Sports, page 17
South’s Cougars will visit North tonight
Classifieds, IB
id’s most complete
S^Htate properties
INSIDE
Volume 61/ Number 22
Southport, N.C.
January 15,1992 / 50 cents
Sewer or not?
Long Beach weighs pros, cons
By Ed Harper
Pilot Editor
Long Beach residents took a sec
ond opportunity Thursday night to
voice their opinions about a pro
posed $15.2-million wastewater col
lection and treatment system to
serve the Oak Island community.
Commissioners tentatively have
set March 31 as the date of a bond
referendum on the matter. A posi
tive vote would allow the town to
borrow up to the full amount to fi
nance construction if necessary, al
though proponents say the entire
system should be funded through a
combination of assessments, tap fees
and bond anticipation notes, short
term financial instruments sold in
advance of a bond issue, then repaid
with cash flow from an operating
utility.
Thursday’s hearing was the sec
ond in a series of public forums on
the subject. A third is scheduled
tonight (Wednesday) at 7 p.m. at the
Long Beach Recreation Center.
Mayor Joan Altman began Thurs
day’s session with an overview of
the first public hearing and a review
of printed' ijuestions and answers
from that initial meeting. She said it
was the board’s task to provide the
most information possible; "You
owe us the obligation," she told the
standing-room-only crowd, of learn
ing all it can about the proposed sys
tem and making an informed deci
sion.
Commissioners had the floor first
Jeff Ensminger told the recreation
center audience that state law dic
tates only resident voters can partici
pate in the March referendum;
Horace Collier urged input on pro
posed fees, saying an average 6,000
gallon-per-month usage might be
high for some people although "in
my household that would be low;"
Bill Easley said a wastewater man
agement system would not in itself
change the character of Long Beach,
that height restrictions only voters
can change would restrict develop
ment some say they fear; Danny
Leonard said the present tight econ
omy could work to the town’s ad
vantage in construction of a sewer
system; and David Durr said pay
ment of sewer assessments, tap fees
and user fees is "not a tax — it com
es out of the other pocket"
Among the speakers last Thursday
night;
•Harold Watson said if a system
is developed and subsequent users
tap-on,' their impact fee should be
Sewer or not?
Have a house in Long Beach? Got a lot there and hope to retire to
Oak Island someday?
Want sewer?
We’re looking for your opinion - resident and non-resident — as the
Town of Long Beach prepares to vote as early as March 31 on whether
or not to approve a $15.2-million bond authorization (permission to
borrow up to that amount if necessary) that would permit development
of a town wide sewer system. Knowing what you know now about the
need for wastewater treatment facilities in Long Beach, and what you
know at this time about projected costs, how would you vote?
YesD NoO
My House O Vacant property O
is located on_(Street)
Do you think that development of a wastewater treatment facility will
be necessary in the Town of Long Beach by the year 2000?
v
YesO Non
Please return this questionnaire to: Sewer Survey, The State Port
Pilot, P. O. Box 10548, Southport, NC 28461, by February 1,1992.
Results of the poll will be published in the February 5 edition of the
Pilot. Only original copies of this survey form will be accepted.
$5,000 rather than the $3,000 con
sulting engineer Finley Boney pro
posed. ,
•Frances Allen, referring to an
earlier statement by commissioner
Easley, said citizens owe their chil
dren "something, but we don’t owe
them this kind of a bill." She asked
why the issue of sewer comes up
"year after year," and why is there
interest in a sewer system — "unless
you want to have a house on every
lot on this beach."
Mayor Altman had given a
chronology of sewer activity in her
See Beach sewer, page 12
Williams the
principal for
Supply school
By Marybeth Bianchi
Feature Editor
Carolyn Williams of Boiling
Spring Lakes was the Brunswick
County Board of Education’s unani
mous choice for principal of Supply
Elementary School.
Williams, who is the assistant
principal at Bolivia Elementary
School, was recommended to the
board by superintendent P. R.
Hankins from a field of about ten
"qualified" candidates. The board
made its decision when it recon
vened its monthly meeting last Wed
nesday evening.
"She has outstanding credentials.
That weighs heavily in these chal
lenging times," Hankins said. "We
See Principal, page 5
Health agency has no rule
^Smoking issue lights up board
By Holly Edwards
County Editor
Brunswick County Health Depart
ment employees are smoking in an
area adjacent to where children with
respiratory illnesses are examined,
and the health department is setting
a very poor example by not having a
Consulting engineer Finley Boney answered ques
tions at Thursday night’s public hearing on a pro
posed Long Beach wastewater management system.
Another hearing is scheduled tonight (Wednesday).
This watchful cat keeps an eye on blackbirds in
a pecan tree near his home, no doubt reflecting on
what fine times he could have if only he could
learn how to turn a doorknob.
non-smoking policy, according to a
letter written by Dr. Gordon D.
Coleman, a doctor on contract with
the health department’s child health
clinic and president of the New
Hanover-Pender County Medical
Society.
Coleman’s letter was brought to
the attention of health board mem
bers Monday night, and the board
subsequently agreed to form a com
mittee to discuss implementing a
non-smoking policy within the
health department. Currently, the
only smoking policy the health de
partment has is that people should
"try to avoid" smoking in the wait
ing room, according to health de
partment director Michael Rhodes.
"I look at (a non-smoking policy)
‘I’m against regulating everything
people do.... The health department
workers are responsible enough to decide
when to smoke and when not to smoke.’
Dr. William Rabon
Health board chairman
as providing for the public health.
There’s going to be less smoke in
this area," said health board member
Dr. Brad Williams. "The air quality
in this building has been tested and
it’s very poor."
However, Dr. Bill Rabon, health
board chairman, said he was "dead
set against" a non-smoking policy
See Smoking ban, page 8
Dr. King
Leader recalls ‘disciple’ for freedom
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
"Whenever I get over to Heaven and I get to talk to
Dr. King, I want to tell him two things and ask him one
thing.
"I want to tell him the bus seats ride a lot better be
cause of his concern for America. I want to tell him the
water tastes better because I don’t have to drink out of
a black fountain.
"I want to ask him, with all of the things that were
done against him, ‘How did you keep the faith?*"
When the Rev. Jesse A. Bryant of Cedar Grove gets
the chance to talk to Martin Luther King in the
Promised Land, he’s going to offer those observations
and ask that question. But, as one who marched at the
side of the slain civil rights leader whose birthday is
celebrated this week, Bryant says race relations in
Brunswick County and in the nation today are not a
great deal better than they were in the 1960s when he
and other progressive community leaders were strug
gling to bring to America a sense of racial harmony.
"It isn't much different today than what it was then,"
Bryant said. "Racism is still as present today." Bryant
challenges white Americans to "look at the numbers."
He asks, "How many blacks are in the cabinets? The
numbers speak for themselves."
The community pauses this week to honor the
memory of Dr. Martin Luther King. Schools will take,
time to teach the special history he made.
But, to soldiers of the civil rights wars like Bryant,
See Dr. King, page 13