No Smoking Debate Heats
Up County Commissioners
(Continued From Page 1-A)
that's fair."
Jones made a motion to adopt the
policy, saying he did not intent to
prohibit everyone from smoking at
the complex, but to limit smoking in
certain areas.
The policy would be weak, said
i'inkcrton, since it doesn't address
what the penalty for smoking would
lie. "There's not anything in here,
that I can find, of what you're going
10 do if 1 do light up," he said.
Jones replied, "1 was hoping peo
ple would realize that we did have a
l?licy and would abide by it"
Commissioner Donald Shaw,
who does not smoke, said he be
lieves there should be designated ar
eas for smokers in county-owned
buildings.
"I don't want to take away all of
their rights," Shaw added.
Board discussion is important for
ironing out problems with any pro
posed policy, Clegg said after the
meeting. He plans to revise the poli
cy and to bring it back to the board.
Other Business
In other business Monday, the
board:
?Voted to set aside 523,500 to hire
four temporary, part-time employ
ees to erect road signs and to assign
house numbers for the county's 911
program. The funds had been bud
geted under signs, Clegg said.
?Set a public auction April 6, 10
a.m., at Cardinal Moving and Stor
age Co. in Wilmington for the sale
of goods awarded the county from a
bankruptcy settlement with Carolina
Carribean Carriers which had an
Hagle Island office in Brunswick
County. The county has also re
ceivcd $40,000 from the settlement.
The items for sale include office
supplies, a spreader barge, truck and
marine supplies, Clcgg said. A no
tice will be published.
?Voted 3-2, with Chairman Kelly
Holden, Shaw and Jones voting to
seek proposals from the county's
current liability and property insur
ers, rather than to seek proposals
from different insurance companies.
Pinkerton said he thought the county
could save money by bidding for in
surance, but Clcgg said keeping the
same company helps in continuity.
?Awarded an easement to Sl James
Plantation of Southport across a
well field owned by the county.
?Declared April 7-13 as Brunswick
County Government Week.
?Approved two budget amend
ments to accept a grant from the
Cape Fear Council of Governments
for the Brunswick County Depart
ment of Aging and to accept
S 12,4 1 1 in federal drug seizure
funds for the sheriff's department
drug training program.
?Adopted a resolution to receive
U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development annual funding
to continue the county's public
housing program.
?Voted to reject a bid of S2.200 for
land the county bought in the Town
Creek Township as a green box site
that it now doesn't plan to use. The
county paid S2.660 for the land,
Clegg said.
?Appointed the following to the
Brunswick County Equalization and
Review Board: John Thompson,
District 5; Shirley Babson, District
4; Jeannie Byrd, District 3; H.G.
Simmons. District 2; and Bobby
Long, District 1.
Bypass Industrial Park,
County Asks DOT
(Continued From Page 1-A)
a concern for both the South
Brunswick Islands and Southport
Oak Island Chambers of
Commerce. They have requested
that signs be placed on 1-40 to route
tourist traffic to Bruo *ick County
trom 1-40 to U.S. 1 / via the N.C.
210 connector and al jng U.S. 421.
Driving the interstate and passing
signs now that direct traffic to the
Topsail Island beaches makes
Clegg's "blood boil," he said.
"I want to make it easier for peo
ple to gel to Brunswick County,"
Clegg said. "It is no easier to get to
Topsail Island from 1-40 than it is to
get to Brunswick County's beaches."
Greiner Inc. will conduct a sec
ond public workshop on the Wilm
ington bypass study next Wednes
day, March 27, from 4 pan. to 8
p.m. at Emma B. Trask Middle
School on North College Road.
Displays of the project study area
will be available there for review.
The firm is collecting data it will
use in recommending a proposed
corridor for the bypass. Tlic envi
ronmental impact study also consid
ers an area's wetlands and wildlife
habitat, archaeological and histori
cal sites, public facilities, communi
ty disruption, relative costs and oth
er potential impacts associated with
the new roadway.
The first workshop was held in
Leland in November. After next
week's public hearing, the Greiner
study team will select two prelimi
nary corridor locations for a de
tailed analysis. That proposal will
be the subject of a public hearing in
April 1992.
Warmer Temperatures
Expected In The Area
It's beginning to look and feel
more like spring across the South
Brunswick Islands.
The outlook for the next few days
calls for above average temperatures
and near average rainfall, according
to Shalloue Point meteorologist
Jackson Canady. He said Tuesday
that lie expects temperatures to
range from the mid-40s at night to
around 70s during the daytime, with
about a half-inch of rainfall.
"All in all, a serious transition to
ward springtime," he said.
For the period March 12-18, Can
ady recorded a maximum high tem
perature of 77 degrees, which oc
curred on the 18th, and a minimum
low of 32 degrees, which occurred
on the 12th.
An average daily high of 64 de
grees combined with an average
nightly low of 42 degrees for a daily
average temperature of 53 degrees,
which Canady said is about normal.
He recorded just under three
quarters of an inch of rainfall a? his
home at Shallotte Point.
