STAFF PHOTO BY SUSAN USHER
Campus Gets Clean Sweep
Nursing student Shandi Midi in was among the sprinkling of stu
dents who joined staff and faculty for "spruce up" day Friday on
Brunswick Community College's main campus near Supply. Vol
unteers drew from a "job jar" for tasks that ranged from scrubbing
floors to removing leaves in work areas partitioned by Curtis Work
man, director of physical plant.
Interagency Program Gives
Cantata In Student Center
Students and faculty of the Bruns
wick Interagency Program (BIP)
presented a Christmas cantata.
"Bless That Wonderful Name," and
nativity drama Dec. 16 to family and
friends in the Brunswick Com
munity College Student Center.
Choir participants were students
Amelia Bayne. Tracy Bordeaux,
Cathy Fulwood. Harold Jones, Mic
helle Lewis, John Singleton and
Deon Smith; and staff members
Margaret Benton, Debbie Bryant,
Tamera LeGette and Joyce Munn.
Also singing were Rosanne Jones
and Christey Warren of Life Inc.
The drama featured Timothy Russ
as Joseph, Maty Holmes as Mary;
Anthony Patrick, angel; Henry Har
ris, innkeeper; Terry Prince, shep
herd; and Richard Abarno, wiseman.
Filling out the cast in non-speak
ing roles were Wayne Boyd, Claire
Carus and Leon Walker, innkeepers;
Andrew Carr, Kelly Humphrey,
Brian McMillian, David Roberts,
Robert Stanley, Jimmy Strickland,
Kelvin Williams and Dennis Wilson,
shepherds; Trina Bland. Lisa Hicks
and Jennifer Puma, angels; Thomas
Armstrong and Danny Wright, wise
men; and Danny Wright, Rhonda
Bellamy, Beverly Criswell and Janet
Hussain, townspeople of Bethlehem.
Joy Knotts was music director
and Shelia Spencer, drama director.
Richard Hiel was narrator, Harold
Varnum, sound and video producer,
and Shirley Freeman, drama assis
tant.
A very Merry
Christmas and a
Happy New Year
from our
employees and
their families to
you and yours.
CP&L
VISITORS CENTER
Brunswick Nuclear Plant, Southport , NC
A time to love.
A time to share.
A time for peace.
A time for care.
M^y tbii Christmas fill you
with a([ the
COASTAL PARTS
1 09 Shallotte Ave. ? Shallotte ? 754-4902
]
Brunswick Has Lowest Dropout Rate
Of County School Systems In Region
BY SUSAN USHER
Brunswick County Schools held on to one of
the lowest dropout rates in Southeastern North
Carolina during the 1992-93 school year.
Using a U.S. Department of Education formu
la, the system's dropout rate fell from 1.94 per
cent in 1991-92 to 1.09 percent in 1992-93. While
student enrollment rose slightly, the number of
students who dropped out of grades seven
through 12 fell by two from 79 to 77.
Across the region, Brunswick County posted the
second-lowest dropout rate of any local school sys
tem, ana the lowest of any countywide system.
Whiteville City Schools had a 1.74 percent
dropout rate, up from .79 percent the year before.
Other area county systems had rates as follows:
Columbus, 4.16; Duplin, 2.79; Bladen, 3.87;
Pender, 2.77; Onslow, 2.70; and New Hanover,
4.05. Of those, the dropout rates improved from
one year to the next in Pender, Bladen and Duplin
as well as Brunswick.
Statewide, 63 of 120 local school systems re
ported higher dropout rates in 1992-93 than dur
ing the previous year, a trend reflected in a slight
overall increase in dropouts statewide.
In 1992-93. the total number of students in
grades seven through 12 who dropped out of
school was 17,639, up slightly from 1991-92
when 17,190 students dropped out. The dropout
rate increased slightly, from 3.39 percent to 3.44
percent.
During the 1992-93 school year, however, there
was an increase in enrollment statewide of more
than 5,(MH) students in those grades.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Bob
Etheridge said the numbers are still too high,
though he beiieves they show North Carolina's
efforts to keep students in school are working.
