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THE STATE PORT PILOT
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Volume 48 Number 14
October 20, 1976
Southport, N, C.
22 Pages Today 10 Cents
PATCHING THE ROOFS at high schools in
Brunswick County is a project underway now,
sponsored by the county Board of Education. The -
roofs at the three high schools have leaked since
the buildings were occupied four years ago, and
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the Board of Education has ordered that they be
fixed. The board will go to court and seek
repayment from tbe contractors for the work
done to correct the deficiency.
Could Be ‘Gag Order’ !
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
The public actions taken by
a member of the Brunswick
County Planning Board were
discussed during a special
meeting of the board on
September 30.
A new cause was added to
the list of the ones for which
the board can recommend to
the Board of Commissioners
that a member be removed
from the Planning Board.
“If in the opinion of the
majority of the Planning
Board, a member is engaging
in activities that are
disruptive and widely
harrassing in meetings and
causes harrassment of the
Planning Board in
newspapers and any other
source, the board can con
sider any of these to be
grounds to request the County
Commissioners to remove
said member from the
Planning Board,” said the '
motion.
The motion was approved
on a split decision with
member Eileen Kellagher,
the target of the action, in
opposition.
Chairman Edward Gore
expressed regrets that Mrs.
Kellagher had written letters
and provided stories to
newspapers critical of the
Planning Board.
He requested a show of
hands whether the meetings
had been held in an informal
manner to permit members
and citizens to express their
views, pertinent or not,
openly and freely. All
members raised their hands
except Mrs, Kellagher.
Chairman Gore asked the
members to raise their hands
if they felt “Mrs. Kellagher
Bloodmobile
Here Friday
Southport will host its first Red Cross com
munity blood drive Friday at Trinity Methodist
Church from noon to 5:30 p.m.
“Since the middle of July the Red Cross has
been meeting the blood needs of Brunswick
County,” a spokesman said. “This bloodmobile
is the first opportunity for area residents to
donate blood through the new program.”
Mrs. Leslie Emerson, associate regional
director of Donor Resources Development, said
the first Brunswick County bloodmobile visit was
at Carolina Power and Light Company for the
employees and the employees of Sunny Point on
September 27. “It was most successful, with over
100 pints having been collected.
“The success of this visit was largely due to
the tremendous amount of cooperation of the
sponsoring groups, the eagerness of the em
(Continued on page 2)
has shown you the due
courtesy as a working
member of this board.” Mrs.
Kellagher was the only
member to raise her hand
while the others were in
opposition.
The chairman requested
that the record of the meeting
show that he personally did
not feel that Mrs. Kellagher
had shown due courtesy to
Planning Board members.
Mrs. Kellagher said she
was concerned because other
members don’t attend their
Township Committee
meetings. Since each
township has town members,
she said she believed that one
could attend the committee
meetings.
Member Lacy Tripp said
all the “commotion” in the
newspapers about the
Planning Board was getting
his “dander up.”
Mrs. Kellagher made a
motion that the members not
be paid for attending the
(Continued on page 5)
City Introduces
Plan To Annex
CP&L And Pfizer
By ED HARPER
News Editor
Southport plans to annex a
large area of land — in
cluding the CP&L nuclear
power plant and Pfizer. Inc.
— in an expansion which
Mayor Eugene Tomlinson
described as “absolutely
necessary and mandatory”
for the continued progress of
the area.
Tomlinson cited four major
reasons for the proposed
annexation: the integrity of
planning, orderly growth, the
interests of individuals and
indusry, and a broader tax
base to provide community
services. The proposal, which
would push the tax base of the
town to over one-half billion
dollars, was conservatively
termed “one of the most far
reaching” actions of the town
in the past 25 years.
The Board of Aldermen
voted unanimously Thursday
night to hold a public hearing
on the proposed annexation
November 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Tomlinson said he had met
with CP&L and Pfizer
representaives prior to the
meeting to outline the city’s
plans. The final meeting of
the Annexation Committee
was held Wednesday night.
