INSIDE
Sports, page 12
Classifieds, p. 1C
Tv
Volume 62/ Number 25
Southport, N.C
February 10,1993/ 50 cents
Fraud puts stamp on program
Abuse hurts those who need assistance
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Shirley Weston steers an imagi
nary car across her office, gripping
the wheel with both hands to demon
strate how someone who lives in Penn
sylvania drives for hours to pick up
food stamps issued in Brunswick
County.
"To them it's worth it," said Ms.
Weston. "Food stamps can buy a lot
of crack (cocaine). It's a big business.
It goes on all over the country."
Last year, her office collected more
than $29,000 from persons caught
defrauding the Brunswick County
Department of Social Services of food
stamps they didn’t need. As one of
two fraud investigators, her job is to
track down the suspects and haul them
to court.
Persons out to abuse the system
often file for food stamps in several
states, wherever they may have rela
tives or can open post office boxes.
She has found ones with homes in
Florida, Tennessee, New York and
South Carolina who defraud the
county of up to $580 a month in food
stamps.
Often the stamps are sold illegally
at below value to retailers who turn a
profit by cashing them in, or to drug
dealers who turn the federally funded
paper slips into green cash. If caught,
retailers also face prosecution.
"It's worth it,” said Ms. Weston.
"It's worth driving from the other end
A day’s work ends with tamping a piling freshly
installed at the end of the Yaupon Beach fishing
pier. Reconstruction of the structure has passed the
Photo by Jim Harper
450-foot mark -- roughly the half-way point -- and
work continues with an eye toward opening for
business in March.
of South Carolina for $500. That does
go on, especially with us being near
the South Carolina border. It's very
easy and convenient."
Dual participation cases are those
where the clients receive food stamps
in more than one state, and she worked
six such cases in Brunswick County
last year. Others may file false re
ports, make errors on their applica
tions or mistakenly receive stamps
due to administrative errors. Some
defendants are given active jail terms,
and all are ordered to repay DSS for
what they have stolen.
However, many Brunswick County
residents who receive food stamps do
need them to buy food for their fami
lies. Eligibility is based on income
and the number of persons in a house
hold. Approximately 2,418 county
households received stamps valued at
$398,927 in December. Figures indi
cate that number is growing, up from
2,361 families in November.
"Without them, they would have
problems," she said. "The majority of
clients are truly in need. Those are not
the kind of people I'm talking about
when I'm talking about fraud."
DSS hired two investigators, who
have both earned national certifica
tion,in 1988 and collected $19,376 in
repayments that year. Thedepartment
also received $18,814 in 1989,
See Fraud, page 16
MSS®
Maybe in March
'Aggressive' schedule
aims at CP&L restart
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Officials at Carolina Power and
Light Co.'s Brunswick nuclear plant
near Southport say they are working
an "aggressive" schedule to restart
one reactor unit next month and a
second one in June.
But a problem with a large cooling
system valve may push that plan a few
weeks behind schedule.
Roy Anderson, vice-president of
CP&L's Brunswick plant, said the
company will know more this week
when workers take the valve apart to
determine what repairs are needed. If
there are no delays, the company will
restart Unit 2 around March 21 and
Unit 1 by June 7.
"They have a lot of work to do, and
there's only about seven weeks to do
it in," said Stewart Ebneter, Region II
administrator for the Nuclear Regula
tory Commission.
‘You heard me as
king, "Who is
responsible?" There
seems to be a little
mix-up on who’s in
charge, but I think
it’s getting better ’
Stewart Ebneter
NRC administrator
CP&L officials met with the NRC
last Thursday to review progress on
plans to restart the Brunswick steam
electric plant. Both generating units
have been shut down since April 21 of
last year when inspectors found faulty
construction in the diesfel generator
building walls.
Engineers have used a low-density
silicone filler to slope and to line the
concrete walls where the problem area
was discovered, a move that should
provide permanent protection there,
said CP&L's Morris Brown.
"We're in the process of learning
what it's like to go through a rigorous
startup," said Brown. ”We are getting
our operators ready."
Those operators are also visiting
other plants and undergoing simula
tor training, he said.
The NRC will meet with CP&L
officials again in early March to re
view plans to restart Unit 2. NRC staff
will also observe how plant operators
train prior to restarting.
"We're not here to requalify them,"
said Peter Koltay of NRC's opera
tional readiness assessment team, "but
See Restart, page 16
OUTSIDE
Forecast
Showers and thunder
storms are likely Thurs
day and Friday, with high
temperatures in the 60s
and lows in the 40s. The
extended forecast calls
for breezy weather and
partly cloudy skies Satur
day and Sunday, with
highs in the 50s and lows
in the 30s.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11
11:23 ajn. 5:14 a.m.
-p.m. 5:32 p.m.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12
12:03 ajn. 6:09 a.m.
12:17 pjn. 6:27 p.m.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13
1:02 a.m. 7:09 a.m.
1:17 p.m. 7:26 p.m.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 14
2:05 a.m. 8:14 a.m.
2:18 p.m. 8:28p.m.
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15
3:07 a.m. 9:17 a.m.
3:23 p.m. 9:31p.m.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16
4:08 ajn. 10:16 a.m.
4:22 p.m. 10:28 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 17
5:04 ajn. 11:09 a.m.
5:15p.m. 11:20p.m.
The Mowing 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.
Fight rumors
disrupt schools
By Marybeth Bianchi
Feature Editor
Last week was not an easy one at the two South Brunswick schools on
Cougar Drive.
Rumors of knives, guns, racial unrest at the high school and a possible
riot in the middle school circulated throughout the Southport-Oak Island
area for days, culminating on Friday when many parents either kept their
children at home or picked them up early in the day.
Even so, it turned out to be a fairly quiet day with no major distur
bances, according to school officials.
Leslie Collier of Long Beach and about 30 other parents joined a
sheriffs department deputy and central office administrator^ in patrolling
the middle school. She said they were there to send the message that they
See Rumors, page 16
Lewis new principal
Mose Lewis was named Mon
day night lo serve as principal
of South Brunswick Middle
School the remainder of this
school year.
The Brunswick County Board
«P*
:•'! at Waccamaw Elementary <|
School the move comes after a
week of unrest at the school in '
[pthich rumors of a riot on Fri*
to the school and emptied class
\ towns.
m
Lewis will be taking over fofif
Les Tubb, who was granted a -
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KKy 'if