Trapper
Says New
Fox Law Needed
To Thin
Out Crop
HY TERRY POPE
A Lcland man went hunting for a fox law
at Brunswick County Commissioners' cham
bers Monday night.
He only bagged two votes in favor of
tnew local legislation
which would regulate
fox hunting and trap
ping in the county.
Charles Eddins told
the board that the N.C.
Wildlife Resources
Commission will only
enforce fox harvesting
laws established by spe
cial local bills passed by
EDDINS ^ im.c. General
Assembly.
Brunswick County is one of 35 counties
thai currently has such legislation, but the
county's law will expire at the end of the
year, Eddins said.
If a new bill isn't passed, fox hunting here
will become illegal.
"You can't take foxes unless there's a local
law that says you can," said Eddins, who
traps foxes as a hobby.
The deadline for introducing local bills to
the General Assembly is today (Thursday).
Commissioners voted 3-2 not to ask State
Rep. David Rcdwinc to introduce a bill that
was originally written in 1985 to establish a
local fox harvest season.
Such local bills still stand a chance of
m;iking it to the General Assembly if pre
sented to Rcdwine in lime to be substituted
for a "dummy" bill. While the deadline for
local bills is this week, Rcdwinc routinely
submits several blank bills for flexibility in
introducing local legislation after the dead
line.
Several commissioners said they did not
know enough about the law to ask Redwine
to introduce such a bill. Commissioners
Frankic Rabon and Donald Shaw voted for a
bill that was originally written in April 1985
but never made it to a House vote.
Instead, the board voted unanimously to
ask a Wildlife Commission officer to attend
the commissioners' April 15 meeting to ex
plain the current laws.
Rabon made the motion to ask that the fox
bill be given to Redwine so he would intro
duce it to the House this week.
"I don't agree that I can go that far until 1
hear from another source," Holdcn said.
The bill would establish a fox hunting sea
son with weapons from Dec. 1 to Jan. 1 and
for trappers from Jan. 2 to Jan. 31. It would
also set a season bag limit of 30 foxes.
CurrenUy 50 permits for fox hunting and
trapping are available in Brunswick County
each season. Each permit holder can pur
chase up to five fox tags for S3 each before
Jan. 1 and an additional five tags afterwards
if they arc not all sold.
Because of the limited number of permits,
a lottery is held each year for those applying,
said Eddins.
The current law is causing an abundance
of foxes in the county, he said.
"They'll cat right along side of your cats,"
Eddins said. "A neighbor killed one last win
ter that was running his puppies away from
their food."
Eddins said he is afraid distemper and ra
bics will spread lo pels if the foxes are not
thinned out by hunters and trappers.
"I didn't start trapping for the money," he
said. "If 1 did it for the money, I'd throw the
traps away. It takes too much trouble."
Fox furs sell for S3 a pelt. The permits and
tags cost more than the pelts arc worth, he
said.
Brunswick County Health Director
Michael Rhodes said there has been a move
in South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky
to thin out the fox population because of re
ported cases of rabies.
There has been no documented cases of
foxes carrying rabies in Brunswick County
in several years, said Rhodes.
Said Eddins, "If we get distemper in here,
we're going to get it in our dogs. The foxes
are everywhere."
AB/o
STAFF PHOTO BY TERRY POPE
Competes In Chili Cook- Off
Brunswick Beacon pressman William Manning slirs a pot of his
Green Swamp Hot Off The Press Chili at the Robert Ruark
Foundation Chili Cook-Off in Southport Saturday. The event rais
es funds for the Robert Ruark Festival in November, held to honor
the famous writer who featured the town in his stories. Judges
awarded Jose's Mexican Restaurant and Cantina of Southport
first place, The State Port Pilot of Southport second place and
John Thompson, a Southport architect, third place from nine en
tries in this year's chili competition.
