LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Central Sewer System Cost
Now Said To Be $35.6 Million
To the editor:
On the front page of the Oct. 27
issue of the Beacon there was a sto
ry about the South Brunswick Water
and Sewer Authority in which there
was a factual error. The cost of the
project was given as $34 million
when, in fact, the present estimate of
the cost of the project is $35.6 mil
lion.
Remembering that the original
cost estimate of this project was $19
to $20 million two years ago, I sup
pose a mere $1.6 million jump
doesn't look like much. But I re
member a wonderful quote from the
late Sen. Everett Dirksen who said,
"A million here and a million there
and pretty soon you're talking about
some real money."
I enclose a copy of a page from
the Sewer Authority 201 Facilities
Plan from August 1994 which clear
ly shows the present estimate to be
$35.6 million.
Teddy C. Altreuter
Calabash
Praise For Council
EDITOR S NOTE: The following
letter tvoi addressed to Sunset
Beach Taxpayers Association. A
copy was furnished for use as a
letter to the editor.
To the editor:
As islanders, we believe the cur
rent (Sunset Beach) Town Council
fairly and accurately reflects our
views and concerns.
We believe that the island's inter
ests are dutifully and ably represent
ed by a dedicated and sincere coun
cil.
Anyone who knows anything
about municipal administration
knows quite well that political sub
division of Sunset Beach is not a vi
able idea.
We badly need a new high-rise
bridge and a central sewer system,
both of which are long overdue.
The population of Sunset Beach
owes a debt of gratitude for the fine
manner in which the town council
has made and continues to make the
Town of Sunset Beach a community
in which we all can be truly proud.
Gary Singleton
Sunset Beach
Salute To Teachers
To the editor:
I would like to offer a salute to
the staff and faculty of the Bruns
wick County school system. They
are doing a superb job under very
adverse conditions, such as letters to
the editor containing garbage which
may influence some students to drop
out of school or lose respect for their
teachers.
Education is available for those
who are motivated to work for it. If
the teachers were not doing a great
job, there would be no doctors,
lawyers, nurses, engineers, computer
programmers, teachers and other
professionals coming from our
school system in Brunswick County.
To the student body of the
Brunswick County school system:
Don'! pass up the opportunity to get
the education in high school to see
you through college. According to
U.S. News, a high school graduate
made 49 percent less than a college
graduate in 1979. This figure
jumped to 83 percent in 1993.
In conclusion, keep up the good
work, teachers. You are molding the
future of our county, state and na
tion. You deserve a medal for your
dedication and a star for being on
the firing line each day of the school
week.
H.E. Hickman
Calabash
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P.O. Box 2558 v-.^
Shallot te NC 28459
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published.
It's Almost That Time Of Year
It's a Saturday in late autumn,
when the last tomatoes arc stripped
from the vine and the greens arc
sweet
On this sunlight-bathed morning
every sense seems heightened, shar
pened. Change is in the air. You can
almost smell it.
Leaves fallen against the damp
earth exude an exotic aroma, like an
Oriental musk. There's just a wisp
of burning oak. from a stove fire
started somewhere nearby to nip the
morning chill.
From the creek comes the hum of
a motor as a small boat heads out.
From deeper hi the woods rises the
bell-like song of d*cr dogs at wurk.
On Highway 17 the stream of traffic
increases momentarily as snowbirds
trek south.
k
Susan TqSBjf
Usher
Lars, nose and fingers tingle; the
rest of you cushy warm beneath a
zipped-up jacket and toboggan cap
Work falls into a comfortable
rhythm. Swikh, swish, -swish, as the
12-flwng metal rake pushes ahead.
Pin oak. Water oak. Sycamore.
Dogwood. Chinquapin Maple. Pine.
You and your partner work silent
ly toward the corner from opposite
sides, a rule that's simply under
stood. You break for mugs of hot
chocolate, still in companionable si
lencc.
