Neighbors
Over 400 horsemen rode at
Long Beach to benefit the
volunteer fire department
Our Town
Warm weather brings out
the flowers - and gypsy
moths; spraying will start
Sports
All Brunswick County
teams play this week in the
Seashell baseball tourney
Forecast
The extended forecast calls for
partly cloudy skies Thursday
through Sunday, with highs in the
60s and lows in the 40s.
baster sunnse services will be
held at 6:30 a.m. Sunday. Loca
tions are the Southport Commu
nity Building on the waterfront,
the N. C. Baptist Assembly at
Fort Caswell, and the Bald Head
Island lighthouse.
The State Port Pilot
■l&Pilnt Tin?
THE TALKING NEWSPAPER
Weather updates are available
onPilot Line. Dial 457-5084, then
extension 191. Other Pilot Line
services are listed on page 6.
SPRING
Daylight Savings Time chimes
in at 1 a.m. Sunday when clocks
should be set ahead one hour.
Remember "Spring forward, Fall
back."
Coming up...
THE ROBERT RUARK
CHILI COOKOFF will be held
Saturday in Southport's Franklin
Square Park. The event also fea
tures arts and crafts and entertain
ment.
SOUTHPORT REMEMBERS
will present an April 9-10 com
memoration of the town's role in
World War D. The SeaNotes Cho
ral Society will perform during
the event in the Community Build
ing, originally constructed for the
USO in the 1940s.
ART IN THE PARK will be
held Saturday, April 16, in
Franklin Square. The event will
feature a variety of entertainment
as well as activities for children
and other people.
Tide table
HIGH. LOW
THURSDAY, MARCH 31
11:03 aa 4:56a.m.
11:41p.m. 5:06 pjn.
FRIDAY, APRIL 1
12:02 a.m. 5:53 a.m.
-p.m. 6:04 p.m.
SATURDAY, APRIL 2
12:41 ajn. 6:53 a.m.
1:04 p.m. 7:06 p.m.
DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME BEGINS
SUNDAY, APRIL 3
1:43 a.m. 8:54 a.m.
3:07 p.m. , 9:11p.m.
Monday, april 4
3:45 a.m. 9:55 a.m.
4:10 p.m. 10:15 p.m.
TUESDAY, APRIL 5
4:44 a.m. 10:51a.m.
5.08 pm. 11:14 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6
5:39 a.m. 11:42 a.m.
600 p.m. p.m.
; Photo by Jim Harper
Sun sets over the Southport yacht basin, an active harbor and in every season one of the main attractions, on Southport's Rivenvalk.
Long Beach forum
Candidates address issues
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A performance audit for county government? Shouldn't the doors be
open 24 hours at the sheriffs department?
Some candidates have ideas about how to run the county or how to
provide better law enforcement if they are elected.
Several spoke at a candidates forum sponsored by the Long Beach
United for Progress committee last week.
Four Democrats for sheriff, two Republican candidates for the
District 3 commissioners seat and two school board hopefuls attended.
"The present commissioners just about demanded that the board of
education have a performance audit," said Bob Slockett of Yaupon
Beach, a Republican candidate for the District 3 commissioner's seat
"I'm in favor of a performance audit for county government."
Both the school board and county commissioners agreed last week
to pay half for an efficiency audit of the school system to cover all areas
of its operation. In 1991, the county hired David M. Griffith and
Associates to conduct a similar review of county departments.
The commissioners made personnel cuts in areas where Griffith’s
study indicated they were needed and hired in areas that were under
staffed.
"I agree that a performance audit is a good business tool," added
Leslie Collier of Long Beach, who faces Slockett in the May 3
Republican primary. A business owner and nurse, she said commis
See Forum, page 6
CRC help
asked for
wetlands
Martin Marietta
coiild be affected
By Terry Pope
County Editor
The battle over a proposed mining operation
near Southport entered a new arena when it
landed on the table before the N. C. Coastal
Resources Commission last week.
