Trial Date Set For First
Defendant In Evans Kidnapping, Killing
BY ERIC CARLSON
The trial of Bradley Tyrone King, one of two defen
dants charged in the kidnapping, armed robbery and
murder of an Ash man last October, is scheduled to be
gin in Brunswick County Superior Court May 3,
Assistant District Attorney Lee
Bollinger said Tuesday.
King. 17. and William Earl Hill,
18, both of Shallottc, arc accused of
abducting Ronald Everett Evans, 20,
at gunjxtini in an attempt to steal his
car. Investigators say the two later
shot Evans to death on a remote dirt
road near the Green Swamp because
they feared he might identify one of
them.
King and Hill will be tried sepa- Evans
rately with the second case expected to be heard by late
suminci. The juiic ?s seeking uic death penally in b'.ith
trials. District Attorney Rex Gore said Tuesday.
The King trial is expected to last for about 2% weeks.
Gore said. However, a four-week session has been
scheduled.
Jury selection is likely to take at least a week, said
Bollinger, who will be one of two assistant DAs han
dling the King case. Additional questions will be asked
of each potential juror to assure that they arc willing to
impose the death penalty if appropriate
King and Hill nearly became the first defendants in
the nation to be tried under a federal car jacking law en
acted by Congress last fall, Bollinger said. Federal pros
ecutors had agreed to take the case, but were forced to
withdraw when they realized the incident occurred 12
days before the law was ratified.
"They definitely dodged a bullet," said Bollinger. The
statute imposes a mandatory life sentence against any
one convicted of stealing a driver's car at gunpoint.
Federal prisoners serve far longer
sentences before being eligible for
parole than those convicted of simi
lar offenses in state courts.
Meanwhile, Hill's lawyers say
they will ask a judge to move their
client's trial to another county be
cause of pre-trial publicity. Shalloltc
attorney James Payne and William
Fairley of Southport have been ap
pointed by the court to represent
KING Hm
"We believe the publicity that originally came out?
particularly about Mr. Hill?was so adverse that it paint
ed hnii aj being culpable in the case," said Payne. "We
believe becausc of that he doesn't stand a chance of get
ting a jury that is not tainted against him in Brunswick
County."
King's court-appointed lawyers, Michael Ramos and
Stephen Yount of Shallotte, have not requested a change
of venue for their trial. Ramos said Monday he is ready
to proceed with the trial in Bolivia May 3.
Gore said prosecutors will oppose any motion to
move either trial
"There was not a lot of pre-trial publicity in this
case," Gore said. "1 believe a case should be tried in the
county where the crime happened. My experience has
been that the people of Brunswick County tend to be
very fair."
Bollinger said there had been some discussion of de
laying the trial until the end of school to avoid fueling
racial tensions at West Brunswick High School. But
there has been no move to re-schedule the proceedings.
Both defendants and the victim are former students at
West Brunswick.
Sheriff's Department investigators and the district at
torney's office agree that the murder was not racially
motivated.
"We've found nothing to support that theory. It
wouldn't have mattered what color he was," said
Dctcctivc Tom Hunter, lead investigator on the case.
"This was not racially motivated at all," said
Bollinger. "It was simple greed. They wanted to steal a
guy's car."
King's lawyers have filed several pre-trial motions in
his defense, including a bill of particulars, which asks
that the state be required to reveal the theory under
which it will prosecute the case. They have also asked
for a private hearing with the judge to make a motion
without prosecutors being present.
In Superior Court last week. Judge Dexter Brooks de
nied two motions by Payne and Fairley asking to declare
the death penalty unconstitutional and requesting that
capital punishment not be considered in King's case.
Neither Bollinger, Gore, Ramos nor Payne would
comment on their strategy for prosecuting or defending
the two cases.
The sheriff's department investigation indicated that
Evans left his home in Ash at about 8 p.m. that Monday
lo buy dinner for himself and his girlfriend at the
Shallotte Burger King. Employees said they saw Evans
make a purchase and walk out alone. But no evidence
has been released to indicate Evans' activities after leav
ing the restaurant.
The next day, Evans' champagne-colored 1986 Honda
Accord was found in a swampy area off a din road on
the property of Bricklanding Plantation golf course.
Evans was declared a missing person and an intensive
search began throughout the county.
Nearly a week later, on Oct. 18, a horseback rider dis
covered Evans' partially decomposed body lying face
down in the bushes beside a remote dirt road extending
from the end of Mulberry Street. Shallotte, north to N.C.
130. He had been shot at least twice?in the leg and
back?with a 9mm handgun, police said.
Hill and King were arrested on murder charges a few
days later. Bollinger said both men have implicated c-ach
other in the killing.
"They both have admitted being there, but each one
claims the other one did everything while they had no
idea of what was going on," Bollinger said.
After questioning the two suspects, police also
charged King and Hill with kidnapping and armed rob
bery.
