I_sP<>rts
South Brunswick girls and
boys defeat cross-county
rival North Tuesday — 1C
Neighbors
‘The Nutcracker’ was per
formed for an appeciative
audience Friday night -- IB
Our Town
Municipal and county offi
cials meet to discuss their
common problems — Page 2
Test wells:
Board says
'dig deep'
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
County residents who own margin
ally buildable lots will no longer be
entitled to free test-well monitoring
by the Brunswick County Health De
partment.
Upon recommendation of the board
of health, county commissioners
unanimously approved assessing a
$200 fee for the service.
Test wells are sometimes installed
on lots that fail to meet building re
quirements stipulated in the initial site
evaluation performed by the health
department, explained Bob Odette,
Brunswick County environmental
health supervisor.
A test well is a four-foot pipe
placed in-ground that allows the prop
erty owner and health officials to
monitor the water table level on the
lot, Odette said.
Last year, there were 85 test wells
installed in the county on lots that did
not receive initial septic tank ap
proval.
The monitoring is performed dur
ing the wettest months of the year —
January through March — and is de
signed to determine whether the lot
is unbuildable, or potentially build
able with the installation of a drain
age syst&ttl.
The property owner, or an agent of
the owner, is required to record the
water table level every 72 hours and
a Brunswick County environmental
health official measures the level once
a week, Odette said.
If the highest level measured dur
ing the period is less that 12 inches,
the lot is unbuildable. If the highest
level measured is between 12 and 36
inches, the lot may be buildable with
construction of a drainage system.
“Nobody in the health department
enjoys turning down a permit,”
Odette told commissioners Monday
night. “The purpose of the test well
is to go that extra step so we can write
a permit.”
Odette estimated it costs the county
$267 in labor to monitor each well
site, so the $200 fee still won’t cover
all costs associated with the service.
Commissioner Bill Sue said he was
concerned that some residents will be
unable to pay the fee.
“My concern is not for the folks at
the beach with $60,000 or $100,000
lots, but for the folks up my way with
$3,000 or $4,000 lots,” Sue said.
“Some folks out there can’t afford to
spend two hundred bucks.”
Sue said some residents unable to
pay the fee will leave their lots va
cant for a longer period of time than
they would if the monitoring service
were provided free. And, he said, va
cant lots mean fewer tax dollars.
“If there’s a 50-50 chance the lot’s
See ‘Dig deep’, page 11
Forecast
The extended forecast calls
for seasonal weather with a
chance of showers and highs
each day in the mid 60's.
Roscoe Sales delighted both ballet aficionados and
first-timers Friday in performances of “The
Nutcracker” in Odell Williamson Auditorium at
Brunswick Community College. Sales was one of the
Photo by Jim Harper
featured artists in the presentation by the
Greensboro Ballet, which also included a number of
young local dancers in supporting roles.
Caswell Beach
Retiring mayor Cook
had the right 'recipe'
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Shortly after 5 p.m. next Thursday
Jack Cook will conclude 16 years as
mayor of Caswell Beach.
Considering the town itself is only
20 years old, Cook’s tenure is more
than a little significant. It was under
his leadership that the character of the
town that exists today was given birth.
Caswell Beach looks the way Jack
Cook and those who served munici
pal government with him over the
years believed it should look. The
town’s financial base is founded on
the assumptions made by Cook and
his contemporaries. The services that
town residents enjoy today are pro
vided as Cook and his fellows envi
sioned them.
This election year, Cook decided
not to shoot for his 20-year mayor’s
pin.
“It was 1979.1 guess that’s when it
all started,” Cook recalled this week,
See Mayor, page 10
'Deck the halls' Saturday
Southport activities
include tour, flotilla
Christmas-by-the-Sea Festival activities move to
Southport this weekend with the annual home tour, tree
lighting ceremony and holiday flotilla.
Eight historic homes will be included on the tour which
begins Saturday, 5 p.m., at Franklin Square Gallery.
Tickets and refreshments will be available at the gal
lery until 9 p.m. Ticket-holders may take any route they
choose through the city.
During the tour, carolers will stroll city streets and Santa
Claus will make a 6 o’clock appearance at the Prince of
Brunswick shop on Moore Street.
Among the historic homes featured on the tour are the
Northrup House on Caswell Avenue, where the movie
“Crimes of the Heart” was filmed; the old Sacred Heart
Catholic Church, also on Caswell Avenue, which has been
converted to a private home; the Dosher House on Bay
Street, now Lois Jane’s Riverview Inn; the Brunswick
Inn annex on South Davis Street, formerly part of the
Hotel Brunswick constructed in 1882; the Swain House
on Moore Street, typical of one-story homes constructed
in Southport in the 1890s; and three homes -- the Larsen
House on Atlantic Avenue, the Fisher House on North
Lord Street and the Holden House on Caswell Avenue ~
which are typical of Southport homes constructed in the
early 1900s.
The annual tour of homes is a fund-raiser for Southport
2000 Inc., a downtown revitalization group.
Southport mayor Norman Holden will preside over the
tree-lighting ceremony at 5 p.m. at Whittier’s Bench, next
to Waterfront Park, and the Sea Notes Choral Society will
sing Christmas carols on the steps of Franklin Square
Gallery at 7 p.m.
At 7:30 p.m. the annual holiday flotilla will cruise past
the Southport waterfront. The flotilla is sponsored this
year by Port Charlie’s and Ship’s Chandler restaurants.
Brunswick schools
Board, faculty
not the 'apple'
of either's eye
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
The relationship between
Brunswick County school board
members and educators is like a “mar
riage gone sour,” a “festering wound”
based upon territorial disputes and
power struggles, school board chair
man Clara Carter said in a board
meeting last week.
Carter said she fears disagreement
over early release and site-based man
agement will distract schools from the
real issue — educating children — and
noted that unless the school board and
the next superintendent of schools
provide solid leadership some county
schools will face a state takeover un
See Apple, page 12
‘Without an
atmosphere for open
dialogue, we’re not
sure what the
board’s motives are,
and the board
doesn’t trust us
anymore either.’
Diana Mintz
Leland Middle principal
SBSD move
keeps water
options open
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
Collapse of plans to dispose of
wastewater through Cogentrix or at
St. James Plantation golf courses has
caused commissioners of the South
east Brunswick Sanitary District to
enact an ordinance protecting its in
district disposal options.
In a special session Thursday, com
missioners prohibited “spraying,
placing- or depositing of any spray
effluent by any wastewater treatment
facility upon property within the
boundaries of the (district) by any
person, firm, municipality or govern
ment entity....”
The move apparently blocks
See Options, page 12
‘It’s going to be
necessary to fall
back on one of the
other options. The
other options are the
east side of
Beaverdam Creek
and the airport.’
James W. Smith
SBSD chairman
Becky Felton hangs a wreath on the old Sacred Heart Catholic
Church in preparation for the Southport Tbur of Homes to be held this
Saturday evening. Becky and husband Elbert have converted die for*
mer church into a private home, one of nine historic structures includ
ed on the toor.