under the sun
THE BRUNSWKIOftfEACON
THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 1993
B
INSIDE THIS SECTION:
? Crime Reports, 7
? Sports, Pages 8-11
"Practice
random acts of
kindness and
senseless .
beauty."
?Sunset Beach
Beautification Committee
motto
SIX REPRESENTATIVES of the
Sunset Beautification Committee are
good examples of why the work of the
40-member group is a source of civic
pride. Pictured (from left) are Peggy
Smyly, Carol Phipps, Betty
Waldmiller, Gayle Schadle,
Committee President Jane Bye, and
Sunset Beach First Lady Ginny
Barber.
VTXKF PMOm RY IVNN CAll SON
Group Leaves Politics At Home,
Makes Town A Prettier Place
BY LYNN CARLSON
There's no talent in this group?just energy, Peggy
Smyly says. In jest, of course. And her deadpan
delivery of the remark gets a self-deprecatory
laugh from the six friends gathered to talk about their fa
vorite volunteer pastime, the Sunset Bcach Bcauli
fication Committee.
These women have plenty of talent?not only for
planting and decorating, but for inspiring their neighbors
to leave politics at home, get out in the fresh air and aud
special touches to the town's naturally spectacular beau
ty
Before long, the group will embark on a veritable
commando raid of spring planting, putting out the
whisky barrels?30 at last count?they've sold to
Sunset Beach merchants. The committee will fill the
barrels with potting medium, plant flowers in them
every spring and fall and lend a little extra seasonal
beauty to commercial areas on the island and mainland.
"We've gotten a really good response," says Carol
Phipps, projects committee member. "We'll probably get
even more orders when people see how nice they're go
ing to look." She was among members who spent the
winter tracking down the owners of closed businesses to
solicit their participation in the barrels project.
Also ahead is the unveiling of the committee-spon
sored Sunset Beach flag, whose design received the
town council's hearty endorsement last month and has
been sent to the flag-maker. The three-by-five-foot flag
is based on the design of the Sunset Beach Police
Department patch, featuring the town logo with the sea,
sun and a seagull against a deep blue background.
Hxpected in time for Memorial Day, the tlag will be
flown at the town's public parking lot.
"We had a homemade flag last year, and people liked
it," explained Gayle Schadle, coordinator of the flag
project. "This one will be professionally produced, and
we'll be getting a price on smaller flags to sec if it's fea
sible to sell them to individuals."
Plans have also been made to repaint the "Welcome to
Sunset Beach" sign on N.C. 179 and to build up and re
STAfF PHOTO BY SUSAN USHM
PAIGE SIX)ANE is the first sophomore at West Brunswick High to
qualify for national DEC A competition.
BEACON FILE PHOTO
SHOWN DECKING THE BRIDGE at Christmas time are Jerri Moore and Betiy Dawley. Other SB
BC members made and hung bows on the bridge and town gazebo. Dawley chairs the group's projects
committee.
plant the soil around it. This project will be possible jokingly calls herself "just a figurehead." Under Jane's
through the generosity of several local businesspcoplc direction, the group has planted and landscaped the me
who are eager to donate their labor and knowledge to the dian on N.C. 179 at the bridge, participated in Beach
committee's sprucing-up efforts. Sweep and decorated the bridge and gazebo for
The committee's current president is Jane Bye, who Christmas. A "Spring Street Sweep" is planned for April
17, in which the committee will recruit volunteers to
pick up litter along town streets. The committee will be
making and hanging bows for Independence Day, and
there's talk of a possible parade.
"We've come a long way since our organizational
meeting Sept 15," Bye said.
The committee's roots, though, go deeper, back to
when current Mayor Mason Barber and his wife Ginny
started tending the shrubbery around the town hall,
weeding and hauling in their own water. An earlier
group had taken care of the town hall and median land
scaping, but, according to Ginny, "most of them had ei
ther died or moved away."
"When Mason and I came, the shrubs were dead and
overgrown with weeds. Betty Waldmiller joined us, and
we did it for three or four years. I tried several times to
get volunteers to help us?we were running out of mon
ey and steam."
Discouraged by the initial poor response, Ginny was
inspired by Betty not to give up. The two turned to the
Holden Beach Beautification Committee and the Sea
Trail Garden Club for guidance and an organizational
model.
The enthusiasm began to build and continues to do so.
The committee now has more than 40 members who at
tend a monthly meeting but don't pay dues. The town
council and other organizations provide moral and fi
nancial support, and all over town people speak of the
group's efforts with pride.
An integral component of their success is putting pol
itics aside. That can't be a simple thing. Betty's husband
Clete is president of the Sunset Beach Taxpayers'
Association, a group which is frequently critical of the
town council headed by Mayor Barber.
But that doesn't mean the women on the committee
don't recruit "a stray husband here and there," to help
with projects?including Clete and the mayor.
"We're definitely not political," Jane Bye says,
adding that the group prefers its own motto to any politi
cal slogans.
Paige Sloane Will Advance
To National DECA Contest
A sophomore marketing student at West
Brunswick High School has qualified
for national Distributive Education
Clubs of America (DECA) competition in
the area of hospitality and tourism, an area in
which she already has on-the-job experience.
Paige Sloane, 15, the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Tripp Sloane of Ocean Isle Beach, will
travel to Orlando, Fla., April 30-May 5 with
her instructor and DECA sponsor, Harriett
Bellamy. DECA is a national organization
for marketing education students.
Sloane is the first sophomore from West
Brunswick ever to qualify for national com
petition and is the first student to qualify in
the hospitality and tourism marketing cate
gory, said Bellamy.
Most trip expenses will be covered by the
Brunswick County Board of Education un
der a policy adopted several years ago to un
derwrite the expenses of students who quali
fy for national competition. "This is an in
centive all year long for students to do well,"
said Bellamy.
"Paige decided the first of
the year this was something
she wanted to do. She was
the one that worked on her
own over the holidays and
after school to prepare."
?Harriett Bellamy
Instructor and DECA sponsor
Sloanc qualified by placing as a finalist in
state competition. Sloanc first won at the
district level by her scores on a 50-question
test and performance in a role play. At the
slate level her answers on a 100-question test
and performance in two role play situations
qualified her as a finalist and runner-up.
Questions covered topics such as market
ing, hotel management and what happens in
a business setting, while the role plays cov
cred a product sales scenario and a market
ing foundations scenario.
She was one of eight students from West
Brunswick to advance to state competition,
and the only sophomore
"Paige decided the first of the year this
was something she wanted to do. She was
the one that worked on her own over the hol
idays and after school to prepare. She earned
it," said Bellamy.
Sloane studied for competition for several
months using a computer program, books
and sample tesLs.
"1 memorized that computer disk," she
said.
Sloane has worked in the family vacation
rentals and real estate business at Ocean Isle
Beach for several seasons, make reserva
tions, filing, answering the telephone, check
ing vacationers in and out and running er
rands.
Her goal following high school is to ob
tain her broker's and real estate licenses and
work in the family business.