BY DOUG R UTTER
Holden Beach Town Manager Gary
Parker has resigned under pressure from
the town commissioners, who say they
don't think Parker has put his heart into his
work.
Commissioners say Parker hasn't be
come part of the community in his two
years on the job. He's traveled to Chapel
Hill most weekends to visit his wife, who
hasn't been able to find a job in Brunswick
County.
"He never committed to us," Com
missioner Gay Atkins said Monday. "When
he was hired 1 understood they would be
moving hdre permanently and this would
be their home. It just hasn't worked out."
Parker's last day on the job will be Aug.
Board Forces Town Manager
4, nearly two years to the day after he start
ed working at Holden Beach. Former man
ager Gus Ulrich, an island resident, will
serve as interim manager.
Commissioners asked Parker to resign
during an executive session at last
Wednesday's town meeting. The board met
behind closed doors for more than two
hours to discuss "legal and personnel" mat
ters.
Parker, who wrote his letter of resigna
tion the following day, declined to com
ment on the reasons.
In his brief letter, Parker wrote, "I regret
that the Board feels that I am not the right
manager for the Town of Holden Beach.
However, I recognize that I serve at the
pleasure of the Board. I wish the Town of
"We're amateurs.
We need a
professional. We
need an activist ,
not a reactivist.
? Commissioner Jim Fournier
llllil&illl ilSI ^ ,
Holden Beach and its citizens nothing but
the best."
All five commissioners agreed to ask for
Parker's resignation. "Each commissioner
had different reasons," board member
David Sandifer said. "We discussed them in
detail in executive session."
Becausc Parker left town on weekends,
Sandifer said he didn't think the manager
was committed to Holden Beach or respon
sive to its town board, residents and proper
ty owners.
"I think it's hard to have your heart in
one place and work in another," he said.
Sandifer added that Parker has the ability to
be a good town manager, but he wasn't
right for Holden Beach.
Foumier also mentioned Parker's week
end trips when asked about reasons for the
town board's action. "He was sort of a
commuting manager, which didn't work
out real well."
"There were a lot of instances where
things we asked for didn't get done in a
timely manner," Fournier added. "It wasn't
anything big. It was just an accumulation."
"Everybody liked Gary. It was just a
question of we didn't think things were get
ting done and thought we needed a
change," he said.
Atkins said town officials don't feel
Parker ever made a "commitment" to
Holden Beach. "When he was first hired he
was excited about moving here and making
it permanent," she said.
Two other commissioners, Sid S warts
and Gil Bass, declined to discuss reasons
for the town board's action.
(See PARKER, Page 2-A)
TUr nnu
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12/31/99
H0A6 & SONS BOOK. BINDERY
P.O. BOX 162
SPRIN6P0RT MI 49284
8f*CO*
NSWICK
Shallotte, North Caroling Thursday, July 29, 1W3
50 c Per Copy
34 Pages, 3 Sections, 3 Inserts
Judge Gore Sends $4.8
Million Budget Dispute
Into Mediation Process
BY SUSAN USHER
A hardball dispute over funding for the Brunswick
County Schools is bound to court-ordered mediation.
The immediate question to be resolved is whether the
school system, after trimming Sl.l million from its pro
posed budget, still needs another S4.8 million next year
in order to operate adequately. Unless the court deems
otherwise, the schools will reccivc S9.4 million from the
county.
However, also at issue is the nature of the two board's
continuing relationship ? a relationship one school board
member suggests is in serious jeopardy.
Legally, mediation is a procedure in which a neutral
party intervenes between disputing parties ? in this case
the Brunswick County Board of Education and the
Brunswick County Board of Commissioners ? in order
to effect a settlement or compromise.
A professional mediator is tentatively scheduled to
meet with representatives of the two boards in closed
session Aug. 10, Brunswick County Clerk of Superior
Court Diana Morgan said Tuesday. That third party is
expected to be Andy Little of Chapel Hill, who earlier
this month mediated a similar dispute between the
Bladen County Board of Education and Board of
Commissioners.
After meeting Tuesday morning with acting county
attorney Michael Ramos and school board attorney Glen
Peterson, Morgan said she dccided the dispute could not
be successfully arbitrated by her office, since both par
ties indicated they were prepared to appeal a ruling not
in their favor.
She signed an order referring the matter to Brunswick
County Superior Court, where Chief Judge William
Gore immediately referred the dispute to professional
mediation, following the 13th District's rules of proce
dure.
