THE STATE PORT This is not simple Beach man with £ As Spring sports South hires new i niwm Volume 68, Number 37 C ' C: c 5r c: a c: lay in Southport. NC 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). NEWS on the NETi wwwjsouthportnet

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