Our Town
Beach renourishment may
begin next Monday on Bald
Head South Beach — Page 2
South Brunswick opens
Waccamaw 2A/3A action
on the road Tuesday — 1C
Neighbors
Dr. Martin Luther King’s
birthday will be celebrated
Sunday and Monday — IB
’Best use'
of tracts
debated
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A battle has developed over large
industrial tracts in the growing Leland
area.
Are they best suited for future in
dustrial uses, or should the tracts be
rezoned to make way for more hous
ing developments'.'
The Brunswick County Planning
Board has denied two applications
that attempt to re/one heavy manu
facturing tracts to residential zones.
But the final decision must come from
Brunswick County commissioners.
Commissioners want to hold an
other public hearing on the matter
next month so I .eland area residents
can first have a say.
"Our position, and the position
maintained by the planning board, is
that there is a primary need in the
county for heavy manufacturing,"
said Brunswick County planning di
rector Wade Horne. "Less than three
See Tracts, page 6
Town Creek
squad may
bill patients
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Town Creek Volunteer Rescue
Squad has become the first agency in
the county authorized by Brunswick
County commissioners to bill its pa
tients for emergency transport.
It’s a move that is expected to help
the department survive a budget
crunch.
“Our mechanism is already in place
right now.” said Ernest Coleman of
Town Creek Rescue Squad. “We do
not intend to do aggressive collection.
The people that we’re going to pick
up are the people that I've known for
20 some years, and I don’t want them
throwing rocks at me.”
Last July, county commissioners
approved the concept to allow squads
to bill patients or insurance compa
nies when an emergency transport is
made. The plan was to allow the
county’s Emergency Medical Ser
vices department to process bills for
all squads that chose to participate.
But county manager Jim Varner
said he met with the rescue squads last
week and learned that EMS still has
a problem in getting a computer pro
gram to do the billing. County com
missioners agreed last week to allow
Town Creek to venture out on its own.
Rural squads, said Coleman, are
suffering from a lack of both funds
and trained volunteers. Efforts are
made to recruit new members and to
raise money, but not enough people
are buying chicken dinners or studio
portraits to make ends meet.
“We feel like we are dying on the
vine,” said Coleman. “We have no
support or funding other than what we
See Patients, page 8
CASTING OFF
Photo by Jim Harper
With a little nudge from its outboard-powered ten
der the schooner New Hiyi gets underway from the
pier at Southport Marina in Tuesday morning’s chill.
The Philadelphia-based vessel visited here over the
weekend on a southern cruise designed to show a
new way to troubled youths from the Philadelphia
area. See the “Waterfront” column for more infor
mation.
LCFWSA project
Study could reveal
county sewer needs
By Terry Pope
County Editor
What started out as a regional sewer study for
the Leland community may now include all of
Brunswick County.
County officials say they will speak with Lower
Cape Fear Water and Sewer Authority executive
director Kurt Taube about expanding the project.
LCFWSA has joined with the Leland Sanitary
District to help draft a comprehensive study on the
need for regional sewer in the northern Leland
Belville area. That plan was also officially endorsed
last week by the Brunswick County Board of Com
See Sewer, page 9
‘I think the future looks bright.
Most people in Brunswick County
right now are talking, in some
fashion, about sewer.’
Robert Ibcker
County engineer
County, 'discovery[
Dosher offices
have been left
off tax scrolls
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Dosher Memorial Hospital may
owe the City of Southport and
Brunswick County current year and
five prior years’ property taxes and
penalties on over $1 million worth of
real estate for which it was never
billed.
Brunswick County tax supervisor
Boyd Williamson said this week the
various physicians’ offices and other
real estate, owned by the hospital but
rented for profit, are subject to prop
erty taxation under the state’s Machin
ery Act, that body of law governing
property taxation in North Carolina.
Dosher Memorial Hospital owns
physicians offices and other real es
See Tax scrolls, page 8
‘I don’t think the
location has
anything to do with
it, whether it is on
the hospital grounds
or not. In my
opinion, these are
properties that
should be taxed.’
Boyd Williamson
County tax collector
Thursday meeting
Schools weigh
keeping PBAP
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
How successful have Brunswick
County schools been in improving stu
dent performance?
What changes will occur this year
when the state Department of Public
Instruction implements its new pro
gram, the “New ABCs of Public Edu
cation”?
How will the school board and in
dividual schools work together in de
veloping strategies to improve educa
tion in Brunswick County?
These questions are at the heart of
a pending decision by the Brunswick
County Board of Education on
whether to extend the county’s Perfor
mance-Based Accountability Program
(PBAP) plan, change it or abolish it
until the new state program takes ef
fect later this year.
Under the PBAP plan, each school
developed its own strategies for im
proving student performance to meet
goals established by the school board.
The board will discuss the fate of
the PBAP plan this Thursday, 6:30
p.m., at Union Elementary School.
Some school board members say it's
time to scrap the PBAP plan and be
gin the planning process anew.
“If we already know there are con
flicts with the existing programs, in
my opinion it’s unacceptable to con
tinue under those programs,” said
board member Billy Carter. “It’s time
to reinvent the wheel.”
‘If we already know
there are conflicts
with the existing
programs, in my
opinion it’s
unacceptable to
continue under those
programs.’
Billy Carter
District 3 member
School board chairman Clara
Carter agreed.
“It’s time we came together as a
whole and figure out what we’re go
ing to do,” she said. “I think we need
to clear the ground, but that doesn't
mean we’ll do away with all of the
ideas behind the PBAP plans.”
One aspect of each school’s PBAP
See Schools, page 8
Forecast
The winter storm that moved
through our area this past week
left behind 'artic' temperatures.
We can expect the cold weather
to continue through this week.
King celebration is planned
March, discussions highlight observance
Celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday will begin Sunday,
January 14,2 p.m., with a community march organized by the Southport
chapter of the NAACP, the Southport Human Relations Committee
\ and the Southport-Oak Island Interchurch Fellowship.
Organizers hope as many as 500 people will participate in the march
to show support for King’s dream of racial harmony and a respect for
others’ differences.
“We are asking for 500 citizens to come out and show that the dream
is a reality when all of God’s people can come together to help cel
ebrate King’s birthday,” said Nat Parker, president of the Southport
chapter of the NAACP.
lire march will begin at the ILA Hall on Lord Street.
A youth program staged by Brunswick County high school students will be
presented at the ILA Hall at 2:30 p.m. Students will perform skits, plays and
read selected writings of the civil rights leader.
A roundtable discussion and community breakfast will be held Monday,
January IS, 8 p.m., at the N. C. Baptist Assembly. Donations of $7 will be
accepted.
“This will give everyone a chance to voice their opinions about different
See Celebration, page 9