50 cents
December 23, 1998
Border w
■ i
Sixteen high sch
pete in the Pilot
nament that start
Outdoor Christi
get more elabor
Published ev<
na
ns
in Southport, NC
SBSD
tap-on
Dec. 31
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Residents of Southeast Brunswick
Sanitary District will be authorized
to begin making taps to the dis
trict’s new wastewater management
system in time for the new year.
‘The district will go on line on
December 31,” commissioner
Lucille Laster, district secretary,
said this week. Letters advising res
idents they may make taps to the
system beginning that day will be
mailed one day earlier.
Although residents of Southeast
Brunswick Sanitary District have
long awaited the start-up of the dis
trict’s 500,000-gallon-per-day
wastewater treatment plant on
Georgetown Road, some may not
know how to go about making a
mandatory tap to the system. Lines
have been brought to the edge of all
properties and it is the responsibili
ty of each property owner to engage
a plumber to make the actual tap to
the home within 90 days of the
December 31 system start-up. Taps
to the system by all property own
ers were made mandatory in order
to assure repayment of bonds sold
to build the wastewater manage
mein miiasuucmic.
*‘We are going to give everyone
90 days to make their taps, because
we know it will take some time,"
commissionei Luster said. "We
want to emphasize that property
owners have to have a permit to tap
onto the system and they have to
have a water meter before they can
get the permit."
To simplify the permitting
process and the acquisition of water
meters, commissioners have creat
ed special “packets” of information
which are available to property
owners at the district office-at 4310
Long Beach Road. The package of
information explains what is need
ed to obtain a permit and a tap and
outlines the process step-by-step.
“All connections to the system
will have to be inspected,” commis
sioner Laster said.
Tap inspections are to be done in
house by a contract-employee of
the district. Residential property
owners will be required, as part of
the tap process, to pay a $25 inspec
tion fee. A reinspection fee will be
charged if the inspector must,
because of improper installation,
return to the property for a second
inspection.
"It is critically important for resi
dents of the district to know that
they must have a permit to tap to the
See SBSD, page 7
ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS ...
Melissa Gordon tells her wishes to Santa at the annual “Flight Before Christmas” held at Brunswick
County Airport. Hours before, Santa had made another appearance at the Bolivia Christmas Parade
(below). (Photos by Jim Harper)
Jolly oF St. Nick
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
Santa's final preparations for Christmas were
completed Saturday when he soared above
Brunswick County in a private plane and landed
at Brunsw ick County Airport to talk to excited
kids.
The fourth annual “Flight Before Christmas,"
organized b\ the county parks and recreation
department, assisted Santa in scoping out local
rooftops and chimneys so he won't be in for
surprises on Christmas Eve.
"You've got to make sure there are no obsta
cles in the wa\." he said of his pre-Christmas
rounds.
Santa, known as Bruce Mitchell for 11
months of the year, said local residents are
notorious for putting up antennas and ladders
See Santa, page 10
Bridge comaor
Agency asks
more details
of town plan
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
An environmental agency once
squarely opposed to a roadway cor
ridor connecting a planned bridge at
North Middleton Street to the N. C.
211 and Midway Road intersection
appears to have opened the door to
discussion of that corridor.
In a December 15 letter, John M.
Hefner of the Raleigh Field Office
of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife
Service said the agency could better
assess a Middleton-to-Midway cor
ridor if DOT revises its
Environmental Assessment (EA) to
include the Second Bridge to Oak
Island Corridor Development Plan
completed for the Town of Long
Beach early this year.
“The Service has requested
NCDOT prepare a revised EA
which incorporates the corridor
development plan into both the
‘(U. S. Fish and
Wildlife Service)
has at least invited
discussion of the
three most direct
routes the people of
Oak Island prefer.'
Joan Altman
Long Beach mayor
overall purpose of the project and
the evaluation of (corridor) alterna
tives.'' Hefner wrote. "The environ
See Bridge, page 10
r
TIP requests
County’s road
needs ignored,
officials claim
By Terry Pope
County Editor
On closer examination, this year's
list of highway priorities has not
changed very much from last year
for Brunswick County and its
municipalities.
Perhaps that is what prompted
officials to feel there has been little
progress made, resulting in a public
lashing of the N. C. Board of
Transportation at a joint meeting
between towns and county leaders
last week.
They don't live here," said
JoAnn Bellamy Simmons, chairman
of the Brunswick County Board of
Commissioners. "We can't handle it
with the influx of people we have
now. From their Transportation
Improvement Program, what they
seem to want to spend the money on
are bridges. Besides these bridges
being replaced, we need some main
tenance on our roads."
When county officials deliver
their highway priorities to the state
Board of Transportation next
month, they hope to add pizzazz to
their presentation and get noticed.
The top demands are a second
bridge to Oak Island to provide
another evacuation route in the
event of a major storm or industrial
See Roads, page 6
Southport possible venue
Pan-Am game effort for sail
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
The USA is likely host to the 2007 Pan-American Games.
North Carolina and Raleigh are the likely host state and city
to the 2007 games.
And, get this, Southport is the likely venue for the sailing
competition for the 2007 Pan-American Games if all these
suppositions are correct.
It was a strange corner of the city in which to find sporting
news, but Dosher Memorial Hospital Board of Trustees was
the first public body in Brunswick County to receive a brief
ing on plans to make Southport the sailing venue for the 2007
Pan-Am Games.
Trustees unanimously adopted a resolution in support of
Gov. James B. Hunt's attempts to bring the games to North
Carolina. The resolution further declares Dosher Memorial
Hospital’s willingness and readiness to take on responsibili
ties for the health care of the 150 to 200 athletes that would
be part of the yachting competition.
“If we can handle 30,000 to 70,000 people on the l ourth of
July, we can gear up for this,” chief of staff Dr. Keith Reschly
told trustees. A competitive sailor hintsclf. ami an active
member of the Cape Fear Yacht Club at Southport Marina.
Reschly sought and won trustees' endorsement.
“They’re looking to hold the sailing competition in
Southport, but there are an unbelievable -number ol hurdles to
jump through," Dr. Reschly said.
Members of the Cape Fear Yacht Club have, to date, been
facilitating the flow of information about Southport and its
facilities to state officials who are in contact with the
International Olympic Committee, organize r ol the I’an-Am
Games.
The Pan-Am Games are held every lout years, one year
before the Olympic Games. Competition is limited to coun
tries in North America and South America.
Reschly told trustees North Carolina's position as a poten
tial host state to the 2007 Pan Am games looks solid.
“Governor Hunt got it in his head that the games should
t See Pan-Am, page 10
Groundbreaking
Community Building Committee chairman Ken Mabe turns the ceremonial shovelful of dirt
Thursday as ground is broken for the new Southport facility. Members of the city board of
aldermen and architect John Thompson look on. (Photo by Jim Harper)
■ NEWS on the NET: www.southport.net -