LOOKING BACK AT '94
All-New Board Of Education Tackling System's Needs
(Continued From Page I -A)
year, $10.2 million. Commissioner Chairman Don
Warren asked the state commissioners' association to
lobby the legislature next year to allow school boards to
levy their own taxes and establish their own budget.
Money, Management Questioned
Commissioners questioned not only school system fi
nances, but its management as well. District 3
Commissioner Wayland Vereen in February called for
the state auditor's office to conduct a performance audit
of the school system's central office.
School board members endorsed the idea, if reluctant
ly, after Superintendent Ralph Johnston said the infor
mation could be beneficial. The two boards agreed to
jointly request and fund the project, which was to begin
in earnest in early January after surveys were mailed in
December.
All-New School Board
In the May primaries, Democrats Thurman Gause
(District 1) and Polly Russ (District 2) lost their party's
nominations. Board Chairman Donna Baxter withdrew
from race after the primary, saying she felt she had be
come "a hindrance" to the school system's progress. Her
opponent in the District 4 Democratic primary, popular
former chief civil deputy Liston Hawes, died too late for
his name to be removed from the ballot. He drew 2,966
votes to Baxter's 4,232.
District 3 school board member Republican William
Fairley announced in advance of the primary his plans to
withdraw before the general election. He cited disillu
sionment and frustration with the board's decision to re
scind a school improvement resolution that tied extra
pay for school employees mainly to outcome, students'
performance on standardized tests, rather than effort as
advocated by system educators. District S Republican
Yvonne Bright was unopposed in the primary, and be
came the only member still seeking re-election in
November.
That set the stage for voters to choose an all-new
school board of four Democrats and one Republican.
Taking office on Dec. S were retired educator Clara
Carter, later elected board chairman; businesswoman
and PTA leader Glenda Browning, who became vice
chairman; Olaf "Bud" Thorsen, a juvenile court coun
selor; William D. "Billy" Carter, a former county man
ager, and Pat Purvis Brown, a retired teacher and the on
ly Republican.
School board members rewrote the system's policy
EXPRESSIONS STERN, Brunswick County Commissioners Torn Rabon, Wayland Vereen, Jerry
Jones and Donald Shaw listen to testimony during the school board's appeal of its 1994 operating bud
get allocation. Commissioners' appeal of a jury's award of an additional $4 J million to the schools
should be heard in February or March by the N.C. Court of Appeals.
manual, reorganized the central office to put more ser
vice providers in the schools, and used crime bill money
to establish the Brunswick Learning Center for learners
not served by the traditional school setting. By year's
end the school had 86 students enrolled and a waiting
list.
The school was one part of the system's response to
lagging student performance on standardized state tests
and the state Department of Public Instruction's annual
report card.
Putting Out Hot Spots
The board also dealt throughout the year with "hot
spots" that to many onlookers appeared linked to the
board's decision in June not to renew the contract of
Assistant Superintendent William R. Turner. His coo
tract had been extended in 1993 for only one year. As an
assistant superintendent Turner oversaw school nutri
tion, maintenance and construction, all areas that made
the news in 1994.
In June investigator Brian Shaw with the Raleigh le
gal firm of Richard Schwartz A Associates determined
that the 1993 sale and delivery of used Southport
Elementary School cafeteria equipment by the child nu
trition director to a local restaurant owner was "improp
er and unjustified" and resulted from "serious misjudg
ment" by school employees through a lack of communi
cation and lack of knowledge of proper procedures.
Based on recommendations in the report and his own
investigation. Superintendent Ralph Johnston repri
manded and/or temporarily suspended several employ
ees. One employee initially accused of wrongdoing,
maintenance supervisor Odell Benton, was fired, then
reinstated following a grievance hearing.
A lawsuit filed against restaurant owner Jarvis Jones
was dropped, with school board attorney Glen Peterson
saying he intended to refile when his calendar was less
tied up. As of mid-December the suit had not been re
filed.
