Southport, N.C.
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Volume 62/ Number 52
August 18,1993/ 50 cents
INSIDE
Sports, page IB
Classifieds, p. 1C
complete
Long Beach
may purchase „
tract of land
By Holly Edwards
Municipal Editor
Following an executive session
Tuesday night, the Long Beach
Town Council called for a special
meeting to authorize the mayor,
town clerk and town manager to en
ter into contract for the purchase of
land for the town’s "long-range in
frastructure needs".
The meeting will be held Tuesday,
August 24, at 7 p.m. in the recrea
tion center.
The contract is said to involve the
purchase of about 100 acres of land
owned by International Paper Com
pany located on the north side of the
Intracoastal Waterway. The town is
said to be purchasing the land for
potential future use as a sewage
treatment plant site.
Town officials would not com*
ment on the proposed land acquisi
tion Tuesday because they said they
feared it would damage the contract
negotiations, which are still in prog
ress. The price of the land has not
yet been set, as well as a number of
other details, said council member
David Durr.
Mayor Joan Altman indicated that
the price and all of the contractual
details will be ready for settlement
by Tuesday, and that more informa
tion would be available at that time.
The town reportedly intends to
spend approximately $180,000 for
the land, but the final cost will
depend upon results of the land sur
vey.
In other business discussed by the
Long Beach Town Council Tues
day:
•Carlton (Gene) Frazier, Joseph
Edwards and Horace Duncan were
appointed to the planning board, and
Donald Meyers and Donald McNeill
were appointed to the board of ad
justments.
•A public information meeting on
the proposed land use plan update
was scheduled for Tuesday, Septem
See Long Beach, page 6
Manager Mike Sapp stands before the Odell Wil
liamson Auditorium at Brunswick Community Col
lege which will be used for Friday’s graduation
ceremonies. Construction is not yet complete, but
the college trustees agreed last week to take posses
1'hoto by Jim Harper
sion of the building for two days to hold graduation
exercises. It will then be turned back over to
Hatcher Construction for completion, which
originally had been scheduled for October, 1,992.
City trying to clear-up water problem
Old pump in Franklin Square could be source
By Holly Edwards
Municipal Editor
Southport's oldest and most heavily
used well will be overhauled during
the next two weeks in an attempt by
city officials to solve a recurring wa
ter problem for some city residents -
sand- and silt-ridden tap water.
City manager Rob Gandy told the
board of aldermen Thursday night
that the estimated cost of having the
Franklin Square Park well cleaned
and putting in a screen to filter out
contaminants would be about $12.500.
The contractor hired to pertorm
these tasks. Skipper Well Drilling of
Leland. is expected to install the stain
less steel screen this week and clean
the well next week. The well should
then be back in service later thismonth,
said public services director Ed
Honeycutt.
The Franklin Square Park well was
built in 1957, when screens were not
a requirement. The Leonard Street
well also does not have a screen,
Honeycutt said, but it is newer and not
as heavily used as the Franklin Square
Park well. However, he added that
someday it too will need to have a
screen installed.
The screen will be placed between
the water source and the pump to filter
out sand and rock. Gandy said he
hopes the screen will also extend the
life of the well and the pump by de
creasing the amount of water flow
through them.
In the past, the well has pumped an
average of 350 gallons per minute,
Gandy said, while the other wells
pumped about 250 gallons per minute.
He said he believes the larger amount
of water pressure has been one of the
reasons tne hranknn square t-’ark wen
has been a problem.
The county is providing the city
with water during peak hours of de
mand while the well is out of service.
Gandy said he hopes screening the
well will solve most of the water
problems in the downtown area, but
conceded that the well is not the only
cause of water problems in Southport.
Honeyctt explained that minerals
found in the water source can cause a
rotten-egg smell and discoloration in
tap water that spends too much time in
See Water, page 6
Town official blames fishery
Dead menhaden wash ashore
m
By Hotly Edwards
Municipal Editor
About 45,000 menhaden washed ashore in Long Beach Friday
between die 1600Mockof East Beach Drive and 58th Street SE,
ten days after an estimated 2,000 menhaden washed ashore cm the
west end of the strand.
Town managerTim Johnson said he intends to send a $1,300bill
to Beaufort Fisheries, the company that owns tire menhaden boms
operating inthe areaonboth occasions, tocompensate the town for
its costs of burying tire fish.
However, Beaufort Fisheries president and manager JtdeWheaily
said his company is not responsible for the fish kill, and has not
received any reports of broken nets. He also said that what
menhaden boats have a fish spill, the dead fish are “knee-deep“ on
store.
"All I can teH you is if it was us we would have had it all cleaned
up by now,” Wheatly said. "We get blamed for every damned
thing dial happens, even when we aren’t there."
