Trojans Begin
Grid Practice
Car>' Cumbcv (right)
helps a teammate through
stretching exercises dur
ing West Brunswick's
Tuesday morning practice
session. The Trojans join
ed all other high schools
across the state currently
in prc-.season drills. The
story is on page 9-A.
More Town Board
Coverage Inside
•Sunset Beach, page 9-A
•Holden Beach, page 11-A
•Calabash, page 12-A
Bob Buck
Retires
With grandson (iene
Bradley in his arm. Bolt
Buck accepts the framed
resolution adopted by tbe
Holden Beacb Board of
Commissioners that
honors Buck for his con
tributions as town ad
ministrator. The stor>' is
on page 2-B.
t'
'.OO'f
Twenty-fifth Year, Number 39
Shallotte, North Carolina, Thursday, August 6, 1987
25c Per Copy
32 Pages Plus Insert
Ocean Isle Mayor Resigns;
Leaves For Cayman Islands
BY TKRRY POPE
Saying she wanted io spend iiiuie
time with her family. Ocean Isle
Beach Mayor I-aUanc Builington
resigned last Friday to take an ex
tended vacation to the Cayman
Fclgtirlc
Whe.n contacted Tuc.sday morning
in Miami, Ms. Builington confirmed
that she will be leaving tliis week to
stay in the Cayman Islands with )inr
husband. Bill, and their three
children, Kendra, Grant and Frasier.
Kendra is participating this week in
an international beauty pageant in
Miami.
Ms. Builington also confirmed
Tuesday that .she has arranged for
her children to enroll in school at the
Ca\Tiian Islands if she decides to stay
there past August. She said the fami
ly has rented a condominium at the
British West Indies resort Island
about 490 miles south of Miami.
She said there is no truth to the
rumor that she plans to live there
permanently.
"They just can’t believe the simple
truth,” Ms. Builington .said.
Before giving conunissioners her
resignation last Friday, Ms. Buil
ington .said she had no plans to leave
Ocean Isle. “This is my home,” she
said. “This is where all of my in
terests are.”
In the telephone inter\’iew Tues
day, she said her family is building a
9,300 square-foot penthou.se at their
Ocean Point condominium project on
the west end of the island. .She .said
her family has plans to live there in
the future and that they may decide
to sell their Second Street home.
“I may be back in a few weeks or
maybe a month,” she said. "I don’t
know when I’ll be there.
“I’m just going to play with my
kids. When I’m there, I work. It’s
there,” she added.
Her husband will be traveling back
to Ocean Isle to look after the
family’s business interests, she .siiid.
Ms. Builington said she has also
resigned from the Cape Fear Council
of Governments Region O executive
conunittee and the N.C. Coa.shil
F^osourccK Corni^iissicn A»lvisorv
Council. She said she did not want to
miss the meetings and remain a
member o', the boards.
At the town board meeting la.st Fri
day, Betty Williamson, mayor pro-
tem, was appointed mayor. Ms. Bull-
ington’s brother, DeCarol William-
.son, was appointed to the board to fill
.Ms. Willia.mson’s seat.
Both appointees will ser\e out the
remainder of their terms, and both
have stated they will run for their
respective seats in the Nov. 3
municipal elections.
Ms. Builington annnuneed last
Wfiliu-.silay that she h!il failed a
special meeting for Friday to offer
the commissioners her resignation,
just four months before her term ex
pired and four weeks after .she filed
for re-election as nuiyor.
About 30 residents and her family
members attended the meeting
where Ms. Builington appeared hap
py. but said she aLsoTelt a little sen
timental.
’Tve worked a long time to be able
to do this,” Ms. Builington said. "Up
until this time. I’ve always felt that I
needed to stay working for the town,
but 1 really feel that someone else
can do it now.”
.She .sat next to an arrangement of
red rases the commissioners and
town employees had given her and in
formally answered que.stions from
residents before the meeting began.
Ms. Bul!inj*ton hsci served hs
mayor for the past 14 years, never
drawing a salary and never taking a
maternity leave through the birth of
her three children.
■Tm just going to be thrilled to
have the time to spend with my fami
ly,” she .said. “I don’t feel like I’ve
deserted anything. I’m going to be a
mother for a while.”
Ms. Builington filed for re-election
as mayor on July 3, but said at that
time the town was in the process of
hiring a new police chief and other
personnel. She said she did not want
to leave until thase personnel mat
ters were resolved.
