Air quality
Continued from page 1
still concerned that the measures
will not entirely solve the problem
which may be compounded by other
factors including pesticides and out
door air pollution from local indus
try.
An industrial hygiene consultant
with the N. C. Department of En
vironment, Health and Natural
Resources looked at air quality at
Lincoln Primary School and two
other county schools, and reported
last month that a lack of outdoor
ventilation caused students to
breathe the same mold-contaminated
air over and over again, causing al
lergic reactions.
Suggestions he made to correct the
problems are in the process of being
carried out, assistant superintendent
Bill Turner told the board Monday
night. A majority of the work will
be done during the Christmas break.
Turner said the seven-year-old
carpeting in ten classrooms in the
second grade pod, where air quality
was the worst, has been removed
and will be replaced with tile. Car
peting in other classrooms will be
professionally cleaned.
The inadequate air flow has al
ready been corrected in the third
grade pod and will be fixed in other
classroom areas before January 4,
Turner said. Filters in the air
handling systems will be replaced
with heavy-duty industrial filters
that can be washed, and Quality Air
Tech of Raleigh will fog the duct
work to kill bacteria and mold in the
insulation. Heat exchange coils will
also be cleaned and disinfected.
A leak in a condensate collection
pan on an air-handling unit serving
the kindergarten pod cannot be
repaired so the entire unit will have
to be replaced. Because of a delay in
shipping the unit, it will not be re
placed during the two-week break.
Turner said the state consultant
will return to the school in late Janu
ary to do more testing of the air
quality at Lincoln and other schools
where the problem has not yet been
addressed.
School custodians across the
county will gather on January 22 for
a mandated workshop where they
will be instructed by company repre
sentatives on the correct ways to use
cleaning chemicals and equipment.
Superintendent Ralph Johnston
said a January 6 meeting has been
set up with Dr. Robert Powell of
North Carolina A&T University to
discuss the possibility of obtaining
an Environmental Protection
Agency grant to further study the
problem.
"We need to be looking at all the
avenues. We will not be content to
take just one approach to it We are
intent on pursuing this to get the
problem resolved," he said.
Crawford thanked the board for
the action taken so far to improve
the air quality.
"The odor that greeted us every
morning is now gone," she said, but
noted that students still have prob
lems with glassy and burning eyes,
and that on rainy days the allergic
reactions seem to worsen.
She asked the board to increase its
efforts by seeking out specialists
who can test for formaldehyde and
other chemicals, especially
pesticides which are sprayed regu
larly in the school.
"We’re putting toxins in these
schools," she said.
Pointing out that there are no
guidelines for indoor air quality,
Crawford asked the board to re
search and implement standards for
schools. She also asked that they set
higher standards for cleanliness and
extend their monitoring to outdoor
air samples if the problem continues
after January 4, when school is back
in session.
"We’re looking forward to coining
back to a safe building," she con
cluded.
Speight said she did not think the
board was taking the air quality
problem seriously, pointing out that
fogging the ducts won’t eliminate
problems with heating and air vents
and lights where dust and mildew
collect.
"Why waste money with just a
quick fix?” she asked the board.
When she asked where the money
would come from to pay for the im
provements, she said she was told if
the county commissioners did not
appropriate additional funds it
would be taken from curriculum
supplies, which she said is not the
place to cut She suggested the
board hold off on plans to build a
new central office and replace gym
floors and lights so classrooms will
be safer for students.
Speight said her son’s problems
started soon after he began attending
kindergarten classes at Lincoln Pri
mary. His first visit to the doctor
was September IS, and since then
he’s been on antibiotics all but ten
days.
Believing that her son’s problems
' \ -ft-/;, 1v

A few senior citizens of Southport remember
scenes like this which were enacted each afternoon
on the shrimp docks on the waterfront The
trawlers are shown in the background to be un
loaded in wire baskets like those in the foreground.
The shrimp were weighed and delivered to the head
ing house, to be iced and packed for shipment by
trucks to northern markets.
are more than just the normal
illnesses children experience when
they first attend school, Speight
said, "I’m not saying that’s what
made him sick, but it’s not letting
him get well."
