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Volume 68, Number 50
Published 6
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Traffic
meeting
planned
Hot about traffic this summer?
Cooler heads will prevail Sunday,
September 26, when state officials and
N. C. Department of Transportation re
presentatives are invited to a public
meeting at Hatch Auditorium at Fort
Caswell. A full house is hoped for, and
expected.
The topic will be overall traffic man
agement in southeastern Brunswick
County, including a second Oak Island
bridge, improvements to N. C. 211 and
a connector from the Beach Road inter
section to N. C. 87-133. That route
would alleviate congestion at Dosher
Cutoff and the Wal-Mart Superstore
Under construction near Southport.
An organizational meeting will be
held this Saturday, August 7, 10:30
a.m., at Oak Island Recreation Center.
Those willing to assist in the Septem
ber program are urged to attend.
“We need volunteers to help with fly
ers, banners, signs, parking, set-up,
food, drink, club and community out
reach” in preparation for the Septem
ber gathering, said organizer B. J.
Schaugaard. Her committee is known
as People for Better Traffic Control.
“Please help us frll Hatch Auditor
ium,” she urged this week. “We need
representatives from St. James, South
port, Caswell Beach and Oak Island.
Now is the time to be proactive and get
something done.”
Better flow of water past two
islands in its middle will create
, . better water quality in Davis
Canal.
That is the rationale for building
, two bridges over “Little Davis
Canal” at an estimated cost of
$750,000.
Oak Island Town Council Tues
day will conduct a public hearing
on a finance plan for construction
of bridges at SW 15th Street and
SW 28th Street The public hear
ing will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Oak
Island Recreation Center. Coun
cil’s regular monthly business ses
sion will follow.
p- Long Beach Town Council,
prior to consolidation this spring,
approved the Davis Canal bridge
project and it has beat inherited
by Oak Island Town Council. The
bridges to be constructed — to
Rne Island at SW 15th Street and
to Island Drive at SW 28th Street
— are to replace earthen dams
; : and culverts that do not allow ade
quate tidal exchange.
Officials have said a better
exchange of water through the
smaller northern portion of Davis
Canal also will eliminate silting
See Davis Canal, page 16
HOT, HOT, HOT...
Everybody who suffered through our heat of the last two weeks will understand this feeling. These young footballers
were taking a break from South Brunswick’s first day of practice on Saturday, when skill-building quickly became a
matter of survival training.
St. James Plantation
Federal EPA takes look
at drainage allegations
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
When St James Plantation developers drained nearly 2,400
acres of wetlands north and west of that development
regulators stepped in to levy fines of just under $170,000.
Now St James developers’ drainage practices and the
activities of others in the area apparently have attracted the
attention of a new enforcer to make its presence felt locally
— the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.
EPA and U. S. Justice Department officials traveled to
Brunswick County and viewed drained wetlands in eastern
Brunswick County the week of July 19, said Rick Shiver,
supervisor of the N. C. Division of Water Quality (DWQ)
Wilmington regional office.
“EPA has expressed an interest in St. James,” Shiver said.
“The last time they went out there, they did see another tur
bidity violation.”
St. James developers did as dozens of other wetlands own
ers did in the months between October, 1998, and March,
1999: They reclaimed wetlands for potential development. It
was during that time the Gov. Jim Hunt administration had
suspended its enforcement of state regulations regarding wet
lands destruction.
Though St. James completed digging an intricate labyrinth
of meandering drainage itches through the wetlands before
die March 1 date for state enforcement, state inspectors with
DWQ and the Division of Land Quality (DLQ) found the
drainage project did not comply with North Carolina erosion
See Developers, page 14
State attention is urged
Outer Loop ‘lifeblood’ of county
By Terry Pope
Staff Writer
County officials have won approval
to beef up language in the Wilmington
Urban Area Transportation Plan that
relates to construction of the Outer
Loop project, a U. S. 17 bypass of
Wilmington through northern Bruns
wick County.
“That bypass will be the lifeblood of
Brunswick County,” said District 5
commissioner Bill Sue of Leland,
“because it will give us a connector to
an interstate highway. We need it, and
we need it badly.”
Sue serves on the Wilmington Urban
Area Transportation Advisory
Committee (TAC) with the mayors of
I gland, Belville and Navassa. Together,
along with City of Wilmington and
Wrightsville Beach officials and plan
ners front the N. C. Department of
Transportation, they have updated die
25-year roads improvement plan that
affects all of New Hanover County and
the northern portion of Brunswick
County.
The update, two years in the making,
plans for highway needs well into the
next century to ensure better traffic flow
. throughout the region. It is predicted the
660,000 daily trips handled by the high
way network today will grow to over a
■ million daily trips by the year 2025. A
wide range of traffic alternatives is
called for in the plan, including another
bridge crossing the Cape Fear River
into Brunswick County south of
Belville. Plans also call for an improved
Village Road through the Town of
Leland.
“We want to put it on the front burn
er, for anybody that will listen,” said
Sue, “especially the need for that (U. S.)
17 bypass. At one time, it was moving
right along. Instead of going forward, it
See Bypass, page 16
$97.5 million total
School, BCC
referendums
date not firm
By Terry Pope
Staff Writer
The push for a quick September 25 public refer
endum on $97.5 million in school and community
college bonds appears to have hit a snag before
Brunswick County commissioners, who may slow
the process down a bit.
A public hearing on the bond referendum will be
held Monday, August 16, at 5:30 p.m. in commis
sion chambers at the county government center
near Bolivia. Anytime following the hearing, com
missioners can set a date for the public vote, but
the recommended Saturday voting date that the
Brunswick County Board of Education has pur
sued may be changed or delayed.
Some commissioners have indicated they’d like
to hold more than one public hearing on the mat
ter before heading to the polls to better inform res
idents of the issue before them. District 1 commis
sioner Don Warren of Ocean Isle Beach asked
county attorney Huey Marshall at Monday’s com
mission meeting if the board had to set an actual
voting date in two weeks, after it holds the first
public hearing.
“At the bond order hearing, you elicit com
See Referfcndums, page 6
Brunswick
County is
in sound
financial
shape and
should
have no
problem
gaining
LGC’s
approval
of bond
sales--—
Tuesday first day
School day dawns
early for children
By Diana D’Abruzzo
Staff Writer
Five-year-old Madison Ruff was ready for school. Seated at her tiny table at
Williamson Elementary, she had already drawn three pictures with her crayons and
made friends with her tablemates.
Madison wasn’t fazed by the newness of the first day of kindergarten. But her
mom — well, she was a wreck.
One final hug goodbye became two hugs. And another. And a wave.
“Bye, mom,” Madison said.
“Bye,” said Jennifer Ruff, walking out of room 223 with tears in her eyes.
“I’ve been with her since the day she was bom, and now I have the day to myself,
and I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she said, describing the moment of leav
See First day, page 3
Photo by Jim Harper
Assistant principal Deanne Meadows and teacher assistants met buses at the
rear of the new Williamson Elementary School on Tuesday to direct students
to their classrooms.