The mound grows larger and larg
er, until you can no longer glimpse
each other across the shimmering
offering of red, yellow, brown,
bruised purple and or.-.nge.
A dog wander up, circles as ritu
al demands and plops down at the
edge of the pile, snuffling and
squirming and pushing until snugly
cocooned.
Seconds later he yelps in confu
sion and horror as two living,
breathing torpedoes crash into
pile from opposite directions, barely
averting head-on collision.
Geronimo!
GUEST COLUMN
State Treasurer Speaks Out ?
Is There Anybody Listening?
BY THOM GOOLSBY
North Carolina's State Treasurer,
Harlan Boyles, recently made an ob
vious, but seldom-heeded call to
slow state spending in his newly re
leased book. Keeper of the Public
Purse.
If anyone in North Carolina
should know about state spending,
it's Harlan Boyles. He worked 16
years in the Treasurer's Office, prior
to his appointment as state treasurer
in 1977. With over three decades of
experience, Boyles has watched
North Carolina's spending grow
completely out of control.
State Spending ? Then And Now
Back in 1972, our state ran for an
entire year on just over $1 billion.
During the General Assembly's re
cent spending frenzy, also known as
the Short Session, our elected offi
cials approved a $10.6 billion bud
get. Such an amount once took over
a decade, not just one year, to spend.
The point of excess state spending is
driven home when one compares the
growth of inflation to the growth of
state spending. Over the last 22
years, inflation has increased by on
ly 250 percent, while our budget has
grown by an astounding 800 per
cent.
Boyles charts the beginning of
rapid iiicreases in spending when, as
he sees it, the General Assembly
took over state government. This
"takeover" occurred when the
Republicans won the governor's of
fice in 1984. Boyles believes that
around that time a fiscally irrespon
sible game of one-upmanship began.
Near that same time period, the
bureaucratic top-heavy and very ex
pensive Basic Education Plan was
instituted by the legislature. All of
these events managed to coincide
with the federal government's adop
tion of program "mandates." These
mandates began placing heavy
spending burdens on state govern
ment and required the outlay of tens
of millions of dollars in order to
comply with federal requirements or
risk losing even more money in fed
eral funding.
Common Sense Recommendations
Far from simply complaining,
Boyles' book makes many recom
mendations to stem the tide of state
spending. For the most part, his rec
ommendations make good economic
sense. He calls for the elimination of
federal mandates and for major re
forms in education and other gov
ernment programs in an effort to
make them more efficient and ac
countable to taxpayers.
What kind of response has
Boyles' book received by the leader
ship in the General Assembly?
House Speaker Dan Blue stated that
the ideas were good, but many of
them were already out of date. It's
too bad that in the age of sound
bites, we are unable to get Speaker
Blue's response to why such ideas as
improving the accountability and ef
ficiency of government are "out of
date"
Senate President Pro Tem Marc
Basnight adopted a similarly weak
response to the recommendations
put forth by Boyles. He agreed that
we needed to reduce taxes, but dis
agreed that the General Assembly
was responsible for such things as
the bloated and ineffective education
bureaucracy. Who docs he thinks
makes laws in this state?
Exceeding The Ability To Pay
In the opening chapter of his
book, Boyles points out one fact that
we cannot avoid: "The growth of
state government, if it continues un
abated at its present rate, will soon
exceed the ability of our citizens to
pay their taxes."
Speaker Blue and Senate Pro Tern
Basnight, along with their cronies in
the General Assembly, must realize
that reality will finally catch up with
them. One day, the cold hard slap of
a bankrupt state will knock the col
orful rhetoric and flowery words
right out of their mouths.
However, we cannot allow things
to go that far. The reality of State
Treasurer Boyles' common-sense
suggestions of efficient, effective
and accountable government must
be heeded. The average citizen real
izes that we cannot spend ourselves
into prosperity. Will this message
ever get through to our free-spend
ing politicians?
Thorn Goolsby is an attorney and a
teacher at Campbell Law School.
Saunders, O.D,
OPTOMETRY
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