Preseason pra
for other sportj
prepare for ‘9o
An oversight i
to building pe
James Plantat
^August
a?96
Opening Day at South
Brunswick brought a record
number of prospects — 1C
VOLUME 65/ NUMBER 50
SOUTHPORT, N.C.
50 CENTS
C ;;;
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Smart
Start
County gets
state funding
to plan effort
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Months of debate over the Smart
Start program ended Saturday when
state legislators approved a $10.5
million allocation to expand the pro
gram to 11 additional counties.
For Brunswick County, the alloca
tion will mean $112,500 in planning
money this year but there is no guar
antee of additional funding in future
years to carry out the plan.
Smart Start is Gov. Jim Hunt’s ini
tiative to improve the quality of life
for children under age five, thereby
improving their chances of future suc
cess in school. Hunt originally re
quested $21 million to expand the
program this year, but Smart Start
faced opposition from some lawmak
ers.
“Some thought Smart Start was
little government interfering in the
role of big government,” said Rep.
David Redwine (D-Ocean Isle
Beach). “But I think the opponents
finally saw the handwriting on the
wall atld realized a budget wouldn't*
be passed without Smart Start fund
ing. It was just a matter of how
much.”
An independent audit of the pro
gram requested last year by Smart
Start opponents concluded that the
program was achieving its goals,
Redwine noted.
“The audit showed the program
was helping kids be ready for school,”
he said.
“I’ve heard some teachers say they
can pick out which children are
doomed for failure right from the
start. If a child doesn’t get a good start
in life, they are more likely to end up
in the welfare or criminal justice sys
tem, and then the state will have to
spend even more money on them.”
The audit also showed some Smart
Start administrators were guilty of
sloppy financial record-keeping, and
Redwine urged the Brunswick
County Partnership for Children to
document its spending carefully.
Local Partnership for Children di
rector Lori Bates said the Smart Start
program will have three primary goals
in Brunswick County: to improve the
quality of daycare; to improve the
health of children under five; and to
provide parents with the support they
need to be the best parents they can
be.
“A lot of informal support struc
See Smart, page 10
Forecast
A chance of showers and severe
thunderstorms can be expected for
the rest of the week. Temperatures
will reach the upper 80's.
INSIDE
Opinion ....... 4
Police report ... 8
Business . ..12
Obituaries.15
Church..4B
TV schedule .... 6B
Classifieds ..... ID
Marking the turn into autumn, these South Brunswick tennis hope
fuls turned out for the first day of practice last Thursday and found
that conditioning was the first challenge they had to face. Other ath
Photo by Jim Harper
letes started football, soccer and volleyball practice this week (see
Neighbors section) and cheerleaders and band members are also ton
ing and tuning up for the fall.
District attorney
assistants funded
By Terry Pope
County Editor
The 13th Judicial District
will gain two new prosecutors
from the state budget approved
last week by the N. C. General
Assembly.
“We’re really happy,” said
district attorney Rex Gore,
whose district includes
Brunswick, Columbus and
Bladen counties. “It puts us in
See Attorney, page 10 I
‘There are folks who
have worked here in
this office a long time
who felt that if we
could get up to eight
we could do the job
that we need to do.’
Nudists colony
rules proposed
By Tferry Pope
County Editor
IWo persons spoke in favor of restrictions against adult busi
nesses and nudist campgrounds Monday before Brunswick
County commissioners approved first reading of the rules and
set a public hearing for August 19, at 5:30 p.m.
“I don’t feel we need these things coming into the county,”
said the Rev. Doug Worley, pastor of Gospel Center Baptist
Church near Vamamtown. “If there is any way at all that we
See Nudists, page 11
Community building on ’memories’
A'tbc’ugh it is a work-in-progress, and additional community com
ment wdl be sought, this drawing depicts a suggested design for the
new Southport Community Building as it will be viewed from the Cape
Fear River.
More input
invited from
city residents
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
It seems ages since the morning of
January 30, 1995; when flames shot
into the skies above Southport, reduc
ing to a pile of ash and debris one of
the city’s most cherished landmarks,
the Southport Community Building.
Since that time, all that has re
mained of the building which graced
Southport’s waterfront since 1941 has
been skeletal remains of its once
proud foundation, now et upon by
weeds and broken pieces of structure.
But, a city-sanctioned committee
See Building, page 14
Sewer
delay
Town waits
for decision
from SBSD
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
At least for another 30 days, Yaupon
Beach may not advance a plan to solve
treated wastewater disposal problems
which have plagued the town for 25
months.
Meeting Monday, Southeast
Brunswick Sanitary District board
members tabled Yaupon Beach mayor
Dot Kelly’s request for permission to
spray treated wastewater for irrigation
of another 11 acres of district land the
town plans to acquire from Standard
Products Inc.
Kelly said district officials told her
they do not wish to act on the request
until SBSD has secured contracts with
the planners of a golf course adjacent
to Arbor Creek subdivision. SBSD
plans to spray treated wastewater ef
fluent on the golf course property
when its own 500,000-gallon-per-day
wastewater treatment plant comes on
line in 1998. But, if the deal for the
golf course falls through, district com
missioners will be forced to seek all
available land in the district for use in
the district’s own wastewater disposal
effort.
■ SBSD commissioners said they will
revisit the Yaupon Beach request next
month.
“Well, this could mean another tem
porary setback, but we’ll just have to
wait and see what happens,” Yaupon
Beach mayor pro-tem Bill Smith said.
“Considering what we’ve gone
through in the last two years, nothing
amazes me anymore.”
Yaupon Beach’s wastewater dis
posal problems, first thought minor,
became major on July 13,1994, when
inspectors with the state’s Division of
Environmental Management detected
a breach in a dike at the wastewater
treatment system’s rapid-infiltration
basin. It was also noted the basin —
used to hold treated wastewater for
percolation — was not allowing treat
ment plant effluent to seep into the
ground at a sufficiently rapid rate.
It was determined months later that
the rapid-infiltration basin, which was
designed to accommodate 400,000
gallons flow per day, would only ac
commodate 250,000 gallons per day,
about 60 percent of the capacity for
which it was designed by consulting
engineers.
In reaction, DEM ordered a mora
See Sewer, page 10
www.southport.net