Whether or not she sues the board
of education for her son’s illnesses
"depends on what the board does,
more than a Band-Aid approach.
They haven’t done anything.
They’ve done a lot of talking," she
said.
Jordan named
officer of year
Officer Gregory Jordan was
named Long Beach policeman of the
year in a ceremony held Saturday at
the Long Beach public safety build
ing.
Officer Samuel Massey was given
a commendation for lifesaving while
chief Danny Laughren, major
Johnny Freeman, sergeant William
Sisk and officers Richard Gainey
and Thomas Vernon received ad
vanced certifications from the state.
Sisk was recognized for 30 years
of police service while Freeman was
recognized for serving 20 years.
Laughren, Gainey and officer
Marvin Sharpe were recognized for
being on the force 15 years, Vernon
for being with the police ten years
while investigator Barbara Harvell,
sergeant Janet Allen and officer
Dennis Hedricks were cited for five
years of service.
College holiday
Brunswick Community College
will be closed to the public from
Wednesday, December 23, through
Monday, January 4.
The main campus at Supply and
the two satellite campuses in South
port and Leland will be closed dur
ing that time.
BCC faculty and students will be
gin their holiday on Monday, De
cember 21, and return to class on
January 4.
Meeting canceled
The regular meeting of the Bruns
wick Community College Board of
Trustees, scheduled for Wednesday,
December 16, has been canceled.
The next meeting will be held
Wednesday, January 20.
1
Boating Skills
& Seamanship
A course presented by U.S.
Coast Guard Aux. Flotilla
10-05. Registration Jan. 4,
1993 at the U.S. Coast
Guard Station Oak Island
at 7:00 p.m. $20.00 materi
als fee.
For information:
M. Fullwood 457-4512
H. Sweeny 278-5200
COUNTY BRIEFS
Belville to get riverside park
Brunswick County commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to con
tribute $50,000 towards construction of a boat ramp and park near Belville
along the Brunswick River.
The four-acre park eventually will include picnic shelters, viewing and
fishing platforms, a volleyball court and a tennis court, said county parks
and recreation director Bobby Jones, who will supervise the project.
Jones indicated he will spend the next several months planning for the
park, and that it would be spring at the earliest before any construction be
gins.
The state also has promised an undisclosed amount of money for the pro
ject and, once the boat ramp is completed, the Town of Belville has agreed
to assume all costs of maintaining the park.
"I hope the park will be a big interest and heavily used,” said Jones. "It’s
an ideal location to have access to the Cape Fear River."
Jones said Belville residents currently have to drive to Navassa or South
port to access the river.
ALS program back in service
Brunswick County’s Advanced Life Support (ALS) program was brought
back on line effective November 30, enabling county rescue workers to
once again use advanced lifesaving techniques such as administering in
travenous medications and using electronic defibrillators on heart attack
victims, county emergency medical services (EMS) director Doug Ledgett
announced this week.
County medical director H. L. Johnson suspended the program in August
due to apparent deficiencies in the ALS training program. Since then, all
county rescue workers have updated their ALS training in cooperation with
the state EMS office. Most rescue workers have been back at the defibril
lator level since October.
Register of Deeds files report
The Brunswick County Register of Deeds office reported total revenues
of $53,069.25 for the month of October.
Registrar Robert J. Robinson’s report said 528 deeds were recorded for
$4,520; 417 deeds of trust were recorded for $5,568; 37 plats were re
corded for $740; 92 financial statements were recorded for $736; 302
deeds of trust were canceled for fees totaling $1,510; 387 miscellaneous
recordings were issued for $3,282; 28 marriage licenses were issued for
$1,120; $33,117 was received in excise taxes; and $2,476.25 was derived
from miscellaneous services.
Reported office expenditures for the month totaled $4,837.
The registrar’s office also reported total revenues of $48,883 for the
month of November.
