| VOLUME 64/NUMBER 33SOUTHPORT. N.C._ 50 CENTS |
Neighbors
A nature lover with a flair
for the artistic has found
his perfect retirement — 2B
ft
Jj|
Sports
South Brunswick started
the conference season 2-0,
then met Whiteville — 16B
Our Town
Aldermen will meet Thurs
day to consider annexation
of certain areas — Page 2
Occupancy
tax measure
before Senate
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
A bill now before the N. C. Senate
would force collectors of local occu
pancy taxes approved after March 1,
1995, to spend no less than two-thirds
of those revenues on marketing.
Southport-Oak Island officials, no
tified of the bill this week by Long
Beach town manager Jerry Walters,
fear the state will move to make this
' marketing expenditure the rule for
their towns, which have collected
occupancy or accommodations taxes
for years. They say the impact on ser
vices the towns provide tourist popu
lations would be drastic.
"Somebody is ram-rodding this
through that you've got to spend two
thirds of this money for advertising,"
Yaupon Beach mayor May Moore
told her board of commissioners
Monday night. "That's insane."
Moore and Walters have both said
they would direct letters opposing the
bill and its marketing provision to the
area's legislative delegation. Caswell
Beach and Southport elected officials
are to get a Erst chance to react pub
licly to the bill Thursday.
"I just don't see spending two-thirds
See Occupancy, page 6
services,
schedules
An Easter sunrise service for the
Southport-Oak Island community
will be held Sunday, 6:30 a.m., at the
N. C. Baptist Assembly.
The Southport-Oak Island Inter
church Fellowship decided this year
to organize one service for the whole
community rather that two separate
services for Southport and Oak Island.
An Easter egg hunt for children will
be held Saturday, 10 a.m., at
Middleton Park in Long Beach.
Brunswick County government of
fices will close for the Easter holiday
on Friday while all municipal offices
will close Monday.
County libraries will close Friday,
Saturday and Sunday, but will reopen
at 9 a.m. Monday.
The U. S. Postal Service will not
close for the holiday.
Photo by Jim Harper
A new day dawning
By Wallace H. Harding
Special to the Pilot
The celebration had already begun when we
awoke at 5 a.m. on that early April mom
ing. A soft chorus of melancholy coo-coo
cooing from several pairs of mourning doves joined
with the happy, light-hearted, shrill background mu
sic of spring peepers and the chirping notes of a choir
of well-rehearsed crickets to perform the prelude to
the day's ceremonies. Although our windows were
closed, we had little trouble hearing the beautifully
clear music amplified by the pre-dawn stillness that
embraces this fleeting time of day like good memories
embrace the soul.
Evidence of the elaborate preparations for this spe
cial day surrounded us as we ate our breakfast on the
small, screened back porch that also served as a box
seat to the going-ons in our backyard. The music was
See Sunrise, page 8
Preliminary plat
King’s Lynn
development
to be allowed
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Likely developers of a proposed 14-parcel subdivision on the
westernmost portion of King’s Lynn won reluctant approval of their
preliminary subdivision plat at a repeat appearance before Long
Beach Town Council Tuesday night.
The subdivision, known as The Harbor at King's Lynn, has been
platted west of any existing housing at King’s Lynn and its 14 lots
average 50 front-feet and run from 399 feet to 599 feet deep from
the oceanfront to King’s Lynn Drive.
Commissioners on March 21 refused to act on developers’ request
to approve the preliminary plat, saying they required additional in
formation of the plat which is located near an area of environmental
concern and an inlet hazard area. Moreover, council last month said
See Long Beach, page 8
Basin repair
top priority
for Yaupon
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Beginning this week, repair of
the ill-constructed rapid-infiltra
tion basin component of the
Yaupon Beach wastewater treat
ment system becomes top prior
ity, mayor May Moore and the
town’s board of commissioners
said Monday night.
Although the state's Division of
Environmental Management re
laxed its moratorium on addi
tional sewer taps last week, that
moratorium will not be com
pletely lifted until the rapid-infil
tration basin is repaired.
More importantly, state regu
lators will hold up action on the
town's application to expand
treatment plant and basin capac
ity until the rapid-infiltration ba
sin is repaired.
And, timing is critical. The
threat of summer crowds increas
ing the amount of flow to the
town's wastewater treatment sys
tem forces the town into a rigid
time schedule for basin repair.
