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County listeners — Page 2
County
water
Towns concerned
over time-frame
of rate increase
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Perhaps Long Beach town manager
Jerry Walters Hiesday outlined the
only means by which county water
system customers — retail and whole
sale — can avoid a proposed 36-per
cent rate increase in the year to begin
July 1. He told county manager Jim
Varner county commissioners should
reexamine their “financing philoso
phy.”
Other Brunswick County local gov
ernment leaders meeting with the
county manager, assistant county
manager Robert Hyatt and county fi
nance officer Lithia Home told them
the county should shore-up its tap-on
policies in an effort to bring water to
more users, thus spreading the cost
of capital projects in the future.
Alters said the burden of repay
ing capital costs spurring the rate in
crease could be eased if commission
See Water, page 8
Legal action
is promised
bv NAACP
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
< A low number of minority teach
ers and principals in Brunswick
County schools is the result of racial
discrimination among school board
members and administrators and is
one of the primary causes of low
morale and low test scores among
minority students, says NAACP
Southport chapter president Nat
Parker.
Parker and other county NAACP
representatives met with parents and
school employees last week to hear
complaints about the number of mi
nority teachers, principals and coun
selors in county schools.
The complaints will be included in
a civil action the NAACP says it will
filewith the Office for Civil Rights in
Atlanta.
“The school board made a recom
mendation to have the Office for Civil
Rights come down here and do an in
vestigation last year and nothing hap
pened,” Parker said. “So we have to
start somewhere.”
The school system requested a civil
rights audit last year but Office for
Civil Rights attorney Cheryl Colfield
said her office needs “concrete evi
dence” of a problem before it be
See NAACP, page 10
Photo by Jim Harper
Visiting fireman Dave Johnson of Knoxville found brisk easterly winds over the weekend just right for
launching his fleet of kites. He and a friend even managed to get a lighted kite airborne one evening to the
dismay — and ultimate delight — of Long Beach neighbors.
Mine. schools kev issues
} '
GOP House hopefuls
in forum of their own
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A small gathering Friday heard two Republican
candidates for State House address the same issues that
Democratic incumbents debated a week earlier.
Robert Quinn of Southport and Shirley Babson of
Bolivia are challenging for the two 14th District seats
held by Democrats David Redwine of Ocean Isle
Beach and Dewey Hill of Lake W&ccamaw. A legisla
tive forum May 24 did not include either Quinn or
Babson, so they hosted their own session Friday at the
county government center near Bolivia.
The 14th District includes most of Brunswick
County, with the exception of northern communities in
the minority 98th District represented by Thomas
Wright of Wilmington.
“There’s a lot going on in the state legislature,” said
Quinn. “A lot of bills deal with significant issues, and every
one of them is being introduced by the Republicans. The
Republicans are driving the train. They’re driving the train
See Forum, page 7
Sewer system
Loan default
a possibility
for Yaupon
By Richard Nobel
Municipal Editor
Without significant new revenue
from its sewer operation, Yaupon
Beach is on a two-year course to de
fault on loan payments to a state fund
which built the town’s wastewater
management system.
Information released this week as
part of the town’s budget deliberation
process indicates Yaupon Beach will
appropriate $248,593 from its unap
propriated sewer fund balance to
make up for a predicted revenue
shortfall in fiscal year 1996-97. That
sum nearly matches the $259,488
scheduled payments in 1997 on a state
revolving loan made in 1991. The
money to be appropriated from fund
balance this year is unexpended pro
Due to a moratorium
on new sewer taps
imposed by the state
in July, 1994, new
construction in
Yaupon Beach has
essentially halted
ceeds of the construction loan itself,
town finance officer Jean Yates said.
Scheduled payments of over
$253,000 due in 1998 can be paid by
cashing in a certificate of deposit the
See Default, page 8
County opposes
Martin Marietta
permit extension
By Tterry Pope
County Editor
County commissioners approved a
resolution Monday which asks the N.
C. Mining Commission to deny Mar
tin Marietta Aggregates Inc. an ex
tension on its permit application to
mine for limestone near Southport.
It was one of five resolutions the
board adopted in hopes of persuad
ing state officials to take action dur
ing this short session of the N. C.
General Assembly.
Other resolutions seek support for
state mosquito control funds, expan
sion of Smart Start early childhood
intervention programs into
Brunswick County, House Bill 540
that would provide bonds for comple
tion of the Interstate 40 bypass of
Wilmington and a stance against un
funded mandates from the state, es
pecially rising Medicaid costs that are
passed on to counties.
Copies of the Martin Marietta reso
lution will be sent to Charles Gardner,
the director of the N. C. Department
of Environment, Health and Natural
Resources, and to James Smack,
chairman of the mining commission.
District 3 commissioner Leslie
Collier of Long Beach will present it
in person at the mining commission’s
public hearing on Martin Marietta’s
request, June 19, in Raleigh.
She asked that the Town of Caswell
Beach also receive a copy, since it
was that municipality which asked the
county to take action.
The resolution states that “over
whelming evidence establishes that
such mining would be detrimental to
the health and welfare of the citizens
of Brunswick County due to the ad
verse impact mining would have on
the fragile coastal environment of
Brunswick County, including the
Castle Hayne aquifer and also the
possibility of collateral damage to the
Carolina Power and Light Co. nuclear
plant and Sunny Point Military Ocean
Terminal.”
Martin Marietta Jiad until May 29
to respond to numerous state agen
cies that recommended denial of the
permit to operate a mine on 1,000
acres north of Bethel Church Road.
It had previously received an exten
sion of time, but on May 28 filed for
another extension with the mining
commission.
The Brunswick County Board of
See Extension, page 10
Forecast
A break from the hot temperatures
may be in store for the weekend. High
temperatures should be in themid to
upper 80's.
rnrnm;
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New electric
rate structure
offers saving
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Lower electric rates for those residential and commercial customers who
opt for any of 11 possible combinations of load management practices are
offered as soon as August, a City of Southport budget proposal to be pre
sented at public hearing June 13 promises.
A new electric rate structure outlined in the city budget proposal for fiscal
year 1996-97 sets out lower electric rates ranging from .54 percent annually
to 48.78 percent for those who choose load management of all eligible appli
ances.
Electric rates for those who practice no form of load management will ac
See Electric, page 10
City of Southport
ELECTRIC RATE
SAVINGS
Residential comparison
based on 1000 KW and _
reduction in base rate
LM-Load Management AC-Air Conditioning HS-Heat Strip WH Water Hecitej