ABC Boards To Discuss
Merger Of Area Stores
A representative from Forsyth
County will meet with the
Brunswick County Alcoholic Bev
erage Control Board to discuss a
possible merger of the county and
town ABC liquor stores.
It is the second lime area ABC
boards have agreed to talk about a
possible merger.
The county operates an ABC
store that opened last July on N.C.
130 near Holden Beach.
County voters in November 1989
approved of countywide alcohol
sales. Prior to the vote, only towns
that chose to have ABC boards
could operate liquor stores and ben
efit from their proceeds.
Last week, the county ABC
board voted to put on hold a request
to build a second store at the River
Run Shopping Center at N.C. 211
and Long Beach Road near Oak
Island.
The state ABC commission was
scheduled to act on that request at
its meeting in Raleigh this Friday.
Opposition from Oak Island
towns and Southport prompted the
county ABC board to ask that the
state take no action on the request
"until further notice."
Surrounding towns were con
cerned about losing revenues to the
county-owned store. Last month,
the county posted a notice of intent
to locate a liquor store at a building
formerly occupied by a United
Carolina Bank branch office at
River Run Shopping Center.
The county ABC board's next
meeting is scheduled for Tuesday,
April 9, at 4 p.m. A meeting time
for area ABC boards and the
Forsyth County representative
hasn't been set.
"Forsyth County recently merged
all of its ABC systems," said
County Manager David Clcgg.
An administrator now oversees
the consolidated system of munici
pal ABC stores there now, he said.
Long Beach officials had asked
that a local bill be introduced by
State Rep. David Rcdwine to the
N.C. General Assembly banning
any county from building an ABC
store within seven miles of a munic
ipally operated liquor store.
When the ABC board voted last
week to delay its plans for a sccond
store. Long Beach officials with
drew their request from Rcdwine.
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Researcher: M<
If Brunswick County wants to tap
its growing population of retirees to
the fullest extent, a researcher from
the University of North Carolina at
Greensboro has some suggestions.
D. Gordon Bennett, a professor in
the Department of Geography, con
ducted a study last summer for the
U.S. Department of Commerce on
both the needs of retirees migrating
to South Atlantic Coastal communi
ties and their impact on the local
economy. He interviewed 350 re
tirees, as well as local officials and
others in Brunswick County and in
six other counties in North
Carolina, Georgia, Florida and
South Carolina.
Brunswick has an estimated over
5,300 retiree households. Their eco
nomic impact last year of about S190
million, nearly S36.000 each if one
time housing purchases are included.
The figure could have been high
er, Bennett suggested. He found that
while retirees are drawn to
Brunswick County for a wide vari
ety of reasons, once here they spend
much of their disposable income
outside its borders.
A limited number of retail outs
for goods needed has resulted in
"considerable sales leakage" as resi
dents and tourists travel to adjoining
counties for shopping and recre
ation. This, he said, has contributed
to high unemployment rates, with
the county often ranked fourth or
fifth highest out of the 100 counties
in North Carolina.
Bennett concludes that local offi
cials would do well to try to attract
a developer of a "medium-size
mall," a major hotel and several
restaurants, additional medical prac
titioners and services, and a life
care facility.
(Since he conducted the study,
several of the types of businesses he
ore Stores Would
mentions have announced plans lo
locate here, including a Wal Mart,
bowling center and two additional
health services centers, and an effort
has begun to attract a motel, restau
rant and shops to a site near
Grisscttown.)
Bennett suggested that mall
should be located along U.S. 17
near either end of the Shallottc by
pass, he suggested, "close enough to
the rapidly growing wealthier re
tirees of the southwest to reclaim
much of their business" now being
lost to Horry County, S.C., while
closer than Wilmington for retirees
in the southeast.
To satisfy seniors' expressed
needs, the mall should include a dis
count department store such as Wal
Mart, a middle level department
store such as Belk's, a cafeteria and
other stores such as a ladies' shoe
store, clothing stores, ethnic bakery,
Eckerd's drug store and Kroger gro
cery and "perhaps a bowling alley".
