i
August 30,1995
The State Port
1 VOLUME 65/NUMBER 1 SOUTHPORT, N.C.
50 CENTS
Sports
South Brunswick ran out
of gas against Hoggard, now
faces the Darkhorses — 1C
___—
Neighbor
Practice makes ‘world
class’ — CP&L’s goal for its
Brunswick plant -- IB
Our Town
The Hood Building will be
repaired when repairs make
planning possible — Page 2
SAT scores up, but far short of goal
‘As a whole, our community
has not placed as high a value
on academic learning as other
areas. We accept less than
what we really expect. ’
Dr. Jan Calhoun
Assistant principal
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Average Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores in
creased for all three Brunswick County high schools this
year, but the county average score remains over 1(M) points
lower than the national average and over 60 points be
low the state.
COMBINED VERBAL & MATH SAT SCORES
1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
South Brunswick High School 831 832 830 799 832 807 819
North Brunswick High School 753 737 765 728 720 708 751
West Brunswick High School 751 792 799 794 830 786 801
Brunswick County 784 796 803 781 806 776 797
North Carolina 836 841 844 855 859 860 865
United States 903 900 896 899 902 902 910
And, when compared with average scores six years ago,
only West Brunswick High School has shown improve
ment.
“Evidently, we’re falling down somewhere,” said school
board member Billy Carter. “Maybe we need to look at
the situation systemwide to find out where we’ve lost tar
get. I think Brunswick County, like the state and the na
tion. has lost focus of what school’s about.”
Assistant superintendent for instruction Jan Calhoun
noted that county high schools have taken steps to raise
scores — such as offering SAT preparatory courses and
more advanced placement courses — but added that, in
general, expectations and standards remain low.
“There are many things high schools can do to provide
more rigor, more challenges and higher standards,”
Calhoun said. “As a whole, our community has not placed
as high a value on academic learning as other areas. We
accept less than what we really expect.”
Calhoun said the key to improving SAT scores is to make
sure all students are prepared for school from the start.
Between 30 and 40 percent of students beginning kinder
garten in this county are developmentally unprepared for
school, lie noted.
Without intervention, he said, these students continue
to decline throughout their academic careers.
“It’s very difficult to jump into the middle of a learn
ing sequence and make any major changes,” he said. “To
make high academic achievement possible, you need in
tervention right from the start."
While about 60 percent of seniors statewide took the
SAT this year, only 35 percent of Brunswick County se
niors, or 207 students, took the test, Calhoun said.
The average score in Brunswick County was 797, com
pared to the state average of 865 and the national aver
age of 910.
“1 know we have some quality teachers and some qual
ity students, and 1 don’t know where the breakdown is,”
said school board chairman Clara Carter.
While she did not blame parents for low test scores,
she stressed that parents can play an important role in
laying the foundation for their children's education.
“Parents must provide solid ground upon which their
children can grow,” she said.
Board member Glenda Browning agreed that any ma
jor change in the county school system will require a
See SAT scores, page 6
When the Marine Corps agreed to land a C-130 at Brunswick County
Airport to pick up some Air Force passengers Monday evening it was
on condition that fire apparatus would be standing by. Yaupon Beach
firefighters gladly made an appearance to make it a three-service train
ing exercise.
Sometime this fall
Rod shipment
gets feds' okay
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A second shipment of highly radio
active nuclear fuel rods will arrive at
Sunny Point Military Ocean Termi
nal north of Southport sometime this
fall.
“We don’t expect we’re going to
begin accepting shipments before
October,” said spokesperson Jayne
Brady of the U. S. Department of
Energy in Washington, DC.
Like the first shipment of 153 ele
ments which passed through Sunny
Point last fall, the rods will arrive by
ship in protective casks. They will be
loaded onto rail cars and transported
through Brunswick County to a hold
ing facility in South Carolina.
DOE is bringing the rods back to
the United States for safe keeping as
Psychic sees
break in case
coming soon
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
A paranormalist — a psychic — whose services have been used by
Southport’s police department and others says there will soon be a
major break in the case of a missing Southport woman whose body
police believe has tfefen secreted just outside city limits.