N. C. Marine Fisheries representative Pete Rivenbark said this
week that wider tests in the area have shown no indication of an
algae bloom, and he has therefore ruled ml the possibility of
something in die water killing the fish. The only possible cause of
the problem is therefore scant sort of fishing vessel, he said, but
unless someone witnesses die spill there is not much marine
fisheries can do.
"Right now we have no ideahow it happened," Rivenbark said.
"Ifsjnstone of those things."
Johnson expressed frustration at the marine fisheries’ lack of
action, and atWheatly's unwillingness to admit responsibility for i
Board tightens
'purse strings'
on school fund
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Action taken by county officials
Monday places tighter control over
the funds spent to make repairs at
schools.
Such expenditures were loosely
accounted for in the past, but the po
litical fallout from last week's budget
mediation prompted county commis
sioners to watch the wallet more
closely.
Don Warren, chairman of the
Brunswick County Board of Com
missioners, said county employees
who perform work at the schools don't
always document the expense.
Often the small projects are done to
help out a neighbor.
County officials now want work
orders submitted for every job, to
show actual costs and a running total
of money spent for education.
"Now, they will have to pay fbr it."
said Warren, whose motion passed
unanimously.
It was one of two motions approved
as a measure to tighten the reins on
school spending and to determine just
how much tax money is spent on
county schools.
Commissioners believe some ex
penses. the county incurs to keep
schools operating and to get high
school athletic fields ready for games
are lost in the budgets.
A resolution approved Monday also
prevents the school board from in
creasing or decreasing any county
funded line item by more than ten
percent without prior approval of com
missioners. State law gives counties
authority to place clamps on school
budget transfers or amendments from
ten to 25 percent.
Following a marathon 14-hour
mediation process last Tuesday, com
missioners and school officials
reached an out-of-court settlement that
will provide up to S865.000 this fiscal
year for a new elementary school in
the Leland area. That money will come
from the county's fund balance with
no tax increase expected.
Also. S556.672 was transferred
within the school budget to current
expenses. The Category II and Cat
egory III funds are normally used for
school supplies and transportation.
The Brunswick County Board of
Education had asked for $4.2 million
to build the school and an additional
See Fund, page 6
School officials say
session a learning
experience for some
By Marybeth Bianchi
Feature Editor
After the effects of last week's mara
thon session between the Brunswick
County Board of Education and the
county board of commissioners had
worn off. school officials said they
were pleased that lines of communi
cation had been opened.
"What I'm hearing across the county
is,' We're pleased the two boards were
able to come together ," Supt. Ralph
Johnston said. "The biggest thing that
emerged... 1 think these boards dem
onstrated we re building trust."
School and county leaders met for
14 hours last week to hammer out a
funding compromise. The school sys
tem had requested more money than
the county was willing to give. But
after hours of negotiation, they worked
out a solution: the county would allo
cate funds to buy land and plan for
construction of a Leland area elemen
tary school, and the school system
would transfer money budgeted for
equipment and vehicles to current
expense where it will be used for pay
for instruction and support programs.
In addition the two boards agreed
they, as well as county and school
See Session, page 6
CP&L, NRC
meet Thursday
Of fic i als of Carolina Power
and Light Co. and the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission will
meet at 1 p.m, Thursday to
discuss progress in getting
Brunswick nudearplant Unit
1 ready for restart.
Unit 2 restarted in April af
ter more than a year's shut
down for repairs and mainte
nance. Unit 1 has also been
undergoing repairs and main
( tenance under NRC supervi
sion since April, 1992.
The meeting is open the
; public, and will be held in the
assembly building at the
CP&L visitor center.
OUTSIDE
Forecast
The extended forecast
Thursday through Sat
urday calls for partly
cloudy skies with a
chance of thunder
storms. Highs will be in
the lower 9,0s, lows in
the 70s.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, AUGUST 19
9:51 a.m. 3:38 a.m.
10:09 p.m. 3:59 p.m.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 20
10:44 a.m. 4:24 am.
11:39 p.m. 4:51p.m.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 21
11:39 a.m. 5:13 a.m.
11:51p.m. 5:44 p.m.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 22
-a.m. 6:03 am.
12:34 p.m. 6:42 p.m.
MONDAY, AUGUST 23
12:45 a.m. 6:56 am.
1:35 p.m. 7:41p.m.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 24
1:45 am. 7:54 am.
2 36 p.m. 8:45 pjn.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 25
2:48 am. 8:57 am.
3:40 p.m. 9:50 p.m.
The following adjustments should be made:
Bald Head Island, high -10, low -7; Caswell
Beach, high -5, tow -1; Southport, high +7,
low -t 15; Yaupon Beach, high -32, low -45;
Lockwood Folly Inlet, high -22, low -8.