Sports
South Brunswick opens its
‘second season’ Friday nigh
against East Columbus — 1C
Neighbors
If anybod” -- '""ky,
then practi( ng
home a rea s ; ? - IB

Voting by
computer
■ Test may put
county on-line
By Terry Pope
County Editor
When Secession I precinct’s 2,200
registered voters arrive at the polls for
the November 5 election, they won’t
receive a paper ballot but will instead
help test a new computerized machine
that automatically records and totals
their votes.
If residents and county officials like
the demonstration, the machines will
be purchased and used at all 22 pre
cincts in future elections. Micro Vote
Corp.’s electronic voting system is
being tested in one precinct to see
how voters adjust to the process and
how well it works for the Brunswick
County Board of Elections.
A model was put on display for
; county officials Monday at the board
1 of elections office. It is one of three
' machines county elections supervisor
Lynda Britt and the elections board
have considered testing, but the 52
pound unit may win out against com
petition that weighs 200 and 350
pounds each.
v “It comes to the precinct looking
| like a suitcase,” said Ejd O’Day, presi
* dent of United American Election
Supply Co. of Columbia, SC. “This
allows the poll worker, or a couple of
poll workers, to get the machines out
.and set up to use."
Ms. Britt believes converting to
■electronic voting machines will cut
down on time in posting returns and
the cost of printing paper ballots. Per
naps thousands of dollars will be cut
off the office printing bill for each
election. The machines cost $4,200
See Computer, page 13
Orrie Gore, Brunswick County
Board of elections chairman, gets
a closer look at a new computer
ized voting machine that will be
tested among Secession 1 precinct
voters in November.
BEACH
I’hotn In Holly Edwards
Some Brownies had trouble fitting small hands into the oversized rubber -J ves provided for Saturday’s
Big Sweep event. About 20 Brownies from throughout Brunswick County p.nilegated in the litter-collect
ing effort in Long Beach.
Last year it was mining
'Quality of life' is key
question for planners
By Terry Pope
County Editor
When it comes to long-range planning, what a differ
ence a year makes. Mot topics last September are not nec
essarily the ones grabbing the most attention today.
From a roomful of participants at a countyw ide long
range planning session Thursday, only five persons
thought mining issues were one of the top eight concerns
facing the county. 1 ast year, in the midst of the county's
battle over a proposed Martin Marietta mining operation
near Southport, that topic was highly debated.
Protection ot the underground aquifer from mining
operations and sinkholes is why the Brunswick County
Long-Range Oversight Committee was originally ap
See Planners, page 10
Offshore dump
Corps says
it's stumped
over debris
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers of
ficials say they are unconvinced the
Army’s ocean dredge material dis
posal site is the source of huge stumps
and other vegetative debris now foul
ing commercial shrimpers’ nets and
threatening to float ashore on Oak
Island and Bald Head Island beaches,
but the corps is working to determine
where exactly the debris is coming
from.
At the same time, the corps has
asked the U. S. Environmental Pro
tection Agency to sanction a dump
site farther offshore. Since 1987, the
corps has dumped some 31 million
cubic yards of spoil on a two-mile
square deposit site about three miles
off Yaupon Beach and Bald Head Is
land. Through 2000, the corps plans
to dump an additional 37 million cu
bic vards on the site where EPA has
Shrimpers say the
debris comes from a
corps dredge project
in the Cape Fear
River now on-going
permitted the deposit of silt only.
“We have a real keen interest in try
ing to identify the source of the de
bris and what our responsibility is in
this,” said corps operations project
manager Brian Moore on Thesday.
“Our focus is. How can we identify
the source of this material?”
Local government officials became
aware of the apparent tons of huge
tree stumps and other vegetative de
See Debris, page 10
Checkpoints
curb number
of DWI cases
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Police officers believe highway
checkpoints that search for drivers un
der the influence of alcohol are mak
ing an impact in coastal counties.
The number of DWI charges result
ing from checkpoints May 1 to Sep
tember 12 in Brunswick County
dropped from 72 in 1995 to 39 this
year. The “Booze It and Lose It” cam
paign is part of the Governor’s High
way Safety Program aimed at cutting
down on drunk driving in coastal
counties during the summer holiday
tourist season.
The message of the campaign is
that tourists or residents who go to the
beach and have a good time shouldn’t
attempt to drive home if they have
been drinking alcohol.
"A success would mean no DWIs,"
said Lt. Charlie Miller of the
Brunswick County Sheriffs Depart
ment, which received a $ 10,000 state
grant to implement the program this
summer. “1 would consider the,
project a success if we were to find
no drivers under the influence.’
Sheriff Ronald Hewett is a sup- ,
porter of Gov. Jim Hunt's program
that pays the overtime officers work ;
while conducting the checkpoints. >
This summer, checkpoints were held
along Long Beach Road, at the North
Carolina and South Carolina state line
near Calabash, on N. C. 133 ngar
Belville, at the Columbus County line
on U. S. 74-76 near Maco, Sunset j
Harbor and on U. S. 421 leaving
Wilmington.
In addition to 34 DWI arrests, of- f
See Checkpoints, page 6 |
City may borrow, depend on pledges
■ Building
costs near
$800,000
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
A majority of the hoard of alder
men appears so convinced over
$400,000 can be raised trom private
sources to rebuild the Southport
Community Building they v* ill let the
city borrow the needed money to be
gin construction sooner, rather than
later.
"What we are going to borrow is
going to be backed up by pledges,"
alderman Paul Fisher said when/Al
derman Bill Delaney questioned a
Thursday night suggestion the city
would front money for community
building reconstruction. /
"It’s going to come to t(jat," aider
man Meezie Childs said/
Aldermen took no action and au
thorized no acquisition of debt Thurs
day night.
Shortly after the circa 1041 com
munity building burned in January,
1005, the city received a 5275,000
settlement from its insurance com
pany and formed a committee of three
aldermen and city manager Rob
Gandy to hire an architect and design
a new building. On August 23, that
committee unveiled plans for a new
community building costing
Elevation from V o Street
$N56.()()() — without furniture or land
scaping - and announced a $41 I (It >0
fund-raising campaign to provide
money needed to complete the
$720,000 Phase 1 of building con
struction. Phase II construction in
111 u,-s finishing a planned second
s ■ 1 • ol the buildinu to be located on
n , ity the city leases from the l
s >my at Fort Johnston.
\ lerman Nelson Adams, who ini
iiai wanted to use the insurance
settlement to build a multi-purpose
recreation center elsewhere in the
cilv. said h^ is now "sold” on replace
ment of the community building, but
is unconvinced Southport should bor
row money to build its building.
"I understand the concept, but
somebody's going to have to do some
hard convincing to get my vole tor
the city to borrow $800,000,” Adams
said.
Adams su.J he has been a member
of the city \ budget committees many
times over the nearly 20 years he has
served as alderman and had seen too
many needed projects go unlunded
because public money was tight. He
said there are a number of needed
public works projects that are now on
the city's back burner for want of
Set Pledges, page 8
Forecast
Expect mostly sunny skies with
highs each day near 80 and lows near
00 for the period of Thursday through
Sunday.
INSIDE
Opinion ....... 4
Police report ... 9
District Court .. 12
Business ....... 14
Obituaries.15
Church ...._3B
Schools ........ 4B
TV schedule .... 6B
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