March 17, 1999
— «
THE STATE PORT
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Players, coaches ;
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Volume 68, Number 30
Published e
© -r in Southport, NC
■Nl(S) . -
Oak Island
Postal
facility
is due
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
Plans for a new first-class U. S. Post
Office on Oak Island have been moved
quickly to the front burner and local
postal and government officials say an
announcement of the go-ahead is days
off.
An announcement of funding for a
new first-class Oak Island post office is
expected from 7th District U. S. Con
gressman Mike McIntyre shortly —
possibly within days.
McIntyre Monday traveled to Oak
Island to meet with local officials who
have long lobbied for an upgrade of
postal services for zip code 28465.
Currently, the 7,500 year-round and
40,000 seasonal residents of Oak
Island are served only by a contract
post office facility many find to be
inadequate.
The three Oak Island mayors,
Southport postmaster James Hardy and
members of a committee that has long
sought a first-class Oak Island post
office caucused with McIntyre and
USPS official R. Clark Rule of
Charlotte.
Rule is to confer‘with other postal
officials and complete plans for the
Oak Island facility within days, those
present said.
Hardy said it was Southport's dilem
ma that lead to acceleration of plans for
an upgraded Oak Island post office.
“The problem is, I have a space prob
lem here in Southport,” Hardy said.
“This facility is what they were looking
at as the primary problem. Looking to
Oak Island is like killing two birds with
one stone.”
While no plan is yet set in stone.
Hardy said he believes events will
move quickly now that a preliminary
See Postal, page 11
r
1
Access:
smooth
sailing
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
Frank talk about public access
appears to have paid off for Long
Beach town councilors and Davis
Canal property owners.
One week after council played
host to a sometimes angry crowd
of canal owners, council Tuesday
night directed staff to resubmit
necessary applications for a public
access project on Davis Canal at
20th Street SW. This time, howev
er, council will seek to build a
scaled-down canoe and kayak
dock facility, apparently without
the controversial boat-launch
ramp that was included in an ear-,
Her described project.
In another action, council
approved the Long Beach waste
water committee's recommenda
tion for phase I of a municipal
wastewater collection system.
Council also authorized staff to
seek grants and low-interest loans
to finance collection system con
struction in the town's central busi
ness district and in residential
areas adjacent to it Estimated cost
of the wastewater collection sys
tem project is $3,049,000, pubUc
works director John Olansen said.
Under terms of newly seated
See Access, page 11
FEATHERED FRIEND
..1 'l ' '
v*,, Photo by Jim Harper
Everywhere he went, he found a friendly face. Seventh District U. S. Coci^ressinan Mike McIntyre chats with
Brunswick County schools Supt. Marion Wise and “Charlita,” the county’s parrot mascot for the N. C. Health
Choice program, at a Southport-Oak Island Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
Health care, airport among
items on McIntyre agenda
By Diana D’Abruzzo
Staff Writer
With a heap of issues on his plate, 7th District U. S.
Congressman Mike McIntyre spent a few hours in
Brunswick County on Monday, talking shop with locals
on issues of rural health care and a certain much-needed
post office.
McIntyre's day began with a trip to Southport Christian
School where he spoke to children about the rights and
responsibilities of being an American citizen.
He then went to the Southport-Oak Island Chamber of
Commerce luncheon at Fort Caswell, where he was the
“kick-off panelist” for a discussion on the N. C. Health
Choice program, which provides free or low-cost health
insurance to needy children.
“I gave them my perspective on a national level regard
ing rural health care issues,” said McIntyre,who co-chairs
the Rural Health Care Coalition in Washington, DC, and
works on health care issues that affect rural areas includ
ing Brunswick County. “We’re working with health
agencies and rural hospitals to make sure they represent
the three A’s of health care: Accessible, affordable and
accountable.”
Other panel members at the chamber luncheon includ
ed Brunswick County health director Donald Yousey,
family, practitioner J. Robert Forstner, Health Choice par
ent Dottie Jones, and Debbie Dale of the Brunswick
See McIntyre, page 11
Coach proposal
Many volunteers
may be sidelined
By Terry Pope
Staff Writer
A quickly drafted policy/may slam
dunk some of the county’s best high
school volunteer coaches while ques
tions linger over the role District 3
county commissioner Leslie Collier
played in bringing it to the floor.
