Pago 2-A THE BRUNSWICK BEACON. Thursday. Octobor 15. 1987
Disaster Avoided In Charter Boat Fire
(Continued From Pago 1-A)
passenger Jack Millwood of Spartan
burg,’S.C.. who was to fish with his
brother Johnny. “I think they had an
electrical fire in the engine room.
Smoke started boiling out. They tried
to extinguish it for about 10 minutes,
but ran out. Then the captain .started
taking life vests and telling people to
got off."
Stevens and his crew freed one of
four life rafts on top of the Capl. Jim.
Two were burning, the third januried
in the railing of the lower deck.
"We hjid enough jackets and rafts
on top—more than enough jackets,”
.said Stevens. “But I couldn't get the
ones inside the cabin. The flames
were shooting up."
Even with vests available, .some
passengers and crew jumped into the
water without them.
Stevens said overall p.a.s.sengers
handled the .situation well, though
some panicked.
Crew member Mark Leonard
agreed. "A lot of the people on the
boat cooperated and helped get the
others off." he said. “The overhead
wires caught on fire, so it went up
pretty fast."
Several of the older pa.ssengers
were “real champs," according to
Mitch Hou.se of Dallas. N.C.
One woman, however, jumped only
when she .s;iw no other wav. "She was
.scared to get off. she was .scared to
jump." .said U’onard.
Without radio. Stevens didn’t have
a chance to .setul a distress call.
CapUiin Everett Hoyle’s Star II,
the first boat to arrive at the .scene,
.saw the smoke in the distance and did
radio for help.
"We .saw that they were burning
and called it in," he .said, then moved
in for the re.scue.
His boat picked up 15 passengers;
the Black l-’ish, 28; the Spla.sh, six;
the Sea Hawk II, two; the Sun Gypsy,
five; the Hurricane, four; and the
Sea Hunt and Dirty Dozen, one each.
"It w;is pretty choppy and the wind
SEA HAWK II fishermen Jerry Scott and Chet Rosiak
pull Junior Keller aboard. Keller, a passenger, and
Capt. Jimmy Stevens were among the last to go into
the water and the last to be picked up. They were cling-
PMOIOB* 10 IBACHAl
ing to a piece of wooil. a support f(»r one of the Capt.
Jim’s life rafts, and had jumped with only one life vest
between them.
was blowing about 15 knots out of the
east," said Buster Gillis, captain of
the Sea Hawk II, with air
temperature in the low 60s and the
.seawater temperature about 71
degrees.
His boat, with fishermen Jerry
Scott, Ed Trachal, Chet Rosiak and
Mike McGrath from Ohio on board,
came to the rescue from 3^ miles
out. They picked up passenger Junior
Keller and Captain Stevens, the last
two people to enter the water and the
last to be rescued. Keller, of Kan
napolis, has a seasonal home at Shell
Point. He lost his glasses and billfold.
Coast Guard airplanes circled the
area looking for passengers for two
hours.
“There was a lot of just sitting and
waiting,” Gillis continued, “while
they got a head count and everybody
was accounted for.”
Passengers reacted differently to
the near-disaster, now under routine
investigation by the U.S. Coast
Guard’s Marine Safety Office in
Wilmington.
Johnny Millwood said he had been
out “10 or 12 times."
“But this is my last one. It would
probably never happen again in a
million years, but I’ll never take the
chance."
However, the four passengers pick
ed up by the Hurricane lingered
aboard to fish. Calabash Volunteer
Rescue Squad personnel reported.
The boat was due to dock at Little
River, S.C., at about 1;15 p.m.;
however several passengers
transferred to the Sun Gypsy for a
ride back to Capt. Jim's Marina.
At least one, Paul Benton, stayed
behind on the Hurricane.
His parents, Wayland and Sharon
Benton, are both volunteers with the
Calabash VRS. They were half-way
to the Calabash docks before they
found out it was the Capt. Jim in trou
ble. They knew Paul was supposed to
be on it.
“All the bad things" went through
their minds, Benton said, before they
reached the docks and learned their
son was safe.
S©ptic Tonk Applicotions To G©t Clos©r Look
(Continued From Page 1-A)
point.”
Those results also raised questions
among local health officials regar
ding some of the options allowed pro
perty owners in the past.
“At this point we’re not sure what
modifications can be made on these
canals or the safest way to do them."
Soils have specific “carrying
capacities," he noted, which aren’t
always easy to determine. “At some
point you reach the point of satura
tion; we don’t know when that will be
reached."
Holden Beach is only 40 percent
developed, but much of that develop
ment is concentrated along its fmgvr
canals.
Meanwhile health dei)arUiunt
sanitarians are evaluating each in
dividual lot on ils merits. It’s possi
ble, Crowder added, that of adjacent
lots in a subdivision or on a canal, one
might qualify for a pennit and
another not qualify.
"A lot of canal lots arc ‘made land’,
and it depends a lot on the fill
material used and also on what was
there originally." he continued.
Since July 1, permits have been
denied for a lot in Harbor Acres and
at least five lots in Holden Beach
Harbor, many with the notation
T948c," which means that the health
department has no recommendations
lit ii.s own regardinu m«KU(iealions
that could allow the lot;s to qualify.
However, pennit applications have
also been denied on other parts of the
island, including one lot in the R.H.
Holden subdivision and a lot in
Holden Beach West.
Recent applications not yet acted
on include ones for lots in Holden
Beach Harbor and Colonial Beach
subdivisions.
An existing sy.stem on Lot 323 in
Holden Beach Harbor was recertified
on August G.
