Dean uome
Brunswick «, onu, unity College’s /
basketball tc m ventured into the big /
time but came up short,.
December. 15, l^#7:S0 cent§: k
Volume 69, Number 16
Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mailj3ilot@southpoft.net Published eve y Wednesday in Southport, N. C.
NB project
will utilize
golf course
By Terry Pope
Staff Writer
Treated effluent from the northern
region sewer system will be piped to
Magnolia Greens Golf Plantation in
Leland and used to irrigate the golf
course.
An agreement signed last week
between Brunswick County officials
and the developer of Magnolia Greens,
Landmark Developers Inc., details a
plan to dispose of the treated waste
water and what it will cost to provide
that service.
Landmark Inc. will pay $459,800 to
build the transmission lines and also
will bear the cost of connecting its
sprinkler system.
The pact is a supplemental agree
ment between the county, Town of
Leland and the golf course developer
for operation of the Northeast Bruns
wick Regional Wastewater System,
which has already received $ 12 million
in state and federal grants for construc
tion. The system will be managed by
the county but paid for solely by user
fees from businesses and residents in
the northern communities.
Engineers hope to obtain permits to
expand a treatment plant at the Leland
Industrial Park enough to serve the
regional project. The treated effluent
will be returned to Magnolia Greens
and applied to the golf course through
a sprinkler system rather than disposed
See Disposal, page 13
Schools
Chairman
seat stays
unsettled
By Diana D’AbruZzo
Staff Writer
A divided Brunswick County school
board failed to elect a chairman and
vice-chairman at its meeting Monday
night after voting 2-2 four times, with
neither side willing to budge.
The split — Pat Purvis Brown and
Bud Thorsen versus Joyce Parker
Hewett and Glenda Browning —was
evident throughout the reorganization
of the board, which is done each year in
December by policy.
With board member Billy Carter
absent, there was no one to break the
tie votes. Carter, who suffered a stroke
and heart attack in mid-March and was
hospitalized again in September, has
missed the last six school board meet
ings.
And on Monday, his absence meant
See School, page 14
^ Photo by Jim Harper
That right nautical ol'elf and his wife welcomed youngsters aboard the Cape Fear Pilot II Saturday evening as the pilot boat joined
other decorated craft in the Christmas Flotilla. It was the first-ever appearance by, the Cape Fear pilots in the annual holiday
event " ‘ (■;
SALTY DOG

Having overseen decorating for the Christmas Flotilla on Saturday, Captain Cuervo rests. He had his day that
night when the sloop was judged the most outstanding sailing boat in the procession that delighted hundreds
of spectators along the Southport shore. More on the flotilla in the Neighbors section.
L
To accommodate Bald Head
Consortium sifts through options
By Richard Nubel
StaffWriter ■
A federal Shoreline Protection Program project for Bald
Head Island will be a chief topic of discussion at a
Brunswick Beaches Consortium meeting in Oak Island
Thursday. *
BBC is to meet at 10 a.m. at the Oak Island Recreation
Center.
Consortium members will discuss how Bald Head Island
may be included in a federal program by which beaches
there would receive initial sand nourishment, then renour
ishment in three-year intervals for 50 years. The discussion
of Bald Head Island’s needs by consortium members is pre
lude to further talks with a U. S. Army Corps of Engineers
official next month. .
“We will discuss it among ourselves in an effort to deter
mine what, from our collective, successful experiences, can
be useful in assisting Bald Head,” said Caswell Beach
mayor Harry Simmons, BBC chairman.
Glenn McIntosh of the Corps of Engineers will meet with
the consortium on January 20 to discuss a 50-year federal
Shoreline Protection Program project for Bald Head Island.
Consortium members’ eagerness to help Bald Head Island
comes in an effort to get village officials to back off their
See Beach sand, page 13
Bald Head officer
Death is ruled suicide
Gore: Wound
self-inflicted
By Terry Calhoun
Staff Writer'
Brunswick County District Attorney
Rex Gore has determined that based
on evidence available 1o him the
October 22 shooting death of Bald
Head Island police otheer uavina buii
Jones was a suicide, DAVINi
Jones, 33, was found near the Bald
Head Island lighthouse just before midnight that
Friday after she had notified a county telecommuni
cator she would be out of her vehicle with three per
sons. She died of a single gunshot to the back of her
head. ...
