SOUTHPORT, N.C
50 CENTS |
VOLUME 64/ NUMBER 24
Well-rested Cougars return
to the hardwood, but drop
closes ones Tuesday - 12B
Neighbors
.-.■ •
Blue ribbons, scholarships
were among the prizes at
annual arts festival - IB
Our Town
Bald Head Island will wait
until fall to resume efforts
at renourishment — Page 2
Schools
to weigh
options
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Two difficult decisions will con
front the Brunswick County Board ol
Education Monday at its monthly
meeting.
The first is
whether to ac
cept or reject an
out-of-court
settlement pro
posed by county
commissioners
to resolve a
longstanding
budget dispute.
The second is
whether to abolish early dismissal on
Wednesdays.
To flesh out the complex web of
issues ahead of time, the board will
hold a special planning session Satur
day, 9 a.m., in the board of education
conference room.
Parents and school officials were
asked to state their opinions on the
early dismissal policy in a written
survey, and board members say they
will consider results of the survey in
making their decision.
Supply
drainage,
Leland
bids —
page 7
While principals and teachers say
they need the time, for planning and
staff development, parents complain
that early dismissal provides too much
free time for their children, and places
a financial burden on them to provide
child care or babysitting service.
The other major issue facing the
board is the funding settlement ad
vanced last week by county commis
sioners Bill Sue and Leslie Collier
during a liaison committee meeting
with school board members Billy
Carter and Pat Brown.
Commissioners offered to give the
school board an additional $ 1.35 mil
lion for the current fiscal year, added
to the $9.4-million interim budget the
schools are currently operating un
der.
Commissioners also offered to al
locate 21.5 cents of the county's tax
rate for the school system for the next
two years, which would amount to
about $11 million per year with the
current tax base.
The county's tax rate is 58.5 cents
per $100 property valuation.
If the school board rejects the com
missioners' offer, the fate of a $ 14
million jury award will be decided by
the N. C. Court of Appeals.
School board members must de
cide if they want to settle for less
money this year and have a guaran
teed amount of funding for the next
See Schools, page 7
Mac Construction earth-moving equipment opera
tors began pushing sand at Long Beach Monday in
Photo by Jim Harper
an effort to restore dunes damaged in a series of
recent winter storms.
Long Beach begins big push
to restore frontal dune line
Work began Monday at Long Beach
to restore frontal dunes lost to a recent
series of winter storms.
Crews from Mac Construction Co.,
under contract to the Town of Long
Beach, are expected to pus!) sand for
the next three to four weeks, public
works director Charles Derrick said.
The dune restoration work will begin
at 39th Place West and equipment and
operators will move eastward to 58th
Street East. The cost of the project has
been estimated at between $8,000 and
$10,000.
Derrick said the project was begun
at the western extreme of the beach in
order to allow sand to ecrete in more
severely damaged eastern portions of
the strand.
"Some places just need a little trim
work on the dunes," Derrick said.
"Some must be rebuilt totally - and
we've got everything in between."
The most critically eroded portions
of the beach lie in the area from the
3500 to the 3700 block of East Beach
Drive and in the area of the 3200
block of East Beach.
"We're sand-deficient there," Der
See Dune line, page 8
Audit review
City’s financial
picture looking
brighter in ’95
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
If fiscal year 1993-94 was a bot
toming out year financially for the
City of Southport, 1994-95 shows
signs of improvement, aldermen
learned Saturday at a retreat session
devoted to audit analysis.
And, a strategy to restore Southport,
the municipal corporation, to finan
cial health began to emerge from that
session.
"It's ,going to behoove us all to be
proactive rather than reactive," city
manager Rob Gandy said Tuesday.
"The board, at its retreat, made a com
mitment to break that pattern."
The Saturday retreat was sched
uled after city officials received inde
pendent auditor Menton Padgett's re
view of fiscal year 1993-94 city ac
counts. Among his findings were that
Southport had expended virtually all
available non-appropriated general
fund, electric fund and solid waste
fund balances by June 30, 1994.
The city in 1993-94 had also spent
some $112,000 more than its general
fund took in that year. Additionally, it
was discovered at audit, the city’s
*... it’s not just my
responsibility, it’s
the board*s respon
sibility and it’s the
department head’s
responsibility to be
come involved in
the planning pro
cess. It’s imperative
we do it that way.’
Rob Gandy
City manager
— ■1 —i
electric fund and water and sewer
fund experienced operating losses in
that year.
In short, all funds available to the
city in the event of unforeseeable or
emergency situations had been ex
See Financial, page 6
SBSD orders
system design
changes made
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District commissioners last week shelved
plans for rapid-infiltration disposal in their projected wastewater system and
directed their engineer to redesign the system for spray application on a golf
course.
Studies of the suitability of present and future St. James Plantation golf
courses for irrigation disposal are expected to be completed before the SBSD
March 2 meeting.
The board last week also decided to abandon plans to provide sewer service
to the Dutchman Acres subdivision outside the district boundaries, which had
been added to the project at federal money-lender request.
In the lengthy and intense February 1 session the board elicited an agreement
from engineer Finley Boney to redesign the disposal system without charge
See System, page 6
Oak Island Senior Citizens members Jim Barrett (left) and Ernest
Jenkins are among the more than 20 volunteers helping refurbish the
former Bob’s Pawn Shop for use as a seniors center.
Volunteers lend a hand
Seniors facility is now
the center of attention
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
The property at 5918 Oak Island Drive is being trans
formed from a burglar-proof pawn shop housing thou
sands of dollars worth of TVs, stereo equipment, jewelry
and firearms, to a friendly senior center designed to help
local residents over age 55 shake off feelings of loneliness
and isolation.
Bars have been removed from windows, new carpeting
installed, a huge glass display case sawed in half and
converted to a snack bar, walls erected to form a cozy
lounge in the center of the building.
The property, formerly home of Bob's Pawn Shop, was
recently purchased by the Oak Island Senior Citizens
group for $300,000.
The group hopes to have the senior center open by
J i. - ... i/j »
March 1.
Group president Helen Cashwell said the project has
already inspired many local seniors, and that more than
20 volunteers have become involved in refurbishing the
building.
"There are guys here that until two weeks ago hadn't
done anything physical in a long time," Cashwell said.
"There have been days when you couldn't get in the
parking lot because of all the volunteers. If we don't do
anything but renovate the building, I'd say it's been a
success."
The group will continue to use the Long Beach Recre
ation Center for its monthly dinners. TTiere are more than
200 members of the organization, while the senior center
will be able to accommodate no more than 70 people. ’
Cashwell said she hopes the center will be a valuable
See Facility, page 8
- - b
v # v
Forecast
Continued cold weather Thurs
day through Sunday. We can ex
pect partly cloudly skies with tem
perature reading in the 40's each
day and 30's at night.
Tide Table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9
9:15 a.m.
17 p.m. Q.90 _ __
, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10 P
10:11 a.m.
4M4p.m.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11 P
11*4 un.
J.Uop.m. 11*14 n m
SUNDA Y, FEBRUARY 12 P
11:52 a.m.
3:55 p.m. r
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13 P
12.-01 ».m.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARYI1436pnl
2"«* 12.-47a.rn.
Wednesday, February ij pJ"
Til***- 130 a.m.
8:02 p.m. , 1.57 nm
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