Residents say they need quick action to pro
tect the underground Castle Hayne aquifer, a
source of drinking water for parts of Brunswick
County, but Martin Marietta officials believe
such a proposal is just an attempt to sabotage
their state mining permits.
Both sides must wait at least two months
before the CRC settles the dispute. The board
wants more information from the N. C. Divi
sion of Coastal Management before it decides
whether to designate land between Southport
and Boiling Spring Lakes as an "area of envi
ronmental concern” aimed to protect against
dewatering of the aquifer.
"I am not addressing any permits," said
Rosetta Short of Long Beach. "The permits will
take care of themselves through the many agen
cies."
Ms. Short, who serves on the Coastal Re
sources Advisory Council, in January nomi
nated the large tract as an area of environmental
concern before the CRC, which met at Sunset
Beach and meets again in May. Her goal is to
protect wetlands, prime nursery waters,
limesinks and both federal and state endan
gered species along Walden Creek and its tribu
taries which feed into the Cape Fear River north
of Southport
The map has since been revised to exclude
Carolina Power and Light Co.'s Brunswick
nuclear plant property, but includes all of the
600 acres Martin Marietta owns and 400 acres
See Wetlands, page 6
‘I don’t think you can
say this area is un
touched or has been un
changed by human ac
tivity
John Long
Martin Marietta
Long Beach Poly-cart
opinions being sought
By Holly Edwards
Municipal Editor
Stray Poly-carts clutter roadsides in Long Beach and sometimes roll into the path of vehicles,
but town officials admit they don't know what to do about the problem.
Council member Jeff Ensminger recently proposed an ordinance that would require all
property owners to place their Poly-carts at the roadside no more than 24 hours prior to trash
collection, and to remove them no more than 24 hours after trash collection. Poly-carts left out
for longer periods would be subject to confiscation, and property owners would have to pay $25
to recover them.
"We've haggled over this thing for three years, and we've heard all kinds of proposed
solutions," Ensminger told the council. "But I haven't been able to come up with anything more
than what I've come up with."
A public hearing on the proposal will be held April 19 prior to the council's next meeting.
Mayor Joan Altman urged all out-of-town property owners, and all in-town residents who
cannot attend the hearing, to mail their comments and suggestions to Town Hall.
While town residents complain the Poly-carts are unsightly and unsafe, out-of-town property
owners say they cannot drive hundreds of miles back to town just to remove their Poly-carts from
the roadside.
"I hope you realize what a tremendous burden this will place on absentee property owners,"
Raleigh resident and Pelican Drive homeowner Herb Home told the council. "For the life of me
I cannot see how we can come down here 24 hours before the trash is collected and put our Poly
cart out"
Some town residents also say the proposed ordinance would be too restrictive.
"I live here, but once a month I leave on Friday and come back on Monday," said Harold
Watson. "I put the cart back in my yard as soon as I get back, but they'd tow that thing off before
See Poly-cart, page 6
Town considers special
charge for water usage
SKiiS:
ill
111
By Holly Edwards
Municipal Editor
Swimming pool owners in Yaupon
Beach will have a once-a-year oppor
tunity to fill their pools and pay water
costs only* and gardeners will be able
to purchase a second water meter to
record outdoor water use and thereby
eliminate sewer lees on that water
ersaj^twetite recommendations they
considered Monday in a workshop
session,
Ctmimissirnwrsdirectedtownciedc
Nancy Wilson to draft an ordinance
lusting the recommendations, and for
sultant Finley Boney and town attor
ney Jim Prevatte ter review.
TIi© board recommended that resi
iii
m
m p
mm&
See Water usage, pagef; \ j
Yaupon sewer
could back up
By Holly Edwards
Municipal Editor
Yaupon Beach commissioners
? met in executive session Monday
night to discuss what mayor May
Moore called a "snag" in comple
tion of the town's sewage treatment
plant
The bond will reconvenefa ex
ecutive session today (Wednesday)
at 4:30 p,m. to continue its discus*
sion.
The infiltration basin, where the
treated wastewater isapplied, is not
working properly and could flood if
See Sewer, page 8