South Brunswick’s Cougars
drop two close ones to the
‘Pack Tuesday night — 1C
Neighbors
1 — "v.
Friends, neighbors are back
doing the same ol’ things
after the holiday break — IB
Our Town
Caswell Beach assessment
will finance final phase of
undergrounding - Page 2
Long Beach
Rec center
financing
is in order
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Councilors Tuesday night saw a man about a
horse — actually 500 horses, approved a finance
contract for expansion of the town recreation
center and emphatically said “no” to a Holden
Beach request for dredge spoils Long Beach is
due, as town council met in regular monthly ses
sion.
While a good deal of council’s time was con
sumed by- discussion of the Long Beach
Volunteer Fire Department’s annual Horse-a
Thon, scheduled March 29-31 this year, council
did act to approve a United Carolina Bank pro
posal to finance about 50 percent of the cost of
building a 40-by-l 10-foot extension of the Long
Beach Recreation Center.
UCB offered to loan Long Beach $137,200 for
three years at a 4.45-percent interest rate with
annual payments of $49,200.
Of the four institutions offering bids, BB&T
offered a 4.26-percent interest rate but town
manager Jerry Walters said other provisions of
the package, including holding a portion of the
loan in escrow and charging for construction
drafts, brought the difference in payments to only
about $90.
“We felt this money is better spent 'enhancing-'
See Rec center, page 6
Garbage
heads out
of county
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Trucks began hauling the county’s garbage to a -
Fayetteville area incinerator two weeks ago.
Residents aren’t likely to notice a change. Since
there is less trash to bury these days at the landfill
near Supply, employees there are in transition but
won’t lose their jobs.
“We’ve been hauling since the first day of the
year, and so far it’s working smoothly,” said Darry
Somerset!, Brunswick County operation services
director.
The county’s contract with BCH Limited Part
nership Inc., the operator of a bubbling fluid bed
incinerator built by the Vedco Energy Corp. of
Houston, TX, will turn trash into electrical energy
and help boost the county’s recycling efforts.
The $2.3-million-per-year deal began January 1
for 25 years with an option to end it after ten years
if the county isn’t pleased with results. Waste In
dustries Inc. has a contract to haul the county’s
garbage to three transfer stations, but it expires on
July 1.
Waste Industries has also negotiated a deal with
Vedco to haul the trash from the county transfer
See Garbage, page 6
r
Roofers were at work Monday setting metal panels in
place atop the Belville Elementary School on Highway 133.
The 650-student facility is expected to be completed by
Photo by Jim Harper
summer and to open for classes next fall. More informa
tion on the project is on page 3.
Forecast
Was that a touch of Spring we
felt this week? Expect the mod
erate temperatures to continue
but with a chance of showers
through to Sunday.
INSIDE
Opinion. 4
Obituaries. 11
Pilot TV.. 6B
Police report ... 5C
District Court .. 6C
Business.7C
Plant Doctor . *. 8C
Classifieds.ID
Not on public property
City draws the line
on hidden weapons
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Southport alderman Bill Delaney attempted to
shoot down a proposed ordinance banning the car
rying of concealed weapons on city property
Thursday, but his fellow board members recoiled,
adopting the measure by a 4-1 margin.
“You know how adamantly I am against this
thing,” Delaney, an avid hunter and gun owner,
told aldermen. He said he had called other board
members to lobby for their vote against the con
cealed weapons ban, one similar to those passed
by all other Southport-Oak Island municipal gov
erning bodies and by Brunswick County commis
See Weapons, page 6
‘If someone’s
going to come
shoot the mayor,
he’s going to do it
if we have a
resolution or not.’
Bill Delaney
Ward II alderman
Brunswick
211 plant
upgrade
approved
By Terry Pope
County Editor
The county must go to the well in search of
$2.03 million needed to.upgrade its N. C. 211
water treatment plant.
Once thought to be on the verge of shutting
down, the plant was given new life Tuesday
when Brunswick County commissioners voted
unanimously to accept a construction plan which
exceeds the original $ 1.48-million estimate by
$380,000.
The plant draws groundwater from a series of
15 wells but is no longer the county’s primary
source of water. The newer Malmo treatment
plant in northern Brunswick County draws water
from the Cape Fear River in Bladen County and
can treat up to 24 million gallons per day.
A pipeline reaches the Southport-Oak Island
community and extends to Calabash, but resi
dents along the coast view the N. C. 211 plant as
a safety valve and a source that could become
valuable if contamination develops in the Cape
Fear.
District 3 commissioner Leslie Collier of Long
Beach said residents in all areas of the county
expressed concerns when the board entertained
See 211 plant, page 6
FILING PERIOD
F ormer
members
try again
Former District 3 county commissioner Wayland
Vereen of Yaupon Beach has filed for the seat he
previously lost to Republican Leslie Collier of
Long Beach.
Vereen, 61, was defeated in the November, 1994,
general election by Ms. Collier. He becomes the
second Democrat voted off the board two years
ago to enter the primary race.
Don Wanen of Shallotte previously filed for the
District 1 commission seat he lost to Republican
Doug Simmons of Calabash. Commission chair
man Jerry Jones of Shallotte has announced he will
not file for reelection.
Incumbent commissioners Bill Sue of District 5
and Tom Rabon Sr. of District 4 has each filed for
reelection.
Overall, filing has been slow since starting Janu
ary 2. Candidates have until noon on Monday, Feb
ruary 5, to enter local races.
All five seats on the school board and county
commission are up for grabs. Also open is the reg
See Members, page 6
Roundtable talk
Churches must
lead the march
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Blacks and whites shared breakfast Monday morning ind discussed
their feelings about racial differences and the cultural barriers that sepa
rate people.
The theme that tied the discussion together was the need for local
cnurches - and local ministers in particular - to assume a lining role
in bridging gaps that continue to divide the local community along
racial lines. „ ■
See Churches, page 8
When we let freedom ring,
when we let it ring from every
village and every hamlet, from
every state and every city, we
will be able to speed up that
day when all of God’s children,
black men and white men, Jews
and Gentiles, Protestants and
Catholics, will be able to join
hands and sing in the words of
the old Negro spiritual, “Free
at last! Free at last! Thank God
Almighty, we are free at last!”
SECOND IN A SERIES
Can the dream
come true today?
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
It’s been over 30 years since
Martin Luther King Jr. rallied
support for his dream of racial
harmony and equal treatment
for all Americans.
Since then, federal laws pro
hibiting racial discrimination
have been enacted and a genera
tion of Americans has been
forced to reexamine its atti
tudes about the meaning of ra
cial differences.
But has King’s dream that all
Americans be judged by the
content of their character and
not the color of their skin been
achieved?
Longtime Southport aider
man Nelson Adams notes that
black people can now eat at
See The dream, page 8
4