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THE STATE PORT PILOT
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Volume 47 Number 45
May 26, 1976
Southport, N. C.
24 Pages
10 Cents
Candidate
Deadline
Is Friday
Commissioner Willie Sloan
is the first incumbent to file
for re-election to the Brun
swick County governing
board.
Sloan, a Democrat who was
first elected in 1974, is the
first member of the present
Board of Commissioners to
file for re-election. He
represents Town Creek and is
the vice-chairman of the
board.
Thomas E. (Tommy)
Gilbert, IV, of Southport filed
as a candidate for re-election
to the coroner’s post. He was
appointed to the post earlier
this year.
The only other candidate to
enter the race this week is
James H. Matthews, who will
be challenging Sloan for his
Town Creek seat on the
county board in the Democrat
primary in August.
Sloan is the first incumbent
on the board to make his
intentions official that he will
seek re-election. Com
missioner W.T. Russ, Jr., has
already announced that he
will not be a candidate for re
election.
More r lungs
Are Reported
Two new candidates en
tered the race for public"
office on Tuesday, The Pilot
was informed.
Marie Hart, who is a native
of Southport, filed as a
candidate for a seat on the
Brunswick County Board of
Education. A registered
nurse, Mrs. Hart is the
mother of four children.
Magistrate Roney Cheers
of Shallotte filed for District
Court judge in the 13th
District, which includes
Brunswick, Columbus and
Bladen counties. He is
seeking the seat held by
Judge Lewis Sauls, who is
stepping down.
Although five candidates
are running for the District
Court judge post, Cheers is
the only one from Brunswick
County. He has had 26-years’
experence as a magistrate,
justice of the peace and
mayor’s court judge.
A BICENTENNIAL CELEBRATION was held
Friday morning at South Brunswick High School.
Here, Principal Mark Owens (standing) awaits
the presentation of the Bicentennial
““proclamation from minutewoman Vicki Sullifan,
on horseback. The program included burial of a
time capsule to be opened in the year 2076,
recognition of retired teachers, and keynote
speeches by Southport Mayor Eugene Tomlinson
and Haywood Starling, director of the State!
Bureau of Investigation'
- 4
Beach Planning Board
Adds McNeill, Helms
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
The appointment of two
new members to the Planning
Board highlighted the regular
monthly meeting of the Long
Beach Board of Com
CP&L Cooling
Tower Project
Is Suspended
Carolina Power & Light Co.
has suspended construction
of cooing towers at its
Brunswick nuclear power
plant near Southport
following an order last
Tuesday by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission
(NRC).
The order amends CP&L’s
license to allow an eight -
month delay in completion of
' the $72.3 - million cooling
towers originally scheduled
to be operational May 1,1978.
The contractor installing
the cooling towers has been
notified to begin an orderly
demobilization of the con
struction force immediately.
CP&L has already spent
$42.3 million on a previously -
approved cooling system, and
has contended that the
cooling towers ordered in
stalled by the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
are unnecessary.
The company has asked for
a hearing on the cooling
towers, and this hearing is
scheduled to begin June 2 in
Raleigh. The NRC order has
the effect of allowing con
struction wrok — underway
for the past year — to cease
while the case is being
decided by theEPA.
During the June hearing,
Dr. Lewis J. Perl, vice -
president of National
Research Associates, Inc., of
New York, will testify on
behalf of CP&L that the
towers will cost the average
CP&L customer $220 to $285
over the life of the plant to
save commercial and sport
fish having a total value
somewhere between 12 cents
and $10.70 per ratepayer
during the same period.
CP&L President Shearon
Harris said that from the
time the first unit of the plant
began pumping water — a
little over a year ago — a
team of scientists has been
gathering data at the site.
‘‘They’re are convinced
that the environmental
damage speculated by the
government is not taking
place. Their research shows
that in a year the impact of
(Continued on page 2)
missioners last Wednesday
night.
Don McNeill and Tommy
Helms were appointed to
serve two - year terms on the
board on a split decision.
They replace Jerry Wood,
who asked not to be re - ap
pointed, and member Otto
Maehl.
Maehl and Bessy Higgins,
who were recommended by
the Planning Board, McNeill
and Helms were nominated to
be members of the board.
Chairman Rosetta Short
spoke on behalf of the two
Planning Board nominees.
She said that Maehl was a
veteran member while Mrs.
Higgins had volunteered to
serve. She questioned
whether McNeill would have
time to serve because of his
other activities. She said she
did not know that Helms was
going to be nominated.
Mayor Harold Crain asked
Town Attorney James
Prevatte, Jr., questions
concerning the proper
method to vote to appoint
members to the board. The
last time appointments were
made questions were raised
because it was done by secret
ballot.
Prevatte said recent court
decisions had outlawed secret
ballot voting by board
members. He said ballots
could be used if the votes of
each member were an
nounced publicly.
McNeill and Helms were
elected when they received
the votes of Commissioners
Nancy Leggett, Bill Jones,
Russell Morrison and Carroll
Adams. Mayor Crain and
Commissioner Ellis Dudley
cast their ballots for Maehl
and Mrs. Higgins.
