Sports
Waccamaw 2A Conference
play begins, with Cougs in
action Tuesday night — 1C
Work is und
ing new floor
Southport’s c
g
3
Fishermen n cr
ating maiminj at
foul nets or lii l
Our
License
opposed
Pier, charter
fishermen may
be charged fee
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Fishermen opposed to a recom
mended saltwater licensing plan
caught a big wave of support from
county commissioners on Monday.
Under the proposal by the state
Fisheries Moratorium Steering Com
mittee, persons who fish on charter
boats and on public piers would need
to purchase a state fishing license. The
committee fine-tuned its recommen
dations last week and plans to ask
state legislators for a three-tier licens
ing system that would not allow pier
and charter boat owners to purchase
a blanket license to cover all their
customers.
“It would benefit other counties
maybe, but Brunswick County bor
ders on South Carolina,” said JoAnn
Bellamy Simmons, chairman of the’
Brunswick County Board of Com
missioners. “And in South Carolina,
they do not have this type of license
requirement. The question is whether
it would push our business away.”
Commissioners voted 4-1 for a
resolution asking state legislators not
to adopt the licensing requirement.
T he commute* is recommending
sweeping changes in the regulation
and management of North Carolina’s
fishing industry to keep better tabs on
the volume of fish being caught along
the coast.
While recreational anglers who use
piers and charter boats won’t like the
proposal, others argue those fisher
men are given an unfair advantage
and that a blanket saltwater license
for such businesses would make it
difficult to keep data on the fish that
are actually being caught. It appears
legislators are prepared to adopt some
type of saltwater licensing require
ment for individuals during the 1997
See License, page 6
jr *er
*■ mk ' "i*F
Photo by Jim Harper
Dean Adams shoveled ice aboard the Cap’n Boo at her yacht basin moorings before she departed Monday
evening for another grouper fishing session. Adams said he devised the simplest possible mechanism to ice
his boats: “It won’t clog up, and the only motor to break down is me.”
Southport benefits
Electric load
management
a bright idea
By Rickard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Southport electric customers have
ordered approximately 1,300 load
management switches for their water
heaters and heating and cooling sys
tems since the city announced last
June a new rate structure which would
reward with lower bills those who
opted to help Southport control elec
tric load.
To date, over 60 percent of all
Southport residential electric custom
ers have applied for some form of
load management, thereby reducing
See Bright, page 7
Load management
switches allow the
city to utilize a radio
signal to temporarily
interrupt electric
flow to the most
power-hungry home
appliances
Tract annexation
on board agenda
tty RkWa
Municipal Editor
Will the would-be developer of a
131-acre tract adjacent to Southport
meet aldermen’s demand to petition
for annexation as a condition of re
ceiving the one city service it fitos re
quested?
City fathers, presumably, will find
out Thursday night when the board
of aldermen meets in regular monthly
session beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Oleander Development Company,
a firm that listed a Florida address
when petitioning the city planning
board in November, proposes to de
See Agenda, page 7
Once a resolution of
annexation is
adopted, the owner
begins paying city
taxes and the city
must provide all
services to the
annexed area within
a year
Rabid raccoon
is found in city
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Rabies has officially arrived in Southport and poses a serious
threat to domestic animals and the public, city animal control
officer Charles Drew said Thesday.
“This could turn into a very serious health hazard,” Drew
warned, “Everyone needs to have their pets vaccinated immedi
ately and please don’t let them run loose.”
; See Raccoon, page 7
Schools consider
bond money use
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
A plan to spend $7.9 million in state
bond money to construct a new el
ementary school and additional class
rooms at overcrowded schools will be
presented for approval by the
Brunswick County Board of Educa
tion at its next monthly meeting Mon
day, January 13,6:30 p.m., at Bolivia
Elementary School.
Assistant superintendent for school
operations Clarence Willie will
present the proposal.
“I’m going to ask for their approval
of the projects, and then we can go
forward with a timeline and other de
tails,” Willie said.
A consultant told the school boarc
last month that the system’s most ur
gent facility needs include a new el
ementary school, a new middle
school, ten additional classrooms ai
Bolivia Elementary and 11 more
classrooms at South Brunswick
Middle. The price tag to complete all
of these projects, however, was esti
mated to total $20 million.
Willie said he will recommend con
struction of a new elementary school
See Schools, page 6
Church 'adopts' refugees
Bosnian family finds a home
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Before war broke out five years ago
in the former Yugoslavia, the Beslagic
family enjoyed an upper-middle-class
lifestyle in Banja Luka, a cosmopoli
tan city characterized by tree-lined
avenues, verdant parks, cafes, muse
ums and ornate churches and
mosques.
Today, the Beslagics are a family
of refugees living at Fiddler's Creek
Apartments in Southport.
Although they say they deeply miss
their friends, family and home, they
are grateful to be alive, and to live in
safety.
St. Philip’s Episcopal Church
“adopted” the Bosnian family and
helped members get to the United
States, find an apartment and employ
ment, and obtain furniture and cloth
ing.
Husein Beslagic is working tor
Maritime Landscapers. Sabiha
Beslagic is working at Ship's ( han
dler Restaurant, their 16-year-old
daughter Amra is enrolled at South
Brunswick High School and their 20
year-old daughter Amela is a student
at Brunswick Community College.
Although Mr. and Mrs. Beslagic
speak little English, Amra and Amela
are fluent because they have taken
nearly ten years of English at school.
The young women appear healthy
and laugh easily, but the effects ot the
,.war become apparent as they recall
their ordeal.
Amra suffers anxiety attacks in
which her heart rate soars to over 200
beats per minute. Mr. Beslagic lost
over 40 pounds during three years of
forced labor, and several family mem
bers suffered unspeakable horrors at
the hands of the Serbians.
One of Mrs. Beslagic’s sisters,lost
two sons in the war and her husband
was sent to a concentration camp
where he was tortured and nearly
died. Thanks to pressure from the
See Family, page 6
Photo by Holly Edwards
The Beslagics (from left) Amra, Husein and Amela, were forced from their home in Bosnia by Serbian sol
diers and are lining in Southport as refugees from the war. St. Philip’s Episcopal Church “adopted” the fam
ily through a refugee service in New York City. Amela displays the Bosnian flag while Mr. Beslagic holds flags
of the United States and North Carolina. _
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