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Thirty-Second Year, Number 5
v IM) TNI MUNSW1CK MACON
Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, December 2, 1993 50<t Per Copy 38 Pages, 3 Sections, Plus Inserts
Legislators Join
Opposition To
Quarry Proposal
BY ERIC CARLSON
Stale Senator R.C. Soles on
Tuesday said he plans to introduce
legislation that would prevent Mar
tin Marietta Aggregates from open
ing its proposed limestone quarry
near Southport.
"It's unfortunate that the Senate is
not in session, because I would in
troduce a hill tomorrow." Soles said
in an interview outside a public
hearing where state regulators heard
comments on the company's appli
cation for a mining permit.
State Reps. David Redwine and
Dewey Hill joined Soles in officially
denouncing the proposed open-pit
mine before a crowd of more than
350 at the county government com
plex in Bolivia.
Soles said he will draft a proposal
to strengthen the environmental re
quirements of the N.C. Mining Act
w hen the legislature reconvenes next
May. To speed passage of the legis
lation. he plans to propose the mea
sure as an amendment to a mining
bill already under consideration.
He told the group he would use
his influence as the second-ranking
memher of the N.C. Senate to push
for changes and additions to the
act's list of seven criteria under
which a mining proposal like Martin
Marietta's can be rejected.
"If this act is so weak that it will
allow an operation like this to be
placed in an environmentally sensi
tive area between a nuclear power
pl-int and .. rralitarv ammunition ter
minal. then there's something wrong
with the law," Soles said.
Soles said he thinks there will he
enough time to change the mining
act before the permit is issued, lie
said he will introduce the legislation
sooner if the Senate reconvenes for a
short session.
Redwine also spoke firmly in op
position to the quarry proposal and
asked the panel from the N.C.
Department of Environmental,
Health and Natural Resources Land
Quality Section to turn down Martin
Marietta's permit request.
"I'm no nuclear scientist, hut
common sense tells me that with all
this blasting, there might be some
effect at CP&L." Redwine said.
"The experts may have different
opinions, but what if they're wrong
and something did happen to cause a
shutdown at the plant?
"One 'oops!'... One 'oh. my
God!* ... And we would have a very
serious problem." he said.
Hill joined his fellow legislators
in speaking against the company's
mining plan, saying it "raises a lot of
questions that have not been an
swered."
More than 30 people signed up to
speak at the hearing. Most yielded
their allotted three minutes at the
microphone to speakers who read
lengthy prepared statements into the
hearing record.
Among the others who voiced op
position to the mine was Harry
Legrand of Raleigh, a veteran
groundwater geologist formerly with
'he U.S. Geological Survey, who
warned against the potential effects
(See SENATOR, Page 2-A)
Trojans On A Roil
STAFF PHOTO BY DOUG BUTTER
West Brunswick quarterback Eric Johnson turned this fourth -down sneak into a big gain last Friday as the Trojans defeated Reidwille 21
3 in the high school football playoffs. An estimated 4,000 fans are expected at Rourk Stadium this Friaay nigh . when the Trojans host
Tarboro in the state semifinals. Advance tickets can be purchased at the school for $6. Tickets will cost $7 at the gate.
Three Face
BY ERIC CARLSON
Two teenagers and a 22-year-old were
charged with murder Tuesday and more ar
resls are expected in the shooting death of a
man whose body was discovered in the dri
veway of his Bolivia mobile home Monday
morning.
The three suspects, all from Bolivia, are
accused of shooting Charles Wayne Davis,
36, in a confrontation outside his home on
Albright Road, located about a mile and a
half south of U.S. 17 off Midway Road.
Arrested Tuesday afternoon were Frank
Lenail Ford, 22, of Oakey Trail; Terrance
Laquinn Jones, 18, of Randolphville Road;
Murder Charges
In Bolivia Man's Shooting
Death
and Jeremy Javon
Smith. 16. Tubes
Road, a student at South
I Brunswick High School.
? All were being held
without bond Tuesday
night.
Authorities are also
looking for Byron Henry
Knowles. 24. of St. An
drews Drive, Wilming
ton, in connection with
the murder. He is considered armed and dan
gerous and is believed to have tied the state,
according to a radio bulletin broadcast by
FORI)
k
the Brunswick County
Emergency Communica
tions Center Tuesday af
ternoon.
Following an intense
around-the-clock investi
gation headed by sher
iff's Detective Charlie
Miller and agents of the
State Bureau of Inves
tigation, the three sus
pects were picked up at
their homes for questioning Tuesday morn
ing, Detective Captain Phil Perry said.
All three were charged with murder after
the interviews.
An investigation into
the killing is continuing
? and more suspects are
expected to be charged.
Perry said. Police are not
speculating publicly
about a motive for the
shooting and are saying
little else about the in
vestigation.
JONES Authorities would not
say whether drugs were involved in the mur
der. However, court records indicate that
both the victim and one of the suspects have
been accused of drug offenses.
Court documenis also show that one of
the three men was charged in a fatal stab
bing in Bolivia last year. The other two sus
pects have been arrested before on weapons
charges.
Jones was charged with voluntary man
slaughter Oct. 7, 1992, after he allegedly
stabbed Jamie Levaughn Moore repeatedly
in the chest during an altercation at a trailer
in the Randolph Mobile Home Park. Moore
stumbled outside and drove to his parents'
home, where he died a short time later.
