North Brunswick defeats
cross-county rival South in
the season’s opener -- 1C
Some rescue squads pass
on the opportunity to collect
fees from patients-- Page 2
There’s nothing like expe
rience, and these students
are getting it hands on - IB
Neighbors
Our Town
Widening I
of U.S. 17
not answer
By Terry Pope
County Editor
County officials don’t believe a f
wider U. S. 17 will solve local traffic j
problems when a future Interstate 40 1
bypass around Wilmington opens. |
A resolution approved by the |
Brunswick County Board of Com- j
missioners last week opposes that al- |
temative, which is being considered i
by the N. C. Department of Transpor- j
tation. |
DOT’S planning and environmen- j
tal branch is beginning studies for a |
new four-lane, controlled-access j
highway in northern Brunswick ]
County as a link for U. S. 17 traffic
to 1-40 and as a freeway that will skirt
the Leland and Wilmington commu
nities. The North Brunswick Freeway, ,
as it has been labeled, is in the early
planning stages.
Although several preliminary alter
natives for its path will be developed
in the planning phase, one alternative
will be to widen the existing U. S. 17
and U. S. 421 approach to Brunswick
County to handle the additional traf
fic. That will direct more traffic
See U.S. 17, page 8
Attendance
rule relaxed
for students
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Although the interim superinten
dent called the attendance rate in
Brunswick County schools “atro
cious,” the board of education Mon
day night voted 3-1 to approve an
amended attendance policy more le
nient than the current standard.
The school board hopes to receive
feedback on the proposed policy and
will review it for final adoption next
month.
While the current policy allows stu
dents to miss no more than 16 days
of school per year, the new policy
would allow students in elementary
and middle school to miss up to 20
days per school year and high school
students to miss up to 30 days, ex
plained Dr. David Corley, director of
secondary education. When students
exceed the maximum number of al
lowable absences, they may be re
tained a grade unless an attendance
committee grants a waiver.
Board member Billy Carter voted
against the amended policy, saying it
provides students with “more meth
ods to get away with something.”
“We’ve gone from ten days to 16
See Attendance, page 8
CARNIVAL TIME
Photo by Jim Harper
Workers were busy "lbesday erecting the Skywheel
at Wilson’s Plaza, where the Jonny A. Stine Shows
will hold forth tonight (Wednesday) through Sunday,
and thrills-a-minute can be had by the hour.
Non-hospital holdings
Dosher won't be taxed
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
No property owned by Dosher Memorial Hospital,
regardless of the use to which it is put, will be subject
to city or county property taxation, Brunswick County
tax supervisor Boyd Williamson has ruled.
Williamson’s ruling is an acceptance of an opinion by
county attorney Michael Ramos, who consulted with
counsel for the hospital and an expert with the Institute
of Government at UNC-Chapel Hill.
‘it is my opinion that all property owned by Dosher
hospital should be tax-exempt,” Ramos wrote Thursday.
“My suggestion is that we reach an agreement with Dosher
that from 1996 onward, all property will be given exempt
See Dosher, page 11
Yaupon wastewater
Revised plans
would exclude
Caswell Beach
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Switching direction once again in
the town’s 20-month effort to locate
a disposal site for treated wastewa
ter, Yaupon Beach commissioners
Monday night said they will not seek
permits to spray-irrigate Oak Island
Golf and Country Club property in
Caswell Beach.
Instead commissioners, on the rec
ommendation of consulting engineer
Robert Graham of Boney and Asso
ciates, authorized redesign of the
wastewater management system to
allow disposal of up to 400,000 gal
lons of wastewater per day by:
■ Placing 250,000 gallons per day
in the town’s rapid-infiltration basin
next to its Fish Factory Road treat
ment plant.
■ Spraying 50,000 gallons per day
to irrigate some seven acres of wood
land the town owns adjacent to the
treatment plant.
‘Standard Products
is under the gun
because we can’t
give them the
40,000 gallons they
need. We are going
to lose money if we
don’t do something.’
Dot Kelly
Yaupon Beach mayor
■ Spraying 100,000 gallons per
day to irrigate holes 10,11,12,13 and
14 at the country club golf course.
Those five holes lie in Yaupon Beach
See Revised, page 13
Following death
North handled
situation well
By Terry Pope
County Editor
No college offers high school prin
cipals training for what North
Brunswick’s Bob Harris faced last
week.
Instead, the off-campus shooting
death of junior Mark Anthony
Wescott, 17, of Leland by a classmate
tested the veteran administrator’s
ability to deal with the unexpected —
the grief, wide range of emotions and
tensions which a building full of 600
teenagers share once tragedy strikes.
“You saw a lot of different types of
emotions - the most, however, was
grief,” said Harris. “You never know
how any kind of emotion is going to
manifest itself, especially when
you’ve got 600 people to deal with.
There were all kinds of rumors fly
ing around because of the nature of
the incident. And we didn’t have any
answers for them.”
Wescott was killed by a single shot
gun wound to the head Tuesday morn
ing in the home of a 15-year-old
schoolmate. Wescott had left school
to go there during first period with
two oiner ooys.
Brunswick
County sheriff’s
detectives have
labeled the inci
dent a negligent
act and charged
the 15-year-old
with voluntarily
manslaughter.
He will be tried
in juvenile
court.
HARRIS
But actions in the community of
ten spill over onto the school campus.
That’s true in any neighborhood. Har
ris took quick and deliberate steps to
keep racial tensions from mounting -
- Wescott was white, the suspect is
See Handled, page 8
Naked, truth:
Nudists colony
would be legal
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Supply residents have asked county commissioners to block a pro
posed nudist campground from locating across from Prospect Baptist
Church.
But county zoning regulations allow campgrounds in .that rural zone,
plus the ordinance doesn't have authority to impose a dress code for
persons on private property.
“It’s going to be a controversy, and we’re going to be the bad guys,"
said Brunswick County planning director Wade Horne. “The only Way:
to eliminate one where they don’t wear clothes is to eliminate all camp-,
grounds. It’s not a case of whether we agree or disagree. It’s a case of
following what the law allows.”
PpsiAaite packed the Brunswick County Board of Commissioner^
Consumers
can reduce
power costs
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Base rates for all residential, light
commercial and commercial-demand
electric customers will decrease if a
new rate structure under study by
Southport officials is adopted, but
usage rate savings will only decrease
for those customers who participate
in load management.
By participating in load manage
ment, the customer allows the city to
install a switch on electric water heat
ers and air conditioning units. At
times of peak demand, when whole
sale electric costs are highest, the city
automatically will cut electric flow to
heating and cooling elements on these
appliances — the greatest power con
sumers in the household.
The proposed new rate structure
will be the subject ot a presentation
by public services director Ed
Honeycutt when aldermen meet in
regular session Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
The financial reward of participat
ing in load management will be sub
stantial, a statistical analysis prepared
by Honeyaitt suggests. Although pro
posed rates now are not “set in stone,”
Honeycutt says, analysis to date
shows monthly savings for those al
lowing 100-percent load management
of air conditioning units and load
management of water heaters could
reach $40 on a 1,000 KwH purchase.
Most homes use between 900 and
2,000 KwH of electricity each month,
billing data suggests.
See Lighten, page 7
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.