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Twenty-sixth Year, Number 4
IWT IH| BBUNSVUICK BfACON
Shollotle, North Carolina, Thursday, December 3, 1987
25c Per Copy
42 Pages Plus Inserts
Officials Will Outline Plans To Provide Drug-Free Schools
I mft ft A«a A
Brunswick County school officials plan to outline
their efforts to provide dniK-free schools at a press con
ference called by the Brunswick Countv Board of Educa
tion for Wedneday. Dec. 9. at I ;.10 p.m.
Participants will include Jack Kauftiold, interim
superintendent; Dr. James Forstner, chairman of the
Brunswick County Board of Education; Rev. Bryan
Weger, chairman of a countywide advisory committee
that has met several times; and Jean Parker, director of
internal services for the school system.
The media event will be held in the conference room
of the Board of Education office in Southport.
A recent survey taken by the N.C. Department of
Public Instruction showed that students in southeastern
North Carolina, including Brunswick County, have about
the same exposure to drugs and alcohol as their peers
elsewhere across the stale. The random sur\'ey made last
spring involved 10,000 stiuients. Region-by-region
figures, not county-by-counly. were released late last
month.
In Region 2. which includes New Hanover,
Brunswick, Pender, Duplin and Onslow county school
systems, alcohol is the favored drug among teenagers.
The state survey showed that 39 percent of the seventh-
and eighth-graders surveyed had tried alcohol at least
once. For students in grades nine and 10, the percentage
had risen to 64 percent.
Among high school juniors and seniors, 77 percent
reported trying alcohol at least once, the same figure
reported statewide.
However, 61 percent of youths in the southeastern
area reported having had an alcoholic drink witlun the 30
days preceding the survey. Most reported having one or
two drinks per occasion.
Of their peers statewide, the usage figure was 46 per
cent.
Also, a little over half the juniors and seniors in the
region reported riding with a drinking teenage driver: 12
percent of them “more than 10 times."
Among drugs, usage of marijuana was reported
more frequently than cocaine.
Of those surveyed, 51 percent of the juniors and
seniors said they’d smoked marijuana; 22 percent had
smoked it in the past 30 days.
Marijuana usage was at 12 percent for seventh- and
eighth-graders and 34 percent for ninth- and tenth-
graders.
Cocaine usage levels ranged from a low of 2 percent
for the lower grades to 13 percent for juniors and seniors.
I.^ss than 3 percent of the older group said they used it
recently.
Slightly less than one-third, 27 percent of the region’s
juniors and seniors reported having used inhalants such
as glue and paint thinner, while 22 percent had used “up
pers."
Some of the school system’s current drug use preven
tion efforts include informational programs by outside
resource people from Cape Fear Substance Abuse and
the Brunswick County Sheriff's Department, interven
tion counseling for high-risk students through Cape Fear
Substance Abuse, use of the “Just Say No" program in
targeted grades to address issues of self-esteem, values
and coping with peer pressure, establishment of “Just
Say No" groups in each of the high schools last year to
provide peer support and alterative social activities; and
drug prevention education resource files established by
DECAs (Distributive Education Clubs of America) at
each high school.
( ape I* ear Substance Abuse Center has increased its
presence in Bninswick ('oiinty this year.
I.ynn .Alexander is the prevention/education
counselor assigned to Bninswick County, working five
days each week primarily with the public schools. She
replaces Bill Reiin, who is now treatment counselor,
working in Bninswick County one day each week,
Thursdays, at a treatment center at Dosher Memorial
Hospital in Southport and handling referrals, many of
them from the Brunswick County Jail and Brunswick
Hospital.
A •
Results of the N.C. Department of Public Instruction
sur\’oy contained few surpri.ses for Renn, especially in
the popularity of alcohol among area teenagers.
“The wine coolers are such a big thing now," he
noted. “They’re milder, more palatable. It’s the in thing
to do. They’re setting themselves up. It’s scary.”
He was surprised that of 32 percent of the high school
upperclassmen who had used marijuana, only 22 percent
had u.sed it in the previous .30 days.
“Thai’s lower than I thought, ” he said. “That in
dicates episodic use. rather than regular use."
Calabash Residents Voice Opinions
Of Proposed Water Line Assessments
BY DOUG RUTTER
Calabash residents voiced varying
opinions Monday during a public
hearing concerning proposed
assessments for phase one of the
town water system.
While some waterfront property
owners who will face the
assessments opposed the town’s
methods of forcing residents to pur
chase something they do’n’i wuni.
other town residents requested the'
expeditious extension of water .ser
vice to their subdivision.
The project, which is expected to
start in January or February and be
completed by sometime in the spr
ing. will supply county water to pro
perties on Ivey High Street, Oak
Street and the Nance Street exten
sion.
According to the preliminary
assessment resolution, which was ap
proved by town council at its Nov. 9
meeting, the town will assess owners
of property which abut or adjoin the
project 100 percent of the cost, in
cluding any impact fee.
Although precise casts cannot be
determined until a work contract has
been awarded. Simmons estimated
the assessments for residential pro
perties at $400, while small
businesses will be assessed about
$1,000 and heavy commercial uses
and rcsluaranls wvU be assessed
about $^,000.
According to die resolution, the
propased f>asis for the assessments
includes frontage abutting the pro
ject. land area served by the project,
land valuation of the area served by
the project or the number of lots
served by the project.
The resolution also stales that the
full assessment must be paid within
60 days following the publication date
of the notice of confirmation of the
assessment role.
Despite opposition from some pro
perty owners who will face the
assessments. Simmons .said that the
town will go through with the project
because the restaurant owners who
will benefit most and are in favor of
the project could end up paying as
much as 90 percent of the
assessments.
