Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / Aug. 25, 1994, edition 1 / Page 2
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Solution Without Government ' Urged For Towns, Menhaden Firms (Continued From Page 1-A) lose situation," Redwine said. "But I've always been one who believed in talking things out face to face." The local move to regulate men haden fishing suited at Long Beach, where officials have documented five menhaden-related fish spills in the past 10 years. The latest oc curred about two months ago. "Our point was not to ban the fishery or damage the fishery," Mayor Joan Altman said last week. "However, we feel we've got to have some sort of consideration of our problems." One of the biggest problems for beach towns when a fish spill occurs is the public relations damage. Officials fear tourists won't return if the most vivid memory of their va cation is thousands of smelly fish on the strand. "We do have complaints from tourists and game fishermen," Alt man said. "It generates an unfavor able impression of our town." Town leaders said requiring men haden boats to stay at least 1 1/2 miles offshore during the peak tour ist season would lower the risk of fish washing up on the beach. "Obviously we don't want to close down the fishing. We just want to protect what we have," Caswell Beach Commissioner Joe O'Brien said. Menhaden company officials said they would gladly stay offshore, but they have to fish where they find the schools of menhaden. In Brunswick County, most menhaden stay within a mile of the beach. "Unfortunately we are an inshore fishery," said Steve Jones of Zapata Protein, one of two Virginia-based companies that work in local waters. "We'd like to be far enough offshore that nobody could see us." Mike Street, research section chief with the N.C. Division of Mar ine Fisheries, said summer is the pri Shallotte, County ABC Boards Discuss Merger (Continued From Page I -A) four years ago. the amount of money Shallottc receives from its store has dropped more than 60 percent. Town officials expect $20,000 in ABC revenues this fiscal year. In the five years prior to the opening of the Holden Beach Road store, Shallotte received an average of $64,359 per year from its store. "The way we're going the future doer.n't look too bright." Shallotte Aiuerman Carson Durham said. "I think it would behoove all of us to sit down and consider how we can do it together." Alderman Roney Cheers, who was mayor of Shallottc when the ABC store opened, said he has a great interest in keeping it open. "I don't want to see anything hap pen with our store." he said. "I don't want to see the store and its profits eroded to the point where it's no more." Shallotte officials decided to open talks with the county ABC board af ter it was suggested by Raymond "Clyde" Babson. a town resident who previously served on the county board. "I feel like if these two boards will sit down the world is full of op tions." Babson said. Precautions In Place At Supply (Continued From Page 1-A) flow alarm on (he septic tanks to give a three-hour advance warning that the tanks need to be pumped out; and repair surface drainage problems. The N.C. Department of Transportation has cleaned out a cul vert under the bus drive, a move ex pected to sharply reduce surface run-off. "The pipe had filled up and water was coming up over the road instead of going under it and was running across the bus lot and toward the drainage field," said Boney. While the architectural firm and consulting civil engineers Talbert & Bright are looking forward to a "so lution with a long-term lasting ef fect," Boney said he thinks what Brunswick County needs as a long term solution is a central sewer sys tem. " We'll do anything you ask us to. But if you take our fishing grounds we're out of business. " ? Joe Wheatly, Beaufort Fisheries marv season for menhaden fishing in Brunswick County and most are caught just off the beaches. From 1986 through 1993, 21 per cent of the menhaden caught locally were within a quarter mile of the beach and 52 percent were within a half mile. Street said 69 percent were within one mile and 91 percent within two miles. "To close Brunswick County would devastate the menhaden in dustry in North Carolina." said Jule Wheatly, president of Beaufort Fisheries, the only active menhaden operation in the state. "We're here to work with you. We'll do anything you ask us to. But if you take our fishing grounds we're out of business," said Wheatly, who also is a member of the Marine Fisheries Commission. In North Carolina, menhaden fishing is prohibited on holidays and weekends from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Menhaden fish ing is banned off the coasts of Mary land. Delaware and South Carolina. "It's getting to the point that we have lost grounds up and down the East Coast. We are running out of area," said