| VOLUME 66/ NUMBER 32
SOUTHPORT, N.C.
50 CENTS
asas
South Brunswick snaps its
eight-game slide with a 3-0
win over the Trojans ~ 1C


Second
bridge
in 99
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Good news for Oak Islanders:
The planned second island bridge
connecting Middleton Street to
the mainland is on schedule for
completion in September, 1999.
Although a N. C. Department of
Transportation public hearing on
three proposed thoroughfare
routes between the new bridge
and N. C. 211 drew an overflow
crowd to the Long Beach Recre
ation Center last Wednesday
night, most in attendance ex
pressed concern for protection of
wetlands and for eventual bridge
design. Those who did offer com
ment on the three alternative
routes linking the northern end of
the bridge to N. C. 211 at Midway
Road favored Alternative B, the
most direct of the three proposed
routes.
More importantly, DOT officials
heard no opposition to the bridge,
which island officials have ac
tively sought since the early 1980s.
^ “Nobody spoke against the
bridge,” Long Beach mayor Joan
Altman said. “There was not even
much comment on the corridor
alternatives.”
DOT’S hearing came after pub
lication of an Environmental Im
pact Study performed by consult
ing engineers. The report — on file
for inspection at Long Beach Town
Hall — examined the potential
impact of the three proposed over
land routes to N. C. 211 on plant
and wildlife, wetlands, historic
and archeological sites and haz
ardous material deposit sites. The
report also factored noise impact,
the need for relocation of residen
tial and commercial interests and
interruption of farming activities.
DOT hearing officer L. L.
Hendrix said the next step in the
process of bridge and thorough
fare planning and construction
will be selection of one of the three
alternative thoroughfare corri
dors, a review process expected to
take between four and five
months.
That accomplished, DOT will
enter the final three stages of an
eight-step locating process: Right
of-way will be determined and
secured, final design plans will be
prepared and construction will be
completed.
The second bridge to Oak Island
project has now progressed into a
two-phased process which will
end in completion of the structure
and connecting thoroughfare.
Phase A of the process deals
See Bridge, page 6
_ Photo by Jim Harper
The featured attraction in Southport for the next few weeks almost certainly will be the movie “I Know
What You Did Last Summer” as it is being filmed. Here, workmen redefine the skyline at the Southport
yacht basin, where shooting is set to begin Friday and continue into next week.
Since last U.S. census
County growth ranks
fourth fastest in state
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
A $14.7-million local budget
proposal for the 1997-98 fiscal year
was unanimously approved Fri
day by the Brunswick County
Board of Education and will be
forwarded to county commission
ers for consideration.
The proposal reflects a $1.1-mil
lion increase over last year’s local
budget. New items in this year’s
proposal include local salary
supplements totaling $175,000 for
directors and supervisors, princi
pals, assistant principals and
teachers.
“The bottom line is our teach
ers are very, very valuable,” said
school board chairman Glenda
Browning. “We want to attracl
and keep the best teachers in oui
county.”
A $150,000 allocation for three
new administrative supervisors
also is included in the budget pro
See Growth, page 6
RAPID GROWTH
SCHOOL REQUEST
South Brunswick, Bolivia
needs addressed in budget
By Holly fcdwards
Feature Editor
A $14.7-million local budget proposal for the
1997-98 fiscal year was unanimously approved
Friday by the Brunswick County Board of Edu
cation and will be forwarded to county commis
sioners for consideration.
The proposal reflects a $1.1-million increase
over last year’s local budget. New items in this
year’s proposal include local salary supplements
totaling $175,000 for directors and supervisors,
principals, assistant principals and teachers.
“The bottom line is our teachers are very, very
valuable,” said school board chairman Glenda
Browning. “We want to attract and keep the best
teachers in our county.”
A $150,000 allocation for three new adminis
trative supervisors also is included in the bud
get proposal. One supervisor would serve un
der each of two assistant superintendents and
one would serve under the finance officer. The
need for the new positions was identified in a
state performance audit conducted three years
ago, Browning said.
See Budget, page 9
TOP SI PRIES ON 1 HE INI ERNET www.soutliport.nci
NORTHERN SEWER
Plan could
end towns'
stalemate
By Terry Pope
County Editor
It is a battle that District 5
county commissioner Bill Sue has
watched from his Leland area
home for the past three and a half
years.
Two adjacent towns remain at
odds over sewer expansion while
the entire northern Brunswick
community bogs deeper into en
vironmental danger, risking pol
lution to the Brunswick River and
a stagnant economy that has no
land on which to build.
And like rival siblings, Belville
and Leland have failed to reach a
plan to turn Belville’s sewer treat
ment plant into a regional system
to benefit the community — for
future residential, industrial and
commercial growth. Officials are
See Stalemate, page 9
‘We’ve looked at
the worse-case
scenario, of not
being able to get
any grant money,
of having to pay
seven percent on
our money, and it
still comes out
feasible.’
Bill Sue
District 5 commissioner
SEVERAL OPTIONS
Sewer needs
for long term
are projected
By Terry Pope
County Editor
If the county buys Belville’s
treatment plant and enters the
sewer business, it will be based on
the recommendation of profes
sional engineers who have stud
ied the issue from a 20-year per
spective.
Purchasing the Belville sewer
treatment plant and operating it
as part of a regional system is the
first option McKim and Creed
Engineers of Wilmington has rec
ommended to Brunswick County
commissioners as a way to end the
sewer stalemate in the northern
community.
According to Timothy Broome
of McKim and Creed, the pro
jected 20-year wastewater flow for
the study area is approximately
1.5 million gallons per day, and he
investigated four alternatives for
sewer in the Leland, Belville and
Navassa area:
• Abandon the existing Leland
Industrial Park 250,000-gpd plant
along with Belville’s 400,000-gpd
plant and build a new 1.5-million
gpd advanced sewer treatment
facility with 1.2 million gallons
discharged to the Cape Fear River
and 300,000 gpd disposed by land
application on a local golf course.
• Maintain Belville’s plant and
the industrial park plant and build
another 850,000-gpd land applica
tion system to dispose of effluent
on a dedicated site.
• Maintain the industrial park
plant and expand Belville’s plant
to 1.25 million gpd with 950,000
gallons discharged to the
Brunswick River and 300,000 gal
lons by land application on a lo
cal golf course.
See Sewer, page 9
Operation of the
expanded plant
could be by the
county, the Leland
Sanitary District or
private contractor
working under the
auspices of either
the county or
sanitary district
Forecast
The extended forecast calls for
mostly sunny skies Thu-sday through
Saturday with highs in the 70's.
_--- sigii
INSIDE
Police report ...
Business.12
District Court .. 14.
Obituaries.15
Calendar.HA
Church ....,
Schools ...
Plant Doctor ... 90
TV schedule ♦..
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