CRC Proposes Cutting Out Emergency Repair Permit Fee Members of the state's Coastal Resources Commis sion plan to do away with a fee the state charges people making emergency repairs to storm-damaged homes. At its next meeting May 27 and 28, the commission will hold a public hearing on the proposal, acting in re sponse to a letter written to the division by a Camden man. After voting unanimously last Friday to do away with the S50 fee, commissioners were advised by an as sistant attorney general that a public hearing would be required. That hearing will be just one of three at the next meet ing, said Jeanctte Johnson, public information officer for the N.C. Office of Coastal Management, which serves as staff to the CRC. Others arc set for creating a general per mit for modifying mooring facilities if there is no increase in the "footprint" of the project or the number of slips; and changing the management objective to "conserve and manage" for the estuarine system, coastal wetlands, estu arine waters and public tmst waters. Commissioners are also interested in cutting the av erage turnaround time for coastal development permit applications. They voted Friday to ask two agencies, the stale's Division of Environmental Management and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to speed up their review of applications. The two arc among 16 agencies that rou tinely review applications for permits for proposals larg er than one acre. Sunset Beach's land use plan update was certified by the commission and immediately put to use by the N.C. Office of Coastal Management in reviewing permit ap plications. Land use plans must be updated every five years. As it looks at ways to deal with coastal highways threatened by erosion, the CRC is asking the N.C. De partment of Transportation for a per mile cost estimate of bridge construction. N.C. State University researchers John Fisher and Marjorie Overton reported last week that they have identified 15 sections of coastal highway as vulnerable. Possible responses by the state includc abandonment, relocation, ferry service or bridge con struction. At the start of the two-day meeting last Thursday at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel in Wilmington, nine people spoke during the commission's first public com ment period, addressing coastal concerns from ocean erosion to development standards. Issue-oriented com ments are encouraged, but speakers cannot discuss cer tain business before the commission, such as pending applications and contested cases. "1 was impressed with the content of their comments," said Johnson. In other business, CRC members were advised last week of that interim district manager Bob Stroud has been appointed Wilmington District Office manager by Secretary Roger N. Schcctcr. Stroud has been with the agency since 1978. Also announced was availability of $145,000 in fed eral funds for two special projects, a functional assess ment of wetlands and developing resource and growth impact coefficients. The state office has four years in which to develop coastal management improvements in four areas under a 309 Enhancement Grant Program: wetlands, cumulative impacts, ocean policy and special area planning. With the assistance of the N.C. Nature Conservancy the state will soon own 128 acres of maritime woods on Bald Head Island, with an additional land purchase ex pected this summer. Acquisitions in Buxton Woods and of Masonboro Island also are continuing. Eugene Tomlinson of Southport, a member since 1977, is interim chairman of the 15-membcr CRC. Two seats are vacant on the board following the resignations in January of Aurora Mayor Grace Bonner from a local government seat and former chairman James Harrington from his at-large seat. April 15 is the deadline for local governments in coastal counties to nominate people for those seats. Gov. Jim Hunt will make the appointments. PEOPLE IN THE NEWS Two County Students Win At Fair A South Brunswick Middle School student as well as a South Brunswick High student earned rec ognition at the 1993 Southeast Reg ional Science and Mathematics Fair held March 13 at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Megan Jeans, a student at South Middle, placed first in the junior technology division and also won special awards from the American Nuclear Society and the North Carolina Alternative Energy Corp. As reported in last week's Bea con, Justin Rohde of South Bruns wick High placed second in the se nior biological science division. He also received the Senior Award from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center and the U.S. Navy/Marine Corps Biological Science Award. They were among students from 14 counties competing for awards at the fair. Both will go on to compete at the State Science Fair April 16 in Greensboro. Area Women In Show Works by three Oak Island artists were accepted in the Orange County Women's Center art show in Chapel Hill. They are Ortrud M. Tyler of Long Beach with an abstract painting, "Through the Door;" Shirley Little of Caswell Beach with an abstract painting, "Untitled #2;" and Lauer Brown from Yaupon Beach for her painting, "Rape of the Bosnian Wo men." The exhibit will be on display April 1-16 at the Women's Center, Chapel Hill. On Coast Guard Cutter Coast Guard Petty Officer 1st Class Raymond H. Bilney, son of Dr. and Mrs. Raymond H. Bitney of Southport, is deployed aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Jarvis, homcported in Honolulu, Hawaii, to the Western Pacific. The vessel is conducting a laws and treaties enforcement mission and a training and nation-building mission. Recently, the cutter arrived at the island of Chuuk, one of four states in the Federated States of Micro nesia. The crew trained in areas such as outboard engine repair, dicscl en gine preventative maintenance and troubleshooting, basic air condition ing