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SOUTHPORT, N.C
VOLUME 66/ NUMBER 21
50 CENTS
an
;e 2
Audit
report
Schools show
improvement
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Financial management within the
Brunswick County school system has
improved but is not problem-free,
school board members agreed after
unanimously accepting a financial
audit report Monday night.
The audit revealed one material,
reportable condition as well as sev
eral internal control weaknesses, but
indicated that overall the school sys
tem is in good financial shape.
“It’s a lot better than I thought it
would be,” board member Billy
Carter said of the report. “We’ve set
some foundations but we still need to
make some improvements.”
The material condition found by the
New York-based auditing firm
McGladrey and Pullen was failure of
accounting personnel to reconcile
general ledger accounts with subsid
iary ledgers on a timely basis, thus
increasing the risk of error.
“We recommend that the board’s
accounting personnel perform these
reconciliations on a timely basis to
See Audit, page 9
King
march
Sunday
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
A two-day Martin Luther King Jr.
celebration will begin Sunday, Janu
ary 19, 2 p.m., with a community
march through Southport beginning
and ending at the ILA Hall.
Following the march, clergymen
will read from King’s “Letter from
Birmingham City Jail.” King wrote
the famous essay in the form of an
open letter to the community on April
16, 1963, while serving a jail term for
participating in peaceful civil rights
demonstrations in Birmingham, AL.
Earlier that month, eight prominent
Alabama clergymen published an
open letter that warned King’s phi
losophy of non-violent resistance
would incite civil disturbance. In re
sponse, King urged Christian minis
ters to understand that the meaning
of Christian discipleship was at the
heart of his struggle for freedom, jus
tice and equality.
Local leaders will comment on the
letter after readings by the clergymen.
Southport-Brunswick County
N AACP president Nat Parker pointed
out that racial segregation remains
most pronounced in houses of wor
See March, page 6
Long-range committee
studies service funding
By Terry Pope
County Editor
%
Protection of the Castle Hayne aquifer from mining and heavy
industry was a key issue that helped establish the Brunswick
County Long-Range Planning Oversight Committee.
At a meeting Friday, the committee began digging into an
other important issue citizens say they want county officials to
address - funding for local fire and rescue departments.
, Committee chairman Mike Royal said his members are just
See Funding, page 6
Photo by Jim Harper
Blooming in the sun like so many white-and-gold flowers along the waterside, the head feathers of these
mature pelicans indicate that they are eligible for consideration in the mating season to come -- and tell us
all that spring is not nearly so far away as it sometimes seems.
Caswell Beach
Assembly reconsiders
removal of town foxes
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
In the parlance of N. C. Wildlife
Resources Commission personnel, to
“remove” actually means to “kill.”
Discussion of “removing” foxes
from Caswell Beach Thursday came
to a sudden halt when North Carolina
Baptist Assembly director Rick
Holbrook learned of that euphemism
for the first time.
“Somewhere in the conversation I
had not picked up on that meaning ot
‘remove,’” Holbrook said TUesday "1
took it at its face value — ‘remove
For several weeks Caswell Beach
- which has a state permit to kill foxes
-- has struggled with what to do with
the town’s fox population. Last year.
78 percent of all loggerhead sea turtle
nests were invaded by foxes. Wild
life officials say in other years, turtle
nest depredation by foxes has been
as high as 86percent. Members ot the
local Tlirtle Watch association -- xol
unteers who protect nests and assist
emerging hatchlings to the waterskin
— have pushed for a fox eradication
program. Caswell Beach commis
sioners, generally, have been reluc
tant to kill foxes.
After meeting with town officials
December 19, David H. Allen, coastal
non-game project leader for the N. C.
Wildlife Commission, proposed a
See Foxes, page 7
‘I don’t know what
over-population
means. If we have
an over-population
of four-legged
potential rabies
carriers, that would
be of concern....’
Rick Holbrook
Assembly director
131-acre tract
Developer
accepts city
annexation
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Ending several weeks of negotia
tions between the City of Southport
and Oleander Development Com
pany, city aldermen Thursday night
accepted a petition from the developer
asking Southport to annex a 131 -acre
tract abutting the city’s northeast
boundary.
The tract, straddling Prices Creek
between Moore and Leonard streets
opposite Ferry Road, is the proposed
site for development of Harbor Oaks
subdivision, which could eventually
be the site of up to 200 single-family
homes. A representative of the devel
oper said Phase I of development
plans call for making the first 30 to
40 lots west of Prices Creek available
for purchase this spring.
Oleander, which now will appar
Southport must
provide all services
to the newly
annexed area that
are prov ided
elsewhere in the city
within one year
ently exercise its option to purchase
the tract from Pfizer,Inc., had in De
cember asked aldermen only to re
zone the parcel from designation for
light and heavy industrial use to R-l
designation, for residential use, and
See Annexation, page 9'
Caution urged
Rabies threat
major concern
for Southport
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
One confirmed and four suspected
cases of rabies have been reported in
the City of Southport -- circumstances
one aldermen said placed the city in
a near "state of emergency."
“We’re almost in a state of emer
gency," alderman Bill Delaney told
fellow aldermen Thursday night. “I
think this threat is the greatest since
World War 11.”
City animal control officer Charles
Drew appeared before the board to
update members on the rabies out
break. He said the city’s only con
firmed case of rabies was found in a
raccoon that had tangled with a dog
on Holly Drive last week. The rac
UOB
treads
water
By Terry Pope
County Editor
No one seemed willing to dive into
the debate over whether Long Beach
w ill remain a county water customer
at the Brunswick County Utility Op
erations Board meeting on Monday.
The controversial issue was placed
on the board's agenda for discussion,
but members sat silently as county
public utilities director Lee Smith
briefed them on what has happened
See UOB, page 9
toon was beheaded and its brain sent
to a laboratory in Raleigh where the
disease was confirmed.
The dog, belonging to a Holly
Drive resident, was impounded as
prescribed by law, but had been vac
cinated against rabies and has shown
no signs of having contracted the dis
ease.
Since that initial incident, four
other raccoons suspected of having
the disease have been killed in the
city. As they did not come into con
tact with pets or humans, however,
state officials w ill not do the required
examination to confirm rabies. Drew
said.
"We couldn't send those animab
off, but they were acting in such a way
See Rabies, page 7
forecast
The Artie blast we've been feelinj
will give way to slightly warmer tern
peralures with highs reaching in tht
5()'s on Thursday, Friday and Satur
day.
INSIDE
Opinion ... 4
Police report ... 10
Church.2B
Calendar.7B
TV schedule .... 4C
Business.6C
District Court .. 7C
Classifieds.ID
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