Opinion Page
THE BRUNSWICK&BEACON
Edward M. Sweatt and Carolyn H. Sweatt Publishers
Edward M. Sweatt Editor
Lynn S. Carlson Managing Editor
Susan Usher News Editor
Dong Rutter Sports Editor
Eric Carlson Staff Writer
Mary Potts & Peggy Earwood Office Managers
Carolyn H. Sweatt Advertising Director
Tlinberley Adams. Cecelia Gore
and Linda Cheers Advertising Representatives
Dorothy Brennan and Brenda Clemmons Moore ..Graphic Artists
William Manning Pressman
Lonnie Sprinkle .Asstsfant Pressman
PAGE 4-A, THURSDAY, MARCH 3. 1994
A Community's Problem
Need Systemwide Solution
It certainly isn't difficult to understand School Board
Member Bill Fairley's frustration, even to the point of withdraw
ing from the race for re-election.
Fairley wanted to standardize the schools' performance
based accountability plans and tie teachers' bonus pay to stu
dents' academic achievement. That doesn't seem like too much
to ask. After all, in the real world that houses most peoples'
workplaces, raises and bonuses are handed out only under very
simple and narrow circumstances: if the boss can afford it, the
employee has done something special, and the company is flour
ishing.
Not so, it seems, in the public education arena, where obtuse
plans with serious-sounding names but very few measurable
goals can be submitted as solutions to the grave fact that Bruns
wick County students aren't learning what they ought to be.
There is no question that teachers deserve more support than
they receive from students, parents, administration and commu
nity. And there is no disputing teachers' argument that their stu
dents come fioin a problem-riddled community wiih i3-perceni
unemployment, functional illiteracy and abnormally high death
rates due to alcohol and drug use.
But that would seem all the more reason to argue that stan
dardized system-wide goals arc the logical step toward improv
ing education in the face of standardized community-wide social
ills. As the situation now stands, expect a year's wait while the
rules are drawn for "site-based management," a concept of
strengthened authority for individual schools that the teachers ad
vocate but apparently don't fully understand.
Maybe site-based management will turn out to be everything
educators hope it will be. But it certainly seems tantamount to
having every department of a corporation function with its own
goals in lieu of a quantifiable master plan for the whole organiza
tion.
Reconsider The Noise Law
The county board should heed the suggestion of Com
missioner Jerry Jones and re-consider a countywide noise ordi
nance, which was proposed several months ago but never acted
upon.
Seaside resident Tom Singleton has mounted a petition drive
in favor of such a measure and is having no problem getting sig
natures from every corner of Brunswick County. He also has
done extensive research on noise ordinances in other counties
and municipalities statewide, and is ready to share the informa
tion here at home. And just last week, the commissioners heard
fresh complaints from a group of Ash residents about loud music,
gunfire and other disturbances in their area.
It's a perennial problem all over Brunswick County, and this
gap in the county ordinances ought to be sealed. Citizens deserve
some recourse when others routinely infringe upon their peace
and quiet.
Spring is coming, and folks will want to open their windows.
They ought to be able to do so.
Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Shoreline
My dad lives in a rural area of
New Jersey where former city
dwellers and suburban refugees
have been moving in at a rapid pace.
This causes occasional conflicts be
tween the newcomers and the farm
ers, who are forced to sell off land to
pay skyrocketing property taxes.
A very wealthy family built a
huge home across the road from a
large, working dairy farm. The
home had a postcard view of rolling
green pastures, white fences and red
barns. Which is why they chose the
location.
But after a while, the newcomer
decided he didn't like looking out
his picture window and into the
open doors of the farmer's tractor
barn, which was a good quarter-mile
away.
So, being a city fellow, he didn't
walk up to the farm house and dis
cuss this with his neighbor. He went
to the township council and de
manded that the government order
the farmer to keep his unsightly
equipment properly shielded from
view.
But the township elders were not
newcomers. They politely told the
city fellow that things were different
there. The courts likewise threw out
a lawsuit he filed against his neigh
bor.
When all the legal wrangling was
over, the farmer constructed a new
bam. It was very big and had two
huge, wide doorways, but no doors.
He built it at the very edge of his
pasture, down by the road, about 20
yards from his neighbor's picture
window.
He didn't really need the new
barn. But it turned out to be a dandy
Eric
Carlson
place for storing his smelly old ma
nure spreader.
I thought of this the other day as I
read the morning paper.
It seems those high-class folks
over in Wilmington, which they
think of as "Paris on the Cape Fear,"
are afraid their humbling country
cousins might build something on
OUR side of the river that will spoil
THEIR waterfront view.
The Wilmington City Council
wants to impose "extra-territorial ju
risdiction" on the river's west bank,
allowing THEM to control develop
ment IN PORTIONS OF BRUNS
WICK COUNTY!!!
