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SWICIC
Twenty-sixth Year, Number 8
National Postal Service Cutbacks
May Cancel South Brunswick Branch
BY DOUG RL'TTKK
Federal funding cuts affecting the
U.S. Postal Service may force
cancellation of a proposed South
Brunswick Islands station of the
Shallotte Post Office.
Art Shealy, communications
manager for the Columbia. S.C..
postal division, said the budget cut.s
will cause a delay, if not cancellation,
of the project.
The recently adopted Biulget
Reconciliation Act requires that the
postal service reduce expenditures
by approximately $1.25 billion over
the next 21 months. Shealy said this
represents a cut of approximately
two percent from the normal yearly
budget of about $30 billion.
The act specifically requires that
$430 million be cut from the opera
tions budget and that the reniaining
$795 million be stived in capital funds.
The South Brunswick Islands sta
tion was proposed as a l)ranch office
of Shallotte to sers'e the areas of
Calabash, Ocean Isle Beach and
Sunset Beach.
A site was expected to lx? announc
ed sometime tliis fall but was never
decided upon. The site selection pro
cess began April 15 with the postal
Sunset Bridge
Closed Monday
The Sunset Beach bridge will
close to veliicle traffic for six
hours Monday, from 9 a.m. to 3
p.m., so repairs can be made to
its superstructure.
Brunswick County Bridge
Maintenanace Supervisor .I.H.
Hayes said four hollowed caps on
tiiG 1!h*
will be replaced dm mg the one-
day operation.
“This work is pretty routine
and there's no danger with it
right now,” he noted. "We think it
could be dangerous if we let it
go."
■sendee accepting offers from in
dividual property owners for an area
to house the proposed .structure.
Shortly after the federal act was
pa.ssed. Postmaster General Pre.ston
It. Tisch announced that 50 percent of
the capital projects scheduled for
fiscal years 1988 and 1989 would have
to lie cancelled.
According to .Shealy. "Projects not
already under contract face the pro
spect of outright cancellation or a
lengthy delay."
lie .said the length of the delay will
depend on the “overall evaluation of
need" as compared to other projects
in the region.
The matter of which offices to
cancel, delay or continue work on
was expected to be decided later this
week by •high-level postal officials."
.Shealy said that following the deci
sion of which offices to delay and
cancel, he would compile an •impact
study" relating how each proposed
office would tie affected.
lie addded that the budget cuts will
aLso require that purchases of
automated equipment designed to
make postal service more efficient
be viewed "under a microscope."
With regard to the cuts in capitai
investments, .Shealy said the govern
ment has allowed expenditures of
$(i.->5 million through September of
1988 and expenditures of $2 billion
through, fiscal year 1989.
He said that though original budget
cuts handed down by Congress were
later reduced by $700 million, the
postal sen, ice will still find it difficult
to ••make the cuts and still provide
proper ser\'ice."
••The postal ser\'ice is behind the
federal deficit cutting,” he said. "We
jusi w ish we could make the cuts the
way we want to do it. But that's not
the way it came down."
Shealy said the legislative act re-
quired the postal .service to nuike
cuts and not increa.se rates or other
wise raise tuiuls. He said postal ser
vice officials would have likely con-
■sidored increasing postal rates to
raise additional revenues if it was
left up to them.
Cast year's cost containment pro
gram directed by the postal service
saved approximately $50 million, he
added.
In addition to project delays and
cancellations, the cutbacks have also
resulted in the closing of post offices
on two successive Saturdays, Dec. 26
and Jan. 2, with the possibility of ad
ditional weekend closings in the
future.
Shealy said some offices which are
currently operating for more than
eight hours a day may also have to
cut back extra hours or be reduced to
six-hour days.
He said cutting out Saturday
delivery or any other delivery would
be a "worst case scenario." The ef
fects of two-day mail build-up on
.Mondays, he explained, would be
"catastrophic."
“All options are being looked at,"
said Shealy, "but stopping nonnal
mail delivery is at the bottom of the
list on po.ssible operational cuts."
In the middle of capital investment
and operational cutbacks, postal ser
vice employees will also feel certain
effects from the budget amend
ments.
According to Shealy, it is the inten
tion of the postal service to keep all
full-time employees working on a
full-time basis. He said they may
work different hours, but that their
total number of hours should not
(See POST OFFICE, Page 2-A |
ill '
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TOWN hall
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SANTA C1./\US may have left this sign for Holden Beach area residents, who were sometimes naughty
and sometimes nice in 1987.