The report said 459 deeds were recorded for $3,866; 389 deeds of trust
were recorded for $5,194; 42 plats were recorded for $839; 93 financial
statements were recorded for $744; 363 deeds of trust were canceled for
$1,858; 344 miscellaneous recordings were issued for $3,077; 15 marriage
licenses were issued for $600; $30,563 was received in excise taxes; and
$2,142 was derived from miscellaneous services.
Reported office expenditures for November totaled $2,932.
VISA
Oak Island Pawn
| Bait & Tackle !
igaa E. Oak Island Dr., Long jfoaph,. .278.-7.5^»
We Buy
Bfow Making Loans • Fast Cash
p1;, Guns, Gold & Diamonds '
Bait & Tackle • Rods, Reels, Line
•tindavs

J
Gene Fuss, still fishing like crazy and tagging up a storm at the Bald
Head Marina mouth, reports the most recent episode in the puppy drum
catch-recatch saga there.
Near the end of the jetty one recent day Fuss hooked, landed, tagged and
released a couple of drum, then hooked another but lost it when his line
was cut on a piling barnacle. Thereafter Fuss sighted his broken-off float
cruising nearby, but he couldn’t snag it with another bare hook, as hard as
he tried. The Bald Head ferry came by and the bobber scooted away and
out of sight.
Not the end of the story.
For later in the day Fuss had another taker, and as his bobber went under
he set into something solid and reeled in his old float and leader, with a
previously tagged fish hooked thereon. But before he could land the fish it
became detached, and again disappeared.
Still not the end of story.
For next day Mark Mitchell was fishing in roughly the same spot and
again landed the fish that had been caught between one and two times the
day before — depending on how you score it.
Still not the end, in all likelihood, for Mitchell released the fish yet again.
Tag number 305902 is what you look for if you happen to be fishing
around Bald Head Marina this weekend.
Incidentally, drum are not the only hook-and-line saltwater fish available
these winter days, though they are normally the most obliging. Specialists
have been doing well on speckled trout in Walden Creek on recent moonlit
nights. And it’s certain that by now trout have started finding the anglers
lining the banks of the Davis Canal at Long Beach.
The other evening driving south through Pender County on 1-40 we were
first shocked, then excited, and finally pleased by the discovery of palms
growing along the roadside.
For about a mile on the west side of the highway, perhaps two or three
miles up from the Northeast Cape Fear River bridge, scrub palms grew in
great profusion, as thick as bracken but apparently the same low-standing
growth common on Bald Head Island.
Back home we asked plant specialist Vickie Burton what palms they
were likely to be. She said the common palms hereabouts, the ones we call
palmettos, are technically "sabal palms", and that the tall variety and the
smaller, shrub-like plants are essentially the same breed.
And so were those shrub-like plants in Pender County sabal palms?
The investigation is ongoing.
Spinoff from the Coastal Resources Commission decision Monday to
permit a protective seawall at Fort Fisher is that structures may also be
permitted to protect "commercial navigation channels of regional sig
nificance." No doubt that the Cape Fear entrance channel qualifies under
that description, but don’t look for any jetty work here. Jettying is some
thing never discussed, obviously because it would alleviate no local prob
lem.
What is considered the chief problem with the Cape Fear bar is lack of
channel depth, and the only cure seen for that is cutting - or blasting -
away at the rocky bottom.
r
i
hBRErINVENT 0RYJ5ALE
All Tackle
^somnm
BP a.m.-6:00 p.m. Mon.-Sat.
ill Boat Harbor, Southport
URE CATCH TACKL
Coastal Car Wash
& Mini Mart
Locally Owned & Operated « Long Beech Rd.
Southport * 457*4570
fr juet \
Arrived...
Large Selection of
Ball & Comic
Collection Cards
|B^nUghted ^
y Bar Signs
New Discontinued Item
Sm. $6.95
Lg. $15.00 ABR!
Dewey Stevens
L.A. Beer
Fountain
Coke
80*
Antifreeze
$4.90
gallon
Apply for CITGO
Credit Card • Cal]
1-800-00-CITOOt
It's that easy. Use youri
card fir any purchases
. in our stare
Wrc not just another convenient a
—-—— ---as,
Daily’* * Major
Peter's Wtl*er«