The article noted that "in the past
decade, the city invested heavily in
the waterfront and the Historic Dis
trict, building a riverfront park,
making street improvements and
supporting business development."
Now here's the good part:
"That tourist-friendly environ
ment could be ruined by ugly con
struction on the west bank." (In oth
er words, here in Brunswick
County.)
Hooooweeeee Bubba! You reckon
them city folks are afraid we might
sell off all that valuable pulp wood
and put in a mud-bog race track or a
24-houi flea market?
Or maybe they figure we'll build
us another nuke plant or ammunition
depot right on the water. I hear there
are some huge limestone deposits
about 60 feet underground just beg
ging to be mined. Maybe Martin
Marietta would be interested.
Perhaps we could create a tender
loin district of neon lights, loud
honky-tonks and topless bars where
the dancers remove everything but a
few hospital bandages. We could
call them "West Bank Gauze-A
Strippers."
No..I know what we need there!
A hog farm and slaughtering opera
tion! There's plenty of muck along
the water for them pigs to wallow
around in, once we get all those durn
trees out of the way.
And lucky for us, the hot summer
months bring winds from the south
west?directly toward the Historic
District.
Picture a group of well-heeled
Wilmingtonians sitting at a water
front restaurant, sampling a fine
1982 Puy Lacoste as the evening
breeze wafts across the river.
"Ahhhh...the most spectacular
vintage since '61...I detect notes of
raisin and black currents and...
IJggggh! Waiter! Take this wine
back! It tastes like hog manure!"
Meanwhile, just offshore...
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome
aboard the Henrietta II for our sun
set cruise down the Cape Fear River.
I'd like to take this opportunity to
suggest that you avail yourself of
the complementary oxygen masks
that will automatically drop from
your overhead compartment as we
pass the Eagle island Pork Proces
sing Plant..."
Naturally, we on the west bank
wouldn't think of doing such a thing
(unless provoked). Just to show how
much we want to get along, we
could continue developing our por
tion of the shoreline in the same way
the east bankers seem to like it now.
You know that rusty old half
sunken barge you see from the
bridge crossing the Brunswick
River? The one the locals call the
USS Bclville?
Why not dredge us out a little har
bor on Brunswick County property
next the Battleship North Carolina
and create our own floating (sort-of)
museum? We could take people on
tours of the ship and shoot fireworks
and build a little gift shop that sells
"USS Belvillc Memorial" T-shirts.
Which makes me wonder what
the fine citizens of Bclville think of
all this. They probably have some
pretty strong feelings about the way
the river's east bank has been devel
oping over the years.
In fact. I wouldn't be surprised to
hear Mayor Ken Messer suggest that
the town extend its extra-territorial
jurisdiction across the river. May.'k
take in Water Street and the Cotton
Exchange?
How else arc Belvillians going to
protect their view? Heck, they could
wake up one morning and look
across the river and see some tacky
picture of a giant whale painted on
the side of a building.
Remember Wilmingtonoids: Two
can play at this game. The next time
you have illusions of extending your
extraterrestrial jurisdiction, consider
these five words:
Chandler's Wharf Mobile Home
Park.
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
He Doesn't Oppose Sewers, But'Lock Of Fairness' In Sharing Cost
To the editor:
The Feb. 17 Town of Calabash public hearing relative
to the proposed sewer authority raised a number of ques
tions including that of distribution of costs in a fair and
equitable manner. Most all agree that there is a need for
a sewer system; however views differ as to whether the
Town of Calabash should purchase and expand the exist
ing Carolina Blythc servicc as opposed to becoming in
volved in the sewer authority concept.
I JqI' o*) 2 druV/buvk to Jgtwor t tin i n IK i 11' 11 r
Carolina Blythe as currently constituted to provide ser
vices other than to the town itself. Land use and zoning
control over the town's extraterritorial jurisdiction is ex
erted by the town, hence an obligation to provide service
to those areas.
As to the sewer authority alternative?and 1 believe
that eventually Carolina Klythe would be absorbed by
the sewer authority?development costs would exceed
$34 million, of which approximately $21 million would
be incurred via development of distribution lines to
properties, both developed and undeveloped, which
would benefit from the service.
Traditionally, the cost for distribution lines from is in
large borne by benefiting properties. N.C. General
Statute (160A, Chapter 10) addresses the development
and extension of sewer/water distribution lines and es
tablishes the basis upon which special assessments may
be levied. The theme of the statute is quite evident, i.e.
that benefiting properties share equally in the cost.
Not so the sewer authority plan, which provides that
undeveloped properties pay an impact fee, while devel
oped properties are excluded, even though the benefit to
both is the same. The excuses given are that impact fees
on developed properties "may cause significant hard
ship," "that they have already paid for their septic sys
tems."
