| VOLUME 63/NUMBER 48 SOUTHPORT, N.C. 50 CENTS |
Our Town
Work continues on the
Southport branch of the
county library -- page 2
Neighbors
VISTA workers are help
ing spread the word about
the literacy program - 3B
Sports
Football practice for
Brunswick county schools
opens Saturday - page 12
Forecast
The extended forecast calls for a
60-percent chance of showers on
Thursday with a high in the mid-80s.
Partly cloudy skies are expected Fri
day through Sunday, with highs in
the 80s and lows between 70 and 75
degrees.
The State Port Pilot
Line
THE TALKING NEWSPAPER
Weather updates are available on
Pilot Line. Dial 457-5084, then ex
tension 191.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, JULY 28
12:23 a.m. 6:31 a.m.
12:51p.m. 6:53 p.m.
FRIDAY, JULY 29
1:05 a.m. 7:15 a.m.
1:37 p.m. 7:43 p.m.
SATURDAY, JULY 30
1:50 a.m. 8:02 a.m.
2:27 p.m. 8:38 p.m.
SUNDAY, JULY 31
2:40 a.m. 8:54 a.m.
3:19 p.m. 9:36 p.m.
MONDAY, AUGUST 1
3:34 a.m. 9:48 a.m.
4:13 p.m. 10:35 p.m.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 2
4:30 a.m. 10:42 a.m.
5:07p.m. 11:31p.m.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3
5:25 a.m. 11:35 a.m.
5:58 p.m. 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.
Sewer fix
gets okay
from state
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
State officials have given Y aupon Beach
permission to halt a dechlorination pro
cess in use at its wastewater treatment
plant. Engineering consultants say this
may abate a growth of algae in the system’s
rapid infiltration basin and allow treated
effluent levels in the basin to drop.
Meanwhile, a local clammer,oysterman
and member of a state advisory panel on
shellfishing says the closure of the Caro
lina Power and Light Co. canal to
shellfishing interests will cost him and
others money, particularly if the closure
continues through the late-fall oyster sea
son. (See related story.)
On the advice of the Shellfish Sanita
tion Branch of the Department of Envi
ronment, Health and Natural Resources,
the state's Division of Marine Fisheries
July 7 ordered all waters north of the
mouth of the CP&L canal closed for
shellfishing, citing "potential" pollution
See Sewer, page 7
FEEDING THE MULTITUDES
Volunteers O. W. Carrier (left) and David Mull were among
14 local Baptists who prepared and served 15,898 meals to
flood victims in Albany, Ga. last week. The two women in the
foreground are members of a group of Salisbury volunteers
who were relieved by the Brunswick County group.
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
The flood of 1994 devastated
the city of Albany, Ga.
As the angry waters of the
Flint River receded, the city's
80,000 residents were left with the over
whelming task of cleaning up the mess.
Huge piles of mildewed and foul
smelling belongings now line virtually
every street; hundreds of coffins that
were unearthed are being reburied in
local graveyards; hundreds of sinkholes
threaten structures all over the city; the
stench from broken sewer lines hangs
thick in the air; 4,500 homes are unin
‘We were acting as
God's hands. It was
really rewarding to
know that you had a
part in something like
this/
Bill Owens
Matthew 7:25
showered in plastic-wrapped stalls that
had two temperatures - cold and luke
warm.
"In reality, it was exhausting," pro
claimed volunteer Bill Owens. "But the
rewards are something I can't explain to
you."
Owens said the volunteers were "run
ning on energy supplied by the Lord,"
and relied on the worship services held
every evening at nine o'clock for the
mental and physical strength to con
tinue.,
"We were acting as God's hands,"
Owens said. "It was really rewarding to
know that you had a part in something
like this."
habitable; five people drowned.
An estimated 5,000 people were housed in shelters during the
flood, and about 2,000 people remain without a permanent place to
live.
Only ten percent of the city's population had flood insurance, and
many are now searching for the means to start over.
