Sports
North Brunswick sweeps
past Roanoke for state 1A
baseball diadem — 1C
County
68.5-cent
rate stays
Compromise cuts
charge for water
By Terry Pope
County Editor
When faced with tough decisions
Tuesday, county commissioners
agreed to a compromise before
approving the 1996-97 county bud
get.
They trimmed a 36-percent
increase in wholesale water rates to
a 25-percent hike instead by length
ening the financing period from
three years to seven years for the N.
C. 211 treatment plant rehabilitation
project and SCADA systems for
both plants, a $2-million project.
And they gave schools $200,000,
See County tax, page 10
Schools
Writing
results
erratic
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Improvement in end-of-grade writ
ing test scores for elementary and
middle school students has been er
ratic in Brunswick County and county
scores continue to fall short of state
averages, test results for the 1995-96
school year indicate.
Testing coordinator Bill Detrie pre
sented the results to school board
members Monday night.
Third graders in Brunswick County
made the biggest improvement in
writing skills, with only 19.9 percent
of third graders testing at the state
proficiency level in 1993-94 and 47.1
percent testing at the proficiency level
last year.
But proficiency rates of third grad
ers varied greatly, from 63.6 percent
proficient at Supply Elementary
School, to 29.2 percent proficient at
Waccamaw Elementary School.
State averages for third graders
were not available.
Brunswick County fourth graders
scored below state average in writ
ing skills, and proficiency rates for
fourth graders dropped in all schools
except Union Primary.
While 51.5 percent of fourth grad
See Results, page 9
Forecast
Hot and humid are the key words
for the rest of the week and the up
coming weekend. Thunderstorms are
likely with heavy rains and frequent
lightning.
INSIDE
Opinion .»»«»«» 4
Obituaries ..... 9
District Court .. 12
Church. .»....» 4B
Schools........
Business ....... 6C
Pilot TV ..
» * ♦;« ♦ * '
' V >
Water pours In and smoke pours out as the second act of the Amwax
candle factory fire gets going Sunday morning. Apparatus and fire
fighters from Southport, Yaupon Beach, Long Beach and five other
supporting departments fought stages of the Long Beach Road blaze
Photo by Allen Givhan
from shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday until mid-afternoon Sunday. There
v wt'*e no reported injuries among firefighters from the paraffin-fueled,
wind-whipped flames.
Candle factory up in smoke
By Richard N ubel
Municipal Editor
Federal, state and local investigators have
termed “suspicious” a Saturday night fire which
destroyed a Long Beach Road candle factory
filled with highly flammable paraffin.
Brunswick County fire marshal Cecil Logan
Tbesday said he was not at liberty to discuss
investigators’ suspicions.
Brunswick County’s 911 Central Communi
catidns Center received a report of an energizing
blaze at the former Amwax candle factory at
10:06 p.m. Saturday and immediately trans
ferred that call to Southport dispatch. Southport
volunteer firefighters arrived in minutes, Logan
said, and immediately called for mutual aid from
Yaupon Beach and Long Beach volunteers.
The Amwax factory, owned and operated by
H. W. Grape, of Southport, was housed in a 157
‘We had never dealt with
paraffin before. We know
now that it will flash when
it reaches a certain
temperature.’
Cecil Logan
Fire marshal
by-70-foot metal building, built as a roller
skating rink. The candle-making venture had
been out of operation since October, 1995, but
inventory remained on site.
The building was destroyed. Damage has been
set at the $250,000 cost of the building, Logan
said.
Firefighters fought to contain, the blaze
throughout Saturday night and Sunday morning,
with Logan and Southport volunteer fire chief
Gregory Cumbee taking charge of the
fireground.
“As the night went on, 1 don’t know how many
gallons of water we put on the fire. It wouldn’t
go out,” Logan said. “We decided we’d try foam
and we put about 3,000 gallons of foam on it.”
The flame-retardant foam quelled the blaze,
but not before additional firefighting equipment
and manpower was called in from Boiling Spring
Lakes and Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point.
