The State Port Pilot__ OUR TOWN Past week’s highs & lows WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON TUE NOVEMBER Average High 65 degrees Average Low 50 degrees 1 i Data courtesy of Foxy Howard Graph by Debi McKellar Yaupon Beach Town Hall is again open to the public after being closed last week, town clerk Nancy Wilson said. It was closed last week, except from a one-hour period from 3 to 4:30 p.m. daily, so town employees could prepare the preliminary assessment roll for the town’s wastewater col lection and sewer treatment system. The roll will be available for public inspection beginning December 15. Town Hall will be closed Thursday and Friday of this week for Thanksgiving, Wilson said. Construction on the McGlamery Street portion of the sewer project has been completed, Wilson said, and work has started on Ocean Drive near Sherrill Street and Barbee Boulevard. Boiling Spring Lakes The next board of commissioners meeting will be held December 8 at 7 p.m. at City Hall instead of December 1 as regularly scheduled, town cleric Barbara Cumbee said this week. She said some commissioners have scheduling conflicts on December 1. The public hearing on the land use plan update scheduled for Novem ber 18 was canceled because mistakes were detected on one of the maps, Cumbee said. The hearing has been rescheduled for December 22. The next regular planning board meeting will be Monday, November 30, at 7 p.m. in City Hall. City Hall will be closed Thursday and Friday of this week for Thanksgiving, Cumbee said. Long Beach Three fire department officers, including fire chief Tim Pittman, at tended an officer training course last weekend at the National Fire Academy at Emmitsburg, Md. Pittman said the three had waited five years to be selected for the course, and were chosen from among 1,500 applicants. He said 1,200 people remain on the waiting list. The resurfacing and paving projects approved last month by the town council are now underway, town manager Tim Johnson said this week. The town had approved paving of NE 8th, NE 14th, NE 36th and SE 42nd streets and resurfacing of 28 streets. Sections of Oak Island Drive are being excavated this week as part of the three-laning project for a portion of the road, town manager Johnson said. The digging is to reposition the drainage pipes, he said. At the town council meeting last week the council set a public hear ing for December 15, the next regular council session, on a proposed change to the zoning ordinance to deal with auction signs. The current ordinance does not address the issue. The council approved setting up a town cash management policy to better handle town’s finances. The council also approved the final plats for St. James by the Sea and Turtle Creek subdivisions. Caswell Beach There will be a public hearing on the OceanGreens Phase IV final site plan on December 3 at 5 p.m., before the start of the board of com missioners’ regular meeting, town clerk Linda Bethune said this week. After the meeting the board will vote on approving the site plan, Bethune said. Among the agenda items is a proposed employment contract with building inspector Roger Parks. At present, Parks is on contract with the town. On the advice of town attorney Elva Jess, the town has drawn up a contract that will make him a part-time employee. The board will also receive a report from commissioner Bill Boyd on proposed expansion of the public parking lot near the CP&L pumping station and construction of a walkway between 329 and 401 Caswell Beach Road. Bethune said there will be no provision for public parking near the walkway. As a point of clarification, Bethune said the cost of $3.45 per front foot of property for undergrounding of utility lines would be shared by property owners on both sides of the roadway. Bethune said that Boyd wanted to make clear that one of the ques tions asked by Pam Whitesides about the undergrounding project at the November 12 board meeting pertained to first- and second-row lots and not to the first and second phases of the project. Southport The pumping station at the foot of Lord Street was repainted Saturday morning with the help of volunteers, acting manager Sylvia Butter worth said this week. The board of aldermen had approved a waterfront committee recommendation that the station be painted gray to better fit in with its surroundings. The committee had also recommended that the station be reroofed to better reflect the surrounding decor. This will be done at a later date. Shrubs, trees and plants were also placed near the site this week, she said. .The public works department was busy this week putting up Christ mas lights and banners in the downtown area. The lights will be switched on Saturday, December S, and will be used through New Year’s. MEMBER NATIONAL NEWSPAPER ASSOCIATION Noni Rogers presents a drawing of menhaden fishermen at work to mayor Norman Holden, while Eugene Gore and Archie Gore, two former men hadenmen -- and members of the Southport Photo by Jim Harper Brunswick Shanty Singers -- admire the work and recall old times. The Robert Potter drawing, along with two Dorothy Bell Kauffman poems, will be on display at the Southport Maritime Museum. Volunteer is cited for literacy aid Paul E. Brown of Long Beach was one of three volunteer tutors to receive the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Tutor in Lit eracy and Basic Skills Programs at a