The policy would make it tough
for volunteers to qualify as coaches
and effectively halt parents from
helping when they have a son or
daughter on the team. It passed first
reading of the Brunswick County
Board of Education last week after
Ms. Collier, who serves as liaison to
the school board and in the powerful
position of bringing the schools’
funding proposals before the county
commission, publicly spoke in favor
of it at a school board meeting as a
parent.
“It’s probably going to cause me to
lose my job,” said J. B. Sholar, head
softball coach and volunteer at North
Collier claimed
last week that vol
unteers can be
vindictive and
retaliate when
their actions are
called into ques
tion and have no
accountability.’
Brunswick for the past seven, sea
sons. “My personal opinion is 1 don't
think they can require something out
of me that they don’t require out of
the regular faculty.”
See Coaches, page 8
Fire fee
proposal
okayed
ByTferryPope
Staff Writer
A plan to give each fire department
flexibility to raise funds through district
fees won unanimous support of the
Brunswick County Board of Commis
sioners Monday.
County attorney Huey Marshall must
submit a request for local legislation
before the N. C. General Assembly by
Wednesday, March 24, at 4 p.m. so the
plan will be in place for the 1999-2000
funding cycle. State representatives will
be asked to model the bill after ones
already approved for Columbus and
Union counties.
“For the benefit of the fire depart
ments in this county...,” Jo Ann
Bellamy Simmons’ words trailed oft
before she hesitantly agreed to vote
with the majority of board members
Monday. During two years of debate
over finding a better way to fund the
county’s 22 volunteer units, she has
, See Fire fee, page 9
Wal-Mart site
City board
to approve
annexation
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
There is little doubt aldermen
Thursday will adopt an ordinance of
annexation, making the 31.7-acre tract
of land on which Wal-Mart may be
sited part of the city.
Three of the city’s six aldermen
requested an interview with The State
Port Pilot Monday to address questions
surrounding the proposed annexation.
Specifically, the three said they would '
provide answers to the eight questions
that were posed by Concerned Citizens
of Southport at the board of aldermen’s
monthly meeting Thursday. (See relat
ed stories, page 3).
At that meeting, Concerned Citizens
was denied a second public hearing on
the annexation proposal, but aldermen
Meezie Childs, Paul Fisher and Pill
Delaney said answers to the group’s
questions are available. Mayor Bill
Crowe and the remaining aldermen —
Jim Brown, Wayne Hewett and Nelson
Adams - did not take part in the
Monday interview, as bringing more
than three elected officials together at
he same time would have constituted a
dotation of the N. C. Open Meetings
jasN.
Childs. Fisher and Delaney, however,
expressed little doubt their colleagues
were prepared to go forward with the
annexation when the board meets in
special session at 7 p.m. this Thursday.
In the course of discussions with devel
oper Wyatt Development Company
and Wal-Mart officials themselves,
aldermen have concluded the best way
to secure the city’s position as utility
provider and the best way to exercise
maximum control over parcel develop
ment is to annex.
“Is it better for the development to go
there and for us to have control over it,
or is it better to let it go out to the blue
berry farm (N. C. 211 and Long Beach
Road intersection)?” alderman Fisher
asked rhetorically.
He has concluded the development
should be in the city where property tax
revenues and sales tax distributions will
flow to Southport.
“The first thing I thought about was
them being an electric customer."
See Wal-Mart, page 9
Redistricting plan
Change to affect
west Oak Island
By Diana D’Abruzzo
Staff Writer
Rezoning some Oak Island school
children to the new Williamson
Elementary School at Winding River
based on ongoing hope that a second
bridge will be constructed in the com
ing years is a ridiculous notion, some
parents argue.
Part of Brunswick County’s redis
tricting plan for elementary schools
transfers children living on the west
end of Oak Island from Southport
Elementary School to the new school
near Supply. In drawing up the plan,
consultants figured in the future of a
second bridge to Oak Island.
But as parents pointed out, delays in
construction of a bridge may take sev
eral years to resolve.
“TTiey’ve been planning to build that
bridge since I was in high school,” said
See District, page 10
■m
4 And if the bridge
goes in, the chil
dren on the west
end of Oak Island
will be much closer
to Williamson. If
the bridge goes in,
it’s a perfect
match.’
Kenneth Stevenson
Education consultant
Photo by Diana D'Abruzzo
Education consultant Kenneth Stevenson answers questions from a con
cerned parent regarding the Brunswick County schools' redistricting plan.
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