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THE STATE PORT PILOT
Volume 47 Number 44
Mar 19, J976
Southport, N. C.
20 Pages
10 Cents
Hospital Vote Okay, Attorneys Declare
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
Brunswick County commissioners have the
authority to call for the Smithville Township
hospital referendum, County Attorney James
Prevatte, Jr., announced Monday.
“The only duty (of the board) is to order that
registration and order that election,” Prevatte
told commissioners at their meeting Monday. “I
think the mandate is clear by the wording of the
statutes.
“Whereas there may be some question since it
is not specifically set out as to who is the
governing body of the township, I think in
directly we can answer the question ourselves by
saying if the statues do not set up a governing
body and the county is certainly in control of the
townships in the county, who else is the gover
ning body?”
Prevatte was called on to give his legal opinion
after the Shallotte newspaper reported last week
that the Attorney General’s office had said that
commissioners do not have the legal authority to
call the election since they are not the governing
body of a township.
Secretary Harlan Boyles said the Local
Government Commission recognizes the opinion
of the Attorney General’s office. Boyles also said
the maximum amount that could be taxed,
assuming the bonds can be authorized, is one
and one-half cents per $100 valuation, rather
than the four cents per $100 valuation that will be
voted on in the August referendum.
Boyles presented his views in a letter written
at the request of Rep. Allen Ward, the Shallotte
newspaper reported in the front-page story last
week.
Both Prevatte and Southport City Attorney
Carter Lambeth told The Pilot that they believed
that the commissioners were the governing body
of a township under law. Prevatte said he had
taken no position on the amount of the tax since it
did not effect the county.
Lambeth said his research showed that the
township could levy a four-cent per $100
valuation to support a hospital district under the
laws of the state. (See related article about
Southport board meeting in this edition of Tte
Pilot.)
He said the North Carolina Supreme Court
(Continued on page 2)
THE PRELIMINARY SITE PLAN for the
Brunswick County courthouse - complex was
presented to county commissioners Monday.
Commissioner Franky Thomas, Chairman Steve
■ t ■ ■■ ’
Varnam, Jr., and Architects John Boudreaux and
Lesesne Monteith, shown left to right, review the
plan.
Site Plan Reviewed
For County Complex
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
The preliminary site plan for the Brusnwick
County courthouse-complex was presented to
commissioners during their regular meeting
Monday.
John Boudreaux, Lesesne Monteith and Kelly
Harvey, members of the “design team” of
LBC&W, architects and engineers on the project,
reviewed the preliminary site plan with the
commissioner. (See pictures in this edition of
The Pilot.)
Commissioners expressed pleasure at the site
plan they reviewed at the meeting. “We feel you
have lived up to the expectations we had in you,”
Chairman Steve Varnam, Jr., declared.
Boudreaux said the firm will have a more
elaborate presentation to make at the next
regular board meeting on June 7. He said a
model and master plan will be presented at the
meeting.
After the meeting, Chairman Varnam an
nounced that the county will not have to hold a
l bond issue to finance construction of the com
plex.
( Under the law that allowed the people to vote
| to relocate the courthouse, the board had until
\ Wednesday (May 19) to apply to the Local
Government Commission if a bond issue had to
1 be held.
i Chairman Varnam said the board believed
i that the county could finance the complex
: without the bond issue by using phased con
} struction. He said he hoped the complex could be
j constructed in two phases, but it could take
\ longer.
i .
It has been estimated that the complex will
cost about $4 million, but a definite figure has not
been arrived at yet.
If everything goes according to the present
scendule. Boudreaux said construction of the
complex will begin this fall.
In related action, the board voted unanimously
to hire Patrick Allen to make the required
topographical survey at the suggestion of
Chairman Varnam.
The chairman said the board needed to hire the
surveyor to make the survey, which will take
about two or three weeks, in order to not delay
LBC&W. The board has discussed the matter at
several meetings, but had taken no action
because surveyors would not quote prices
charged to do the work.
Chairman Varnam said he “believed we will
get a fair price” from the surveyor selected to
do the work. He said he did not think the sur
veyor would try to “hold up the county.”
Chairman Varnam nominated Allen, who was
unanimously selected to do the work. Com
missioner Ira Butler, Jr., nominated Gerrit
Greer, but it died without a second.
During the review of the prelinary site plan for
the complex, Monteith said changes can be made
before the master plan is presented.
He said the design is similar to a campus-type
plan with a surrounding loop raod “to give a
feeling of unity. It is half-way between the for
mal and the informal,” he pointed out.
Monteith said the 12 buildings on the site are
rectangular at the present time, but can be
changed. He said they were all connected in
(Continued on page 2)
Values Change, But
Not Sure To What
By BILLALLEN
Staff Writer
Hundreds and hundres of
property values in Brunswick
County were changed —
lowered — in apparent
violation of the Opening
Meetings law during the
Board of Equalization and
Review meeting Tuesday.
The commissioners spent
the day approving new
property values in the county
without much discussion.
They reviewed the large
numbers of property cards in
seven folders and marked
whether they approved or
disapproved the new values
on check-off sheets.
Only two commissioners —
Chairman Steve Varnam, Jr.,
and Commissioner W.T.
Russ, Jr., — were present
when the session finally came
to an end around 4 p.m.
Tuesday.
Commissioners Franky
Thomas and Willie Sloan left
the meeting shortly before it
ended because they had.
finished marking their check
off sheets. Commissioner Ira
Butler, Jr., was only present
for part of the morning
session.
