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| VOLUME 63/ NUMBER 43 SOUTHPORT, N.C. 50 CENTS | L,
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Sports
West Brunswick state foot
ball championship was the
top story this school year
Our Town
County zoning mistakes
are being corrected one by
one to meet residents’ needs
Festival '94
prepares to
greet crowd
By Cindy Aldridge
Feature Editor
Final touches are being put on plans for
the 1994 N. C. Fourth of July Festival, to
be held here July 24 as the state's official
observance of Independence Day.
Arts and crafts, military exhibits and
the Fourth of July parade, fireworks and
performance by the Embers highlight the
three-day celebration.
Opening ceremonies and a community
church service will be held at Southport
Baptist Church on Thursday, June 30,
7:15 p.m.
Beach Day will be held Friday, July 1,
starting at 8 a.m. at the Long Beach ca
bana. The day will be filled with surfing,
volleyball, horseshoes and watermelon
eating contests. Beach Day will conclude
with a concert by The Breeze Band arid a
shag contest between the cabana and
Middleton Park.
The official festival kickoff is Satur
day, July 2, with the five-kilometer Free
dom Run/Walk, starting on the waterfront
and winding through the streets of South
port. One of the festival's most popular
attractions, the arts and crafts exhibit in
Franklin Square will open on Saturday
and continue through Monday, July 4.
Also featured all three days are military
exhibits on the waterfront, an art show at
Franklin Square Gallery, tours of the Old
Brunswick Jail and nearly continuous
entertainment on the waterfront stage.
Southport Maritime Museum will be open
to festival visitors throughout the event.
Food vendors will line the streets sell
ing everything from sausage to seafood,
said Carolyn Price, president of the 1994
N. C. Fourth of July Festival Committee.
Saturday will offer a variety of other
activities, including children's field events
on the Garrison and the used book sale at
the Brunswick Community College an
nex.
Entertainment will include Category 5,
Wild Heart, Brian Manus. Southport Sea
coast Cloggers, Gary Nunnelee and Co.
See Festival, page 5
Forecast
The extended forecastcalls for more
of the same: highs near 90, lows in the
70s, chance of afternoon thunder
storms throughout the period. A
change in the forecast is expected
sometime in early September.
The State Port Pitot
&Pilot Line
THE TALKING NEWSPAPER
Weather updates are available on
Pilot Line. Dial 457-5084, then ex
tension 191.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, JUNE 23
8:30 am. 2:29 a.m.
9:08 p.m. 2:34 p.m.
FRIDAY, JUNE 24
9:25 a.m. 3:20 a.m.
9:58 p.m. 3:25 p.m.
SATURDAY, JUNE 25
10:17 a.m.
10:46 p.m.
11:07 a.m.
11:33 pm
11:57 a.m.
-pm.
SUNDAY, JUNE 26
MONDAY, JUNE 27
4:08 a.m.
4:14 p.m.
4:55 a.m.
5:03 p.m.
5:41 a.m.
5:52 p.m.
TUESDAY, JUNE 28
12:19 a.m. 6:26 a.m.
12:46 p.m. 6:42 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29
1:05 a.m. 7:13 a.m.
1:35 p.m. 7:33 p.m.
The following 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 Inlet, high -22, low -8.
'Nothing but good’ can result
Discipline is among
top school concerns
By Terry Pope
County Editor
When residents analyze the Brunswick County school
system, negative thoughts most often come to mind.
That's the result of a February poll conducted by an
education coalition led by the Southport-Oak Island
Chamber of Commerce.
"Forty-four percent gave us a grade of D or F," said
Frank Blackmon, school volunteer and a Carolina
Power and Light Co. Brunswick nuclear plant em
ployee who facilitated the survey. "So we have some
work to do. We just need to go out and do it."
A survey was sent to 1,636 persons who live or work
in Brunswick County and was randomly distributed to
get a cross section of the community. Of those. 668
surveys were returned, or 43.5 percent.
For the most part, answers reveal the public has a
poor opinion of the school system and believes its main
problems are a lack of discipline, a lack of parent and
student interest and poor teacher performance in the
classrooms.
Educators say they must work harder to build public
trust in the schools. Opinions show there is work to be
done, said school superintendent Ralph Johnston.
