Sports
North Brunswick and West
Brunswick open playoff
schedules at home — 1C
Ne
Southport
dents are 1
Forest Sei
stu
: N.C.
_Oi
South Bn
dents hel]
Veteran’s
1 stu
.orate
2
Street
plans
Yaupon agrees
on McDougal
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
McDougal Street may be on its
way into the history books.
It may be one of those references
that require an asterisk on maps
researchers use in days to come.
With only commissioner Jackie
Slockett opposing, Yaupon Beach
commissioners voted Tuesday night
to begin the procedure to formally
abandon McDougal Street, the small
unpaved street one block off Yaupon
Drive which stretches between
McGlamery Street and Country
Club Drive.
If abandonment of the road is
See Yaupon, page 8
River
proposal
Allocation may
not float locally
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Local officials are keeping an eye
on the Jordan Lake allocation process,
for it could have an impact on the fu
ture of the Cape Fear River Basin, too,
where water is drawn for the county’s
Malmo water treatment plant near
Northwest. It may also impact future
industrial development along the
county’s river corridor.
“Our greatest concern is with
interbasin transfers,” said Lee Smith,
Brunswick County public utilities di
rector on Friday.
Some governments that have ap
plied to intake water from the Cape
Fear source want to discharge into the
Neuse River Basin. Of an available
100-million-gallons-per-day (mgd)
supply, only 50 million gallons
should be diverted out of the lake’s
watershed, according to guidelines
established by the state’s Diyision of
Water Resources, which has been dis
cussing the allocation since May.
The amount of water applied for by
potential users (115 million gallons
per day) actually exceeds what’s
available from Jordan Lake’s alloca
tion. Cities such as Cary, Apex,
Greensboro, Fayetteville, Morrisville,
Durham and Holly Springs, along
See Allocation, page 7
Forecast
The extended forecast calls for
mostly sunny skies and near record
low temperatures for the period of
Thursday through Saturday. Highs
will only be in the mid 50's.
INSIDE
Opinion.4
Obituaries ......10
Police report,.. .11
Schools ... •.. • ♦SB
TV schedule-6B
District court .».7C
Photo by Jim Harper
Mary Skillman was launch-mistress for her kite-flying brother, John, Sunday in Waterfront Park, on a brisk
and blustery afternoon that would be a credit to any March day.
BCEDO
Coalition looks
toward future
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Fresh from a meeting with state
regulators and the area’s legislative
delegation in Raleigh last week,
Brunswick County Effluent Disposal
Organization members shortly face
the formidable task to determining the
structural future of the organization
and how to fund it.
BCEDO was formed earlier this
year as a coalition of municipal gov
ernments and Brunswick County to
explore alternative regional wastewa
ter disposal options. Representatives
of the organization last week, in an
effort to recruit state assistance, met
with N.C. Division of Environmen
tal Management Director Preston
Howard and groundwater quality spe
cialist Don Saffrit in Raleigh. State
representatives E. David Redwine of
"The regulators and
legislators
encouraged us to
begin the process of
establishing BCEDO
as an organization."
Joan Altman
Long Beach mayor
Brunswick County and Dewey Hill
of Columbus County sat in on the ses
sion, said Long Beach mayor Joan
See Coalition, page 5
Brunswick Electric
Growth leads to
rate reduction
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Brunswick Electric Membership
Corporation this week announced a
$2 per 1,000 kilowatt hour rate reduc
tion for most residential and small
non-residential customers.
The rate reduction is the
cooperative’s second since Au
gust, 1994.
“It is a rewarding experience for the
BEMC team to see these combined
efforts pay off for our cooperative
members,” BEMC general manager
David J. Batten said. “Our efforts in
1997 will continue to be directed to
ward providing quality service at the
lowest possible cost."
BEMC’s board of directors attrib
uted the rate reduction to membership
growth and to greater member par
ticipation in load management pro
grams. The board also cited superior
employee performance, technological
advances and the board’s own deter
mination to be competitive in a fast
changing market.
BEMC currently charges its resi
dential customers a $13.90 flat
monthly fee plus a usage fee of
$.08598 per kilowatt hour (kwh) for
the first 500 kwh consumed. The us
age fee for all kwh above the first 500
is $.08298 per kwh.
With the rate reduction, the
monthly bill for a home using 1,000
See Reduction, page 5
Southport Christian School
Spiritual emphasis is main focus
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Small classes and an emphasis on Christian values and
culture distinguish the Southport Christian School from
public schools in the county, said principal Bob Hodges.
Currently 31 students in kindergarten through fifth
grade attend the school.
Each day begins with a short devotional service in the
chapel of Cape Fear Alliance Church on Highway 87 near
Bethel Church Road, where the school is housed, and
students recite pledges to the American flag, the Chris
tian flag and the Bible.
Hodges, who is also a minister, said he discusses dif
ferent themes each week during the services, and recently
focused on the importance of maintaining a good reputa
tion.
“We talked about how even a child is known by his
doings, and that you begin to earn a reputation as a child,”
he said. “We also talked about the importance of main
taining trust and walking honestly before the Lord.”
Each grade level completes Bible studies courses that
involve memorizing scripture and reading Biblical sto
ries.
“Our students get a spiritual emphasis, and we make
no apologies for teaching the Bible,” said Hodges. “1 think
you can trace the discipline problems in public schools
to the time that the spiritual aspect of school was removed.
It s sad because it leaves a void when kids don’t have
that spiritual aspect in their lives.”
When this “void” is not filled with spirituality, Hodges
“The academics are fast-paced
and students get morer"■
individual attention,”
Lisa Kjome
said, both young people and adults feel empty and many
turn to drugs, alcohol and sex to fill this void.
The school is nondenominational, but parents are asked
to sign a “statement of taith” indicating that they under
stand the religious principals their children will be taught.
The curriculum was designed by A-Beka, a company
in Pensacola, FL that founded Pensacola Christian Col
lege.
“In order to fund the college, the company developed
the best Christian curriculum in the world,” said Hodges.
Some scientific and historical ideas are taught in a dif
ferent way at the Southport Christian School, he added.
“We teach creation, hut we do not ignore evolution be
cause obviously our students will go to college,” he said.
“We teach evolution as a talse theory and our students are
taught that God created the world in six days. “
History is presented m the context of the Christian world
view and emphasizes the positive rather than the nega
See Main Focus, page 7
Policy closes door
on school projects
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Individual Brunswick County schools will no longer undertake con
struction projects through private fund-raising campaigns without
board of education approval.
The board of education Tuesday night unanimously approved the
first reading of a policy that will require board approval of all expan
sion and new construction projects. It will be brought before the board
for a final vote next month.
The policy stales that planning for building projects may be initiated
only by the board and that local school officials or community mem
bers who wish to initiate a construction project must first present their
request before the board for approval.
If the board approves the project, it may allocate “incentive funding**
amounting to ten percent of the total cost of the project, but not more
than SI5,000. the policy states.
It also states that licensed architects and engineers should be key fig
ures in the design of building specifications.
The policy comes as a result of controversy surrounding construc
See Policy, page 6
TOP STORIES ON THE INTERNET www.southport.net