Since a quorum was not
present to approve all the
changes in one motion and
adjourn the meeting, the
session was continued until
Thursday at 7 p.m. at the
Hood Building.
Tax Supervisor K.T.
Bellamy, who serves as clerk
to the board, was instructed
to tally the votes of each
commissioner and present
the results for final approval
Thursday night.
Questions were raised at
the start of the meeting about
whether the method used to
pprove the property changes
was in violation of the Open
Meeting law. The law
requires that all meetings of
public boards shall “be
conducted openly.”
The general statutes of
North Carolina gives the
Board of Equalization and
Review the authority to
change tax values. “On the
basis of its decision after any
hearing conducted under this
subsection, the board shall
adopt and have entered in its
minutes an order reducing,
increasing or confirming the
appraisal appealed or listing
or removal from the tax lists
the property whose omission
or listing has been appealed,”
the Machinery Act stated.
Attorney W.C. Lassiter,
who serves as the general
counsel of the North Carolina
Press Association, said the
law means that ‘‘there should
have been a motion by a
member of the board,
seconded by another member
of the board to fix the values
Pender Man
Seeks House
Anthony Caputo of Pender
County filed Monday as a
Democratic candidate for the
11th District seat in the state
House of Representatives.
A resident of Burgaw,
Caputo is active in com
munity affairs and recently
served as chairman of the
Bicentennial celebration at
Moores Creek National
Military Park. He is
presently serving as senior
warden of St. Mary’s
Episcopal Church.
Following a career in the
U.S. Marine Corps, Caputo
has been associated for
several years with a national
company in an exeucitve
position.
Caputo said he decided to
enter the Democratic race for
the House because he
believes that “the citizens of
Brunswick and Pender
counties want to be
(Continued on page 2)
5 Nominated To CRC
But Kopp Not On List
The Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners
nominated five residents to
serve on the Coastal
Resources Commission
during a regular meeting
Monday.
Residents nominated in
cluded Bob Ward of Town
Creek, coastal agriculture;
Norman Bellamy of Holden
Beach, marine - related
business; Southport Mayor
E.B. Tomlinson, Jr., coastal
area engineer; County
Manager Don Flowers, Jr.,
local government; and Louis
Hardee of Southport, at -
large member.
Gov. James Holshouser,
Jr., will select the members
of the commission, which is in
charge of the Coastal
Management Act.
Former county com
missioner Chairman William
K
Kopp, Jr., who represents the
county on the commission at
the present time, was not re -
nominated to serve another
term.
In other business, Calabash
town commissioners Ivey
High and Lester Beck
requested that Calabash be
given $3,000 to $4,000 to do
mosquito spraying in
Calabash and Shady Forest
this summer. They said he
money was needed to buy a
truck and chemicals to do the
spraying.
Chairman Steve Varnam,
Jr., said all requests received
from towns in the county will
be discussed with Flowers
and Mosquito Control
Director Tink Benton.
Commissioner Franky
Thomas suggested that all
requests received from towns
ofr mosquito control help be
discussed at the next
meeting.
Chairman Varnam
reported that the county will
receive $380,584 in revenue
sharing funds for the last six
months of the year. A total of
$300,000 will be placed in the
capital reserve fund for the
complex project and the
other $80,584 into the water
system.
The board authorized
Chairman Varnam to sign
two grant applications. One is
to the LEAA for a juvenile
officer in the sheriff’s
department and the other one
is for an Employment
Security Commission em
ployee in the Department of
Social Services.
Thomas asked County
Attorney James Prevatte,
(Continued on page 2)
of the respective properties in
amounts determined, which
motion should have been
voted on openly in the
meeting.”
Lassiter said that any
member of the public who
was present at the meeting
would not have known what
action was being taken when
the individual members of
the board wer using the
check-off sheets.
When the question was
raised at the meeting,
commissioners said they
believed they were acting
legally. They said they did
not believe it was possible to
vote on each of the changes
individually.
Commissioners spent most
of the day reviewing property
cards and marking their
check-off sheets. They did not
discuss openly the changes
being make, but said the
records would be available
after the meeting.
Bellamy said he could not
estimate how many changes
the boad approved during the
meeting. Russ said he
believed that the board acted
on more parcels of property
than it did last year when the
meetings did not end until
(Continued on page 2)
Man Shot In
Wilson Theft
A Southport supermarket
manager was shot during an
armed robbery Monday
night.
Det. Douglas Padgett
reported that Manager Jim
Brown was shot and robbed
shortly before midnight
Monday while closing
Wilson’s on Howe Street.
Brown, who was shot in the
side after turning over the
money, was taken to Dosher
Memorial Hospital. He was
transported by the Southport
Rescue Squad to a
Wilmington hospital and was
released Tuesday.
Padgett said the Brunswick
County Sheriff’s Department
is investigating the shooting
and robbery, but no arrest
has been made.
He reported that it has not
been determined how much
money was taken during the
robbery. Cash, checks and
food stamps were all taken.
The law officer said that
Brown had been working late
with a clean-up crew after the
store closed. We was locking
the door around midnight
when he was appraoched by a
black male.
The man pulled out a pistol
and said he wanted the
money in the grocery sack.
Brown handed over the
money and was shot for no
apparent reason, Padgett
said.
Brown told law officers that
he saw the man run down
beside the store and into the
woods. It was the last time he
was seen.
i