April 14, 1999
THE STATE PORT
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport«net
Volume 68. Number 34
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money to mo:
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Publishei
i jday in Southport, NC .
Stanley
gets state
road post
| By Richard Nubel 0
Staff Writer
I'
More than a year after the post
became vacant, Brunswick County and
southeastern North Carolina got a new
representative to the N. C, Board of
Transportation with the appointment
this week of Joe Stanley.
Stanley, 47, a long-time Democratic
party activist and owner of two
Shallotte businesses, was appointed to
serve N. C. Transportation District III
•— Brunswick, New Hanover,
Sampson, Pender, Duplin and Onslow
counties. He was sworn to office
Friday, the second day of the trans
portation board’s two-day, semi
mummy IHCCl
ing in Raleigh.
The speed
with which his
appointment
was announced
and consum
mated this week
SlUUIltU
STANLEY Stanley himself.
“I never actively pursued the appoint
ment.” Stanley said early this week.
“(N. C. Rep.) David Redwine ask me
about it a couple of times and I told him
there was no problem if he wanted to
consider (recommending) me.”
A gubernatorial assistant informed
Stanley of his selection in a Wednesday
telephone call and the owner of Joe’s
Photography and partner in Joe and
Moe's Auto Service was off to Raleigh
the next day.
“I did get to meet the governor,”
Stanley said. “The whole board met at
the Governor’s Mansion for breakfast
and I had a chance to talk to him.”
The District III seat on the Board of
Transportation has remained vacant
since November, 1997, when Odell
Williamson of Ocean Isle Beach was
forced to resign. Gov. Hunt demanded
Williamson’s resignation the day the
Raleigh News and Observer broke a
See Stanley, page 6
BIRD IN THE HAND
IMioto In Jim Harper
On Sunday afternoon Irene Dixon enjoyed the laughing gulls in Waterfront Park and the gulls enjoyed the food
she had brought them from South Carolina. Gulls, ibises, egrets and herons combine to make these exciting bird
watching times in Southport
‘You’re not going to get it.’
SBSD commissioner asked for resignation
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
Twice Monday morning. Southeast Brunswick
Sanitary' District commissioner Lucille Laster refused
calls for her resignation from the district's governing
board.
A motion by commissioner Ginger Harper by which
the board itself would ask for Laster’s resignation fell
3-2, when only she and district chairman Gene
Formy-Duval cast votes in favor of it. Commissioners
James W. (Bubba) Smith and Charles Welling sup
ported Laster.
Formy-Duval said he would take up the matter of
Laster’s continued service to the board with SBSD
attorney James R. Prevatte and with officials of the U.
S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development
office. USDA is the primary funder of the district's
wastewater nnmagement project.
The calls for Laster’s resignation came aliei Formy
Duval alleged her conflict of interest and after Ms.
Laster’s husband — Bill Laster, owner of Oak Island
Landscaping — sought payment of over $5,800 he
See Resignation, page 12
Drain! ;hes
St James digs,
is fined; says
it will comply
By Terry Pope
Staff Writer
State environmental regulators have
levied $! 67.454 in fines and requested
that developers of property adjacent to
St. James Plantation restore wetlands
and other areas drained during recent
construction.
Hie Division of Water Quality cited
developers of two tracts for stormwater
permit and turbidity violations while
the Division of Land Resources cited
these same developers for tailing to
submit erosion control plans and for
failing to keep off-site sedimentation
from draining into surrounding creeks.
"Ditches were dug in unapproved
areas, erosion control plans were not
followed and too much sediment got
into surface waters." said Tommy
Stevens, director of the Division of
Water Quality.
Stevens said the ditching at St. James
caused significant increase in down
‘The landowners
are currently review
ing the enforcement
actions and will
respond at a future
date.’
John Atkinson
St. James president
stream turbidity and that run-off had
threatened Beaverdam Creek, which is
designated as a primary nursery area
and is classified as high quality waters.
St. James Development Co. was
See St James, page 10
Along N. C. 211
City will look
at annexation
By Kiduird Nubel
Stall’Writer
Facing four annexation requests
Thursday night and the prospect of
many more to come, Southport aider
men said the city needs to take a more
comprehensive approach to annexa
tion, particularly along the N. C. 211
commercial corridor between city lim
its and the Carolina Power and Light
Co. canal.
At the board's direction a city task
force, formed after the Wal-Mart
annexation to advise aldermen on
commercial zoning matters, will be
asked to recommend annexation policy
to the board. The board said it may be
bad policy to pursue further annexation
of hon-contiguous properties, a practice
known as satellite annexation.
“This would be worse than satellite
annexation; it would be satellite
checkerboard annexation." alderman
Nelson Adams said of a proposal to
‘If there is agree
ment out there, we
can do better than the
checkerboard style
now.’
Nelson Adams
Ward II alderman
annex a smaller-than-one-acre parcel
on which the Party Time store is locat
ed on N. C. 211 north of the city.
But. alderman did eventually adopt
an ordinance of annexation for that
property on a 5-1 vote. Aldermen also
set for July a public hearing on a request
See Annexation, page 12
1
Caswell Beach may hire
consultant on sewer plan
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
A wastewater study committee is publicly withhold
ing the name of the consulting engineering firm it will
recommend Caswell Beach commissioners hire, but the
firm will do a good deal of work for the $12,000 the
committee says it has asked.
"We decided as a committee that this is a recommen
dation and any announcement should come from the
town,” wastewater committee chairman Jim Hinkhouse
told those attending the monthly meeting of the Caswell
Beach Board of Commissioners on Thursday. He said
the committee recommended a $12,000 first-year
expenditure on consulting engineering fees after inter
viewing four firms that replied to the seven requests for
proposals the committee issued.
Essentially, the $12,000 will buy a preliminary engi
neering report on development of a wastewater^collec
tion system to ron the length o Caswell Beach Road
from the N. C. Baptist Assembly to the Yaupon Beach
‘If you were really serious
about a wastewater system in
the Town of Caswell Beach,
this is a good $12,000 expen
diture.’
Jim Hinkhouse
Committee member
town line. The report will not focus at length on waste
water treatment. Hie town will look to an outside enti
ty — 1 ikely the Town of Oak Island or Brunswick
See Caswell, page 8
Southport Maritime Museum
Not quite smooth sailing
By Laura Kimball
Staff Writer
■ ■ • M
The stormy situation at Southport Mari
time Museum is beginning to clear.
The board of directors of the museum,
which includes exhibits ranging from arti
facts from sunken ships and hurricanes to the
history of the Lower Cape Fear region,
recently informed the public that its days
may be numbered due to lack of funds.
The museum currently is supported by
Brunswick County, City of Southport, pri
vate donations, grants, souvenir sales and
museum admission fees. Combined funds
from the city and county for this fiscal year
amount to $40,000; the annual operating cost
of the museum is said to be over $90,000.
The original concerns that if funds were not
raised the museum would close in May have
been quelled by a recent surge of donations,
See Museum, page 6
Lois Gable (right) presents checks for $1,000 from Southport Lions Club
and $300 from Pelican Post to Mary Strickland, director of Southport
Maritime Museum.
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