Sports
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Play Ball! is the call across
Brunswick County as high
schools open season — 1C
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Brunswick C
sentative to
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Lakes board
on out-of-tow 3; s
using Big Lak
Ocean
debris
Corps accepts
responsibility
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has
accepted responsibility for the wood
debris that has cluttered the mouth of
the Cape Fear River for months, foul
ing a prime shrimp harvesting ground
and tearing local shrimpers’ nets to
shreds.
The corps last Hiesday said it
would pay a contractor to clean the
debris from the Cape Fear River
mouth, would change its dredging
practices and would seek alternative
dredge spoil disposal sites.
“The corps has finally accepted re
sponsibility,” said Sandy Semans,
vice-president of communications for
the N. C. Fisheries Association. The
association teamed with Brunswick
County shrimpers to persuade the
Army to review its dredge operation
on the Cape Fear.
Last fall local shrimpers, led by Bill
Hickman of Bolivia, appeared before
municipal governing bodies in
Southport-Oak Island to warn of the
debris floating off a two-square-mile
corps Ocean Dredge Material Dis
posal Site (ODMDS) about three
miles off Bald Head Island and
Yaupon Beach. Dredge material taken
from a project to create additional
See Debris, page 6
Brunswick
developers
on course
By Terry Pope I
County Editor {
The company developing the
1,100-acre Winding River Plantation
golf course community near Supply
has an excellent track record in
Brunswick County.
It recently sold out Winding Creek,
a 95-homesite project north of
Southport off Bethel Church Road, in
less than a year. Now Bluegreen
Carolina Land Inc. will focus its at
tention on the 1,000-home commu
nity off Zion Hill Road between
Southport and Supply.
“The land where the homesites will
be used to be a timber tract, so it was ]
loaded with trees,” said Winding |
River Plantation general manager
David Dickey. “We have taken every
precaution to leave as many trees as i
possible. Most of the trees are beau- l
tiful magnolia, bay, live oak and tall ]
pines.” <
The Bluegreen Corp., one of the ]
few land companies to hold a posi- t
tion on the New York Stock Ex
change, has teamed with one of the
country’s best-known golf course de
signers to create the project. The
Carolina National Golf Club, de
signed by Fred Couples, borders and
partially surrounds the Winding River
Plantation along the Lockwood Folly
River.
Golf course construction is already
underway. A clubhouse will provide
golf pros for lessons, a pro shop and
men’s and women s locker suites.
"teamwork created by two entities,
the Bluegreen Corp. and the Couples
Bates design team, has been very pro
ductive, said Dickey. “It has resulted
in the type community people will
admire for many years to come, he
added. .
Bluegreen has come up with an
unusual first event for persons inter
See Developer, page 7
Photo by Jim Harper
Miss Brunswick County Dawn Baldwin sings “Someone to Watch Over Me” during Saturday night’s
lageant at the Brunswick Community College Odell Williamson Auditorium. Baldwin is an orthodontist’s
ssistant in Wilmington and plans to return to college to pursue a master’s degree in psychology.
Northern area schools
Parents' input invited
on year-round schools
ly Holly Edwards
eatyre Editor
A decision to implement year
ound school schedules at Lincoln
’rimary, Belville Elementary and
.eland Middle schools could come as
arly as Monday night, said
Irunswick County Board of Educa
ion chairman Glenda Browning.
“1 think we need to make a deci
sion as soon as possible so the princi
pals can start planning,” Browning
said.
However, Browning stressed that
the school board will not vote to
implement year-round schools if a
majority of parents in the northern
area of the county are opposed to the
plan.
Surveys will be sent home with stu
dents at all three schools this week
Yacht Drive wreck
Saturday kills man
A Long Beach man succumbed to injuries he sustained in a
one-vehicie accident on Yacht Drive in Long Beach early Satur
day morning.
Charles Harold (Sonny) Houser Jr., 45, of 130-19th Street NW
died at Dosber Memorial Hospital shortly after the 2:37 a.m.
accident. v;
A police report of the accident indicates Houser was driving a
1990 Toyota pickup truck west on Yacht Drive. As he rounded a
slight bend in the road, the truck ran off the left side of the street
into a ditch, sending the truck airborne for a distance of 39 feet.
