N.ifcFourth of July Festival schedule inside
Volume 61/Number 46_Southport, N.C. _ July 1? 1992 / 50 cents
Fireworks will conclude gala event
Parade, music, arts and crafts and a whole lot more
By Ed Harper
Pilot Editor
Remember last Fourth of July, during the fireworks
display, when the earth moved under your feet?
Well, something similar will happen again this year
but for ten to 15 minutes longer. The pyrotechnics will
be shot from a barge anchored just offshore so it won't
seem quite like the invasion of Normandy. More likq the
Battle of Midway.
Last year's fireworks display was the most spectacular
ever for the N. C. Fourth of July Festival. Shot from the
beach beside the city pier - with the finale from the pier
itself — the display brought the 1991 event to an explo
sive, even earth-shaking, conclusion.
"1 remember that officers cleared the area of Water
front Park, and I remember thinking that once the fire
works started the crowd would move forward for a closer
look," one waterfront resident recalled this week. "The
rockets were so powerful that no one -- and I mean no one
— moved one inch closer. They were standing on their
heels."
Southern International Fireworks, Inc., was respon
sible for last year's display and will return for an encore
performance. The difference this year: A longer show.
"There are about three companies who really want to
do this festival," president Mike Reaves commented
recently. "This is a very competitive business, and South
ern offered us more show — ten to 15 minutes longer —
for the same money as last year."
Another difference will be the launching of fireworks
from a barge secured from Military Ocean Terminal
Sunny Point. The platform will be anchored near water
way marker 1, just west of Waterfront Park, providing
excellent viewing from any point. The prevailing wind
should place the explosions directly in front of the main
park area.
Congestion after the fireworks should be eased this
year by a traffic management plan devised by Southport
police chief Bob Gray. Those vehicles parked in the
area north of Leonard Street will be directed out Howe
Street. Those vehicles parked between Leonard Street
and the waterfront will be directed to Jabbertown Road
until the Howe Street traffic clears. Gray's officers will
be supported by sheriffs deputies and personnel of the
North Carolina Militia.
NRC expands
correction list
at CP&L plant
■ Uy Jim Harper
Staff Writer
Carolina Power and Light Co. has
been granted an additional month to
answer an expanded list of questions
by the Nuclear Regulatory Commis
sion (NRC) dealing with short- and
long-term corrective measures at the
Brunswick nuclear plant.
The plant has been out of commis
sion since April 21 for a series of
repairs, and two weeks ago the power
company said the two Brunswick units
would likely be off-line until fall.
The NRC letter from regional ad
The letter notes the
Brunswick plant’s
aggregation of
some $800,000 in
fines over the past
four years for
regulation viola
tions ‘which has
placed the facility in
the unenviable posi
tion of leading the
nation’s nuclear
power plants in this
category.’
rmnistrator Stewart EbnetertoCP&L
president Sherwood Smith last week
provides an outline of what should be
addressed before the plant is started
again.
Following a series of NRC inspec
tions through the spring, after a poor
CP&L showing in a regular inspec
tion, Ebneter on May 27 identified
"root causes of continuing problems,"
including:
•Management's failure to set high
standards for the material condition
of the plant.
•A failure of management to pro
vide the leadership and support needed
for improvement.
•A lack of critical self-assessment,
which has resulted in the failure to
recognize problems and implement
effective corrective action.
Ebneter, who oversees NRC opera
tions in the ten-state southeast region,
then gave CP&L 30 days to say what
it would do to "eliminate these im
pediments to performance improve
ment."
That deadline was last week, but on
June 23 the new Ebneter letter with
more specific questions granted per
mission for a combined response in
another 30 days.
"It is absolutely necessary," Ebneter
wrote to Smith, "that you and your
staff and the NRC staff agree on the
extent and categorization of issues so
that a mutually agreed upon schedule
for corrective actions can be devel
oped into a program that can be moni
tored and verified for effectiveness."
The Ebneter letter lists these "short
See CP&L, page 6
Forecast
Hot weather is forecast
through the Fourth of July
weekend. Variably cloudy
skies are expected Thurs
day, with a high near 90
degrees. Friday through
Sunday, the forecast calls
for a chance of evening
showers, again with highs
near 90 degrees. Stay near
the water.
Tide table
HIGH
THURSDAY, JULY 2
10:18 a.m.
