The State Port
SOI JTHPORI N.c.
VOLUME 67/ NUMBER 9
50 CENTS
Sports
South Brunswick is back
in the playoff picture after
winning 4th straight — 1C
Walk up north, then kayak
back; it was a fund-raising
adventure for two— Page 2
Bald Head
Davis,
council
settle
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
The Bald Head Island Village
Council Saturday offered property
owner and former developer Walter
Davis $100,000 in settlement of a
breach of contract action Davis
announced in September, 1995, and
filed in Brunswick County Superior
Court in August of last year.
The settlement offer was dis
cussed in two closed sessions of the
council Saturday and the offer was
made by mayor Tom Bradshaw,
mayor pro-tem Bill Taft and council
member Bill Leineweber after the
second closed session which all
council members attended.
The council delegation met with
Davis in Dosher Memorial
Hospital, where Davis was being
treated for a bout of vertigo experi
enced earlier in the day on the
island, and Davis accepted the offer,
afterward terming the agreement an
“amiable settlement.”
Davis had sued for $100,000
alleging both breach of contract
and, in Bradshaw’s case, fraud,
claiming that Bradshaw had
promised him $100,000 to help off
set expenses incurred in a suit Davis
was prosecuting against the state.
A village petition for state permis
sion to construct beach-stabilizing
groins was granted shortly after
Davis had dropped his personal
action against the state in 1995.
The fraud allegation in the suit
against Bradshaw was based on
Davis’ contention that Bradshaw
had “personally guaranteed" the
$100,000 payment should the vil
lage not pay up.
Council member Leineweber said
.Monday that the $100,000 payment
to Davis would include $25,000 in
insurance money and $75,000 in
village funds, and Davis’ lawyer,
Michael Mills, said that payment
was to include $25,000 immediate
ly, $25,000 on February 1 and
$50,000 on July 1, 1998.
Most recently the case had been
before a mediator, and in that ses
sion last Tuesday information was
revealed to indicate that others had
contacted Davis to help pave the
way for the groin permit even
before Bradshaw visited Davis and
made the alleged $100,000 offer.
On Tuesday morning, mayor
Bradshaw said that no action had
been taken in settlement of the suit,
though he did not deny going with
Taft and Leineweber to visit Davis
on Saturday, out of which meeting
came Davis' and Leineweber’s
reports that settlement had been
offered and accepted.
Bradshaw said that presently
“lawyers are talking with lawyers,
and said that the council likely will
meet next week to act on recom
mendations from their counsel,
“and then we will explain our
actions and our rationale for taking
those actions.”
Opinion
Obituaries
Police report
District Court
Business
Church
TV schedule
Coloring contest
Calendar
Grid contest
NASCAR
OntSBStSDSovWO'J^
Photo by Jim Harper
Ballerinas and ballelookalikes performed for the joy of it and the good of the cause Saturday at the
Boss Hog barbecue benefit for the Easter Seals program. Ol’ Boss hiniM’lf played a prominent role in
the Franklin Square gathering which netted over $1,000 for relief of children and adults with physi
cal disabilities.
1
Southport
City will face
utility choices
By Richard Nubel
News Editor

Long Beach
Council takes
parting shots
By Richard Nuhel •
News Editor
Preelection bickering, pitting Long
Beach Town Council members Frances
Allen and Helen Cashwell against
other councilors, began during town ;
manager Jerry Walters’ report on his
handling of Inspections Department
complaints and continued through
individual councilors’ reports Tuesday
night.
In the course of the three-hour coun
cil session:
■ Councilor Jeff Ensminger accused
councilor Cashwell of engaging in a
“witch hunt” to get code enforcement
officer David Clemmons’job.
Cashwell alleged building inspections
records were “missing.” ,
■ Cashwell asserted councirmem
bers had kept volunteers wishing to
form a water rescue department of
town government “hanging out” by
not quickly voting on the volunteers’
proposal.
■ Allen asserted councilor Kevin
Bell had tried to get a piece of
Inspections
Proposals to improve
performance include:
»Establish a building trades :
advisory board
* Make the inspections appli
cation packet more “user
friendly”
• Customer service training
of Inspections Department
employees
* Develop a customer service
survey to be provided all
customers *
• Provide new computer soft
ware to better track inspec
tions records.
drainage equipment required by ordi
nance because he sold the equipment
See Long Beach, page 9
Short-term plan
County will haul
trash to Sampson
By Richard Nubel
News Editor
Garbage will be hauled out of
Brunswick County at a cost of approx
imately S32.90 per ton and deposited in
a landfill in Sampson County at least
until June, 1998, county commissioners
decided Monday night, •
The decision comes as commission
ers face expiration of Brunswick
County ’s permit to operate a landfill at
the end of this year.
"Our time is getting short,” commis
sioners’ chairman JoAnn Simmons
said. “In fact, we are going to have to
move our waste out of the county and
close our landfill.”
Commissioner David Sandifer said
the nearly $33-per-ton cost of hauling
garbage to Sampson County for land
filling matches the cost Waste
Industries Inc. is charging to haul trash
out of county now with no contract in
force. Both Waste Industries Inc. and
Waste Management Inc. have been in
negotiations with county officials in
their effort to seek alternatives to land
filling in Brunswick County.
Brunswick County's refuse dilemma
was forged last year when county offi
cials contracted to haul refuse to a
Cumberland County waste-to-energy
facility operated by VEDCO Industries
Inc. VEDCO experienced financial dif
ficulties from which it apparently has
not been able to recover. ;
Without its partner in the waste-to
energy effort, and with its own unlined
See Trash haul, page 6
Facing an estimated $100,000 deficit in the city’s electric fund,
Southport aldermen have asked each city department head to cut his
or her department’s expenditures by ten percent.
"... the board has asked me to direct each of you to examine your
respective operating budgets and ssss =
icuuec uicin uy icii [jcitcm,
manager Rob Gandy wrote all city
department heads and supervisors
on October 3. His memorandum
was spurred by a board decision
made at a workshop session of
aldermen one night before.
“... the electric fund continues to
suffer and is currently in a deficit
situation,” Gandy said. “The board
will consider raising rates only as a
last resort. They believe it is time
for the other funds to come to the
rescue of the electric fund to help
build reserves.”
Electric fund
comes up
short, but
long-range
needs also .
involve water
and sewer
It the other departments do come
to the electric fund’s rescue, that act will represent a complete role
reversal. Until the late 1980s the city's electric fund was flush with
money. The city’s tax rate -- and even its water and sewer rates —
was kept artificially low by transferring the easy profits from elec
tric system operations to the city’s general fund and other utility
funds.
“Those days are long gone,’’ Gandy noted.
In a presentation to the board of aldermen early in the month, pub
lic services director Ed Honeycutt said the projected $100,000
See Utilities, page 11
‘Summer’ near record
Second best October opening ever
"I Know What You Did Last
Summer” beat the devil at the
weekend box office.
The thriller about four
teenagers who are stalked
after trying to cover up a hit
and-run accident had an esti
mated $16.1 million in debut
ticket sales. “Devil's
Advocate” was second, earn
ing $12.2 million in its first
weekend. Another murder
thriller, “Kiss the Girls,” was
third.
“I Know What You Did Last
Summer,” which was filmed
almost entirely in Southport
and features many local
scenes and movie extras, had
the second biggest October
opening ever, behind the
$16.7 million earned by
Stargate” in 1994.
Southport had starring role in this week’s top box office hit.
NEWS on the NET: www.southport.net