Library To Reopen Monday In
Temporary Resort Plaza Space
? M m
It's moving week for the West
Brunswick Branch Library in II
II
j | * 'i ? i ^ Juntcers Il ^
Plaza, a ^ temporary tocatfon while
|n;iriL'ti^ li>i|ar^ on Oak lsjand and
?";,p:::" l,"",ch
The library will be open just four HI >*?
days a week and tor fewer hours II '?' ? ^
than before, at least until June 30.
when the budget year ends. staff photo bv susan usher
However, more evening hours FRIENDS OF THE IJHRARY volunteers Wayne Hcwett and
will be available. John Twomey move shelving into space at Resort Plaza in
Scheduled hours are Mondays, Shallotte that will serxe as temporary quarters for the local
11 a.m.-8 p.m.; and Tuesdays branch library starting Monday.
ru'^ru rhursdavs, ) a.m. 6 p.m. location has been made possible by equipment and materials, and help
The ibrary will be closed Friday .. ~ . , , .. , .. i , cr\. r .. .
h h s H Friends of the Library, which stafT the facility.
roug un ay. recruited volunteers to raise operat- l"he library's telephone number
Operation from the temporary ing funds, build shelving, move remains the same.
Study: Redwine, Soles Effectiveness
Ratings Shift In Opposite Directions
BY SUSAN USHER
Veteran members of Brunswick
County's legislative delegation saw
their effectiveness ratings shift in
opposite directions in survey results
released this week.
Rep. E. David Redwine of Ocean
Isle Beach received his highest rank
ing yet. 11th in effectiveness among
the 119 House members considered
in the survey conducted last fall by
the N.C. Center for Public Policy
Research. One seat was vacant. His
most recent ranking was
The effectiveness rating for Sen.
R.C. Soles Jr. of Tabor City dropped
from 7th to 14th last year, though he
was named deputy president pro
tempore in the Senate. He is second
in authority only to President Pro
Tempore Marc Basnight of Dare
County.
In the survey conducted following
adjournment of each regular session
of the legislature, the center asks
state senators, representatives, leg
islative liasons and lobbyists, and
capital news correspondents to rate
the "effectiveness" of each member
of the North Carolina General
Assembly on a scale of 1 to 10.
Senators are only asked to rate
other senators and representatives
only rate fellow representatives.
Respondents are asked to base
their ratings on specific criteria as
well as their personal knowledge of
the legislature and their personal per
ceptions of those who serve there.
Criteria used included legislators'
participation in committee work,
their skill in guiding bills through
floor debate, their general knowl
edge and expertise in specific fields,
the respect they command from
peers, the enthusiasm with which
they execute various legislative re
sponsibilities, their ability to sway
the opinion of fellow legislators,
their aptitude for the overall legisla
tive process and the political power
they hold?either by virtue of office,
longevity or personal attributes.
Redwine's ranking for effective
AT VARNAMTOWN
BRING HOME
THE6BEAC0N
On Sale At
BETTY S MINI-MART
ncss has risen steadily since first
surveyed in 1985 at 44th. (He was
appointed in December 1983 to the
seat vacated by Tom B. Rabon Jr.)
On the 1993 survey. Soles had
been ranked seventh in effectiveness
among 50 senators in 1991. Soles,
an attorney, was first elected to the
Senate in 1977 after serving four
terms in the state Mouse. That expe
rience showed, as Soles tied at 25th
in effectiveness his first year in the
Senate.
Eight-six of 119 House members
(72 percent) responded to the survey,
along with 44 of 50 senators (88 per
cent), 168 of 350 liasions and lobby
ists based in North Carolina (48 per
cent) and 17 of 33 capital news cor
respondents (52 percent), for an
overall response rate of 57 percent.
Topping the Mouse rankings was
Mouse Speaker Daniel T. Blue Jr. of
Wake County, whose raw score for
overall effectiveness was 96.91.
Separate raw scores were as follows:
fellow House members, 97.06; li
aisons and lobbyists, 95.00 and cor
respondents. 98.67.
