STAFF rHOTO BY DOUG *UTTM
DUMPSTERS in and around Calabash would have to be placed
on concrete pads and screened on three sides if the town board ap
proves new zoning ordinances. A public hearing will be held
Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m. at the Calabash fire station.
Calabash Board Will Hear Comments
- Wednesday On Proposed Zoning Rules
BY DOUG RUTTER
Calabash leaders are proposing
rules that would set up zoning dis
tricts in and around town, require
people to obtain permits before
trimming certain types of trees and
have businessmen place their dump
sters on concrete pads.
Town officials will accept com
ments on those and other proposed
zoning ordinances at a public hear
ing Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 7 p.m. in
the Calabash fire station.
The Calabash Planning and
Zoning Board and its committees
have drafted the proposed rules over
a period of months, and they have
been refined during a series of
workshops by town commissioners.
If the rules are adopted, Calabash
Code Enforcement Officer Ed
Schaack would be responsible for
enforcing them in town and in the
extraterritorial area, which covers
most property within a mile of the
town limits.
Adoption of the ordinances
would give Calabash the most com
prehensive set of zoning ordinances
of any town in the area, including
the restrictive beach communities.
Schaack said proposed rules on
zoning districts, off-street parking,
landscaping and tree preservation,
signs, refuse containers, abandoned
structures and junked vehicles
would have the most impact on the
area. Other regulations would deal
with noise, light and travel trailer
parks. There are 55 pages of pro
posed subdivision regulations in the
207-page book of ordinances.
The zoning ordinances set forth
the types of land uses that are per
mitted in different areas. Calabash
presently has four zoning districts,
with no zoning ir. the extraterritorial
area.
The new ordinance would estab
lish 12 zoning districts in and
around town. They include three
residential, two manufactured home
and two business districts, as well
as industrial, conservation, agricul
tural, campground and planned unit
development districts.
Each district would have different
permitted and conditional uses and
different dimensional requirements
for property. Applicable deed re
strictions from each subdivision
would be incorporated into the zon
ing ordinances. The map can be
viewed at the town hall.
Sign regulations, which have
been a sore point between town of
ficials and businessmen since the
town started enforcing an eight
year-old ordinance last year, make
up 20 pages cf the new zoning
rules.
The stated purpose of the new
sign ordinance is to create a pleas
ing environment and good appear
ance and to promote highway safe
ty. Design standards for signs and
regulations on campaign signs are
in the ordinance. Banners, off
premises signs and portable signs
would be among the signs that are
prohibited.
Non-conforming signs would be
given anywhere from six months to
three years to comply with the code.
The length of the grace period
would depend on the value of the
sign.
Two other sections of the zoning
ordinances that could directly affect
merchants establish regulations for
off-street parking and dumpsters.
The parking rules spell out park
ing space requirements for all dif
ferent types of business. Owners of
restaurants, for instance, would
have to provide one space per em
ployee during the largest shift and
spaces for 30 percent of the maxi
mum seating capacity.
Businessmen also would be af
fected by a section of the ordinance
dealing with refuse containers. It
would require dumpsters to be
placed on concrete pads with guard
posts. Dumpsters would have to be
screened on three sides so they are
not visible from the street.
Another section of the proposed
code is designed to protect trees and
shrubs and beautify the town while
reducing storm water runoff and
soil erosion.
The landscaping and tree preser
vation ordinance would apply to all
new development. Existing devel
opment would be affected if it is
improved or if the use or ownership
of the property is changed.
The ordinance would require buf
fer zones in areas where different
zoning districts meet and where ve
hicular use areas such as streets and
parking lots come together.
Landowners affected by the ordi
nance would be required to submit a
landscaping plan to the building in
spector. In most cases, a certificate
of occupancy would not be issued
until the landscaping was complete.
Tree alteration pennits would be
required to cut or destroy certain
types of trees including wax myr
tles, crape myrtles, dogwoods, hol
lies and live oaks. Proposed fines
are $50 for each tree damaged and
$100 for each tree that is illegally
removed.
Also as part of the new zoning
ordinances, the code enforcement
officer would be able to do some
thing about abandoned structures
and abandoned, nuisance or junked
vehicles.
