Newspapers / State Port Pilot (Southport, … / Sept. 10, 1975, edition 1 / Page 1
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Volume 47 Number 8 September 10, 1975 Southport, N. C. 20 Pages 10 Cents THE IMPORTANCE OF SAFETY was presented to Lincoln Primary School students last Thursday during School Safety Day Representatives of the State Highway Patrol, Leland volunteer fire and rescue departments and school bus drivers were on hand to talk with the youngsters. (Photo by Kenny Hewett) General Fund Deficit / * Seen At Long Beach By BILL ALLEN Staff Writer Long Beach faces a projected deficit in the general fund at the end of this month, members of the Board of Commissioners were informed at the monthly meeting Thursday night. “We will have a deficit at vthe end of September,” Town Manager John Berry told the board after presenting various financial reports to the commissioners. Berry said Long Beach had a balance in the general fund of $10,300 on August 31 after receiving $24,888 and spen ding $39,308 during the month. The town had a balance of $24,720 at the end of July. He projected the $5,950 deficit in the general fund as a result of receipts of $14;974 and disbursements of $31,224 during the month of Sep tember. Berry reported that the financial picture for the town flooks much better after September when tax payments will be received. He projected the general fund balance will be $13,910 in October, $18,520 in Novem ber, $46,981 in December and $53,005 in January. The problem the town faces, he told the board is the projected September deficit. "At his point, I don’t know if the Local Government Commission will accept this cash flow for tax anticipation notes or not,” Berry repor ted. “I will complete the form and, if they will accept the application, I will continue with it for borrowing money and ask for their recom mendations after looking it over to see what to do." After completing the ap plication and receiving ap proval from the Local Government Commissiort, Berry said he will “present it to the council (board) to see where we stand and how $ much we should borrow. And | we will have to determine at that time whether we will issue the notes.” If the town has to issue revenue anticipation notes, Berry told Commissioner Nancy Leggett, the full in terest will have to be paid regardless of when the notes are paid off. He said he did not know what the interest rate on the notes will be. In other business, the board voted unanimously, at the suggestion of Commissioner Ellis Dudley, to have Berry determine how much money the town would save by having the Brunswick County Sheriff's Department dispatch calls from midnight until 8 a m. The action was taken after (Continued on page 2) Action Charges County Radio Purchase Illegal A Southport com munications dealer has filed a $29,500 suit in Brunswick County Superior Court against the Brunswick County commissioners and , county and Motorola officials regarding the “illegal” purchase of radio equipment. Frank Langner of South port Communications Company is seeking declaratory relief and af fidavit motions for both permanent and preliminary injunctions. A hearing on the motion for the preliminary injunction will be heard in Brunswick County Superior Court on September 18. Defendants named in the suit, filed by Attorney William Shell of Murchison, Fox and Newton, include Brunswick County, Chairman - Interim County Manager Franky Thomas, Com-J missioners Steve Varnam, Jr., Ira Butler, Jr., Willie Sloan and W.T. Russ, Jr., County Purchasing Director David Swain, Motorola, Motorola Representative Richard Edwards and County Manager Don Flowers, Jr. The commissioners and Swain were named in dividually and in their county positions. The suit seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction against the county prohibiting the con summation and completion of the purchase and sale of the radio equipment. If the court finds that the transaction has been com pleted, the suit seeks a preliminary mandatory injunction requiring the return to the county of any funds spent and a return of the equipment sold to Motorola pending the final hearing on the merits. It requests that a declaratory judgment be issued declaring the county purchase “illegal, unlawful and void” due to failure to (Continued on page 2) Schools ‘Too Hot, Board Members Say • School Enrollment Is Up • Primary School Has 521 By BILLALLEN Staff Writer The Brunswick County Board of Education decided to take action to “cool off” the lunchrooms and schools during its regular monthly meeting Monday night. The board voted unanimously to have Supt. Ralph King determine the cost of installing central air conditioning in the seven lunchrooms without the systems. King also was instructed to see what can be done to improve air circulation at the seven schools. He will have an engineer determine if exhaust fans can be used to improve the circulation of air in the seven schools. Once the cost is determined, the board will see if money is