November 11, 1998
STATE PORT
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net
Volume 68, Number 12
Season er
South Brunswicl
Friday night, bu
enough against J
Native Americ;
shown at week
Published every Weuuc,->u«/ in Southport, NC
Oak Island
Consolidation
talks continue
between towns
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Elected officials from Yaupon
Beach and Long Beach will take a
second giant step toward creation of
the Town of Oak Island today
(Wednesday) when they conduct a
second joint meeting to discuss con
solidation of the two municipal gov
ernments.
The setting for this planned five
hour “retreat” session will be the N.
C. Baptist Assembly at Fort
Caswell.
Consolidation efforts were begun
with a joint meeting of the Yaupon
Beach Board of Commissioners and
Long Beach Town Council on
October 1. At that time the two gov
erning boards separately ratified
resolutions of intent to consolidate
as the Town of Oak Island by July 1,
1999, and three task groups were
appointed to map a strategy for
making one town out of two.
At today’s session, the two gov
erning bodies will receive renorts of
the three task groups — one examin
ing financial matters, one examin
ing service delivery and one exam
‘There is a lot we
agree on, so we
will just focus on
questions.’
Joan Altman
Long Beach mayor
ining government structure.
With the substantial work of the
three task committees in hand, it is'
likely the two governing bodies will
examine only the most peiplexing
problems of consolidation, if they
exist. Long Beach mayor Joan
Altman said.
“What is on the agenda for
Wednesday is a review of the task
group plans,” mayor Altman said.
“It is likely we will focus on ques
tions and concerns the board mem
bers have. There is a lot we agree
See Oak Island, page 6
Anybody’s guess
Yaupon is facing
land use question
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Neither the town's consulting
planner nor a planner with the state
Division of Coastal Management
Tuesday night could guarantee
Yaupon Beach commissioners their
land use plan update for 1998 would
be certified by the N. C. Coastal
Resources Commission.
The reason: Nqw members on the
panel charged with certifying land
use plans in 20 coastal counties
have recently taken actions that ren
der that body completely unpre
dictable. The CRC recently refused
to certify a land use plan from
Sunset Beach that all thought con
formed to state specifications.
"The charge to the CRC is to cer
tify a plan if it meets (regulatory cri
teria) and meets or exceeds (other
regulations dealing with) areas of
environmental concern," consulting
planner T. Dale Holland said. He
said he and DCM regional planner
Zoe Bruner concur that the Yaupon
Beach plan meets the criteria for
certification set out in coastal regu
lations, but its certification cannot
be taken for granted, given recent
CRC actions.
"The concern is, individual CRC
members recently have taken liber
ties with their charges and are ruling
on how they feel the plans should be
written," Holland said. "Therefore,
it is extremely important for mem
bers of this board to be present
when this plan goes forward to the
CRC for certification.”
It is more important for elected
officials to be present before the
CRC than it is for Holland himself
See Land use, page 6
INDIAN HERITAGE
VrAM-..
««»■ ■'tJSFS'vfii*'" ■ ■’
, I’hoto by Jim Harper
Native American rituals were acted out in realistic fashion Friday through Sunday at the second
annual North Carolina Indian Heritage Pow Wow held at Brunswick Town State Historic Site.
Wreck
claims
three
Three young Southport-Oak
Island men were killed in an early
morning one-car automobile acci
dent on N. C. 133 Sunday. Two
other men were injured.
Dead are Arthur Craig Frazier, 24,
of Long Beach and brothers Charles
Ernest Pelfrey, 25, of Canton, GA,
and formerly of Southport, and
Jason Scott Pelfrey, 23, of
Southport. All three died at the
scene of the accident, a section of N.
C. 133 about- ten miles south of
Belville. The stretch of road is
known locally as Orton Curve,
because of its configuration and its
proximity to the access to Orton
Plantation.
Richard Jason McDowell, 25, of
Long Beach remains hospitalized at
New Hanover Regional Medical
Center and Carl Vernon Stidham III,
24, also of Long Beach, was treated
for a broken right leg and released
from NHRMG
The deaths of the three young men
have rocked many of their genera
tion in Southport. All three were
recent graduates of South
Brunswick High School and
Frazier, a standout high school ath
lete, had returned to his high school
alma mater to coach. He had served
as assistant coach to the Cougar
football team this season and was to
be named head coach of the school's
wrestling team this week. (See relat
ed story, page 1C.)
South Brunswick High School
principal Sue Sellers Monday said a
crisis team of guidance counselors
and coaches had been called to the
school to help students deal with
See Wreck, page 10
Professional help may be needed
Planners dig for aquifer answer
By terry Pope
County Editor
It’s a starting point in what may
become a rather lengthy planning
process of drafting a countywide
underground aquifer protection
ordinance.
“We’ve gotten hold of a pretty big
animal here,” said Brunswick
County planner Don Eggert. “This
is a big job if we want to undertake
it.”
It hasn’t stopped the Brunswick
County Planning Board, which
voted last week to send a very rough
draft to county commissioners for
review along with pleas for profes
sional help.
‘I think it means different things to dif
ferent people. That may be part of the
process that we need to go through, soil
ing out what should apply to our county.’
Don Eggert
County planner
Planners want to hire a consultant
with experience who can draft an
aquifer ordinance to protect the
underground water supply in the
three formations in the county -- the
Castle Hayne, Black Creek and the
Pee Dee. The Castle Hayne is found
in the Southport-Oak Island com
munity, while the Black Creek is
located in southern Brunswick
County and the Pee Dee in the
northwestern section.
Commissioners have instructed
the planning department to come up
with aquifer sensitivity overlay dis
trict maps while a three-year geo
logical study is underway to learn
more about dangers to the aquifer,
especially the effects of heavy min
ing. It comes at a time when the
state's court system has shown it is
likely to uphold a county ordinance
that prohibits mining within five
miles of Carolina Power and Light
Co.'s Brunswick nuclear plant and
Military Ocean Terminal Sunny
See Aquifer, page 10
Students and veterans commemorated Veterans Day Ibesday in the
South Brunswick gymnasium, hearing performances from the school
chorus and band and a talk on patriotism by Wilbert Bryant, an Army
veteran and Virginia’s secretary of education.
Aldermen to be told
‘Signature’ oaks
need protection
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor .
Seven "signature” live oaks in Southport deserve special protection and
the city should have an on-going program to deal .vith management of all
trees.
Live oak survey leader Jon C. Lewis will deliver that message to aider
men when they meet in regular monthly session Thursday.
Lewis has compiled a report on the status of live oaks based on data col
lected by over 35 volunteers who committed 400 man-hours to assessment
of more than 350 trees city wide. '
The survey was begun this summer when the presence of the Kermes
scale was discovered attacking the trees, most often described as “majes
See Live oaks, page 6
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