Septic tank permits arc valid for up
Ash Man Charged In Murder Cases
(Continued From Page 1-A)
U.S. 17 and N.C. 904 in Grissettown.
Brunswick County Sheriff John C.
Davis said Friday authorities believe
the second shooting occurred near
where the body was found.
Baker also died of multiple gunshot
wounds. Perry said.
Williams said a handgun was seiz
ed, and that it was sent to the siii
Crime I^b in Raleigh last week for
ballistics tests, to determine if the
same weapon was used in l)olh
murders.
Shortly after Baker’s body was
discovered, Brunswick County
lawmen located the van, for which
Wilmington police had notified area
law enforcement agencies to be on
the lrK)koiit. The van was found aban
doned on N.C. 904 about one mile east
of wiiere ilie victim's body nas
found. Perry said.
New Hanover clerk’s offices, Piver
had been given a 30-year prison term
in 1973 after he was convicted of arm
ed robbery and murder charges in
connection with the May 1972
shooting death of Bobby Hamilton, a
Wilmington .ser\-ice station attendant
whose body was found in Brunswick
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The vehicle was taken to the
sheriff’s department impoundment
lot in Bolivia, where investigators
searched it for clues into both
murders.
According to the Brunswick and
tions .spokesman David Guth. Piver’s
initial parole in October 198:1 was
revoked 13 months later after he was
convicted of larceny in New Hanover
Gounty.
He said Piver was released from
the Department of Corrections on Ju-
lv7.
Cooler Temps To Continue
1 ernperatures in the Shallotte area
are expected lo remain below normal
through the weekend, according to
Shallotte Point meteorologist
Jack.son Canad\.
Canady .said this week’s cool, win
dy conditions here have been in
fluenced by the interaction of a high
prc.ssure .system to the north and a
stationary cold front lo the south.
Gale force winds and heavy surf
were reportet! off the Norl!? ('iirolifUi
coa.st late .Monday and early I'ue.s-
day.
He said local weather cotulitions
mid-week were not directly affected
by Tropical Storm Floyd, iind he .said
it is unlikely th;it the tropical storm
will affect southeastern .North
Carolina.
For the period Oct. G through 12,
Canady recorded an average daily
temperature of 02 degrees, which is
five degrees below normal.
lo three years from the date of is
suance.
The original scope of the
wastewater needs study was to deter
mine if septic tank pollution of
groundwater had led to the deteriora
tion of water quality in the canals of
three subdivisions on the northern
side of the island—Har’oor Acres,
Holden Beach Harbor and Heritage
Harbor. It was expanded to include
the entire island.
Reporting to Holden Beach Com
missioners on Sept. 14, Dan I^tta of
McKim and Creed said the study’s
results, based primarily on samples
from 14 test wells, were inconclusive.
Specifically the report states, “The
test results show no clear-cut pic
tures of what areas ae polluted and
svhich areas are not polluted, as was
initially hoped would occur. Instead,
the results indicate a great fluctua
tion in coliform counts at all locations
tested. The main indication of the
sampling and testing program is that
the island as a whole experiences
severe water quality problmes which
are evidenced by he wide range of
coliform counts in the samples.”
The study also noted that “it is ap
parent from the water table depths
and from the soil analyses performed
at the time of well construction that
many site that have septic systems
are unsuitable for such use" and that
water table level in the canal lots
“vary considerably" with the tides.
“The fact that there is a constant
back and forth movement of water
into the subsoils of these lots infers
that pollutants are being carried out
of the .soils and into the canals."
McKim and Creed recommended
an extensive inventory and inspec
tion of all septic systems on the
island, their operational status and
maintenance, repair or upgrading
needed.
The average daily high was 74
degrees, while the average nightly
low was 51 degrees.
The maximuin high temperature
for the period was 80 degrees, record
ed on Oct, 10. The minimum low
ll•mperatllre was 40 degrees on f)el.
9.
.No rainfall was recorded during
the periixl. he .said.
area
Canaily’s outlook for the
through the weekend calls for night
time low lem()eratures in the low 5is
and daytime liigbs in the low VOs
He said rainfall should be near nor
mal or around one-half inch.
AT SHALLOTTE POINT
BRING HOME
TUCJkBEfirf'M
I nEff^Dcnuuni
On Sole At
SHAllOTTE POINT GROCERY
VILLAGE MART
THE BRuMSwlCK«BEAC0N
Established Nov. 1, 1962
Telephone 754-6890
Published Every Thursday
AI Main Street
ShoMotfo N. oojco
SUBSCRIPTION RATES
IN BRUNSWICK COUNTY
One Yeor S7.50
Six Months $4.(X)
ELSEWHERE IN NORTH CAROLINA
One Year SIO.OO
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One Year S12.50
Six Months 5/.00
Second doss postage paid at
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N. C. 28459. USPS 777-780.
SYAEr PMOtOBT SUSAN USM(R
THE WORST OF THE ORDEAI. behind them. Capt. Jimmy Stevens and his
wife, Juanita, arc reunited at their Calabash dock. "Wc got everybody:
that’s what I’m proudest of,” he said.
I’NOlO BY fO fPACHAl
JUNIOR KELLER (left), a passenger pulled from the water following the
fire on the Capt. Jim, rests inside the cabui of the Sea Hawk II, a charter out
of Oppnn IkIo MnWnn
V,
^ ^HOIO It Y SUSAE4 USrttN
AS A CAIwMIASH RF,SCUE VOLUNTEER ministers to his wife. Stephanie
Wayne Graves of Fredieksburg, Va.. waits In (he shelter of the ambulance!
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