December 25,1996
Nei<
‘Twas just
mas and Bolii
get out their j
Our
Bald Head [
group keeps I
million-dolla;
’Healthy
Families’
County accepts
Reynolds grant
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Brunswick County’s rate of heart
disease, diabetes and cancer exceeds
both the state and national averages.
But local health officials are arm
ing themselves with the necessary
funding to fight back.
With the help of a $342,860 grant
just accepted from the Kate B.
Reynolds Charitable Trust, the
Brunswick County Health Depart
ment will start a “wellness” program
aimed at teaching families about
proper nutrition, exercise and stress
management in hopes that fewer resi
dents will die of the diseases each
year.
The “Healthy Families Program”
will teach hundreds of low-income
and rural families how to protect and
improve their health, said Brunswick
County health director Wade Burgess.
The allocation is the largest ever
awarded by the Kate B. Reynolds
Trust to a county for a wellness pro
gram.
The Coastal Carolinas Community
Health Assessment, in which the
i *v.u.;> p...i.-ipaicd last ye^.showed
Brunswick to have death rates in can
cer, chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease and diabetes higher than the
state average. The rate of heart dis
ease among county residents from
1989 to 1993 was 294 cases per
100,000 residents compared to the
national average of 144 cases.
During the same period, cancer
struck 235 victims per I ()(),()()() com
pared to the national average of 133
victims. The rate of diabetes is more
than double the national average, 23.3
cases in Brunswick compared to the
national rate of 11.9 cases. Each of
these diseases may be prevented, or
at least the effects minimized, by
See Families, page 11
‘With the rising cost
of health care, we
have to put more
emphasis on
wellness and not
just on medical
treatment.’
Wade Burgess
Health director
forecast
Winter is on it’s way with colder
temperatures in store lor this week
end. We can expect highs to only be
near 50 and lading to the 3<)'s at night.
TNS1DE
Business ... * • * 8
Police report ... 10
Obituaries ..... 11
Church.6B
Calendar.8B
TV schedule .... 4C
Classifieds.ID
District Court .. 7D
Photo l»\ ' 1' Harper
Symbols of the two most important Christian holidays are displayed together in sanctuaries through-ut the
community this week. Congregations welcomed the Christmas spirit in special services Sunday and again on
Christmas Eve.
Over $3 million owed
County cracks down
on delinquent owners
By Terry Pope
County Editor
According to court records, Gerald W Williamson of
Carteret County owns two lots in Boiling Spring Lakes
for which county taxes have not been paid over a nine
year period dating back to 19Kb.
A complaint filed in Brunswick County District
Court earlier this month by county attorney Huey
Marshall seeks the right to foreclose on the properK
and to have it sold lor hack taxes of $406 VS ami
$160.61.
It is the first lawsuit tiled under the county's tax
foreclosure policy adopted by county commissioners
last month
And the stack ol delinquent accounts forwarded to
Marshall’s office earlier this year by tax collcctoi Nancy
See Owners, page 10
Tough stance
City rezones;
puts demand
on developer
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
City officials have demanded the
would-be developer of a 131-acre
parcel adjacent to the city petition for
annexation if he wants city sewer ser
vice provided his planned develop
ment.
“It is the consensus of this board
that in order to get sewer, you will
take our water, you will take our elec
trical service and you will petition for
annexation to the city," mayor Bill
Crowe Thursday told James R.
Prevatte, attorney for Oleander De
velopment Company.
Oleander, which has an option to
purchase the 131 acres between
Leonard and Moore streets opposite
Ferry Road from Pfizer Inc. had asked
See Re/ones, page 6
‘We really don’t
oppose annexation,
but we think it
would properly be
done at a later time
when construction
had begun and
infrastructure is in
place.’
Jim Prevatte
Oleander attorney
County hike cited
Beach tests
waters, may
provide own
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
With only councilor Frances Allen
voting in opposition. Fong Beach
down Council last week voted to com
mit SI 15,(XX) to digging test wells in
its effort to see if the town can pro
vide its customers drinking water
more cheaply than Brunswick County
can.
long Beach, Brunswick County's
second largest water customer over
all and the county’s biggest munici
pal buyer of treated drinking water,
recently received a report from con
sulting engineers Rivers and Associ
ates. of Greenville, indicating that by
2005 or 2004 Fong Beach may be
able to recover water from the ground
and treat it more cheaply than
Brunswick County will be able to sell
n to the town.
Rivers’ projections show
Brunswick County's asking price for
Healed water to escalate through the
period ending in 2020. Conversely,
1 ong Beach will be positioned to sell
The engineering
consultant has
estimated the cost of
developing wells
and building a water
treatment plant to be
about $9 million
water at less and less cost in that time,
as the town grows and more custom
ers huv water from it
Rivers has estimated I ong Beach
will be able to sell drinking water at
a cost ol S3 per thousand gallons ini
tially, but that cost will drop to close
to S3 7s per thousand gallons by
7003 In that year. Rivers projects,
Brunsw ick ('ounly s price for treated
See Waters, page 7
County not fixed
on mobile homes
By Terry Pope
County Editor
It may he a perception that older
manufactured homes clutter up the
county
But is it a reality ? County commis
sioners decided last week not to pur
sue proposed age limits on such hous
ing, at least until the issue is studied
more carefully.
“It's not a major problem," said in
terim Brunswick County planning di
rector Judy Russell. "By bringing this
before the planning board and com
missioners it was good because we
were able to do a lot of research. We
were able to determine that most ol
the homes were being moved around
within Brunswick County, and most
ol the trade-ins were people moving
up for a newer model.”
The planning board voted Octobei
23 to ask commissioners for a ban on
units that are more than 15 years old
An original proposal asked for te
strictionson units more than ten years
See Mobile homes, page 6
Happy New Year?
Grant on SBSD list
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District com
missioners have but one New Year s wish they
hope will come true. They hope the state’s Ru
ral Economic Development Corporation will
make good on promises to provide the approxi
mately $2.7 million needed to complete financ
ing of a sewer system to serve the district.
“Hopefully, before too long into January, we
hope to make an official statement,” district
secretary Lucille Laster said this week.
REDC officials visited the area once again
recently and district commissioners spent most
of a December 11 meeting fine-tuning docu
ments needed to secure the remainder of an es
timated $7.02 million to bring public wastewa
ter management services to the area surround
See Grant, page 6
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