Authority Has No Interest
In Buying CBU Sewer Plant
Not interested, period.
Despite letters to the contrary, the South Brunswick Water A Sewer
Authority set the record straight Tuesday night: It has no plans to pur
chase or interest in purchasing Carolina Blythe's water and sewer system
in Calabash. ' -
The regional management entity's board of directors voted unani
mously to affirm that position Tuesday, unanimously approving a pre
pared motion by Betty Williamson.
"Let's put it to bed once and for ail," said Chairman George Knott,
rescuing io icons to Calabash rcatocoB rrom tnetr town, its ad hoc sewer
committee and Carolina Blythe's president. Bill Burnett. Ail three have
identified the regional authority as the moat like'y buyer of the system if
the Town of Calabash decides against acquiring it at an asking price of
$4.5 million.
Hke CAROL1NA-BLYTHE, Page 2-A)
Stormwater Management Panel Is Named
BY SUSAN USHER
A citizens' stormwater advisory committee
appointed by the South Brunswick Water &
Sewer Authority is expected to begin work this
month.
Building contractor Annette Odom, a former
member of the Sunset Beach Sewer Advisory
Committee, will act as chairperson of the seven
member panel. Other members include Don
Lowry, Carl Bazemore, Joe Johnson and Sue
Weddle of Sunset Beach, David Stansel of
Ocean Isle Beach and Joe Lowry of Caiabas'n.
No date has been set for the first meeting,
which consulting engineer Joe Tombro of
Piedmont Olsen Hensley said would be a "brain
storming session" with the authority's executive
committee.
"We're going to look at what stormwatcr is,
where it's coming from now and how it can be
managed," he said.
The authority plans to construct a 2-million
gallon-per-day treatment plant, sewer lines to
developed areas, and facilities for area golf
course facilities to use the treated effluent for ir
rigation. Construction is expected to cost about
$29 million, with financing and start-up operat
ing expenses expected to bring the total to $35.6
million.
Buiii d 201 facilities plan and its environmen
tal assessment for the project call for implemen
tation of the stormwater management ordinance
before any portion of the system is activated.
That includes the first phase, construction of a
sewer collection line to serve the main Calabash
business district and pumping of the sewage to
Horry County, S.C., for treatment until the au
thority's own plant goes on line. The authority
will not receive an operating permit for that
plant from the state until a comprehensive
stormwater management system is in place.
The system will be the authority's main
means of offsetting increased population density
that could result from the sewer project.
Because such a program would be of "signifi
cant benefit" with or without the sewer system,
the authority has proposed that the cost of imple
menting a management program be paid by only
those contributing to the problem rather than by
all sewer system customers.
(See AUTHORITY, Page 2-A)
TH
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-va
WiB
Thirty-Third Year, Number 7
? ??f4 THi HUMSWICK MACON
Shollotte, North Carolina, Thursday, December 1 5, 1 994 50C Per Copy 42 Pages, 4 Sections, Plus Inserts
Santa's New Sleigh
itAtr mcrro ?Y IMC CAJU.SON
Faron Black of Ocean Isle Beach relaxes in his Santa Claus suit after joining SO other bikers for an
80-mUe rule in the second annual Brunswick County Motorcycle Toy Run Saturday. The event raised
about $5. 000 for local foster children. The story is on Page 6-D.
Til Be Exonerated/ Of Sex
Charges, Commissioner Says
BY LYNN CARLSON
An Ocean Isle Beach commissioner accused by two
women of improper sexual advances says he is "com
pletely innocent" and expects to be exonerated of five
charges brought against him.
Kenneth W. Proctor, a first-term commissioner and
local businessman, was charged Friday, Dec. 9, with as
sault on a female after Winston Fox
of Ocean Isle accused him of "rub
bing her body in the area of her
breasts and also her breast" in late
September The warrant does not
state where the offense is alleged to
have occurred.
Magistrate Martha Bryant re
leased Proctor on his written pro
mise to appear.
