Happy
independence
Day!
| sounds Of Freedom
The 'Volunteers in Blue'
perform in open-air concert
Sunday at Sunset Beach. 4-B
12/31/99 **P0
HOAG & SONS BOOK BINDERY
F'O BOX 162
SPRINGPORT MI 49284
Thuiy Second Ycqi N'unibei -3
SKcfllotte, North CcnoJinq, Thursday June 30. 1994 50- Ppi Copy. TOO Page*. Includitfja Suppiemeril b Sections, Ply, inserts,
A Motley Crew
SWf PHOTO 91 DOUG BUTTBt
This pirate ship was on* of four outstanding entries in the Lippincott Family Reunion sand-sculpture
contest last week at Ocean Isle Beach. Paul Lippincott headed up the young band of buccaneers. Crew
members (from left) are Sean Williams, Kenneth Williams, Andrew Williams, Brennan Brooker, Erin
Brooker and Joshua Williams. The Lippincottx get together every three years at Ocean Isle, and 60
people attended bat week's reunion. Family members came in from Fayetteville, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, California, Florida and Oklahoma.
Police Say Little,
Seek Help In Murder
Of Shallotte Teenager
BY ERIC CARLSON
\l/lw* A m?i /""* qavxltna Crtnlr MUVUI(lt*r ?
Suf
Don't Light ' Em Here
BY SUSAN USHER
Fireworks are legal this Fourth of
July in North Carolina ? but not all
fireworks and not everywhere.
Local stores are selling hand-held
sparklers and other so-called "safe
and sane" fireworks, but in the three
South Brunswick Island beach com
munities it's still against the law to
discharge them.
"It's not because we're not patri
otic, it's because of the danger," says
Ocean Isle Police Chief Curt
Pritchard.
Ditto at Sunset Beach.
Ditto at Holden Beach.
"I hope it will stay this way," said
Robert Cook, chief of police at
Koioen Beach, where the town's or
dinance prohibits discharge of any
pyrotechnics except the caps used in
cap pistols. "Fireworks can definite
ly cause some fires. "
What may be a boon for local
merchants may become the bane of
fire and law enforcement officials.
With beach homes packed so
tightly together and a constant
breeze, officials of all three resort
communities are concerned about
the danger of fire and how difficult
it would be to contain a house foe
and keep it from spreading to other
homes.
"It only takes a couple of sparks
from even a sparkler," said
PritchanL "We've already had a
couple of small fires, possibly from
fireworks. With winds at IS mph to
25 mph, we're not going to allow
anyone to shoot fireworks. We just
can't allow that here, Cor everyone's
safety."
Since the new state law went into
effect last Dec. 1, allowing sale, use
and possession of some Class C py
rotechnics, "nothing has changed at
Sunset Beach," said Town
Administrator Linda Fluegel.
It's against the law to discharge
any type of fireworks, and police
and the town's new code enforce
ment officers are serious about it
At Ocean Isle Pritchard is also
keeping at an eye out on local mer
chants' fireworks displays to make
sure they understand what can be
legally sold. A vendor set up a dis
play for one local merchant that fea
tured some heavy-duty pyrotechnics
that remain illegal in North
Carolina.
"I told him they had to go," said
Pritchard.
Each year Cook said officers at
Hoi den Beach confiscate a barrel
full of pyrotechnics, mainly around
the Fourth of July holiday.
The only time we do it is when
we get a call that someone's shoot
ing off fireworks."
Until this year, the goods confis
cated have mainly been "big fire
works," the kind that are still illegal
to sell in North Carolina ? cherry
bombs, Roman candles, M-80s. So
far this year, that hasn't changed,
even with the "safe and sane" fire
works available locally.
"People go to South Carolina and
buy them and go out on the beach
and shoot them," said Cook.
Over the past several years fire
works have been responsible for
several grass fires that required calls
to Tri-Beach Volunteer Fire
Department
Holden Beach commissioners
share the chief's concern regarding
fire. At a meeting last week
Commissioner Jim Fournier ques
tioned the introduction of the origi
nal bill by Rep. E. David Redwine
(D- Brunswick).
"You'd think a state representa
tive introducing a bill like that
would check with the people affect
ed most, but I don't remember any
body asking us," he said.
Redwine said he introduced the
bill because he thought it was time
(See BEACHES, Pace 2- A )
County Adopts 58.5-Cent Tax Rate
Said Equivalent To Pre-Revaluation
cents per $100 valuation and a 10
cent hike in water rates.
According to Interim County
Manager Charles McGinnis, the tax
levy was set at rale equivalent to
what it was before the recent coun
ty-wide property revaluation.
Despite numerous public pleas for
an increase in the recommended
school budget, the final amount allo
cated remained more than $4 J mil
lion lower than the spending figure
rcqutted by the bond of education.
The schools funding request was
not overlooked, however. At a bud
get workshop Wednesday, the com
missioners agreed to double the
$15,000 allocation recommended by
the manager for material needs at
each of the county's 12 schools.
Then on Thursday, with a
$190,000 surplus remaining, the
board gave $110,000 to Brunswick
County Community College to fund
operations at the new Odell
Williamson Auditorium. Another
$20,000 was given to the Brunswick
County Sheriff's Department for
new radios.
Finally, the remaining $60,000
was added to the school budget to
BY ERIC CARLSON
After two nights of trimming fat
from its proposed county budget, the
Brunswick Board of Commissioners
nude a flew concessions to local
schools last week before adopting a
$42.7 million spending package
calling for a property tax rate of 58J
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