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

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