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Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net
Volume 67, Number 50
Published every Wet
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ithport, NC
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‘Wal-Mart’
rezoning
approved
By Terry Pope
County Editor
Neighbors fear a Wal-Mart shop
ping center proposed next to
Dutchman Acres near Long Beach
Road Will create more traffic and
noise than they can stand, along
with falling prices — on their prop
erty values.
A rezoning request approved
Monday by the Brunswick County
Board of Commissioners clears the
way for commercial development
of the 92-acre tract just west of
Long Beach Road on the north side
of N. C. 211.
“I see this as a positive thing,”
said resident Brian Bell. “I think a
majority of people will benefit
from it being in the community. I
see sales taxes. I see payroll taxes.
I will benefit for I won’t have to
drive so far.”
Commissioners asked for a stand
ing vote of people in the audience
to see how many were for or
against the rezoning request filed
by C-1 Commercial Properties,
controlled by Wilmington attorney
Jeff Zimmer and Herb Zimmer.
About two dozen stood in favor of
the Wal-Mart proposal and about a
dozen stood in opposition.
“I suppose there’s a whole lot
more that’s going to be put in
here,” said Southport attorney
Grover Gore, representing
Dutchnlan Acres property owners.
“These folks that live here, and are
going to die here, are scared
because they don’t know how to
fight big money. I’m just here to
tell you that they picked the wrong
spot.”
Long oeacn auoriiey 10m nener,
representing C-l Commercial
Properties, said Wal-Mart or any
store that chooses to locate in the
shopping center “has a vested
interest in making the traffic flow.”
He said the developers will draft a
traffic plan to deal with the extra
cars off Long Beach Road and N.
C. 211 likely to file into the shop
ping center.
Traffic was also a sticky point
when the issue was first debated
before the Brunswick County
Planning Board last month. Board
member John Thompson cast the
only vote against the recommenda
tion to county commissioners that
the tract ought to be rezoned. His
objections were based on the lack
of good roads able to handle the
extra traffic flow.
The shopping center would bring
to the Southport-Oak Island com
munity a major department store
and retail outlet. The closest Wal
Mart now is in Shallotte, about 25
miles away. The site, however,
abuts church property and the
Dutchman Acres subdivision,
where some residents fear shop
ping center will generate noise, loi
tering teenagers and declining
property values.
Planning board members for
warded the request with stipula
See Wal-Mart, page 11
First day at school
‘My sister told me it was pretty fun.’
Kennon Young
School bells
ring Tuesday
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
Cars were parked haphazardly along the
roadside.
Bewildered parents and students swarmed
the crowded halls looking for new classrooms
and teachers.
Strict arrangements were made for prompt
afternoon rendezvous in the parking lot.
Tuesday was the first day of school at
Southport Elementary.
In the middle of the madness was five-year
old Kennon Young, calm and composed for
his first day of kindergarten. His Carolina
Panthers backpack contained washable mark
ers, colored pencils and a box of tissues — the
necessities.
The frenzy of the first day of school didn’t
phase Kennon. He and his parents, Rick and
Teresa, and his sister, Alexandra, 8, just
moved to Southport a week ago from
Burlington. The first day of school, in contrast
with the stress of moving to a new town and
See First day, page 14
Kennon Young (above) and other
Southport Elementary students took one
of life’s big steps Tuesday morning.
(Photos by Jim Harper)
St. James Plantation
Rapid growth
creating talk
of new town
By Richard Nubel ,
Municipal Editor
Rapid growth and greater demand
for traditionally urban services has
led some St. James Plantation resi
dents to Conclude the exclusive,
gated community should incorpo
rate, joining the ranks of 18, and
possibly 19, other municipalities in
Brunswick County.
A 19th Brunswick County com
munity could seek incorporation
early next year if, as expected, old
Calabash on September 15 votes to
end its nine-year municipal partner
ship with Carolina Shores and
Carolina Shores opts in a second
referendum to become a town in its
own right.