"I’m resigning at this point to give
someone else an opportunity to run
for mayor.” she said. “I felt that it
would give the people of Ocean Isle a
chaiK'e to start seeing another person
in that position and to .start thinking
of who would best do the job.”
In May, Ms. Builington withdrew
fron\ the sUUe Ufiitonunt governor’s.
“I would never have initiated that if l
felt the town needed me here,” she
said.
Reports were aired by a local
television station last week that .Ms.
Builington had been the victim of
vandalism and that death threats had
also been made against her.
Ocean Isle Police Chief Bill Oz-
ment said there has been a recent
rash of car vandalism along Second
Street, of which .Mayor Bullington’s
two cars were also damaged, but that
the incidents didn’t appear to be per
sonally directed against the mayor.
Ozment also said his department
has received no reports of threats
nuide against Ms. Bullington’s life.
Ozment said he doesn’t know how the
(See DECAROL. Page 2-A)
Mayor Williamson Takes
Office At Ocean Isle
BY TERRY POPE
When Ocean Isle Beach conunissioners voted la.st
T'riday to appoint Betty Williamson as mayor, Ms.
Williamson raised her hand, too.
“You can do that,” Ms. Williamson quickly pointed
out when residents who had
gathered at the town hall laughed.
The vote was unanimous.
The residents had come to
watch a change in command at
Ocean Isle following the resignation
of Mayor I.aDane Builington.
After serving 14 years as
mayor, Ms. Builington resigned
Friday to spend more time with her
family. Mayor pro-tem Williamson
became the board’s choice to succeed the mayor.
Ms. Williamson, who.se husband is a cousin of island
developer Odell Williamson, will al.so serve as the
town’s finance officer. .She has served on the board of
commissioners for the past eight years.
Ms. Willianrson had filed for re-election to the
board in July, but will now withdraw from that race to
enter the mayor’s race instead.
She is a real estate broker at Ocean Isle and owner
of Betty William.son Realty. She moved to the beach in
1970 from (’olumbus County, where she was clerk to the
board of commissioners 11967-70) and al.so worked as a
county aiiditoi-, a job she .says has prepared her for ser
ving the town of Ocean l.sle.
At Ocean Isle, .she has .served as chairperson of the
board of adju.stments. tax collector and registrar tor
the town.
"We hot>e it w ill be a very smooth transition.” Ms.
Williamson .said Monday. "Our board has always work
ed very clasely with the mayor in the pa.st. I don't think
there will tie any change at all in the way Ocean Isle
Beach operates.”
After taking the oath of office la.st week, she turned
the spotlight on the outgoing mayor and asked those at
the town hall to give l.al)ane Builington a standing ova
tion.
In a prepared statement. Ms. Williamson praised
Mayor Builington for her dedication to the job and to the
town.
"She always gives 110 percent of her time and
energy to get things done,” Ms. Williamson said. "The
experience and knowledge laDane has in local govern
ment is going to 1)0 greatly missed because .she has
repre.sented us on the local, district, state and national
levels.”
She recalled how Ms. Builington had appeared on
NBC’s "Today” program to represent Ocean Isle Beach
in a debate on coa.stal i.ssues.
"On behalf of the town board and the residents and
property owners of Ocean Isle Beach,” Ms. Williamson
.said, "we appreciate your dedication to the town, we
love you. we will miss you and our best wishes go to you.
We also wish to thank your family for sharing their time
with the town.”
M.s. Builington .said when .she took office 14 years
ago, she had to wear many hats. The town had one
police officer, who al.so served as garbage collector.
"If everyliody hailn't worked together, there’s no
way we could have gotten to this jwint toilay,” M.s. Buil
ington said.
When she took office, M.s. Builington succeeded a
list of previous mayors that included her father, Odell
William.son, and her mother, Virginia.
After Ms. Williamson tiv.ik the oath of office Friday.
Coinmissioner Bill Benton added. "You continue our
tradition of having a beautiful woman as mayor of
Ocean l.sle Beach.”
.MAYOR l..\iJA\I- IniUiiigtoii iiitswt-rcd iiuestiuiis
from residents Inforc Friday’s special meeting, where
Stic received a dn.icn red roues from the cuiiiniissioners
before handing the board her resignation.
NO ACTION TAKEN
Cetiing On List Only
Part Of Smoke Solution
BY SUSAN USHER
Getting Brunswick County back on
the .state’s high haziird list will help,
but it won’t clear the air of smoke
from controlled burning, county com
missioners learned Monday.
