Holden Beach POA Charged Up
About Underground Power Lines
BY DOUG RUTTER
Holden Beach property owners
want to keep pressuring Brunswick
Electric Membership Corp. (BEMC)
now that the local utility seems to he
making progress on a long-awaited
underground wiring project.
The Holden Beach Property
Owners Association (HBPOA) vot
ed Saturday to ask BEMC for a
progress report every time the orga
nization holds a meeting, which is
four times per year.
Approximately 50 people attend
ed the Labor Day weekend meeting
Saturday morning at town hall. The
HBPOA represents 826 landowners,
and all or most of them are members
of the electric co-op.
Ilolden Beach officials and home
owners have been upset about the
lack of progress BEMC has made
since it started burying all power
lines on the island in 1W8.
However, town officials say
Brunswick Electric has done a lot of
work this summer and plans to con
tinue working steadily until the pro
ject is done.
"Brunswick Electric does it at
their own pace, right or wrong,"
Mayor Wally Ausley told the group.
"We have a good rapport with Ihem
now. good communication. I think
they're doing the best they can for
us now."
Gus Ulrich. executive secretary of
the HBPOA and interim town man
ager. said BEMC has made steady
progress since Ausley and HBPOA
President Bob Lineberger met with
company officials in June.
"They've had somebody here
working constantly and will have
somebody here constantly," Ulrich
said.
BEMC can only assign one crew
" They have been working pretty
steady. You just don 9t see too
many results of it. "
? Gus Ulrich, Interim Town Manager
to the island because of similar pro
jects at other local beach towns.
"They have a lot of projects going
on in other communities," Ulrich
said. "Once everybody saw how
well it was going in Holden Beach
they wanted it too."
Ulrich said BEMC crews are cur
rently burying conduit in the Holden
Beach Harbor subdivision and along
Ocean Boulevard West. Work in
Holden Beach Harbor should be
completed by the end of the year.
Ulrich said Brunswick Electric
has installed 9,500 feet of conduit
this summer. "They have been
working pretty steady. You just
don't see too many results of it."
Holden Beach officials are eager
for BKMC to install conduit along
all of Ocean Boulevard so the town
can continue building sidewalks.
After extending the concrete
walkway from Rothschild Street
east to Blockade Runner, officials
aren't sure which section of Ocean
Boulevard West they will do next.
"We've probably had more good
comments about sidewalks than
anything else we've ever done at
Holden Beach." Mayor Ausley said.
Ausley said BEMC has not told
the town when the project will be
finished. "They will not give you a
date, folks. They will not tell you
when it's going to be done, i don't
Hart Elected POA President
Holden Beach resident Crawford Hart was elected president of the
Holden Beach Property Owners Association
(HBPOA) at the group's Labor Day weekend
meeting Saturday.
Hart, an active environmentalist who is run
ning for a seat on the town board of commission
ers this fall, replaces Bob Lineberger of
Lincolnton. Lineberger served three years as presi
dent and six year as vice president.
Lineberger was one of four HBPOA directors
whose terms on the board expired Saturday.
Others were Ted Rivenbark. Marlene Dalton and
Richard Elms. HART
Elected to replace them on the board were Mel Amos. Bob Buck.
Anne Campbell and Melba Von Sprecken. Amos, Buck and Campbell
live at Holden Beach, and Von Sprecken resides in Charlotte.
The new board of directors appointed Hart as president, and
Campbell was named vice president. Gus Ulrich will remain executive
secretary, receiving a salary of $200 per month.
think they know themselves."
Some HBPOA directors said
Saturday they don't think getting an
occasional report from Brunswick
Electric is enough.
"All these letters are great hut
they don't amount to a hill of
beans," Andy Watson said. "Don't
believe the words, believe the deeds.
We're not going to get the deeds
without fussing."
Director Crawford Hart suggested
the HBPOA complain to the N.C.
Public Utilities Commission. He
said any report from BEMC "is not
going to be worth the paper it's writ
ten on."
In the only other business Satur
day. a motion to prohibit dogs from
the Strand year-round was defeated
by a show of hands. Several home
owners voiced concern about dog
droppings on the beach.
Mayor Ausley reported Saturday
that the town board is in the process
of hiring a new town manager. "I
suspect before the month is over
we'll be able to announce the hiring
of a manager." he said.
Asked about the town's role in re
pairing oceanfront dunes, Ausley
said the board is trying to set up a
meeting with federal officials to dis
cuss how to spend the $56,000 the
town received following the damag
ing March 13 storm.
Commissioners disagree with the
Federal Emergency Management
Agency's recommendations on
where the money should be spent to
rebuild dunes.
"We have a list of lots that we feel
need to be protected in the event of a
storm," Ausley said. Holden Beach
has an additional $44,000 in this
year's budget for dune repairs.
