Sports, page 18
Cougars win conference golf title
Classifieds, p. 1C
id's most complete
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INSIDE
Volume 61/ Number 37
Southport, N.C.
April 29,1992 / 50 cents
Photo by Jim Harper
Fourteen sailing vessels, most of them local, partic
ipated in the initial Port Charlie’s Waterway Rock
et Regatta Sunday to the delight of crews as well as
spectators who watched from the Southport shore.
VIC proposes changes
for food distribution
By Holly Edwards
County Editor *
Having one central agency and lo
cation for emergency and crisis food
distribution would help control abuse
of the system, and would result in
more available food for the people
who really need it, said Pete Barnett,
executive director of Brunswick
County's Volunteer & Information
Center, Inc. (VIC).
Therefore, Barnett said he is re
questing the board of social services
to support a transfer of the North
Carolina Department of Agriculture's
Commodities Program from the de
partment of social services to VIC.
Three times a year, the federally
funded program is responsible for dis
tributing nearly $ 15,000 worth of food
rations to over 3,000 low-income
people throughout the county.
However, members of the social
services board said Monday after
noon they needed more information
on how VIC would carry out the pro
gram, and agreed to request a plan of
action from Barnett.
"I'd like to at least see his plan," said
OUTSIDE
Forecast
The extended forecast
calls for variable cloudi
ness on Thursday, then
partly cloudy on Friday
with highs in the 70s both
days. Saturday and Sunday,
expect fair skies and
wanner weather, with
highs reaching into the 80s.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, APRIL 30
5:57 a.m. -a.m.
6:18 p.m. 12:05 p.m.
FRIDAY, MAY 1
6:41 a.m. 12:42 a.m.
7:01 pm. 12:47 pjn.
SATURDAY, MAY 2
7:23 a.m
7:45 p.m.
8:06 a.m.
8:27 p.m.
8:51 un.
9:14 pm.
SUNDAY, MAY 3
MONDAY, MAY 4
TUESDAY, MAY 5
9:38 un.
10:03 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, MAY (
1:27 a.m.
1:29 p.m.
2:11a.m.
2:12 pjn.
2:54 a.m.
2:56 pjn.
3:41 a.m.
3:44 pjn.
10:31 ajn. 4:31 a.m.
10:57 pjn. 4:36 pjn.
The following adjustments should be made:
Bald Head Island, high -10, low -7; Caswell
Beach, high -5, low -1; Southport, high +7,
low +15, Yaupon Beach, high -32, low -45;
Lockwood Folly, high -22, low -8.
board member Eulis Willis.
Social services director Jamie
Orrock said transferring the commodi
ties distribution program to VIC would
help the already over-burdened social
services staff.
Two DSS employees devote three
days every three months to distribut
ing the food, and at least an additional
two days to paperwork, said fraud
investigator and commodities pro
gram supervisor Shirley Weston.
"For the DSS staff members in
volved, the change would represent
an opportunity to reallocate certain
hours to other, more pressing duties,"
said Barnett. "Specifically, for those
who need food, such a consolidation
would equip VIC with intimate famil
iarity having to do with all recipients
of governmental, and most charitable,
food sources.
While DSS is reimbursed for the
costs of distributing the food, VIC
could recover 15 percent of the total
value of the food.
However, according to Barnett,
VIC's primary purpose is to make
sure nobody in Brunswick County is
hungry. And, he said, that goal would
be accomplished more readily if VIC
were in charge of all emergency food
distribution.
Anotherconcem raised by the board
of social services is the amount of
fraud involved in the program. In this
particular program, all the informa
tion provided by the applicants taken
at face value, unless DSS has a reason
See VIC proposal, page 3
Primary elections
are next Tuesday
Brunswick County voters -- Democrats and Republi
cans alike — will go to the polls Tuesday to nominate
candidates for the 1992 fall general election.
Polls open at 6:30 a m. and close at 7:30 p.m. that day,
according to Brunswick County Board of Elections su
pervisor Linda Britt. In the Southport-Oak Island area,
voters will cast their ballots at the following locations:
•Southport I - Jaycees Building on Fodale Avenue.
•Southport II - American Legion Hut on West 9th
Street.
•Oak Island I - Caswell Beach Town Hall.
•Oak Island II - Long Beach Recreation Center.
