Maybe not in the Majors, but baseball players here take to the diamond — 9B Longliners make good money and enjoy outdoor life, but there’s a catch - IB Our Town WktMmu .U -.inir'- - y-fc," ' Vi mi' • • Yaupon got off light, but wants it even lighter for OSHA violations — Page 2 Plan may cure high med costs By Holly Edwards Feature Editor Costs of medical care are skyrock eting because insurance companies and health management organizations (HMOs) are "bloated with too much profit," claims Coastal Caroliha Health Alliance (CCHA) executive director Scott Parisella. Some fear the quality of medical care will plummet as insurance com panies and HMOs limit access to hos pitals and doctors, and dictate the level of care patients receive. To slow the rising cost of health care, and direct money and power back to hospitals and doctors, Parisella is attempting to unite Dosher Memorial Hospital and eight other alliance hospitals with a financial in stitution to form a non-profit com pany that would compete with insur ance companies and HMOs. "It's been proven that managed care works to reduce costs," he said. "What we want to do is reduce costs without sacrificing quality." Patients would pay premiums di rectly to the health care providers, thus eliminating the flow of money out of the health care industry, Parisella said. This in lurn would keep costs in check and ensure that doctors, not insurance agents, decide what patients See Med costs, page 6 Forecast The extended forecast calls for partly cloudy skies Thursday through Saturday with highs in the SO's. Sun day will be wanner and sunnier, highs 65-70. Tide tables HIGH LOW THURSDAY, MARCH 9 1:08 a.m. 7:30 a.m. 1:33 p.m. 7:46 pjn. FRIDAY, MARCH 10 204 a.m. 8:29 a.m. 2:34 p.m. 8:46 pjn. SATURDAY, MARCH II 3:02 aim. 9:28 a.m. 3:33 p.m. 9:45 pjn. SUNDAY, MARCH 12 3:59 a.m. 10:24 a.m. 4:28 pm. 10:40 pjn. MONDAY, MARCH 13 4;S2a.m. 11:14a.m. 5:20 pm. 11:32 pjn. TUESDAY, MARCH 14 5:41a.m. a.m. 6:08 pm. 12:01 pjn. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 15 6:27 a.m. 12:20 a.m. 6:53 p.m. 12:44 pjn. The following adjustments should be made: Bald Head Island, high -10, low -7; Caswell Beach, high -5, low -1; Southport, high +7, low +15; Lockwood Folly, high -22, low -8. the Stole Port Pilot Pilot Line THE TALKING NEWSPAPER 457*5084 • 253*8427 I March certainly came in lion-like last week and these two experienced kite flyers put on an aerial demonstration at the Lockwood Folly Point. More > ^ Photo by Jim Harper good kite-flying is expected this week as the spring feather pattern of Strang frontal movement takes over. '■ '•* ■?-x . No cancer link found Research to relieve some local concerns First of a two-part series By Terry Pope County Editor To some, the cancer rate among county residents is alarming and in their minds reveals a frightening trend from human exposure to nuclear en ergy or to paper mill emissions. But to state officials who re searched the local disease pattern for six months, the number of cases is actually below what is expected for the county's growing retirement popu lation. Health experts claim Brunswick County residents are no more prone to cancer than those in the average community. Outbreaks of the feared disease were reported in four "cancer clusters" in New Hanover and Brunswick counties in 1990 and in the fall of 1993. Following its study the N. C. Cen tral Cancer Registry (CCR) said the figures are high, but not on paper — only in the opinions of families and friends most affected by the terrible disease. A "cluster" is an area highlighted by what appears at first to be a higher *One of the things people don*t realize is how common cancer is already. They don9t realize that one out of every three people will likely get can cer at some point in their life,9 Dr. Tim Aldrich CCR director than-usual rate of cancer patients. All diagnosed cases are reported by area physicians and hospitals to the CCR, which also investigates any residents' concerns of a hidden, underlying fac tor involved. In 1990 reports pointed an accus ing finger at Carolina Power and Light Co.'s Brunswick nuclear facil ity near Southport as a potential cause of brain cancer among local residents. "We did not find any excess of brain cancer, nor any pattern, close to that facility," said Dr. Tim Aldrich, CCR director. "What they were observing is very close to what was expected." In fact, the numbers are slightly lower than what is anticipated for the region. With reports mounting that dated back to 1990, Aldrich's staff expanded its study to include five southeastern North Carolina counties with a focus on two key