The town could order repair,
closing or demolition of abandoned
buildings that threaten the health or
safety of the people. The town also
could remove junked cars and vehi
cles abandoned on public or private
property.
Credit Co.u pie's
Action With Saving Life
/-? ? r* _t__ ? J-?- ? ?? . . *
Gcri Prcslar wouldn't be alive today if it Weren't
for the quick responses on Jan. 12 of a couple from
Hickman's Crossroads, says Gloria Hunsuckcr.
Mrs. Hunsucker, an Ocean Isle Beach resident and
a goou friend of Mrs. Prcslar, said they were in a par
ly of si^ dining that Saturday night at Docksidc
Restaurant in Calabash after bowling.
Mrs. Prcslar is an Ocean Isle Beach property own
er and part-time resident. She was down for a week at
the beach. Her husband, a lieutenant coloncl at Camp
Springs, Md., had stayed behind because of the
Persian Gulf situation.
After eating, Mrs. Prcslar rose from the table, say
ing she was sick and needed some fresh air. Outside
the restaurant but in sight of her friends, she blacked
out and fell. Two of her tablemalcs rushed outside, but
few others inside the restaurant moved, said Mrs.
Hunsucker.
That is, except for Darryll and Ramona Hester.
She is a nurse at Grand Strand Hospital in Myrtle
Bcach, S.C. He is the pastor of Beulah Baptist Church
at Hickman's Crossroads.
"I never saw such a reaction in my life," recalled
Mrs. Hunsucker. "They were wonderful. They just left
their meal and went. There was no pulse, her eyes
were dilated and she had stopped breathing. They
covered her with a blanket and began CPR (cardio
pulmonary rescuciation)."
Friends kept back the gathering crowd and called
the Calabash Emergency Medical Service. Tne
Hesters rode with Mrs. Prcslar on the ambulance to
The Brunswick Hospital at Supply, then returned
Sunday to check on her recovery.
Mrs. Prcslar is now in Charlotte with a daughter,
undergoing additional testing to determine why she
became ill.
Mrs. Hunsuckcr had only compliments for the
professionalism and kindness of the cmcrgency vol
unteers and hospital personnel who cared for her
friend, and especially the Hesters.
"Without them we know she would have died,"
said Mrs. Hunsuckcr.
While the six diners didn't know the Hesters, they
had seen them before ? earlier that day at the lanes,
with a group of young bowlers.
"It was like they (the Hesters) were supposed to
be with us Saturday," she said. "I can't tell you how
grateful we are to these people."
STAPf rHOTO
Bus Bogs Down
Some West Brunswick High School students got home from school a little late last Thursday when
their bus bogged down in a ditch off Four Mile Road near Ocean Isle Beach. The bus driver appar
ently pulled the bus over to the side of the road to di.rripline the passengers, and the vehicle bccame
stuck in the mud. A Brunswick County Schools tow truck pulled the bus out of the ditch. Nobody was
injured.
Chore Workers' Salaries, Job
Status Is 'Developing' Issue
BY TERRY POPE
Four Brunswick County Department of Social Ser
vices chore workers lost their jobs Ian. 1 when they
failed to obtain a state's license as a nurse's aide.
DSS employs about 35 chore workers who were
serving approximately 96 patients in December through
uic department s three home health care programs! Title
XX, Community Alternatives Program (CAP), and Per
sonal Care Services (PCS).
Although the workers are now required to pass a
75-hour nurse's aide I training course, salaries and the
job description for chore providers haven't changed in
Brunswick County.
About 30 chore providers met with DSS department
heads last week to ask that their jobs be reclassified so
that salaries can be increased to match their added qual
ifications.
Chore providers now earn S4.16 per hour, or around
$8,450 per year, compared to the county's janitorial
staff workers, who earn $11,600 per year. Chore work
ers are considered county employees with full benefits.
The DSS board is expected to investigate the issue
at its meetings in coming months.
Interim County Manager David Clegg said the need
to reclassify state and federally-funded workers is a
function for the state personnel commission, not the
county. Chore workers attending the department meet
ing bst week had been told that the county held the
right to increase salaries for social services employees
based on Chapter 126 of the N.C. General Statutes.