1
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5IAI-P muiu BY LHJUO RUTTER
CECIL LOGAN (left) Brunswick County Emergency Management Coordinator, and two state troopers look over the scene of an accident
last Thursday on N.C. 211. This oil tanker blew a tire and overturned, spilling most of its load of diesel fuel.
Overturned Tanker Spills Fuel
An oil tanker overturned near Southport last
Thursday, spilling about 1,300 gallons of diesel
fuel along N.C.211.
Joseph Travis Ward, 55, of Nakina, was travel
ing on N.C. 211 about 4.6 miles west of
Southport when a tire apparently blew out, caus
ing the driver to lose control of the truck, report
ed State Trooper Jerry Dove.
The truck, carrying an estimated 2,000 gallons
of fuel, was headed toward Southport around
9:30 a.m. when the accident occurred. The tanker
ran off the left side of the road and overturned,
damaging the truck's top and right side, said
Trooper Dove.
Ward was charged with driving with the wrong
class license that is required to operate an over
sized truck. Dove said.
The 1988 Ford truck was registered to
Campbell Oil Co. of Elizabethtown. Ward was
transported by private vehicle to Dosher
Memorial Hospital in Southport, where he was
treated and released. The Highway Patrol listed
Ward's injuries as Class B, incapacitating but not
serious.
Brunswick County Emergency Management
Coordinator Cecil Logan and the Southport
Volunteer Fire Department responded to the acci
dent. Sand was used to soak up the spill while
some of the fuel was pumped back into the
tanker.
None of the oil spilled made its way to
Bcaverdam Creek along N.C. 211. Damage to the
tanker was estimated at 515,000, Dove reported.
N.C. 211 was closed to traffic for about 20
minutes as a wrecker worked to upright the truck.
In a 3:15 p.m. accident Friday, a Shallottc
woman was charged with driving while impaired
after her car ran off the road and struck some
pine trees on Old Georgetown Road near
Calabash.
Barbara Brown Brooks, 50, was also charged
by State Trooper T.W. Caulder with driving left
of center.
According to Caulder's report, Ms. Brooks
was traveling on Old Georgetown Road about 2.4
miles north of Calabash when the 1984 Chevrolet
she was driving ran off the road on a curve,
crossed the roadway and ditch and struck a pine
tree. The car came to rest on a second pine tree,
Caulder reported.
Ms. Brooks was taken to The Brunswick
Hospital in Supply with Class B injuries.
Damage was listed at $3,000 to the car.
In another accident last Wednesday, March 13,
a Shallottc woman was seriously injured when
the car she was driving collided with another ve
hicle about six miles south of Bolivia on U.S. 17.
Margia Mac Le^ch, 50, was taken to Tne
Brunswick Hospital with serious injuries follow
ing the 7:30 a.m. accident. No other injuries were
reported in the two-car collision.
According to State Trooper B.D. Bamhardt,
Ms. Leach was traveling north on U.S. 17 when a
truck driven by Douglas Kent Evans, 31, of
Shallottc, slid on the rain-slick highway ana
crossed the center line, striking the Leach vehicle.
Evans was charged with following too closely.
Barnhardt's report stated that Evans had applied
brakes to avoid hitting a vehicle he was trailing
just before his 1990 Ford truck slid into the
southbound lane of traffic. The car in front of
Evans was stopping to make a turn, Barnhardt re
ported.
Damage was estimated at S2.000 to the Leach
car and S 1 ,500 to the Evans truck.
NON-RESIDENT PROPERTY OWNERS LEFT OUT
Holden Changes Annexation Vote Proposal
BY DOUG RUTTER
Changes made Monday mean
Holden Beach non-resident property
owners would not get to vote on
proposed expansion of the town
limits under a local bill sought by
town commissioners.
As now proposed, the town's
registered voters would still get to
vote before mainland property could
be annexed. People who own prop
erty on the island but aren't eligible
to vote at Holden Beach would be
left out.
Town commissioners voted
unanimously Monday moming for
the new proposal, which had been
developed over the past week dur
ing two board meetings and a meet
ing between the mayor, two com
missioners and State Rep. David
Redwine.
In a March 4 resolution com
missioners endorsed the idea of an
annexation vote and asked the
General Assembly to pass a law re
quiring a vote of registered voters
and property owners on any pro
posed changes to the town limits.
However, after talking with
Brunswick County Board of
Elections Supervisor Lynda Britt,
Commis sioner Judy Bryan said last
week it wouldn't be feasible for non
resident property owners to take part
in such a vote.
"She didn't see how it could pos
sibly happen," Mrs. Bryan said at a
town board meeting last Wednesday.
"She foresaw a lot of problems with
it." Mrs. Bryan, an opponent of an
nexation, proposed the local bill last
month.
Ms. Britt said Monday that state
election law docs not allow property
owners to vote. "There's nothing in
the law book that gives you the au
thority to allow property owners to
vote," she said. "Property owners
State Files Suit
(Continued From Page 1-A)
The lawsuit says the state per
formed additional site inspections in
late November, January and Febru
ary ? after mailing the most recent
violation notice.