Seems to me that our nation's communities would be
in dire financial straits had this theory ocen applied to
the development of water distribution lines., i.e., if you
paid for a well, no need to pay an assessment fee for de
velopment of the lines.
The fact is that both developed and undeveloped
properties would benefit from a sewer system, both in
appreciation of property value and existing burden of re
curring expenses in maintaining septic systems. As to
the perception that an impact or spccial assessment
would cause hardship, such would be payable interest
free over a ten-year period.
The bottom line to the sewer authority proposal is that
the bulk of the cost for distribution lines would be paid
through customer user fees. Data provided at the hear
ing, "Typical User Fees Neighboring Communities," in
dics!''^ fhat whrn no imnarf/vrvviyl ^cc*?cimon? fop uric
i . iw363?llwl?? ,vv ?*
levied for development of distribution lines, the monthly
user fee charge ranged from $8 to $15 per month more
than had an impact or spccial assessment fee been
levied.
As I said, I'm not opposed to sewers, be it through a
sewer authority or Carolina Blythe. What I am opposed
to is a lack of fairness in sharing the cost.
As to the Calabash business district, they could have
had sewer service years ago through Carolina Blythe;
however, they didn't want to pay for it. Now we hear the
same old record. Some of the representatives on the
Town of Calabash Hoard of Commissioners should re
consider who they represent.
Al Smith, Calabash
Mr. Smith is chairman of the Calabash Planning and
Zoning Board.
Irony In Calabash
To the editor:
It was ironic to read in the Feb. 24 edition of your pa
per that Calabash Commissioner Ed Schaack accused
fellow Commissioner Teddy Altreuter of possible uneth
ical conduct.
The irony is that Commissioner Altreuter was the on
ly one of District ll's elected officials who had the com
mon decency to brief her constituents on the actions of
the commission and ask if they approved or disap
proved.
I he caiious arrogance of our commissioners in perse
vering in the creation of the South Brunswick Water and
Sewer Authority, involving what is usually described in
the summer brtichures (as) "The quaint little fishing vil
lage" of Calabash, should be the question on the front
burner al commission meetings, rather than condemning
the actions of the one person who sought out the opinion
of her constituents before committing us to this $36-mil
lion-plus endeavor.
If passed, this venture will solve problems that
Calabash doesn't have, but other surrounding areas do.
They promised us a referendum and reneged on that,
claiming there was no legal requirement for them to do
so, but conveniently forgetting their moral obligations to
the citizens who elected them to office.
!f your people had covcrcd the Mdnutiig-iuuiri-ouiy
meeting at the Calabash fire house on Feb. 17 you
would have observed that up to 90 percent of those at
tending were in favor of rescinding our commitment to
participate in the water and sewer authority.
In closing, I would suggest that when covering stories
of such magnitude in the future, that the Beacon instruct
their reporters to consult with the "governed" as well as
with those who govern them. You may find a better and
more accurate story may develop.
James T. Reagan
Calabash
Nothing Unethical
To the editor:
At the last election of commissioners in Calabash
there were four candidates for three positions. I was one
of the two candidates who openly stated a position on
the Town of Calabash joining with Sunset Beach to form
the South Brunswick Water and Sewer Authority.
Stu Thorne also stated his position; he was for it. The
other two candidates, Ed Schaack and Al Leisey did not
declare for or against the authority. Mr. Thorne was not
elected. I, along with Mr. Schaack and Mr. leisey, was.
There is, contrary to Mr. Schaack's opinion, absolute
ly nothing unethical about my living up to my stated po
sition in opposition to the sewer authority. Indeed, I have
an ethical and moral obligation to honor my promise to
those who elected me.
Tne sewer authority is not a good deal for the people
of Calabash, and I will continue to speak out against it. I
will not need "subterfuge or circumvention" to do so
against this ill-conceived project with my colleagues on
the town board and with my fellow citizens. I will con
tinue to be entirely "up front" about my opinions on this
and all other issues.
Certainly, I will continue to encouragc our town board
to pass the ethics code 1 have introduced. It is needed in
Calabash.
Teddy Altreuter
Calabash Commissioner
Americans First?
To the editor:
i am responding 10 me letter in your heb. 24 issue per
taining to black history.
The first successful heart transplant was performed in
South African on Dec. 3, 1967, by a five-surgeon team
headed by Dr. Christian N. Barnard. He trained in the
United States and was white, not black as insinuated by
the writer.
Also, the yo-yo, the toy, came to the United States
from the Philippines. The name "yo-yo" means to move
up and down and was given to the toy by the Tagaloy,
who are members of the Malayan people of the
Philippines. No black slave brought the yo-yo to the
United States.
People should read and get their facts straight. That's
what encyclopedias are for.
I too am fed up with this so-called black history.
United States history being taught in our schools
should pertain to all Americans and not any special
group. Remember, we are Americans first.
Rosalie Visser
Ocean Isle Beach
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