HBPOA directors voted Saturday
to discontinue the maintenance con
tract for the organization's computer
system.
The contract costs $317 per year,
and Ulrich said the computer is only
worth about $700. "I think that mon
ey would be better spent saving for a
new computer," he said.
The board of directors decided
not to sponsor a "Meet The Candi
dates" forum prior to the November
municipal election.
Driver Hit Patch Of Water, Lost Control
A 19-year-old driver was serious
ly injured Sunday morning in a sin
gle-car accident on Stone Chimney
Road north of Holden Beach, the
N.C. Highway Patrol Office in
Wilmington reported Tuesday.
Jamey Lee Cross of Supply was
driving north on Stone Chimney
Road at about 4 i.m. during a heavy
rainstorm when his 1986 Chevrolet
hit standing water on the roadway,
reported Trooper D.A. Lewis. He
lost control of the truck, which ran
off the highway and overturned.
Cross was transported to The
Brunswick Hospital in Supply with
serious, non-incapacitating injuries.
Damage to the vehicle was esti
mated at $2,500.
No charges were filed.
Also, Sunday, at approximately
10:20 a.m., two persons were in
jured in a collision at the intersec
tion of N.C. 21 1 and N.C. 87 west of
Southport.
Horace Lee Pigott, 39, of South
port, was traveling southeast on
N.C. 211 in a 1993 Chevrolet when
Herman McCracken, 58, also of
Southport, began making a left turn
onto N.C. 87 in the path of Pigott's
car.
McCracken was driving a 1982
Chevrolet, which received an esti
mated $3,000 in damages, according
to the report filed' by Trooper B.C.
Jones. Damage to Pigott's vehicle
was estimated at $5,000.
Both drivers were taken to Dosher
Memorial Hospital in Southport,
Pigott with minor injuries and
McCracken with serious, but nonin
capacitating injuries.
McCracken was charged with dri
ving while under the influence.
At least four persons were injured
when a collision in a convenience
store parking lot on Village Point
Road (S.R. 1 145) had a ripple effect
last Wednesday, Sept. 1.
At approximately 5:15 p.m. Re
nee Boone Gore, 24, of Shallotte,
was attempting a left turn into the
Village Mart parking lot 1.9 miles
southeast of Shallotte when her
1986 Dodge collided head-on with a
1992 Buick operated by Jean Milli
gan, 52, also of Shallotte.
The Milligan vehicle "careened
off' into the parking lot, striking a
parked 1984 Ford owned by Dina
Gause of Shallotte. The collision
pushed the Ford into Teresa Faye
WRECK REPORT
Tindall, 33, of Shallotte, who was
standing nearby in the parking lot.
Gore, Milligan, Tindall and at
least one other person, 10-year-old
Rodney Gause, a passenger in the
parked Gause vehicle, were serious
ly injured.
Some of the injured were trans
ported to The Brunswick Hospital,
the balance to Grand Strand General
Hospital in Myrtle Beach, S.C.
Damage estimates to the vehicles
were SI, 500, Gore; $4,000, Milli
gan; and 51,000, Gause.
Trooper D.A. Lewis charged Gore
with a safe movement violation.
Earlier Wednesday, Sept. 1, at
8:10 a.m., four persons were injured
in an accident at the intersection of
the U.S. 17 bypass and Old Shallotte
Road (S.R. 1316).
Crystal Lewis Floyd, 30, of
Ocean Isle Beach, attempted to cross
U.S. 17 from Old Shallotte Road in
a 1986 Cadillac.
The car pulled out into the path of
a 1986 Buick operated by Albert
Alexander Papenberg, Shallotte, 63.
Papenberg was headed north on U.S.
17.
Floyd, Papenberg and one passen
ger in Papenberg's car, Clifford Tho
mas, 72, of Calabash, received mi
nor injuries. A second passenger in
his car, George Jacobsen, 79, of
Ocean Isle Beach, was seriously in
jured.
All four were taken to The Bruns
wick Hospital.
Damage to Papenberg's car was
an estimated $4,000, and to Floyd's
car, an estimated $2,500.
Floyd was charged with failure to
yield by Trooper W.H. Thompson.
Two drivers were injured in a
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similar type of accident that also oc
curred last Wednesday, at 3:45 p.m.
at the intersection of the U.S. 17 by
pass and Tucker Road (S R. 1401)
west of Bolivia.
Ralph Curtis Coleman, 52. of
Shallotte, was northbound on U.S.
17 in a 1987 Chevrolet pickup when
Richard Randolph, 74, driving a
1988 Oldsmobile, started to cross
U.S. 17 and pulled into Coleman's
path. After the collision the vehicles
skidded into the median.
The two men were taken to The
Brunswick Hospital with serious,
but nonincapacitating injuries.
Damages to the pickup was esti
mated at $5,000 and to the Olds
mobile, $5(X).
