siAff mora nr mic ca*lsom
SHERIFF-ELECT RONALD HEWETT (at rear of room) was on hand recently to present " wheelchair licenses" at Supply Elementary
School, the culmination of an exercise designed to increase students' understanding of the disabled. Hewett has been praised for his work
with young people as Brunswick County 's Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) officer.
Eubanks To Head Brunswick County DARE Effort
(Continued From Page 1-A)
on firearms violations.
Hewett said the sheriff's depart
ment will apply for funding through
the Governors Highway Safety
Commission to create a Sheriff's
Alcohol Field Enforcement (SAFE)
team. Such units, like the New
Hanover County Sheriff's
Department SAFE team, are made
up of designated deputies who focus
their enforcement efforts on im
paired drivers.
In addition, Hewett said the sher
iff's department will seek state funds
for a victim's advocate to assist the
victims of crime through the often
lengthy criminal court system.
There will be increased emphasis
on continued officer training,
Hewett said. He plans to institute
policies that will encourage deputies
to obtain intermediate and advanced
law enforcement certification.
"1 will bend over backwards to
see that any officcr who wants to
further his education has the oppor
tunity to do so," Hewett said.
"That's something Sheriff (John
Carr) Davis did for me and I appre
ciate it."
Hewett said he will "recognize
professionalism as part of an incen
tive plan" in which those officers
who make an effort to improve their
training "are more likely to advance
in my department."
Citing another of his campaign
promises, Hewett said he will en
courage deputies to "be in touch
with the community they serve. I
want them getting out of their cars
and going into businesses and en
couraging citizens to take an active
roll in letting us know what we can
do to accomplish their needs."
Although he has designated his
official replacement. Hewett said he
will continue actively supporting the
DARE program. He hopes to hire
another trained DARE officer and to
expand the drug awareness program
into junior high schools.
Hewett said he plans to maintain
his own DARE certification and
promises to teach at least one class
each year.
Summing up his plans for im
proving the sheriff's department,
Hewett said the emphasis will he on
professionalism and scrvicc.
"It's important for them to re
member that each and every mem
ber of the sheriff's department di
rectly reflects on Ronald Hewett,"
he said. "The citizens will come first
and my officers will be public ser
vants."
BCC To Consider Settlement With Ex-lnstnjctor
BY SUSAN USHER
Brunswick Community College trustees were
to consider approval of a proposed mediated set
tlement with a former Brunswick Community
College business instructor at their meeting
Wednesday night, Nov. 16.
A settlement between the college and Jane H.
Page of Southport was tentatively reached dur
ing a Nov. 1 mediation conference, subject to
approval of the BCC Board of Trustees.
Page filed suit against BCC last September af
ter her nine-month employment contract was not
renewed for the 1993-94 school year, claiming
she had been wrongfully dismissed and denied
due process. She sought reinstatement and dam
ages in excess of $10,000 for alleged breach of
contract.
While neither Page nor BCC President
Michael Reaves would comment Tuesday on
specifics, the report filed by mediator William E.
Wood, an attorney from Whiteville, indicates
agreement has been reached on all issues in
question. It also notes the proposed settlement
includes voluntary dismissal of the suit "with
prejudice," which would bar Page from filing a
future action against the college on the same
claim or cause undci the N.C. Rules of Civil
Procedure.
Reaves said BCC's attorney, Jim Prevatte of
Southport, and its insurer's attorney, Debra
Nickels of Raleigh, had asked to meet with
trustees Wednesday night and present their rec
ommendation.
Page said her attorney, Gary Shipman, would
make an announcement once the settlement
agreement is approved.
In Brunswick County Superior Court, media
tion is the first effort made to resolve all civil
cases before they come to trial. Parties to this
suit faced a Nov. 5 deadline for reaching a medi
ated settlement. Otherwise the case could have
been calendared for trial.
Page had taught business courses at the col
lege since September 1987. Her most recent
salary was $2,474 a month under a contract for
September 1992-May 1993.
