THE STATE PORT
This is not simple
Beach man with £
As Spring sports
South hires new i
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Volume 68, Number 37
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Brunswick
Topless
activities
curtailed
Bylknyftpe
Staff Writer
Brunswick County's chief law
enforcement officer says a new cadi-.
- nance county officials passed Monday
dial rennets activity inside topless
dubs and other sexually onented busi
nesses won’t be taken lightly.
*1 promise the regulations will be
strictly enforced.'’ said Brunswick
County sheriff Ronald Hewed. “I
hehese there comes a tune for a person
In stand for what they believe in. and
that's whal 1 believe m."
The Brunswick County Board of
Comtmsswncrs adopted the rules by
unanimous vote luUowmg a second
public hearing Monday. Residents of
Ac Town of Carolina Shores asked
oormmssioncrs for help after the lack of
taang regulation an then extraterritori
al juturhttwn alkwed Howard and
Alice hstcsoT North Myrtle Beach. SC.
to ahum a building permit to construct
a topless Ixiuncvs adjacent to the resi
dential golf course community.
"We don t wart this type erf business
to jam a strung foothoU on southeast
ern North Carolina." said Rodger
1 Thompson of Carolina Shm at the
hearing "We've been very successful
. so fm m keeping this type business
OUL"
The ordnance wdl linnt the hours of
operation far topless clubs and other
sexually onentod businesses from noon
toll pm. Dancers must stay at least
m feet may from patrons at all times,
and dps must be placed in a common
jar County attorney Huey. Marshall
said dr goal of the ordaunoe is similar
to one adopted m Onslow County
tdtorc law officers have battled a nsmg
wane of enme at and around such bust
nesses there.
Michael Edwards oT Bohvia was the
only person who questioned the new
ordnance at Monday’s hearing He
raid he was not against a far/ ordnance
but toe one adopted Monday seemed to
lam Mar an “ariwnary punishment for
toe busmess owners and toe dancers."
He sanl the punishment saems from dtf
fcreta moral beliefs
Hdv question is. is ton ordmanoe. the
‘ jauv it is witness, gomg to address these
concerns ^ ashed’ Hdwardv’ "How it
toe un-foot duaanoc or dp jar gomg to
Hltr cam of toe ante that's going to
occur?"
But has was a kme scace amid a
group of concerned residents who
sarongh suppiats toe county 's attempt
to ngijmng actrvtfy msade such bust
n«w«. State and federal laws won't
tow such tuanoes to he tunned
oaaBfcady. but romng regulations can
7
HIGH FIVES
Bus driving teams from county schools
whooped it up at the annual School Bus Rodeo
at Bolivia on Tuesday. Top drivers in the obsta
cle-course competition were Sherry Davis of
Iceland Middle School, first; Maureen Moore
of Bolivia Elementary, second; Teresa Rhodes
of Supply Elemental}, third.
• V ' f ’ ■ ; • _ _ ■
ADM appealing to state
Jt>_.
PImHo in Jim Haipcr
A-D-M phat located on the river north uf Southport
County defends value
placed on real property
By "ferry Pope
County Editor
A dispute over real property valuation at the Archer-Daniels
Midland Corp. plant near Southport went before the N. C.
Property fex Commission Tuesday for what is expected to be
a three-day hearing.
ADM officials do ndt agree with Brunswick County Tax
Department's assessment of tables due on structures at the cit
rus plant and have filed an appeal for tax years 1995-98. The
company also notified county tax administrator Boyd
Williamson that it wants to discuss its assigned values from the
revaluation earlier this year that has boosted property values an
average of 57 percent countywide.
The county estimated ADM's real property assessed value in
1995 at more than $19 million while the company claims the
figure is ckiser to $12 million.
"We will be prepared to defend that." said county attorney
Huey Marshall.
The company filed a complaint for the tax years in question,
prompting the county to hire an outside tax consultant to
See Value, page 13
■ ■ < \
• 1 fj +
Sanitary district
BEMC sewer
takeouer plan
helped by law
By Richard Nube)
Staff Writer
While commissioners of the
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District
were voting to negotiate sale of the div
trict wastewater management system
exclusively with Brunswick Electric
Membership Corporation last week.
BEMC officials were in Raleigh lobby
ing for a bill that will allow electric i
coops to form subsidiary corporations
for just such ventutes.
Despite stiff opposition from com
mercial trade associations, the N. C.
House Public Utilities Committee last
week favorably reported HB 476, a
measure which gives HMCs wide lati
tude to engage in businesses other than
electricity distribution. The full House
ratified HB 476 on Thursday of last
week and passed it along to the Senate,
where it was referred to that body's
commerce committee.
The House version of the act “con
cerning the grant of power U) electric
membership corporations" allows
EMCs to “form. orga»izc,or operate, or
‘I see absolutely no
problem at all in
obtaining the waste
water system. We
wouldn’t have pur
sued it if we felt we
would have prob
lems.’
David Batten
BEMC general manager
acquire, hold, and dispose of, any inter
est up to and including full controlling
interest in any lawful activities, whether
or not those activities are within the
See District, page 9
HIGH WATER
Comer of Howe and Moore streets was under water most of weekend.
Rains came, and stayed,
tKough damage minimal
And the rains came. And came. For four days and four nights.
The surprising nor'caster storm which hammered the Brunswick County
coast last weekend disrupted high school sports schedules, forced roads to
close because of flooding and hampered rescue efforts to locate a missing
shrimper believed to have drowned when his boat overturned in the Cape
Fear River early Thursday morning.
“We had a lot of erosion, not necessarily beach erosion but erosion from all
See Rain, page 11
White ribbons signify their
wish to end youth violence
By Diana D’Abnuao
Staff Writer
Watching the TV news replay
footage from the Columbine
High School massacre two
weeks ago, a tearful ten-year
okl Nikki Zettlemoyer could
only turn to her mother and ask.
"Why?'
“You don't have an answer
and that's the hardest thing,"
said Beth Zettlemoyer of
mokk'ii uxijust say, I don t Know.
though more than 1,700 miles away. Nikki
was deeply affected by the Colorado school
shootings just as she was last year when in
Jonesboro, AX, two boys opened fire on fellow
classmates during a fake fire drill at a middle
school.
Seeing her daughter so upset after the
Jonesboro shootings last year,
Zettleinoyer wanted to do some
thing to help. When she saw
Montel Williams wearing a
white ribbon on TV — noting
that it was in memory of the slain,
students — she decided to try a
similar approach in her town.
Zettleinoyer and tfiend Kathy
Frye, whose daughter Kylee also
was personally affected by the
school Uugedy. decided to make
white ribbons for their daugh
Ida UiLVMIUUVa Ul uivuivmw.;
The project eventually took otf with support
and encouragement fawn Girl Scout troops
across Brunswick County, and ribbons were
made for all students in the school system.
This year, the Stop School Violence White
Ribbon Campaign was planned months in
See Ribbons, page 12
SBSD board
reschedules
to Thursday
No business was conducted at Mon
day’s regular monthly meeting of the
Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District
for lack of a quorum.
Only chairman Gene Formy-Duval
and commissioner Ginger Harper
were on hand to administer routine
business and to interview a candidate
for the position of consultant/interim
manager.
Absent were commissioners James
W. Smith, Lucille Laster and Charles
Welling who voted April 23 to deal
with Brunswick Electric Membership
Corporation for possible sale of dis
trict assets and gave BEMC 60 days to
formulate a proposal for takeover.
Formy-Duval has rescheduled the
Monday meeting for 10 a.m. tomor
row (Thursday).
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