In other business, Warren
Calloway was re - appointed
and Pauline Morgan ap
pointed to serve on the Board
of Adjustments on a split
decision. Mrs. Morgan, who
(Continued on page 2)
Arrest Not Quite
Made In Shooting
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
No arrests have been made
in the Wilson’s shooting
robbery case because the
Sheriff’s Department could
not obtain a search warrant
when needed, Sheriff Herman
Strong said this week.
“It is my belief that, had
we been able to obtain the
search warrant, we would
have the subject in custody
and charged with the
crimes,” Sheriff Strong
declared.
Sheriff Strong said his
department found enough
evidence after the crime to
obtain the search warrant to
look inside a house. But he
said that Magistrate
Ephraim Swain refused to
issue the search warrant.
“With this information
(evidence) and belief, we
went to the maigstrate’s
office to obtain the warrant to
search one particular house,”
the law officer reported. “But
he refused to issue the
warrant because we did not
know the name of the in
dividual.”
The Pilot tried without
success Tuesday to reach
Swain for comment on the
matter.
Sheriff Strong said the
Department finally obtained
a search warrant when
District Court opened in
Southport on Tuesday
morning. “It was too late
then and the subject had
already left,” he pointed out.
Sheriff Strong said it was
his belief, based on ex
perienee, that the magistrate
system needs to be reformed.
“I feel the magistrates in this
county have too much
authority as appointed of
ficials in making decisions in
these matters and are a
hindrance to law en
forcement,” he stated.
Sheriff Strong said the
investigation into the
shooting-robbery at Wilson’s
is continuing. He said he
hoped an arrest can be made
soon.
Manager Jim Brown was
shot while closing Wilson’s,
which is located on Howe
Street in Southport, shortly
before midnight last Monday.
He was locking the door
when he was approached by
one man wearing a mask.
After handing over the
(Continued on page 2)
County Land Use
Plan Is Approved
The Brunswick County land
- use plan, required by the
Coastal Area Management
Act, was unanimously ap
proved during a meeting of
the county commissioners
Thursday night.
County Planning Director
Johnny Sutton told the board
that the newly - revised land
use plan includes a recom
mendation that the state
establish three new land - use
subdivisions.
The county is proposing
that rural industrial, rural
residential and conservation
industrial access be added to
the five land use
classifications already in
effect.
The sub - classifications are
needed, he explained,
because the state said the
county had too much land in
land - use plan submitted last
fall. According to the state
definition, transition is areas
which must be provided
water and sewer services in
the next ten years.
“The new classifications
are needed to protect our
selves to expand services
when we can afford it,”
Sutton declared.
After Sutton explained the
revised land - use plan —
Alternate III — it was
unanimously approved by the
board. The alternate was put
in its final form only hours
prior to the meeting.
The board took no action,
following a long discussion,
on a request made by the
Lockwood Folly Citizens
Advisory Committee to
outlaw high - rise develop
ment in the county.
Sutton told the board that
much work had to be done to
meet the state guidelines
concerning the number of
square miles in the county
that could be placed in the
transition classification.
He told the board that the
state said the county had too
much land in transition in the
preliminary proposal.
Alternate I called for 90
square miles in transition,
which would have C06t $362
million to provide the
required water and sewer
services.
The second alternate
developed would have limited
growth in the county since
only 20 square miles would be
placed in transition at a cost
of $70 million.
Alternate III allows the
county to have 29.53 square
miles in transition. It also has
1.4 square miles in
development (the City of
Southport) and 28.41 square
miles in the community
classification.
Within the county planning
district, which excludes
Southport, Long Beach,
Holden Beach and Sunset
Beach which are doing their
own planning, the county will
have 25.47 square miles it
transition and 25.21 square
miles in community.
Sutton said the county u
proposing that the rura
classification be divided int<
rural industrial and rura
residential. The county wil
have 56.5 square miles it
rural industrial and 27.]
square miles in rura
residential.
In rural industrial areas
Sutton proposed that ni
public services other thar
water be provided and that
the cost of distribution b<
paid by private sources. Ir
rural residential areas
services will be regulated ant
must be financed by the
private interests il
development occurs prior tc
1985. Industrial access will b«
permitted in the conservatior
industrial section.
Sutton said the estimatec
total service cost for Alter
nate III has been placed al
$91,383,241. He said the initial
investment of aboul
$22,559,592 will be providec
by the federal and state
(Continued on page 14)
Funds Distributed
Brunswick County and ten municipal governments have
received $158,839 from first-quarter distribution of the local
option sales and use tax.
The county receives the largest share — $143,651 — while
the following amounts have been forwarded to the towns:
Boiling Spring Lakes $543; Bolivia $73; Calabash $153;
Holden Beach $1,249; Long Beach $5,708; Ocean Isle Beach
$883; Shallotte $1,338; Southport $3,212; Sunset Beach $818;
and Yaupon Beach $1,206.
Recently-incorporated towns of Shady Forest and Caswell
Beach do not share in the proceeds.
Monthly collections during the first quarter were in the low
- $50,000 range. However, the Department of Revenue reports
that during April the total jumped to $68,432.
“LITTLE MISS N.C. FOURTH of July is Julianne Elizabeth Harper, five
year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Harper of Southport, who was
crowned Saturday night by Miss N.C. Fourth of July Margaret Hawes
(right). There were 23 entries in the first annual pageant, held at Southport
Primary School. Other photographs and the story are on the inside of this
week’s Pilot.