To ease the plight of these people who are now struggling with
the basic requirements of life, a group of Brunswick County
Baptist volunteers went to Albany last week to assist the Red Cross
in providing meals to needy flood victims.
From Thursday afternoon to Saturday evening, the group of 14
volunteers served 15,898 meals, proceeded on less than four hours
of sleep per night, slept on U. S. Army cots in a local church, and
Another local volunteer. State Port Pilot business manager Diane
McKeithan, said she would have left after the first day if she had the
chance.
"I'm not a morning person, and when they said we had to be up and
out by 4 a.m. I said 'Surely you jest,"' McKeithan declared, adding
that the volunteers were awakened each morning at 3:30 by one of
the cooks banging a pot with a wooden spoon.
But she said her supply of energy was continuously restored, and
that she would go back to Albany and do it all over again if given the
opportunity.
"It was a very rewarding experience," she said.
McKeithan may get her chance. Owens said there are ten regional
See Flood, page 8
Jury
trial
No compromise
so court decides
schools' funding
By Terry Pope
County Editor
The battle over school spending entered
the courtroom Tuesday as judge Jack
Thompson warned both sides to stick to the
main issue — how much money can maintain
free public schools in the county.
A last-minute compromise may have been
anticipated by many connected to the case,
but one was not reached before the dispute
headed to Brunswick County Superior
Court.
Jury selection took most of the day. The
six men and six women will settle the dis
agreement over how much local funding
Brunswick County commissioners should
appropriate to help operate the school sys
tem this fiscal year.
The Brunswick County Board of Educa
tion petitioned the courts to settle the case
and has. asked for $4.2 million, the dif
ference in what was actually requested and
the $8.7 million the schools received in the
1994-95 county budget.
A one-cent increase on the county’s tax
rate would generate about $500,000 in addi
tional revenue.
"The issue," said judge Thompson, "is not
the desires of either party. Nor is it the
desires of residents of the county. But the is
See Jury trial, page 9
Fire protection
is questionable
in outlying area
By Richard Nubei
Municipal Editor
Southport volunteer fire chief Greg Cumbee
says firefighters have plans to deal with fires in
outlying areas of the city - notably in Smith ville
Woods — while the city awaits a solution to its
inadequate water supply and pressure prob
lems.
Consulting engineer Street Lee of McKim
and Creed Engineers, P.A., told Southport al
dermen July 14 that adequate 500-gallon-per
minute water flow could not be maintained to
fight fires in Smithville Woods, which is not a
part of the city but is served by Southport fire
and rescue. He said that draw on the city water
system would drop pressure to zero and would
reduce flow to zero.
Water supply, storage and distribution prob
lems facing the city will be the subject of a
See Protection, page 9
'Breaking offinto splintered_ groups[
Some Leland residents up in arms over chief
Armed patrols cause
for concern among
other townspeople
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A smaU revolution fanned the Town
of Leland five years ago, Out residents
are now divided among themselves «
chief Charles Cliff and his method for
putting the damps on crime in this
town of 1.900 residents.
"I'm saddened with the way things
are developing in this town," said
Donald Gilbert, husband of council
man Jane Gilbert. "We seem to be
breaking off into splintered groups*
hying to put the blame off onsomeone;
or trying to get the goods on someone,”
If Cliff were a boxer, the referee
would have raised his arm in victory
las* week for surviving the ordeal he
faced when some residents unleashed
their verbal attack on the two-year
employee before the town council
They accused him of a felony for his
role in retrieving a service revolver
pawned by an auxiliary officer last
year, and of violating policy when he
See Terry Pope column, page 5
made an arrest outside of town limits
recently.
It was a battle that has been brewing
for months, ever since residents of
Westover subdivision beside North
Brunswick High School took to the
streets armed with weapons to patrol
against break-ins. their vigilante style
drew criticism from councilman Tho
mas Hyatt in the town’s newsletter
mailed to residents in June, a month
before fourfuil-tiroe officers were hired
See Letand, page 6
CUFF
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