A True Champion
A local educator is named state Middle
School Physical Education Teacher of the
Year. Page 8-A
County Grid Title
The Trojans escape the
Cougars' den as West beats
South 29-20. Page 10-B
Nice Nurse
Carol Newton, R.N., receives a plaque and
prize as The Brunswick Hospital's Employee
of the Year. Page 12-C
Thirty-Second Year, Number 2
THE BRUMWICICfiffiACON
I II 'III Ullll? HOAS I
P.O E'0>
rvi T A l~J ?* \ A
rolina, Thursday, November 1 1, 1993
50< Per Copy
42 Pages, 3 Sections Plus Inserts
No Certifying
Food Service
Managers,
Board Rules
BY ERIC CARLSON
The Brunswick County Board of
Health on Monday decided that edu
cating restaurant managers about
proper food handling techniques is a
good idea, but only if they want to
be educated or repeatedly flunk
health inspections.
By a vote of 5-to-l, the board re
jected a set of proposed regulations
that would have required all food
handling establishments to have a
designated food-service manager
trained and certified by the health
department.
Under the proposal, the manag
er's certification would be revoked
if the restaurant received two con
secutive "C" health ratings. A $500
fine would be imposed every three
months against any restaurant that
continued to operate without a certi
fied manager.
Calling the regulations too severe,
board members asked that they be
sent back to a committee for revi
sion.
This will be the second time the
rules have been modified since they
were drafted by health department
staff. The original proposal, drawn
from similar regulations in Meck
lenburg and Cumberland counties,
required that a certified manager be
on the premises of all restaurants at
all times.
The plan was loudly opposed by
restaurant owners, day care opera
tors and other food handlers who at
tended a public hearing last January.
A committee of restaurant owners
and health officials was formed to
modify the regulations.
Health board member Patrick
Newton said he was opposed to the
certification course being mandato
ry.
"It ought to be an incentive and
not a penalty," Newton said. "In
stead of jamming it down their
throats and saying we're going to
fine them, you could give them a
nice certificate for passing the
course that they could hang on their
wall. Then market forces would
make restaurants who don't have a
certificate follow suit when they see
that their neighbor has one."
Board member Don Warren said
he felt the $500 fine was too harsh,
warning that "some mom-and-pop
restaurants" couldn't afford it.
"It would put them out of busi
ness," Warren said.
Environmental Health Supervisor
Andrew Robinson, a member of the
committee, said the proposed penal
ty was raised from $50 to $500 to
insure compliance with the rules.
Board member Bruce Quaintance
suggested that instead of requiring a
food service management course,
"you could do it in a book and make
these people read and sign that they
read it." He said requiring a trained
manager would not assure compli
ance with health standards.
"Just teaching one person is not
going to help," Quaintance said.
"It's not going to get to that guy at
the end, because the one who took
the course is not the one doing the
cooking and the wiping and empty
ing the ice and washing the tops
(See HEALTH, Page 2-A)
STAFF PHOTOS BY DOUG R UTTER
MORE THAN 600 people enjoyed good food and fellowship Saturday afternoon at the Dixon
Chapel Oyster Roast in Varnamtown, which was a huge success despite threatening skies. In the
photo above, Rae Maurer of Florence, S.C., (left) and Clyde and Vermelle King of Hartsville,
S.C., were among the 520 diners who turned out for the roasted oysters. Below, Herbert "Midget"
Varnum offers granddaughter Alexis Varnum a taste of Dixon Chapel's famous cornbread.
Dixon Chapel Oyster Roast Is A
Success Despite Weather Threat
BY DOUG RUTTER
All of the weather forecasters
said it was going to rain Saturday,
and the steel-gray skies over Var
namtown looked like they would
indeed open up any second and
drop buckets of water on the crowd
below.
But not on this day. Dixon
Chapel United Methodist Church
was holding its oyster roast, an an
nual event that had never been
rained out since it started some 35
years ago. It still has never been
rained out.
"The Good Lord was looking
out for us again," a relieved
Marlene Varnam said Saturday af
ternoon, when more than 600 peo
ple flocked to the church for oys
ters, fish and fellowship.
"The rain kind of threatened a
little bit but it went on," she said.
"It just threatened all day long, but
it never rained enough to put out
the fire. It was a good cool day."
Varnam said she was up at 4:30
Saturday morning, praying for oys
ter-eating weather. "When your
husband's got 200 bushels of oys
ters on hand for a roast, you pray,"
she said.
Her prayers were answered. It
turned out to be just the right tem
perature for people who love their
shellfish cooked over an open fire.