Lack of stores, Bennett suggest
ed, was the main reason less than a
third of the retirees made a major
purchase in the county in the last
year of something other than prop
erty. Most said they bought clothing
and dined out in adjacent counties
as well.
A major hotel would complement
the county's rapidly developing golf
industry, Bennett said, as would the
restaurants. Seniors have expressed
a desire for a "non- fried seafood"
establishment and a "good" Chinese
restaurant, as well as for a cafeteria.
Bennett's survey found that most
of Brunswick's retirees were "dis
proportionately" rcccnt arrivals
compared to those in other target
communities. Hall had been here
five years or less, and more than
half of those for under two years.
Only about a fourth had been in the
Help Keep Retire
county more than 10 years, he
found, and many came here a few
years after retiring.
Many (30 percent) came from
within the state, while a fourth came
from the New Jersey-Connecticut
corridor and about 15 percent from
the Midwest.
They were drawn here by golfing
and other recreational opportunities,
the relatively low cost of living,
mild climate and desire to be near
friends and relatives already living
here. A sixth of the households re
tired here because of the quiet and
beauty of the county.
He also said need "be aware of the
important role that the pristine envi
ronment has played in attracting the
retirees ? as well as tourists ? to the
county." The county needs to work
to preserve the wetlands and water
ways, he suggested, by limiting en
croachment and pollution. Steps
could include construction of addi
tional county water lines and a coun
ty sewer system, he said.
Paradise is not without its prob
lems, however.
Nearly a fourth of the retirees
identified rising taxes and costs as
their main problem, with one-eighth
saying they would move if taxes
and utilities continued to increase.
A fourth said they would move if
one spouse died or becamc incapac
itated, while half said they plan to
stay here forever.
Most of the retirees arc married,
with most having completed high
school or better. Their average
household income was slightly over
S32.000.
Half bought a house (including
manufactured housing) when they
arrived. Half live in houses worth
5100,000 to S249.999. with the av
erage value about SI 27,000. Less
than a tenth lived in units worth un
es' Cash Here
der S50,(XK), and relatively lew had
houses worth S250.000 or more.
While their income and housing
values arc not generally at the upper
levels, four-fifths of the retirees in
terviewed said they paid less than
S240 a month for their residence,
including taxes and insurance.
Nearly 90 percent had their house
paid for.
Other study areas were Carteret
County, N.C.; Horry and Beaufort
counties in South Carolina; Glynn
County, Ga.; and Flagler anil Indian
River counties in Florida.
The counties varied widely in
population, talios of elderly to their
populations as a whole. Brunswick
County was the least developed
economically of the seven. Bennett
said, yet was one of the fastest
growing.
Wrecks Not Listed
The Brunswick Beacon did not
have information for area traffic ac
cidents from the State Highway
Patrol office in Wilmington this
week.
Those reports will be included in
next week's issue.
When called Tuesday afternoon,
a Highway Patrol spokesperson was
not available.
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STAFF PHOTO BY DOUG RUT7ER
Oyster Gathering
Tentis Dixon of Varnamtown gathers oysters on a muddy flat in the
iMckwood Folly River last week. Oyster season ended Sunday, but
portions of the Lockwood Folly and Shallotte rivers were closed to
han'esting a day early due to rainfall and runoff Friday. Fresh lo
cal oysters won 7 be available again until October.
O'NEIL CAISON CONSTRUCTION
?Site preparation for homes and businesses
?Driveway, street and road construction
?Drainage and land clearing
?Septic tank installation
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Charles J. Locke, MD
We are pleased to announce Dr. Charles Locke has
returned from service as a general surgeon for the
U.S. Navy during the Persian Gulf Crisis.
He will reopen his practice Monday, April 8 at
#2 Medical Center
Brunswick Hospital
Hwy. 17, Supply
Now taking appointments
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