But the mayor emhasized
that the action “hasn’t been
done hastily.” He said an
nexation has been considered
for three years, and that the
committee was appointed
soon after the current board
took office last year.
John Nicholson of Pfizer,
Inc., who was instrumental in
setting-up the company’s
operation here, was at the
meeting Thursday night but
only as a city taxpayer, he
said. He said he was ex
pressing no position of the
firm; “I only found out
today” about the proposal, he
told the mayor.
Nicholson asked if some
area within the one-mile
Site Groundbreaking
Set On November 21
Three federal grants for
Brunswick County were
announced during the regular
meeting of the county
commissioners on Monday.
Chairman Steve Varnam,
Jr., who made the an
nouncements, said the county
has received $181,000 in
Community Development
funds for water tap - ons in
the Leland Sanitary District.
He said the Govenor’s
Commission on Law and
Order had approved two
grants for the Sheriff’s
Department, including
$15,000 to establish a juvenile
unit. The second grant
continues .the drug program,
which is already underway.
In other business, the board
decided to hold ground
breaking for the new cour
thouse complex at Bolivia on
November 21, which is a
Sunday.
County Manager Don
Flowers, Jr., reported that
County Against Effort
To Delay US 17 Work
By BILL ALLEN
Staff Writer
The Brunswick County Board of
[Commissioners has gone on record
)pposing any “restraint” on
scheduled improvements to High
way 17 in Brunswick County.
Chairman Steve Varnam, Jr.,
jroduced a memorandum at the
Monday meeting of the county
commissioners in which a state
>ff icial said the proposed
Wilmington-Raleigh connector could
je built sooner if the US 17 project
vere restrained.
Regional Planning Director
William T. Reilly reported on
statements made by Ted Walters,
lirector of planning and design,
Division of Highways, concerning
US 17 and the Wilmington-Raleigh
connector in the memo to Executive
Director Beverly Paul of the Council
of Governments (COG).
“One of the problems (obtaining
funds for the Wilmington-Raleigh
connector) is the high priority being
accorded to improvements on US 17,
based on local expression,” Reilly
reported that Walters said a meeting
in Raleigh.
‘‘He (Walters) privately ex
pressed doubt that the Route 17
imporvements will bring the
economic improvements that local
people anticipate, and pointed out
that Route 17 alignment through
Brunswick County is NOT along the
seacoast, and therefore cannot be
expected to bring the type of Myrtle
Beach and Grand Strand develop
ment that it does in South Carolina,”
Reilly said in the memo.
“If US 17 improvements could be
restrained, more resources could be
devoted to improvements and ad
ditions to the Raleigh-Wilmington
connector,” Reilly said about the
meeting in the memo. “Much of the
present N.C. Highway budget is now
being expended in Southeastern
(Continued on page 2)
the board will open bids on
Phase I construction at the
:omplex at a special meeting
October 28 at 2:30 p.m. He
said he had been informed
that the board can award the
bids the same day.
The board decided to allow
county industries to use the
landfills without extra
charge. Landfill Director
Kenneth Hewett said he had
received a request from
DuPont.
Landfill use “is one small
area we can use to attract
industry to our county,”
Commissioner Franky
rhomas stated.
i
'' ■ ■■ . .-.-A'
Commissioners Willie
Sloan and Thomas expressed
opposition to allowing New
Hanover County to use lan
dfills in Brunswick County.
Flowers said he had been
involved in duscussions about
New Hanover County using
the Brunswick County lan
dfills for a fee. “But Brun
swick County can’t become
the garbage can for New
Hanover County,” he added.
The board agreed to allo w
the Landfill Department to
require contract haulers to
have vehicle stickers on their
(Continued on page 2)
Voting Books
Top 16,000 i
Brunswick County has a total of 16,368
registered voters eligible to cast ballots in the
November general election.
