The State Port
VOLUME 6 7/ NUMBER 21 SOUTHPORT N.C.
50 CENTS
The 1998 state Dixie Boys
tournament will be played
at Smithville Park — 1C
co sen *
0- o *
C C *
*-3 3^3 *
XQXU *
tO'Oi-* *
o»o *
SOWSOh* *
1- 3 »-3NJ *
CO I *
SHGto *
npdHt-» *
raw i n
oo^aSko Ed 4
>p> » I
cr> ►< W
t- t-3
-JCO
coo
w
1-3
*
*
o
>£> ®
TJS>
)ors
it overcome
jastors say
srsary — IB
>wn
i oceanfront
it what is
-- Page 2
No ADM
discharge
into river
By Richard Nlibel
News Editor
State regulators have told Archer Daniel
Midlands Corporation its plan to pump
gypsum into the Cape Fear River from its
plant north of Southport is “unaccept
able.”
In a January 7 letter to the company, an
official of the state’s Division of Water,
Quality said ADM should seek to recycle
the gypsum by selling it as a fertilizer.
ADM had never applied for a permit to
dump gypsum in the Cape Fear River,
and the state’s reaction to its plan to do so
likely means the company will not make
permit application. The chemical — most
commonly encountered as the primary
ingredient in dry wall - is a byproduct of
-the citric acid production process.
Gypsum has been stored in a huge mound
on .the Southport plant site, first by Pfizer
Jific. jind later by ADM.-A company engi
'nger sAid the mountain of gypsum stored
Off-Moore Streebextension on the ADM
fH&perty'is so large it can no longer
accept more Of the chemical.
/ On October 2, an ADM engineer wrote
• the N .C. Department of Environment ar
. Natural Resourf^ptOposiTig ^rtn
hereby gypSuirf would be filtered out p
« H |.i V "WHUPH "HU "I | l-MI ■
verted to a slurry, piped out the compa
- Gypsum, page 6
Airport
Audit review
brings change
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
Brunswick County Airport commission
ers in a special meeting with auditors last
week blamed its airport manager for fail
ing to develop written procedures and
policies governing cash flow, and its board
treasurer for failing to introduce required
budget amendments throughout the year.
An audit report prepared by Brock,
Padgett and Chandler indicates airport
expenditures exceeded appropriated bud
get amounts in virtually every line item,
and total expenditures exceeded revenues
by $11,220 despite nearly $201,000 in
unbudgeted excess revenue created by
higher-than-expected fuel sales.
Auditor Menton Padgett told board
members that because it is a government
body, its budget is an ordinance that must
be amended to be legally changed.
"Having expenditures that are over bud
get is not ah odd occurrence, but the bud
See Airport, page 12
auKHMK ? ’T'-i-m 'tt&wrn
muio uj jim narper
Camera people of all sorts are a common sight in Southport’s Waterfront Park, but who was this
Herb guy, and what was he doing there last weekend? Our Waterfront writer knows, and tells, on
page 13.
Southport aldermen
No subdivisions
6 til sewer report
By Richard Nubel
News Editor
No plat for a subdivision of ten acres or more, or of 20 lots or
more, will be considered by the City of Southport until an engi
neering firm completes its assessment of wastewater treatment
capacity.
Meeting Thursday, aldermen enacted the “moratorium” on all
new subdivision requests on a motion offered by alderman Bill
Delaney. The action was taken despite city attorney Mike
Isenberg’s warning no threat to the public health and welfare
exists at this time.
I move that the planning board or us do not receive any more
See City board, page 8
Caswell
contract
is on tap
By Richard Nubel
News Editor
County attorney Huey
Marshall will forward to the
town this week a final contract
draft by which Brunswick
County will operate and main
tain a unified Caswell Beach
water distribution system.
Meanwhile, the “town's board
of commissioners will meet
Friday to iron-out details of a
See Caswell, page 9
Year-round schools proposed
Educators say they’ve done their homework
By Holly Edwards
Feature Editor
About 100 parents and students attended a pub
lic hearing last week on a plan to implement a
year-round school calendar at Bolivia and
Southport elementary schools and South
Brunswick Middle School for the 1998-99 school
year.
Additional hearings on the topic are scheduled
at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 21, at South
Brunswick Middle School and Thursday, January
■t L Ifg
22, at Southport Elementary School.
The calendar would shorten summer vacation
from ten to five weeks but provide a three-week
break after each nine-week instructional period.
This year, summer vacation would be shortened
by only two weeks because of a revised tradition
al calendar.
Some parents attending last week’s heating said
they didn t understand the calendar, some said
they supported the change, while others said they
were opposed to it.
“It seeirfs to me that this is part of the bureau
cracy involved in the schools that trickles down
from Washington,” parent Jim Minett told school
officials. You haven’t told me enough positives
with the new calendar to outweigh the negatives.
I don t want my children to be wards of the state.
This seems like an experiment we’re going to go
through to follow the footsteps of the people in
Washington who don’t know anything about
Brunswick County.”
Southport Elementary School principal Carolyn
Williams responded that, based on her experi
See Year-round, page 7
Aldermen told:
Island bridge
could impact
city economy
By Richard Nubel
News Editor
An llth-hour dispute over place
ment of a road leading to the
planned second bridge to Oak Island
jumped the Intracoastal Waterway
on Thursday to play out in aider
men’s chambers at Southport City
Hall.
Frances Allen appeared before
aldermen, restating a position she
advanced at her last meeting as a
Long Beach town councilor in
December: A road from any second
bridge to western Oak Island should
run through Sunset Harbor, not
along a more direct proposed route
from the area opposite Middleton
Street to Midway Road on N. C.
211.
In addition to her now-familiar
objection to the most direct land
route on environmental grounds,
Allen told Southport aldermen the
See Bridge, page 8
‘Everybody in
Long Beach is
going to drive that
five miles (across
the western bridge)
to shop. I’m wor
ried not only what
will happen to
Southport, but what
will happen to
Long Beach.’
Frances Allen
Southport. Yaupon
County offer
is insufficient
to collect tax
By Richard Nubel •
News Editor
It will cost more for the City of Southport
and the Town of Yaupon Beach to collect
Brunswick County’s one-percent occupancy
tax than the county is willing to pay the
municipalities.
In separate actions Thursday and Monday,
Southport aldermen and Yaupon Beach com
missioners refused to collect the newly
authorized one-percent countywide tax on
short-term rentals for Brunswick County.
Caswell Beach commissioners earlier on
Thursday agreed to collect the tax for the
administrative fee Brunswick County has
offered.
“I think they’ve lost their minds to even
See Occupancy, page 6
‘It’s their
responsibility
to collect the
tax. I think
we ought to
let them do
it.’
Bill Crowe
Southport mayor
King observances
planned this week
The Martin Luther King Jr. holiday will be observed in Southport
with the annual community march Sunday, January 18,2 p.m., begin
ning at the intersection of 10th and Howe streets.
The 15-minute march will end at the ILA Hall on Lord Street, where
a program will begin at 2:30 pan. The event will feature several guest
speakers as well as a performance by the Southport Community Choir.
A community breakfast will be held at the North Carolina Baptist
Assembly on Monday, January 19, 8 a.m. The annual event is designed
to bring area residents together to discuss the state of race relations in
the Southport-Oak Island area and strategies to improve them.
The public also is invited to attend a debate on the question “Should
Martin Luther King’s birthday be observed as a national holiday?"
Thursday, January 15, 2 p.m., in the Brunswick Community College
student center. Teams of students will debate the issue and radio talk
show host Dick Lee will serve as moderator.
maw* on me rmu www.SouthpoftneT1