budget that
would maintain the 17 cents per $100
tax rate, the same as last year, based
on a property valuation of
$272,232,351.
Lot Said Better
Williamson told the board Tuesday
that the new lot will be better suited
for a town hall complex because con
struction there can exist at ground
level. A chapel is scheduled to be
built adjacent to the site, Williamson
said.
The present town hall lot and
building was donated to the town by
Williamson years ago. Its ownership
will revert back to Williamson when
the administration moveS into the
new building, which will also house
separate offices for. the building,
water and sewer departments.
"The thing I thirik is important is
that the handicapped have a problem
coming into this building,” William
son said. ”On the other lot, you can
build at ground level, which will be a
(See OCEAN ISLE, Page 2-A)
Du Pont Plant Will Retrieve Waste From County Landfill
BY SUSAN USHER
Crews hired by Du Pont’s Cape
Fear Plant were expected this week
to begin the costly process of digging
up 75,000 pounds of potentially hazar
dous waste buried earlier this year in
the Brunswick County landfill.
”We don’t really think it will cause
a problem, but we’re not sure,” said
Worth Heath, a waste management
specialist with the N.C. Division of
Human Resources Solid and Hazar
dous Waste section on the scene
Tuesday morning.
Buried in 750 containers near the
bottom of a hole recently covered up
at the landfill, the waste—which
neither Heath nor 1-andfilI Director
Major White could readily identify by
name—has a low combustion or
’’flash” point But Heath .said that’s
not the main reason for Du Pont wan
ting to remove the material from the
landfill.
The waste contains a substance
called zylene which could leach into
the groundwater. At certain levels, it
could be toxic.
"They don’t want it showing up in
the monitoring wells three or four
years from now and it getting blamed
on Du Pont,” said Heath, even
though there may be other sources
buried within the landfill.
Du Pont notified the county that the
waste had been sent to the Supply
landfill in error, said White, when ap
parently it should have been sent to
an EPA-approved toxic waste dump
in South Carolina.
Du Pont officials familiar with the
landfill project were away from the
plant and could not be reached by the
Beacon for comment in calls made
during the past week.
According to White, the work is be
ing done at great expense to the
plant, which produces dimethyl-
terephthalate (DMT) for use in
manufacturing Dacron, as well as
producing Dacron polyester staple
products and filament products.
"It’s going to take a lot of equip
ment and a lot of personnel” to
remove the waste, he said. He and
Heath stressed Du Pont’s record as
being very conscientious in terms of
safety and environmental control.
Du Pont has hired Ezra Dale of
Leland for the job. He was to have
had equipment on the site Monday,
but as of Tuesday afternoon, the
work had not yet begun because his
equipment was tied up elsewhere,
said Heath.
Because of the landfill’s recording
keeping system. White noted,
employees were able to pinpoint
when the material arrived and iden
tify the general area in which the
waste was dumped.
One secUon of the landfill has been
closed to routine traffic and an area
approximately 100 feet long and 12
feet wide has been marked off with
red flags indicating where the waste
is thought to be burled.
Users are dumping trash in the
newest hole, on the opposite side of
the landfill.