VOLUME 64/NUMBER 44 June 28, 1995 * SOUTHPORT, N.C. 50 CENTS

M0«;
A trip to Russia with a
clogging team is a trip he
will never forget - Page IB
?’ A
Long Beach honors a cou
ple who helped get volun
teer service started- Page 2
Count
down
begins
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
The final countdown has begun.
In just a matter of hours the early
birds of a crowd expected to grow to
over 30,000 by parade time will start
trooping into Southport for this city's
annual summer spectacle.
The 1995 N. C. Fourth of July Fes
tival is upon us.
"And, we're ready for them," festi
val president Don Hughes said Tues
day. "We're anticipating really good
crowds and we know we have a lot
of holiday entertainment to offer
them."
Festival activities actually begin
tonight (Wednesday) with a 7 p.m.
performance of the Second Division
Marine Band on the Garrison at Fort
Johnston.
Festival headquarters will open at
10 a.m. Thursday, and opening cer
emonies are planned Friday evening
at festival headquarters on West
Moore Street. Ceremonial flags — in
cluding a replica of an American flag
from 1795 and one from 1995 that
flew over the U. S. Capitol— will be
raised. Southport historian Susan
Carson will be keynote speaker.
The festival begins in earnest Sat
urday and that is when the bulk of the
crowd that annually invades this small
city is expected. That day will start
with an early five-kilometer Freedom
Run, continue with entertainment
from the waterfront stage and mark
the opening of the arts and crafts show
See Count down, page 6
To encourage everyone to observe and enjoy the
Fourth of July, Joe Putnam and Margaret Minuth
put up special Independence Day decorations at
Dosher Memorial Hospital on Monday. Late in the
day firefighters installed pennants and flags in
downtown Southport and the way was clearly
marked for a wonderful holiday.
Everything has a price
Freebies get
second look
from county
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Sometimes a gift isn’t really a gift
but is instead an expense county com
missioners would rather do without.
Federal authorities who donated a
boat to the Brunswick County
Sheriffs Department didn't throw in
an operating budget.
Such donations have prompted a
new county ordinance that requires
departments to get prior approval be
fore accepting any gifts.
"I was just trying to cover anything
that might impact our budget that we
need to know about," said District 3
commissioner Leslie Collier of Long
Beach.
Her motion to draft the ordinance
'We're getting too
many gifts that
have hidden costs
down the road.'
Leslie Collier
District 3 member
was approved unanimously before the
board adopted a 1995-96 budget last
week which raises the tax rate by ten
cents, to 68.5 cents per $ 100 of prop
See Freebies, page 8
Mobile home
park changes
before board
County, registrar must work together
Finger being pointed
over indexing system
By Terry Pope
County Editor
With the help of fiber optics, county
agencies are switching to one com
puter imaging system capable of car
rying departments electronically into
the 21st century.
But before county commissioners
accepted the three-year lease agree
ment last week they had questions for
computer systems manager Jerry
Hewett.
They asked whether register of
deeds Robert J. Robinson agreed with
the plan. His office will be the pri
'With this person doing this thing, and
that person doing another, that's not the
way I look at it. I'm looking at the whole
county.'
Jerry Hewett
Computer manager
mary user.
"I don't want to end up buying two
systems when one can do what we
need to do," said District 3 commis
sioner Leslie Collier. She asked if
commissioners would be forced to
purchase a second system if the deeds
See Indexing, page 8
'Smart
Start'
alive
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A compromise reached by
state legislators last week will
keep alive the local Partnership
for Children's effort to bring
Smart Start to Brunswick
County.
A month-long battle over
funding for the public-private
early childhood intervention
program has ended in the State
House with an agreement to
See Smart Start, page 11
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A new mobile home park ordinance
previously tabled by the county plan
ning board has been sent to commis
sioners for adoption.
But it is missing two of the most
controversial requirements — deleted
by the planning board last week. Plan
ners had originally agreed to table the
ordinance for 60 days but were ready
to take action after just one month of
review.
At its regular meeting Monday, July
3, the Brunswick County Board of
Commissioners may hold a first read
ing and set a public hearing on the
document. The commission meets at
6:30 p.m. in the conference room at
the 911 center.
The draft has generated heated dis
cussion at planning board meetings -
- placing park owners against county
planners and residents who say it is
time some parks are forced to com
ply with stricter standards.
The revised version drops require

By Jim Harper
Staff Writer s-'* .. ■ >
The Bald Head Island developer has informed vil
lage property owners he is abandoning the 17-acre lake
in his revision of Stage II development plans.
A general mailing went out over the weekend in
which Kent Mitchell, president of Bald Head Island
Management, wrote, "It is my conclusion, after receiv
ing the input from property owners, that the strong
negative perception of the lake held by some property
owners would be too difficult and time consuming to
Vi ■ - . -s'"v;' # vf”
overcome.
Ken Stewart, chief operating officer for the devel
opment, said Monday that a revised plan would likely
be available for village council perusal by Friday and
that the revision would then be forwarded to the Divi
sion of Coastal Management which is considering the 1
Bald Head plan revision. ^ V
In the village council session on June 17 Stewart
pointed out that the revised plan—with or without the
woodland lake - would mean a net reduction in hous
ing units for Stage II compared with the plan approved
by state officials in 1987.
Io that session the lake, proposed forthe wooded area
near the old Cape Fear lighthouse site, was criticized
as a threat to the island's water supply and also as pre
senting a likely maintenance problem.
"My planning department is hard at work revising
die development plan to meet or exceed all regulatory
and zoning requirements while eliminating the 17-acre
lake," Mitchell said in his letter.
"We are committed to proceeding with the revised
plan, without the lake, ami we hope that this accom
modation shows our intent to be sensitive to property
Set Changes, page 6
ments for park owners to provide
street lighting and buffer zones
around their parks. It would also ex
empt expansion of existing parks
from some of the new rules. The origi
nal version would have forced exist
ing parks to comply with standards
within a certain period.
Health board chairman Pat Newton,
who owns the Boardwalk Mobile
Home Park north of Southport, op
posed the requirement for buffer
zones, saying there are no adjacent
neighbors for his park to help protect.
He also objected to a requirement that
park owners be responsible for pest
control throughout the park.
That requirement has been changed
See Mobile home, page 6
Forecast
Partly cloudy skies will prevail for
the period of Thursday through Sat
urday with highs in the 80's and lows
in the 70's.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, JUNE 29
9:38 a.m. 3:38 a.m.
9:52 p.m. 3:38 p.rn.
FRIDAY, JUNE 30
10:14 a.m. 4:15 a.m.
10:26 p.m. 4:17 p.m.
SATURDAY, JULY I
10:51 a.m. 4:52 a.m.
11:01p.m. 4:57 p.m.
SUNDAY, JULY 2
11:30 a.m. 5:29 a.m.
11:39 p.m. 5:39 p.m.
MONDAY, JULY 3
-a.m. 6:09 a.m.
12:15 p.m. 6:27 p.m.
TUESDAY, JULY 4
12:22 a.m. 6:52 a.m.
1:06 p.m. 7:21p.m.
WEDNESDAY, JULY S
1:12 a.m. 7:42 ajn.
2:05 p.m. 8:22 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 •*.