Lead Foot? There's Hope
Some speeders may be eligible to go to
school to avoid license and insurance
points. Page 8-C
Local Grid Stars Co Bowling
Look for Daniel Russ in the Liberty Bowl and
and Jimmy Grissett in the Peach Bowl this
weekend. Pagea-D
Bnn?>?
12/31/99 **K>
HO AG & SONS BOOK BINDERY
PO BOX 162
SPRINGPORT
MI 49284
ACON
Zoning, Landfill,
Legal Questions
Are County's Top
Issues During '94
Caroline, Thursdoy. December 29, 199"
36 Poges, 4 Sections, Ptusjnserta^
BY ERIC CARLSON
A court battle over school fund
ing. more protests over zoning and
an election that changed the power
structure of its membership high
lighted 1994 for the Brunswick
County Board of Commissioners.
In the first week of the year, the
board responded to months of loud
protests against Martin Marietta's
plan to open a limestone quarry near
South port by passing a law prohibit
ing the type of minmg planned by
the company Martin Marietta
threatened to sue the county to re
cover the $2 million it claimed to
have invested in the plan.
Residents of Bolivia and Supply
nocked to a public hearing to protest
a proposal to build a new landfill on
one of five sites in their area. The
plan was put on hold as the commis
sioners explored ways of depositing
Brunswick's garbage outside the
county
In February, the long-standing
feud between the Board of Com
mtsstoner* and the Board of
Education took a new turn as Com
missioner Way land Vereen called for
a state audit of school spending
practices. The study is scheduled to
be conducted by the state auditors
office.
Residents of Shell Point, Booties
Neck and Sunset Harbor received
some welcome news in March when
the commissioners approved an en
gineering contract to design S2.S
million worth of waterline improve
ments to serve their area. The pro
ject is scheduled for completion in
late 1995.
County officials joined ?ate and
federal authorities in an effort to
slop an infestation of Asian gypsy
moths The new strain of plant pest
was introduced to the area from a
German ship docked at the Military
Ocean Terminal at Sunny Point. In
the spring, airplanes and helicopters
were used to spray pesticide over
more than 130,000 acres of local
woodlands A second round of
spraying is scheduled for this spring.
About 100 people turned out at a
public hearing to protest the inclu
sion of slaughterhouses, incinerators
and hazardous waste facilities as
permitted uses in the county zoning
law. The board later amended the or
dinance to delete some of the uses.
After hearing frequent complaints
from residents, the commissioners
agreed to consider a countywide
noise ordinance regulating sounds
"that would disturb an objective, de
tached, reasonable person." Despite
hearing support for the law at a pub
lic hearing, the board did not act on
the proposed ordinance.
On Easter Sunday, County
Manager Wyman Ye I ton was seri
ously injured and his wife was lulled
in a head-on collision that also
claimed the life of a female college
student. Yelton, 55. suffered a bro
ken shoulder and numerous other
fractures when the Ye lion's car was
hit by another vehicle that left the
eastbound lane of 1-40 in Durham,
crossed the median and slid side
ways into the westbound lane.
After advertising for a new plan
ning director at a salary of S3 5, 5 64.
the county named former zoning ad
ministrator Wade Home to the post
with a a annual salary of S42.000. A
new position of "special projects co
ordinator and consultant" was creat
ed for former planning director John
Harvey at a salary of $49,028.
Harvey recently retired from county
government.
In May, former county commis
sioner Pearly Vereen filed a lawsuit
against the county, claiming he was
fired from a job in the water depart
ment for political reasons. The N.C.
Court of Appeals has been asked to
decide whether the commissioners
who voted to eliminate Vereen 's po
sition had "legislative immunity"
when they took the action as part of
a reduction in the county work
force.
A professional temporary admin
istrator was hired to take the place
(See BUDGET, Page 5-A)
Quiet Time
Shrimp boats in the Intracoastal Waterway near Hoiden Beach reflect golden in the winter sunset after a calm day on the water.
Money, Accountability Still Problems
For Beleagued School Board In '94
BY SUSAN USHER
For the Brunswick County Schools, 1994 was
another year marked by continuous squabbling
with the Brunswick County Commissioners over
funding and accountability, and continued self-ex
amination.