Sewage Treatment Woes
Supply Elementary School opened on schedule this
fall, but at midsummer that didn't seem very likely. In
July the Brunswick County Board of Health, not satis
fied with school system efforts to repair the two-year
old school's foiled septic system, warned that the school
would not reopen if the system wasn't repaired.
That deadline was extended as work progressed,
though repairs were not completed when students left
for Christmas break. The school system was paying
$1,600 to $1,800 per week to have wastewater pumped
and hauled away for disposal.
Heavy rains swamped a treatment system at
Waccamaw Elementary School, but a leaking 70-year
old clay pipe was promptly replaced and the system re
paired under the direction of the school system's new
maintenance and construction director. Dennis Carr.
Sewage treatment was also a concern for a new K-S
elementary school for northern Brunswick County that
had been in the planning for 18 months as a means of re
lieving overcrowding and accommodating rapid growth
in the area.
The outgoing school board had paid the State Ports
Authority $128,000 for a 32-acre tract on River Road
(N.C. 133) in Belville knowing the site wasn't suitable
for a septic system. It planned to connect to the Town of
Belville 's newly-built sewer system.
While procedural delays stalled the project, interest
rates and construction costs spiraled. upping its cost.
A new school board had to delay award of contracts
in December because it still lacked a letter from Belville
committing to provide sewer service; the Local
Government Commission still hadn't approved the
county's plan to borrow against the school to pay for the
S8 million project on an installment plan; and not one
company had submitted a general contractor bid, caus
ing architect Charles Boney Jr. to readvertise for new
bids.
Clarification
Due to incomplete informa
tion provided by Brunswick
County Sheriff's Department
Chief Deputy Ken Snead, two
staff promotions were left out of
a Dec. 8 article on personnel re
organization in the department.
Narcotics detectives Billy
Hughes and Kevin Holden have
been promoted to the rank of de
tective sergeant in the narcotics
division. *
Snead apologized to the offi
cers for the omission.
Expect Warm
Temps, Rain
At Year End
Look for both temperatures and
rainfall to exceed end-of-the year
averages, advises Shallotte Point
weather-watcher Jackson Canady.
He forecasts temperatures ranging
from the lower 40s at night to the
lower 60s in the daytime. Expect at
least three-fourths inch of rainfall
over the next few days, he adds.
For the period Dec. 20-26,
Canady recorded a maximum high
of 63 degrees on both Dec. 21 and
24. The minimum low reached was
431 degrees on the 20th.
Canady measured 4.93 inches of
rainfall as the southern Atlantic
coast was buffeted by a winter
nor 'caster Dec. 22 and 23 which
made for dangerous driving and a
loss of some sand on most of
Brunswick County's beaches.
Eleven Lose Lives In Violent Crimes During 7 994
(Continued From Page 1-A)
also a candidate for sheriff. The inci
dent sparked a chase, a brief man
hunt and two arrests. The driver was
charged with failing to stop for a
blue light and siren, reckless driving
and driving while his license was re
voked. Both he and his passenger
were also accused of resisting arrest
Early the following month, a
"smooth-talking" con man believed
to have forged checks and used
stolen credit cards to steal more than
$40,000 was arrested in Calabash af
ter he made off with $2,900 worth of
jewelry and credit cards from the
home of a local businessman. The
suspect, Michael Wayne Hudgins,
was wanted for questioning in seven
states in connection with frauds and
forgeries dating back to 1985. He
later pleaded guilty in Brunswick
County to several felonies and was
sentenced to seven years in prison.
The sheriff's department's newly
formed Emergency Response Team
was called into action to negotiate
the release of a Leland woman and
her child who were being held
hostage in a mobile home by the fa
ther. He was armed with a shotgun
and refused to release the two. After
more than four hours of negotia
tions, officers used tear gas to storm
the trailer, subdue the man and res
cue his hostages.