Those inspections and others up
until the time the lawsuit was filed
revealed that the site had not been
brought into compliance and that
severe off-site sedimentation dam
age had occurred and is continuing
to occur.
"The nature of the violations, the
measures needed to be taken to cor
rect them, and the defendant's con
tinued refusal to take corrective ac
tion, leaves the state with no ade
quate remedy at law for the harm
" Property owners could own property in
12 places, but they can vote in only one
place."
? Lynda Britt
Elections Supervisor
could own property in 12 places,
but they can vote in only one
place."
The town board rescinded its
original resolution Monday morning
and adopted a new one. This one
asks Redwine to introduce a bill that
would change the state's annexation
rules. It would prevent the town
board from annexing without the ap
proval of registered voters.
Town officials want a provision
in the bill so either the board of
commissioners or registered voters
could call for a referendum.
The town board could set up a
special vote on annexation at any
time.
Residents would be able to call
for a vote by getting 10 percent of
the registered voters to sign a peti
tion. There are about 400 registered
voters on Holden Beach, so 40 sig
natures could bring about a vote on
annexation.
Mainland annexation has been a
controversial issue at Holden Beach
for years and proved to be the de
ciding factor in the 1989 town elec
tion, when four candidates opposed
to annexation were elected.
Those four town commissioners
made good on their campaign
promises early last year when they
voted to overturn an annexation or
dinance that had been adopted by a
previous board in June 1989.
The ordinance would have
brought into the town limits about
67 acres of property bordering the
mainland causeway. The annexation
was scheduled to take effect in June
1990.
The resolution adopted Monday
mentions the annexation ordinance
that was overturned and says annex
ation has been a divisive issue
among residents of the town.
It points out that under current
state statutes, a simple majority of
the town board members could an
nex land, and that action could be
contrary to the will of the people.
In addition to Mrs. Bryan,
Commissioners Bob Buck, Gloria
Ban-ett and Kenner Amos have sup
ported the proposed legislation that
would provide for a vote on
annexation. They all voted against
annexation last year.
Commissioner Gay Atkins, the
only annexation proponent on the
town board, voted against the first
resolution calling for the state law
bccause of the way the resolution
was worded.
She was the only board member
last Wednesday to vote against tak
ing the concept of the annexation
vote to Redwine. She said the exact
wording of the resolution should be
worked out first.
Mayor John Tandy and board
members Bryan and Amos met with
Redwine last Friday and brought a
revised resolution to Monday's
meeting thai incorporated Red
wine's comments.
Commissioner Atkins, who has
said all along that she wants the
townspeople to dccide the annexa
tion issue, went along with the other
board members and voted in favor
of the new proposal.
To get her approval, town offi
cials agreed to delete a section of the
resolution that said the Holden Beach
Property Owners Association
(HBPOA) recommended against the
most recent attempt to annex main
land property.
The HBPOA, a group of about
800 members that represents non
resident owners, voted 31-16 at a
meeting two years ago to oppose
annexation plans.
Ms. Atkins said it wasn't right
to say the property owner's associa
tion opposes annexation because
only 47 of the group's members at
tended that meeting held during the
1989 Easter weekend.
She also opposed the resolution
because it didn't address how resi
dents could call for a vote through
petition. She wanted the provision
included the resolution before she
voted on it.
Ms. Atkins also voted against the
first resolution because she thought it
insulted mainland residents. The res
olution said the priorities of island
and mainland residents regarding the
environment could differ consider
ably.
Commissioner Atkins has stated
several limes that she doesn't like
the idea of the town going to the
state legislature for spccial laws.
She said it's sad that Holden
Beach has to turn to the General
Assembly for help. 'To go to
Raleigh and have them govern us
sho'.vs that we can't govern our
selves," she said.
To Stop Waccamaw River Project
and damage done and threatened to
be done," the lawsuit states.
"If this tract of land is allowed to
remain as is, defendant will contin
ue to violate the requirements of the
Sedimentation Pollution Control
Act and the state will continue to
suffer immediate, pressing and ir
reparable damage," the state claims
in the lawsuit.
Developer Dale Gore told The
Beacon last month that the develop
ers should not be held responsible
for all of the violations bccausc they
occurred on property after it had
been sold to private landowners.
The state maintains that the devel
opment company is responsible for
the violations because they occurred
before the land was sold, according
to Dan Sams, regional manager of
the N.C. Land Quality section.
In addition to the state action, the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is
sued a "cease and desist" order in
November to keep the developers
from filling any more wetlands.
Wayne Wright, chief of the corps
regulatory branch in Wilmington,
said last month that he didn't know
how many acres of wetlands. He
was out of town at a conference this
week and unavailable for comment.
Dale Gore also had denied the
federal agency's charge. He said
neither the company nor any people
it sold lots to had pushed dirt into
the Waccamaw River.
THE BRUNSWICK&KACON
Established Nov. 1, 1962
Telephone 754-6890
Published Every Thursday
At 4709 Main Street
Shallotte, N.C. 28459
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