December 2, 1998
Homes
Oak Island’s
this weekend
Southport’s ti
Volume 68, Number 15
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net
Consolidation
- ^
Forum gives
public chance
to air concerns
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
What is the new Town of Oak
Island going to do to stem runaway
development?
Are my property taxes going up
after consolidation?
What will the Town of Oak Island
do to protect Davis Canal?
Will the consolidated town have
more power to get a second bridge
built?
How about a new post office?
Yaupon Beach lets its residents
INSIDE
Community
Procedures for selection
of mayor, council mem
bers are recommended - 9
Services
Cost savings anticipated
in delivery of services,
including police - 10
Finance
Task group plans for first
town budget, billings - 14
bum leaves; Long Beach does not.
How will this be resolved? “
These were among the most fre
quently asked questions about 170
persons posed on the subject of Oak
Island consolidation Tuesday night
at the Long Beach Recreation
Center. The large number of resi
dents who turned out at the first of
four planned public information
sessions for Yaupon Beach and
Long Beach residents took officials
pleasantly by surprise.
The working session Tuesday
night was a controlled exercise in
community participation, designed
to ferret out the most pressing con
cerns residents hold for the prospect
of consolidating Long Beach and
Yaupon Beach. The governing bod
ies of the two municipal corpora
tions have committed to consolidat
i—r
ing them by July 1, 1999. The
resulting new town will be known
as the Town of Oak Island.
"This is not a perfect exercise, but
it is useful in getting a pulse," meet
ing facilitator Glenn Harbeck told
participants. Harbeck is a consult
ing planner who has done land use
planning for Brunswick County and
other area local governments. "I
think we got a pulse tonight."
In order to take that pulse, the
large crowd was divided into groups
of about 15 persons with one facili
tator assigned each group. Each
group member was, in turn, asked to
pose his greatest concern about con
solidation or the question he or she
considered most pressing.
Each question or concern was
written down on a large piece of
paper.
wncii a.11 4UCMIU11& <uiu i;uiu;cnis
were listed, all were posted on the
meeting room wall.
Each participant was then given
ten red stickers to place beside the
questions others had posed that he
considered most important.
In that way, the questions took on
priority.
For all the work that was done to
compile questions Tuesday night,
little was done in the way of provid
ing answers to specific questions.
The answers to most frequently
asked questions will be the subject
of a second public information
meeting to be held at Ocean View
United Methodist Church in Yaupon
Beach on January 5.
Most in attendance seemed to like
the approach to community consen
sus building.
"I think it’s great," said Long
Beach resident Ailene Jeffries. She
said she had asked if mosquito con
trol efforts would be enhanced and
if the option to bum yard debris
could be given Oak Island residents
on specified days of the week.
Ms. Jeffries said she called neigh
bors and asked them to attend the
community information session.
She said she favored the consolida
tion proposal.
"I think the whole island should
have done this 20 years ago," Ms.
Jeffries said. "I hope Caswell Beach
See Oak Island, page 6
‘TIS THE SEASON
Photo by Jim Harper
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas all through the community, with street decorations going
up, house lights brightening our evepings and store windows cheering our days. This weekend pro
vides the big kickoff to Christmas-by-the-Sea with the Oak Island holiday parade starting at 3 p.m.
Boiling Spring Lakes
Police get new wheels
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
Two new police cars may be roaming the streets of
Boiling Spring Lakes soon.
At Tuesday night’s town board meeting, commission
ers agreed to enter into a lease contract with Fairway
Ford in Burgaw for two new vehicles.
Commissioner Paul Toland discussed the feasibility of
leasing the vehicles instead of buying them, whether
new or used.
The most recent vehicles, which were purchased used,
had over 70,000 miles and were four or five years old
when they were bought, he said. Also, the price for used
vehicles has increased from $17,000 to $19,000 for the
same kind of car.
Toland’s proposal would include leasing two vehicles
with an option to buy after three years for $1. The cost
would be about $7,000 a year per car, he said.
Four bids were presented at the meeting from Ford
dealerships in Charlotte, Shallotte, Southern Pines and
See Lakes, page 6
Brunswick
Players
same, but
new tune
By Terry Pope
County Editor
There will be no new faces at
Monday’s organizational meeting
of the Brunswick County Board of
Commissioners, but some members
want a more locally active and
responsive government during the
next two years in office.