Meanwhile, residents of Village
Green asked council why they plann
ed to supply water to Oak Street,
which has two residences, insleud of
extending the Vine lo their sTi’xliNM
sion.
•Several Village Green residents
said they would willingly pay t/ie
assessments for county water, but
were told that the extension of water
to their subdivision would come dur
ing a future phase.
Town Attorney MLke Ramas e.\-
plained that the line had to be extend
ed down Oak Street for “hydraulic
reasons.” He said that the water
pressure needed to insure fire protec
tion to the waterfront required a loop
to existing lines on N.C. 179 and that
Oak Street was part of this loop.
Several residents were also upset
that they had never had the oppor
tunity to voice their opinions about
the water sy.stem assessments
through a planned referendum.
The town was to have held a
referendum in conjuction with its
Nuv 3 general election, but a mixup
between slate and local governing
btxUes resulted in the omission of the
issue from the Ikallols.
AccurtUng to Kamos, the only pur-
po.se of the referendum was to decide
if (he town was going to assess pro-
pcrt\’ owners upfront or following
coiiif)Ietion of the project.
' Thev have always had the
authority to pul that
te ir. and
as.se.s.s you. ” he said. “The only thing
they have to do is hold this public
hearing today."
Other residents said they were
pleased with their well water and
didn’t want any part of costly water
line assessments.
(SeeCAI./\BASH, Page2-A)
Wilmington Man Arrested For Drugstore Break-In
BY RAHN ADAMS
A two-day stakeout by lawmen at a
Calabash drugstore last week
resulted in the arrest of a Wilmington
man on break-in and drug charges.
SIAfr PHOTO BY RAHN AOAM%
Decking The Streets
Shallotte town employees Roland Varnam (top) and Harvey Champion In
stall Christmas decorations downtown Friday morning to help usher In the
Christmas shopping season in Shallotte on the day after Thanksgiving.
Gary Frederick Stegall, 31, of West
Street, Wilmington, was arrested
Nov. 24 around 11:30 p.m. at
Seashore Drugs on N.C. 179 in
Calabash, according to Brunswick
County Sheriff John C. Davis.
The same drugstore had been hit
by thieves about two weeks ago,
Davis said.
Stegall was cliarged with breaking,
entering and larceny, resisting ar
rest, injury to real property and
felonious possession of narcotics,
Davis said.
According to Brunswick County
Sheriff’s Capt. Phil Perry, Stegall’s
arrest was made by Del. Sgt. David
Crocker and Deputy Gene Caison,
who were conducting their second
night of surveillance at the
drugstore.
Perry* said the officers observed
the suspect throw a cement block
through a window of the store to gain
entry*.
A bottle of the controlled narcotic
"Hycodan" was found on the suspect
after he left the building, Perry said.
Stegall was placed in the
Brunswick County Jail under a
$30,400 total bond and later last week
was transferred lo Central Prison in
Raleigh for “safekeeping," due lo a
possible drug dependency. Perry
said.
Perry said Stegall’s arrest hopeful
ly will help lainnen solve other
drugstore break-ins that have occur
red recently in Brunswick County.
At least seven break-ins have oc
curred at drugstores in the Calabash.
Supply and Southport areas over the
past two months, Perry said.
He added that drugstore break-ias
have become a problem acrass the
state, not just in Brunswick County.
According to Davis, the .sheriff’s
department has formed three four-
man surveillance teams lo stake out
the 12 drugstores located outside
municipal boundaries in the county.
'riie surveillance operations will
continue here through cooperation of
the sheriff's department, the SBI and
local police departments, Davis said.
Perry noted that lawTnen last week
had received information lipping
them off to the Calabash break-in,
allowing officers to make the arrest.
However, he said future drugstore
stakeouts would be done “on random
dates and at random times”
throughout the county.
Barber Announces Plans To Give Up
Sunset Beach Taxpayers Presidency
BY RAHN ADAMS
Sunset Beach Taxpayers’ Associa
tion President Mason Barber, who
recently was elected mayor of Sunset
Beach, has announced that he will
resign as head of the association as
soon as directors can meet to choase
a new president.
Barber made the announcement
Saturday during an annual meeting
of the taxpayers’ a.s.sociation. Ap
proximately 50 association members
attended the meeting at the Siin.sel
Beach Volunteer Fire Department.
“I will re.sign as pre.sident of the
taxpayers’ association, due lo niy
new pasilion with the town," Barber
told the gathering, near the close of
the meeting.
Barber was elected mayor of
Sun-sel Beach in November and will
be sworn into office Dec. 7. He has
served as taxpayers’ association
president since 1985.
In an interview last week prior to
Saturday’s meeting. Barber said he
was considering stepping down as
a.ssociation president since there
could be a conflict of interests if he
attempted to lead l)Oth the taxpayers'
association and the town council.
On Saturday, he said as.sociation
members will be notified by newslet
ter of his replacement after the
organization’s seven-member board
of directors meets lo elect a new
president.
Director Minnie Hunt said Satur
day that the board would meet within
30 days to choose Barber’s replace
ment.
Barber received a standing ovation
from association members at Satur
day's meeting, in appreciation for his
".strong leadership" of the group.
In another matter Saturday, .Ms.
Hunt announced that four incumbent
(BARBER, Page 2-A)
SUNSET BEACH TAXPAYERS’ ASSOCIATION
recently ri'-elccied four Incumbent members of the
«>rganUation’s board of directors, with the announce
ment made at Saturday’s annual as.sociation meeting.
iIA»f RmOIO By RAHN ADAMS
The directors who were rc-elecled Include, pictured
from left. Albert Wells, Mluiiie Hunt and Warren
“Hud’’ Knapp; and iiol pn lured, Alan Russ.