In her complaint Page charged she was
wrongfully dismissed because she had been told
her contract would be renewed and her name
was listed in college publications as the instruc
tor for three fall quarter courses.
She was notified in an Aug. 23 letter from
BCC President Michael Reaves that her contract
had not been renewed.
In its response to her complaint, BCC defend
ed its decision not to renew Page's contract, say
ing that course audits found she had illegally al
tered student attendance records, placing the col
lege in jeopardy and resulting in possible repay
ment of federal funds and sanctions.
Also, BCC claimed the college's personnel
policy was applicable to Page only while she
was in the college's employ, and thai non-renew
al of her contract did not constitute a dismissal,
termination or suspension. Her contract for the
1992-93 school year had ended in May in con
junction with the end of spring quarter.
Page alleged her dismissal was influenced by
her outspoken criticism of the school's adminis
tration and advocacy of student and faculty
rights, in violation of her Constitutional right to
free speech.
Warm, Wet
Days Ahead
Local weather should be a little
warmer and wetter than usual as the
Thanksgiving holiday approaches,
Shallotte Point meteorologist
Jackson Canady said Tuesday.
He expects temperatures to range
over the next few days from the
mid-50s at night into the mid-70s
during the day, without about three
quarters of an inch rainfall.
For the period Nov ?-14, Canady
recorded a high of 82 degrees on
Nov. 10 and a low of 40 degrees on
Nov. 12.
A daily average high of 73 de
grees and a nightly average low of
SO degrees combined for an average
daily temperature of 61 degrees,
which he said is about 6 degrees
above the long-term average for this
time of year.
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Telephone 754-6890
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At 4709 Main Street
Shallotte, N.C. 28459
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Funding Dispute Draws Statewide Attention
(Continued From Page 1-A) didn't get it. The
commissioners appealed after the judge refused to re
duce the award or retry the case.
While the appeal is before the N.C. Court of Appeals,
the county is being required to provide the school sys
tem the same funding it received from all local sources
last year, upping the budget allocation to just over S10
million for the 1994-95 school term.
It typically requires 12 to 15 months for a case to be
heard by the court of appeals. On Oct. 19 the court
agreed to expedite hearing of this appeal on petition by
attorneys representing both boards. Case files and briefs
have been submitted, and the attorneys have waived oral
arguments in an effort to speed a decision.
On Monday, John Connell, clerk to the appellate
court, said the court's calendar is full through the end of
the year. He said the earliest the case can be considered
is probably February or March.
"That is disappointing. We would like to have had a
decision sooner," school board attorney Glen Peterson
said Monday. "But, as I've been trying to explain to the
school board, three or four months to those people is
warp speed."
In 1993 the school board also appealed the county's
budget allocation, but the boards reached a mediated set
tlement rather than go to trial.
[little type
Bid
?
SUITS
Use the
Classifieds
whether you're
buying or selling.
THE BRUNSWICK &BEAC0M
754-6890
fry til* *'&JL^h3ibi??L' j . /*
Davis Reflects On Two
Decades In Department
(Continued From Page I -A)
fits. During that five-day interim pe
riod, Chief Deputy Marlow will be
chief administrator for the depart
ment, Davis said.
Since there is no provision under
rtitp I aty fr\r cwg^ring in a HCW shCT
iff before Dec. 5, the official posi
tion of county sheriff will be held by
county Coroner Greg White. Davis
said Brunswick is one of 25 counties
in the state that operate under the
coroner system.
If that transition sounds odd, it's
nothing like the one Davis faced
when he became sheriff in 1983. He
was chief deputy when former
Sheriff Herman Strong was hit with
federal drug indictments in an inves
tigation that resulted in the arrest of
numerous prominent residents, local
officials and law enforcement offi
cers in southeastern North Carolina
and northeastern South Carolina.
Again the county coroner became
the official sheriff until the
Brunswick County Commissioners
named Davis as Strong's successor.
It was not an easy role to step into.
"It was a rough time," Davis said.
"It was tough on the department.
People lost confidence in law en
forcement. But we still had good
people here. I went to the federal
agencies and asked them to tell me
if anyone else was under suspicion.