Brenda McCray Christ, whose ad
dress was listed as Ocean Air Motel,
Shallotte, swore out warrants Dec. 6 accusing Proctor of
stalking, second-degree trespass and two instances of as
sault on a female.
"People who know me, know better," Proctor told the
Beacon. "I fully expect to be exonerated of all these
charges. When this is over I will be filing civil charges
of defamation of character against different people."
Christ's complaints accuse Proctor of "grabbing her
and attempting to kiss her" on Nov. 27, then "pulling
down his pants and with his body weight pushing her to
the bed" and refusing to leave her room at the Ocean Air
PROCTOR
Motel on Dec. I. The stalking complaint accuses Proctor
of following Christ on more than one occasion over a
period of time and placing her "in reasonable fear of
bodily injury after reasonable warning and request to de
sist."
Magistrate Elizabeth B. Lewis placed Proctor under
$2,500 unsecured bond on Christ's complaints.
The cases are scheduled to be heard Jan. 9 in
Brunswick County District Court.
Proctor, 49, was top vote-getter among commissioner
candidates in his November 1993 bid for town office.
Since he took office. Proctor has advocated changes in
numerous town policies and procedures.
Brunswick County Sheriff's Detective Nancy
Simpson, who interviewed Christ, said Christ is a re
gional sales representative for a clothing company.
Simpson said Fox is a caterer.
A woman identifying herself as Brenda McCray
Christ delivered an unsigned hand-written "press re
lease" to the Beacon on Monday refuting a news report
that she screamed during the alleged Dec. 1 incident. A
person interviewed at the motel by a Wilmington televi
sion station claimed not to have heard Christ scream.
"1 did not scream. I got loud with my voice," the press
release states.
Christ also stated she "would like to thank the other
woman with all my heart for coming forward."
The accusations are being investigated by the Bruns
wick County Sheriff's Department and the Ocean Isle
Beach Police Department.
Jury Begins Considering
Fate Of Accused In Ash
i Store Owner's Murder
BY ERIC CARLSON
Prosecutors and defense attorneys on Tuesday asked
12 jurors to decide between two very different explana
tions of how Burns Everett Babson was fatally shot at
his Ash country store last April.
Their choice of which version to believe could mean
the difference between life or death for Daniel
Cummings Jr. of Red Springs.
The panel of seven women and five men began con
sidering the evidence against Cummings for about 45
minutes late Tuesday before Judge Jack Thompson
called the jurors out and instructed them to resume de
liberations Wednesday morning (Dec. 13) at 9:30.
The state rested its case against Cummings shortly be
fore noon Tuesday, after less than two days of prosecu
tion testimony. Immediately afterwards, attorney Wil
liam Fairley announced that the defense would offer no
evidence on behalf of Cummings, whose statements to
police after his arrest formed the basis of the case
against him.
With little physical evidence and no eyewitnesses to
.the killing, attorneys on bcth sides used Cummings'
own words to paint conflicting pictures of what hap
pened on Friday evening, April 22.
The prosecution insisted that Cummings walked into
Babson 's store armed with a ,44-caliber revolver with
the intention of robbing and killing him. They say he
shot at Babson twice, grazing the 74-year-old man's
arm, before firing a third and fatal shot through his right
eye.
With his victim lying mortally wounded on the floor,
prosecutors said Cummings walked around the body and
fired a fourth buliet into Babson 's back "to finish him
off."
Michael Ramos, a second lawyer appointed to repre
sent Cummings, asked the jury to believe his client's
statements that the four bullets were fired as Cummings
and Babson struggled over a pistol he kept in the store.
Ramos offered jury a way to punish Cummings for the
crime without convicting him of an offense that could
result in the death penalty.
"We're not here to tell you to let Mr. Cummings go,"
Ramos said. "We're not idiots and we don't think you
are either. We're not contending that you should find
him not guilty of all charges. We're asking you to find
him guilty of second-degree murder."
Assistant District Attorney Lee Bollinger said
Cummings' statements provide enough evidence of
first-degree murder, even if the jury failed to believe he
planned to kill Babson when he entered the store. Under
the "felony murder rule," a defendant is guilty of first
degree murder if a death results while he is committing
an armed robbery.
