October 14. 1998 _ 5
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mai] pilot@southport.net Volume 68, Number 8 Published ever^
in Southport, NC
SBSD
staff
quits
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary
District will be without its usual
office staff next Monday morning.
District manager Barbara Stein and
clerk Fay Bass submitted letters of
resignation Monday.
Stein said Tuesday both she and
Bass will work through this week,
but their final day will be Friday.
Commissioners last Friday set a
Thursday meeting to discuss per
sonnel. That meeting is to begin at 8
a.m. at the district office at 4310
Long Beach Road.
The SBSD office will continue to
JVUVUU1V
Monday, district board secretary
Lucille Laster said.
“We’ll survive,” Laster said of the
resignations. “That office will be
open to the public as it always is.”
While Stein refused to comment
on the circumstances surrounding
the dual resignation, letters from the
two SBSD employees suggest diffi
culty with one or more of the dis
trict’s five commissioners played a >
part in their decisions.
“It is my belief that for the past
several months, everything I have
tried to do has been undermined by
a commissioner with a hidden agen
da,” Stein wrote. She refused to
elaborate on that contention when
contacted by telephone Tuesday.
“I feel that it is not in my best
interest to continue to work for peo
ple whom I do not trust, respect or
believe are doing what they were
elected to do,” Stein wrote.
Bass’ letter of resignation to Stein
concludes with her assurance her
job dissatisfaction is not Stein’s
fault. Bass also blames problems in
SBSD’s Long Beach Road adminis
See SBSD, page 8
HEELS OVERHEAD
Photo by Jirti Harper
On Saturday, truly one of the most pleasant of the season on the Oak Island strand, this youngster
was so happy he cut a flip.
Aquifers concern whole county
By Terry Pope
County Editor
County planners say measures to
protect the aquifer won’t involve
just guarding the underground water
supply from mines and heavy indus
try.
There are other dangers lurking
which are often taken for grahted —
the growing number of homes and
subdivisions concentrated in a sin
gle area which also taps the water
source.
The Brunswick County Planning
Board has been charged by county
commissioners to draft an aquifer
sensitivity ordinance to coincide
with a $448,400, three-year geolog
ical study approved last month that
will map the three aquifers which
stream beneath the county.
The Castle Hayne aquifer lies
beneath the Southport-Oak Island
community, while the Pee Dee and
Black Creek formations are found in
the northern and western parts of the
county. It is the Castle Hayne
aquifer that has been threatened in
recent years by a proposed Martin
Marietta Aggregates limestone .mine
proposed to operate on 1,000 acres
near Bethel Church Road north of
Southport.
“We have had the fear that a single
entity was going to create the
harm,” said John Thompson, plan
ning board member who lives in
Olde Towne. “But in fact we need to
learn how to be sustainable with our
growth. We need to not miss the big
picture. Although we know there are
some real concerns from big plants,
See Aquifers, page 10
Southport system
Line repair
costly, but
loss greater
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
It will cost the City of Southport
approximately* $444,000 to elimi
nate 281,00<> gallons of water that
either flows into its sewer system
from the ground or when it rains.
Ultimately, that 281,000 gallons
of water flows into the city's West
West Street wastewater treatment
plants, cutting into flow that could
be allocated to paying customers of
the sewer system.
That is the conclusion of an infil
tration and inflow study of only one
segment of the city wastewater col
lection system, the most critically
damaged segment serving Bay
Street and Moore Street and cross
streets through most, of the city's
historic district.
The information is critical to
aldermen, as it may allow them now
to begin easing a moratorium on
new development put in force late
Vast year. Under terms of the mora
‘We’ve been
putting (develop
ers) off for months
now. I want to see
what we can do
about loosening the
reigns of the mora
torium.’
Bill Delaney
Ward II alderman
torium, aldermen will not consider
approving any new subdivision of
ten acres or greater or 20 units or
See Southport, page 8
Caswell at ease
on consolidation
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Consolidation fever has not exactly stricken officials of the Town of
Caswell Beach, but mayor Joe O’Brien and others Thursday conceded the
town may have a long-term interest in discussing an Oak Island with one
municipal government.
Last week, Yaupon Beach Board of Commissioners and Long Beach
Town Council adopted resolutions setting out their intent to consolidate
those two municipal corporations to form the new Town of Oak Island.
“We dismiss nothing out of hand, no matter how odious' it appears.”
mayor O’Brien said.
To that end, commissioners resolved, Long Beach mayor Joan Altman
will be invited to attend a public hearing on the matter of consolidation at
the Caswell Beach board’s January 8 meeting. O’Brien and commissioner
Paul O’Connor will ask Yaupon Beach and Long Beach to be involved in
consolidation deliberations as “observers.”
Yaupon Beach commissioners and Long Beach town councilors have
formed three task committees to iron out the mechanics of consolidation.
Those task committees will study consolidation of financial matters, con
solidation of government structures and consolidation of service delivery.
See Caswell, page 11

Photo by Jim Harper
Any doubt about legislative support for the proposed merging of Yaupon Beach and Long Beach was dispelled Saturday as
representatives David Redwine and Dewey Hill appeared at the Long Beach Family Fest to promote -- with officials of the two
towns--the “Oak Island Family Fest” next fall.
Redwine approves
Oak Island merger
may set ‘standard’
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
State Rep. E. David Redwine is still a bit
gun-shy when it comes to involving himself
in municipal atfairs.
It was just a month ago that his long quest
to bring peace to warring factions in the
Town of Calabash ended with division of that
town and the creation of Brunswick County’s
19th municipality, the Town of Carolina
Shores.
But, the idea of joining two towns is one to
which Redwine says he can easily warm.
That’s good for proponents of the Town of
Oak Island. It will likely fall to Redwine to
sponsor local legislation which will allow the
consolidation of Yaupon Beach and Long
Beach.
“I’m glad to see it,” Redwine said. “Quite
frankly, I think it sets the standard and hope
it gets some other people thinking about con
solidation. I think it’s the way to go.”
Redwine spent Saturday morning at Long
Beach Family Fest, escorted jointly for part
of the time by mayor Joan Altman of Long
Beach and mayor Dot Kelly of Yaupon
Beach.
Kelly, Redwine, Rep. Dewey Hill and
Yaupon Beach mayor pro-tem Bill Smith
took part in a Family Fest ceremony in which
See Merger, page 10
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