Sports
South Brunswick’s two
collegians end their careers
in excellent fashion ~ 1C
Neighbors
Tinseltown returned to
Southport last week to film
‘Crying Child’ for TV - IB
Brunswick’s Oceanside
towns will unite to address
coastal matters — Page 2
Teaching
program
honored
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Brunswick County schools share
national honors with UNC
Wilmington’s Watson School of Edu
cation and Duplin County schools for
developing and implementing the
Professional Development System
project, a program that changes how
teachers are trained.
During its annual meeting in St.
Louis, MO, the Association of
Teacher Educators (ATE) announced
the “Professional Development Sys
tem: Collaboration for Quality Edu
cation Project” placed second in the
national Distinguished Program
Award in Teacher Education.
Major goals of the program are to
improve public school classrooms
and teacher education and to initiate
a coaching model of teacher supervi
sion.
"This program is unique because it
ties the university and public schools
in our region together, with each hav
ing something important to offer the
other, and at little extra cost to the
school system,” explained Dr. Rob
ert E. Tyndall, dean of UNCW's
Watson School of Education.
Tyndall praised UNCW faculty Dr.
Hathia Hayes and Dr. Karen
Wetherill, as well as Brunswick
County representatives Carol
Midgett, Zelphia Grissett, Cindy
See Honored, page 7
Youth killed
by gun blast;
no charge yet
Detectives spent the day Tuesday
trying to piece together facts that
may have led to the shooting death
of a North Brunswick High School
junior.
Mark Anthony Wescott, 16, was
killed by a shotgun blast at a friend’s
home on Cedar Hill Road in the
Phoenix community around mid
morning Tuesday, said Brunswick
County sheriff’s detective David
Crocker.
“We’re trying to get everyone
interviewed at this time,” said detec
tive Crocker on Tuesday afternoon.
“There’s no reflection on the school
and this incident.”
Wescott and two other boys met
before school and went to the sus
pect’s home after determining they
were already late for first period,
according to Brunswick County
See Gunshot, page 8
Forecast
Don't like the weather? Just
wait a while, it will change. At
least that's the way it's been this
past week. We can expect much
of the same Thursday through
Saturday with partly cloudy skies
and highs in the mid 60's.
Visitors to Southport’s waterfront will enjoy stead
ier footing this season, as city crews and contractors
this week worked to complete sidewalk renovations.
The cement will be hardened far ahead of time to be
U X' W- * X
Photo by Jim Harper
ready for street dancing at the center stage site of the
N. C. Fourth of July Festival beyond the historic
Whittier’s Bench.
Reclaiming a town
iNavassa streets naa oeen usea
by drug dealers and prostitutes
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Mervin Vaught’s wife wheeled the van along Broadway Street in Navassa,
with wide-eyed family members and fishing gear packed inside from a day
outing at Carolina Beach.
“It was in the early part of July, and I’m telling you, I was surprised,”
Vaught said.
Today, not much surprises the former Shaw University campus police chief
and security captain for Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh. Not anymore. Not
since that trip to Navassa, just to see if a career move was perhaps in the
making.
“It had just turned like dusk-dark,” said Vaught. “Suddenly, there were all
kinds of people in front of the van. They approached the driver’s side, asking,
See Reclaiming, page 9
VAUGHT
City, SBSD sewage
deal may be struck
By Richard Nobel
Municipal Editor
A deal to avert war over River Run
Shopping Center appears in the
works.
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary Dis
trict commissioners next Monday will
present Southport aldermen with a
proposal by which the city will agree
to treat 30,000 gallons or more of
wastewater per day generated in the
district. River Run Shopping Cente;
would, in effect, become SBSD’s first
sewer customer, even though it has
not yet built a wastewater treatment
facility.
As part of the proposal, River Run
owners will oversize a planned deliv
ery line into Southport to allow Live
Oak Village Shopping Center to de
liver wastewater to the city for treat
ment.
“River Run Shopping Center will
remain a customer of the district,”
SBSD chairman James W. (Bubba)
Smith said Tuesday. “The sanitary
district wiil contract with Southport”
to treat and dispose of the waste
water for the district.
The proposal will be put to
Southport aldermen at a 7:30 p.m.
meeting at City Hall.
Initial city response is positive.
“It could be a win, win, win situ
ation,” Southport city manager
Rob Candy said of the proposed
tri-party deal.
What could have been a battle
over rights to provide sewer ser
vice to River Run Shopping Cen
mc ocwiget pige o

Good starting
point for city
electric rates
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
The fixed monthly portion of
electric bills sent each customer
of the City of Southport elec
tric system will be lower begin
ning July 1, if the board of al
dermen adopts an electric rate
restructuring proposal advanced
by public services director Ed
Honeycutt.
Lower “base” rates come as
the city attempts to design a fair
overall rate structure, based on
a demonstrable cost of provid
ing electric service to each cus
tomer -- residential, commercial
or commercial demand. By re
ELECTRIC RATE
RESTRUCTURING
PLAN
Monthly Base Rate Reduction
for the City of Southport
| RESIDENTIAL | COMMERCIAL/DEMAND j
□ COMMERCIAL
PRESENT
PROPOSED
warding, with its usage rate, customers who minimize electric consump
tion through participation in a load management plan, the city hopes to
lower monthly electric bills for most customers.
Honeycutt says base rates have been lowered in the restructuring plan
to cover only specific fixed costs of providing service. The lower cost
also leaves a bigger portion of the monthly bill to be paid through usage
See Base, page 8
Brunswick schools
Audit report:
central office
is uninvolved
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
The Brunswick County school sys
tem central office staff does not work
closely enough with individual
schools, some teachers have low ex
pectations of students and accept sub
standard work, there is a lack of staff
development programs for teachers
and principals, instructional opportu
nities vary from school to school, and
there is a general confusion within the
school system about where the sys
tem wants to be and how it wants to
get there.
These are among primary findings
of a curriculum audit of the school
system conducted by consultants
from Piedmont Triad Horizons Edu
cation Consortium of Greensboro.
Auditors spent five days conducting
on-site interviews and about three
months reviewing school system
documents. The cost of the study was
$9,500.
Positive aspects of the school sys
tem noted by auditors included the
perception among students and par
ents that school staff members genu
inely care about their students, ad
equate funding for technology and a
strong technology plan, cleanliness of
school facilities and strong leadership
from interim superintendent John
Jones and the school board.
The auditors concluded that the
potential for the school system’s fu
ture success is high despite below
average test scores in the past.
“Most importantly, the audit shows
we’ve got things in place to move to
the next step,” said school board
member Billy Carter. “And it reem
phasizes that the single most impor
See Audit, page 15
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cards
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