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