Sports
North Brunswick, West
Brunswick fall in second
round of state playoffs - 1C
Helping th
impaired rru
is goal of thi
Beach
water
Town explores
the economics
of own supply
By Richard Nu be I
Municipal Editor
It will cost the Town of Long Beach
between $8.47 million and $8.89 mil
lion to develop well fields and build
a water treatment plant to provide
drinking water for its customers.
Those customers would initially pay
between $2.71 and $3 for each thou
sand gallons of water consumed, if
Long Beach were to provide water
from its own groundwater source, but
those costs would fall to between
$2.18 and $2.25 per thousand gallons
by the year 2020.
These are the findings of a water
treatment plant feasibility study pre
pared for the Town of Long Beach by
Rivers and Associates Inc., a consult
ing engineering firm from Greenville.
While costs have been presented in a
range in the study, actual costs will
be dictated by how productive wells
prove to be in the area studied. If wells
on land just west of the Brunswick
County well field off N. C. 211 pro
duce about 300 gallons per minute
(gpm), the study indicates, only seven
wells spaced 2,000 feet apart will be
needed to meet the two-million-gal
ion-per-day (gpd) capacity of the pro
posed"treatment plant. If wells pro
duce only 200 gpm, 11 wells will be
needed and will be spaced 3,000 feet
apart.
The higher the productivity of each
well, the less initial costs will be for
well construction. The town will also
need to purchase less land if wells
produce at higher rates. The differ
ence between 200,000-gpd and
300,000-gpd wells could lower the
cost by $738,000, engineers say.
Long Beach currently purchases
treated drinking water from
Brunswick County at a cost of $ 1.81
per thousand gallons and resells it to
its retail customers for $ 1.93 per thou
sand gallons. Long Beach water cus
tomers also pay a $7.24 monthly Hat
rate which is used to pay debt service
on the town’s water distribution sys
tem. The fees anticipated in the engi
neering report do not reflect the costs
of the distribution system. Debt on
that system will be paid in 2003.
The engineering report finalized
last week also suggests higher initial
consumer costs, as the treatment plant
will be processing drinking water at
less than its capacity in its early years.
As the town takes on more custom
ers, fixed costs and operating and
maintenance costs will be spread over
more consumers.
If Long Beach does develop a
groundwater source and builds a wa
ter treatment plant, it will cease to be
the Brunswick County water system’s
See Water, page 6
Photo hy Jim Harper
Joe Scott, Robbie Robinson and Jason Harvell were hard at work repairing the Long Beach Pier on
Monday. Hurricane Fran destroyed the seaward end of the pier in September, requiring the setting of 14 new
pilings and planking of about 90 feet of deck, including the T-end.
County schools
'Living' class touches
on sex ed instruction
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
A new “healthful living” program to be imple
mented in Brunswick County schools will teach that
abstinence from sex until marriage is the best way to
prevent unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmit
ted diseases, but will cover contraceptives in a general
way.
The board of education unanimously approved lirs!
reading of the planned program last week and will hold
a final vote in Deeemher.
The N. C. General Assembly approved the abstinence
education law this summer to limit what public schools
can teach about sc\. viid assistant superintendent lor
instruction Marv McUutfie.
Under the new law school systems cannot expand the
Sic Instruction, page 7
Oak Island
Second bridge
is top priority
in TIP request
By Terry Pope
County Editor
A second bridge to Oak Island tops
Brunswick County’s 1996 Transpor
tation Improvement Program (TIP)
request presented last week to the N.
C. Department of Transportation
Board at a Division III meeting held
at UNC-Wilmington.
Over the past two years, Brunswick
County and its municipalities, along
with the Brunswick County Airport
Commission, have worked together
to present a consolidated request to
the DOT board. Previously, each
town council presented its individual
list, and with 18 municipalities with
various needs it became a difficult
task.
“It is generally felt that the request
will carry more weight if it shows
DOT that we’re all working together
in Brunswick County,” said Don
Eggert, planner II with the Brunswick
County Planning Department. He pre
sented the package to the DOT board
last Thursday.
The lists are compiled by DOT for
next year’s North Carolina TIP, w here
all projects are ranked and prioritized.
The countywide requests are:
■ Second bridge to Oak Island --
alleviate significant traffic congestion
and provide a much-needed second
evacuation route in the event of in
dustrial accident or storms.
■ Wilmington Outer Loop -- to re
lieve traffic congestion and meet traf
See Bridge, page 6
Long Beach
Burning ban
now in effect
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Despite the fact over 700 persons
signed petitions seeking to rescind an
ordinance which bans burning of yard
debris in the Town of Long Beach,
town council last week affirmed its
intention to prohibit open burning in
town limits.
Council adopted the burning ban
three months ago, but the prohibition
just became effective this week.
Mayor Joan Altman broke a 3-3 tie
of councilors on councilor Doris
Hertel’s motion to amend the town's
burning ordinance to allow the prac
tice on Wednesdays and Saturdays
only. Joining Hertel were councilors
Frances Allen and Kevin Bell.
Councilors Jeff Ensminger, Horace
Collier and Helen Cashwell voted to
uphold the burning ban.
“The reason 1 am opposed is, we
haven’t had the opportunity to prove
lack of burning works,” mayor Joan
Altman said, casting the deciding
vote. She said her vote to uphold
council’s burning ban was guided by
state law, which limits open burning
to areas “1,000 feet from another
structure not on the property” on
which the burning takes place.
Altman said there are tew homes
Christmas-by-the-Sea nice package
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Salty ocean breezes and small-town charm form the
backdrop to the annual Southport-Oak I-'land Christmas
by-the-Sea Festival.
1 he celebration begins Sunday. December 1, 3 p.m.,
with a performance of holiday music b\ the Brunswick
Concert Band at the Brunswick Community College
Odell Williamson Auditorium.
New this year is a Christmas crafts program for chil
dren ages five through 11 at the Long Beach Recreation
Center on Thursdays, December 5 and December 12, at
4:30 p.m.. The cost is $5 per child and parents are asked
to register in advance by calling the recreation center at
278-5518.
A community Christmas tree-lighting ceremony will
be held Friday. December 6, 7 p.m., at Middleton Park in
Long Beach. Refreshments will be served and holiday
music sc ill be performed by a handbell choir and the
Brunsw ick Concert Band Brass Ensemble.
Shrine units, homemade floats, police, fire and rescue
units, equestrian groups, beauty queens, the South
Brunswick High School marching band and a visit from
Santa are some of the highlights of the annual Christmas
parade on Oak Island to be held Saturday, December 7,
3 Serving as parade marshal this year will be "Charlie
the Alligator” -- the new official mascot of the battleship
USS North Carolina. Charlie is a solt and fuzzy seven
foot-tall version of an 11 -loot alligator dial has endeared
See Package, page 8
I will personally
put this (anti
burning ordinance)
on the agenda in the
spring, to review
how it has worked
or has not worked,
for council action at
that time.'
Joan Altman
Long Beach mayor
in Long Beach that are 1,000 teet
from any other structure.
"We are not the same town we were
20 years ago," the mayor said.
Larly in the meeting, resident
See Burning, page 6
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
Police report ... 8
Business... 10
Obituaries. 11
Church.3B
Classifieds ..... ID
TV schedule .... 8D
District Court . ,10D
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