County Health Board Puts Some Teeth BY ERIC CARLSON activities and requested several changes in "Thiv n11n\A)v t L In a move aimed at preventing attacks by current department policies. He asked for ? fllS d I LOWS US lO IClKC vicious dogs, the Brunswick County Health and received authorization to allow animal nwn\) nrtimn 1 'c Board on Monday gave Health Director control officers to respond to reports of UWUy IrlC Urllfrltll S Michael Rhodes the authority to have a pet wounded animals while on call at night and rhnnrt* frtr nrto frao declared "dangerous" if it is deemed a on weekends. CflMflCC JUf Uflt. Jr cc threat to the public. Legislation passed by the N.C. General t)itC " The board also discussed its policy of Assembly in 1990 allows county health de- * selling euthanized cat carcasses for $3 each partments to declare a dog "potentially dan- Health Director to mcdical laboratories for research. An- gerous" and require the owner to take steps Michael Rhodes imal Control Supervisor Greg Thompson to prevent the animal from attacking peo asked the members to consider returning pie. But the county has been operating un- keeps it in a fenced pen that has a roof and the proceeds of the sales to his department, der previous laws that allow a dog to be de- a concrete pad and a padlock on the door," rather than depositing the money into the clared "vicious" only after it attacks some- Thompson said. "But a 200-pound Saint county's general fund. one. Bernard that runs loose and knocks people Speaking at the health board's regular "A 90-pound pit bull that is trained to at- down and chases young children into a meeting, Thompson gave an update of his tack is not dangerous as long as the owner busy street could be considered dangerous." In Dangerous Dog Rules Thompson cautioned thai the county for one free bite." could be held liable if such a dog injured Board member Don Warren questioned someone after the health department re- whether the new rule would prevent a busi ceived complaints and did not declare the ness owner from keeping guard dogs in a animal dangerous. fenced equipment yard. Thompson said Rhodes said the change would allow the such animals would not be considered dan health department to declare a dog poten- gerous as long as they were kept in a "se tially dangerous and give the owner written cure" place. instructions of what needed to be done to Member Benny Ludlum opposed the rule alleviate the threat to the public. That way, change saying, "Just as soon as you pass if the animal bit someone, the county would this, you'll need to put two more people on be on record as having warned the owner staff to declare dogs dangerous." about the potential danger, he said. The health department declares only "As it is now, a dog almost needs to at- about "one or two" dogs a year as "vi tack someone before we can intercede and cious." Rhodes said he doubts the change in declare it vicious," Rhodes said. "This al- policy would result in a significant number lows us to take away the animal's chance (See NEW RULES, Page 2-A) HV31/99 A::m) Tl ^ 800K" 'I 1114*1/ 11 Jh iViv Thirty-Second Year, Number 20 emi THE BRUNSWICK MACON Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, March 1 7, 1994 50 iccii?? in of commissioners evaluates the manager. The executive session was held at the < special meeting last Thursday called to discuss members told a reporter what happened in the ex commissioners wanted to discuss the issue in closcd session. The executive session was held at the close of a Sandifer said he didn't like that certain board ccuiive session. He said it wasn't fair to the com missioners who declined to comment on the closed session because their opinions were not expressed in the article. Responding to several requests from audience members who said they wanted to discuss the ar ticle with the board, Sandifcr made a motion to add "public comments" to the agenda. However, there was no second to his motion. Commissioners allow public comments at all of their regular meetings. Ausley said discussion of personnel matters is one of the reasons a town board can go into exec utive session, "'["he reason for an executive ses sion is not to hide anything from the public," he said. Inside... Birthdays JIB Business News 6D Calendar 8B Church News 8A Classified I-8C Club Briefs 2B Crime Report 10A Crossword 9A Court Docket 9-10C Fishing 5D Golf 4D Obituaries 8A Opinion 4-5 A People In The News 8D Plant Doctor 6B Sports 1-5D Television 4-5B EDC Opposes Wilmington Plan To Control Brunswick Development BY ERIC CARLSON control our own destiny." He suggested that the commis The Brunswick County Economic Development sion adopt a resolution to be sent to the county hoard of Commission went on record Monday in opposition to commissioners and planning board. the t ity of Wilmington s plan to study extending its The commission voted unanimously in favor of draft zoning controls across the Cape Fear R.ver to prevent . ^ resolution. The lx,ard also: unattractive development along the Brunswick County & shoreline. BBegan consideration of Monks' preliminary budget According to recent newspaper accounts, the Wil- for 1994-95. The draft proposal calls for a 19 percent in mington City Council has discussed extending its extra- crease in EDC spending, from the current figure of territorial jurisdiction into Brunswick County to protect $168,520 to $208,495. The commission plans to discuss the waterfront view from the city's historic district and the proposed budget at its next meeting. riverfront park. HAgrccd to give Monks the authority, with the chair Margaret Rudd, A Southport real estate broker who man's approval, to handle the paperwork for state infra attended the meeting, called the move "a classic case of structure grants for local industries. The appropriations trying to control something that's not yours." are used to build roads and install water and sewer lines Brunswick EDC Director Tom Monks told commis- for new and expanding businesses. sion members that the county needs to send "a clear ^Appropriated $310 to the Brunswick Community message to the other side of the river that we intend to College Small Business Awards Program. Team Gearing BY ERIC CARLSON As if planning for a military invasion, an army of agriculture experts, entomologists and govern ment officials is preparing to launch a massive air assault next month on a foreign invader that came ashore in Brunswick County last summer. After holding several meetings in other areas of the stale, the Asian Gypsy Moth Management Team will come to Wilmington next week for their first discussions in the area of operations where airplanes and helicopters will spray insecti cide over I3(),(KK) acres of Brunswick and New Hanover counties in hopes of stopping the pest before it spreads. A local public information meeting on the gyp sy moth eradication program will be held at 7:30 p m. Tuesday, March 22, at the county govern ment complex in Bolivia. I.asl July, a (ierman ship docked at the Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point (MOTSU) was found to be infested with Asian gypsy moths. Up For Aerial Pesticide Assault Gypsy Moth Hotline: 1-800-449-9007 Although the ship was immediately sent hack to sea and fumigated, insect traps set shortly after the discovery indicated that the moths had made their way to shore on both sides of the Cape Fear River. Experts consider the Asian gypsy moth to be one of the most damaging plant pests ever brought to our shores. Its close relative, the European gypsy moth already affects more than 4.2 million acres of forests each year. The Asian variety poses an even greater threat Female European gypsy moths are flightless and lay their eggs near where they emerge from their cocoon. But a female Asian gypsy moth can fly up to .;() miles before depositing her eggs. Today the enemy lies dormant in its egg stage on trees throughout the infested area. But some time around April It), those eggs are expected to release thousands of larvae that will begin making their way into the young leaves to forage for food. That's when the planes will strike, when the moths are at their most vulnerable, Brunswick County Cooperative Extension Agent Milton Coleman said Tuesday. The management team plans to blanket all wooded areas within a 30 mile radius of Sunny Point with two applications of two different pesticides. "Right now our biggest concern is the weath er," Coleman said. "For the spray to work proper ly, it needs to be applied during a time when there is no rain or high winds. We need to make two sprays within 10 days of each other, so a week of rainy weather could create some real problems." (See PUBLIC. I'ajje 2-A) School Board Says Proposed Audit Should Be Welcomed BY SUSAN USHER A school system performance au dit by a state agency independent of the Department of Public Instruction would be welcomed here, Bruns wick County Board of Education members decided Monday night. At a Feb. 21 meeting of the Brunswick County Commissioners, District 3 Commissioner Wayland Vereen called for such an audit by State Auditor Ralph Campbell Jr.'s officc, saying an independent analy sis was "long overdue." A study of central office organiza tion conducted by the N.C. Depart ment of Public Instruction several years ago recommended a restruc turing of the Brunswick County Schools administrative staff and hir ing of additional staff. School board members voted Monday in support of a performance audit, their only question whether the undetermined cost would come out of the schools' 1994-95 budget or the county commissioners' bud get. "It's county money cither way you look at it," said Superintendent Ralph johnston. Vereen said last month he hoped a performance audit would determine if there arc overlapping jobs and programs or unnecessary duplication of services. He could not be reached for com ment Tuesday to find out if he in tends to pursue the idea. As of mid day Tuesday he had not asked for the audit request to be placed on the agenda of the commissioners' March 21 meeting. County Manager Wyman Yelton said. Superintendent Johnston told school board members Monday he thought a performance audit could benetit the school system. "It could finally put the county school system on an even keel with other depart ments," he said. If a performance audit is forth coming, results wouldn't be ready before the 1994-95 budget is adopt ed. Jimmy Benson, a deputy state au ditor, said the office of the auditor is completing a performance audit for Ixe County Schools, the 12th such study done for school systems over a number of yeuis. Other systems ?r which audits have been completed include Pasquotank, Camden, Nor thampton and more recently. Wake, the largest to date. Mow quickly an audit sought by Brunswick County would be com pleted isn't certain, given the depart ment's existing workload. "Ob viously we can't take on every sys tem in the state and we have other performances audits we have to per form," said Benson. "We would have to consider priorities in our work plan and try to work in any re quest within a reasonable length of time. If we do a hurry-up job it won't be a good job." Typically a performance audit is restricted to the central office, exam ining its structure, lines of authority and delivery of services and pro grams to its users. Responses to a questionnaire sent to all "users" of central office services, "everybody in the school system who interacts with the central office, from bus me chanics to principals," are a key fac tor in looking at effectiveness of the central office staff's performance. Benson said the surveys typically have a high response rate of 45 per (See PERFORMANCE, Page 2-A) STAFF PHOTO BY ERIC CARLSON Very Special Talent Students and staff of the Brunswick Community College Inter agency Program enjoy developing their creative talents at last week 's "A Very Special Arts Festival," sponsored by the Brunswick C ounty I'arLs and Recreation Department. Here, Beverly C riswcll (sitting) makes a dry flower terrarium with the help of Barbara Randolph. More festival pictures are on Page 7A.