July 7.1999
THE STATE PORT
Freedom I
Complete results
Freedom Run he
Photographs gale
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net
Volume 68, Number 46
Publisher
Jay in Southport, NC
fj'i
St James
becomes
new town
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
It isn’t quite clear yet when residents
will celebrate Founders Day, but one
thing was abundantly clear Tuesday:
The Town of St. Janies had become
Brunswick County’s newest munici
pality.
It appears the bill incorporating the
town cleared the N. C. Senate on July 1
and was ratified by the House that date.
A General Assembly Website indicates
the Senate ratified the bill Monday,
July 5. With holiday confusion, neither
Rep. E. David Redwine nor Sen. R. C.
Soles was quite sure when St. James
actually became a town, but were quite
sure it did.
‘We’re not sure whether it’s July 1 or
July 5,” mayor Earl Dye said Tuesday.
“We’ll have to sort that out.”
Right now, mayor Dye said, the
newly designated St. James Town
Council has its plate full trying to enact
interlocal agreements with Brunswick
County to keep services flowing to the
community until the new municipal
government can stand on its own feet.
And Tuesday, the sense of elation at
transforming St. James Plantation, a
private, gated golf course development,
into the Town of St James, a North
Carolina municipal corporation, was
sUggering.
“We really stalled this process two
year ago...,” mayor Dye said.
The process was started with an
approach to the General Assembly’s
Joint Commission on Incorporation, a
body formed by both chambers to
screen requests to form towns and
cities.
“I’m glad we took that route,” mayor
See St James, page 6
Photo by Jim Harper
Bombs burst in mid-air to the delight of thousands of spectators on Southport’s waterfront Monday night
Wal-Mart concern
City studies
commercial
site control
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
Reacting to residents’ dismay at
Southport’s inability to more closely
control construction of the Tidewater
Plaza shopping center and the Wal
Mart Supercenter that will anchor it,
city aldermen will conduct a public
hearing Thursday night on a draft
“Commercial Design Guidelines”
amendment to the city’s zoning ordi
nance.
The draft commercial design guide
lines are the product of a special task
force appointed by aldermen earlier this
year. It is to apply to new commercial
development both inside city limits and
outside city limits, but in Southport's
extraterritorial planning jurisdiction.
“The intent of this document is to
establish guidelines for the control of
commercial development while main
taining natural resources areas, historic
areas and the protection of the corridors
of town,” an introduction to the amend
ment says. “New structures should be
appropriate in scale and appearance to
avoid contrast with the small town
character of Southport.”
The three development “zones” set
out in the proposed amendment are:
■ Zone 3, which begins at the N. C.
211 junction with N. C. 87 and N. C.
133 and extends northwest along N. C.
211 to the Carolina Power and Light
Co. canal. Guidelines apply to new
developments of 10,000 square feet or
more and include single structures and
combinations of buildings in a single
development. This is the area in which
Tidewater Plaza now is situated.
■ Zone 2, which includes the area of
N. C. 211 lying between Sawdust Trail
intersection and Leonard Street. Again,
attempting to avoid development “in
sharp contrast with the small town
character of Southport," the amend
ment prohibits development of “pro
jects” larger than 10,000 square feet.
This is the area of Howe Street coming
into the city.
"This entrance into the city has a mix
ture of residential and commercial
development. Attention must lie given
to maintaining the live oak canopy of
this main corridor while protecting the
residential neighborhood," the amend
ment says.
Those wishing to establish new uses
of property in this “zone" must seek a
conditional use permit , in most
instances.
■ Zone I. winch includes all portions
of the city south of Leonard Street to
See Southport, page 6
BRUNSWICK SCHOOLS
Technology club
wins in nationals
By Diana D’Abruzzo •
Staff Writer
Building bridges, designing business logos and showing off dynamic leadership
skills catapulted students in South Brunswick Middle School's Technology Club into
the national spotlight last week.
South Brunswick Middle, competing against schools from 44 other states at the
National Technology Student Association competition in Tulsa, Old a., walked away
with three first-place trophies and six other top-ten awards.
“I was thrilled, the kids were thrilled,” said technology teacher and adviser AJ
Bishop, who attended the competition with 15 of his students. “It was beyond any
thing we expected. We did not preach winning — We didn’t go into it saying, ‘You
gotta win, you gotta win.’ We just focused on doing the best we could.”
And the best they did.
With three first-place and one thud-place finishes, the school outperformed all oth
ers in the nation.
Katie Almirall placed first in Communication Challenge, where she had to design a
See Technology, page 6
McGee is hired as new
assistant superintendent
By Diana D’Abruzzo
Staff Writer
Though she has been out of the classroom for more than a decade, Brunswick
County’s new assistant superintendent Katie McGee still considers herself a teacher.
‘I’m a teacher first,” said McGee, who will oversee curriculum and instruction. “I’m
iust a teacher of teachers now.”
The Brunswick County Board of Education approved McGee’s appointment fol
lowing an hour-long closed session last Wednesday. She replaces Mary McDuffie,
who took a job as superintendent of Northampton County schools.
McGee’s salary will be $77,250.
“She comes to us with a wealth of knowledge and experience,” said Marion Wise,
Brunswick County schools superintendent “Her leadership style will blend in well
with the central office administration and, just as importantly, with the administrators
and teachers in the field.”
McGee comes from the Nash-Rocky Mount school system, where she has spent her
See Schools, page 6
ADM values
wfll increase
ByTferry Pope .
Staff Editor A f. * r;~'V;
. V - ; •
The State Property Tax Commission
has assessed the property value of the
: Archer Daniels Midland Corp. citric
acid plant near Southport at $24.3 mil
lion, much higher than the $19 million
the county was willing to accept
before the dispute went to a commis
sion hearing in May. - ■
County officials were mere than
pleased with the outcome Tuesday. It
; ^ Continued on page 6 .
$15 million for countv
Sewer grants expected
By Terry Pope
County Editor
State gfants totaling more than $15*5 million are
expected to be awarded Thursday to Brunswick County
agencies to help build sewer and wastewater treatment
facilities, including $12 million toward a northern
regional project.
The towns of Leland and Navassa, North Brunswick
Sanitary District and Brunswick County stand to receive
$3 million each to help build a regional system that will
serve the northern communities.
Another $3 million will go to the Town of Calabash as
part of the South Brunswick Water and Sewer Authority
project for a new collection system and pump station.
Plus, Oak Island will get $563,000 to modify 1 ts waste
water treatment plant to add storage ponds and in igation
fields.
That grant actually was awarded Yaupon Beach,
which merged last week with Long Beach to foim th
Town of Oak Island. ;—
“That’s $15,563 million Thursday for wastewater p7],
jects in our county,” state Rep. David Redwine (Li
See Grant, page 6 '
Our newest American citizens
Naturalization
ceremony first
festival event
By Diana D’Abruzzo
Staff Writer
While their daddies were taking an
oath, promising to support and defend the
United States of America as its newest
citizens, two children played together on
tite lawn of Fort Johnston.
One’s father was from Costa Rica, the
other’s from Vietnam. They shared Ritz
crackers and smiled at one another.
Then a blonde tyke wearing a red,
white and blue Mickey Mouse shirt
joined them. He offered his yellow toy
car to his new friends to play with.
It was only a moment at the Natural
ization Ceremony last Thursday, and it
certainly wasn’t the moment to which
most folks were paying attention. But it
was a moment that signified what it
meant for the 35 immigrants to become
See Ceremony, page 6
Thirty-five new American citizens recited their oaths in ceremonies here Thursday evening.
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