1
VOLUME 64/ NUMBER 6
SOUTHPORT, N.C
50 CENTS
V/'a
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- j&SMrd
South Brunswick tries for its
first conference win Friday
when the Gators visit — 12B
■
Our Town
What could have been an in
vasion turned into a landing;
arms sent home — page 2
I Neighbors
Nearly 500 boats and many
hundreds of spectators en
I joyed the U. S. Open — IB
Forecast
The extended forecast for the period of
Thursday through Sunday calls for fair
days and cool nights with lows ranging in
temperature from 55 to 60 and highs each
day in the mid 60's to 70.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6
9:27 a.m. 3:06 a.m.
9:42 p.m. . 3:42 p.m.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7
10:19 a.m. 3:54 a.m.
10:34 p.m. 4:34 p.m.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8
11:13 a.m. 4:44 a.m.
11:29 p.m. 5:27 p.m.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 9
-a.m. 5:36 a.m.
12:11p.m. 6:23 p.m.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 10
12:28 a.m. 6:33 a.m.
1:11p.m. 7:23 p.m.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11
1:30 a.m. 7:35 a.m.
2:14 p.m. 8:25 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 12
2:36 a.m. 8:40 a.m.
3:17 p.m. 9:28 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.
Long Beach
Festival '94
on Saturday
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
A day of family fun is planned to cel
ebrate the first-ever Long Beach Family
Festival '94 this Saturday.
The event gets underway at 11 a.m. at
Middleton Park.
"We want a lot of people to come," town
manager Jerry Walters said. "It’s really
important for people to know that most of
the work of planning Family Festival '94
has been done by volunteers. There has
been a standing committee since August."
The day is planned as a celebration of
the families which make up Long Beach
the hometown. If the accent is on locals,
so be it. So much of the year is devoted to
catering to visitors, this day is for the
homefolk.
Food, games, exhibition booths, com
petitions and demonstrations are planned
throughout the day.
Performances will be offered by the
Brunswick Concert Band, the Oak Island
School of Dance, the Sweet Adelines, the
Southport Seacoast Cloggers, the South
port Baptist Church Bell Ringers, the Oak
Island church choirs and the Oak Island
Band. These performances, as well as
stories by the Toastmasters and a karate
exhibition, will be offered from Family
Festival's main stage, set near the entrance
sign to Middleton Park.
Entertainment will begin at 11:30 a.m.
and continue until Family Festival con
See Festival, page 8

Rob Bishop of Jacksonville, Fla., along with his daughter
Kim and brother Ricky Bishop of Southport, won the U. S.
Open King Mackerel Tournament and almost $44,000 over
Photo by Jim Harper
the weekend with this 48.2-pound king. They were congratu
lated on their achievement by tournament chairman Don
Hughes (right).
$44,000 catch for winner
tops successful U.S. Open
Captain Rob Bishop of Jacksonville, Fla., won the 16th U. S.
Open King Mackerel Tournament Saturday with a 48.2-pound
fish caught off Lockwood Folly Inlet.
His cash prize totaled $43,945.
Fishing with Bishop on the Fishbuster were his daughter Kim
and brother, Ricky Bishop of Southport.
Second place and $21,367 in the two-day competition went to
Shelby Lewis of Wilmington aboard the Something Fishy, for a
46.7-pound fish.
Third place was taken by Drew Dixon of Southport on the
Wahoo with a 43.9-pounder worth $ 12,578. Fishing with Dixon
when they landed the fish on 18-Mile Rock were Bill Delaney
and John Hutchins.
In all, five fish in the event weighed more than 40 pounds, and
four of these were caught on Saturday, dropping the first-day
leader into fifth place. Forty-three of the 50 top fish weighed 30
pounds or better.