"It is all moving very quickly, as it should be," said
Morgan.
If Ramos were not a defense attorney involved in a
murder trial in progress in Brunswick County, mediation
would have been scheduled next week, she said.
Following a 4-1 vote by the school board Monday
night to continue the appeal, Peterson referred the dis
pute to Morgan Tuesday morning.
At Monday's meeting, it was member Thurman
Gause who cast the lone dissenting vote. lie explained
afterward that he would have gone along with other
(See SCHOOLS', Page 2-A)
STAFF PHOTO ByTFIcTaJuON
ACCUSED MURDERER Bradley Tyrone King, flanked by his attorneys Steve Yount (left) and
Michael Ramos, listens to testimony as his trial in Bolivia entered its second week Monday.
THE PROSECUTION RESTS
State's Witnesses Testify King Admitted
Shooting Someone After Evans Murder
BY ERIC CARLSON
Prosecutors rested their case in
the first-degree murder trial of
Bradley Tyrone King Tuesday after
the state's final witness testified he
was threatened by the 1 8-year-old
defendant a few days after Ronald
Everett Evans was shot to death.
"Don't drive off from here or I'll
blow your brains out," King alleged
ly told Earl Lee Reese as the two
discussed a cocaine deal. "I already
shot one white (person) this week."
Reese was the last in a series of
witnesses called during two days of
prosecution testimony aimed at
proving that King and his friend
William Earl Hill kidnapped Evans,
stole his new car and shot him to
death after they realized Evans
could identify one of them.
Lora Dawson said she had
stopped to get formula for her baby
that night when she saw King and
Hill talking to some men in the
Shallotte Revco parking lot, where
Evans was allegedly abducted.
Valentino Bryant, a friend of the
two men, said he saw King with a
gun shortly before the kidnapping.
He said he heard King remade that
the two were "about to get a car"
that night.
STAFF PHOTO BY E*IC CARLSON
SUPERIOR COURT Judge
Orlando Hudson hears attor
neys argue whether a photo of
murder victim Ronald Everett
Evans should be shown to the
jury in the trial of Bradley
Tyrone King Monday.
Brunswick County Sheriff's
Detective Tom Hunter described
Evans' partially decomposed body
as it was found in a ditch beside a
remote dirt logging road.
Dr. Robert L. Thompson, a foren
sic expert, showed the jury pho
tographs of the two bullet wounds
that killed Evans ? one thai passed
through his thigh and out his hip and
another that entered his shoulder,
went up his neck and exited through
his mouth.
He said Evans did not die instant
ly and probably choked on the blood
hemorrhaging into his lungs as he
was dragged off the road.
An SB1 ballistics expert testified
that the bullets that killed Evans
were fired from a gun owned by
Hill. The same kind of gun King
was seen carrying on the night of the
murder.
David Mishoe, an SBI fingerprint
specialist, described how he lifted
one print from a cassette and another
from a tape case found in Evans' car
after the murder. Fingerprints that he
said matched the inked impressions
taken from the hands of King.
Agent Mack Warner described the
interview he had with King 10 days
after the murder. He testified King
admitted going along with Hill as he
drove a car like the one Evans
owned to a dirt road leading into the
Green Swamp from Mulberry Street.
Warner said King claimed it was
Hill who let a white male out of the
trunk and led him to the front of the
vehicle as the man begged for his
life; that it was Hill who shot the
young man twice from behind; and
that i? was Hill who made him help
drag the body intn the ditch.
But William Dean Hcwett, who
was in jail with King and Hill last
winter, testified that he overheard
the two defendants discussing the
killing in the hallway outside his
cell. He said he heard King say that
it was he who did the shooting.
Seated between his attorneys,
Steve Yount and Michael Ramos,
King seemed to pay close attention
as each witness spoke. He glanced
occasionally toward the jury box,
expressed no visible emotion and
rarely spoke during the two days of
testimony.
Several members of Evans' fami
ly have watched the proceedings
from the second row of audience
seats since attorneys began question
ing prospective jurors July 13. The
selection process continued through
Friday, when the last of 12 jurors
and three alternates was chosen.
As District Attorney Rex Gore
began his opening statement
Monday, he walked to the front of
(Sec STATE, Page 2-A)
OUT OF REACH FOR SMALL GROUPS?
BCC Sets Base Auditorium Fees
BY SUSAN USHER
Brunswick Community College
Trustees would like the new Odell
Williamson Auditorium to be affor
dable for any group when it opens
later this year. But, from necessity,
reality may be something different.