"They worked with us," he said.
"We kept most of our deputies. We
had a good relationship with other
departments and it didn't take long
to re-establish trust."
Over the next few years, Davis
gained the support of enough voters
to get himself elected sheriff in
1983. Four years later, he stood for
re-election and won again. He
doesn't seem to regret his decision
to call it quits in 1994, but there are
a few "loose ends" he would have
liked to tic up.
Davis said he was glad to see the
three-year-old mystery ot Khonda
Diane Keeler's murder solved be
fore he left office. Her body was fi
nally recovered last month after her
husband. Timothy Keeler, agreed to
reveal its location near the couple's
former home in Ash before pleading
guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
But there are other cases Davis
wishes he could have seen solved
before leaving office, like the mur
der of Shallotte teenager Amy
Caroline Frink, whose brutalized
body was found on a logging road
just across the state line last June. Or
the mysterious killing of Yaupon
Beach native Bryan Smith, found
dead floating in Town Creek on May
8.
"It would be nice to leave with all
of them solved, but I know that
could never happen," Davis said.
For now, he's looking forward to
"doing a little traveling" and enjoy
ing the life of a retired sheriff with
his wife Dorothy. The two are plan
ning a trip to New Hampshire next
month. And after that?
"I'm going to do whatever she
tells me to do," Davis said with a
wink.
Totals Shifted
Just A Little
In Canvass
No offices changed hands, but
vote totals for two candidates shifted
slightly following the official can
vass last Thursday of the Nov. H
election.
Clara Carter, who won election to
the Brunswick County Board of
Education, picked up one vote, re
ported the Brunswick County Board
of Elections. U.S. Congressman
Charlie Rose, who won re-election
to his district office, dropped seven
votes.
School Board Questions
Revised Teacher Pay Plan
(Continued From Page 1-A)
All schools in the county and (he
centra) office staff had an opportuni
ty to revise differenlitlrd pay plans
that had been approved in the spring
after the state legislature voted this
summer to include noo -certified em
ployees for the first time. This group
includes workers in positions that
don't require teacher certification,
such as teacher assistants, custodi
ans, library aides, cafeteria employ
ees and bus drivers.
Complicating matters was the leg
islature's decision to cut the sum of
money available for bonus pay for
certified staff to a pool equal to 1
percent of their salaries instead of 2
percent, and to create a pool equal to
2 percent of salaries for non-certi
fied bonus pay.
This is the fifth year for differen
tiated pay, a program funded by the
state legislature that gives public
school employees an opportunity to
earn bonus pay or to share in staff
development funds according to
plans devised by the staff of each
site but subject to review by a coun
tywidc panel and final approval by
the Brunswick County Board of
Education.
Waccamaw Elementary School's
plan was unchanged, since it provid
ed for non-certified employees from
the start. The board approved re
vised plans submitted by Bolivia,
Union and Southport elementary.
North Brunswick, West Brunswick
and South Brunswick high schools.
South Brunswick and I x land middle
schools and the new Learning
Center at Southport
The school hoard also approved a
revised plan for the ccntral office
staff that awards
For the small amount of money
involved, one unidentified school
employee said during the meeting
Monday night, "It has been a real
pain for us to come up with a plan
that is fair and equitable."
Several school board members,
including Chairman Donna Baxter,
also voiced rrservstions about !hr
value. "We've had differentiated pay
five years, two years with site -based
management We get a a little bit of
money for it and we take a lot of
heat," she said. " What arc we doing
that's improving?"
Preliminary research by Testing
Coordinator Bill Detric suggests,
however, a trend toward improved
performance in areas where schools
identified goals and linked bonus
pay to achieving those goals.
Assistant Superintendent Jan
Calhoun said he's been pleased with
student achievement over the past
two years. "It's not improving by
leaps and bounds," he said, "but it's
showing steady improvement."
"We're just getting to the point
where I see connections between the
results and what the schools are do
ing. I think differentiated pay has
been the catalyst for that change."
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