After having funded only part of the school
system's requested equipment needs, in spring
commissioners bypassed the school board, asking
principals to come up with a new shopping list of
equipment needed by the schools. TTie county
funded all 5254,500 in requests that ranged from
sophisticated science lab equipment to a vacuum
cleaner.
Halfway through 1994, the two boards still dif
fered on interpretation of an August 1993 mediat
ed settlement agreement that called for additional
county funding, cooperative efforts to build a new
Leland area elementary school and increased
communication between the two boards.
The funding/power fight peaked in August
when the school board, for the second year, chal
lenged its operating budget allocation, saying
$8.7 million wasn't enough to continue existing
programs or fund state-mandated increases. It had
asked commissioners to also
set up a separate reserve ac
count to begin saving funds
needed for future construction
projects including a new ele
mentary school in the
Thomasboro area.
This time around, with an
acting county manager in
place and commissioners on a tight budget adop
tion schedule, the school board never got the
chance to formally present a budget request based
on its first "bottoms up" budgeting process.
Individual board members and others spoke at a
public hearing on the budget, and later met briefly
with commissioners as the first step in appealing
the allocation. On the premise that there was little
to lose and much to gain, the virtually lame-duck
school board rejected an $800,000 out-of-court
YEAR
IN REVIEW
settlement offer from commissioners and ap
pealed to Brunswick County Superior Court.
Their petition fell on sympathetic ears as jurors
decided the schools needed the full amount
sought ? $4.8 million more than commissioners
had budgeted ? to provide a "reasonably ade
quate" system of public schools in the county as
required by state law. Judge Jack Thompson re
fused to overturn the verdict or rehear the case,
which the N.C. Court of Appeals is expected to
hear in February or March.
The school board questioned Thompson's
charge to the jury. Commissioners, saying the ju
ry's award would force a 10 cents per $100 valua
tion increase in the property tax rate, thought ju
rors should have been allowed to consider the
school system's needs in light of all of the coun
ty's budget needs.
While waiting to hear from the appeals court
the county allocated tc the schools a sum equal to
its local funding from all sources the previous
(See ALL-NEW, Page 2-A)
BCC, WBHS Get Information Highway Grants
BY SUSAN USHER
Brunswick Community College and West
Brunswick High School will be connecting to
the North Carolina Information Highway, a
computerized information network, though a
little later than first anticipated.
The two campuses are among 117 institu
tions choscn to receive grants from a $7 mil
lion fund established by the state legislature
this past summer.
Brunswick Community College will receive
$75,000 and West Brunswick $53,000, said
Rachel Eagles, information project coordina
tor in the Office of State Construction. The
money can be used to buy equipment, pay line
charges or anything else needed to join the
fiber optic-based network that can transmit
sound, text and images simultaneously.
It's the second time the two sites have made
a funding list. In January the schools were
among 107 sites in all 100 counties chosen by
Gov. Jim Hunt for participation in an N.C.
Information Highway project aimed at extend
ing to rural areas educational and medical op
portuntics at the same level available to urban
areas.
Hunt expected the projects to be funded in
time to connect to the public-private electronic
highway in August or September. But when
Hunt took his SS.3 million proposal to legisla
tors, they countered with an idea of their own.
Lawmakers set up a $7 million grant program
and invited proposals from all types of public
institutions on how they could use the system
in fields such as education, medicine, justice
and economic development. The recipients
were determined last week.
Using their shares of an Rural Elec
trification Administration grant to a regional
educational fiber optics network, BCC and
West Brunswick High School each began cre
ating an "interactive" classroom equipped
with microphones, cameras and other equip
ment. BCC expects to broadcast one or more
courses during the coming year over the re
gional and/or network from its former studio
adjacent to the library, as well as taking advan
tage of classes offered from other sites. In an
interactive setting, students in several loca
tions can see and talk with each other and their
instructor.
Network access will allow West Brunswick
students such opportunities as tapping re
search databases in the Research Triangle Park
and Library of Congress by computer and tak
ing courses not offered at their school. The
school system also will be working to eventu
ally add more sites on line.
A class in Brunswick County, for instance,
could participate in a Japanese language class
offered at another high school or college, if the
school can afford to pay the telephone line
charges.
"1 feel good that we had both the high
school and community college funded in our
county," said Johnnie Simpson, BCC's vice
president for instruction. That's a good
amount of money coming back to our county."
"But something has got to happen with the
line charges once the grant period ends. We
can't afford to pay $4,000 a month," she said.