Trooper R.L. Murray charged
Randolph with failure to yield.
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WORKERS HARVEST tobacco off Stone Chimney Road , Supply, at the end of a hot, dry summer
which damaged other crops, especially corn. Brunswick is among S9 counties in which farmers are eli
gible for emergency natural disaster loans to cover damages and losses caused by drought. Late-season
rains salvaged much of the local tobacco crop, which had been in jeopardy earlier in the summer.
HEAVY CORN LOSSES PREDICTED
Disaster Loans Available For Crops
The local Farmers Home Administration office is ac
cepting applications for emergency loans to cover crop
losses following one of the hottest, driest summers on
record.
Heaviest losses are expected in corn, which on area
farms "either made a crop or made a disaster." according
to Ted Rivenbark of the federal Farmers Home
Administration (FmHA) office in Shallotte.
"Our emergency committee has met. and is expecting
a very high percentage of loss in the corn crop,"
Rivenbark said Tuesday. "A good bit of it was not worth
harvesting. We don't believe tobacco is going to be as
bad as we had once feared, and soybeans should have a
fairly good year."
Crop damage varies throughout the county's agricul
tural areas, because rain showers were isolated. Riven
bark said.
Local farmers have until April 1 1 to to apply for the
low -interest loans, following a U.S. Department of Agri
culture drought declaration issued Aug. 10. The program
will cover losses which occurred from June 1 "to the pre
sent and continuing."
The local Farmers Home Administration office is at
143 W. Holden Beach Road in the Promenade Office
Park, Shallotte. Farmers with questions should call 754
4S80.
Local Smart Start Group Wants To Be Pilot Project
BY SUSAN USHER
After getting off to a late start, a
coalition of Brunswick County ser
vice agencies, community groups,
businesses and individuals is mov
ing rapidly to prepare a local appli
cation for Smart Start.
Smart Start is an incentive pro
gram created by Gov. Jim Hunt as a
vehicle for serving preschool chil
dren and their families, in order to
better prepare youngsters physically
and educationally for school.
Applications are being accepted
through Sept. 15 by the N.C. De
partment of Human Resources for
12 pilot projects, one from each con
gressional district in the state. The
problem-solving approaches devel
oped by these programs will be used
as models statewide as Smart Start is
gradually funded to include all KM)
North Carolina counties.
That's incentive enough for
Brunswick County to want to be a
pilot project, rather than a follower.
Organizers here say they would
rather have a program tailored to
what is unique about Brunswick
County.
"We are working really hard on
this," said Nancy Price, administra
tive assistant to Brunswick County
Health Director Michael Rhodes,
chairman of the application team.
"We have to decide what our county
needs."
"The other counties we are com
peting against are totally different
from Brunswick," she said. New
Hanover, for instance, is coastal, but
is also urban and more densely pop
ulated. "They have a lot more ser
vices available that we do here."
Approximately 20 to 30 people
have attended each Smart Start
meeting to date, with more partici
pants welcome, especially parents of
preschoolers.
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A meeting was held Tuesday and
another was to be held today
(Thursday) at 6:30 p.m. in the Public
Assembly Building at the Bruns
wick County Government Center in
Bolivia.
To get more information about
Smart Start or to arrange transporta
tion to the meetings, contact the
Chapter 1 Parents Center, at one of
these numbers, 754-5088 (within the
Atlantic Telephone service area),
540-4356 (from Leland) or 278
0889 (from Southport-Oak Island).
August Weather Near Normal,
NWS Wilmington Office Reports
After the second warmest month
on record in July, things got back to
nearly normal for August, according
to the monthly climatological report
of the National Weather Service
Wilmington office.
The average temperature for
August was 79.8 degrees, or .4 de
grees above normal. Average daily
temperature extremes were 88.9 and
70.6 degrees.
The highest temperature recorded
during August was 96 on the 29th,
which tied a record high for the date
set in 1 93 1 . The August low was 64
on the 24th.
Precipitation was below normal
for August. During the month, 5.66
inches of rain fell, which is 1.28
inches less than average. There were
11 days of measurable rainfall, four
with half an inch or more.
The greatest 24-hour rainfall
amount was 3.14 inches on the 13th
to 14th. Thunder occurred on 6 days.
The wind speed averaged nearly 7
miles per hour during August. The
fastest one-minute speed was 29
mph out of the southwest on the
13th. The strongest gust recorded
was 39 mph from the southwest, al
so on the 13th.
Sunshine was ample during Aug
ust. The sun shone 75 percent of the
possible time during the month.
There were 1 1 clear days, 8 cloudy
days and 12 partly cloudy days.
Highest sea level pressure during
August was 30.26 inches on the 9th.
The lowest pressure recorded was
29.85 inches on the last day of the
month as Hurricane Emily passed to
the east of Wilmington.
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