December 16. 1998
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net _Volume 68, Number 17
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A JOYFUL NOISE
Southport’s most impressive winter sound-and-light show was provid
ed Saturday as Civil War reenactors fired their six-pounder from the
Garrison to signal the beginning of the Christmas-by-the-Sea flotilla.
Photo h> Jim Harper
Hundreds of spectators enjoyed the subsequent 18-boat parade along
the riverfront.
January session
Teen peers will pass
‘judgment’ on court
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
Juvenile first offenders will soon have not only a
taste of the legal system but a chance at a clean
record — if they’re willing to appear in a court of
their peers.
Brunswick County Teen Court will have its first
session January 26, featuring a courtroom com
posed of a jury, bailiffs and attorneys that are
between the ages of 12 and 18.
Judge Napoleon Barefoot will oversee the court,
which is a partnership between the district attor
ney’s office and Communities In Schools.
“I think it’s great. First-time offenders will have
no permanent record, and it holds kids more
accountable,” said Vickie Prince, a Brunswick
County juvenile court counselor.
Before teen court, juveniles had no choice but to
go through juvenile court, which could include
expensive fees and possibly mar the record of
someone who made an unfortunate mistake, Prince
said.
Juvenile court counselors, like Prince, are respon
sible for handing cases over to teen court if the
offender admits guilt and is willing to appear in
teen court and comply with the sentence.
Therefore, the teen jury does not determine guilt,
Offenses to be handled by
teen court fall into three
categories, each with a list
of mandatory requirements
for sentencing as well as
optional penalties
but suggests a constructive sentence.
Prince also considers whether or not a student
will benefit from teen court and if the student’s
parents will support the process.
“I’m not going to send anyone who is irresponsi
ble and whose parents won't follow through,” she
said last Thursday at a meeting of the court’s advi
sory board.
Offenses that will be handled by teen court fall
into three categories: Type one, type two and type
three. Each category has a list of mandatory
See Court, page 8
IIP requests
looming from
county, towns
By Terry Pope
County Editor
There are no surprises on the coun
ty’s wish-list of highway priorities
which will be presented today
(Wednesday) at a joint meeting of
county, municipal and local chambers
of commerce officials.
A second bridge to Oak Island tops
the county’s list of urgent highway
needs followed by a push for the
Brunswick County portion of the
Northern Outer Loop that will connect
U. S. 17 traffic with Interstate 40 north
of Wilmington.
Brunswick County commissioners,
local municipalities, Brunswick County
Economic Development Commission,
county planning board, both chambers
of commerce and the Brunswick
County Airport Commission have been
invited to the meeting held at the
Brunswick Electric Membership
Corporation district office near Supply
at 1:30 p.m.
County planner Don Eggert said all
recommendations will be packaged as a
unified request from Brunswick County
which will be forwarded in January to
N. C. Department of Transportation
See Requests, page 10
Long Beach
‘Point’ plan
suggestions
win support
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
While town council wasn't ready
to embrace portable restrooms o.r
limit the number of private access
ramps which may cross a frontal
dune to public property at The Point,
it did accept four of six committee
recommendations for public access
development of the westernmost
section of the strand Tuesday night.
And, while council wasn't fully
prepared to hire a full-time employ
ee to work in development of a
municipal wastewater management
system, it did adopt a phased pro
gram of sewer system development
by which construction is to begin in
1999 and continue for perhaps as
long as 15 years.
Plans to develop public access
amenities as part of the Long Beach
Fragile Area Management Plan for
The Point had been entrusted by
council to a committee made up of
‘Are we getting
continual com
plaints at Town
Hall because we
don't have bath
rooms at The
Point? Nobody
could answer that.’
Robin Schuster
Committee member
recreation advisory board, planning
board. Long Beach Preservation
Trust board members arid residents
See Point, pane 14
Oak Island system
"— ..■■■■■ .—-wr
Caswell wants
disposal trade
By Richard Nubel
Municipal F.ditor
Caswell Beach mayor Joe
O'Brien Thursday signaled he is
willing to hold hostage rights to
spray wastewater ettluent on the
Oak Island Golf and Country Club
property until Caswell Beach is
given a 150.000-gallon-per-day
wastewater flow allocation.
"I was brutally frank." O'Brien
said, describing his discussion of a
proposed Oak Island wastewater
treatment agreement with oilicials
of other municipal governments. "I
said unless our town had 150.000
gallons How. I didn't think we'd
give permission to spray."
Caswell Beach has adopted an
ordinance w hich purports to prohib
it the spraying of wastewater by any
entity other than Caswell Beach in
the town. The ordinance was adopt
ed specifically to prevent neighbor
ing Yaupon Beach from executing
an agreement proposed at the time
by which it would sell treated
wastewater to the golf course for
irrigation. Yaupon Beach’s waste
water treatment plant has a capacity
to treat 400.000 gallons of waste
water per day but the town, at the
time, could only dispose ot 180.000
gallons.
O'Brien's threat to once again
stymie Oak Island wastewater man
agement with the ordinance came us
commissioners Thursday discussed
a proposed tri-party wastewater
management agreement with Yau
See Disposal, page 6
Bald Head property
Public, city board wary
of Deep Run annexation
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Fearing they will be left to foot the
utilities tab, and in the process line a
developer’s pockets, residents of
Southport Thursday joined the debate
over Bald Head Island’s annexation
request for the 77.1-acre property to
be developed as Deep Run.
The property lies east of The
Landing, recently annexed and now
under development, and abuts Ferry
Road and the Cape Fear River. The
site is to be home to Bald Head
Island's new ferry transportation ter
minal, a marina with rental slips,
warehousing facilities, 20 acres for
parking and an information center.
For months, aldermen have battled
over Bald Head Island’s request that
the parcel be annexed. The annexation
request comes as the development
company seeks a provider of utilities,
especially wastewater management
service.
Board members are about equally
divided on the question ol the Deep
Run annexation. Aldermen Paul
Fisher, Meezie Childs and Jim Brown
have said they feel the city made a
commitment to annex Deep Run a
couple years ago when the board
issued a conditional use permit for
development of the tract. Aldermen
See Deep Run, page 8
Riverwalk -
Rain moved the occasion indoors at the Riverwalk gazebo Tuesday as Southport city manager Rob
Gandy and mayor Bill Crowe thanked CP&L’s Skip Orser and Jack Keenan for the work of the
Brunswick plant management team in erecting the structure and, not surprisingly, electrifying the
700-foot walkway.
■ NEWS op the NET: www.southport.net
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