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September 14, 1994
SOUTHPORT. N.C. 50 CENTS
VOLUME 64/ NUMBER 3
Sports
South Brunswick, behind a
203-yard effort from O. J.
Morris, wins its first ~ 11B
Our Town
Strength in numbers - area
towns will try that approach
after area meeting — Page 2
Neighbors
A special supplement for
retirees and senior residents
will be published in October
Forecast
The extended forecast calls for fair
weather for the period of Th ursday through
Sunday with highs each day in the 80's and
lows each night in the 60's.
Tide table
high low
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER IS
4:58 a.m. 11:06 a.m.
5:39 p.m. 11:47 p.m.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
5:56 a.m. —— a.m.
6:32 p.m. 12:03 p.m.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
6:49 a.m. 12:37 a.m.
7:20 p.m. 12:54 p.m.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
7:36 a.m. 1:22 a.m.
8:03 p.m. 1:41 p.m.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 19
8:19 a.m. 2:04 a.m.
8:43 p.m. 2:24 p.m.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
8:59 am. 2:43 am.
9:21p.m. 3:05 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21
9:36 a.m. 3:21a.m.
9:56 p.m. 3:44 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.
Schools get
more funds
from judge
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Superior Court judge Jack Thompson
ruled this week that Brunswick County
schools should receive an additional
$700,000 in local funding for the current
school year, thereby increasing the total
amount of local funding for the year from
$8.7 million to $9.4 million.
State law requires the county to fund the
schools at the same level as last year
pending result of the county's appeal of a
$ 14-million jury award to the school sys
tem.
Thompson decided that the additional
$700,000 was justified because school
officials spent $600,000 of their fund bal
ance and an additional $100,000 in local
funding last year.
The $700,000 increase will mean the
schools' monthly allocation from the
county will increase from $725,000 to
approximately $784,000 beginning next
month.
However, school board member Bill
Fairley said Monday night that the in
crease was not enough to operate the
schools at the level they should be func
tioning.
And, he said, even if the $ 14-million
award is upheld by the N. C. Court of
Appeals, it wilj likely be next spring be
fore the school system actually receives
the additional funding.
"I just want everyone to know that by
See Schools, page 8
When Supply Elementary School opened last year
a drive to collect a million pennies to buy
playground equipment was started among students
and- in the community, and the response was
phenomenal. With the reopening of school, princi
- ■■ iap**L-.v\-v•-. ,’ Fhoto by Jim Harper
pal Carolyn Willlafns talked with Student on
closed-circuit TV to get their help in reviving the
$10,000 drive. They have 280,000 more pennies to
go. By her reckoning, Williams said, the folding
money will be in hand by Halloween.
Yelton has managed to get
back on the job for county
By Terry Pope
County Editor
From 7 to 9 a.m. each morning,
Wyman Yelton will continue with
daily therapy sessions to build
strength in his arms and legs.
Then he'll change clothes and head
to work as Brunswick County man
ager, just as he did on Monday, tak
ing another step on the road to recov
ery.
It has been five months since Yelton
was almost killed in a car wreck on
Interstate 40 near Durham. The crash
claimed the lives of his wife, Kay
Yelton, 52, of Southport, and the
driver of a car that crossed the me
dian and struck the Yelton's car head
on.
"It's just a traumatic experience, to
say the least, when you lose your
wife, one, and, two, to go through all
of the injuries,” said Yelton. "Recov
ering is going to be a two-year pro
cess."
Yelton must get reacquainted with
the task of running a county, for a lot
has happened in his absence. The
county budget was approved, a jury
awarded the schools $14 million in a
controversial decision which has been
appealed and day-to-day operations
were handled by interim Charles
McGinnis, whose last day was Fri
day.
Yelton's return to Southport and
the county where he has planned to
retire is bittersweet. Treated to brunch
by several county department man
agers Monday, Yelton was blunt in
telling them which hand to shake or
which shoulder to touch.
He has steel plates in his left leg
and arm, which were shattered in the
crash. He has yet to regain full use of
his right hand, walks with a limp and
is still recovering from multiple frac
tures of the ribs caused by the seat
belt that also saved his life.
Since leaving Duke Medical Cen
ter, he has regained 20 of the 30
‘The main thing
is, if you have a
problem like I’ve
had, is to focus on
maintaining a posi
tive attitude....
That’s all I can say
about that.’