ceremony held Thursday in Winston-Salem. Governor Jim Martin said, "These awards are given to people who have shown a commitment to ex cellence and dedication to improv ing literacy and basic skills in North Carolina. They deserve to be recog nized for their outstanding efforts on behalf of the state and its citizens." Brown, a retired music teacher, received the award for his more than three years of service to one student Often driving a 40-mile round-trip, Prawn took the student from fourth grade competency to GED prepara tion, while battling many of the stu dent’s personal problems. At the age of 72, Brown took a tutoring workshop in order to learn how to help adults improve their reading skills. "Brown is dedicated and persistent striving to see that all his students receive their GED," a governor’s office release stated. Blood donations The need for blood after a holiday weekend is critical, so the American Red Cross is asking area residents to "take an hour of your time and give a hospital patient 'another chance’." Blood donations will be ac cepted Monday, November 30, from 2 to 6 pjn. at Trinity United Methodist Church. Thechurch fellowship hall is located at the comer of East Nash Street and Atlantic Av enue, across from the Southport post office. ‘This particular town council seems to be willing to work with us. We may be dealing with a town council in a few years that may not be as sensitive. The question is how safe is the money two, three, four, five years down the road.’ Tim Pittman Fire chief Long Beach workshop to concern fire station By Amitabh Pal Municipal Editor The Long Beach town council will hold a workshop Tuesday, Decem ber 1, to consider a fire department request to construct a new building near Middleton Street. Money the department has turned over to the town would help fund the project. Fire chief Tim Pittman handed over $53,386.38 at the November 17 council meeting, with the request that the town use it to pay off debt on a fire truck and use the money thus saved to construct a new build ing. The building would be located on the same site as the current station located just east of Middleton Street. Pittman estimated that by paying off the fire truck debt the town would be able to save $30,000, which would be a third of the down payment for a new building. He said the building would cost $275,000. Some council members favored accepting Pittman’s request at the council meeting, but others were surprised by the request and asked for the workshop to examine the is sue in detail. Pittman said Monday that he wasn’t trying to force a decision at the council meeting, as charged by councilman Jeff Ensminger, and that he only wanted to make the council aware of the request. He said he is confident, though not certain, the council will approve the request "You never know,” he said. "There are so many things. The chances are good." Pittman said Monday that he is aware the council has other things to manage apart from the department’s interests. Town manager Tim Johnson said Friday that if council feels a new building is needed, this would be the most cost-effective way. Pittman said the department can not obtain a new station without permission of the town. The $53,386.38 Pittman turned over to the town had been accumu lated from county funding over the years. This had been held in a pri See Fire funding, page 19 Maritime forest sale approved By Jim Harper Staff Writer Bald Head Island developer Kent Mitchell proudly announced Saturday that sale of some 128 acres of the island's maritime forest seemsiikely after state apprapriationof its share of die funds Friday. In the deal Mitchell hopes to exchange about 200 wooded acres for well over $4 million in federal funds, $325,000 in state money and credit for donating about $1 million worth of land. Such an arrangement meets a formula that dictates a 75*percent federal share, five percent state share and 20 percent “local contri §§ button". Allocation of state funds Friday paved the way for final stale and federal approval to purchase an initial tract of land. The acreage spans Federal Road between Muscadine Wyod and Captain Charlie's Station. Since federal funding is expected in roughly equal lots over two years, the next purchase - likely closer to Muscadine Wynd than the current site -- is expected in 1993, Title to the land win be held by the state, which already owns considerable acreage In marsh and beach frontage, as well as Bluff Island, in the Smith Island complex. In making his announcement in the village council session, Mitchell noted that the "land appraisals were half of what they were three years ago, so the state got a good deal, and we got something that will be preserved forever.” of Mitchell’s development maps. Only inthe past year, wbenfederal money became available, was purchase deemed likely. . Mitchell noted that as a condition of sale he will retain a 100-foot right-of-way along Federal Road for travel, utility lines and for passible future well sites to serve his water system. He also noted that another 50-foot well easement extends through the preserve between Federal Road and the dune line. Mitchell said that pumping from beneath the 50-foot strip would be a last resort "when and if we ever need it," he said, but added that his studies indicate that pumping from a deep aquifer would not W/MZ

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