available in the school budget to pay for the work. If the money is not available, the county com missioners will be asked to provide the funds. ‘The One thing that galls me is t'o see these conditions (hot schools) when the county has the money to correct the situation,” Chairman Wilbur Earl Rabon declared. “We need to set priorities. As far as I am concerned, the education of these kids comes first.” The board also authorized King to let out schools on hot days. He will confer with principals to obtain recommendations before closing schools. “No principal called and recommended that a school should be closed during the hot days the first week this year,” he told the board. King told the board that about 50 percent of Brun swick County students attend school in air-conditioned facilities. The three high schools and the new South port Primary School are air conditioned, he pointed out. The superintendent said he was “very pleased” with the opening of school this year. “Perhaps the greatest problem was the heat the first week of school,” he pointed out. King told the board that enrollment was up two percent over last year in county schools despite the projected decline. The county schools had an enrollment of 7,850 students, including 7,444 in grades one through twelve and 406 in kindergarten, after the first ten days. Last year, he continued, the schools had an enrollment of 7,689 after the first ten days and 7,741 during the ninth month. The schools enrolled 7,564 students during the 1973 74 term. State officials had projected an enrollment of 7,741 students this year due to people leaving the county because of the slow economy, King told the board. “Our growth pattern is still in the northern part of the county and, to some degree, in the south," King reported. “Lincoln and North Brun swick definitely will receive additional teachers based on the enrollment.” Member W.T. Bowen asked why the schools had to open the last week in August when the weather was hot. Member Barbara Yount said she did not believe the schools should be open during both the hottest times of the year in late May and late August. King said the schedule was arranged to allow teachers to have days off during the term to “catch up on paper work.” But he said adjustments might have to be made next year to ^sw^**1* ~ ^:V ' * • . reduce the numbers of days off so during the term the schools will not have to open as early as they have been. Member Franklin Ran dolph told the board he visited all the county schools during the first week and found conditions “very, very hot. Something should be and can be worked out so teachers and students are not in classrooms in 90 degree temperature.” “There is no way under the sun that a teacher can teach or a student can learn under these conditions,” Randolph declared. “We need to take a hard and close look at the problem.” Randolph said it was so hot during the first week that tar on the roof at Leland Middle School was melting when he visited the school. King told Randolph that central air-conditioning was needed at all schools the board planned to use on a ‘long-term basis.” Randolph said he found the lunchrooms even hotter than the classrooms during his school tour. Students, teachers and employees were suffering from the heat when they were in the lunchrooms, he reported. “I don’t think it would be any problem in stalling air-conditioning units to cool off the lunchrooms.” “If you are hungry when you go in, you would not be when you got inside the' cafeterias because of the heat,” Mrs. Yount declared.* Randolph said the board could buy low-priced air conditioning units which are offered for sale on the state> surplus list. y Member William Sue said he believed it would be cheaper.’ in the long run for the board to install central air conditioning since repair problems would be involved in the use of surplus equips ment. .P Rabon said the only way to: solve the problem was to use; air-conditioning since it will (Continued on page 2) • g* Governing Boards To Meet Thursday The Brunswick County Board of Education made plans for the joint session with the Board of Com missioners on Thursday during their regular meeting Monday night. Plans for the proposed school maintenance - bus garage facilitiy and law enforcement personnel at athletic events will be the main topics of discussion at the 7 p.m. meeting, board members decided. Commissioners also will be asked about the possibility of providing additional funds to help “cool off” schools. (See related story in this edition of The Pilot.) Supt. Ralph King said he hoped the joint meeting would be helpful, although he said he did not expect any major decisions to made at the joint session. Chairman Wilbur Earl Rabon and Member William Sue said they wanted to find out what role the board would play in the location of new educational facilities and the maintenance - garage facility. It has been suggested that the board and the county build a joint maintenance - garage center to save tax money