January 13. 1999
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net
Volume 68, Number 21
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Published every Wednesday in Southport, NC
It’s a tangled web consolidation weaves
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Whether or not Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District officials formally
ask the Southport Board of Aldermen to consolidate the city and the district
as one municipal corporation Thursday night, a proposal to do just that is
under quiet consideration by the city and the district.
Southport mayor Bill Crowe Tuesday said he and district chairman James
W. (Bubba) Smith have discussed consolidation of the City of Southport and
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District in several conversations. Crowe said
he understood district commissioners would meet this week to formalize
;ssi
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SBSD
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their proposal,for consolidation of the City of Southport and Southeast
Brunswick Sanitary District. SBSD commissioners would then bring that
proposal to a meeting of aldermen Thursday night.
Tuesday, district secretary'Lucille Laster refused to discuss district plans
for consolidation with the City of Southport.
• “I’m not at liberty to discuss that,” Laster said, “I'm just not able to do so.” '
District chairman Smith did not return a telephone message left at his
home at 2, p.m. Tuesday.
District commissioner Ginger Harper told the Pilot she first learned there
was even talk of consolidation when she was questioned by a reporter
Monday.
Late Tuesday, it seemed possible SBSD commissioners would conduct a
meeting at 8 a.m. Thursday to decide if the consolidation proposal would be
made to Southport aldermen later that day.
Mayor Crowe Tuesday said it was possible SBSD commissioners would
come to the board of aldermen meeting, despite the fact the consolidation
See Consolidation, page 9
Yaupon:
Neighbor
must pay
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Retaliating against Caswell Beach
mayor Joe O’Brien’s threat of<last
month to withhold rights to spray
wastewater treatment plant effluent
on the Oak Island Golf and Country
Club course, Yaupon Beach com
missioners voted unanimously
Monday night to demand Caswell
Beach by April devise a plan to dis
pose of treated wastewater generat
ed at Oak Island Beach Villas in
Caswell Beach.
If Caswell Beach cannot or will
not advance a plan to daily dispose
of 70,000 gallons of wastewater in
Caswell Beach by the April 1 dead
line, Yaupon Beach commissioners
said they will consider charging
Caswell Beach a $2-per-1,000-gal
lon disposal surcharge for continued
service to Oak Island Beach Villas.
Oak Island Beach Villas was an
early customer of the Yaupon Beach
wastewater management system
when it began offering service in
1992, Though the villas are in
Caswell Beach, Yaupon Beach
agreed to provide service when the
condominium complex was unable'
to use its package sewage treatment
JOHNSON
plant enectiveiy,
and economical
iy
The determi
nation to seek
disposal capaci
ty in Caswell
Beach or impose
the stiff sur
charge for ser
vice there came
from commis
sioner Roy Johnson, who said
Caswell Beach mayor O’Brien’s
December 10 comments had infuri
ated his neighbors. Johnson said
Yaupon Beach was forced to spend
$538,000 to develop a spray area on
the mainland to accept an additional
110,000 gallons of treated waste
water. That area was developed
See Yaupon, page 12
Events
to honor
Dr. King
By Laura Kimball
Feature Editor
Several events in the commu
nity will mark the celebration of
Martin Luther King Jr. Day,
Monday, January 18‘.
The theme of Martiri Luther
King Jr. Day this year will be
“Remember, Celebrate, Act; A
Day On, Not a Day Off.”
Events sponsored by the MLK
Committee, NAACP, Southport
Oak Island Interchurch Fellow
ship and Human Relations Com
See Dr. King, page 13
DOSHER TRIBUTE
———^iBWHHM—a mamam.■ in
Photo by Jim Harper
Dr. J. Arthur Dosher was honored in a memorial service Sunday in Trinity United Methodist Church, and then next door in the fellowship
hall where kinfolk and friends reminisced about the fabled physician on the 60th anniversary of his death. More on the Neighbors section
front.
