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Football final*
Will South gridders aiak< the..;
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there’s still a chance - 1C
Volume 69, Number 9
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net
October-27,1999/50 cents;. \
Published every Wednesday in Southport, N. C.
Beaches
cut back
on sand
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
There will be less sand to spread on
Bald Head Island, Caswell Beach, Oak
Island and Holden Beach next Nov
ember, U. S; Army Corps of Engineers
officials told members of the
Brunswick Beaches Consortium on
Thursday.
When the Corps moves forward with
its Wilmington Harbor Project next
summer, it will likely recover 4.8 mil
lion cubic yards of beach-quality sand
for area beaches, not the eight million
cubic yards originally estimated.
Corps officials last April told mem
bers of the consortium up to eight mil
lion cubic yards of beach-quality sand
might be harvested from a six-mile
stretch of the Cape Fear River between
Caswell Beach and Bald Head Island
when the Corps undertakes its $377.4
million project to widen and deepen
the river shipping channel.
, ‘Additional subsurface investigation
. showed silt and clay underlying beach
quality sand,” Wilmington Harbor
Project manager Wayne Bissett told
consortium members meeting in
Caswell Beach. Federal law prohibits
placing inferior quality sand on the
beach, he said.
The recent discovery that there
would be 40 percent less beach-quality
sand recovered during the Wilmington
Harbor Project sent Corps official back
to the dn.v, ,ng board to divvy up sand
for the 14.6 miles of beach strand on
Bald Head Island, Caswell Beach, east
and west Oak Island and Holden
Beach.
The distribution of sand to munici
palities comes as part of a Corps of
Engineers Section 933 program that
allows the federal government to give
dredge spoils to local governments
when there is no additional cost to the
federal government. The Corps has
determined there is no additional cost
at all to place beach-quality sand on
Bald Head Island. Caswell Beach or
eastern Oak Island. Sand placed on
See Project, page 10
Continued from page 1
UUUL UHUUL
# ; Photo bv Jim Harper
TLs the season to be frightening, and this youngster was supremely scary at the Doctor Kahai Halloween party in Oak
Island last Friday. More photos from that occasion, as well as notices of weekend Halloween events, in the Neighbors
section.
Municipal
scfcool voaes
on Tuesday
By Richard Nubel
Staff Wiiter
Every registered voter in Brunswick County has a
reason to go to the polls Tuesday. But on this-off-year
Election Day. the emphasis is clearly on the county's
municipalities.
Polls open county wide Tuesday at 6:30 a.m. They
will remain open until 7:30 p.m.
To assist area voters in their Election Day deci
sions. The State Port Pilot has devoted eight pages to
coverage of municipal candidates in this section of
the newspaper. The special election coverage
includes profiles of 44 candidates for municipal
Candidate
profiles,
questions
page 11
through
page 18
oflices and their verbatim responses to questions pgsed by the Pilot.
In southeastern Brunswick County, mayors will be elected in Caswell Beach.
Southport and Boiling Spring Lakes on Tuesday. Members of governing boards
will lie chosen by voters in those towns and in Oak Island. St. James and Bald
Head Island.
Voters in Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District w ill elect three commissioners
See Elections, page 6
Two issues on ballot
College bond vote#
asking $14 million
By Diana D’Abruzzo
Staff Writer
Voters will decide next Tuesday
whether the county should shell out
nearly $100 million to build new
schools, upgrade and renovate class
rooms and add on to the community
college.
It's a decision that will come after
weeks of pro-school campaigning and
anti-tax grumbling, where school offi
cials have pleaded for funds to improve
facilities and some residents have
protested that the price tag is just too
big.
Two separate bond issues will appear
on the November 2 ballot — one for
$83.5 million to renovate and expur ’
the public schools, and one for $ 14 tk
lion to expand Brunswick Communik
College. \
"We've come to a crossroads in the '
county as far as educational facilities
are concerned." said Marion Wise,
superintendent of Brunswick County .
Schools, last week. "We have to decide
whether to invest in the future now or
do it piecemeal as we go. The needs
See College, page 8
FEMA funds are distributed here
By Terry Pope
County Editor
The Federal Emergency Management
Agency have approved nearly $5 mil
lion in disaster assistance for Brunswick
County residents as a result of Hurri
cane Floyd damage.
According to latest figures released by
FEMA October 22, the agency has
received 2,602 applications for assis
tance here and has assisted 894 families
since the storm.
In Brunswick County, the greatest
damage occurred to homes along the
Oak Island and Holden Beach ocean
front as a result of storm surge, and
along the banks of the flooded
Waccamaw River in the Ash communi
ty
Disaster funding for housing has
reached $1.25 million in the county,
while another $538,047 has been
approved in individual and family
grants which will help families recover
their homes and property from flooding
and other effects of the storm. The
Waccamaw River reached 18 feet above
flood stage before cresting September
See Hurricane, page 10
’Mackerel Man was sporting his new fall outfit on the
Southport Riverwalk last week. The 1999 U. S. Open King
Mackerel Tournament T-shirts are now available at the
Southport-Oak Island Chamber of Commerce Visitors
Center on Long Beach Road, and also will be available at
the Open, November 11-13.
Southport
Annexation
could signal
new growth
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
Months of indecision ended in a split decision
Thursday as Southport aldermen voted 4-2 to annex the
Hardee’s restaurant property and an adjacent undevel
oped lot at Sawdust Trail intersection.
That action spurred the revelation Sodthport is still
interested in extending its corporate limits along Long
Beach Road, possibly in competition with the Town of
Oak Island.
Aldermen Nelson Adams and Meezie Childs opposed
the Hardee’s annexation. Adams again said he opposed a
piecemeal approach to annexing properties not contigu
ous to the city and wanted to explore annexation of a
See Southport, page 8
Bald Head shooting
Service is held
for slain officer
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
An investigation into the Friday on
duty shooting death of Bald Head
Island public safety officer Davina
(Dee) Buff Jones continued into
luesday afternoon, even as sheriff's
deputies gathered at Southport's
Peacock-Newnam Funeral Home to
practice a flag transfer ceremony that
would bo performed at her memorial
service that evening.
Jones. 33, of Oak Island, had been
employed by the Bald Head Island Pu
lic Safety Department for less than a
year. Tuesday night, hundreds of law
enforcement representatives gathered
at the funeral home to pay respects to
their fellow officer; traffic llow along
Howe Street was difficult as police
See Investigation, page 6
mmkmA. mb
Officer Dee Jones died
Friday night of a gunshot
to the head. Saturday, Bald
Head police chief Karen
Grasty and Sheriff Ronald
Hewett answered some of
the many questions that
lingered Tuesday.
Family, police chief recall Jones’ desire to do her best, page 3