Wyman Yelton
County manager
pounds he lost and started daily
therapy at Dosher Memorial Hospi
See Yelton, page 6
Recycling a key
County expects
to join regional
trash-haul plan
By Terry Pope
County Editor
County commissioners are close
to signing a 25-year deal to haul
garbage out of the county to be
burned.
BCH Energy Corp., which will
operate the incinerator at the
DuPont Co. site in Cumberland
County, will receive no less than
50,000 tons of garbage per year
from the county if an agreement is
reached.
Commissioners see the pact as
a way to help reach mandated re
cycling goals and to stop depen
dence on shrinking landfill space.
But some final details must be
ironed out, said board chairman
Don Warren.
A vote was expected last week,
but commissioners delayed a de
cision until next Monday, Sep
tember 19.
"I still think it's the most viable
alternative," said Warren, "mainly
because of the recycling program."
The incinerator will be built by
Vedco Energy Corp. of Texas and
include a sorting system to re
move aluminum, glass, plastic and
newspapers from the solid waste
*1 still think it’s
the most viable
alternative, mainly
because of the recy
cling program.’
Don Warren
Board chairman
to be burned. Residents will use spe
cial blue garbage bags for recyclables
and mix them with household trash.
The county must build a $700,000
transfer station near Supply and pay a
$37.22-per-ton tipping fee. BCH, an
acronym for Bladen, Cumberland and
Hoke counties, would haul from the
local transfer stations to the DuPont
plant.
BCH officials formed the partner
ship that welcomed Vedco to build
near Fayetteville, 95 miles from Bo
livia. The company plans to start burn
ing trash by June, 1995.
The Brunswick County contract
See Trash, page 8
College septic
system found
to be leaking
By Terry Pope
and Holly Edwards
Pilot staff members
County health inspectors now digging out from one major septic tank
problem at Supply have located another educational building with a failing
system on its hands.
A sewer system that serves the main classroom and administration
building at Brunswick Community College has failed and is seeping raw
sewage from the ground.
"I actually observed the sewage ponding on the surface," said Bruce
Withrow, environmental health program specialist with the Brunswick
County Health Department. "We did a very thorough inspection."
A violation notice will be issued this week, once the paperwork is
completed by Withrow's office. The state permitted the system, which is
one of several larger ones recently released back to county control as state
laws are revised.
The problem at BCC is similar to one that has been an on-going problem
See College, page 8
'Gentlemen's agreement' may not work
Menhaden rule pursued
By Kictaard Nubel
Municipal Editor
While a negotiated settlement to a dispute between Brunswick
County beach towns and menhaden fishermen working waters off
their shores is in the works, Long Beach wants its request for a rule
forcing pogey fishermen farther offshore kept active.
Mayor Joan Altman notified the state Marine Fisheries Commis
sion of the town's desire to keep its request for a rule active in a
September 1 letter to commission chairman Robert Lucas. Long
Beach has asked other county beach towns to send similar letters.
"The towns remain willing to negotiate such an agreement and are
interested in reaching a compromise on this issue; however, we ask
• that our request for a rule remain active," Altman wrote.
Early this summer at the urging of commissioner Jeff Ensminger,
Long Beach's town council adopted a resolution asking the Marine
Fisheries Commission to adopt a rule banning menhaden fishing from
within 1.5 nautical miles of the Brunswick County shoreline from
May 1 to September 30. The resolution also asked that menhaden
fishing be banned from within a half-mile of the beachfront from
October 1 to December 31.
Five other Brunswick County beach towns, including Caswell
Beach and Yaupon Beach, joined Long Beach in its request, adopting
similar resolutions.
But, Marine Fisheries Commission members did not directly enter
tain the towns' requests at an August 27 meeting in which the
resolutions appeared on the commission's agenda.
"At the Marine Fisheries Commission meeting, the commission’s
counsel stated that the towns' request did not constitute a request for
See Menhaden, page 8
Big Sweep clean-up invites
volunteers to day at beach
Boaters, sunbathers and fishermen
all contribute to the problem of aquatic
litter.
Each year in Brunswick County,
thousands of pounds of plastic wrap
pers, plastic bottles, aluminum carta
and cigarette butts are either tossed
directly into the water, or thrown to
the ground where they eventually are
washed by rain into the nearest water
way.
The debris poses a danger not only
to fish and wildlife, but also to hu
mans.
To mitigate the problem* thousands
of volunteers lata out statewide each
year for the First Citizens Bank Big
Sweep waterway cleanup. Last yew,
tans of trash from the state's water
ways.
The event will be held in Brun
swick Geunty this Saturday, Sep
her 17, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
ft
111
In the Southport-Oak Island area