•Boiling Spring Lakes -- Rescue squad building.
According to Britt, there are 29,921 persons eligible to
vote in Tuesday's election, including 17.691 Democrats
and 10,783 Republicans. "Unaffiliated" voters number
1,447, she said.
While the elections supervisor said the normal turnout
for a primary election in Brunswick County is about 50
percent, she does not anticipate that good a response this
election year.
"I don't expect it to be as high this year. People don't
seem to be pleased with the candidates this time. They
seem to be dissatisfied with government in general.” Britt
said.
"I'd be delighted if we vote 40 percent in Brunswick
County. That’s sad. but that's how I see it."
A breakdown of Brunswick County voters by prec inct.
party affiliation, sex and race appears on page 1B as part
of The State Port Pilot's extensive pre-election coverage.
Board of commissioners and board of education candi
date profiles, a report on the register of deeds election,
district races that involve Brunswick County and sample
ballots are included in section B.
District 3. which includes the Southport-Oak Island
area, has several interesting races.
In the Democratic primary for board of education,
former county manager William D. (Billy) Carter, former
school principal Carlton L. Sligh and former assistant
See Primary, page 3
- - - • w-k -
coverage, section B
County's ABC board
pushes consolidation
The county ABC board Tuesday
took a firm stand in favor of a merged,
countywide system of liquor stores
and said it would "entertain a serious
overture from any municipal system
regarding the issue of merger."
In a statement after Tuesday’s meet
ing the board said it favored a
county wide system "if such a system's
fiscal component is equitably man
aged."
Only 23 percent of the county popu
lation lives inside a municipality that
operates an ABC store, the statement
said.
"The remaining 77 percent of
Brunswick County's citizens must
enjoy the benefits of ABC profits
through the county ABC board," said
the document released by county board
chairman John Ramsey.
"Therefore the elimination of du
plicative expenses in administration,
such as audit costs, as well as ware
housing and law enforcement, which
enforcement is preponderantly di
rected and funded by county person
nel, can benefit the entire population
of Brunswick County."
Ramsey said his board issued the
written statement to prevent misun
derstanding and misinterpretation.
Representatives from local munici
pal ABC boards stressed their opposi
tion to consolidation during an infor
mal meeting with Rep. David Red wine
(D-Brunswick) last week at the Ship's
Chandler Restaurant in Southport.
"The county would be entering into
an agreement where they can do noth
ing but win and we can do nothing but
lose," Long Beach ABC board chair
man Ben Thomas said during that
meeting.
Thomas presented Redwine with a
resolution stating Long Beach's abso
lute disagreement with consolidation..
Southport. Yaupon Beach. Boiling
Spring Lakes. Belville, Ocean Isle
Beach and Sunset Beach have all
passed similar resolutions.
The conflict between the county
and municipal ABC boards began last
year when the county announced plans
to build an ABC store at River Run
Shopping Center. Municipal ABC
boards complained that a county store
at this location would take much of
the business away from the local
stores.
When Southport. Long Beach.
Yaupon Beach and Boiling Spring
Lakes asked Redwine for help, he
pushed a one-year ban on construc
tion of any county store within seven
miles of a municipal store. This legis
lation will end on June 30, and mu
nicipalities are now asking Redwine
to make the ban permanent.
Redwine said he will be accepting
alternative solutions to the conflict
until June 1.
"If no one comes up with another
solution, 1 suppose what I'll have to do
is re-extend the sunset clause," said
Redwine.
Aldermen approve
police car purchase
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
Encouraged by a real-life incident involving alderman Bill
Delaney, the Southport board Tuesday night voted to purchase a
new police vehicle for $11,100 to replace one which Delaney said
"wouldn't start.*4
In the incident described by Delaney Ire held a drank driving
suspect at bay with his vehicle while awaiting the tardy arrival of the
old police cruiser.
The alderman's account started about 7 p.tn. Saturday, when he
and his son were in the yard of their home on Cottage Lane.
Delaney said he saw a ear drive westward past his house at an
estimated 7Q miles an hour, go out of control in the turn at Stevens
See Police car, page 3
A baby possum b jostled off the back or its mother
as she trots across the parking lot behind the South
port City Hall last week. The family was collected
by dty workers and deposited i* a sale, sabarbaa'
location.