Center
funding
on hand
By Terry Pope
County Editor
An agreement has been reached
to start construction of a new men
tal health center at the Brunswick
County Government Center by
December.
Southport architect John Thomp
son will design the estimated $ 1.2
million building which will be
funded jointly by Southeastern
Center for Mental Health, Develop
mental Disabilities and Substance
Abuse and through Brunswick
County tax dollars that have
already been allocated in the 1998
99 budget.
The mental health center is run
ning out of space at the government
center and the Southeastern Center
is contributing $445,000 toward
construction costs. That represents
$325,000 in local funds transferred
to the county and $120,000 in state
funds that have been earmarked for
new construction.
An original agreement indicated
the countywould start construction
by July, 1999, after transfer of the
funds to the county. That agreement
was amended last week to indicate
a start by December instead, but
with a goal to pursue obtaining bids
See Center, page 6
Wal-Mart hopeful
shopping for site
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Can Southport say “no” to Wal-Mart? „
Thursday night’s board of aldermen meeting should be instructive.
Before deciding whether or not to rezone and annex nearly 32 acres
of land east of the Carolina Power and Light Co. canal to make way
for a $ 12.5-million retail center promising Wal-Mart as a tenant and
$40 million in annual sales, Southport aldermen Thursday night will
conduct a public hearing on whether or not to continue a moratorium
on permits for subdivisions more than ten acres or 20 units in size.
The January meeting of the Southport Board of Aldermen is to
begin at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.
Last month, aldermen voted to extend for 30 days the city’s de
facto development moratorium. It seemed certain aldermen would
vote Thursday night to continue the ban on development of large
tracts for at least another six months, but to do so, now might mean
saying “no” tb a developer promising to lure Wal-Mart to Southport.
On January 14, the city*planning board voted unanimously to rec
ommend approval of two requests for rezoning by owners of parcels
on the south side of Howe Street extended, just east of the CP&L
canal. Thursday night, the same owners will ask the city to annex the
combined 32-acre parcel.
At the January planning board meeting the owners were represent
ed by Howard Hill of Wyatt Development Corporation, a developer
of retail centers. He told the planning board the project planned for
the North Howe Street property would include an anchor tenant in a
150,000-square-foot store ahd ten smaller stores ranging in size from
1,500 square feet to 4,500 square feet. Those familiar with the firm
say Wyatt Development is courting Wal-Mart as its anchor.
Hill estimated construction would bring about $12.5 million into
the area and sales from the center would reach $40 million annually.
He projected city revenues from the center would reach $75,000 to
$80,000 annually.
The ban on consideration of large subdivisions continues as the city
works with consulting engineers to identify ways to free-up existing
See Wal-Mart, page II
Body found at boat ramp
Leland man is charged
with co-worker murder
By Terry Pope
County Editor
investigators have filed a murder
charge against a 'Leland man who
they allege stabbed a fellow employ
ee in the back and left her body on a
boat ramp outside Belville on
December 28.
Mark A. Prendergast, 30, of 9763
Sturgeon Drive, Leland, was arrested
Friday afternoon by Brunswick
County sheriff’s detectives and State
Bureau of Investigation agents,
apparently after they received lab test
results that allegedly tie the defen
dant to the homicide.
“It’s cold-blooded,” said Bruns
wick County sheriff Ronald Hewett.
“It’s calculated. We are confident
tonight that we have the individual
responsible for the death of
Samantha O’Shields.”
Ms. O’Shields, 28, died from a stab
wound to the back, according to
medical examiners, sometime after
sl\e left work around 11 p.m. at New
Hanover Regional Medical Center in
Wilmington on December 27. Her
body was found on the boat ramp at
Belville around 10 a.m. on December
28 by a South Dakota family who
See Murder, page 11
Phqto by Jim Harper
Brunswick County sheriff Ronald Hewett leads Mark Prendergast,
30, of Leland into the Brunswick County jail Friday following arrest
on a murder charge in the stabbing death of Leland resident
Samantha O’Shields. ■
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