See Wreck, page 6
< H ' * - ^ ' 4 * ‘ ' '
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and parents will be asked to state
whether they are in favor ol or op
pose the year-round school plan. Re
sults will be consolidated prior to the
school board meeting Monday night.
“The board is quite familiar with
the benefits of year-round schools, but
the main thing is we’re going to let
parents make the decision,” Brown
ing said.
See Year-round, page 7
‘The board is quite
familiar with the
benefits of year
round schools, but
the main thing is
we’re going to let
parents make the
decision.’
Glenda Browning
Board chairman
Same as last
County board
calls for 68.5$!
rate this year
By Tterry Pope
County Editor
It’s only March, but already county
officials are preparing for another
budget year with just one demand
placed on county manager Jim
Varner.
“I will not vote for an increase in
the tax rate,” said District 3
Brunswick County commissioner
Leslie Collier of Long Beach.
At commissioners’ annual retreat
last month, holding the line on taxes
appeared to be the consensus of the
three Democrat and two Republican
board members. They want a recom
mended budget which doesn’t raise
the current property tax rate of 68.5
cents per $100 of value.
Ms. Collier said she left the retreat
without a good feel for what a major
ity of board members want by way of
capital projects and staff additions for
the 1997-98 fiscal year. Budget forms
and instructions were distributed to
Keeping the tax rate
at 68.5 cents is one
item on which all
commissioners seem
to be in agreement
department heads on February 14, and
requests must be in the hands of
Varner and fiscal operations director
Lithia Home by next Friday, March
14.
“Some departments do need some
new people,” said Ms. Collier. “But
you have to look at the staff and real
ize that while they may not need po
sitions over here, others may. It’s not
an easy decision.”
During the week of March 17-21,
See County, page 6
GOVERNMENT CENTER
Cafeteria menu
special: cost cuts
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Restaurants that market their ham
burgers, pizza and chicken attract the
most customers.
The Brunswick County cafeteria
will spice up its menu and hopes to
reduce its production costs under a
marketing plan which is expected to
save the department $89,000 per year.
Under supervisor Robert Smith, the
cafeteria located at the public assem
bly building at the government cen
ter near Bolivia serves approximately
140.000 meals per year, of which
114.000 go to inmates at the
Brunswick County jail or congregate
and homebound meals programs op
erated by the department of social
services.
The rest are purchased by county
employees who work at the govern
ment center, visitors or persons on
lunch break from court sessions.
“We are expecting an increase be
cause of construction activity here at
the complex,” said county manager
Jim Vamer.
Construction workers are building
a new schools central office, coopera
tive extension service building and
retention ponds on the property. With
no large restaurants in the Bolivia
area, the cafeteria has potential to
grow. A survey of county employees
in December indicated they want a
salad bar and more carry-out items.
An agreement signed last week
with Robert Segal of High Point, an
expense reduction and consultant ac
countant, will put his plan in action
to reduce the cost of meals while leav
ing customers more satisfied. He will
receive half of what is actually saved
the first year with a cap of 140,000
meals. If there are no savings, he will
not be paid.
Segal says the county is feeding its
prisoners at the Brunswick County
jail at a cost of $1.70 per meal while
the N. C. Department of Corrections
can feed its inmates at a cost of 68
cents to 73 cents per meal. A check
The county is
feeding prisoners at
a cost of $1.70 per
meal while the N. C.
Department of
Corrections can feed
its inmates at a cost
of 68 to 73 cents per
meal
with two other county cafeterias show
they produce meals for prisoners for
under $ 1 each. The county will spend
$14,000 on two pieces of equipment
needed in the kitchen in order to cut
See Cafeteria, page 6
forecast
The extended forecast calls for
mostly sunny skies Thursday through
Saturday with highs in the 60's.
INSIDE
Police report ... 7
Business ..10
Obituaries . . ,. .11
Church ....-5B
Schools ........ 7B
Calendar.8B
District Court .. 5C
TV schedule .... 6C
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