Sports
The annual Freedom Run
was held Sunday morning
as first festival event — 1C
N
The I\
played
delight
>rs
Band
the
is IB
n
_
The names are different
but the setting is certainly
■ local in Southport- Page 2
Schools
Property
purchase
is proper
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
There is no indication anything was
“improper or awry" in land-purchase
negotiations between the Brunswick
County Board of Education and Mar
garet Rudd and Associates Inc. Real
tors, school board attorney Joe Cau
sey concluded this week.
School board members subse
quently voted to purchase up to 40
acres of land at a cost of $7,500 per
acre, or $300,000. pending results of
tests to be conducted by Construction
Control Corporation, a management
firm hired by the board.
The board wants to purchase up to
40 acres of land at Winding River
Plantation, located off /.ion Hill Road
near Supply, as site tor a new elemen
tary school and future middle school.
Board member Billy Carter re
quested an investigation of his rela
tionship with Margaret Rudd and As
sociates, the firm representing the
landowner, after a fellow board mem
ber, whom Carter would not identify,
suggested Carter would receive a
kickback if the board chose to pur
chase the land because he is a friend
and neighbor of Rudd's.
Causey told the board on Friday he
obtained written statements from all
members of the board, and met per
sonally with Rudd and the agent han
dling the negotiations. [David Thorp,
and tound no evidence ot wrongdo
ing.
“Everything seems to be in order
See Property, page 6
Bald Head
tax rate up
9.5 cents
Bald Head Islanders will pav ad
valorem taxes at a rate ot 07.5 cents
this year atter the v illage council Sat
urday approved a $2.2X5.00(1 budget
requiring a 9.5-cenl tax-rate boost.
The new rate, applied to a tax base
of $235 million and a 99-percent col
lection standard, is expected to bring
$ 1,570,388 into v illage cotters.
The remainder ot the budget is sup
ported bv a variety of revenues, in
cluding $286,389 accommodations
tax revenue
Over $500,000 is to be paid out in
debt service tor money boirowed to
finance beach protection dev ices and
renourishment last year and this.
Last week, village finance chair
man Bill Taft pointed out that seven
cents of additional taxes would pav
for paramedic services tor residents
and visitors.
Personnel from 13 departments competed in the an
nual Firemen’s Competition Sunday, when activity
of the N. C. Fourth of July Festival really got going.
Today (Wednesday) is Beach Day, followed by a
Photo bv Jim Harper
children’s fun day and naturalization ceremony Thurs
day, and of course the parade, bandstanding and fire
works on Friday.
Long Beach Road
SBSD hears proposal
for new development
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
A proposed 400-unit housing development between
Long Beach Road and the Carolina Power and Light Co.
discharge canal will be the subject of a public hearing be
fore Southeast Brunsw'ick Sanitary District commission
ers Monday morning.
The hearing will begin at S a m. at the district office at
4310 Long Beach Road.
To be known as Bermuda Trace, the 126-acre area lying
behind Oak Island Fun Park is to feature 400 single-fam
ily lots in a planned unit development.
"We’ll be developing in phases so as not to swamp the
market, said Ocean Isle Beach resident John Sutton of
See Proposal, page 6
Proposed
development
/ V/
Southf
Lockwood Folly
House bill
may alter
inlet flow
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Seventh District C'ongressman
Mike McIntyre said last week he feels
confident about support in Washing
ton, DC, for a $5-million bill to cor
rect water pollution and erosion prob
lems in the Lockwood Folly River.
The Lockwood Folly River Protec
tion Act (HR 19.05) McIntyre intro
duced last week would reopen the
natural old eastern navigational chan
nel at the mouth of the river and par
tially close the present manmade
ocean channel, which lies between the
west end of Long Beach and the east
end of Holden Beach.
Fisherman have complained for
years that shellfish pollution and
shoreline erosion is caused in part by
the artificial flow of the river, changed
by dredge work performed by the U.
S. Corps of Engineers to help improve
traffic on the Intracoastal Waterway.
“This day might be a historical
day," said longtime Holden Beach
resident John Holden. "It has been for
‘This was not a
hurricane or a storm.
It was done because
of the way the area
was dredged.’
Rep. Mike McIntyre
me. I le is the fourth congressman that
I have battled with, along with our
commercial fishermen. I said he de
served a hug, and I gave him one."
For years, Holden has led the ef
fort to correct problems he said date
back to the 1930s. Lockwood FolW
River is the county s largest estuary
and is where a vatietv of fish and
shellfish is harvested each year. How
ever, in recent years the number of
fish, oysters, shrimp and clams ha,
See Inlet, page (>
Long Beach
Councilor: fine
should be paid
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Long Beach knowingly violated
state coastal management regulations
in May. 1')%, and should pay the pen
alty for doing so, a town councilor
said this week.
Taking an admittedly "contrary"
view to that expressed by mayor Joan
Altman last week, councilor Frances
Allen says the Town of Long Beach
should pay a $700 fine levied June
12 by Roger Schecter, director of the
Div ision of Coastal Management
(DCM) of the N. C. Department of
Lnv ironment, Health and Natural Re
sources (DEHNR). By registered let
ter last w eek, Schecter notified the the
town he had doubled a $350 base civ il
penalty because the town knowingly
v mlated a ban against bulldozing sand
during loggerhead sea turtle nesting
season.
‘No one should be
above the law,
especially public
officials.’
Frances Allen
Town councilor
Town officials admit that much
Mayor Altman last week echoed past
statements when she conceded the
town had pushed sand into berms be
tween Mav 15 and Mas 22. IdOti. Hut.
she said, it was DCM's inabilits to
coordinate with the U S F ish and
Wildlde Service that forced the town
See Councilor, page 6
GORE
30 years on the hoard
Gore has served SEDC well
By Terry Pope
County Editor
During the past 30 years, One Gore of Southport
has earned little praise for his role on the South
eastern Economic Development Commission, and
few people may know- the SEDC's role in the
county.
But Gore also has no critics of his lengthy ser
vice, mostly volunteer work, serving on a hoard
that is all business and 1111 glamour, but one that
will route $ 10 million m Economic Development
Administration grants n1 southeastern North Caro
lina this year alone.
"There is better than V> million that we have
brought into BrunsioA 1 ounty in the 30 years,"
said Gore, the only otigmul member still on the
commission that oiguin/cd in 1967. “We think it's
been good for the aiea It s created a lot of jobs.”
The SEDC was termed 30 years ago and in
eluded ten counties to work much like the Appa
lachian Regional Commission, which tackled
poverty and need in the mountains ot North Caro
lina. Over the three decades, presidents have
threatened to eliminate EDA funding, especially
durum the conservative Ronald Reagan era.
Core remembers the good times and the lough
times lor economic funding, through seven U. S.
presidents, from Lyndon Johnson in 1R67 to Bill
See Gore, page 6
INSIDE
V
Opinion 4
Police report 9
District Court 10
Church 5B
Business 6B
Calendar 7B
Obituaries 8B
Schools 11B
TV schedule 13B
Classifieds 8C
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