Brunswick Post 68 open
the American Legion season
with a fine 3-1 record -- 1C

Neighbors
Everyday/" ‘
but there
special at
Southpo
dog contr
officer fu
D ,
■ I agh I
- funds I
H ;e 2
Record
county
growth
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Growth in Brunswick County has
reached record levels in the first quar
ter of 1996 as the local building boom
continues.
The number of county building per
mits issued from January through
April of this year increased 46 per
cent over the same period last year,
said Don Eggert, planner II with the
Brunswick County Planning Depart
ment.
And the U. S. Census Bureau’s new
data comparing population growth in
each of the nation’s 3,143 counties'on
a percentage basis from 1990 to 1995
gives Brunswick County a high rat
ing.
“The Census Bureau estimated our
population to be 60,795 as of July 1,
1995,” stated Eggert. “This ranking
puts us in the top five percent of fast
est-growing counties in the United
States and the third fastest-growing
county in North Carolina.”
Some planners believe the popula
tion figures are even higher than the
See Growth, page 9
No word
on appeal
by county
By Terry Pope
County Editor
County commissioners have made
no decision on whether to appeal a
judge’s ruling that earlier this month
struck down the county’s defense of
its public safety ordinance which
would restrict Martin Marietta Corp.
from mining for limestone near
Bethel Church Road.
Former county attorney Mike
Ramos was to meet with commission
ers Monday in closed session to dis
cuss developments in the case.
But that closed session, which was
scheduled at the start of Monday’s
regular June meeting, was canceled
at Ramos’ request. Commission
chairman Jerry Jones of District 2 said
he doesn’t know what the recommen
dation will be.
Commissioners were represented at
a public hearing in Raleigh this morn
ing (Wednesday). District 3 commis
sioner Leslie Collier of Long Beach
See Appeal, page 9
Forecast
Hurricane season is here and with
it the possibility of tropical-storm
type weather. Heavy rains, strong
winds and frequent lightning are
likely with highs in the 80's.
INSIDE
Opinion *•*«*«♦ 4
Business. 10
Obituaries . il
Church *#♦*«•** SB
Schoois •»* *»* *« SB
Pilot TV.4C
District Court .. <*C
Photo by Jim Harper
Long Beach mayor Joan Altman describes what the U. S. flag means to her during a Flag Day ceremony
Friday evening at Middleton Park. A brief history of flags that have flown over the United States was pre
sented with the help of local Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops, and music was provided by the Brunswick
Concert Brass Band.
1Everyone's best interest[
City, SBSD are close
to joint sewer project
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Eager to receive wastewater flow from River Run Shopping
Center, Southport aldermen Thursday moved closer to cutting
a 40-year, three-way deal with center developers and the
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District.
Under terms of the deal, outlined by district consulting
engineer David Pond of Charlotte’s W. K. Dickson Inc., SBSD
will send an initial flow of 30,000 gallons per day to the city
from River Run. The River Run developer will construct a
collection system and force main, dedicating all infrastructure
east of the Carolina Power and Light Co. discharge canal to the
city and all portions west of the canal to the district.
The city, the potential developer and SBSD officials say all
benefit by the deal.
“The way 1 look at it, and the way 1 perceive you’re looking at
See Sewer, page 8
‘If we can financially
make it work, it’s in all our
best interests. We know
that and you know that.
And Riddle and Bailey
know that. ’
David Pond
SBSD consultant
'Emergency management
Officials keep an eye
on developing storm
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A tropical wave spinning in the Atlantic Ocean Mon
day wasn’t expected to develop into a major storm or
hurricane, but Brunswick County emergency officials
were focused on its behavior.
A new computerized DTN weather system will al
low emergency management director Cecil Logan to
independently track storms this season without the usual
reliance on weather service reports or local forecasters.
The satellite service by Data Transmission Network
Corp. was installed by the county about three months ago
and provides hourly updates on the latest weather condi
tions, radar information and motion graphics fed from
weather satellites. It can pinpoint Brunswick County
weather conditions and precisely detect where showers
are falling or where severe weather is developing.
But it will also play a key role in helping the county
See Storm, page 8
Long Beaii,
Three-cent tax
hike approved
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
By a 4-2 vote Tuesday night. Long
Beach Town Council approved a
1996-97 budget calling for a tax
increase of three cents per $100 val
uation, a 41-cent-per-1,000-gallon
increase in water rates and a 22
cent-per-month cut in residential
refuse collection fees.
The Long Beach tax rate for the
year to begin July 1 will be 39 cents
per $100 valuation. Water rate will
be $1.93 per 1,000 gallons con
sumed. Residential refuse collection
fee will be $3.48 per month while
commercial residential rates will
increase significantly. Two-yard
container users will be billed $55.91
per month; four-yard container users
will pay $61.44 per month and
eight-yard container users will pay
$72.80 per month.
Councilors Helen Cashwell and
Frances Allen voted in opposition to
the nearly $6.64-million budget pro
posal council had crafted from town
manager Jerry Wallers’ original
$5.54-million, zero-tax-increase
budget submission of May.
Spurring the tax increase was a
policy decision of council made
early on. The budget proposal
offered by Walters in May contained
a $ 120,000 stormwater management
program to be established as an
enterprise fund venture and to be
supported by a schedule of fees.
Council opted instead to place that
program in the town’s general fund,
but pared the cost to $110.000, or an
amount equal to nearly 2.5 cents on
See Long Beach, page 9
How it
came
about:
By Richard Nobel
Municipal Editoi
Long Beach Tbwn Council
needed to cut $135,804 from
proposed budget expendi
tures Ibesday night or enact
a tax increase of three cents
per $100 assessed valuation.
In three budget workshop
sessions prior to Tuesday
night’s public hearing on a
fiscal proposal for 1996-97,
town council took a long and
winding route in refining
town manager Jerry Walters’
no-tax-increase proposal of
May 15.
Overall, the budget has in
creased from $5,543,692 pro
posed by Walters and staff to
$6,636,378 at the end of
Monday’s session. General
fund appropriations grew
from Walters’ proposed
$3,557,691 to council’s
$4,063,523 proposition.
The biggest blow to a bal
See How it, page 7
Ttirtle mutilations
remain a mystery
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
It’s not unusual for dead logger
head sea turtles to wash ashore dur
ing nesting season. Every year, some
sea turtles fall prey to boat propellers,
disease or gunshot wounds, says Long
Beach Turtle Watch coordinator Tina
Pritchard.
But, this year, an alarming number
of dead loggerhead sea turtles have
washed ashore on Oak Island and
Bald Head Island with devastating
injuries no one has ever seen before.
Some are sliced cleanly in half; oth
ers are cut and smashed.
“There are clean slices on their
shells and it looks like an egg would
look if you put it on asphalt and
stepped on it,” Pritchard said. “Noth
ing we've ever seen could do that to
them.”
Nine mutilated sea turtles have
washed ashore on Bald Head Island,
said island conservancy director
Becky Pardee. And, Pritchard re
ported, 19 dead sea turtles have
washed ashore on Oak Island thus far,
six of w hich were mutilated.
On Saturday, two smashed sea
See Mystery, page 8
Tlirtle Watch and N. C. Marine Fisheries officials, scientists and the
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers are conducting an investigation into
what is crushing and slicing sea turtles in half. This freshly killed
female turtle washed ashore at the west end of Long Beach on
Saturday.
TOP STORIES ON THE INTERNET www.southpbrtnet