April 7, 1999
50 centS^
Solid impact
North Brunswick losestolNet
Hanover on surprise call - 1C
Both arts and technology, South
Brunswick Middle puts^on
for governor’s offic
rhone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net
volume 68, Number 33
Published every Wednesday in Southport, NC
BIG BOUNCE
Photo by Jim Harper
Hie first full day of Spring Break and already they were bouncing off the ing chili. Another successful edition of the Robert Ruark Foundation Chili
walls. And petting the animals. And watching the entertainment. And ei\joy- Cookoff. More photos and cookoff win; ters in the Neighbors section.
West Oak Island students
Proposal would realign district
By Diana D’Abruzzo
Staff Writer > ‘
Children living on the west end of Oak Island
won’t have to travel to the new Williamson
Elementary School next fall and can remain at the
Southport school with their other island friends
under a modified redistricting plan proposal.
Brunswick County school administrators will
present the revised plan to the board of education
later this month. The board has final authority
over the redistricting plan and can accept, reject
or further revise it.
“As a result of the input parents gave us at the
town meetings, the administration decided to rec
ommend to the school board that all children on
Oak Island should continue to go to Southport
Elementary,” said Clarence Willie, assistant
superintendent of operational programs, “and
children in St. James Plantation will go to
Williamson instead.”
At the town meeting at South Brunswick High
School last month, about two dozen parents
showed up to express concerns regarding the
plan, which called for children on the west end of
Oak Island to be rerouted from the Southport
school to the new Williamson Elementary School
at Winding River Plantation near Supply.
In drawing up the redistricting plan, consultants
figured in the future of a second bridge to Oak
Island but, as many parents pointed out, delays in
construction of a bridge may take several years to
resolve.
“When we first devised the plan, we were
counting on the bridge being there,” Willie said.
See District, page 7
Rep. Mike McIntyre:
Fed agencies
must aid, not
hinder bridge
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
Federal agencies should work with
state and town officials to quickly site a
second bridge to Oak Island, 7th
District U. S. Congressman Mike
McIntyre told a receptive crowd here
last week.
Before departing Brunswick County
Airport for a fly-over of eroded beach
es and the area between the Yellow
Banks and N. C. 211 where second
bridge roadway alternative sites have
ueen lucuuueu,
McIntyre said
plans for a first
class Oak Island
post office have
been solidified
and U. S. Army
Corps of Engi
neers may pro
ceed with con
struction ol an ™■
Oak Island Sea McINTYRE
Turtle Habitat Restoration Project with
funds in hand.
“We want to be sure that federal agen
cies are there to find a solution and not
hinder progress,” McIntyre said of his
interest in the second bridge to Oak
Island.
The long-awaited second bridge pro
ject has been delayed for at least a year
because U. S. Environmental Protec
tion Agency and U. S. Fish and Wildlife
Service have objected to N. C. Depart
ment of Transportation plans- to site a
mainland roadway corridor reaching
between the foot of a bridge from
Middleton Street to a point on N. C. 211
near Midway Road.
Flying over the area lying between
the Yellow Banks and Midway Road
Wednesday afternoon, McIntyre was
shown the sites of three western road
way corridor alternatives the two feder
al agencies have insisted be the focus of
more study. Aft three of those alterna
tives would take Oak Island travelers
What else
is news?
■ Plans for a first-class Oak
Island post office have been
solidified, calling for a
10,000-square-foot facility
and a need for three acres of
land
■ U. S. Army Corps of
Engineers may proceed with
construction of an Oak
Island Sea Turtle Habitat
Restoration Project with
funds in hand
■ Federal officials will work
with N. C. Department of
Transportation to find fund
ing for the proposed exten
sion of the county airport
runway
west to Sunset Harbor Road. One alter
native the agencies have asked to be
considered would site a bridge at the
extreme western end of Oak Island
Drive, and not at Middleton Street.