"As much as possible we need
to push putting sand in the basin
before the summer flow," mayor
Moore told fellow commission
ers. She said town work crews
will begin scraping the basin bot
tom — removing decayed algae
and inferior quality sand placed
in the basin by a rogue contrac
tor in 1992 — by week's end. All
town public works and utility
employee schedules have been
rearranged to accommodate the
basin work.
"I've been pushing the town
See Yaupon, page 6
Prosperity, unemployment do mix
Jobless figures taken to task
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Figures can be confusing, as in how can the third fast
est-growing county in the state also be one of just six
with double-digit unemployment?
Job experts maintain Brunswick County has a unique
situation that contributes to higher-than-average numbers,
at 11.1 percent in February.
The Employment Security Commission office in
Shallotte says it has plenty of jobs available that it is try
ing to fill.
"We've got job openings galore,” said Mazie Prink,
county ESC director. "We are recruiting job applicants.
We've got lots of jobs to fill.”
According to the state, the county listed 3,090 persons
out of work and actively seeking jobs in February. State
average is 4.6 percent unemployment. A five-percent rate
is considered as near-full employment.
"We have more people employed than at any time in
our history,” said James Smith, a professor of finance at
.UNC-Chapei Hill. ”It is the first time since 1979 it has
fallen below five percent in the South.”
Given its growth rate and the building boom that has
continued in the 1990s, how is it that the county's jobless
rate is so high? Officials say it is based on the types of
jobs that cycle workers on and off the payroll, such as
■ ■
In-Commuters
County of Number of
Residence Commuters
Bladen 253
Columbus 904
New Hanover 2,114
Pender 275
Out-Commuters
County of Number of
Employment Commuters
Bladen 10
Columbus 466
New Hanover 4,481
Pender 108
coastal dredging operations, the seafood industry with its winter seasons,
longshoremen who have occasions! lulls and the tourist-oriented jobs in res
taurants and shops.
There are 420 nuclear decontaminators who live in Brunswick County
who are called to work out of state as needed on certain jobs. When they are
in a lull, they file unemployment claims with the ESC office in Shallotte.
And there are many people who simply pack up their belongings and move
to the county with the hope of landing a job once they get here.
They fall in love with the county while on vacation or visiting, see tremen
dous growth m the area and believe they will easily land a
professional job. They will spend part of their first weeks
standing in the unemployment line.
"We've been growing in Brunswick County close to four
percent per year,” said Tom Monks, executive director of
the Brunswick County Economic Development Commis
sion. "We're still exporting about 4,000 more jobs out of
this county than we're importing per day."
The commuting pattern is based on how rapidly the
county is growing. Few take into consideration the county
ranks in the top two percent of all rural counties in the
nation in industrial recruitment. Monks said his EDC of
fice is doing all jt can to match the swelling population. It
simply cannot keep pace with such a huge demand.
"I get calls all the time demanding that we recruit new
industries," said Monks. "I don't see how this growth is
going to stop."
In 1993 six manufacturing plants chose Brunswick
County, directly adding 19S jobs and 205 spin-off jobs
% indirectly related to the business or for support services.
Seven new companies were recruited by the county EDC
in 1994, adding 357 jobs directly and 340jobs indirectly
to the workforce.
C During the first three months of 1995 three companies ■
have announced plans to locate here or to expand, adding
170 direct jobs and 160 indirect jobs. Four other corapa
See Jobless, page 8
Forecast
We can expect partly
cloudly but otherwise nice
weather for the period of
Thursday-Saturday. Highs
each will be in the high 60's
with lows in the 40's.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, APRIL 13
6:51 a.m. 12:52 a.m.
7:24 p.m. 1:10 p.m.
FRIDAY, APRIL 14
7:41a.m. 1:43 a.m.
8:13 p.m. 1:56 p.m.
SATURDAY, APRIL 15
8:30 a.m. 2:32 am.
9:02 p.m. 2:42 p.m.
SUNDAY, APRIL 16
9:20 am. 3:21a.m.
9:53 p.m. 3:29 p.m.
MONDAY, APRIL 17
10:11a.m. <»:!! am.
10:45 p.m. 4:18 p.m.
TUESDAY, APRIL IS
11:04 a.m. , 5:02 a.m.
11:39 p.m. 5:09 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19
-am. 5:56 a.m.
12:01pm. 6:04 p.m.
The following adjustments should be made:
Bald Head bund, high -10, low -7; Caswell
Beach, high -5. low -1; Southport, high +7,
low +15; Lockwood Polly, high -22, low -8.