Board of Elections Executive Secretary Linda
Babson, who made the announcement, said the
county has 3,534 more registered voters than it
had for the 1974 General Election.
The total registration in the county includes
12,026 Democrats, 3,712 Republicans, 597 In
dependents or No Party and 33 American party
members.
The county has 12,777 whites, 3,581 blacks and
10 other minorities registered to vote in the
November 2 general election.
The registration by precincts follows:
Woodburn: 552 Democrats, 72 Republicans, 9
Independents, 2 American Party, 438 whites, 196
blacks and 1 other minority;
Hoods Creek: 381 Democrats; 59 Republicans,
182 whites; 258 blacks.
Leland: 922 Democrats; 141 Republicans; 4
Independents; 13 American Party; 5 no party,
793 whites; 292 blacks.
Belville: 384 Democrats, 108 Republicans; 14
Independents; 335 whites, 171 blacks.
Town Creek: 725 Democrats, 210 Republicans,
23 Independents; 1 American Party; 1 no party;
719 whites; 240 blacks; 1 other minority.
Bolivia; 733 Democrats; 521 Republicans; 65
Independents; 1 American Party; 1 no party;
1,124 whites; 194 blacks, 3 other minority.
Southport 1: 813 Democrats; 323 Republicans;
124 Independents; 4 American Party; 1,172
whites; 90 blacks, 2 other minority.
Southport II: 806 Democrats; 175 Republicans,
69 Independents; 4 American Party; 621 whites;
(Continued on page 4)
extra-territorial zone is
excluded from the proposed
annexation. Yes it is, he was
told, in order that the bulk of
the land can be eligible for
annexation under the state
law.
Nicholson suggested that
the city proceed “carefully.”,
“I don’t want to see it op
posed on legal grounds that
may be justified,” he told the
aldermen.
According to the mayor,
the effective date of an
nexation could be anytime
within 12 months of the
November 22 hearing. Then
the city would have an ad
ditional 12 months in which to
award contracts to provide
the required services.
Nicholson pointed out that
the proposed expansion of the
city limits would increase the
area of Southport anywhere
from four to 16 times and this
could affect the city’s ability,
to provide services.
Tomlinson responded that
Southport provides electric
power in the area already;
the city provides water to
part of the area and the
county to another part at the
present time; and police
protection already is
available.
The major increase, he
said, would be in garbage
collection and sewer ser
vices. Tomlinson said the
federal government will give
the city an “outright grant”
to expand the waste treat
ment plant.
Nicholson said he hoped the
board members realized the
impact of what they were
voting on.
Alderman Conley Koontz
asked that once the city
decided to annex, could the
action be rescinded? The
answer was “probably yes,”
but Tomlinson said the
proposal has been made in
good faith. Alderman Pierc,e
Horne, who seconded Mary
McHose’s motion to call for
the public hearing on the
question, said the board
action was a “resolution of
intent.”
Tomlinson said that in his
meetings with CP&L and
Pfizer officials he stressed
the point that the city has
never been guilty of fiscal
irresponsibility. He said he
assured both firms that the
city books were open to their
inspection.
He said the city has always
provided leadership for the
area “and all of Brunswick
County,” and “just because
we would be getting a larger
tax base we won’t be going
hog wild” in spending.
He recognized F.C. Lennon,
CP&L regional manager who
has retired and will live at
Long Beach — “which makes
him one of us.”
Lennon said he remem
bered in 1934 when Mayor
Gilbert (late husband of
present board member
Dorothy Gilbert) signed th?
contract with CP&L to
provide Southport with
electricity. He said he has
watched the area grow, and
pointed to the fact that people
no longer have to move away
to find job opportunities.
But he said the reaction of
industry to the proposed
annexation is a question the
city must face.
Tomlinson, who said h$
could not point to exact
figures, said the increased
valuation would considerably
lower the city tax rate. At 2Q
cents, combined with the
county’s 42.5-cent rate,
Tomlinson said the tot«J
(Continued on page 2) ■?