Charges against Jones were voluntarily
(See MURDER CHARGES, Page 2-A)
End-Of-Grade Test Percentiles
State Mean
Average:
County Mean
Average:
School :
Bolivia
Leland
Lincoln
Shallotte
Southport
Supply
Union
Waccamaw
GRADE 3
Reading Math
47.1% 46.7
43.4 40.7
43.8 50.7
35.1 30.4
45.0
39.9
41.4
41.1
48.8
39.7
35.3
37.7
State
County
School:
Leland
Shallotte
South Middle
Waccamaw
GRADE 6
Reading Math
47.0 51.9
44.0 43.4
38.2
47.9
42.5
39.3
34.8
49.0
43.5
38.7
GRADE 4 GRADE 5
Reading Math Reading Math
46.4 47.4
42.4 40.7
40.1 41.5
34.5 29.4
49.1 48.6
44.7 34.5
45.9 45.9
31.4 42.1
GRADE 7
Reading Math
46.0 51.3
44.8 48.6
41.0 37.9
42.7 46.0
43.1 46.2
55.4 63.3
47.5 50.2
40.4 42.9
46.6 54.4
31.2 34.4
41.4 45.7
50.3 47.6
41.9 40.3
29.1 24.6
GRADE 8
Reading Math
46.8 50.2
47.2 51.0
46.9
44.4
44.3
45.9
54.6
45.0
46.1
44.5
Note: A percentile rank refers to the percentage of students in
the group who fall below a particular point, not the percentage of
Items answered correctly. For example, a score higher than 97
percent of those attained on a test is said to be in the 97th
percentile If a school ranks in the 47th percentile, that means 53
percent of the students in the state scored higher on the test than
students at that school, while 46 percent scored lower. The state
fiqures omit invalidated scores (extremely low scores eliminated
because they tend to skew overall results), while county figures
include all scores.
Low End-Of-Grade Test Scores No Surprise;
County Says There's 'A Lot Of Work To Do'
BY SUSAN USHER
Neither state nor local school offi
cials were surprised by low student
scores on end-of-grade tests given
last year for the first time, but that
doesn't mean they're happy with the
results.
"They mean we have a lot of
work to do," said Jan Calhoun,
Brunswick County Schools' assis
tant superintendent for instruction.
"We think our students are capable
of doing much better than this.
Students in grades three through
eight took reading and math tests.
Students in the third, sixth and
eighth grades also took science and
social studies tests.
The criterion-referenced tests are
used to determine how much of the
information or skills covered in the
curriculum for a particular grade
level a student possesses.
This is the first time North
Carolina has used end-of-grade tests
of its own design. They replace use
of the nationwide California Ach
ievement Test. For the first time stu
dent performance is being compared
to their peers statewide instead of
across the United States, and to how
well they master what the state
wants thinks is important for them to
learn.
William Brown, who is responsi
ble for testing and accountability for
the N.C. Department of Public
Instruction, said he thinks low
scores across the state in general and
in Brunswick County should in
crease as more teachers teach the
standardized state curriculum for
their grade and subject area. The
curriculum is a continuum, with
skills and data at level building on
and reinforcing those supposedly
studied in previous grades. (Cur-*
rently the state social studies curri
culum and related end-of-year test is
being revised; next year science will
be revised.)
"I think it means they are proba
bly not teaching everything in the
new curriculum." said Brown. "I
would imagine the scores will in
crease.
"Because of the field tests we did
earlier, we knew the the scores were
going to be low; we were not sur
prised."
On these first results, there were
some instances in which students at
specific county schools scored
(Sec N EVV TEST, Page 2-A)
FOLLOWING TUESDAY HEARING
Coach Accused By Student Remains On Suspension
South Brunswick High School's head football
coach remained on suspension following a hear
ing in Southport Tuesday with Brunswick County
Schools Superintendent Ralph Johnston.
However, it was still unclear whether Coach
Bill Hewett's suspension last Wednesday is relat
ed to a charge that he assaulted a female student
at a Southport restaurant.
Johnston, who met Tuesday afternoon with
Hewett and the administration's attorney, Ann
McCall, would not say whether the paid suspen
sion and assault charge are connected.
"He's still on suspension with pay. Our investi
gation is continuing," the superintendent said.
"It's a personnel matter and we're still gathering
our information."
Johnston said Hewett's suspension was "strict
ly a school matter. We're doing our own investi
gation on information provided to us by the prin
cipal (Sue Sellers)."
Under state statute, Johnston said school offi
cials have up to 90 days to investigate the matter.
The 90-day limit expires Feb. 23.
A South Brunswick High senior took out a
warrant for Hewett's arrest last Saturday, charg
ing him with assault on a female. The warrant ac
cuses Hewett of "grabbing" the girl's breast.
The incident is alleged to have occurred Nov.
16 at The Shamrock, a restaurant and pub in
Southport where the student works as a waitress.
The case is scheduled to be heard Dec. 13 in
Brunswick County District Court, according to
the arrest warrant.
Jane Williams, who owns The Shamrock, said
she was in the lounge and the student was in the
restaurant at the time of the alleged assault.
"I saw nothing that happened. I didn't witness
anything. I just know she was upset afterward,"
Williams said Tuesday. "She was just hysterical
and said he touched her breast. She said he was
saying vulgar things to her."
Contacted at home Tuesday, the student's
mother declined to comment on the case.
Hewett did not return a phone call Tuesday, but
a family member said he had been advised by his
attorney not to speak with the media until the sit
uation is resolved.
Hewett has been the athletic director and head
football coach at South Brunswick since 1990. He
previously held the same positions at Whiteville
High School, and led the football team to a state
2A championship in 19K7.
Hewett's four-year coaching record at South
Brunswick is 21-21. including a 5-6 mark this
season. The Cougars advanced to the state play
offs in I WO and again this year.