South Brunswick could
face remainder of the
schedule minus head coach
I January 11,1995
,J | VOLUME 64/NUMBER 20 SOUTHPORT, N.C. 50 CENTS | L,
Observance of Dr. King’s
birthday planned Friday at
college, Sunday in our city
.
Our Town
■xmmma.
r.
Police dog, officers are
credited with saving life
of Southport man — Page 2
Dosher will
purchase lot
on Howe St.
Dosher Memorial Hospital will
purchase wooded property across the
street from the hospital for $125,000.
Hospital administrator Edgar
Haywood said the property will be
used for outpatient service expansion,
and noted that demand for outpatient
services at the hospital is growing
rapidly — about seven to eight percent
a year.
He said he expects an expansion
project to be initiated within a year.
An investor has a contract pending
with realtor Margaret Rudd to pur
chase the property, which spans 312
feet along Howe Street.
Rudd said the property was listed
for sale at $182,000.
The hospital board of trustees met
with the investor in closed session last
Wednesday night.
At the conclusion of the meeting,
the board offered the investor
$ 125,000 for 213 feet of Howe Street
frontage.
Haywood said all contracts should
be finalized within two weeks.
The property will provide much
needed space for such services as
physical therapy, x-rays and outpa
tient emergency care, he said.
"Our spacial needs are growing,"
Haywood said. "We're about at the
street every way you look, and unless
we start building a high-rise here the
only thing we can do is buy more
property."
Forecast
We can expect mostly cloudy
skies for Thursday and Friday
with low temperatures in 40's
and highs 55-60. There's a
chance of showers on Saturday
with a high in the mid 60's.
Brunswick County <extension agent Bruce Williams,
volunteers and Long Beach town employees this week
constructed sand fences with discarded Christmas trees
near the western point of the Long Beach strand. Three
Photo by Jim Harper
50-foot sections of fence were erected; Williams will
return to the same location in March to plant beach
grass. The point of the experiment is to show beachfront
property owners that they can help minimize erosion.
City considers
equal pay plan
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
A plan to allow Southport's electric customers to pay a fixed billing
amount each month will come before-aldehnen when they meet in
regular session Thursday.
Those who opt to participate in the plan may average their annual
billing over 12 months and pay a level amount for 11 of those 12
months. An adjustment payment will be charged in a designated
month, likely a spring or fall month when billing is generally low.
A letter, which may be sent to electric customers announcing
See Pay plan, page $
Sunny Point routing
fund request detoured
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Highway officials say they have hit a
roadblock in their plans to redesign a dan
gerous intersection north of Southport.
There is a lack of funds.
That hasn't halted resident Beverly
Brown in her effort to have the crossroads
upgraded.
She carried her message last week to the
Brunswick County Board of Commission
ers, which agreed to ask the N. C. Depart
ment of Transportation to make the high
way project a major priority for funding in
1995.
The N. C. 87/133 junction at the en
trance to Military Ocean Terminal Sunny
Point is where Ms. Brown's son, Vincent,
died in a car wreck two years ago.
In order to be safe, she said, the intersec
tion needs to be revamped. Highway 87
should be the primary route for traffic and
the streets realigned.
"This has not been funded in the past
See Request, page 6
County boards requested study
Auditors open school books
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
The stress level among Brunswick County school
system employees likely will increase this week as
three representatives of the state auditor's office begin
on-site interviews to determine just how efficient and
well-organized the school system is.
A summary of the auditors' findings is expected in
March.
A school system performance audit was initiated in
December when questionnaires were sent to all 1,389
school employees.
So far, 517 questionnaires have been returned and
about 100 employees have asked to speak with the
auditorspersonally, deputy state auditor Jimmy Benson
told the school board last week.
The state performance audit was requested jointly by
the Brunswick County boards of education and county
commissioners during a funding dispute last year.
‘All school systems must
function with limited
resources. I believe that we
can identify methods for the
schools to use those
resources more effectively.*
Janet Hayes
Audit supervisor
At the time, each board agreed to contribute $5,000
to fund the audit. The state, however, will absorb most
of the cost, which is expected to total $46,720.
. Vi?W.
The performance audit will evaluate the schoc
system's organization and structure, not the effective
ness of its educational programs, said Janet Haye:
audit supervisor.
"All school systems must function with limite
resources," she said. "I believe that we can identif
methods for the schools to, use those resources mot
effectively."
. Hayes noted the auditors can only make recommer
dations and cannot enforce changes in school open
tions.
A certain amount of anxiety is associated with an
evaluation, conceded superintendent of schools D
Ralph Johnston.
But, he added, most school employees feel they ca
discuss their concerns with auditors without fear (
retribution.
"I don't sense that anybody is really concerned aboi
that," Johnston said. "I think they feel very comfor
See Auditors, page 19
SBSD facing
problem with
permit, funds
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
In the most crucial week of its five-year existence the
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District must make a $ 1.3
million adjustment in its financing plan, and also learn how
state permitting can be obtained quickly to get the sewer
project underway.
Last week bids for the nine-month project to bring sewer
service to around 800 homes in the Long Beach Road area
came in about $700,000 above what planners had thought
the cost would.be.
Awarding of contracts had already been set back 90 days
by the district board because a funding shortfall was antici
pated, but in light of the great financing disparity - present
funding from Rural Economic Community Development
(formerly Farmers Home Administration) totals $3.3 mil
lion, and the project cost will likely be $4.6 million - the
district Monday had to start forwarding plans that would
greatly alter the proposed service area in order to cut costs.
Meanwhile the district has arranged to meet with state
See Problem, page 12
County funds
outside study
of refuse plan
By Terry Pope
County Editor
An outside consultant
will study long-range
trash disposal options
before county commis
sioners sign what may be
a 25-year contract.
Would it cost more to
truck garbage to an in
cinerator near
Fayetteville or to oper
ate the county's landfill
near Supply?
David M. Griffith and
Associates of Raleigh has
Vedco also opera
tes a materials
recovery plant,
which would
enable Brunswick
County to meet
recycling goals
been placed on a retainer
to come up with answers.
County officials narrowed
their choices by eliminating a
proposal from American
Refuse Systems Inc. of
Pinehurst, which plans to open
a regional landfill in neighbor
ing Columbus County. That
project is now tied up in a legal
dispute.
A 25-year agreement'with
Vedco Energy Corp. of Texas,
which is building an incinera
See Refuse, page 19
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Customers stuck
with higher rate;
mail goes through
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
There seems to be an inverse relationship be*
tween the cost of a stamp and customer satisfaction
with the U. S. Postal Service.
Each time rates go up, customer satisfaction plum
mets.
When the postal service raised the cost of a stamp
from 29 to 32 cents effective January 1, many
people recalled every frustration they've ever expe
rienced with mail delivery.
"Every time they raise the price of stamps the
service gets worse," declared one disgruntled J
Southport man waiting in line at the post office
Monday morning. V
"Like every other government agency, the em
ployees are underquaiified and overpaid. I told my
kids not to expect a letter for a while.*
"Thirty-two cents is a lot of money to send one
See Mail, paged
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