Redwine's overall raw score was
67.57, with his highest individual
raw score from lobbyists and li
aisons, 71.74, and his lowest from
fellow House members, 63.65. The
raw score from correspondents was
67.33.
Redwine's overall ranking fell
just below the top 10: Blue. Martin
L. Nesbitt Jr.. George W. Miller Jr.,
Joe Hackney, Milton (Toby) Fitch.
David H. Diamont. Mickey Mich
aux, Anne C. Barnes. Liston B.
Ramsey and Jack Hunt.
Specific raw scores were not
available Tuesday for Senate mem
bers. including Soles.
Freshman legislator Dewey L.
Hill of Lake Waccamaw, who repre
sents the two-county 14th District
with Redwine. was ranked 93rd in
effectiveness among House mem
bers, with an overall effectiveness
raw score of 32.49.
Fellow freshman Thomas l?.
Wright of Wilmington, who repre
sents the northwestern lip of Bruns
wick County, was ranked 6ftth in ef
fectiveness, with an overall raw
score of 39.13.
Redwine, Hill and Wright are un
opposed in bids for re-election this
fall, while Sen. Soles faces a Dem
ocratic primary contest in May.
The N.C. Center for Public Policy
Research in Raleigh is a non-profit
corporation formed to assess stale
government practices independently
and without a partisan bias. Its pub
lications include North Carolina
Insight magazine, six newsletters a
year, research reports and the effec
tiveness rankings.
The Public is invited To A
Meet the Candidates
Banquet
Saturday, April 9
7:00 pm
Brunswick County Complex
Dinner Tickets $10
All candidates are welcome
Sponsored by the committee to elect
Thurman Cause
Paid for by Thurman Gause
C1994 THE BRUNSWICK BLACON
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PHOTO CONTRIBUTED
Jump Rope For Heart
Shallutte Middle School students raised more than $1,000 for the American Heart Association's re
search and educational programs during the recent "Jump Rope For Heart." Pictured (from left) are
Dustin Causey, Michael Woolen, Thomas Itiandino, Shuryl Bellamy, lirooke Evans, Ashley Sawyer
and Laura Kennedy. Ron and Melanie Champion co-chaired the "Jump Rope For Heart" campaign
in lirunsM ick County this year. The event raised more than $7,000.
Drowning Victim's Family
Files Wrongful Death Suit
BY DOUG RUTTER
The family of a 12-ycar-old boy
who drowned nearly three years ago
in the Holden Beach surf has filed a
wrongful death lawsuit claiming the
town was negligent and should he
held responsible for the death.
Jeremas Barnes of Knightdale
was visiting Holden Beach with his
grandparents on July 4. 1991, when
he drowned in the ocean near the
1(KK) block of Ocean Boulevard
West.
Barnes was playing on a raft with
a cousin and his toster brother when
a wave knocked all three boys into
the water. Two boys surfaced, but
Barnes was apparently pulled out to
sea by a rip current.
The boy's body washed ashore
the next morning about live miles
from where he went under.
The lawsuit was originally filed
last July in Wake County and it was
recently transferred to Brunswick
County Superior Court.
The six family members named in
the suit are seeking wrongful death,
punitive and compensatory damages
in excess of $ 1 (),0()0.
Plaintiffs in the case are the boy's
mother, Jannet Barnes; his father,
James Barnes; siblings Christopher
Barnes, Janellc Barnes and Maurice
Bobbin and foster brother Lawson
Minga. All are residents of Knight
dale.
They claim in the suit that Holden
Beach was negligent in the planning,
operation and management of the
beach because it did not provide
lifeguards, did not close the beach
when dangerous conditions existed,
failed to provide adequate warning
about dangerous conditions and
failed to have plans and equipment
for rescue and emergency use.
Family members also contend
that they "have suffered and will
continue to suffer great mental an
guish and distress, anxiety, loss of
sleep, loss of enjoyment of life, and
other emotional injuries..." as a re
sult of the death.