and refrigeration systems main tenance, team fircfighting and dam age control, welding and shop prac tices and training in repairing aids to navigation. Additionally, the culler com manded a search-and-rescue case in volving an 18-fooi fiberglass boat carrying five fishermen that was overdue to arrive at Saiawal Island. Jarvis coordinated the search pai tcms for several aircraft for nearly two days until the vessel was found. Bitney is a 1982 graduate of the University of Idaho at Moscow with a B.S. degree and a 1983 graduate of Washington State University. Vaught Re-Enlists Senior Airman Timothy E. Vaught has re-enlisted in the U.S. Air Force for six years. Vaught, a production control spe cialist, is ihe son of Mary O. Vaught and the brother of Rudolph Vaught, both of Winnabow. His wife Karen is the daughter of Ernest and Carrie Faison of Wilm ington. The airman is a 1985 graduate of South Brunswick High School. On Submarine Duty Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class Paul S. Brown, son of Donald J. Brown of Leland, recently reported for duty aboard the submarine USS San Juan, homcported in Groton, Conn. The 1984 graduate of LaFarge ville Central High School of La BRING YOUR FAMILY TO THE BEACH CAFE1 Featuring our famous ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT Plus much, much more! @rea4/odt San *DfW\ hardek nabow. They were among 374 juniors and seniors from M states, the Com monwealth of Puerto Rico, Haiti, Canada and Japan. The students spent a week meeting with govern ment leaders and transition officials, and learning firsthand about the de mocratic process. The students attended seminars, met with legislators and/or their staff and attended committee hearings and Congressional sessions. Seminar speakers included inves tigative reporter and columnist Jack Anderson and George Noroian, in ternational economist, Office of European Community and Regional Affairs, the U.S. Department of State. Triple Tax-Free NC Municipal Bonds 5.5%* Equal to taxable yield of 8.57% for NC resident North Carolina Municipal Bonds are exempt from Federal, state and local taxes. You keep 100% of what you earn?and that's what counts. For more information call: 919/763-1641 or . 1 -800-288-5055 11 Frank I). 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Longtime residents said they could remember the channel being dredged that far only once in two to four decades, and that they had nev er seen it dredged as far as it will be this time?3.6 miles above the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The SI.4 million project is about half finished and is on schedule, ac cording to Sheila Jack of the U.S. Corps of Engineers Wilmington of fice. The work, which began March 17, is expected to be complete with in two weeks. Jack said. "It'll give people somewhere to take their boats in storms," said Judy Varnam at Garland's Seafood. Up river from the fish houses is a tradi tional safe harbor where boats can be tied to trees and protected from the wind during hurricanes. However, extensive shoaling up river?particularly at an area known as Mary's Shell Bed?has made that impossible in recent years. Past the area currently being dredged, the channel is adequately wide and deep. Jack said. Fishermen arc hopeful that the re sulting increased water flow in the channel will help clean up pollution which has closed many shellfish beds over the years. About 180,(XX) cubic feet of dredge spoil is being pumped 25,(XX) feet to Long Beach, to an area beginning a mile cast of Lock wood Folly Inlet and continuing east for about 5,0(X) feet. The area in cludes a section previously used for dredge material disposal. Proposed Precinct Changes Bound To State For Review BY SUSAN USHER Plans for realigning prccincts in western Brunswick County arc on their way to Raleigh for review by the state. Monday night the Brunswick County Board of Elections approved a plan that creates five precincts from four in ShalloUc Township (four south of U.S. 17 and one north of U.S. 17) and consolidates the two prccincts in Waccamaw Township into a single precinct, said Elections Supervisor Lynda Britu "These boundaries are so cut and dry they arc going to be easy for people to point at a map and say, "This is where I live,' said Britt. "It's going to make it easier for the peo ple who work with them to locate them in the correct precinct." The revisions must be reviewed by the N.C. Legislative Services Office, which will make its recom mendations to the Suite Board of Elections, which must approve the n Weatherize Your Lily Pad with a 5% eatherization Loan from Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation Contact Glenda Stanaland at 1-800-842-5871 or 754-4391 precinct changes and maps. "In Raleigh they may want to change something," Britt said, "and now they have the authority to do it." Below U.S. 17 the precincts are Frying Pan, Grissctlown, Shingle tree I and Shingletrec II; Longwood Precinct is above U.S. 17, stretching from the U.S. 17 bypass of Shallotte to the South Carolina state line. The designation of Shingletrec I and II reflects Shingletrec having been the largest of the precincts affccted. The changes follow "Plan C," one of three options taken to public hear ing, with one exception. The bound ary for Frying Pan Precinct was shifted from N.C. 130 West (White ville Road) near Shailottc lo Mc Milly Road. That will allow voters who live just northwest of Shailottc to continue voting at the N.C. National Guard Armory instead of traveling to Longwood. The dividing point along U.S. 17 for Shingletrce 1 and II will be Thomasboro Road, with the line fol lowing N.C. 179 and then Calabash Creek. Once the state elections board gives its nod, or changes the maps, the local election board can begin updating voter registration records to reflect the change. 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