Drug Bust Nets 55
In late March, Brunswick County
Sheriff's Department narcotics offi
cers arrested 55 people on charges
involving cocaine, marijuana, alco
hol and traffic offenses during a two
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week crackdown on illegal drug ac
tivity. Undercover purchases and
street interdiction traffic stops were
conducted in the Phoenix and
Navassa areas around Leland in
what LL David Crocker called "one
of many" such operations planned
by the drug squad.
Detectives asked the public for
help in locating a North Ktynle
Beach, S.C, woman who left a
Seaside nightclub shortly after mid
night April 16 and was never seen
again. Delores Shipp Melton, 38,
was the mother of an 11 -year-old
child and a steady worker at a
Myrtle Beach restaurant. Inves
tigators fear she was murdered, but
have been unable to find her body or
make an arrest in the case.
Ash Store Owaer Murdered
Residents of Ash were shocked to
learn that Bums Everett Babson, 74,
a well-known local store keeper, had
been shot to death in an apparent
armed robbery April 22. Three days
later, a 38-year-old Robeson County
man was charged with the murder
after confessing his involvement in
the killing to Brunswick County
Sheriff's Detective Tom Hunter.
On the eve of the May 5 primary
election, the race for the Democratic
Party nomination to succeed retiring
Sheriff John Carr Davis was said the
be the most expensive political cam
paign in Brunswick County history,
with the four candidates reporting
more than $61,000 in expenses.
Deputy Lt. Ronald Hewett led the
spending by a more than two-to-one
margin over his nearest rival, retired
highway patrol Trooper Jerry Dove.
Hewett won the race with 42.7 per
' cent of the vote, enough of a margin
I to avoid a runoff.
I
A part-time bartender at a Hoi den
Beach tavern was shot to death May
7 in an altercation that ensued after
he and several other men tried to
eject a disorderly customer from the
bar. A Latta, S.C., man was charged
with murder in the killing of John
Houston "Jet" Puckett. A district
court judge later ruled there was on
ly enough evidence to support a
charge of involuntary manslaughter
The next day, fishermen found the
badly decomposed body of a 20
year-old Yaupon Beach man floating
in (he waters of Town Creek.
Investigators have yet to make an ar
rest in the murder of Bryan Smith,
who was last seen alive in the com
pany of two British sailors outside a
Wilmington Bar. An autopsy later
determined that Smith's throat had
been cut
An 11-year veteran Brunswick
County jailer resigned from his post
after an inmate accused him of rap
ing her. The State Bureau of Inves
tigation determined that evidence in
dicated Deputy Sgt. Thomas Gore
did not use force to assault the
woman. He later pleaded guilty to a
charge of having sexual relations
with an inmate.
GUley Guilty Of Manslaughter
In late May, after a two-week trial
on a murder charge, a jury found
David Dwain Gilley of Grissettown
guilty of involuntary manslaughter
in the barroom shooting death of a
28-year-old Columbus County man.
Gilley claimed the gun he pulled on
Juan Hernandez went off by acci
dent during a struggle at an Ash tav
ern. The judge gave Gilley the maxi
mum sentence of 10 years in prison.
He was expected to serve about
three years for the killing.
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Frink Murder Still Unsolved
A few weeks later, the mutilated
body of a Shallotte teenager was dis
covered beside a hunting club road
just south of the state line about 12
hours after her blood-stained car
was found abandoned off Shing
Ictrec Road, near Hickmans Cross
roads Detectives said 18-year-otd
Amy Caraliae Frink had been sexu
ally molested, beaten, subbed and
run over with her car before bleed
ing to death. A joint task force of
Brunswick and Horry County, S.C.,
police continues to investigate the
murder with help from the SB1. the
FBI and South Carolina's State Law
Enforcement Division (SLED).