10:38 p.m.
FRIDAY, JULY 3
11:13 a.m.
11:29 p.m.
SATURDAY, JULY 4
12:08 am.
P'm' SUNDAY, JULY 5
12:23 a.m.
1:03 pm.
MONDAY, JULY 6
1:17 am.
2:04 p.m.
TUESDAY, JULY 7
LOW
4:09 a.m.
4:18 pm.
4:38 am.
3:10 pm.
3:47 am.
6:06 pm.
6:39 am.
7:04 pm.
7:31 am.
8:03 p.m.
2:12 am. 8:23 am.
3:04 pm. 9:08 pm.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 8
3:09 am. 9:23 am.
4:02p.m. 10:10 p.m.
The following adjustment! should be made:
Bald Head Island, high -10, low -7; Caswell
Beach, high -3, low -1; Southport, high +7,
low +15, Yaupon Beach, high -32, low -43;
Lockwood Folly, high -22, low -8.
County board chairman Kelly Holden, transportation secretary
Tommy Harrelson, mayor Norman Holden and members of the county
board and Southport board of aldermen were among the guests as the
Southport Maritime Museum preview last Friday. The museum com
menced operating Saturday and will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tuesdays through Saturdays, including this Fourth of July.
Mining operation likely along NC 87/133
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
Martin Marietta Aggregates, a pro
ducer of crushed stone for construc
tion work, has purchased 642 acres of
land around the Sunny Point (N. C.
87/133) intersection fof mining of the
product.
The project includes the defunct
Walden subdivision which lies at the
southeast comer of the MOTSU ac
cess road and the two state highways.
No statement on the project was
available from the Martin Marietta
office in Raleigh, but purchase of the
land from the Hunter Heath estate
was formalized in May.
A map recorded then shows a 409
acre tract west of the intersection and
a 233-acre tract to the southeast. The
purchase price for the two tracts is
believed to have been around
$545,000.
A spokesman at the N. C. Depart
ment of Environment, Health and
Natural Resources said no applica
tion for mining or other land-use per
mits had yet been received from Mar
tin Marietta.
The spokesman said permitting for
a mining project normally might take
from 60 to 90 days, with notification
of adjacent landowners and - in this
case - the county manager required.
No public notice of the application
is required and no public hearing is
required without a specific public re
quest.
Martin Marietta operates five quar
ries in the coastal plain from New
Bern to Wilmington, producing
crushed stone for use in roadway con
struction and other projects incorpo
rating concrete construction.
The land purchased by the com
pany is reportedly underlaid by a 50
foot stratum of granite appropriate for
construction purposes.
The two tracts are crossed by CP&L
transmission lines with rights-of-way
totaling some 35 acres.
Oak Island branch to benefit
Library auction nets $12,000
The second annual auction on Saturday brought in nearly $12,000 for the
Oak Island Library Boosters, Inc.
Not surprisingly, chairman Kim Skipper of Yaupon Beach was pleased with
the results.
"I was a little afraid we would not do as well as our first auction since we had
to reschedule due to rain," she said. "Obviously, I was overwhelmed when we
raised even more than last year. We may end up netting $12,000 or more.”
There was something for everyone aLthe auction, held at the old United
Carolina Bank building in Yaupon Beach. Young and old participated in the
bidding, picking out their favorite items from surfboards and a pinball machine
to lawnmowers and toilets.
The crowd's interest grew as several bidders competed for a Bayliner boat
and trailer which was donated earlier in the day by Lynn and Sue Wood,
residents of Long Beach and Charlotte.
Auctioneers John Jackson, Tom Yarbrough and Wendy Geedy were kept
busy most of the day getting bids for more than 500 items.
A mini-auction-within-an-auction began at 1 p.m. with original watercolor
and oil paintings, prints, pottery, baskets, planters and a bronze casting.
"Bidders certainly realized the quality of the woik being auctioned," said
John Wilson, a member of the library boosters board of directors.
Southport-Oak Island Jaycees sold concessions throughout the auction and
money they raised will be donated to the boosters.
"I think our success goes to show when this community has a need, its people
unite together for the needed result," Skippersaid. "I think we will have an Oak
Island branch library of which everyone can be proud." %
In the 1992-93 budget Brunswick County commissioners approved the*
funding of $400,000 for construction of a branch library on Oak Island.