Church members had considered
calling off the roast two weeks ago
when Lockwood Folly River was
temporarily closed to shellfish har
vesting because of pollution.
But the river re-opened four
days before the roast, allowing the
church to stockpile about 150
bushels of local oysters. Another
50 bushels were brought in from
Florida.
"Most of them came from
Lockwood Folly and a we had a
few to supplement from Florida,"
Varnam said, adding that the saltier
Florida oysters went over well
with some people.
"I think all in all it was a good
day and good fellowship," she
added. "I think the people enjoyed
themselves. I know some of them
did cause they ate a lot."
Although the roast attracted 100
people less than it did in 1992,
turnout was still pretty good. Five
hundred twenty people consumed
173 bushels of oysters, while an
other 100 opted for fried fish din
ners.
New picnic tables added this
year provided extra elbow room
for diners, who didn't face any
lines all afternoon.
The cloudy skies may have been
a blessing for the church. "If we
had sunshine we probably would
have run out of oysters," Varnam
said.
With the crowd thinner than nor
mal, church members who are usu
ally too busy working had time to
take a breather and enjoy the food
themselves.
Varnam estimated that 75 to 80
volunteers helped put the roast to
gether, including 25 youngsters
who carted off the empty oyster
shells, shoveled fresh oyster onto
roasting grates and served corn
bread, pickles and sauces.
"We appreciate all the help. We
get so many people that don't at
tend our church that help out," she
said. "It's not just a one-day thing.
It takes a couple of weeks to get
ready."
After the roast, Varnam said the
church held a special memorial
service for Roland Varnam and
Chris Caudill, two members who
had died since the last roast. "They
were missed at our oyster roast
very much," she said.
ROSE CAL LS MINE 'A DISASTER'
Foes Claim County
Gave 'Preferential
Treatment' To MM
With Septic Permit
BY ERIC CARLSON
Mining opponents launched an
other salvo against Martin Marietta
Aggregates on Monday by asking
state environmental regulators to
overturn the Brunswick County
Health Department's "unlawful" de
cision to issue the company a septic
tank permit at its proposed lime
stone quarTy site near Southport.
The county's same-day approval
of a permit request "is unavailable to
the general public and indicates that
Martin-Marietta received preferen
tial treatment," opposition leader
Robert Quinn said in an overnight
letter to the N.C. Division of
Environmental Health.
On another front, anti-mining
forces enlisted a powerful ally last
week when Congressman Charlie
Rose (D-7th District) called the pro
posed quarry "an environmental dis
aster for Brunswick County" in a
strongly worded letter to the man
whose state agency will rule on
Martin Marietta's application for a
mining permit.
The Congressman told Charles
Gardner, director of the N.C.
Division of Land Resources, ihauhe
project will harm "wildlife, estuar
ies, surface water, drinking water or
ground water quality" and could
have a "devastating and irreversible
effect on marine hatcheries, ecosys
tems and indigenous species, espe
cially those unique to Brunswick
County's coastal ecology."
In an interview Tuesday, Quinn
said he recently met with Rose in
Fayetteville and gave the congress
man a fact sheet on the mining pro
posal along with copies of resolu
tions from the eight towns that have
gone on record in opposition to the
mine.
"He said he was very much aware
of the effects of Martin Marietta's
mines from their Castle Hayne oper
ation," Quinn said. "He was alarmed
and said, 'They'll destroy your wa
ter table.' He told me he'd have his
staff look into it immediately."
Martin Marietta has applied for a
permit to extract and process lime
stone from a 1,000-acre tract the
company recently purchased be
tween Bethel Church Road and the
entrance to Military Ocean Terminal
Sunny Point in Smithville Town
ship.
Opponents fear the company's
plan to pump 10 million gallons of
day from a fresh-water aquifer will
dry up wells and ponds and create
sinkholes that could endanger opera
tions at the nearby ammunition ter
minal. They are also concerned
about traffic from heavy rock trucks
and worry that regular blasting
could trigger nrohlems at the neigh
boring Brunswick Nuclear Plant.
A group called the Brunswick
County Anti-Mining Awareness
Committee, co-founded by Quinn,
has gathered the signatures of more
than 2,000 mining opponents on pe
titions and rallied large crowds at re
cent meetings of the county com
missioners and planning board.
Quinn has asked to he put on the
agenda for the Nov. 15 commission
er's meeting. He wants the board to
ask the state to delay consideration
of any permit requests for mining,
hazardous waste disposal, incinera
tors or animal slaughterhouses until
the county decides whether it will
permit such uses in its zoning law.