The Congressman seemed particular
ly concerned when flying over the new
Virginia Williamson Elementary
School at Winding River. He had been
told a recent redistricting plan by the
Brunswick County school board meant
children from western Oak Island
would be bused to the school near
Supply. Without a second Oak Island
bridge, this will mean substantial travel
See McIntyre, page 10
City board
restricts use
of lake rafts
ByDiaittD’AbruzzD
Staff Writer
Worried that rafts on city lakes may be a
threat to public safety, die Boiling Spring
t alces Board of Commissioners voted
Tbesday to prohibit permanent rafts and
place restrictions on temporary ones on pub
lic waters.
“I don’t think it’s unreasonable,” said
mayor Thomas Tblly, noting that the city’s
insurance carrier requested that the raft ordi
nance be amended as such. “We had another
option — to allow die homeowners to take
"over the lake and be in charge of the lake. But
that would be an imprudent act We’d have
nothing but family feuds and we don’t need
that This is the most prudent way.”
Hie amended ordinance prohibits perma
nent rafts — those secured to the lake floor
with anchors or concrete blocks — on any
lake in die city.
Temporary rafts, which are not to exceed
ten feet by ten feet in size, will be permitted
the amended ordinance in all lakes
except Boiling Spring Lake. Temporary rafts
can only be used on lakes between the hours
of 7 am and 8 pm, or sunset, whichever
comes first
At sunset the raft will have to be taken to
shore and affixed by the owner. If the raft is
See Rafts, page 7
Hie most recognizable public figure on Oak Isfanri holiday weekends
is Bob Slockett, the regular pitchman for chicken barbecues at Ocean
Mew United Methodist Church. He was working his side of die street
on Good Friday. (Photo by Jim Harper)
Emergency operations
Center may be off-island
By Richard Nubd
Staff Writer
Although several more questions must be answered, Oak
Island elected officials Thursday night decided to pursue
establishment of an off-island communications and emer
gency operations center (EOC).
Cost of the new EOC was fixed at over $460,000 and may
range as high as $660,000, a cost in line with that of the
Shannon fire station on Oak Island Drive at SE 2nd Street.
The communications center and EOC would serve as a cen
tral dispatch point for Oak Island emergency services and,
possibly, Southport and Bald Head Island emergency ser
vices as well. The EOC would feature dormitory space for
use during storms and other emergencies, and garage space
for an ambulance and fire truck.
With Yaupon Beach commissioners and Long Beach Town
Council meeting in a joint workshop session, staff told elect
ed officials that Brunswick County will no longer use Long
Beach and Southport as backup stations for 911 emergency
communications. Brunswick County will, beginning July 1,
have only an unmanned backup communications center at its
EMS substation in Leland.
Also effective July 1, Brunswick County will cease to pay
radio and computer leases for equipment stationed at
See Center, page 8
Arts could have ‘Impact’
South Brunswick Middle candidate for award
By Diana D’Abruzzo
Staff Writer _
Watching the spectacle of student performances at
South Brunswick Middle School’s Arts Impact celebra
tion last Tliesday night, visiting teachers Barbara Lassiter
and Barbara Savery were able to see first-hand how the
school uses innovation and creativity to teach its lessons.
And after the curtain closed cm the fanfare, the two
teachers — members of Gov. Jim Hunt’s Teacher
Advisory Committee — returned to die middle school the
next day to see what other innovative lesson plans were
hidden within the classrooms and hallways.
The visit from the Governor’s Office could result in
statewide accolades for South Brunswick Middle, which
is a finalist for this year’s state Entrepreneurial Schools
Award. *
“The governor charges us to go out and identify, recog
nize and celebrate schools on the cutting edge, schools
willing to take responsible risks,” said Lassiter, a class
room teacher in Gates County who is on the awards com
mittee. “We have definitely seen risk-takers, responsible
risk-takers, here.”
See School, page 16
■ NEWS on the NET: www.southport.net —