August 2, 1995
VOLUME 64/ NUMBER 49SOUTHPORT, N.C. 50 CENTS
Neighbors
His Snoopy helmet in
place, our fearless writer
takes to the skies — IB
Sports
Football practice— and
other fall sports drills — are
underway at South - 1C
Our Town
The cost of health care will
impact small hospitals,
including Dosher — Page 2
Four-year
terms put
on shelf
By Terry Pope
County Editor
When the 1995 session of the N.
C. General Assembly ended Saturday,
there had been no legislative action
to end two-year term limits for the
Brunswick County Board of Com
missioners and Brunswick County
Board of Education.
Instead, state Rep. David Redwine
(D-Ocean Isle Beach) says he wants
to hear from residents at a series of
scheduled town meetings before he
decides what to do with the topic at
the short legislative session next year.
Earlier, several town boards and
county commissioners passed resolu
tions that asked Redwine to introduce
special legislation this summer for a
referendum to change term limits
back from two years to staggered
four-year terms. All five members on
each of the two boards are elected
every two years.
Redwine will team with state rep
resentatives Dewey Hill (D-Lake
Waccamaw) and Thomas Wright (D
Wilmington), and state Sen. R. C.
Soles Jr. (D-Tabor City), to hold a
series of town meetings later this year
where residents can talk about any
topic of concern. The local delegation
•— did the same last year.
“One of the topics should be two
year versus four-year terms,” said
Redwjne. “We want to get some pub
See Terms, page 11
Primary
required
at beach
There will be a primary election in
Long Beach October 10.
Four more candidates entered the
field of those seeking election to Long
Beach Town Council this week,
swelling the field of wannabes to 13.
Under terms of election procedure
in Long Beach, if more than 12 can
didates seek election to the six coun
cil seats to be decided, a non-partisan
primary election is to be held.
With a period for filing notices of
election to expire at noon Friday, there
is yet no need for a primary election
for Long Beach mayor. Incumbent
mayor Joan Altman and Marvin
Watson remain the only two declared
candidates for that post. Should an
See Primary, page 6
SUMMER BREEZE
i Photo by Jim Harper
A catamaran crew launches in the bright and was superb for beach-goers to ei\joy either active
inviting Yaupon Beach surd Weekend weather sports or simply lazing about in sparkling snnHght.
State commits $1 million
Beach sand
plan waiting
on the corps
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
An effort to fund a scaled-down
beach renourishment project for the
Long Beach strand got a shot in the
arm this week when the N. C. Gen
eral Assembly appropriated $1 mil
lion from its current year’s budget to
match a still-sought-after federal
commitment.
“We have two of the three pieces
in place now,” a cautiously optimis
tic Long Beach mayor Joan Altman
said this week. “We have the state’s
commitment, we have the town’s
commitment. Now all we need is the
corps’ commitment.”
The project -- if the feds sign on —
is one that is to be funded through an
environmental protection program
aimed at protecting loggerhead turtle
nesting areas.
Virtually abandoned is talk of an
Oak Island-wide renourishment
See Beach sand, page 11
'Six-month checkup'
School board
hopes to lead
by its example
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Members of the Brunswick County
Board of Education say they want to
lead the school system by example.
If the board of education is account
able and sets high goals for itself, they
say, then others in the school sy stem
— from students to administrators --
will follow.
To that end, the board conducted a
“six-month-checkup” on itself last
week and concluded that it has much
work to do to improve teaching and
learning in the classroom.
Some board members observed an
overall lowering of expectations in
schools throughout the county.
“Teachers can do a lot of things to
motivate and stimulate a student, but
if the child chooses not to get help
and if the parents aren’t supportive,
then the teacher gets really discour
aged after a while,” said board mem
‘I see weaknesses
throughout the
system and I do not
think everyone has
accepted all of the
changes we9re
trying to make.9
Billy Carter
District 3 member
ber Pat Brown. “As a result, we’ve
lowered our expectations, in my opin
ion.”
Brown said teachers and parents
equally share responsibility for edu
See School, page 9
Are we on the right road?
Information Highway' is
not without its potholes
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
The technological'revolution will
reach Brunswick County this fall
when Brunswick Community College
and Brunswick County schools merge
with the North Carolina Information
Highway and join the World Wide
Web — the global network of com
puters that forms the Internet.
West Brunswick High School and
BCC were approved by State Infor
mation Processing Services (SIPS) to
join the statewide information high
way and will activate their long dis
tance learning labs when classes re
sume this year.
Through video cameras, micro
phones and computers, students will
interact with other classrooms across
the state. Teachers and students in
each classroom will be able tosee and
communicate with teachers and stu
dents in other classrooms.
“Instead of having to travel 45
miles, students can come to BCC and
attend a live two-way, interactive
course of instruction,” said Adrea
Womble, BCC’s audio-visual techni
cian. “It will mean educational equity
for the rural community. People in
rural areas will have the same access
to information as people in cities.”
At the high school level, the infor
mation highway will be limited to
West Brunswick for the time being,
said Brunswick County school tech
nology director Gene Zuck, but the
Internet will be available to all
schools sometime during the upcom
ing school year. Initially, Zuck said,
only teachers and principals will have
access to cyberspace - that figurative
place Internet users go when they’re
on-line.
But, he added, students also will be
able to use the system when teachers
are able to control the information
they can receive through the Internet.
Currently, all sorts of information
is available on the Internet, and not
all of it is appropriate for young
people. Zuck said there is computer
software that enables teachers to re
strict access to some areas of the
See Right road, page 7
Forecast
Hurricane weather is prominent this
week, but thankfully we are not in the
path of one of the storms. However,
we can still feel the heat bearing down
as this weekend brings temperatures
in the 90's again.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, AUGUST 3
12:49a.m. 7:16a.m.
1:43 p.m. 8:01p.m.
FRIDAY, AUGUST 4
1:48 a.m. 8:14 a.m.
2:48 p.m. 9:08 p.m.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 5
2:54 a.m. 9:19 a.m
3:55 p.m. 10:16 p.m.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 6
4:04 a.m. 10:26 a.m.
5:01p.m. 11:21p.m.
MONDAY, AUGUST 7
5:13 a.m. 11:31a.m.
6:03 p.m. p.m.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 8
6:18 a.m. 12:21a.m.
7:02 p.m. 12:31p.m.
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 9
7:18 a.m. 1:17 a.m.
7:57 p.m. 1:27 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.