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Trojans and Scorps remain
undefeated, but Cougars
may be hottest team — 1C
VOLUME 6 7/ NUMBER 8 SOUTHPORT N.C.
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SBSD
will hire
manager
By Richard Nubel
News Editor
Offer tendered. Offer accepted ■
Commissioners were expected to
make it official this morning, nam
ing Woodrow O. (Woody) Wilson,
of Long Beach, the first manager of
the Southeast Brunswick Sanitary
District.
District chairman James W.
(Bubba) Smith Monday said Wilson’s
salary as the first-ever SBSD manager
had not been set, but would be “some
where around” $50,000. '
Wilson comes to the district just as
it prepares to begin breaking ground
for the 500,000-gallon-per-day waste
water treatment plant, collection and
disposal system SBSD was founded
to build in 1989. He leaves the staff
of the Town of Long Beach, where
he has served as assistant town man
ager since June 9. Long Beach this
week began advertising for a new as
sistant town manager.
Wilson says he will begin work at
the district on October 31.
“I think the opportunity with South
east Brunswick Sanitary District is
just fantastic,” Wilson said at Long
Beach Town Hall this week. “The
opportunity comes just as they are
getting started on new construction.”
Wilson said the approach by SBSD
commissioners looking for their first
manager was a surprise to him. He.
See Manager, page 9 '
Purchase
of tract
approved
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
The Brunswick County school
board moved forward Monday night
on three major construction projects
totaling more than $13 million.
Assistant superintendent of opera
tions Clarence Willie reported that
school officials are in the final stage
of purchasing a 19.5-acre tract at
Winding River Plantation for a new
elementary school. The site is located
approximately 500 feet from High
way 211 and is surrounded by Zion
Hill Road and the Winding River
Plantation golf course and develop
ment. ,
“We’re just tightening all the
screws and nailing down the details,
Willie said. “We’re getting ready to
buy the land in the next few weeks.”
School board members voted to
purchase the property two months ago
for $150,000. Willie said school offi
cials will meet with the Winding
River Plantation development firm,
Bluegreen Corporation, this week to
decide what rate the school system
See Purchase, page 11
Opinion
Police report
Obituaries
District Court
Notices
Business
Calendar
Church
TV schedule
Coloring contest
Grid contest
n6ddStfltSoi*>WMoefc
Photo by Jim Harper
Community hairdressers took “just a little off the top” of 73 heads in Franklin Square Sunday in a fund
raiser for breast cancer research. Carolyn Hewett, one of the organizers, said nearly $1,500 contributed by
men, women and children will be forwarded to the City of Hope research center.
Graves to be rededicated
Blacks had important
role during Civil War
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Matthew Miller said he immedi
ately recognized the importance of his
discovery when, while doing research
at the Southport library, he found the
names of two black Union soldiers
buried at John Smith Cemetery.
Documentation of black Union sol
diers is rare, he said, and it’s even
more rare to find them buried in a
small-town cemetery.
“Most black soldiers were buried
at the National Cemetery in Washing
ton,” he said. “This is the first record
of black soldiers buried in a small
town like this I’ve ever found.”
The long-time Civil War buff said
he decided to share his discovery so
that others would recognize the im
portance of black soldiers in the Civil
War.
“As soon as 1 found them, 1 decided
to try to organize a rededication of
their graves,” Miller said. “A lot of
people don’t realize there were blacks
fighting in the Civil War side by side
with whites.”
By rededicating the graves of these
forgotten men - Abraham Galloway
and Abram Blount -- Miller said he
hopes to promote a clearer under
standing of this chapter in American
history and to enhance racial under
standing in Southport.
As many as 100 Civil Wai
reenactors will likely participate in the
rededication ceremony of the sol
diers’ graves in early February, it
conjunction with Black Historj
See Civil War, page 9
Southport-Oak Island
EMS, operations
proposal signals
new cooperation
By Richard Nubel
News Editor
Need for increased emergency
medical service (EMS) presence in
this portion of the county may spur a
cooperative county and municipal
effort to build a combination county
emergency medical services substa
tion and municipal emergency opera
tions center (EOC) in the Southport
Oak Island area.
Long Beach mayor Joan Altman
last week issued invitations to county
commissioners and Southport-Oak
Island mayors to attend an October
28 meeting devoted to discussing a
combined county-municipal EMS
EOC building.
Altman this week said the two
needs -- a county EMS facility and a
municipal EOC building -- can be met
under one roof, she and others be
lieve. In her letter of invitation to
county commissioners’ chairman
JoAnn Simmons, Altman said the
benefits of a combined EMS-EO.C
structure potentially could include a
by* several local governments and
more efficient use of existing re
Southport-Oak
Island has increased
its dependence on
Brunswick County
for response to
routine calls
sources.
“ We know the county has budgeted
money for an EMS substation in the
Southport-Oak Island area, which is
appropriate, given the population here
now and the projections we have for
the future,” Altman said Tuesday.
“The Oak Island towns and Southport
have talked about establishing a cen
tral EOC as a gathering point in the
event of a storm or other emergency,”
While Southport-Oak Island offi
uttfcVm. have ■ *opreaenU»liv«* »v* »oUv»«
during an emergency, there is also a
See Cooperation, page 9
Yaupon. Caswell
Towns unsure
about levying
occupancy tax
By Richard Nubel
News Editor
What will the neighbors say?
That seemed to be the unspoken
question Monday night as Yaupon
Beach comniissioners gave some pre
liminary thought to raising the town’s
three-percent occupancy tax.
Caswell Beach commissioners ad
dressed the occupancy tax question
Thursday and were unable to reach
consensus.
Should Yaupon Beach raise its tax
on short-term rentals if Long Beach
and Caswell Beach do not? What if
Long Beach doesn’t and Caswell
Beach does?
“If Caswell Beach Is not going to
impose it and Long Beach is defi
nitely not going to do it.... If we re
the only ones who end up doing it,
i it’s a nightmare for people like you
in the (cottage) rental business,
mayor Dot Kelly told commissioner
‘If we’re the only
ones who end up
doing it, it’s a
nightmare for
people like you in
the (cottage) rental
business.’
Dot Kelly
Yaupon Beach mayor
Dick Marshall, owner of a real estate
and property management company,
and other commissioners.
“Are we going to lose (vacation
See Towns, page 11
.' I
By Richard Nube)
News Editor
Not wishing to forfeit even a modest
amount of control over Small Boat Harbor
operations, city aldermen Thursday reluc
tantly ratified a management agreement with
the N. C. State Ports Authority which will
allow Southport officials to oversee some
marina activities, but not rewive pay for the
effort. '■ ■ ,
“At first gfoiice, I would say if they want
to make us •dance" without paying us ali
mony, I would tell them to take their ma
rina and shove it up their state port,” said
an angry alderman Bill Delaney. He and
other aldermen have contended the city
more than earned the monthly fee Southport
has received since the late 1980s for moni
toring activities of contract marina opera
tors ofy Sr As Denaii.
' The action, for the time being, ends a dis
pute between the city end SEA board mem
bers over city compensation for its efforts
on behalf of the state agency. Under terms
of the agreement aldermen authorized, the
city will hot receive its $1,500 monthly pay
ment from SPAafter June, 1998. From that
time forward, SPA will instead place that
See SPA deal, page 6 s
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