i ii i »fl Mil 111
The Sea Notes and others
take a sentimental journey
back to World War II
50 CENTS T
VOLUME 63/ NUMBER 33
SOUTHPORT, N.C.
Our Town
won
Bald Head owners think
taxes are too high; officials
say they could be right
Sports
Preliminaries are over and
the Cougars is ready for
Waccamaw baseball warfare
Forecast
The extended forecast calls for
partly cloudy skies Thursday through
Saturday with high temperatures each
day in the 70s. Nighttime lows are
expected to stay in the 50s.
The State Port Pilot
MtPilot Line
THE TALKING NEWSPAPER
Weather updates are available on
Pilot Line. Dial 457-5084, then ex
tension 191.
Coming up...
ART IN THE PARK will be held
Saturday in Franklin Square. The
event will feature a variety of enter
tainment as well as activities for chil
dren and other people.
Library to close
here, Oak Island
service to begin
The Southport library will close for
remodeling Monday, April 18, and the G.
V. Barbee Sr. library branch on Oak Is
land is now expected to open Monday,
May 2.
f Books may be checked out at the South
port branch through Saturday, and may be
returned to the Barbee branch after May 2.
During the two-week period when neither
branch will be open, books may be re
turned at a drop box in the United Carolina
Bank downtown office lobby.
Children's storytime schedulesand sum
mer reading program plans will be an
nounced as soon as possible after the
move, said library director Reecie Tate.
Tate also said that all valid Brunswick
County library cards may be used at any
county library branch.
The Shallotte library branch closed
Monday for remodeling and a temporary
See Library, page 8
Jack Snyder not only emceed the Sunday Sea Notes performance in the "South
port Remembers World War II" series but provided some of the memorabilia on
display, including this autographed photo of Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Snyder
served on MacArthur’s staff.
Spraying for the gypsy moth began at sunup Friday over Bald
Head Island and Ocean Isle Beach, and will continue this week
with teams of aircraft working specified areas each day. The
Photo by Jim Harper
location and type of impending spray may be checked each eve
ning by calling (800) 449-9007 for recorded Department of Agri
culture information.:
5j000_acre£ near Southport
Rezoning sought by county
By Terry Pope
County Edita*
What county commissioners heard from
Long BeachresidentRosettaShorton Monday
was convincing.
The board voted unanimously to ask that
5,000 acres she wants set aside for environ
mental protection be rezoned from heavy in
dustrial to residential use.
It includes all of the 1,000-acre tract north of
Southport that the mining company Martin
Marietta Aggregates has purchased or leased
with plans to open a rock quarry.
District 3 commissioner Wayland Vereen's
motion to "initiate the process to rezone the
acreage back to residential" passed unani
mously. The request will be sent to the Brun
swick County Planning Board for a public
hearing and a recommendation.
Commissioners must also hold a public hear
ing but are not bound to accept decisions of the
planning board, which last fall refused to re
zone the land when pressured to do so by
members of the Brunswick Mining Awareness
Committee opposition group.
"This rezoning will not stop development,"
said Ms. Short, who serves on the N. C. Coastal
Resources Commission Advisory Council. Last
month, she presented a plan to the CRC that
nominates the acreage for an "area of environ
mental concern” to protect wetlands, marshes
and streams that feed into the Cape Fear River.
Another concern is that heavy industry and
deep mines would drain the underground aqui
fer and damage limesink ponds along with
protected animal and plant species.
The CRC will decide at its meeting in New
Bern next month Whether to conduct a full
See Rezoning, page 8
Moth
spray
begins
Schedule depends
on winds and rain
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A threat of rain Tuesday afternoon tempo
rarily grounded planes spraying for a local
gypsy moth invasion.
But two days of excellent weather helped the
N. C. Department of Agriculture's pest eradica
tion program get underway.
The planes have yet to complete patterns
over the Southport-Oak Island community but
have fumigated areas to both the north and
south.
By Tuesday all areas targeted for Gypchek, a
biological insecticide which won't harm other
insects, had been sprayed at least once with the
more environmentally sensitive formula. Those
areas include the eastern portion of Bald Head
Island, Bluff Island, Mirra- Lake and Pretty
Pond in Boiling Spring Lakes.
Also, more than 53,000 acres had been
sprayed with Bt, another biological insecticide
which agents hope will stop the pest that began
hatching from eggs three weeks ago.
"For the most part, I think we've got the
people's support," said Dan Wall, spray project
coordinator with the NCDA. "With something
this large and affecting this number of people,
you're always going to have concerns."
An Asian strain of the gypsy moth flew from
a ship docked at Military Ocean Terminal Sunny
Point north of Southport last July. Agriculture
experts fear if the pest isn't stopped now it could
lead to a rapid outbreak across the United
States. An estimated 130,000 acres will be
See Moths, page 7
County, school boards
discuss Leland funding
Two county boards which have clashed in the past over school finances have finally agreed toi
a joint meeting this week.
Commissioners and the school board will meet Thursday, April 14, at noon in the conference
room at Brunswick Community College.
The topic: How to fund construction costs for the new $6.4-million elementary school at
Leland.
It is the same room where the two boards met last fall but under different circumstances. Last
September, a mediator hammered out a deal there to end a dispute between the two boards over
school funding.
I believe they just don't understand the financing package," said Don Warren of District 1,
See Funding, page 7
6Wonderful child’ remembered
A month after fire, parents coping with loss
By HoRy Edwards
Municipal Editor
These verses were written by Oak Island
resident Chace Johnson in honor of Jaryn
Halley Harrison, 7, and
her grandmother Jean
Harrison, who died
March 12 In a house
rim in Long Beach.
Johnson is one of
many area residents
deeply affected by the
tragedy, and who have
come forward to sup
port the family, sand
Fritz and Hina
Harrison, Jaryn's father
and mother.
believed in everybody loving eachotheC
said Mrs. Harrison. "And with her death
the whole community came together.”
Fritz Harrison recalled thathis daughter
used to pray every day that people would
On the wings of a comet you came
Like a bright and shining star;
Touching the spirits of many,
Spreading the light near and far.
After many months of physical toil,
A beauljful princess for Grandma to spoil.
The years rushed by
And the two became one;
Grandma and child,
A new sojourn begun.
We do not know why
You left us so soon,
And our questions will linger
For many phases of the moon.
So Grandma and child,
Like one bright shooting star;
Our emotions rest in knowing
In God’s own wings you are.
be kinder to eachotber,
"All the love that was
felt that day in church
during the memorial
service was what she
prayed for every day
of her life. She wanted
the world to be a nicer
place," he said.
The Harrisons said
they take comfort in
knowing Jaryn is in
Heaven withher ,,
e State Port Pilot, call (910)^457-4568