St. James Plantation Property
Owners Association president Gary
Tagtmeyer said that community may
be Brunswick County’s 20th munic
ipality if, as he anticipates, 85 per
cent of all registered voters there
sign petitions seeking incorporation
by the N. C. General Assembly.
“We hope to have that done very
shortly,” Tagtmeyer said this week.
“Certainly before the next (General
Assembly) session.”
Tagtmeyer said growth at St.
James Plantation has exceeded even
its developer’s wildest dreams.
Already 350 homes have been built
at St. James and an estimated 150
‘We’re doing
this from the
standpoint of
looking down the
road and provid
ing services in
the most econom
ical way.’
Gary Tagtmeyer
POA president
more are under construction.
St. James development president
John. Atkinson recently reported
homesite sales on the 3,700 acres
under development topped $10 mil
lion in the first six months of 1998.
Some estimate St. James eventually
will be a community of up to 5,000
persons.
“We’ve just grown,” Tagtmeyer
said of the property owners associa
tion which was begun eight years
ago, some three years before he
See St. James, page 9
• . "... y
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Brunswick County
High schools’
test scores up
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
Even though a new year has
begun, school officials are excited
about last year.
Preliminary data from last year’s
testing indicates that all three high
schools in the county were exem
plary, which means that achieve
ment was ten percent greater than
expected.
Achievement is measured by
assessing how many students scored
a three or four on end-of-grade tests,
which means that, according to state
standards, they are proficient in that
subject.
Among the three county schools.
West Brunswick High improved in
every subject.
South Brunswick High improved
in every category but Writing,
where scores dropped from 59.4 to
51.3 percent proficient.
North Brunswick High students
improved in every subject area
except Economic/Legal/Political
Systems, where scores went from
84.6 to 75 percent proficient, and in
U. S. History, where the percentage
of proficient students dropped from
43.8 to 31.4.
In contrast, North Brunswick High
students excelled in writing scores,
See Schools, page 14
City volunteers begin live oak survey
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
There are a lot of live oak trees in Southport.
This is what overwhelmed volunteers who
offered to help evaluate the city’s live oaks are
saying as they count, measure, take soil sam
ples and individually rate each tree in the city.
“We were so wildly enthusiastic at first, but
after we did two or three trees we thought,
‘This is a big job,’” said Donna Monday, one
of the volunteers.
Volunteer groups were organized last week
after city officials realized a need to determine
how much damage has been done by the live
oak kermid, a scale insect. The insect sucks
sap from trees, and many live oaks are show
ing signs of damage, like dead leaves.
Some experts think the huge scale popula
tion may be an indirect result of citywide
spraying for mosquitoes because the chemical
that kills the mosquitoes may also be killing
natural predators of the scale insect.
About ten volunteer groups, of about three
people each, were organized to perform
checks on the trees. The data will be used to
determine the magnitude of the scale infesta
tion and to look for common denominators in
the epidemic, like proximity to roads.
In the meantime, the fire department has
begun spraying trees on city property with
high-pressured water, iq hopes of knocking
the scales off, and volunteers have gone to
work.
Monday and her volunteer group, which
includes Herb Harrison and Sandy Mitchell,
were examining trees Monday morning along
East 8th Street. Each volunteer group must
cover a square area that is 1,500 feet on each
side. The groups carry enlarged maps of the
city so they can plot each tree on the map.
Monday’s volunteer group has divided its
responsibilities.
Harrison measures the girth, height and span
of the tree, Mitchell takes soil samples around
the tree and Monday records all the informa
tion on a form. They all look, for blights or
problems on the tree, like scales, galls and
dead limbs, and then they agree on an overall
rating for the tree.
All of these tasks must be done on each live
oak tree. It takes the group about 15 to 20 min
utes per tree, Monday said.
But evaluation isn’t the only difficult task.
Many volunteers are having a hard time dis
See Live oaks, page 7
INSIDE
Obituaries 6
Police report 12
Business 17
Legal notices 18
Church 4B
Schools 7B
Calendar 8B
TV schedule 60
District.Court 8C
Classifieds 9C
NEWS on the NET: www.southport.net —