The board will elect a chairman
and vice-chairman, but with no
changes stemming from the
November election — in member
ship or in political party control —
that leadership isn’t likely to
change. Ash resident JoAnn Bel
lamy Simmons is the current chair
man, and Leland resident Bill Sue
is vice-chairman with Democrats
still holding a 3-2 majority over
Republicans.
“One of the biggest complaints I
heard while campaigning is that our
county government doesn’t go out
to the people more,” said District 1
commissioner ' Don Warren of
Ocean Isle Beach. Warren, the third
Democrat on the board, narrowly
defeated his Republican challenger,
Debbie Rudd of Ocean Isle Beach,
by 155 votes.
Warren will ask commissioners
that when the board adopts a sched
ule of meeting dates and locations
for its 1999 calendar that some
board meetings be moved to each
of the five electoral districts on a
rotating basis. This way. the resi
dents who want to attend meetings
would not always have to tiWel to
the county government center near
Bolivia.
The board meets at 6:30 p.m.
Monday in the public assembly
building at the government center
“We could have a comtriunjtyy
meeting in each of the five district®,*
at least once, and we could real ^
more people,” said Warren.
It is a practice the Brunswick
County Board of Education has
used in the past to hold meetings on
a rotating basis in each of the coun
ty school districts. The county has
five electoral districts of nearly
equal population with one school
board member and one commis
sioner elected from each.
Ms. Simmons, in District 4, rep
resents the largest in terms of land
size, stretching from Ash to Maco
and Boiling Spring Lakes. Warren’s
district extends from Calabash to
Shallotte. David Sandifer of Hol
See Brunswick, page 6
Photo by Jim Harper
Phenomenally warm weather continued to bathe the com
munity Monday, and this worker preparing Trinity United
Methodist Church for painting found summer attire very
comfortable.
Survivor attends ceremony
Coast Guard rescuers recognized
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
When Ivo Abraham left Holden Beach on his cata
maran on the afternoon of June 19, he had no idea
what was in store for him.
Neither did the Coast Guard on Oak Island.
A severe summer squall moved into the area, bring
ing with it wind gusts exceeding 30 knots, dangerous
lightning, driving rain and visibility near zero.
The Starboard Duty Section Team of the Coast
Guard spent all evening responding successfully to
calls for assistance, and when they received a report
that a man left Holden Beach and never returned,
they continued their rescue efforts, despite the dan
gerous conditions.
Meanwhile, Abraham realized that he was in trou
ble. His boat capsized multiple times. After righting
the boat repeatedly, he realized that the best thing to
do was to wait with the boat and not risk hitting his
head on the mast while trying to turn the boat over.
He fired a single flare, held onto the boat with his
life jacket on, drifted and waited.
Abraham's wife, Laurie, was contacted by BM1
Cheyney of the Oak Island Coast Guard. She had
‘You want to find him, and
you want to find him alive.
This is what we wanted to
do when we joined the
Coast Guard. If you just find
one guy, it’s worthwhile.
returned to their home in Charlottesville, VA, that
day with their two ^children, Matthew, 13, and
Kearson, 8.
After she learned of the terrible weather conditions
she told Cheyney that her husband, was healthy and
athletic and that he had been sailing since he was a
young boy. She was convinced that he was still alive,
and she encouraged Cheyney to continue the search.
The search went on until 11:15 p.m. In addition to
the Coast Guard crew that was searching the water,
shoreline searches were conducted with a beach
party and all leads were followed, but no one saw
Abraham.
But throughout the search, Abraham saw the
searchers. He saw the Coast Guard boat several
times, but with such low visibility and nothing to see
but his body and the hull of the boat, the crew could
n’t see or hear him.
It gave him hope to know that the Coast Guard had
n’t given up yet, until he saw the helicopter return to
the station just before midnight. Abraham later said
that knowing the search had been called off was one
of the hardest parts about being adrift at sea.
At this time, Cheyney called Abraham’s wife, who
was waiting by the phoue in Charlottesville, to tell
her that the search had been called off and would be
resumed in the morning.
But Laurie pushed Cheyney to reorganize the crew
and go out again.
“I asked him, ‘Are you in love?’ and he said, ‘Yes.’
Then I asked him if he had any children, and he said,
‘Yes.’ I told him that I had two children,” she said,,
The search was resumed at 1:30 a.m., even though
See Rescue, page 8
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