The suicide ruling followed six weeks of waiting
for results of forensic analysis performed by both the
See Decision, page 8
Father: Rush
to judgment
By Terry Calhoun
Staff Writer
The father of slain police officer
Davina Buff Jones has sought to
counter some of the points made by
District Attorney Rex Gore’s Thurs
day statement, and has added new
* ““ insight into the family s refusal to
accept the suicide determination.
To those who would write-off the family’s reaction
as understandable denial, he responded, “That’s non
sense. We have suffered and continue to suffer, but
we are trying very hard to be objective and consider
the facts. No one knew my daughter like I did, and I
know she didn't kill herself.”
To Buff, the strongest evidence was what he found
See Response, page 9 |
Oak Island ‘to consider’
future mainland growth
By Richard Nubel
Staff Writer
By adoption of a resolution of con
sideration Tuesday night. Oak Island
Town Council served notice it will con
template annexing any area of urban
character lying south of N. C. 211
between Long Beach Road and Sunset
Harbor Road, with the exception of the
Town of St. James.
Touting the resolution of considera
tion for annexation as a planning tool,
supporters of the resolution narrowly
prevailed. The newly constituted town
council voted 4-3 to adopt the resolu
tion. Minutes after he was sworn to
office, new councilor Ed Kivett joined
councilors James Locke and Marty
Wozniak in opposition. Councilor Scott
King, also a November election winner
sworn to office that night, supported the
resolution with councilors Horace
Collier, Bill Smith and J.. K. Somers.
Earlier in the meeting, council split
on a vote to adopt an annexation feasi
bility study for the planned annexation
of 255 acres of land along the Long
Beach Road corridor and N. C. 211.
Locke, Kivett and Wozniak opposed
the plan of service delivery. Kivett
asserted the proposed annexation of the
highly commercial area would cost the
‘Planning two years
out is not moving at
too fast a pace, it is
moving at a snail's
pace.’
Horace Collier
Council member
town over $213,500 in its first year,
more than seven times town manager
Jerry Walters' estimate.
But the resolution of "intent" to
annex the 255 acres along Long Beach
Road and N. C. 211 by March. 2001, is
far different than the resolution of''con
sideration” for annexation that council
adopted Tuesday. Walters explained.
The resolution of intent '-'doesn't
mean there is any prescribed plans.”
Walters said. "It does put people on
notice that this is an urban area and that
during the period of the next two years.
See Oak Island, page 10
Sou\V\port
‘New’ aldermen
look at old stuff
Bv Terry Calhoun
Staf f Writer
Southport aldermen rolled up their
collective sleeves Monday and began
the task of governing the city as it seeks
to move beyond a financially chal
lenged 1999. Rebuilding city treasury
reserves, paying off internal debt and
finding new intergovernmental solu
tions to electricity and sewer problems
took center stage in the City flail meet
ing room.
Aldermen met in special session
Monday night to consider business put
off from Thuisday's regular meeting
that was devoted largely to organiza
tional matters.
The board and staff heard an audit
report on fiscal year 1998-99 operating
funds showing the city far below state
recommended levels and at least tern
porarily below the eight-pereent-of
budget state standard. The- N. C. Local
Government Commission encourages
municipalities to reserve a quarter of
the budget as cash on hand.
The reality of a budget timetable that _
precedes by nearly six months the col
lection of most property’ taxes makes
such a balance unlikely, city manager
Rob Gandy said. Governments must
often operate in the red until tax collec
tions match expenditures.
The audit report will be available to
the public both at City Hall aid the
library. A summary report shows a cash
reserve in the general fund of $204,228
as of June 30. 1999, the end ol the audit
review period. That figure has steadily
declined year by yea' since 1996 when
a balance of $786,025 was reported. In
1997. that figure had dropped to
See Southport, page 6