March 18, 1998
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net Volume 67, Number 30
50 d
Guilty pleas
20-to-25 years for murde:
Construction
Sanitary district plant prj
- - ° - ' j
All-conferenc)
Five Cougars make the I
Published every Wednj
Dort, NC
Photo by Jim Harper
The Godwin Seahawk concrete fleet rolled in from three different mixing sites Saturday to provide mater
ial for a major pouring in the Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District treatment plant project. Kenneth
Thomas of Supply officiated at the unloading near the Sea Pines community.
Aldermen meet Thursday
Deregulation hearing
concerns city’s future
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
A good deal of misinformation surrounds debate over
deregulation of the electricity industry, city officials
learned at a Thursday appearance before a state legisla
live commission studying the issue.
City officials’ appearance before the commission —
alderman Paul Fisher spoke — forced the regularly
scheduled meeting of the board of aldermen to be
recessed last Thursday night without any business trans
acted. The meeting will be reconvened this Thursday at
7:30 p.m. at City Hall.
The legislative study commission, meeting last week
on the UNC-Wilmington campus, is charged with plot
ting this state’s path to deregulation of the electricity
industry. Under deregulation, in theory, electricity cus
tomers would have the option to pick and choose elec
tricity suppliers much as telephone customers now
choose long distance companies. Electricity distributors
would have greater leeway to make minute-to-minute
decisions on bulk purchases of electricity at cheapest
prices through a process known as “wheeling” in a net
work of electricity brokerage worldwide.
But, if the state is to deregulate the electricity industry
it must deal with the question which Southport finds
itself at the heart: Who will pay the stranded debt
assumed by cities like Southport to build power-gener
ating facilities that have benefited all?
Chief among the advocates to speak for immediate
deregulation of the power industry is a group calling
See Deregulation, page 12
Door-to-Door
County approves trash contract, but
Long Beach wants to explore options
Brunswick
By Terry Pope
County Editor
By mid-July, all homes should have 90-gallon,
roll-out carts for roadside garbage collection under a
six-year, $30-million contract approved on a 3-2
vote of Brunswick County commissioners Monday.
Waste Industries Inc. will provide once-a-week
pickup to all 40,000 homes in the county, including
those inside municipalities, and haul the garbage to
a regional landfill in Sampson County. It means the
.county green boxes will be removed and charges
will be imposed for dumping waste at the conve
nience stations and landfill at Supply.
District 3 commissioner Leslie Collier of Long
Beach tried to table the vote Monday, but her
motion failed 3-2. She and District 1 commissioner
Don Warren of Shallotte voted against the contract,
saying municipalities that will be asked to become
part of the county wide plan have not had time to
review the final draft.
“I do feel that since we’ve established a commer
cial trash committee, I would like to have had the
chance for the committee to review the contract
prior to adoption,” said Ms. Collier. “Also, munici
palities haven’t had the opportunity to offer input
See Brunswick, page 6
Long Beach
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
If they had their druthers, Long Beach Town
Council would tell Brunswick County, "Thanks, but
no thanks."
While councilors Tuesday night refused to
approve an interlocal agreement tying the town to
county commissioners’ proposed countywide curb
side refuse collection program, it also refused to
take action on town manager Jerry Walters’ pro
posed amended interlocal agreement, which sought
a number of financial concessions from Brunswick
County for recycling, refuse container ownership
and preparing yard debris for disposal, among other
things,
Walters and mayor Joan Altman argued that
Brunswick County had rejected all of the town’s
suggested contract amendments with Waste
Industries. The only course left for municipal offi
cials who felt uncomfortable with the county plan
was to attempt to amend the interlocal agreement
between the county and tdWTvgoverriments.
The contract price quoted Brunswick County by
Waste Industries Inc. assumes all IX municipalities
will participate in the plan. The interlocal agree
See Long Beach, page 6
choices
narrow
By Richard Nobel
Municipal Editor
The number of corridor alter
natives for the road leading to a
second bridge to Oak Island is
down to three. Routes through
Sunset Harbor will no longer be
considered, the N. C. ■
Department of Transportation
says. ■
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers
this week issued notice it will
consider DOT’S request to fill
wetlands to construct a two-lane
road to the proposed second
bridge across the Intracoastal
Waterway to Oak Island.
In a March 12 notice, the corps
says it has jurisdiction over the
project granted by the River and
Harbor Act of 1899 and the fed
eral Clean Water Act, but will
not approve a permit for the pro
ject until the N. C. Division of
Water Quality “issues, denies or
waives state certification
required by Section 401 of the
Clean Water Act.” Thus, com
ment on the Clean Water Act
certification may be directed to
N. C. Division of Water Quality,
See Bridge, page 8
Pageant finance
draws questions
By Holly Edwards, Terry Pope
Pilot staff writers
Concerns about administration of
the Miss Brunswick County Pageant
have prompted the chairman of
Brunswick County commissioners
to call for an investigation of
pageant operations and withdrawal
of county funding.
Commissioners chairman Jo Ann
Bellamy Simmons said she is con
cerned about the use of public
money by the pageant association
and the treatment of pageant win
ners and contestants by director
Susan Kaufman.
But there are two stories emerging
from the dispute over what has tar
nished the county’s most glamorous
title.
“I don’t feel like the county should
fund it as long as Susan Kaufman is
See Pageant, page 14
County to contest
permit expansion
By Terry Pope
County Editor
County commissioners will offi
cially oppose any permit modifica
tion for Martin Marietta Aggregates
next week, but county attorney
Huey Marshall will keep a watchful
eye on what is said at the public
hearing.
District 3 commissioner Leslie
Collier of Long Beach was appoint
ed by the Brunswick County Board
of Commissioners Monday to serve
as county spokesperson at the
March 25 state hearing. It is being
held by the N. C. Division of Land
Resources to decide if the mining
company should be allowed to
expand its borrow permit to include
an additional 4.5 acres.
The hearing will be held in the
public assembly building at the
county government center near
Bolivia at 7 p.m.
Martin Marietta holds a permit to
operate a borrow pit oh 4.9 acres of
its 1,000-acre tract north of
Southport just south of the Military
See Permit, page 5
Caswell sifts through erosion proposals
B.v Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Caswell Beach may be lost in the shuffle
for federal funds if it doesn’t start accruing„
its share of cost of nourishing and renourish
ing its beachfront, a member of the town's,
beach erosion control committee told com
missioners and residents Thursday.
Despite current federal reluctance to pro
vide matching funds for beach stabilization
projects, .those funds may be available one
day. When they are, the town must be ready
with its own source of beach nourishment
revenue, said committee member Frank
Bausch.
"I'm all for fiscal responsibility, except
when it comes to the beach,” Bausch told
commissioners, if we don't reserve money
for the beach, Jhere are so many claimants,
we are going to be the last to get (federal)
funds."
Debate over reserving funds for a future
beach nourishment project was waged by
commissioners late last year when the state's
General Assembly authorized Caswell Beach
and other towns to levy an additional two
percent occupancy tax which may only be
spent for beach stabilization projects. Alter
much debate by board members, Caswell
Beach commissioners agreed to begin levy
ing the additional two-percent tax on short
term lodgings to create a pool of possible
matching funds for a beach nourishment pro •
ject. Yanpon Beach had the same option, but
decided not to levy the additional two-per
cent tax. Long Beach did not have the option
to levy an additional lodgings tax.
Thursday, Bausch said the town’s beach
erosion control committee will ask that the
town appropriate a total of $126,000 this year
for beach maintenance and stabilization. The
town spent about $6,000 on the beach this
See Erosion, page 14
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