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VOLUME 65 / NUMBER 33
Schools
submit
request
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Last year’s funding settlement
between Brunswick County com
missioners and the board of educa
tion was intended to meet school
needs for years to come, but school
officials claim it has fallen short.
The schooj board will ask com
missioners to approve an additional
$645,717 above the settlement
amount for the next fiscal year.
A $13.4-million local budget pro
posal was unanimously approved
Monday night by the Brunswick
County Board of Education and will
be forwarded to county commis
sioners.
In the settlement, county commis
sioners agreed to allocate 23 cents
of the county tax rate to the school
system, and this year the county
finance office expects that to equal
about $12.7 million, said school
finance officer Mary Hazel Small.
With state and federal allocations,
the school system’s budget is
expected to total about $40 million
for fiscal year 1996-97.
Part of the settlement also called
for the school’s building needs —
See Request, page 7
Political
hopefuls
to speak
More than 25 candidates for pub
lic office plan to attend a candidates
forum sponsored by the Brunswick
County Home Builders Association
this Saturday afternoon, April 20.
The forum will be held from 2 to
6 p.m. at the Moose Lodge on Long
Beach Road and is open to the pub
lic.
Candidates for U. S. Congress,
North Carolina state legislature, the
Brunswick County Board of
Education and Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners will offer
their views on issues. Free hot dogs
and refreshments will be served.
Each candidate will speak, and the
public will have a chance to meet
with them one-on-one. Long Beach
mayor Joan Altman will serve as
moderator.
U. S. House candidates who have
indicated they plan to attend are Jim
Cooper, Howard Greenebaum,
Mike McIntyre, Marcus Williams,
Robert Anderson, Bill Caster, Tim
See Sheriff, page 10
STANLAND
With Old Glory looking over her shoulder,
Southport delegate Debbie Aldridge favored four
year terms for county elected offices at the
rtmto by Terry Pope
Brunswick County Democratic Part\ annual con
vention Saturday.
Close Democratic vote
Party seeks return
to four-year terms
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Democrats narrowly defeated a resolution intro
duced by Oak Island II precinct Saturday which sup
ported two-year terms for county commissioners.
Delegates to the 1996 Brunswick County
Democratic convention rejected the proposal by two
votes and instead approved a substitute resolution
which asks state Rep. David Redwine (D-Ocean Isle
Beach) to introduce special legislation this year to
allow another public referendum on the issue
The Democratic party joins the Republicans and
other county boards that seek a return to staggered
four-year terms for school board members and du
board of commissioners. Term limits were sv. iu lied
after a referendum in 1992, but the mood of countv
voters since apparently has changed.
Oak Island II delegates point to that 1992 re .sen
dum as reason to leave things the way they as a‘day
All school board and commission candidates ,ne
See Four-year, page S
Mining dispute
Public safety?
illegal zoning?
Court decides
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A ruling is expected later this
month on whether a law adopted by
county commissioners in 1993 as
protection against certain types of
mines can stand its ground in court.
Attorneys for Martin Marietta
Corp. label the county’s ordinance
an attempt at land regulation, or a
clever disguise for illegal zoning.
Defense attorneys for Brunswick
County call it a police action
designed to protect public safety.
What’s important is how judge
Ronald Stevens now sees it after
hearing five hours of debate in
Brunswick- County Superior Court
last week. His ruling, due in the next
two to three weeks, could either pro
pel the case to a jury trial or declare
the county’s stance unconstitutional.
There is no precedent-setting deci
sion in North Carolina law which
covers a county’s right to adopt an
ordinance that directly affects a cor
‘You can put a bri
dle and a saddle on
a cow and ride the
cow, but it is still a
cow.’
Ronald Stevens
Superior Court judge
poration’s ability to mine for lime
stone on its own property. That’s
why the battle between Brunswick
County and Martin Marietta has sig
nificance that reaches beyond the
boundaries of the company’s 1,345
acre tract off Bethel Church Road
north of Southport.
“You can put a bridle and a saddle
See Court decides, page 9
Wastewater disposal
Smaller-scale
plan may speed
Yaupon project
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
A consultant to the Town of
Yaupon Beach Monday night esti
mated the town could win approval
of a plan to dispose of an additional
50.000 gallons of wastewater per
day within 30 to 45 days, assuring
an agreement to allocate some
40.000 gpd flow to Standard
Products Inc. could be met.
Mayor Dot Kelly called the plan a
"win, win” proposal and an alterna
tive to waiting six months or longer
to win approval of a larger plan
involving disposal of an additional
100.000 gpd on the Oak Island Golf
and Country Club golf course.
The smaller plan, brought about
largely by intense pressure from
Standard Products this month,
would utilize seven acres Yaupon
See Project, page 9
Sheriff honored after 88 years
‘Saddening’ yet gratifying experience, FOP says
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Unraveling the story of a fellow law enforcement officer killed in the line
of duty 88 years ago has been both a saddening and gratifying experience
for Tom Vernon of Long Beach, president of the Brunswick County Chapter
of the Fraternal Order of Police.
And it was just by chance Vernon stumbled upon the information in
February as he read the “Time and Tide” column in The Stale Pori Pilot that
told of headlines from 60 years ago.
“The big news in the Pilot for February 5, 1936, was that Jesse C. Walker,
the man who escaped from prison after being convicted of the murder of
Brunswick County sherilt lackson Stanland, had been recaptured in
Gulfport, MS, where he had been living a model life for many years..."
Previously, it was thought no Brunswick County law enforcement officer
had ever been killed while on duty. At least, no one could recall such an
instance. It is the mission ot the state FOP office in Long Beach to track
down details of slain North ( arolma officers and to honor them.
On Stanland’s six-foot-tall grave marker just outside Shallotte are carved
the Words, "No greater love has a man that he lay down his life for his coun
try.” It is a phrase the FOP takes to heart.
“It is saddening because the family of sheriff Jackson Stanland lost a loved
one ” said Vernon 'll is gratify mg because the paperwork will be complet
Sce Sheriff, page 6
‘Standard
(Products) asks
only for what they
need, bargained,
and contracted for
in 1993.’
Mark Farrell
Forecast
Each day brings warmer weather
as we head into Spring. The extend
ed forecast for the period of
Thursday through Sunday, calls for
highs in the KO’s and partly cloudy
skies.
INSIDE
Opinion ....... 4
Obituaries. 11
Church.7B
Schools ..6C
Pilot TV ....... 7C
District Court .. 9C
Business.IOC;
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