North Brunswick sweeps
cross-county baseball rivals
for bragging rights - 1C
Neighbors
A tradition of community
theater continued last week
end with ‘Fiddler’ — IB
Long Beach council keeps
pace with Oak Island Drive
improvements -- Page 2
Dosher
project
60-bed nursing
home proposed
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Dosher Memorial Hospital will
seek public support for a plan to con
struct and operate a 60-bed nursing
home facility.
Dosher trustees approved a plan of
action Monday to generate letters of
support for the project from the com
munity.
“I want a stack of letters of support
thicker than the Wilmington phone
book,” declared hospital administra
tor Edgar Haywood. “And we’re go
ing to give every entity in Brunswick
County a chance to tell us no.”
Trustees voted unanimously last
month to appropriate $25,000 to seek
a state license to operate the facility.
Dosher will compete for bed alloca
tion with neighboring Ocean Trail
Convalescent Center and Autumn
Care nursing home in Shallotte.
However, not all members of the
community think Dosher’s plan is a
See Dosher, page 6
Does GOP
have the
ticket?
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Brunswick County Republicans
rallied behind their slate of candidates
Saturday at the GOP’s annual county
convention near Supply.
With presidential hopeful Sen. Bob
Dole leading the May ballot, Repub
licans also hope to post gains in their
local races as well.
“We know who’s going to be at the
top of the ticket,” said Tom Pope of
Sunset Beach, vice-chairman of the
Brunswick County Republican Party.
“We know he’s a veteran legislator.
We have got to continue the 1994
revolution. We’ve got to give them a
president to sign those bills.”
Keynote speaker Saturday was
state Rep. Carolyn Russell of Wayne
County, speaker pro-tem of the N. C.
State House. She won her seat as a
write-in candidate, gathering 5,500
names to earn her way onto the ballot
when given just ten days initially to
collect 3,500 names.
In 1994, Republicans gained a ma
jority in the State House and began
presenting their agenda which in
cluded a number of “Contract with
See Ticket, page 12
Forecast
A comet graced the clear skies
this past weekend but Monday
evening saw clouds rolling in. We
can expect much of the same for
Thursday-Sunday with highs in
the low 70's.
Ryan Johnson undoubtedly gave this ball a good
smack in his match with a Cape Fear Academy oppo
nent last week at South Brunswick, but Cougar
'Photo by Jim Harper
attention lapsed and the match slipped away. Other
tennis results, along with golf, baseball and softball,
beginning on page 1C.
Schools trim requests
'Identify our needs, prioritize them'
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Trimming a $45.5-million budget
proposal for fiscal year 1996-97 will
dominate the Brunswick County
Board of Education agenda when it
meets in budget workshop session
Wednesday, April 3,8:30 a.m.
Principals and school staff are re
assessing their needs and are expected
to make alternate proposals next
week.
“They told us the first day we were
way over budget, so principals are
now prioritizing,” said school board
chairman Clara Carter.
The budget proposal includes about
$25.6 million in state funding, $2.2
million federal funding, $3.4 million
for child nutrition and $14.3 million
in local funding.
The board must whittle down the
local funding proposal to about $12.7
million.
In a funding dispute settlement
reached last year, county commis
sioners agreed to allocate 23 cents of
the county tax rate to the school sys
tem. This year, the county finance
office expects that to equal about
$12.7 million, said school finance
officer Mary Hazel Small.
In paring the budget, school board
members say they will stick to their
primary goal ~ to improve teaching
and learning in the classroom.
“I think we need to look at the cost
effectiveness of each program, and
. the effect it is having on teaching and
learning in the classroom,” said board
member Billy Carter. “We need to
identify our needs and prioritize
them.”
Chairman Carter agreed.
“We want to be sure the funding is
divided equitably among each student
and we need to focus on teaching and
learning,” she said.
She said she “red-flagged” several
See Schools, page 12
Horse-a-thon this weekend
Approximately 500 horses and their riders will be
hoofin’ it to Long Beach this weekend for the fifth
annual Long Beach Horse-a-Thon.
The event is an annual fund-raiser for the Long
Beach Volunteer Fire Department and last year netted
about $23,000. Most riders will stay at the Long Beach
Campground Friday and Saturday nights.
A variety of equestrian competitions will be held at
the King’s Lynn point Saturday beginning about 10:30
a.m. Hot dogs, drinks, sweatshirts and T-shirts will be
available for purchase. Also on Saturday, at 10 a.m.,
Rusty Gainey and Lori Fowler will wed on horseback
at the Long Beach cabana.
The public is invited to attend a Worship service
Sunday at 8:30 a.m. conducted by First Baptist Church
of Oak Island pastor the Rev. Douglas Huff.
Horses and riders will leave town Sunday afternoon
following another short ride. Gardeners in need of
fertilizer are invited to stop by the Long Beach
; Campground Sunday after 3 p.m.
“Actually, we beg you to come get it because we
have to clean the campground after the event and we
need all the help we can get,” declared Long Beach
fire chief Tim Pittman
'Early 19QH'
SBSD hopes
for sewerage
are renewed
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
With the Friday execution of a
$387,220 contract for W. K. Dickson
& Co.’s engineering services, South
east Brunswick Sanitary District can
expect construction of a wastewater
collection, treatment and disposal sys
tem to begin by November.
“Everyone wants to know when the
first flush will take place,” Dickson
senior vice-president David L. Pond
said. “1 think you are looking at early
1998.”
A timeline presented by engineers
calls for wetland delineation to begin
on the proposed treatment plant and
disposal sites this week. SBSD plans
to dispose of up to 400,000 gallons
of treated wastewater per day by
spray-irrigation of a golf course to
‘Everyone wants to
know when the first
flush will take place.
I think you are
looking at early
1998.’
David Pond
Dickson vice-president
be developed immediately adjacent to
Arbor Creek subdivision. A treatment
plant will also be sited there. Another
See SBSD, page 9
City of Southport- .
Electric cost
savings rest
with the user
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Residential, light commercial and
commercial-demand customers of the
City of Southport electric system may
all trim their electric bills substan
tially by participating in one or more
load management options, if aider
men adopt a staff proposal to restruc
ture electric rates beginning in July.
But participation in load manage
ment — and the lower electric bills that
would result — carries with it two big
customer responsibilities. Under
terms of a proposal public services
director Ed Honeycutt will make to
aldermen, customers will be asked to
pay for installation of load manage
ment switches and will be responsible
to see these switches are not tampered
with.
The entire proposed new rate struc
J
ture is aimed at limiting the use of
electricity at times of peak electric
demand, when the cost of electricity
Southport buys from its wholesaler
jumps 2,000 percent. Peak demand
occurs here when the Carolina Power
and Light Co. electric grid is taxed
greatest - usually on cold winter
mornings and hot summer afternoons.
The CP&L grid sometimes reaches
new times of peak demand four to six
times a month from December to Feb
ruary and from June to August.
The proposed new rate structure is
See Electric, page 10