Pat Sawyer, a registered nurse and paranormalist living in
Wilmington, says by September 15 police will discover a personal
item, perhaps a piece of jewelry, belonging to Rosalind Wall, on the
Pfizer Inc. property northeast of Southport. The item will build on a
body of evidence which has led police to focus on that area in the
investigation of Ms. Wall’s suspected murder. \
Ms. Wall, 29, a bartender at Skipper’s Lounge in Southport, was
reported missing February 12 from the Fodale Avertue apartment
she shared with her live-in boyfriend Robert Nichols, after the two
had argued. Nichols now lives in a family-owned compound on
Nichols Road adjacent to the Pfizer property.
Ms. Sawyer, who visited Southport at the invitation Of city police
three times in April, says her insights indicate Ms. Wall’s body was
disposed of on that land and that she had suffered a violent death.
“I think that she was killed before she got out there and was put in
one of the ponds where she could be taken care of by the creatures
that inhabit that area,” Ms. Sawyer said. “I also feel there may be a
piece of jewelry. You may find something out there. Very shortly.
See Psychic, page 10
If mediation fails
Registrar, county may
battle it out in court
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A lawsuit filed against the Brunswick County Board
of Commissioners will head to the courtroom January 29
if out-of-court mediation attempts fail
Robert J. Robinson, Brunswick County registrar of
deeds, filed suit against the board and interim county
manager Charles McGinnis over an administrative pay
cut Robinson incurred earlier this year.
The registrar also wants a legal ruling on a hiring freeze
imposed on all county agencies earlier this year, a move
he says should not apply to elected officials or to their
departments.
Sheriff Ronald Hewett also filed suit against the county
but later withdrew from that claim.
An order signed by chief Brunswick County Superior
See Register, page 8
McGinnis
notebook
is closed
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Interim county manager Charles
McGinnis’ notebook is full.
It includes a lengthy list of issues
the board of commissioners has tack
led in five months since he arrived.
McGinnis doesn’t take credit for any
See McGinnis, page 9
County approves
manager contract
By Terry Pope
County Editor
County commissioners say the only way they could lure a
new county manager to accept the job here was to offer the
person a buy-out clause if he is later fired.
Six months of guaranteed salary, or $35,500, for being fired
without cause is part of an employment agreement Jimmy
Varner has accepted to trade his Yadkin County job for the
Brunswick County manager’s position. He is expected to start
See Contract, page 6
part of a plan to rid the world of
bomb-grade uranium, for fear the rods
will fall into the wrong hands over
seas and be used to produce nuclear
weapons. The highly enriched ura
nium contained in the rods can be
used to manufacture bombs.
DOE announced last week that
plans are proceeding to accept 151
spent nuclear fuel elements from the
Swiss, Greek and German research
reactors for storage at DOE’s Savan
nah River site near Aiken, SC. Ajudg
ment by the Fourth Circuit Court of
Appeals last week ruled DOE had
fulfilled its responsibilities under the
National Environmental Policy Act
by completing an environmental as
sessment to cover both the shipment
and the storage of fuel rods.
South Carolina state officials had
filed suit to block further shipments
and had obtained an injunction pend
ing the court’s ruling. They argued the
assessment did not cover DOE’s plan
for long-term storage of rods in un
derwater containers at Aiken.
DOE notified its shipping company
See Shipment, page 7
Forecast
The extended forecast calls for
partly cloudy skies and a chance of
thunderstorms. Highs each day in the
mid to upper 80's.
Tide table
HIGH LOW
THURSDAY, AUGUST 31
-a.m. 6:03 a.m.
12:27 p.m. 6:46 p.m.
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1
12:36 a.m. 6:56 a.m.
1:28 p.m. 7:47 p.m.
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 2
1:38 a.m. 7:57 a.m.
2:34 p.m. 8:53 p.m.
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 3
2:46 a.m. 9:05 a.m.
3:42 p.m. 10:00 p.'m.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 4
3:57 a.m. 10:13 a.m. ■ tw
4:48 p.m. 11:04 p.m.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5
5:04 a.m. 11:19 a.m.
5:49 p.m. -p.m. m
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER «
6:07 a.m. 12:03 a.m. '
6:46 a.m. 12:18 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.