since both need the facility. Chairman Rabon said he questioned whether a joint facility could be constructed because of the problems involved. The major problem, he said, involved bookkeeping since state funds are provided the bus garage. “They can’t be totally integrated, but they can still be on the same site,” King pointed out. Chairman Rabon also said the board had to decide how long to wait to build the maintenance facility since the funds are already in the budget for construction. Member W.T. Bowen, who is a member of the county Site Selection Committee, said location for the new complex between Supply and Bolivia has not been selected. He said he hopes the committee would set priorities on the site recom mendations. King pointed out that the state recommended that the schools have separate facilities from the county when a survey was made two years (Continued on page 2) Dudley: Bad Start By Beach Non-Residents I Long Beach non - resident property owners who want to help the town have got off to a poor start, according to a town commissioner. Commissioner Ellis Dudley, in a prepared statement read at the town board’s regular meeting Thursday night, criticized the “truculent attitude’’ displayed by some members of the Long Beach Non - Resident Property Owners Association, “indicating their intention to delay paying their taxes until the' last possible moment.” Such action, Dudley stated, “is not only disappointing but discouraging to those of us who are trying to maintain and improve Long Beach.” ‘‘Thank goodness,” the commissioner added, “there are some residents and non - members of the Association who intend to assist the town by paying their taxes as soon as they receive their tax notice. They may be few in number and doubtless more modest in financial rating, but their concern for Long Beach transcends self - in terest and proves them to be the mere valuable members of the community.” Dudley said he wanted to present his own “personal views and observations” about the non - resident property owners meeting since the board asked him to attend. He said board members knew in advance what he was going to say. After Dudley read the statement, several citizens urged the board to endorse it. Commissioner Virginia Christenbury made a motion for the board to endorse the statement, but it was not seconded. Former Commissioner Woody Vennel said citizens should remember that the present town charter was “rammed down our throats” by some of the people quoted in The Pilot story about the non - resident meeting (The State Port Pilot, September 3, 1975, Page 1). Commissioner Don McNeill said he did not like some of the things said at the meeting. But he said he did not believe the board should take an official position on the matter. “The more we say, the worse it will tend to be,” the commissioner told the board. Commissioner Nancy Ijeggett said she agreed that the board should not take a position on the meeting. Since a lawyer spoke for the non - residents, she said the board should have the town at torney speak for the mem bers. Mrs. Christenbury said she had looked into the matter and found that it would be illegal for non - residents to make “deferred (tax) payments,” something that was suggested at the non - residents meeting. In his prepared statement, Dudley said it is “a regretful commentary on the talent of the organizers of the Association that they did not first attempt to develop a meaningful, intelligent dialogue with at least some of the members of local government and gather some pertinent information before arriving at the decision to attempt intimidation to achieve their objectives. "Despite protestations to the contrary, threats of legal action against those who, out of a sense of dedication, serve to the best of their ability, represents a giant step for ward in discouraging qualified people not only from running for, but also from remaining in, office,” Dudley stated. % He suggested that the non - resident property owners either (1) find candidates who meet non - residents’ requirements to run and be elected, or (2) hire a qualified and well-informed individual who would attend every council meeting and speak out whenever council con siders taking an action’ “which he might consider not in your (the Association’s) best interest.” Dudley, who along with Commissioners Leggett, McNeill and Russell Morrison attended the first annual meeting of the property owners association on August 30, said one officer of the Association suggested there was more talent in the rGom than is found in many cities — “meaning, :'I presume, that they were well - qualified to administer the affairs of the town.” “The attorney further stated that he had prepared and was mailing a letter to the mayor, covering twp items on which the members were seeking relief, and he (Continued on page 2)
State Port Pilot (Southport, N.C.)
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Sept. 10, 1975, edition 1
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