Get out your cookie cutters
for the annual baking con
test; prizes galore — 11B
_ Our Townl
mm
Southport continues effort
to annex areas outside
present boundary - Page 2
October 19,1994
| VOLUME 64/NUMBER 8
SOUTHPORT, N.C.
50 CENTS
Sports
—
ii'i'i'iliuftiw
\
Whiteville blocks South’s
bid for a huge Waccamaw
conference victory — 12B
Forecast
The extended forecast calls for autumn
weather Thursday through Sunday. Lows
will range in temperature from 45 to 55
and highs each day in the mid 60's to 70.
Showers are possible towards the end of
the week.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20
9:07 a.m. 2:50 a.m.
9:26 p.m. 3:19 p.m.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21
9:42 a.m. 3:27 a.m.
9:59 p.m. 3:57 p.m.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22
10:17 a.m. 4:03 a.m.
10:32 p.m. 4:35 p.m.
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23
10:52 a.m. 4:40 a.m.
11:06 p.m. 5:13 p.m.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24
11:29 a.m. 5:18 a.m.
11:44 p.m. 5:54 p.m.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 25
—- a.m. 6:00 a.m.
12:11p.m. 6:39 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26
12:30 a.m. 6:48 a.m.
1:00 p.m. 7:3,0 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.
School tax:
no;, so what
about sewer?
County commissioners, take note. Pilot
Line callers this week resoundingly said
"No way" to your proposal to give local
school systems in North Carolina author
ity to levy property taxes to support public
education.
In all, 69.7 percent of callers to The
State Port Pilot's interactive service said
they do not wish to pay a separate property
tax for school system needs. These callers
want county commissioners to continue
in their historic role of appropriators of
school system money.
What about sewers on barrier islands?
Yaupon Beach is having a bit of trouble
getting its new wastewater treatment sys
tem up and running. Long Beach is begin
ning a new study of wastewater and
stormwater techniques.
What is the appropriate means of house
hold wastewater disposal on a barrier is
land?
To let your voice be heard, call one of
two Pilot Line extensions through Sunday
night this week. Your call will register
your feelings for one of two options pre
sented only; there is no opportunity to
offer comment.
Question: Which is the better way
for a Brunswick County barrier island
town to manage its wastewater?
To vote for a public sewer system,
dial 457-5084, extension 19\.
To vote for individual septi^Ljnks,
dial 457-5084, extension 195.
The State Port Pilot
£&Pilot Line
THE TALKING NEWSPAPER
Deborah Cooper was quite certain about her selection Satur
day as she chose from the back of Boyd Inman’s pickup at the
Photo by Jim Harper
Olde Brunswick General Store, and it was equally certain that
she had her mind on jack-o-lantern, not pumpkin pie.
...But county is puzzled
Supply septic repair awaits
county action, schools claim
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Brunswick County manager Wyman Yelton
says he received a copy of the school board's
1994-95 budget resolution last week reflecting
$9.4 million in local funding, but says that
school officials made no specific request re
garding what action they wanted the county to
take.
County commissioners neither discussed nor
approved the resolution at their Monday night
meeting, and without commissioners’ approval
school officials say they cannot begin repairs
of the Supply Elementary School septic sys
tem.
The school board has accepted a $179,130
bid from Pipeline Utilities of Wilmington to
repair the system, but said it cannot enter into
formal contract with the company until county
commissioners release at least $385,000 in
half-cent sales tax revenues.
Yelton said he is willing to work with school
officials, but said they must first communicate
with him.
"They need to talk to us, and not just fax us
a copy of the resolution and expect us to know
what they want us to do," he said. "If they
contact us and ask to be put on the agenda, then
we can discuss something."
Commissioners meet again November 7, but
even if they approve the budget resolution at
that meeting it is unlikely the school system
can have the septic system repaired by the
November 12 deadline imposed by the county
health department.
School officials also are awaiting final ap
proval of the repair plan from the state.
Superintendent of schools Ralph Johnston
said it will take three to four weeks to complete
the repair once the project begins.
In the past, schools finance officer Rudi
Fallon said, commissioners have approved half
cent sales tax revenues indirectly by approving
the overall budget resolution. Once the resolu
tion is approved, she said, school officials can
then spend half-cent sales tax revenues with
See Action, page 9
Schools
financing
proposed
County request
to be presented
Bv Terry Pope
County Editor
The N. C. Association of County Commis
sioners Board of Directors will decide Novem
ber 29 whether to back plans to allow school
districts to raise their own tax dollars.
Brunswick County commissioners adopted a
resolution October 3 that asks the association to
lobby state legislators for a change in how taxes
are assessed to finance schools.
They want school systems to have authority
to set their own tax rate separate from county
government. It could relieve conflicts between
two boards of government.
Don Warren, chairman of the Brunswick
County commissioners, presented the resolu
tion at an associational board meeting on Fri
day. He was elected to the board of directors
last month.
But the issue was tabled to allow some staff
members time to present other options at the
upcoming November 29 meeting.
"Some of the members agreed that the law is
very vague in the General Statutes in identify
ing what is adequate to maintain public schools,"
said Warren.
A change will require a vote of the N. C.
General Assembly. Property tax bills would
note an assessment to operate county depart
ments plus a separate assessment to finance the
schools. Boards of education would be held
accountable for setting the necessary tax rate
and for keeping the spending in check.
"1 think it's a wonderful idea," said Brun
swick County school board chairman Donna
Baxter. "We’ve been begging for that for two
years."
I he past two years, the local school board has
carried county commissioners into mediation
or before a Superior Court jury to seek more
funds. In August, a jury awarded the schools
$14 million in local funds when only $9.2
million had been allocated.
The case is pending before the N. C. Court of
Appeals and could be heard before Christmas.
County commissioners appealed judge Jack
Thompson's ruling that the jury verdict should
stand.
Warren said he was able to walk the item onto
last week's agenda at the board of directors'
meeting because it is currently a hot topic
among counties. The organization is composed
of members from the 100 counties, and Warren
represents Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender
counties.
Ms. Baxter said school officials have agreed
that authority over school funding would help
end the disputes with county officials. The
people would still control what amount of money
should be set aside for education, she said.
"You can't raise any more taxes than what the
people are willing to pay," said Ms. Baxter.
The options presented to the association next
See Finance, page 8
Former coach Bill Hewett at Monday's hearing
Hewett may lose teaching license
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
An administrative law judge will decide if
former South Brunswick football coach Bill
Hewett's license to teach in the public schools
of North Carolina should be revoked.
Seated in Southport Monday and Tues
day, judge Beecher Gray of the state Office
of Administrative Hearings heard an assis
tant attorney general and Hewett's attorney
wrangle over the lengths to which the state
could go to try to take Hewett’s license to
teach. He also heard Hewett say it was an
accident that he touched the breast of a
female South Brunswick High School stu
7 reached over to take
her by the arm and thank
her and I touched her
breast.... I didn*t mean to
do that.*
Bill Hewett
dem on November 16,1993, at Southport’s Shamrock
Restaurant after an evening of drinking.
Hewett's attorney, Don Viets of Whiteville, was
successful in persuading Gray to admit for
the hearing record only evidence relative to
the complaint of that one student who worked
that night as a waitress at the Shamrock.
Although she attempted to do so on sev
eral occasions, assistant attorney general
Barbara Shaw, representing the N. C. De
partment of Public Instruction, could not get
evidence of a second female South Brun
swick High School senior's sexual assault
allegation into the record. Neither could she
get into the record a letter written Brunswick
County school officials alleging a 1990 act
of sexual misconduct against Hewett while '
See Hewett, page 9