Newspapers / State Port Pilot (Southport, … / March 4, 1998, edition 1 / Page 1
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THE STATE PORT Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net Volume 67, Number 27 50 cents Green eggs, h Program recalls Dr. Set Shipwreck What vessel is on beac Playoff time Cougar girls begin qi — ----———f ■ Published every Wed: MStfl Q' Q Drive-in proposal screened By Terry Pope County Editor An emotional cast of residents Monday derailed a developer’s plan to build a three-screen, drive in theater and flea market in the quiet Winnabow community. The Brunswick County Board of Commissioners voted 4-1 to reject the county planning board’s recom mendation to rezone eight acres along U. S. 17 at Hewett-Burton Road from rural (RU) to commer cial low-density (C-LD). The move would have allowed construction of the drive-in neighbors say they don’t want. “We don’t need it,” said Geraldine Goodman. “We don’t want it, and most of all we don’t want it for the sake of our elderly. We would have no control over the people who come into our neigh-' borhood.” Doyle Penley, owner and opera tor of the Starway Flea Market on Carolina Beach Road in Wilmington, said he is looking for an area to expand and operate the drive-in that is making a popular comeback in America. The three screens would accommodate as many as 600 to 650 cars per show ing. A similar request was denied in New Hanover County. “We would not put a lot of money into something for it to be trashed up,” said Penley. Because there is just one movie theater in Brunswick County — Surf Cinemas at Southport - the drive-in would qualify for first-run films. Penley said he has planned to show “family-oriented movies.” He said a snack bar would be open during days for customers along busy U. S. 17. The flea market would operate Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the drive in from dusk to midnight or 1 a.m. on 60-foot screens. Penley said the property runs .1,400 feet off U. S, 17, and he planned to have a 500 foot buffer off Hewett-Burton Road. The land was once a tree farm, but the trees were harvested last year. “Everyone is out to make a profit for their benefit,” said Ms. Goodman. “What they are going to do is infest our neighborhood with people. They would have nothing to do but hang out in our neighbor hood.” Several residents were moved to tears when they told commission ers they don’t like the changes the Starway Rea Market would bring. Some attached problems of crime from the Dove Meadows housing complex to the Starway Flea Market in Wilmington. They said similar problems would exist at Winnabow if the project were allowed. Starway developers said See Drive-in, page 6 Photo by Jim Harper The Cottrell dredge Blue Ridge kept pumping away this week at the Southport yacht basin, making an occasional tight fit for a pilot boat undocking or a fishermen passing to his mooring, but also making head way in keeping the harbor at a usable depth. Murder retrial begins By Terry Pope County Editor Whether Harold Vemard Greene Jr. pulled the trigger on the shotgun that fired a shell, killing schoolmate Mark Wescott two years ago, has never been challenged. But whether the shooting was an accident or murder is what a jury of 12 must decide in Brunswick County Superior Court in a trial that got underway Monday. It is thie second time Greene has faced trial on Erst* degree murder charges stemming from the March 5, 1996, shooting death. The first trial ended with a hung jury in October, 1996, after jurors split on sentences of not guilty and involuntary manslaughter. Testimony Monday was presented by the state from Brunswick County sheriff’s deputy Norman McLeod, the first officer on the scene after Greene’s parents called 911 upon returning home and finding blood splat tered on their living room wall and through a kitchen and laundry room. Also called to the witness stand was Kondra Ballard, one of two witnesses to the shooting. In prosecutor Lee Bollinger’s opening arguments, he told the jury how Wescott and two schoolmates decided to skip first period at North Brunswick High to go to a convenience store. Wescott, Ballard and a third student, See Retrial, page 7 Martin Marietta Mining permit has resurfaced By Terry Pope County Editor Martin Marietta Aggregates wants to modify a mining permit it holds in connection to the Laster tract between Bethel Church Road and the Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point access road north of Southport. ' State officials on Monday quickly scheduled a public hearing on the permit change for Wednesday, March 25, at 7 p.m. in the public assembly building at the county government center near Bolivia. When Martin Marietta purchased the Laster