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Good stretch
South Brunswick's unbeaten
streak ends short of North /
Carolina soccer
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Volume 69, Number 11
Phone 910-4574568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@soutlipoii.nci
hi- •
November 10; 1999/50 center
Published'every Wednesday in Southport, N. C.
i'
i
4
King
event
opens
By Richard Nubd
Staff Writer
Odds of winning the 1999 U. S.
Open King Mackerel Tournament this
weekend may be better than they've
ever been since the fund-raiser for the
Southport-Oak Island Chamber of
Commerce began 21 years ago.
Postponed from its traditional first
weekend-in-October spot on the tour
nament fishing calendar by Hurricane
Floyd's untimely visit to Southport
Oak Island September 15-16, U. S.
Open organizers expect a smaller field
of boats to compete this year.
“Preregistration is definitely off,”
chamber executive vice-president
Karen Sphar said Monday. “We did
offer a full refund if anyone couldn’t
rearrange his schedule. A lot took
advantage of the refund.”
But, the U. S. Open will go on. Any
thought of canceling the tournament in
this difficult and trying year for the
Southport-Oak Island community was
quickly rejected By chairman Kim
Skipper Anderson and her committee.
“The committee felt for everyone in
the community to get back to normal
after the hurricane, we could not cancel
the tournament." Ms. Sphar said. “For
reasons of Uudition and for the tries- ■
sage such a move would send to peo
ple outside the community, we could
not cancel.”
With the U. S. Open’s $100,000 all
cash prize structure guaranteed, the
prospect of a small registration puts the
chamber at some considerable risk this
year. The $25,000 first prize and 55
other cash prizes will be awarded
regardless of,the number of entry'fees
paid. While that increases each fisher
man’s chance of taking home a pile of
cash, it also may send the chamber to
its pocket.
“We have a guaranteed prize struc
ture,” Ms. Sphar said, estimating 465
tournament entries would be needed to
cover prizes and other fixed tourna
ment expenses.
“We are taking a huge risk in going
See U. S. Open, page 10
COLORFUL HISTORY
Photo bv Jim Harper
A brilliant glimpse of the past was presented to area students Friday at the annual Powwow at Brunswick
Town. Dancers, handcrafters, musicians and storytellers stretched imaginations back to the primitive times
and ways of Native Americans.
St. James fine is pending
Coalition contests wetlands authority
By Terry Pope
Staff Writer
State officials say a lawsuit filed in Wake County
Superior Court last week won’t deter their effort to
protect wetlands and to prohibit any. associated ditch
ing and draining.
Filed on behalf of a coalition of developers, industry
and fanners, the suit contends the state lacks any
authority to protect wetlands from ditching and drain
ing. Petitioners include the N. C. Homebuilders
Association, N. C. Citizens for Business and Industry,
N. C. Aggregates Association, N. C. Farm Bureau
Federation and two coastal developers.
The suit comes in response to a recent Environ
mental Management Commission ruling that rein
forces support for the state’s authority, which has also
been put to the test locally by area developers.
In April, stale environmental regulators levied
$167,454 in fines and requested that developers of
property adjacent to St. James Plantation near South
port restore wetlands and other areas drained during
construction there. The Division of Water Quality
cited developers of two tracts for stormwater permit
and turbidity violations while the Division of Land
Resources cited the same developers for failing to sub
See Wetlands, page 7
Oak Island v
Beachfront
repairs okay,
as law allows
By Richard Nuhel
Staff Writer
. Oak Island's beachfront cannot be re
built to prc-luirricane status, but what
ever oeeanfront property owners are
privileged to do under state law. they
may begin to do now.
■ All remaining restrictions on access
to Beach Drive were eliminated Tues
day when the section between 11th
Place. East and Middleton Street was
reopened.
■ Oak Island inspections department
is now issuing repair permits for (.Kean
front homes.
■ N. C. Division of Coastal Manage
ment (DCM) has granted Oak Island's
appeal of the first line of vegetation it
set day* after Hurricane Floyd passed,
allowing adequate room along the
beachfront for utility lines, a bicycle
path and other public infrastructure.
‘Tire oeeanfront is available for peo
ple to get to work:” Oak Island co
mayor Joan Altman said Tuesday. 'The
/
,, 'iee Beachfront, page 10
‘We question
whether or not
DCM’s reaction to
this storm event, in
moving the first line
of vegetation so
dramatically, is con
sistent with what
was done in other
communities....’
Joan Altman
Long Beach mayor
essentially the same
ouncil adopts
mainland zones
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
Zoning classifications in the newly
annexed 5(X) mainland acres of Oak
Island will he virtually the same as
when land use classifications there
were assigned by Southeast Brunswick
Sanitary District.
Oak Island Town Council Tuesday
night amended the Yaupon Beach zon
ing ordinance to include the new main
land section along Long Beach,Road.
Fish Factory Road and Airport Road.
Both the Long Beach and Yaupon
Beach zoning ordinances rue now in
effect for Oak Island as the town's
planning hoard works to consolidate
the two document^, town planner Don
Eggert said. Yaupon Beach and Long
Beach consolidated as Oak Island on
See Mainland, page 12
New logo
Everything from stationery to
police cars will bear the new,
official Oak Island seal.
Page 6
Learning center
Schools seek waiver
of attendance policy
By Diana D’Abruzzo
Staff Writer
Students who attend Brunswick
Learning Center shouldn’t have to worry
about how the classroom time they have
missed due to pregnancy or suspension
will affect their ability to pass a course.
That’s what school officials in
Brunswick County are arguing in a
request to the state that would allow the
school to award a unit of course credit
based on mastery of the subject, not how
much time is spent in the classroom.
•‘By the time we get many of our stu
dents. they have already missed more
than the six days allowed,” said Bob
Rhyne, principal of Brunswick Learning
Center. “It's very difficult for children to
come here with 15 absences; knowing
they can’t pass — they have no motiva
tion to do good.”
The waiver request was approved
Monday night by the Brunswick County
Board of Education and will be sent to
the state for consideration.
In schools across the state, students
must spend at least 84 periods in the
classroom. Alter six absences at the high
school level, the student cannot receive •
credit for the course no matter what his
or her final grade.
But at Brunswick Learning Center, '
where students often are transferred after
being suspended for ten days from their
last school, there needs to be some flexi
See Policy, page 8
Photo In Jim Harper
Walkers in the annual CROP Walk raised over $10,300 Sunday, over 25 percent of which will stay in
the community with the ivst distributed by the nondenominational Church World Service. The
CROP Walk is organized locally by the Southport-Oak Island Interchurch Fellowship.
Airport
receives
$2.5 mil
i
Bv.Diana D’Abruzzo
Staff Writer . :
Long-awaited plans for Bruriswick County
Airport to have its runway extended are finally
taking flight, as more than $2.5 million in feder
al fends have been approved for the project.
The N. C. Department of Aviation's Aeronau
tics Council approved the request at its monthly
meeting. Brunswick County will post a ten-per
cent match of funding, bumping the seed money
for the runway extension to $2,875,000.
“These much-needed funds will be a huge help
in expanding and improving the Brunswick
See Airport, page 14