The additional charges arc significant because both
defendants could face the death penalty even if the evi
dence fails lo establish which one pulled the trigger.
Gore said during the investigation. By law, a person
convicted ol commuting a felony that results in the
death of the victim can also be guilty of murder no mat
ter who did the killing
Fires Claim
Homes At
Ocean Pines,
?-. ? Grissettown
Towns Discuss Possibility
Of Regional Sewer Plan
(Continued From Page 1-A)
which problem should receive the
greater emphasis in a regional treat
ment system.
"Studies show that the primary'
problems in the Shallotte River and
the Lockwood Folly River come
from elevaied bacteria counts," said
Ocean Isle Beach Commissioner
Kendall Suh. "It doesn'i take a ge
nius to determine that most of that
bacteria comes from septic tanks."
But others said sewage treatment
systems encourage more develop
ment, which covers more land sur
face and keeps rain water from be
ing absorbed into the soil. As a re
sult, more contaminants arc washed
off roofs, roads and parking lots and
into surrounding waters.
Calabash Commissioner George
Anderson said golf courses also
should be considered among the
types of development that increase
pollutant runoff.
Tombro said both wastewater and
stormwater would be included in
any proposal for a regional treat
mcnt plan.
Responding to questions about
how a regional sewerage system
More Rain,
Mild Temps
In Forecast
More rain and above-average
temperatures are in the forecast for
the coming week across the South
Brunswick Islands.
Shallotte Point meteorologist
Jackson Canady said Tuesday that
he expects temperatures to average
from the lower 50s at night up to the
lower 70s during the daytime, with
at least three-quarters inch of rain
fall to add to the 1.34 inches he
recorded from March 23-29.
During that same period he re
ported an average daily temperature
of 61 degrees, about 3 degrees
above average. That was the result
of an average daily, high of 68 de
grees combined with a nightly aver
age low ot 53 degrees. The maxi
mum high for the period was 75 de
grees, recorded March 29. The min
imum low of 49 degrees occurred
both March 28 and 29.
would be paid for, engineers for the
Raleigh firm of Piedmont-Olsen
Hensley outlined a stormwater man
agement plan currently under con
sideration in Greenville County,
S.C.
Officials there arc studying a pro
(Kjsai to charge land owners a
"stormwater service fee" that in
creases in proportion to the amount
of runoff generated by the develop
ment
Industrial plants, which typically
cover large portions of land, would
pay the highest fee, saiu Piedmont
Engineer Pete Yakimowich. Farmers
and owners of undeveloped land
would pay ihe least The impact
based fee would De a lairer way to
charge for the stormwater manage
mcnt sys-'m, he said.
Philip E. Smith, another Piedmont
engineer, cautioned that stricter fed
eral environmental laws will require
more and more counties and munici
palities to develop waste and storm
waiei treatment pians.
Ocean Isle Beach Mayoi Betty
Williamson look the opportunity at
the Tuesday night meeting to dispute
an assertion made by Tombro and
Billups in a March 23 letter to the
Calabash commissioners in which
they claimed to have been "in recent
contact with the mayor and utilities
director at Ocean Isle Beach" to dis
cuss using the town's treatment
plant to serve Calabash and Sunset.
"The town of Ocean Isle Beach
has not entered into discussions at
any time with regards to the poten
tial use of the Ocean Isle Beach
sewer system," Williamson said.
To which Billups responded, "As
I conveyed to you at a meeting yes
terday morning, we have decided
that is not an option we can pursue
at this time."
None ol the town boards formally
endorsed the idea of sending the let
ter to Gov. Hunt Tuesday. But nei
ther did they express any strong op
position to the idea. Several mem
bers and mayors said they would
raise the issue at their next town
meeting.
"The way I sec it, you don't know
how you look until you have your
picture taken," said Shallotte
Alderman Roney Cheers. "I sec
nothing wrong with sending a letter
to the governor to find out."
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I
STAf F PHOIOS BY LYNN CARLSON
TWO IX)CAL HOMES were destroyed by fire last weekend. In photo above, a grease fire is being
blamed for the loss of an Ocean Pines home. Below, an exploding refrigerator is believed to have start
ed the fire which gutted this Grissettown dwelling.
'Green-ness' Of Golf Is Debated
(Continued From Page 1-A)
posium, sponsored by the N.C.
Cooperative Extension Service and
the pro-environment N.C. Coastal
Federation.
Walters considers golf a clean in
dustry that comes under more regu
lations than most people think. The
average homeowner can purchase
chemicals in stores that can't be
used on golf courses
Golf courses are currently limited
to about SO kinds of pcslicides and
herbicides. Wallers said he had
5,000 chemicals to choose from 10
years ago. "I think the industry is at
tempting to be very responsible."