Other top finishers included Stacy Wester on the Big Bad Wolf,
$2,500 for a 43.7-pounder; Harold Estep of Shallotte on the
Sarah Belle, $1,500 for a 43.5-pounder; Charles Shore of Long
Beach on the Team Reaction, $1,400 for a 38.35-pounder; Les
Tubb on the Top Priority, $1,300 for a 37.8-pounder; James
Robinson of Supply on the Strike Pot, $1,200 for a 37.6
pounder; Don Atkins on the Mack-a-Tack, $1,100 for a 37.25
pounder; and C. W. Hughes Jr. of Shallotte on the Total Loss,
$ 1,000 for a 37.25-pounder (weighed later than the Atkins fish).
The aggregate-weight top prize of $975 for Friday went to
George Fedor for 67.8 pounds aboard the Carolina Lures', and
the top aggregate prize for Saturday went to Danny Wallen for
90.85 pounds aboard the Hook 7n Dano.
Lasty^r's tournament was won by Terry T umer of Wilmington
with a 52.4-pound king, which was also the largest fish in U. S.
Open history.
"We had a super tournament," chairman Don Hughes said on
Monday.
"First, let me compliment the Southport Marina people -
Mark Johnson and Larry Sincoski. They did an excellent job
See Winner, page 17
Prize list, page 17; tournament photos, IB
Schools
to levy
taxes?
County wants
state to shift
responsibility
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Brunswick County commissioners want state
legislators to pass a new law — one that will take
the funding of local schools out of the county's
hands.
The board unanimously adopted a resolution
Monday which asks the N. C. Association of
County Commissioners to lobby for a change
allowing school boards across the state to levy
their own taxes to operate public schools.
Property tax bills would note an assessment
to operate county departments plus a separate
assessment to finance schools. In Brunswick
County, one cent on the tax rate generates about
$500,000 in revenues.
"It'll take away all of the fighting and the
friction between the board of commissioners
and the school board,” said District 5 commis
See Schools, page 6
'Tougher'
sentencing
law in place
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
New state sentencing laws that took effect
October 1 are designed to slap more violent
offenders in prison for longer periods of time.
However, at the local level the new laws will
likely lead to "a lot of aggravated people,"
predicted district attorney Rex Gore.
Gore acknowledged that the new laws will
make victims of violent crimes and their fami
lies more content with sentences handed down
to convicted criminals. But, he noted that as
more prison beds are occupied by violent of
fenders, fewer non-violent offenders will serve
any jail time at all — a trend likely to frustrate
victims of non-violent crimes.
"The largest percentage of crimes in Brun
swick County are property-related crimes," Gore
noted. "It's going to be even more difficult than
it is now to get meaningful sentences for these
offenses."
As an example, Gore said an 18-year-old
man who had never been in legal trouble before
See Sentencing, page 8
Fuel-rod train chugs through
Ships arrived at Sunny Point, unloaded at night
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A shipment of European nuclear fuel rods through Brunswick
County last week was anything but secret
" Still, theU. S. Department of Energy's decision to bring the ships
to port and to offload in the middle of the nightwas a surprise move.
Just hours earlier, DOE secretary Hazel O’Leary ordered the
ships and the nuclear cargo back to sea from anchored positions off
the mouth of the Cape Fear River near Southport,
The public and U. S. Congressman Charlie Rose complained that
the ships presented a potential hazard while sitting in the shipping
channels of the Cape Fear River.
P Despite a tie-up io tire federal appeals court over a lawsuit Bled
by the State of South Carolina to block the transport, the matter
could be delayed no further because of "conflicting uses" of the
Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point depot and for "safety consid
erations.”
"I don't know of any problems at ail," said Cecil Logan, Brun
swick County emergency management coordinator. "It was a good,
dean operation. I was notified from the moment the ships were
sent, notified when it was here and notified when it was en route.”
Late Wednesday, the two ships slowly made their way up the
Cape Fear to the Sunny Point dock, where the containers loaded
with 153 fuel assemblies were placed on railroad cars for the 17
hour trip to Aiken, S. C. #
"This shipment is an important step in our nation's efforts to stem
the proliferation of nuclear weapons materials worldwide," Ms,
See Fuel-rod, page 6