tract as part of 1,000 acres acquired in September, 1993, a state permit to operate a borrow pit to dig for sand was transferred from the landowner to the company. Martin Marietta has indicated it does not want to use dewatering methods in mining for sand on the Laster tract, but county and state officials are still concerned. “We want to know what they plan to mine,” said county attorney Huey If® Hearing Officials have scheduled a public hearing on the per mit change Wednesday, March 25, 7 p.m., in the public assembly building at the county government center Ip I' ‘ 1 ' ' \ >s V ■ Marshall. “Where does the sand stop and the limestone begin?” News of Martin Marietta’s appli cation comes on the heels of a con fused situation regarding the mining for sand on the Herbert Swain prop See Mining, page 10 Sanitary district ‘Moratorium’ put into effect By Richard Nubel Municipal Editor A site plan for South Harbor Village, a 52-dwelling planned unit development on the Intracoastal Waterway at Fish Factory Road, was approved Monday, moments before Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District commissioners declared a “moratorium” on consid eration of new subdivisions larger than ten acres or twenty units. The moratorium was forced, com missioners and engineering consul tants say, because the district has allocated sewer flow sufficient to place the district’s planned 500,000 gallon-per-day wastewater treat ment plant at capacity when it begins operation either late this year or early next. “Based on a commitment to subdi visions and those who have paid tap fees ... we are going to be out of flow by the time the plant comes on line in December,” district chairman James W. (Bubba) Smith said at commissioners’ monthly meeting. Consulting . engineer John McLauren said flow allocations By July, when peak water con sumption statistics are available, engi neers may be able to calculate actual flow demand more closely place the plant at near-capacity, using a state formula which assumes a 360-gallon-per-day flow emanat ing from each dwelling unit in the district. He said by July — when peak water consumption statistics are available — engineers may be able to calculate actual flow demand more closely. “On paper, by state guidelines, you’re pretty much at capacity with See Moratorium, page 8 Boiling Spring Lakes SfciV?V:i5i*'S JSJW-SV-: ■ .7. f|S:/I;';' '0:.;; • -V:.,, 7 considers delivery of water ty Terry Pope County Editor Hgpg ■ 7 Monday's vote to explore how to provide the City of Boiling Spring fckes with county water is a precedent-setting one for the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners. . Bit links the county and city together to provide a service, in much the; same way commissioners have taken die lead to provide regional sewer in the Leiami community. See Delivery* page 14 mmm. Water message brought home By Terry Pope County Editor ' Good news of the water deal which may be in the works with Brunswick County was relayed to residents at Tuesday’s meeting of the Boiling Spring Lakes Board of Commissioners. The board also adopted a resolu tion Tuesday night that allows the city to participate in a feasibility study for a regional sewer system, along with Long Beach, Caswell Beach, Yaupon Beach, Holden Beach and the county. It was mayor Thomas Tully and water committee member Bill Davis ( who, less than 24 hours earlier, had * returned from the county commis sion’s chambers with a deal that may provide residents with county water at a much cheaper rate than once expected. County commissioners voted to explore the feasibility of routing county water lines throughout Boiling Spring Lakes as a capital improvements project from the main trunk line along N. C. 87. City estimates hail the price at $30 to $35 per mctnth for residents without the county’s help. “I came out of there with a posi tive feeling,” said mayor Tully. County commissioners say they want to add approximately 1,000 Boiling Spring Lakes customers to the county water system if possible. The matter will be referred to the Brunswick County Utility Opera tions Board, which makes recoin mendations to count commission ers. “They’ve been mo ing the line toward the customers,'1 said Davis. “They have been taking over sys tems in Bolivia and Calabash. This moves that line further. We’ll see if \ it can. We hope it can.” Tully said the city will now workl closely with the UOB to get a pro * posal together where the countjj would own and operate the water system inside the municipality if See Water, page 14 NEWS on the NET: www.southphrt.net
State Port Pilot (Southport, N.C.)
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March 4, 1998, edition 1
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