"I don’t see a single solution,” said
a forestry spokesman, "but I do see a
broad .solution.”
A group of 50 to 60 supporters of
C.-\TS, Citizens Against Toxic
Shenanigans, urged conunissioners
to help get the county back on the list,
as well as taking other steps to clean
up the air.
Commissioners moved their ses
sion to the public assembly building
to accommodate the crowd, but with
Chairman Grace Beasley and Com-
mbssioner Jim Poole absent, took no
action.
Neither is relief expected this sum
mer from the N.C. General
Assembly, whicl; is soon to adjourn.
Rep. David Redwine had said he
would be willing to introiliice the
legislation, but wanted commis
sioners to have an opportunity to
make a recoiiunendation.
Contrary to published reports.
County Attornev David Clegg said
there is no record in the minutes
showing the board of commissioners
as a body voted to ask that the county
be taken off the high-hazard list in
1982.
However. Bill Miller of the N.C.
Division of Forest Resources said
two weeks ago that the action was
taken by the legislature at the re
quest of "county commissioners.”
Clegg noted cormnissioners could
have made the request as individuals
rather than as a board.
Redwine said .Monday he might in
troduce a bill in the 1989 session.
CATS organized last month after
heavy smoke had blanketed the area
ior weeks. The smoke was the result
of controlled burning by land
developers, paper companies, the
Fore.st .Service itself (by reforesta
tion contracts,) wildfires and
weather conditions.
Saying he thought tourism, not
timber, is now the county’s "No. 1 in
dustry,” Odell Johnson warned com
missioners. "We’re going to have a
Nader type go down Highway 17 one
day and get in a wreck.” When that
happens, he continued, the county
and paper companies will be sued.
Though paper companies comply
with state requests not to start new
fires, thase set even weeks earlier in
organic soils may continue to
smolder in dry weather.
If the county were on the high
hazard list, the N.C. Division of
Forest Resources ranger’s office
would have greater regulation over
some controlled burning, but not all.
It could restrict the timing and
amount of material burned in piles or
windrows, but couldn't stop fires that
have already started.
Not affected would be "flat” burn
ing. This is the kind of burning icsed
early in the year by paper companies
to clear litter from the fore.st floor to
reduce the pos.sibility of wildfire, and
in the summer to prepare cleared
acreage for fall replanting in seedl
ings.
Paper companies keep burning
records and have a historv of ex
cellent voluntary compliance with
state re)ue.sts to stop burning or to
not burn, officials with the N.C. Divi
sion of Forest Resources said.
Aaswers Vary
Forestry officials noted that get-
(Sec SMOKE. Page 2-A 1
OTHER CANDIDATES FILE
Buck Seeks Election At Holden Beach
Former Holden Beach Ad
ministrator Bob Buck filed as a can
didate for town commi.ssioner riies-
day, just four days after he retired
from town employment.
Filing for municipal offices in
Brunswick County ends at noon Fri
day. Elections will be held .Nov. 3.
Four other candidates have filed
for iloiden Iteach .■mSii.',. .M.ivur .loliii
Tandy is seeking re-election and Gil
Ba.ss, Donalil Carey Jr and Martin
Feldt have filed for commissioner.
.At Ocean l.sle Beach. Debbie Fox
and V'irginia Gibson have filed for ri--
flection as commissioners. Also fil
ing for commi.ssioner are John
Brockington and. DeCarol William
son. recently appointed to fill the .seat
of Betty Williamson, who was named
mayor.
At Sunset Beach, council member
Mary Katherine Griffith is .seeking
re-election.
.A till ee-w a.\ i a»:e for mayor is star
ting to sluipe ii|> at lx)iig Beach,
where Dons Werner has tossed her
hat into the ring with .Mayor John W.
Vereen III and Commissioner H.
.Michael Oxford.
Three new candidates have filed at
Long Beach for commissioner;
Kevin M. Bell. .Margaret Kanecr and
incumbent David P. Ford
In Southport, Judy Y White has fil
ed for re-election from Ward 1 and
Norman Holden has filed for re-
election as iruiyor.
In Bclville, a race is developing for
the mayor’s office Innween .Mayor
Kenneth I). Messer Sr., who has filed
for re-election, and former mayor
.Mildred Honey.
Her son, Sidney Roney, and Vickie
L. GiHicli join Tim Schedler as can
didates for town commissioner.
ms