Civietown, Shallotte and Bolivia volunteers
responded to a call for additional manpower.
See Candle, page 8
says
no
County may
appeal ruling
By Terry Pope
County Editor
The county’s legal battle against
Martin Marietta Aggregates’ pro
posed mining operation near
Southport continues to lake its toll on
county resources while huge ques
tions remain over who will pay the
accumulating attorney fees.
Judge Ronald Stephens' ruling last
week against Brunswick County on
all four issues debated in Brunswick
County Superior Court last month
may send the case to an appeal if
county commissioners opt to further
defend the public health and safety
ordinance enacted in January, 1994.
“I think the commissioners are very
concerned with how much it will
cost,” said county attorney Huey
Marshall. “One of the parameters they
were working with on this budget was
to not increase spending and to keep
the tax rate down.”
Commissioners have until the end
of June to decide if they want to ap
peal the judge’s decision, which ruled
Martin Marietta had established com
mon law vested rights in its 1,000
acre tract north of Bethel Church
Road for use as a limestone mine prior
to the county ordinance. The ordi
nance was also struck down on the
issue of its constitutionality and statu
tory right to block Martin Marietta
from using the property as a mine af
ter it had obtained county building
permits.
Judge Stephens ruled the county
does not have authority to regulate
mines and that such a task belongs to
the State of North Carolina. He stated
the process by which commissioners
enacted the ordinance that bans ex
plosives and dewatering of the Castle
Hayne aquifer within five miles of
Carolina Power and Light Co.’s
Brunswick nuclear plant and Military
Ocean Terminal Sunny Point ammu
nitions depot was flawed.
Marshall said the actual content of
the ordinance commissioners ap
proved was not picked apart by judge
Stephens. His office is awaiting the
official order that is being prepared
See Judge, page 10
36-percent increase
Water too high, beach
council says to county
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
A proposed 36.6-percent hike in
Brunswick County’s wholesale
water rate is too much and can be
avoided, Long Beach Town Coun
cil said in a resolution of last Tues
day night.
In a letter to county commission
ers the next day, mayor Joan
Altman said commissioners should
reexamine how water system up
grades are to be capitalized in an
effort to lower the rate increase, to
become effective with adoption of
the county budget for the fiscal year
beginning July 1.
In an initial budget presentation,
county staff proposed to finance a
‘While there may be
justification for a
rate increase at this
time, an adjustment
of this nature is
severe.’
Joan Altman
Long Beach mayor
$2.6-million upgrade of Brunswick
County’s N. C. 211 groundwater plant
and a $1.1-million purchase and in
stallation of a telemetry system
(SCADA) over a three-year period,
passing the cost of these two capital
projects to both wholesale and retail
customers.
The projects, financed over that
period of time, would boost county
water rates 53 cents per 1,000 gallons
consumed, or from $1.45 per 1,000
gallons to $ 1.98 per 1,000 gallons for
wholesale customers.
Long Beach is Brunswick County’s
largest municipal wholesale cus
tomer. The rate hike would also af
fect wholesale customers ADM,
Cogentrix, Caswell Beach and
Southport, which buys about ten per
cent of its water from Brunswick
See Water, page 7
Yaupon adopts
budget, faces
sewer dilemma
By Richard Nubei
Municipal Editor
i
With no comment from elected officials themselves and only
the suggestions of one citizen at a public hearing Monday night,
Yaupon Beach commissioners adopted a general fund budget
calling for no tax increase, a water fund budge* with no rate
hike and a sewer system budget that puts the town on course for
default on a loan payment in 22 months.
A $656,854 general fund budget was adopted, t > be supported
by a tax rate of 30.5 cents, the same rate levied this year. The
new budget will take effect July 1. The water fund budget for
the coming year will be $122,905 and the town’s sewer fund
budget calls for expenditures of $497,954, which includes two
scheduled debt service payments to a state revolving loan fund
totaling $259,488.
To balance the sewer fund, the town will appropriate $248,593
See Budget, page 6