Nancy Sadlon, an environmental
specialist for the U.S. Golf
Association, said golf is changing
for the better More and more devel
opers are planting buffer zones
along ponds and leaving wetlands
alone.
Golf courses take up 3.2 million
acres in the United States, but only
37 percent of the land is used for
tees, fairways and greens. Sadlon
said more man bU percent is open
meadows, grass areas, streams,
marsh or wetlands.
"In some cases the natural habitat
docs not provide what has been cre
ated or needs to be created on the
golf course," she said.
Besides promoiing golf, Sadlon
said ihe USGA is conducting re
search on turf grass, looking for va
rieties that thrive without a lot of
water and chcmicals.
Doug Rader, senior scientist for
the N.C. Environmental Defense
Fund, said the slate needs more
comprehensive water quality stan
dards to control the chcmicals used
nn its SOO golf ronrves.
Rader recommended developers
be required to submit plans before
construction outlining how they plan
to protect the environment. "In the
long run, it is going to be in all our
interests to do it right."
An unattended pan of hoi oii be
gan a fire which destroyed an Ocean
Pines home near Oxpen Road early
Friday, despite the efforts of fire
fighters from five departments to
save it
The house, owned by Holdcn
Beach contractor Martin Fcldt and
rental to Shalloltc Burger King
manager Kathy McNeill and her
three children, was a total loss, ac
cording to Tri-Bcach Volunteer Fire
Chief Doug Todd.
McNeill and her two daughters
were home at the time but managed
to get out of the house unharmed;
her young son had already left for
school, the chief added.
Firefighters stayed on the scene
until 10:45 quelling hoi spots which
continued to flare up under the
house's lap siding long after the pri
mary blaze was under control.
Brunswick County Emergency
Management Coordinator Cecil Lo
gan arranged Red Cross aid for
McNeill and her children, aged 15,
11 and 10. They were provided mo
tel lodging through the weekend and
were given vouchers for clothing
and food. "They lost everything,"
Logan said. "What wasn't burned
was ruined by smoke and water."
Todd had praise for firefighters
from Civictown, Supply, Shalloltc,
Calabash and Shallotte Point whose
equipment and/or personnel helped
extinguish the blaze, and for Coast
line Volunteer Rescue Squad which
stood by, though no firefighters re
quired medical assistance. Two
Forestry Service staffers also report
ed.
"Everybody did an excellent job,"
Todd said. "They were really worn
out."
A second blaze late Saturday de
stroyed a home on U.S. 17 near
Grissettown alter its refrigerator ex
ploded, according to published re
ports.
No one was home at the U.S. 17
residence when the incident oc
curred ahom 11 a.m. Saturday. Five
volunteer fire departments respond
ed quickly, but the home had been
nearly engulfed by fire when they
arrived.
Chief Jerry Prince of the Calabash
Volunteer Fire Department could not
be reached for additional deiails
Measure Would Allow Either
(Continued From Page 1-A) begins by removing Carolina Shores
"Representative Hill and I will be from Calabash effective at the end of
interested to see what comes to the June, then outlines a new Calabash
House. Then we'll read it and deter- governing board. The two remaining
mine how we should act," Rcdwinc District 1 commissioners would ap
said. "The Senate may do a lot of point three others to serve until the
things. (The bill) may not pass." 1993 town election.
The eight-page bill?half of In 1993, four members would be
which is devoted to descriptions of elected, with the two receiving the
the communities' boundary lines? highest number of votes receiving
Happy What?
Oh yeah. Birthday.
Is that today?
Oh yeah. ( guess so.
You mean not everyone
celebrates
April Fool's Day like me?
Oh well, fiuess there's no fool
like an old fool!J
Happy Birthday
Brenda Moore!
from the Beacon staff
District To Split Calabash
four-year terms, and the other two
serving two-year terms. In 1995,
three members would be elected for
four-year terms, and in 1997, two
would be elected for four-year
terms.
The measure would become ef
fective if a majority of voters in ei
ther district vote "FOR removal of
Carolina Shores Village from the
Town of Calabash" in a referendum
to be scheduled by the Brunswick
County Board of Elections. Other
wise, the sections of the bill separat
ing the town "have no force and ef
fect."
If the bill is approved as written,
and a split is approved in the refer
endum, and Carolina Shores voters
favor incorporation, a five-member
"village council" and mayor would
be chosen at large in a nonpartisan
election.
The bill calls for staggered terms,
with the three highest vote getters
serving four-year terms and the two
others serving two-year terms. A
mayor would be elected every two
years
Until the 1993 Carolina Shores
Village election is held, the current
District 2 Calabash commissioners
would serve as an interim governing
body and would elect a mayor to
serve until the election.
THE BRUNSWiaC&KACON
Established Nov. 1, 1962
Telephone 754 -6890
Published Every Thursday
At 4709 Main Street
Shallottc, N.C. 28459
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