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^^^anuar^/1995
VOLUME 64/ NUMBER 19
SOUTHPORT, N.C.
50 CENTS
Neighbors
Help is available for those
who want to kick the smok
ing habit this year - IB
Our Town
What does the future hold
for coast now with the Re
publicans in power? Page 2
'94
The year
in quotes
By Terry Pope
County Editor
It was a battleground in 1994.
County officials struggled with
Martin Marietta Corp. over a pro
posed rock quarry near Southport.
But the community also witnessed
what has become an annual debate
between the county and schools for
more funding. The nation “turned its
eyes to the Military Ocean Terminal
Sunny Point as shipments of highly
radioactive nuclear fuel rods from
overseas entered the United States
here. -
However, the picture is best told
with quotes from 1994's news mak
ers:
•January 5 — "If it hadn't been for
the lawsuit. I'd been with them. But if
$2 million comes out of taxpayers'
pockets, that's a lot of money."
District 5 county commissioner
Donald Shaw votes against a county
ordinance to block Martin Marietta
from opening a mine.
-* January 19 — "It was a dumb idea
then, and it's a dumb idea now. And
here we are again. We've got to go to
an incinerator sooner or later."
Bolivia resident Melba Edwards
opposes a new county landfill near
the Lockwood Folly River.
•January 26 — "We'refighting 1994
crime with a 1982 model. I need some
more help."
District attorney Rex Gore asks for
more prosecutors from the state.
•February 2 — "This is not to stop
one project, and I'm not asking the
commission to act as a board of ad
justments. The aquifer is public trust
waters."
Long Beach's Rosetta Short asks
the Coastal Resources Commission
to protect 5,000 acres near Southport.
•February 9— "I saw a great short
age in areas of safety equipment and
microscopes. One classroom had just
five microscopes for 30 kids to use in
a 45-minute class. There were other
mass shortage of items."
Commission chairman Don War
ren lobbies to give schools $250,000
for "critical needs."
•February 23 -- "If everything we
are told is true, then everything is
above board. It's everybody's money,
not just the schools."
District 3 commissioner Wayland
Vereen calls for a state performance
audit of the schools.
*March 2 — "We have to live here,
too. It's not an easy role to take."
Planning board chairman John Th
ompson, on criticism leveled at his
board for not adopting zoning restric
tions against Martin Marietta.
* March 16 — "We want to discover
the full extent of any improprieties.
We will pursue it in as expeditious a
manner as we can, but we're not go
ing to leave any stones unturned."
School board attorney Glen
Peterson, on the controversial sale of
over $10,000 in surplus cafeteria
See Quotes, page 5
Forecast
The extended forecast calls
for cold weather to finally settle
into our area. We can look for
low temperatures in the 20's and
highs in the 40's for the period
of Thursday through Saturday.
Photo by Jim Harper
The possibility of all things stood fresh and clear recently as,., he’d, heard of goqd catches at 69th Street and was working in
Worth Jackson cast for trout on the Long Beach strand. He said libat direction, one hopeful cast at a time.
County,
DuPont
settle tax
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A two-year court battle over back taxes with the
DuPont Co. has ended with an $856,000 settle
ment county officials approved Tuesday night
tne Brunswick
County Board of
Commissioners also
agreed, on a 3-1
vote, to fund five
new sheriff
deputies.
That will allow
sheriff Ronald
Hewett to keep his
office open 24 hours
as pledged during
his fall campaign.
District 3 com
missioner Leslie
Collier of Long
Beach voted no,
stating she’d rather
consider the move
at budget time in
June.
It’s... a mat
ter of making
it right. We
found a
wrong, and
DuPont offi
cials sought to
make it right.’
Boyd Williamson
Tax administrator
The settlement with DuPont was expected after
the N. C. Court of Appeals upheld the county’s
See County, page 12
Consumers can do their part
City has the power to control costs
Other cities
finding a way
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
There may be no other way to shave
electric costs in the City of Southport
than by managing load — particularly
at times of peak demand.
That's the conclusion other cities,
including Elizabeth City, have
reached. And, by tackling load man
agement head-on, municipal power
costs have been cut significantly in
that city.
Ralph Clark, city manager for Eliza
beth City, like Southport a member of
the N. C. Eastern Municipal Power
‘The decision at that time was, we had
to take what we had and make the best
of it. We’ve gone through the problems
five years ahead of anybody else. We
found we can’t afford to throw our
hands up.’
Ralph Clark
Elizabeth City manager
Agency, says his city, each of its
heavy power users and each of its
citizens has a role to play in electric
load management. All it takes to save
municipal electric costs is a little cre
ativity.
"We spend a lot of time dealing
with that," Clark said. "There are a lot
of creative ways to make it better for
our customers. We've tried to be cre
ative."
And Southport may have to be just
as creative as Elizabeth City has been.
Faced with the prospect of a 30
percent raw power cost increase over
the next five years, Southport offi
cials recently went the way of others
among the 31 member cities of
NCEMPA — looking for ways out of
its Contract with the agency and look
ing to sell its electric distribution sys
tem.
What Southport found was this city
is tied by debt and by contract to
NCEMPA until the year 2026. That
relationship may even prove to be of
longer term if NCEMPA mayors are
successful this year in getting state
treasurer Harlan Boyles to allow a
restructuring of agency debt.
The city also found that its electric
system, as an asset, is worth about
$1.5 million. But to sell it, a buyer
would have to assume the more-than
$24-million debt Southport has as
sumed on behalf of NCEMPA.
Clark said Elizabeth City learned
those hard lessons about five years
ago when a citywide committee of
business people, attorneys and elected
officials went looking for ways to end
that city's contractual obligation to
NCEMPA.
"The decision at that time was, we
had to take what we had and make the
best of it," Clark said. "We've gone
through the problems five years ahead
See Power, page 10
Third highest^ in state
Schools are alarmed
by violence statistics
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
. Why do Brunswick County schools have the third
highest rate of violence in the state?
And what can teachers, principals, administrators, stu
dents and parents do together to solve the problem?
School officials hope the upcoming Safe Schools Fo
rum on school violence will generate some answers to
these questions.
The forum is intended to unite everyone involved in the
school system ~ from the student body to the administra
tion — and will focus on causes of and solutions to school
violence.
It is scheduled Thursday, January 26,7 p.m., at Supply
Elementary School.
A likely topic of discussion also will be a recent
"school climate survey" that indicates students view
school as a much more dangerous place than do teach
ers.
Students in grades seven through 11 and all teachers
were asked to assess the safety of the school environ
ment in a series of SS questions.
Safe Alternatives For Everyone (SAFE) program
coordinator Linda Shaddix is expected to present
uciaus auuui me survey at
the school board's next
meeting Monday, January
9.
A total of 87 violent acts ft
and 32 cases of drug pos- ^
session were reported in,
Brunswick County schools
during the 1993-94 school
i see Violence, page 6
School dropout
rate on the rise
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
More students dropped out of Brunswick County schools
last year than the year before, but the county
dropout rate is still below state average, statistics
released by the N. C. Department of Public
Instruction indicate.
A total of 103 students in grades seven
through 12 dropped out last year, up from
71 the previous school term.
The county's dropout rate was 2.54
percent, nearly a point lower than the
3.35-percent state dropout rate.
Statewide, 17,371 students dropped out
last year, a 1,731 increase over the previous
year but down significantly from 1988-89 when
24,559 students dropped out.
State superintendent of schools Bob Etheridge blamed
job growth for luring students away from school. He
See Dropout, page 10