Clcgg said the county must request that jobs be re
classified to move workers up to a higher pay grade.
"This whole issue is just .developing," Clcgg said.
"I'm expecting some very specific recommendations
from the DSS board. They're in a better position to know
more about their needs at this point."
County mmmissioners are not likely to take action
on the matter until budget time in June. Chore providers
have been lobbying commissioners for support of better
pay and have also asked that the county step in to re
write their job descriptions.
"I know the whole issue is coming," Clcgg added.
"I have gotten wind of the issues, but they haven't been
firmed up yet."
The State Nursing Board succeeded last year in hav
ing legislation passed that requires all home health care
providers be licensed by the state as a nurse's aide as of
Jan. 1. In order to keep their jobs, all chore workers had
to pass a 75-hour training course, which was offered lo
cally last fall at Brunswick Community College.
Brunswick County DSS Director Jamie Orrock said
the N.C. Division of Social Services opposed the license
requirements. The regulation was aimed more at private
businesses than county-operated programs, he said.
Last January, DSS decided to operate its own home
health care program for Medicaid recipients rather than
to contract those services out to private companies. Ori
ginally, chore workers were to provide chores, with no
personal hygiene, bathing or grooming involved, Or
rock said. But with the changes in the needs of the
clients, the job requirements also changed.
According to the county's job description, a chore
provider's tasks include "house cleaning, shopping for
food, preparing meals and providing transportation to
medical appointments. Personal care includes tasks re
lated to physical care and feeding of clients such as
meal planning, assisting with bathing and grooming,
and basic first aid."
To obtain a nurse's aide license, chore workers must
receive instruction in a number of areas that arc not
covered in the county's job description. Areas covered
in the nurse's aide course include but are not limited to:
bedpan and urinal use; bowel and bladder retraining;
perineal and catheter care; enemas; empty drainage de
vices from body cavities and wounds; infection control;
surgical skin preps and scrubs; apply and removal of
EKG monitor leads; postmortem care; maintaining vital
signs; cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and Heimlich
maneuver and other nutritional or personal care areas.
Clegg said the county should view the new training
requirements "as a good thing from a liability stand
point".
To keep their state licenses, home health care pro
viders must remain employed as a nurse's aide. How
ever, the county's job description for chore workers, as it
now reads, doesn't match the requirements needed to re
main a nurse's aide. Chore providers are concerned that
if the state's job description isn't changed, they may lose
their licenses when renewals are needed in two years.
Clegg said it isn't the first time the state has enacted
a program first and then "tried to figure out how to do it
and wonder how it's going to work."
"It will work eventually," he added. "The start up
isn't always easy."
Among those fired Jan. 1 was 72-year-old Rose
Lcdet of Long Beach. She had been caring for the invalid
mother of Jeannette Roach, a deputy with the Brunswick
County Sheriff's Department, for a number of years.
"The family is retaining her and social services is
sending someone else to help her," Ms. Roach said.
'The training itself is a good thing, but our case was so
unique. There should have been special provisions for
someone who has been on the job for as long as she
has.'
Orrock wrote to the Division of Social Services to
ask if an exception could be made from the license re
quirements for Ms. Ledet, whom he said is "capable of
meeting the needs of this client but not of meeting the
certification requirements."
The state would not allow an exception.
The county doesn't expect to lose chore workers be
cause of the salary scale. In a memo to chore providers,
Orrock said the workers' salaries increased both in Jan
uary and July of last year and are scheduled to increase
again in April 1991.
"While most employees may feel their salaries are
low," Orrock wrote, "I will point out that your salaries
reflect a much greater increase (plus benefits) than oth
er county employees during this same time period."
The county often trains workers, only to lose them
to higher paying positions with private companies.
"That's an old trend," Clegg said.
DeLANA'
Full Service Family Salon
WELCOMES
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Babson
Gurganus
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Walk-Ins Welcome ? 754-7234
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Upper level of Resort Plaza. Hwy. 17 S., Shallotte
(Shades & Shadows4 (,?
Just Arrived!
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These handsome lamps are available
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*We also offer lamp repair
Take Hwy. 130 West, Near Whltevllle
640-2758 ? Open Mon.-Sat 10-6 ? (Just past BEMC)
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