A man who police say was en
raged over the alleged extramarital
activities of his wife was charged
with murdering one of her friends at
his home in Shallotte. Michael
Dwayne Miller, 33, of Shallotte was
accused of entering the home of
Oliver William "Dub" Gore and
shooting him to death . Miller re
mains in jail awaiting trial.
'Gaag-Style' Killing la Bolivia
In August, seven of the 10 youths
charged in a "gang-style" murder of
a Bolivia man were put on probation
after agreeing to plead guilty in ex
change for their testimony against
three co-defendants. The 10 were
accused of piling into two cars and
driving to the home of Charles
Wayne "Butch" Davis on Albright
Road, where be was fatally shot,
beaten and hit with a machete in his
driveway. Faced with the testimony
of several eye witnesses, the alleged
trigger man Frank Lenail Ford
pleaded guilty to second degree
murder and conspiracy. He was sen
tenced to life plus 20 years. Two
months later, Terrance Laquinn
Jones received a life sentence after
pleading guilty to second degree
murder. A third murder suspect,
Byron Henry Knowlcs remains at
large in the Bahamas.
1991 Murder la Solved
On August 30, a routine traffic
stop near Charlotte resulted in the
arrest of a man wanted in the 1991
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murder of his wife at their home in
Ash. Timothy Junes Keeler was re
turned to Brunswick County, where
he liter agreed to show police the
shallow grave where his 2V-year-old
wife Rhonda Diane Keeler was
buried. In October, he pleaded guilty
to voluntary manslaughter and was
sentenced to 15 ymrs in prison He
w* to be eligible for parole in 18
months.
Authorities were unsure of the
motive in a murder-suicide that
claimed the lives of a Grissettown
woman and a man who had recently
moved into her mobile home on Old
Shallotte Road. Police said Julene
Hill Wright. 47, was shot oncc in the
head by Ernest Love. 38. who then
turned the pistol on himself and
fired a bullet through his throat.
Three weeks before the
November election, the race for
sheriff turned ugly with accusations
of ? "smear campaign" being con
ducted by Republican candidate
James Brown against Lt. Ronald
Hewett Shallotte attorney Roy Trest
accused Brown of circulating an X
rated videotape and a libelous letter
accusing Hewett of allowing stu
dents to watch pornography in a po
lice training class. Hewett and other
students from the class denied the
allegations. Trest said he planned to
rile defamation lawsuits ag?in?t
those involved.
in late October, a package of co
caine intercepted by the sheriff's de
partment narcotics squad led to a se
ries of arrests in a multi-state drug
smuggling operation. Among those
charged^ were suspects from
Calabash, Carteret County. Cherry
Grove, S.C., and Bluefield, W.Va
Hewett WUu Every Precinct
In an unusually heavy voter turn
out, Deputy Lt. Ronald Hewett was
elected sheriff of Brunswick County
defeating Republican James Brown
inevery one of the county's 22
On the day he took office
Dec. 5, Hewett fulfilled a campaign
promise to keep his department's
doors open 24 hours a day. In a ma
jor reorganization, a dozen officers
ragned or were not rehired. Chief
Deputy John Marlow was trans
ferred to another post and replaced
with retired SBI agent Ken Snead.
Cummings Sentenced lb Die
Late in November, jury selection
began in the first-degree murder trail
of Daniel Cummings, who was ac
cused in the fatal shooting of Ash
store owner Burns Babson. Cum
mings was convicted and became
tne first person in 70 years to re
n'VC the. ^ath P^a'ty from a
Brunswick County jury.
Charges are still pending in what
one detective called "a wild west
shoot out" that left one man dead
f*~ "vo others wounded at a popu
lar gathering place in Bolivia Dec.
16. Larry D. Brown, 34, of Old
Ocean Highway, Bolivia, was pro
nounced dead at the scene. Two oth
ers were treated and released from a
Wnmington hospital. Investigators
Relieve the shooting broke out after
Browi got into an argument with
another man over a female friend.