Christina P
family share
hope and dei
Sports
Ou
North Brunswick head
baseball coach Keith Moore
submits his resignation — 1C
Yaupon Be
to get white
bonding cor
SOUTHPORT, N.C
50 CENTS
VOLUME 65/ NUMBER 51
Neighbors
CASWELL SKYLINE
Photo by Jim Harper
Looming large on the Caswell Beach skyline these days are new streetlamp poles, Oak Island lighthouse
and joggers at dawn, but notably absent are the old wooden poles that used to support power lines, telephone
wires and television cable. These were finally removed last week, marking a successful end to underground
ing of the unsightly and vulnerable roadside wires which began in 1992.
Caswell endorses
Dosher expansion
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Reversing an earlier position that
the town had no standing in the mat
ter, Caswell Beach commissioners
Thursday voted to formally endorse
Dosher Memorial Hospital’s quest to
win award of 60 skilled nursing beds.
Earlier this year, when operators of
Ocean Trail Convalescent Center in
Southport sought the same endorse
ment, commissioners told them it was
not proper for the town to endorse its
proposal or any proposal, but indi
vidual members of the board and
community could if they wanted to.
Commissioner Bill Boyd, who of
fered the motion to endorse Dosher’s
bid for the nursing bed allocation and
who said he was the “instigator” of
See Caswell, page 12
SBSD fof
the birds
By Richard Nnbel *.
Municipal Editor
No self-respecting red
cockaded woodpecker would
want to build a home on Yaupon
Beach’s property, even if other
portions of the Southeast
Brunswick Sanitary District
See SBSD, page 8
Department widely honored
Chief county planner
takes Bald Head post
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Wade Horne says he wasn’t look
ing for another job, but when the
manager’s position at Bald Head Is
land came open he was certainly in
terested.
The Brunswick County Planning
Department director says he has
gained three years of valuable expe
rience in county government that he
can use to help build a better work
ing relationship between the county
‘Sometimes the
positive in planning
decisions may take
20 years to realize,
Whereas the
negatives are
pointed out right
away.’
Wade Horne
and its many municipalities.
And he says despite past controver
sies stemming from rule changes and
zoning decisions his office had to
make, decisions which may not have
sat well with other county officials,
disagreements are just a part of the
planning director’s job and that he
leaves county government with no
animosity toward anyone.
“I think it’s a really good opportu
nity,” said Home. “I’ve spent my en
tire life on the coast, except for my
time at college. And if you’re going
to be in coastal Carolina, and you’re
going to be in town management, 1
can’t think of any better place to be
than Bald Head Island.”
Home will start work on Bald Head
on September 3, just three days shy
of his third anniversary of starting
work for Brunswick County.
Under his tenure, the county re
ceived state and national awards for
its central permitting department, a
one-stop agency where residents can
obtain building and other necessary
permits from the county. Later this
month he will address the N. C. As
sociation of County Commissioners’
annual conference on how the county
put together its long-range planning
committee last year.’That involved
community-based planning, with all
Planner, page 8
'A
good
one'
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
Wade Horne, for three years
Brunswick County planning di
rector. will become Bald Head
Island’s third town manager
September 3.
Horne, 37, was selected by
See Good, page 8
Six-week process
Realtors say septic
okay takes too long
By Terry Pope
County Editor
County real estate agents and developers say a six
week delay to obtain septic tank approval on lots is too
long a wait and is costing the county millions of dollars
in lost revenues each year.
They asked the Brunswick County Board of Health
on Monday to hire at least two more on-site evaluators
to eliminate a backlog of permits on file and to cut the
waiting period down to five to ten days.
Board members, however, say they won’t be too quick
to react and will give health director Wade (Bill) Bur
gess time to evaluate the problem from his work in the
field with the actual inspectors. Pat Newton, board chair
See Septic, page 12
‘We have to be careful in
hiring a bunch of people to
affect the delay when it is short
term, when it’s repetitively
short-term.’
Pat Newton
Board chairman
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 • •. U
Business.* ^
Obituaries.15
Church -• ” 4S
TV schedule ....
District Court .. 6C
Classifieds ..... ID
Staff development program
Schools plan 'aggressive' approach
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
The key to improving student performance
in Brunswick County is to improve the qual
ity of classroom instruction, said new super
intendent of schools Marion Wise.
“I believe in teachers and 1 believe that
teaching is where it all happens,” declared
Wise. “I believe that quality teaching makes
a difference and that teaching is a science
and an art.”
To improve the quality of instruction, Wise
and his two assistant superintendents,
Clarence Willie'and Mary McDuffie, say
they have planned an “aggressive” staff de
velopment program for the upcoming school
year.
“I believe the great majority of teachers
want to make a difference, but even some
teachers that aren’t performing up to stan
dard would be inspired by learning new tech
niques,” said Wise. “Staff development
should not be fly-by-night and principals
should serve as the instructional leaders of
their schools. They should work with teach
ers to make sure they see the connection be
tween staff development and what they’re
doing in the classroom.”
The administrators say it’s also important
for them to lead by example.
“The bottom line is hopefully a year from
now, when everyone looks back on the new
administrative team, people will say we were
a group of people who practice what they
See Schools, page 15
WILLIE
WISE
McDuffie