The planning board will hold a
public hearing Nov. 17 to consider
Quinn's request to eliminate those
uses, which are permitted in the H
M (heavy manufacturing) zone
around the proposed mine site. A
public hearing on Martin Marietta's
mining permit request is scheduled
for Nov. 30.
At the request of mining oppo
nents, the county commissioners last
week agreed to suspend enforce
ment of the zoning law But they did
not go along with the request to de
lay permitting after County Attorney
Michael Ramos advised that the
wording of the proposed resolution
would have prohibited the issuance
of building permits throughout the
county
'"We want our county commis
sioners to be part of what we're do
ing, as is Charlie Rose." Quinn said.
(See MINE, Page 2-A)
Inside...
Birthdays 2B
Business News 9- 10C
Calendar 6A
Church News 6B
Classified 1-9C
Crime Report 9A
Court Docket 11C
Fishing...... 16B
Goif 15B
Obituaries 7B
Opinion 4-5A
People In The News ????? 4B
Plant Doctor JB
Sports 10-16B
Television 8-9B
Some Papers Early ;
Others To Be Late
Beacon subscribers served by
the Shallotte, South Brunswick,
Supply, Ash and Longwood post
offices should receive this week's
edition a day early.
Newspaper and postal dead
lines allowed delivery to those
nearby post offices ahead of
schedule in order to avoid a delay
due u> ine Veterans Day postal
holiday on Thursday, Nov. 11.
Other subscribers' papers were
delivered to the post offices ac
cording to our regular schedule,
but will be in their mailboxes a
day late because of the holiday.
Forum To Explain , Get Feedback On Three Calabash Sewer Plans
BY ERIC CARLSON
Now thai the dust has settled in Calabash's election of
a mayor and three new commissioners, citizens of the
town have another decision to consider ? one that will
affect their lives and the health of their town for decades
to come.
Wednesday (Nov. 10) at 7:30 p.m. in the Calabash
Volunteer Fire Department building, a public forum was
scheduled on three proposed methods of establishing a
central sewer system in the town.
Town commissioners, representatives of the town's
engineering and accounting firms, along with Billy
Burnett, owner of the Carolina Blythe Utility Co., will
be on hand to explain the three proposals and to answer
questions.
There will be presentations and discussion periods on
three plans for building the system: the joint effort with
Sunset Beach, the purchase and expansion of Carolina
Blythe and the creation of a Calabash Sanitary District.
Those who attend the forum will be asked to register
at the door, said Jon Sanborn, the town commissioner
who suggested the public meeting. Hand-outs summa
rizing each of the proposals will be available.
There will be a separate presentation on each of the
three options. Each will be followed by a discussion pe
riod during which members of the audience can submit
written questions, Sanborn said.
"At the conclusion of the meeting, we may have a pe
riod of public comment, with each speaker limited to a
three-minute statement," he said.
For more than a year, Powell and Associates of North
Myrtle Beach, S.C., the town's paid engineering consul
tants, have been studying various sewerage proposals
and presenting their findings to the Calabash Board of
Commissioners.
After considering numerous options presented by the
engineers, the board has backed a plan to join the town
of Sunset Beach in building a joint sewage system de
signed to serve both towns and their outlying areas.
Together the two towns formed a South Brunswick
Water and Sewer Authority to manage the system.
Formation of the joint venture is expected to allow
Calabash to qualify for about $15 million in state and
federal grants and loans to construct a sewage treatment
plant and collection system. Under the plan, debt service
on the loans would be paid back by users of the system
through rates and impact fees.
The town's tax base would not be used as collateral
for the loans, so residents of District 2 who are currently
provided sewer service by the Carolina Blythe would
pay nothing for the new system, according to the engi
neers.
Utility owner Burnett has proposed an alternative plan
under which the town would pay him $4.5 million for
his company and expand the collection system to areas
not currently served, beginning with the downtown
restaurant district.
Burnett has offered to finance the entire purchase at a
rate he says will allow the town to expand the system
and pay back the loan through user fees, without raising
taxes.
The option of creating a sanitary district was suggest
ed by Sanborn, but has not been discussed by the board
of commissioners.
In a fact sheet prepared by Sanborn, he said the dis
trict can only be formed after 51 percent of land owners
in the proposed service area sign a petition supporting
the idea. The petitions would be submitted to the
Brunswick County Commissioners, who would set a
public hearing on the plan.
If the sanitary district is approved, the county board
would appoint three to five members to a district board,
which would "basically operate the same as a town, ex
cept their scope of activities are related to water and
sewer," Sanborn said.
The sanitary district board would also have the power
to levy taxes and condemn property.
Sanborn said the public forum was scheduled both to
educate residents about the three proposals and to "get
feedback" on which way the town should proceed.