The dropout numbers are down substantially
from 1988-89, when 24.559 students in grades
seven through 12 dropped out of school.
Local school systems and the state department
have focused on keeping students in school as
Ndrth Carolina and the Southeast have historical
ly had high numbers of dropouts.
The Basic Education Program (BEP), approved
by state legislators in 1985, provides nearly $30
million each year for local systems to spend on
dropout prevention efforts.
Using BEP and other funding sources,
Brunswick County has a battery of programs in
place in grades kindergarten through 12 as part of
its dropout prevention effort coordinated by Anne
Mitchell. These include behavior improvement
programs, early identification of high-risk stu
dents with intervention, peer helper and peer tutor
programs, after-school and in-school tutorials, a
mobile remedial education project, and flexible
high school schedules and a Job Partnership
Training Act program that allow students to work
and go to school.
The school system also emphasizes in-school
alternatives for discipline and attendance prob
lems, trying to reduce the number of students who
drop out after receiving repeated out-of-school
suspensions.
Dropout rates for systems and individual
schools are part of the annual state "report card"
used by the Department of Public Instruction to
evaluate school performance. School systems are
expected to show continued improvement from
year to year.
ISSUE TO BE DECIDED FIRST OF '94
Holden Commissioners To Consider Rezoning
After the holiday dust settles,
Holden Beach Commissioners will
start the new year with a real "hot
potato" of an issue.
When the town board meets Jan.
3, it will decide whether to uphold a
planning hoard ruling or go against
the advisory panel and rezone sever
al lots near town hall from residen
tial to commercial.
In November, the planning board
denied the rezoning request of Alan
Holden and John Q- Holden. They
asked that one oceanfront lot and
property on the unopened portion of
Rothschild Street north of the town
recycling center be rezoned from R
1 toC-1.
The Holdens appealed the plan
ning board ruling, and commission
ers will make the final decision on
the rezoning request following a
public hearing scheduled Jan. 3 at 7
p.m.
Alan Holden owns the four lots
located at 119, 121, 123 and 125
Rothschild. A half-acre tract north
of 125 Rothschild and a lot at 135
Ocean Boulevard West is owned by
John Q. Holden.
At their Nov. 22 meeting, the
Holden Beach Planning and Zoning
r
Board voted to deny both rezoning
requests.
Board members John Craig Jr.
and Harold Steorts did not vote on
Alan Holden's request, but their si
lence was counted as a vote in favor
of the denial. Steorts also did not
vote on John Q. Holden's request.
"We pretty much followed public
opinion at the meeting, the land use
plan survey and rulings in the past
on commercial rezoning." Planning
Board Chairman Roger Williams
said of the decision.
A survey of property owners con
ducted nearly four years ago in con
junction with the latest update of the
Holden Beach Land Use Plan indi
cated that people were concerned
about density of development.
At the time. 75 percent of the
people who responded said they
agreed with the existing commercial
zoning pattern and 66 percent said
they thought there was no other land
suitable for commercial develop
ment on the island.
Eleven percent of the respondents
said there was more land suitable for
commercial use near the bridge and
town hall.
Town Manager Gus Ulrich said
commissioners will have the final
say on the rezoning request. It can
not be appealed past the board of
commissioners.
Ulrich said the Holdens have not
indicated if they have plans to devel
op the property if the zoning is
changed to commercial.
ItsATime
Tor 'Love
Sharing, caring, giving...
an art at Christmas
that comes from the heart.
CR.SS
First
Investors
SAVINGS bank""
Shallotte ? Leland ? Whiteville
FSQC
Kirk R. Steptoe, MD
Internal Medicine
and Staff
May your holidays
be blessed with
an abundance of
Health, Happiness
and Hope.
Season's Greetings
Heart y good wishes from all of us to all of you...
We wish you the very merriest ofyuletides.
WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS
Columbus Cold Storage
Whiteville
THE MSWICKlBEACON]