t
May 3,1995
The State Port
PIL<
VOLUME 64/ NUMBER 36
SOUTHPORT, N.C.
50 CENTS
Sports
South Brunswick runs —
and jumps — away with the
county track championship
Neighbors
A visiting artist pieces to
gether a unique display for
the Blue Dolphin Gallery
Boiling Spring Lakes will
consider an administrator
to operate city government
How
'long
term'?
Community
center may
be replaced
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Sunny Point's commander has
agreed with Southport officials: Both
the Army and the City of Southport
would be best served by long-term
lease of the old Southport Commu
nity Building property.
In an April 16 letter to mayor
Norman Holden, Col. Lawrence M.
Curtin said he has set the process in
motion to extend a "long-term" lease
of the land to the city.
"My public works division chief
agrees with your assessment that a
long-term lease is a more viable al
ternative than seeking to acquire this
property from the U. S. Army," Curtin
wrote Holden. "This method will en
sure that the land presently under
lease to the City of Southport will re
main available for your use for the
foreseeable future."
The Army's apparent willingness to
extend the city a long-term lease of
the prime waterfront property next to
Fort Johnston likely will come as
good news to the 66 percent of
Southport citizens who said in a re
cent poll they want the Community
Building rebuilt substantially as it was
— on its original footing.
The Community Building was lost
to fire in the early hours of January
30. Since that time, community de
bate has been spirited. According to
the city-initiated poll, the 34 percent
of respondents who said they opposed
reconstruction of the Community
Building on its original site, did so
because the Army owned the land
beneath it.
The city's insurance carrier has said
it will pay actual cost to replace the
Southport Community Building on its
original site. Because it was in a his
toric district and because the original
building occupied archaeologically
significant land, expansion of the
original footing of the building on the
riverfront site would be virtually im
possible. But, the interior of the build
ing may be modernized and altered
somewhat, city officials believe.
Meeting April 19, city aldermen
voted 4-1 to "pursue" replacement of
the Southport Community Building
on its Fort Johnston site. Only aider
man Nelson Adams opposed recon
struction on the original site, but al
See Replaced, page 7
South Brunswick High School students got a first-hand look at the
dangers of drinking and driving last week in this mock crash
organized by the Anchor Club. County fire, rescue and law enforce
ment officials used the Jaws of Life to extract "victims" of the crash.
Photo by Holly Edwards
l ite Anchor Club hoped this dramatic enactment would discourage
students from drinking alcohol on prom night and encourage them to
attend the drug- and alcohol-free After-Prom Party sponsored by the
club Saturday night.
Sheriff,
registrar
sue county
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Upset with a hiring freeze
imposed last month on jobs
within their departments, the
sheriff and register of deeds
filed suit Monday against the
Brunswick County Board of
Commissioners and interim
county manager Charles
McGinnis.
.The action filed by
Shallotte attorney Joseph
Causey asks for a Superior
Court judge's ruling on
whether the county can le
gally restrict how sheriff
Ronald Hewett and registrar
Robert J. Robinson hire or
See County, page 6
Opposition will continue
Martin Marietta gets
extension for permits
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Martin Marietta will have another
year to submit data in support of its
application for a state mining permit
on a tract north of Southport.
A one-year extension has been
granted by Charles Gardner, director
of the Division of Land Resources of
the N. C. Department of Environ
ment, Health and Natural Resources.
The 180-day deadline set in No
vember would have expired May 28.
Residents who organized the
Brunswick Mining Awareness Com
mittee to fight the application more
than two years ago say they will con
tinue to lead the battle against the pro
posed mine.
‘At the end of one year, a decision will
have to be made. But you don’t change
the aquifer, and you can’t change the
sinkholes. ’
Bob Quinn
Committee spokesman
The company asked the stale for
more time to conduct studies at the
site. It has been pending since Decem
ber, 1993.
"We aren't going to relax," said Hob
Quinn of Southport, Brunswick Min
ing Awareness Committee chairman.
"The people here aren't going to re
lax, because we know what it's all
See Permits, page 8
Audit revealed improper use ofeguipment
Schools pledge to address problems
uy nouy uawaras
Feature Editor
Quick and aggressive action was promised this week by the
Brunswick County Board of Education to rectify problems de
tailed in a performance audit of the school system conducted by
the state auditor's office.