"We're hoping it will be like with computers
and other types of electronics, that the charges
will drop."
Eagles said 32 percent of the 154 applica
tions received were from southeastern North
Carolina, and 22 percent of the grants went to
projects in this area. Another 22 percent went
to projects in the northeastern part of the state.
Rural settings or low-wealth status weren't de
ciding factors, she said. "We just got some
fantastic applications from the eastern region.
We think it may be because a lot of these sites
had already been working together."
More than $230,000 in grants was awarded
to institutions in five area counties including
Brunswick. Other sites are Cape Fear
Community College campuses in Wilmington
and Burgaw, Southeastern Community Col
lege in Whiteville, Coastal Carolina Com
munity College in Onslow County, high
schools in those three counties and in Pender
County, Pender Correctional Institution and
New Hanover Regional Medical Center in
Wilmington.
Statewide 43 sites are already operating us
ing their own funds, including the IS high
schools of the recently consolidated Greens
boro-Guilford County public school system.
Murders Solved, Unsolved Highlight Busy Year For Officers
BY ERIC CARLSON
It was a year filled with both success and
frustration for Brunswick County law enforce
ment agencies as one three-year-old killing
was solved, several other murder investiga
tions stalled and at least 1 1 people died in vio
lent crimes.
In other landmarks, the county also elected
the state's youngest sheriff and saw the death
penalty imposed in a murder conviction for
the first time since 1924.
On the morning of January 8, the body of a
33-year-old Wilmington woman was found ly
ing in a clearing off N.C 133 in Belville by a
wildlife officer on his way to work. Bertha
Mae Patterson had been stabbed and slashed
repeatedly with a large hunting knife after re
newing a relationship with a former boyfriend,
who was charged with her murder. Noland
Anthony Dukes, 26, of Leland pleaded guilty
in the case six months later and was sentenced
to life in prison.
An Ocean Isle Beach couple died in a mur
der-suicide and a Mexican migrant worker
was clubbed to death at his Leland trailer dur
ing a single hour of deadly violence on the
night of Jan. 30. Terry and Teresa M cares, for
merly of Clarkton, had been living in the
Ocean Pine Acres subdivision for a short time
when he walked into the home and began me
thodically firing and re-loading a 12-gauge
shotgun. After fatally shooting his wife,
Meares put the gun to his chest and pulled the
trigger. At almost the same time, Estaban
Sanchez was savagely beaten to death with a
heavy piece of wood at his home on Green
Loop Road. His murder remains unsolved.
Six days later, another Mexican-American
man in Leland had his throat "slashed from ear
to ear" with a box cutter at the trailer he
shared with Lillie Darlene Dorsey, 34. She
was arrested and charged with his murder and
later pleaded guilty in the killing.
In early February, a New Jersey municipal
prosecutor who frequently pursues cases
against drunk drivers in his state found the
North Carolina justice system equally strict
when he was found guilty of driving while im
paired. The defendant, Francis Hermes of
Basking Ridge, has requested a jury trial,
which is expected to convene early in 1995.
A back /ire from a passing car was mistaken
for gunshots outside the home of Brunswick
County's Drug Abuse Resistance Education
officer, Deputy Lt. Ronald Hewett, who was
(See ELEVEN, Page 2-A)
V-HUIXH W 7
riimi fled ,-,T?,T,ff,rr,1-^>
Crime Report 6A
Conrt Docket SD
G?if. ? & ? ; J?
Obituaries 7D
Ooinkai 4-5A
People 1* TVt News ? 4D
1 1 ?????? . ? pi . ? ??!? ? Hi
Offices To Be Closed
On Monday; But
Schools To Reopen
Many government offices, finan
cial institutions and some businesses
will be closed Monday, Jan. 2, in ob
servance of the New Year's Day hol
iday.
Scheduled to be closed on Mon
day are the Shallotte, Ocean Isle
Beach, Calabash and Holden Beach
town halls; Brunswick County Gov
ernment Center; and local financial
institutions. Sunset Beach Town
Hall will be open on Monday.
There will be no route delivery or
window service at Shallotte or South
Brunswick post offices.
Monday will not be a holiday for
Brunswick County public schools or
Brunswick Community College.
Both will resume their normal class
schedules that day.
The Brunswick Beacon office will
be open on Monday but will be
closed on Friday, Dec. 30.