John Barnes of the Virginia-based AMPRO Fisheries Company. Prompted by Redwine. menhaden company officials said they are will ing to give notification when work ing off Brunswick County and stay at least 750 feet from Ashing piers. They promised to use a defoam ing agent to break up fish oil slicks if state environmental officials ap prove. Menhaden boats arc required to use the product in New Jersey waters. Industry officials also said they would reimburse the towns for any costs associated with cleaning up fish spills, even if they aren't re sponsible but happened to be fishing in the vicinity at the time of the inci dent. Depending on what the Marine Fisheries Commission decides at its meeting, a committee of town and Looking Forward, Looking Back Becky Evans of ShaUotte escorts her daughter Roe (right) to her first-grade classroom on the first day of school at Union Elementary. Four-year-old Colbee Evans wore a matching dress to give her sister moral support. TRAINING AT SUNNY POINT Mock Accident Staged In Preparation For Nuke Shipments BY ERIC CARLSON A shipping container loaded with nuclear fuel rods tumbled off a rail road car at the Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal last week when a train hauling the radioactive cargo applied emergency brakes to avoid colliding with a stalled automobile. Fortunately it was only a drill staged to test the readiness of emer gency workers who might be called upon to handle such an occurrence when the first of three planned ship ments of spent fuel rods from European research reactors passes through the ammunition terminal near South port sometime in the next few weeks. More than 60 federal, state and local personnel took part in three days of training and a final exercise set up at a railroad siding on Sunny Point property Thursday (Aug. 18). First on the "accident" scene was Trooper Caulder of the N.C. Highway patrol, who screeched to a halt a safe distance away and took radioactivity readings with a Geiger BRING HOME IHEimCDN IK MMMKXiflbiaM Established Nov. 1, 1962 Telephone 754-6890 Published Every Thursday At 4709 Main Street Shallotte, N.C 28459 SUBSCRIPTION RATES IN BRUNSWICK COUNTY One Year $10.36 Six Months $5.55 ELSEWHERE IN NORTH CAROLINA One Year Si 4.86 Six Months $7.90 ELSEWHERE IN U.S-A One Year $15.95 Six Months $8.35 Second class postage paid at Shallotte, N.C. 28459 USPS 777 780. Postmaster, send address changes to: P.O. Box 2558, Shaflotte, N.C. 28459-2558 counter like the ones kept aboard all state patrol cars. Brunswick County Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Cecil Logan arrived a few minutes later and cordoned off the area with yel low tape before setting up a mobile command post. Fire and rescue workers were brought in, donning white protective suits and plastic booties before proceeding to the wreck site for a closer look at the situation. "In a case like this, our first con cerns. in order of priority are the ac cident victims, public safety and the environment," Bruce Hurley of the U.S. Department of Energy's Nevada Operations Office explained during a briefing before the exercise. "We believe that container is less important than other things at the scene." The metal casks used to transport the spent fuel rods are designed to withstand the type of impact that might be expected in such an inci dent, said DOE spokesman Bob Giusti. The containers have been dropped from heights of 30 feet "on to an unyielding surface" to make sure they won't come open. The casks have also been tested in fires and underwater to assure their in tegrity, he said. Calling the upcoming nuclear fuel shipments "nothing new," officials said the Department of Energy made two million "radiological ship ments" in 1992 and has experienced "no accidental release" of transport ed nuclear material in 45 years. The military ocean terminal is scheduled to receive more than 400 spent fuel rods in the next decade from reactors in Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland. The U.S. government wants to get the ra dioactive material out of Europe to prevent its sale to those who might use it for the production of nuclear weapons. Officials said the exact arrival time of the first shipment will not be released for security reasons. However, the first batch of fuel rods is expected to arrive at the munitions terminal sometime in late August or early September. A second shipment of fuel rods will be sent through Sunny Point in January or February, with a third de livery possible in late 199S. After arriving at MOTSU, the spent fuel rods will be quickly loaded onto a special five-car train manned by two armed guards for the trip to the DOE's Savannah River Site near Aiken, S.C. "The rods will be here for less than 24 hours. We'll have them on rail cars and on their way to Savannah River as quickly as possi ble," Giusti said. Area