Imaginatioi
Youthful exuberanc
classroom and in Fi
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North Brunswick
April 28,1999
THE STATE PORT
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pUot@southport.net
Published
1 Southport, NC
Volume 68, Number 36
MOSE LEWIS HONORED
Mose Lewis and his family — wife Doris, son Cliff and daughter Ola —
give Lewis Rock its first rub, inaugurating a tradition to bring good
Photo by Jim Harper
Cougar fortunes and great memories of the former South Brunswick High
School principal.
By Diana D’Abruzzo
Staff Writer
Cameras in hand and eyes wide with anticipa
tion, scores of people waited for Mose Lewis to
make his way toward the South Brunswick High
School football stadium.
When his car finally pulled up, the eager crowd
swarmed. It was a battle of sorts as each person
tried to catch their own glimpse, wave or smile
from Lewis, a former principal of South
Brunswick High:
The crowd was so thick it was difficult to weave
his wheelchair through the mass of well-wishers,
who gave hugs, blew kisses and would stop him
to whisper sentiments in his ear.
Though the gathering on Wednesday was an
opportunity to honor Lewis, who achieved suc
cess in the classroom and on the ballfield during
his tenure as principal, the reunion of old friends
and colleagues was more than that.
It was a chance to say “thank you” to the man
who is a mentor, a friend, a cheering squad to
everyone he meets. It was a chance to show sup
port for their comrade who has been battling Lou
Gehrig’s disease for close to five years.
“During his tenure, he earned the utmost respect
of his students, his faculty and members of the
community,” said Baxter Stirling, a member of
South's Cougar Club. “South Brunswick became
an institute of learning in which the students and
community could take pride. The school rose to a
level of competitiveness in the classrooms and on
the athletic fields never seen before in its history.
“Mose was not afraid of conflict and would
often take action, then get permission later, but he
always did what he thought was right and fair.”
Lewis came to South Brunswick High School
as principal in 1982 and was at the helm for 11 ‘
years before being offered a job in Brunswick
County schools’ central office.
Friends, students and colleagues from past and
See Lewis, page 6
‘(Mose Lewis)
was a principal and
a friend who cared
about people down
to the last person.
He cares about
everyone.’
Paul Faulk
Former baseball coach
Bright Ideas
District asks
only BEMC
to make offer
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer .
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary
District commissioners hope to have
within 60 days enough information to
decide whether or not to sell the dis
trict's $11-million wastewater manage
ment system to Brunswick Electric
Membership Corporation.
In contentious sessions Wednesday
and Thursday, commissioners Lucille
Laster, James W. (Bubba) Smith and
Charles Welling voted to give BEMC
alone that much time to complete a fea
sibility study and business plan for pur
chase and operation of the district facil
ities. The three commissioners voted
Wednesday to conduct a Thursday
meeting with BEMC officials only. The
Wednesday special session, recon
vened on Thursday, was called by com
missioners Laster and Welling, who
presented an agenda that listed a num
ber of items tabled by the board one
week earlier. Item two of that agenda
said only "BEMC."
District chairman Gene Formy
Duval and commissioner Ginger
Harper voted Thursday against offering
BEMC the exclusive opportunity to bid
for the district's wastewater manage
ment infrastructure. By the same 3-2
margin, commissioners refused to hear
proposals to take over the sanitary dis
trict wastewater operation from the
Town of Oak Island, the City of
Southport. Brunswick County and a
private development company based in
the Charleston. S. C.. area.
Commissioners' surprise renewal of
interest in BEMC's January request to
purchase district infrastructure came as
the political rift among SBSD commis
sioners intensified. One week prior.
Formy-Duval and Harper voted to
demand I aster's resignation from the
board, charging her with conflict of
interest because her family business
profited from work it did for the district.
Smith and Welling voted against
Harper's motion to demand Lasteds res
ignation.
Welling also refused a Wednesday
‘Our magnificent
and major investment
in the area is
designed to fulfill
growth. We are pre
pared for growth in
this area regardless of
its magnitude.’
David Batten
BEMC general manager
call for his resignation by district resi
dent Jenny Austin, of Oakwood Glen.
Austin asserted Welling had to look at
Laster each time a vote was called for
an indication as to how he should cast
his vote.
"I feel vour uncommitted attitude ren
ders you ineffective," Austin told
Welling, demanding he look at her as
she spoke.
"I talked to a lot of people," Welling
said, one month after challenging
Austin to get a petition to get him
"kicked out" of office. "I've been acting
in the interest of all of the people and f
will not resign."
BEMC general manager David
Batten told commissioners Thursday
the 47,000-customer electric coop
could bring a strong organization that
already provides elements of the ser
vice needed to the district.