"While it may appear negative, I think it's one of the
most positive pieces of work involving cham be rs across
the county," said Johnston. "It can't produce anything
but positive results."
The Southport-Oak Island Chamber of Commerce
Board of Directors was moved by recent regional, state
and federal interests to become involved in long-range
educational improvement at the local level. It worked
with the school system and the Brunswick County
Parent Teacher Association Council to form an educa
tion committee to study reform.
Members were also named from the Brunswick
See Schools, page 6
Public Attitudes Towards
Education in Brunswick County
1994 Survey Results
■ Positive
El Neutral
E3 Negative
•figures reflect percentaoe
of responder**

The 728, a World War II PT boat disguised as another World
War II patrol-torpedo craft, was hauled out at Southport
Marina on Tuesday and is expected to remain there some time
Photo by Jim Harper
for repairs. Torpedo tubes are the only armament to be seen
now, but when she sails machine guns and an automatic cannon
are also prominently displayed.
Squad fund
balance: no
emergency
By Terry Pope
County Editor
When fire and rescue volunteers learned the
proposed county budget cuts all emergency
district allocations this year, they complained.
"I think they were misinformed," said Don
Warren of District 1, chairman of the Brun
swick County Board of Commissioners.
No additional money will be set aside this
year because the pot of funds has grown, and
officials believe it should more than meet the
departments' needs.
"I'm in better shape than I thought 1 was,"
said Donald Shaw, District 5 commissioner.
Shaw had county finance director Lithia
Hahn check on the balance for each district at
a budget workshop on Monday.
Traditionally, $50,000 is placed in a special
account for each of the county's five districts
each year.
That money is used to pay for fire and rescue
See Emergency, page 6
'Sustained improvement'
CP&L comes off
NRC 'watch list'
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
The Brunswick Nuclear Plant, on the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission's "watch list” for two
years, is expected to be formally relieved from
NRC "close scrutiny" Thursday after showing
"sustained improvement sufficient to warrant
removal from the problem plant category."
In a letter to CP&L president William S.
Cavanaugh III on Tuesday the NRC's execu
tive director for operations said, "Your actions
have been effective in substantially improving
the safety performance of the Brunswick
Nuclear Plant. Therefore the NRC has deter
mined that the enhanced level of regulatory
monitoring is no longer warranted."
The Brunswick plant fell to the woeful state
of having to shut itself down in the face of NRC
See CP&L, page 6
‘Management has ef
fectively corrected the
weaknesses and un
derlying root causes
that led to previous per
formance problems
James M. Taylor
NRC operations director
Long Beach
rate drops
five cents
Hy Holly Edwards
Municipal Editor
Long Beach property owners will pay more
in taxes despite the five-cent reduction in the
lax rate, but will not see an increase in their
water rates or garbage collection fees.
The town council Tuesdav night unanimously
approved a $4.8-million budget for the next
fiscal year with a tax rate of 36 cents. The
budget will take effect July 1.
Due to the recent countywide property re
valuation. the town's tax base increased from
$362 million to about $457 million. That means
despite the tax rate decrease the total tax levy
will increase about S150,000. for a total levy of
$1.6 million.
While there is no increase reflected in the
water rate, that could change if the county
approves its recommended ten-cents-per-1,000
gallon increase in the cost of water it provides,
said public works director Charles Derrick.
Finance officer Cathy Harvell estimated that
when the budget takes effect next month the
See Long Beach, page 8
Lakes tax
rate down
by 10 cents
Boiling Spring Lakescommission
erslowered the city's tax rate from 40
cents per $100 of property valuation
to 30 cents following Tuesday night's
public hearing on the budget pro
posal.
Commissioners then unanimously
approved the $904JOObudget, which
will take effect July 1.
The recent countywide property
revaluation increased the town's tax
base from about $58 million to an
estimated $72 million. Finance com
missioner Bert Buckbee pointed out
that some residents who live on Boii
ing Spring Lake wUlseea30ipercem
increase in their county taxes due to
the increased value of their property.
To achieve thereduetioa, coramis
stoners Tuesday night deleted fund*
ing for an addition to City Hall and
the purchase of a new police car.
The tax levy isnow estimated to be
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