In one of several statements made after his arrest,
Cummings told Brunswick County Sheriff's Detective
Tom Hunter that he stole a white van in Robeson
County, drove to the Ash area and "scoped several stores
to rob." When he stopped at Babson 's Bamboo Corner
Ash Beverage store on Whiteville Road he said he "saw
an old man running the store alone. This store looked
easy to rob."
Cummings said nothing in the statements about being
armed. He claimed he went inside and told Babson to
give him the money from the cash register. But instead,
"The old man came back with a gun and shot at me,"
Cummings said.
"We struggled over the gun," the statement said. 'I
believe I heard or counted four shots that went off inside
the store. I took the old man's wallet...! got the money
out of the cash register and left the old man laying face
down in the chair."
Babson 's son Ronnie testified Tuesday that the gun
his father kept in the store was a ,38-caliber revolver.
Special Agent Thomas Trochum, an SBI ballistics ex
pert, told the jury that he examined the two slugs re
moved from Babson 's body along with a third bullet re
covered from a wall in the store. All three were fired
from a .44-caliber pistol, he said.
Neither weapon was recovered during the investiga
(See JURY, Page 2-A)
STAFF PHOTO BY ERIC CARLSON
DETECTIVE TOM HUNTER (right) of the Brunswick County Sheriff's Department, explains to a ju
ry the paths of the first two bullets that struck Burns Everett Babson in his Ash corner store. Assistant
District Attorney Lee Bollinger, prosecutor in the first-degree murder trial of Daniel Cummings, holds
the blood-stained jacket Babson was wearing when he was shot to death last April.
Ocean Isle Beach Airport: If It Isn't Broken , Don't Fix It '
BY SUSAN USHER
A discussion over future needs of the Ocean
Isle Beach Airport morning turned into a ver
bal skirmish over the facility's quasi-public
status Tuesday.
After 15 minutes of debate most Ocean Isle
Beach town board members concurred with
Commissioner Kendall Suh's assessment: "If
it isn't broken, don't fix it."
"It's working well like it is," said Suh. "It
would cost more for us to staff it to collect
revenues. I'm all for keeping government
small."
Responding to a state Department of
Transportation survey of aviation funding
needs over the next five years, the board indi
cated a need to buy land to protect a landing
approach and to establish a fixed-base opera
tion. With a fixed-base operation, the airport
would be staffed on a scheduled basis for refu
eling and communications.
Commissioner Ken Proctor proposed the
mayor appoint a committee to study the need
for an airport board, telling Odell Williamson,
"I'm not trying to defeat the airport, but to
promote better use of it by the public."
Replied Williamson, "If I need your help
I'll let you know. I know where you live."
Proctor suggested an airport board could re
ceive grants, explore a possible fixed-base op
eration, examine additional revenue sources,
promote the airport's use by the public and
make sure Ocean Isle Police have jurisdiction
there.
"It is my understanding," he said, with no
response from Williamson or the chief of po
lice, "that if an airplane landed at the airport
with an illegal substance, the town police
could not do anything about it."
In 1979 Odell and Virginia Williamson
gave the airport to the town, which in turn
leases it to Williamson's Ocean Isle
Aeronautics Association for $l per year. It
produces* no direct revenue for the town, as
there is no charge to use the airport.
Improvements have been paid mainly with
state and county funds and by the
Williamsons, except for occasional matching
funds from the town for purchase of real prop
erty.
In 1993 the town bought the house adjacent
to the runway for use as a natural disaster
command post and future fixed-base operation
for the airport.
While most commissioners agreed Tuesday
that a fixed-base operation would be practical
at some future time, they concurred with
Williamson that it would not be cost-effective
now and that a study committee isn't needed.
Proctor described his committee proposal as
"academic" after learning the airport lease to
the association does not come up for renewal
again until 2009. It was extended by 15 years
automatically in June because the required
five years' advance notice had not been given
earlier to terminate the agreement.
(See OIB, Page 2-A)
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