"Our good-faith offer places a very
important role on customer service,"
Batten said in his pitch to win the 60
days necessary to complete a business
plan. BEMC has about 1.800 electrici
ty accounts in SBSD right now, he said.
Batten said a bill approved by a N. C.
House of Representatives panel just
See System, page 7
Menhaden
ban sinks
in House
t- • . . • . .
Commercial menhaden fishing will
; remain unregulated off the beaches of
jj Brunswick County.
( The N. C. House Environment and
Natural Resources Committee last
; week voted decisively not to issue a
; favorable report of HB 571, an act
f which would have forced commercial
menhaden boats 1.5 miles off the coun
ty’s shore between May 1 and
September 30 each year.
Opposition to the bill was over
whelming, said Bob Black, president
of Oak Island Fishing Club. Black and
other sports fishermen joined local
• elected officials in Raleigh on Wednes
< day to speak in support of the seasonal
L menhaden regulation. ,
| “It was hard to tell if anyone really
f voted for it,” Black said.
; Chief among opponents of the bill,
> sponsored by Rep. E. David Redwine
f of Brunswick County, were Jule
5 Wheat-ley, owner of Beaufort
■ Fisheries Inc., and Jeny Schill, execu
tive director of the N. C. Fisheries
Association. A huge lobbying effort
was successful in sinking the Redwine
bill.
t .
Consortium facing tough task
Corps may shift sand to beaches
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
Nearly eight million cubic yards of
sand suitable for beach stabilization
will be pumped from the mouth of the
Cape Fear River during the Wilmington
Harbor Project beginning in April,
2000.
U. S. Army Corps of Engineers offi
cials Monday told members of the
Brunswick Beaches Consortium that
sand could be theirs to place on Bald
Head Island, Caswell Beach, Yaupon
Beach, Long Beach and Holden Beach,
if they can figure out how to divide it,
commit to paying a local cost share and
provide the corps with a letter of inter
est by June 30 of this year.
“A year from April, we want to pro
duce sand,” said Col. Terry Youngbluth
of the corps’ Wilmington District office.
“What we need from you is a plan on
how to divide the 7.75 million cubic
yards up.”
D. Wayne Bissette, chief of the corps’
project management branch, told repre
sentatives of the eight local govern
ments comprising the Brunswick
Beaches Consortium the quantity of
*
Wilmington Harbor Project involves stretch of Cape Fear.
sand was sufficient to create a 150-foot
wide berm over ten miles of beachfront.
The five towns which stand to benefit
feature about 18 linear miles of sandy
beaches, so sections of beachfront suf
fering most critically from erosion in
each of these towns may be targeted to
receive sand.
Placement of the sand, and the rate at
which sand is placed, will be left to
members of the Brunswick Beaches
Consortium. Consortium members
may also decide to place less sand per
linear foot and cover a more lengthy
section of beachfront in the five towns.
Bisselte said the corps could place the
dredged sand at widths of 150 feet, l(X)
feet or 50 feet per 1 inear foot.
“The consortium is going to have to
decide where we are going to put it."
said Holden Beach town manager Mike
Morgan. He and Long Beach town
manager Jerry Walters have served as
interim staff to the consortium. The
coalition, which also includes Ocean
Isle Beach. Sunset Beach and
Brunswick County, which will not
receive sand from the Wilmington
Harbor Project, is preparing to move to
phase II of its new operation. This new
phase of development will include hir
ing or contracting for professional staff.
“The group is going to say. ‘Where
tire the areas on the island that we want
it?’” Morgan said. "It’s not a matter of
starting at Bald Head Island and when
we're out, we’re out. It's going to be
tough. It's going to be tough when you
go to your elected officials and try to
sell this."
Funds for construction of the $329
million Wilmington Harbor Project will
be contained in President Clinton's fis
See Dredging, page 10
SCHOOLS
Tragedy
is chance
for action
By Terry Pope
Staff Writer
As the nation voices its concern
about school safety after the
Colorado shooting incident, the
Brunswick County Sheriff’s Depart
ment is seeking a state grant to better
equip its resource officers in local
schools.
If the grant from the North
Carolina Governor’s Crime Com
mission is approved, Brunswick
County will chip-in $49,656 as its
portion to help match what is pro
jected to be a $198,625 deal in state
and federal funds to improve equip
ment for county school officers.
Deputies assigned to provide pro
tection and security at die schools
often receive “hand-me-down equip
ment” front the patrol division
because of the lack of funding to pur
chase new vehicles, radios and gear, |
See Grant, page 6 1
*
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