industries -- CP&L's nuclear plant near Southport and General Electric's nuclear fuel production facility in New Hanover County. CP&L operates twin nuclear reactors to produce electricity, and one division of GE manufactures ra dioactive fuel elements at its Castle Hayne site. There are seven cancer types sus pected of being associated with ex posure to ionizing radiation or to any agricultural pesticides, but the three types examined in the CCR’s report are cancers of the brain, thyroid and multiple myeloma for a five-county population of254,815 residents. That covers those living near the plants and See Research, page 6 Hearing March 23 Second bridge for Oak Island possible in '98 By Richard Nubel Municipal Editor NCDOT wants to know how you feel about tentative plans for a sec ond bridge to Oak Island. The bridge proposal will be the sub ject of a DOT-sponsored workshop to be held at the Long Beach Recreation Center March 23 between and 7 p.m. Information and concerns relayed by the public will be incorporated in en vironmental documents now being compiled by a contractor to the De partment of Transportation. The workshop is preliminary to See Bridge, page 8 ‘On the island, we know where we*re going to go. We’re pretty locked in. We’re going down Middleton.’ Philip Edwards Project engineer AG’s advice sought on mine permitting By Terry Pope County Editor State mining officials are asking for an attorney general's ruling on whether to force Martin Marietta Inc. to submit final data on its rock quarry application near Southport. The mining company has been placed on a 180-day deadline by the N. C. Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources to re spond to state requests for more data on the application Hied in December, 1993. But Martin Marietta attorneys want to stop the clock while they pursue court action against the county ordi nance that restricts deep mining on the company's 1,000-acre tract north of Bethel Church Road. "It's one of those back and forth things now," said Tracy Davis, state mining specialist with the Land Qual ity Section of DEHNR. "We still feel that in the midst of this lawsuit, there are some things that should have been looked at by now. We would like to see an update." If attorney general Mike Easley'g office rules in favor of the state, the See Advice, page 6 Pilot Line invites you to speak out This week The State Port Pilot introduces Pilot t in* Poll, a weekly sampling of reader opinions on the issues of the day. \ Through the newspaper’s updated audiotext informa tion system, Pilot Line, readers have the opportunity to not only vote "aye" or "nay" to Pilot Line Poll questions, but they may now leave an explanation of their votes. Pilot line Poll is now equipped to record a verbal re sponse of up to 45 seconds in length. Each week the Pilot will pose a question of general interest to its readership on a current issue of concern to our community. The newspaper invites its readers to re spond via Pilot Line Poll by calling 457-5084 in the Southport-Oak Island area, or 253-8427 in other parts of Brunswick County. To record a "yes" vote to our question, please 'select extension 1001 on your touch-tone phone. To record a "no" vote, please select extension 1002. After voting, you may opt to tell us why you cast your ballot as you did with a short explanation. - Results of our weekly Pilot line Poll and your com ments will be printed in the following week's edition of The State Pam Pilot Polling results will not be scientific, but the opportu nity to speak-out on matters of community concern should provide a good indication of community senti ment The Pilot encourages its readers to submit ideas for questions to be posed on Pilot Line- Give us a call dur ing office hours, or submit your poll question idea -* or any idea to make The State Port Pilot a better commu nity newspaper - to Pilot Line Suggestion Box at exten sion 1005. Get twice-weekly news updates via Pilot Line Update, extension 1003. 'Pilot Line Poll Question of the week .Should municipal governments in the area charge fees for town vehicle registration stickers? Some have tried and abandoned the practice. Long Beach says it's in the license sticker business to stay. What do you think? « To vote "yes” dial 457-5084 or 253-8427, ex tension 1001. Tb vote "no" dial 457-5084or253-8427, 1002. You may tell why you voted as you did.

Page Text

This is the computer-generated OCR text representation of this newspaper page. It may be empty, if no text could be automatically recognized. This data is also available in Plain Text and XML formats.

Return to page view