Receives Good Soaking Widely scattered showers and thunderstorms that moved through the Sooth Brunswick Islands area (art week dumped nearly 4 inches of rain ia at least one location. "Wc finally got some rain, at least at my ran gauge," said Shallotte Point amatmr meteorologist Jacksoo Canady, who measured 3.97 inches during the period Aug. 16-22. The iiusinwmi high temperature for the week was 91 degrees on Aug. 18, and the minimum low reading was 69 degrees on the 16th. Canady repealed a daily average high of 88 degrees and an average nightly low or 73 degrees. The daily average of 80 degrees is about nor mal for this time of year, he said. For the upcoming week, Canady said be expected normal tempera tures and rainfall. Temperatures should mage from the upper 60s at night to the npper 80s during the day. with about 3/4 of an inch of rain. EKSSSULTS Use the r Classifieds whether you're buying or selling. THE BRUNSWICK&BEACON industry officials may be formed to draft a solution that both groups can handle. JerTy Schill, executive director of the N.C. Fisheries Association, said the towns can resolve the problem quicker by working with industry officials than it can by working through the government. Melba Edwards, a commercial fisherman from Southport. said commercial fishermen don't need any more regulations. "The commercial fishing industry is under assault from the state and federal government. It won't be long before commercial fishing is wiped out in the United States," she said. Menhaden is the largest volume fishery on the East Coast with more than 300,000 tons landed per year. The fish arc used primarily for oil and fish meal and are captured in a purse seine, a large net that is laid out around the school of fish and then pulled shut at the bottom. Five Plead, Get Probation In Death Of Butch Davis (Continued From Page 1-A) allegedly hit Davis in the head with a machete. They are Byron Henry Knowles, 25, of Wilmington; Terrance LaQuinn Jones, 19, of Randolphville Road, Bolivia; and Nicholas Lavoir Smith, 17, of U.S. 17, Bolivia. Ford, Jones and Nicholas Smith were arrested less than 48 hours af ter the murder. Knowles fled the country and is believed to be living with his father in the Bahamas. Police remain unsure whether he can be returned to the United States for trial. A tenth suspect in the case, Jeremy Javon Smith, 17, of Tobes Road, Bolivia remains under indict ment on charges of conspiracy to commit assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, accessory after the fact to the felony of robbery with a dangerous weapon, aiding and abet ting an assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury, first-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Investigators say the ten acted with a "gang mentality" when they piled into two cars and drove to Davis's home with the intention of exacting revenge for a dispute that occurred earlier that evening. Attorneys for defendants who ap peared in court Monday said their clients "thought they were going to see a fight" and were unaware that a murder was about to be committed. Some said they thought the purpose was to "scare" Davis or "to teach him a lesson." One lawyer said his client "became appalled at what he saw and cried at the scene." But Assistant District Attorney Lee Bollinger told the judge his evi dence would show that some ? if not all ? of the defendants knew that one of the assailants had a pistol and an other was carrying a machete. At least some of them heard talk of get ting another gun. Some were also present when Ford allegedly claimed he was "going to smoke a white dude." Two of them drove the cars that carried the murder suspects away from the scene. Bollinger also noted that none of the defendants went to police to re port the murder after seeing Davis shot in the back, lucked, beaten and slashed with a machete. HOW TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE BRUNSWKKftlEACON POST OFFICE BOX 2558 SHALLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA 28456 [^NOTICE Rcluible or consistent delivery cannot be ga.ir. intent s nice this newspaper nn.st rely on the U S \Postal Sc .'ce 'or deliver . We can otV\ guarantee that \ our nei'.spapef be submitted to the post otltce in \Snaliotte .V? Wednesday of the .'.<?>* at publication >n time tor dispatch to out-of-toiyn addresses that day ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES BY MAIL: Sr. Ctfawi In Brunswick County ?6 30 QS aO N.C. Sales Tax .38 32 Postage Charge 3.68 3.68 TOTAL 1Q3t 9J3Q Elsewhere in North Caroline J.30 05.30 N.C Sales Tax .38 .32 Postage Charge a.18 8.1 a TOTAL 14*6 13*0 Outside North Caroline 06.30 06.30 Postage Charge _<Lfi5 Q RS TOTAL 19JS !A? Complete And Return To Above Address Name Address City. State
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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