And, some board members said they wUl push for investiga
tion of reports of financial mismanagement and possible viola
tions of law.
"I believe very strongly that this is just the tip of the iceberg,"
school board vice-chairman Glenda Browning said of the audit
report. "It's proven that some of the perceptions about the school
system were correct, and we must act swiftly and severely to
make sure these things don't happen again."
School board chairman Clara Carter said she was "appalled"
by the report.
"I am appalled that people given the public trust could have
made some of these decisions," she said. "I do not believe we
‘I recognize that some of these
problems have been around a
long time, but (Johnston has)
been here two and a half years
now and a lot of this stuff hap
pened during that time. ’
Billy Carter
can have business as usual. It's a day for accountability, and I
pledge my efforts to that end."
School board members discussed the audit report in a spe
cial-planning session Monday night, and said they will begin
taking action on the findings at their next regular meeting May
8.
The report indicates that some employees utilized school
vehicles, cellular phones and credit cards for their personal use,
state and federal funding was improperly allocated and the or
ganizational structure of the school system hampers commu
nication among sehool employees.
The report also notes that the auditors were unable to deter
mine the magnitude of the problems because of time limita
tions and the disorganized state of school records.
Therefore it's now the school board's responsibility to deter
mine the magnitude of the problems, said board member Billy
Carter.
"We’ve got a poor system and bad accountability," he said.
"And when you're dealing with public funds you've got to have
accountability for it."
See Schools, page 9
, Yaupon
weighs
options
On-site spray
one alternative
for wastewater
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Spray application of treated efflu
ent — or at least a lower-rate infiltra
tion technique — has emerged as a
possible solution to the wastewater
disposal problems with w hich Yaupon
Beach has grappled since July, 1994.
Since that time, the state's Division
of Environmental Management has
enforced a moratorium on new taps
to the town's wastewater management
system. The moratorium was ordered
when it was discovered effluent was
ponding in the system's rapid-infiltra
tion basin — a huge lagoon into which
effluent is placed for percolation into
the ground.
And, during that moratorium, it was
discovered the rapid-infiltration ba
sin can only accommodate flow of
250,000 gallons per day. The Yaupon
Beach wastewater treatment plant,
built in 1992, can treat 400,000 gal-.
Ions of wastewater per day. DEM has
said until the rapid-infiltration basin
is repaired, the moratorium will re
main in force.
With that in mind town officials,
their engineering and hydrogeological
consultants and DEM officials met
Friday in Yaupon Beach to discuss not
repairing the basin at all. Mayor May
Moore, consulting hvdrogeologist Ed
Andrews, and DEM officials them
selves, now say spray application —
or spraying water over a larger tract
of land rather than depositing it in the
rapid-infiltration basin, may be a
more effective means to reach the
town's goal of disposing of as much
effluent as its wastewater plant can
treat.
Estimates to repair the ill-con
structed rapid-infiltration basin -
good for about the next 50 days —
exceed $144,000. Even when re
paired, consulting engineers say, the
basin would still only accommodate
flow of 250,000 gallons per day, not
the 400,000 gpd it was designed to
See Yaupon, page 7
Forecast
The extended forecast for the pe
riod of Thursday-Saturday will be
partfy cloudy skies with lows in the
50's and high near 80. Sunday will be
clearer and warmer with a high in the
mid to upper 80's.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, MAY 4
11:43 a.m. 5:44 a.m.
11:57 p.m. 5:48 p.m.
FRIDAY, MAY 5
— a.m. 6:26 a.m.
12:26 p.m. 6:33 p.m.
SATURDAY, MAY 6
12:40 a.m. 7:12 a.m.
1:14 p.m. 7:24 p.m.
SUNDAY, MAY 7
1:29 a.m. 8:02 a.m.
2:09 p.m. 8:22 p.m.
MONDAY, MAY 8
2:24 a.m. 8:57 a.m.
3:09 p.m. 9:25 p.m.
TUESDAY, MAY 9
3:22 a.m. 9:54 a.m.
4:09 p.m. 10:28 p.m.
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10
4:21 am. 10:50 a.m.
5:07 p.m. 11:28 p.m.
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.