A base fee schedule for using the
auditorium was adopted unanimous
ly by the BCC Board of Trustees last
Wednesday on a motion by newly
installed member Dean Walters of
Ocean Isle Beach.
The schedule starts at 5300 for a
non-profit group to use the facility
for a week-day event for which no
admission is chareed. and ranges
from S650 to about S 1,250 (on a
sliding scale) for a for-profit event
for which tickets are sold ? a very
competitive weekend pricing, ac
cording to Auditorium Manager
Michael Sapp.
Adopting the fee schedule sets the
stage for Sapp to begin booking
events into the facility and signing
contracts.
New trustee Willie Fullwood of
Shallotte, who came to the meeting
with an entourage of family and
friends, said he would like to sec
some kind of exception allowed "to
provide for small (not-for-profit)
rommunitv emuns with onlv a little
money."
He asked the board not to forget
the community groups that helped
pass the bond referendum that fi
nanced construction of the auditori
um and other campus buildings.
"We may need them again," he said.
Fellow board members shared
Fullwood's concern, but didn't have
an easy answer.
"This is probably the greatest
dilemma we have," said Board
Chairman Dave Kelly. "But clearly
there's nothing written down that
can't be erased or amended. But we
can't pull money for the auditorium
(See AUDITORIUM, Pace 2-A)
Beach Gill Net Ban
Takes Effect Monday
For Brunswick Only
BY DOUG RUTTER
Fishermen won't be allowed to
use gill nets on area beaches for
the rest of the summer tourist sea
son or leave them unattended if
they are set within 300 yards oi
shore.
The regulations take effect
Monday morning and will be en
forced through Labor Day as part
of a state policy aimed at settling
conflicts between local beach
communities and fishermen.
Bill Hogarth, director of the
N.C. Division of Marine Fish
eries, included the new rules in a
proclamation issued last week.
The beach net ban will apply each
year Memorial Day through Labor
Day in Brunswick County.
After Labor Day, gill nets can
be used at area beaches but they
must be attended by fishermen.
Also, all gear such as ropes, an
chors and buoys will have to be
removed from the beach when
nets are not in use.
Rich Carpenter, southern dis
trict manager for the Division of
Marine Fisheries, saiu the rules
were drafted in response to com
plaints from the beach towns and
comments made at a recent public
hearing at Long Beach.
"We had a situation where there
was a lot of gear being left in the
water and on the beach to set
these nets," Carpenter said. "It
was causing problems for the
beach towns with people walking
on the beach." '
Gill nets are set vertically in the
water to catch fish which become
entangled in the webbing. They
arc used extensively each fall at
Holden Beach and Oak Island to
harvest spots and mullet that swim
near the beach.
Gordon Winfree, a professional
netmaker at Brick Landing, likes
the new regulations and doesn't
think they will have a negative ef
fect on his business or commercial
fishermen.
"As far as I'm concerned it's
really not going to hurt any of the
guys that do it for a living," he
said last week. "I think it's a good
law really Something had to be
done."
Winfree iikes the idea of rcquii- \
ing fishermen to remove gear
from the beach when nets aren't
being used. Leaving gear on the
beach or in the water can be a
hazard to walkers and swimmers.
"This as far as I'm concerned
has been a much-needed law for
two or three years," he said. "I
agree that if you're going to set
one on the beach you should stay
there with it"
Winfree says the rules will af
fect part-time fishermen more
than commercial fishermen who
depend on gill nets to make a liv
ing. Most commercial fishermen
set their nets from boats beyond
the breakers.
He said recreational anglers,
people who own beachfront prop
erty or visit on weekends, typical
ly set their gill nets from the
strand.
"It's going to make some peo
ple mad because they've done it
for years off the beach. They're
just going to have to change the
way ihey fish and stay with the
net."
Winfree says there's no reason
to set nets off the beach in the
summer when fish arc scarce and
the water is hot If nets are used,
he thinks they should be attended
because fish spoil in less than an
hour in hot water.
Carpenter says the new rules
should solve the conflict on local
beaches. "It just had gotten to the
point that it was causing quite a
bit of problems. Hopefully this
will remedy the situation."
The rules apply only to Bruns
wick County because gill nets
aren't used as much on the state's
other beaches. At the Outer
Banks, fishermen typically use
haul seines that are constantly at
tended.