The plaintiffs allege that Moldcn
Beach has waived its governmental
immunity for damages by obtaining
liability insurance and by joining a
municipal risk pool.
Plaintiffs also claim that neither
the victim nor his family members
"knew or had any reason to suspect
that the ocean waters at Holden
Beach possessed a propensity for
development of life endangering
hazardous conditions such as rip
tides and strong undertows."
At the time of the drowning,
Brunswick County Emergency Man
agement Coordinator Cecil Logan
described ocean conditions as "ex
tremely terrible."
"It was not a day for anybody to
be in the ocean, not just playing
around," Logan told The Brunswick
Beacon.
Molden Beach Police, Coastline
Volunteer Rescue Squad and Tri
Beach Volunteer Fire Department
responded immediately to search for
the child after he was reported miss
ing.
Two U.S. Coast Guard boats, a
Marine helicopter and a Brunswick
County Sheriff's Department air
plane joined the search later.
Brunswick County's surf boat
was launched, but it was taken out
of the water after it flipped. Two
people with life jackets also waded
into the ocean to search for the boy,
but they returned to shore when they
could not keep their balance.
"We exhausted everything we
could get our hands on," Ix>gan said
at the time, ' l tlon't really know of
much more or anything more we
could have done."
The attorney representing Holden
Beach, Clay Collier of Wilmington,
has asked for the lawsuit to be dis
missed.
Nobody has ever successfully
sued a North Carolina beach town
after a family member has drowned
in the ocean.
CONGRATULATIONS
Ricky Martin
from the staj) of Brad
shers Auto Glass oji rec
ieuing his NGA certification.
Call Ricky at 579-6778 or
come by, Hwy. I 7. 6 miles
I south of Shallot te. Jor all
your glass needs^
Non-voters might just as well turn
the district over to the old political
machine, says Democrat Ron Taylor
Whiteville, NC . . . Calling upon all
residents of the 18th District to become
registered voters, Democrat Ron
Taylor, challenger for the State Senate
in the May 3rd Primary, had some dire
warnings for non-voters.
"Our District, like other parts of the
Tar Heel state, is being ground up by
that old political machine," says Taylor.
"And 1 say to our people who are not
even registered to vote, you might just
as well turn the whole thing over to the
'politics as usual' crowd."
Taylor, a member of the state House
of Representatives from 1976 to 1982,
has spoken out against the old political
machine, blaming it for some of the
District's problems in education, lack of
jobs and industry and the loss of
Constitutional rights.
"My call is simply for a return to
what's fair," says Taylor. "Is it fair for
public jobs not to go to best qualified
people, but as handouts by that old
political machine to repay favors? Is it
fair for them to hand-pick people to
run Town Council or to appoint people
to school boards? Is it fair that the edu
cators who are with our children daily
don't nave input into educational plan
ning?"
Comparing government to a busi
ness, Taylor said: "We have a mandato
ry drug testing program at our compa
ny. Government's your company and
those who hold public office are your
employees and spend your tax dollars.
Why not have these judges, attorneys,
mayors and other employees of the tax
payer take a drug test. I would surely
support that."
Taylor also discussed images and
attitudes. "Is it fair for people in office
"You've got to register for this
Primary- and I mean as a
Democrat-and get out and
vote for fairness and against
the old political machine."
to develop the attitude that they own
the office and can cater to the wants of
a few, rather than the needs of the
whole District?" he asked. "Is it fair
that our society has allowed the con
cept of the American family, like mine,
with husband, wife and child together,
to become unpopular with our young
people?"
Pointing out that change is in the
hands of the voter, Taylor said: "If you
believe, as I do, that these things are
not fair and must be changed, you've
got to register for this Primary- and I
mean as a Democrat-and get out and
vote for fairness and against the old
political machine."
Voter registration ends Monday,
April 11th, at local Boards of Elections
and local libraries.
Paid for by Hon Taylor for N.C. Senate