Town Hall' Sign Raises Eyebrows
Clayton Robinson says a sign declaring his
partially-constructed building on N.C. 1,30 as the future
site of the North Holden Beach Town Hall has raised
more than a few eyebrows."
And although recent history- of the Holden Beach
greater metropolitan area concerning incorporation
and annexation may lead some to fret, two principles
in the case maintain that the sign is •just a joke."
Robinson, who by his own admi.ssii>n oppo.sed the
incorporation of North Holden Beach sim c it was first
proposed in June 1986, called the sign a -practical
joke."
And Cletis Clenunons. who was instrumenUil in
getting the North Holden Beach incoqioration band
wagon rolling earlier this year, described the sign on
Robinson's property as a "funny little .scene."
Both said they had good ideas who may have put
the sign up. but when asked about it, neither was in the
mool to tell secrets.
Robinson said residents have not stopped asking
about the sign since it was erected by mysterious
gremlins on Christmas Eve.
"I may just knock it down one of these days." ho
said. -But everybody's gotten a little chuckle out of it.
It's given them something to talk about now that
Christmas is over."
Clerk Of Court To HearCawcaw Motion Jan. 20
BY ICMIN Al)A^LS
riie future of me Cawca-.v
Drainage District could be decided in
three weeks, when Brunswick County
Clerk of Court Diana Morgan reviews
the county's request for reactivation
of the abandoned drainage district.
According to Ms. Morgan, a “for
mal hearing before the court" is
scheduled for Jan. -JO at 10 a.m. m
Bolivia.
Ms. Morgan said the Iwsic issue to
be decided is whether or not the clerk
of court's office acted properly in
1976 when it dissolved the drainage
district.
"If everyUiing is very clear-cut
and I don't have any questions in my
mmd about of ijio i.ssues. I cuvilil
.oo'.\e ,! licciiiuii light away." Ms.
.Morgan .saiil Tuesday.
-She added that her decision would
lx. made w ithin a matter of days at
most." it ii.it at the close of the hear
ing.
.Ms. .Morgan .said County .Attorney
David Clegg last week filed a ‘-mo-
'.lon in the cause." .•.hveh w.is sigiwo
Dec. -Ji by 'iuiii.swick v ouiiiy > 0111-
mi.s.sio.iers t hairman Cr.-;: e hca.siiM
and Brunswick Count•. .s'od and
Water Conservation District i'hair-
man James Bellamy.
In addition to requesting the hear
ing, the motion petitions .Ms. .Morgan
(See CLERK, I’age 2-A |
1987 IN REVIEW
Winds Of Change Felt Throughout The Year
BY RAHN ADAMS
AND DOUG RU n’ER
On the very first day of 1987, Firiinswick County
residents got a taste of the year to come, in the form of a
winter storm that brought change through turbulence.
An investigation of local cocaine dealing, county and
municipal efforts to create water policies and elections
created their own turbulence, as did a sweep of personnel
changes in key positions throughout the county.
Winds Of Change
The Jan. 1 storm, combined with astronomical fac
tors, lashed Brunswick County's cast-west aligned
beaches with gale-force winds and uiiiisually high tides.
Although damage was le.ss than expected, the New
Year’s Day storm flooded canals and streets in barrier
island communities and ate away at oceanfront dunes.
Ixmg Beach was worst hit, with damage estimated at $6
million.
Another off-shore storm cau.sed concern on Jan. 5 but
did no further significant damage.
Several days later, state and federal emergency
teams inspected storm damages in Brunswick County to
determine the possibility of federal di.sfister aid.
However, no federal aid was approved.
Old Man Winter wasn't through with Brunswick
County, though.
To the delight of students, county schools closed Jan.
29 in anticipation of hazardous road conditions, even
though the area received only a light dusting of snow
from a storm moving up the coast.
Another winter storm with gale force winds and
freezing rain on Feb. 16 caused problenis for Brunswick
County motorists, utility companies, emergency and law
enforcement personnel-but no problem again for
students, as schools clused that day at noon.
Mother Nature took the area - by storm" again in
mid-July with a .severe thunderstorm that bore down
mainly on the Ocean Isle Beach area. The .storm-with
lightning and winds of up to 65 mph-even damaged three
airplanes at the Ocean Isle Beach Airport, flipping one of
them completely over.
Even though Brunswick County wasn’t approved for
federal disaster aid earlier in the year, local farmers
foimd out in March that at least they would get .some
relief. The Agriculture .SUibilization and Con.servation
Service announced that Brunswick County farmers
would receive nearly $16.3.700 in federal disaster aid
because of weather-related losses in 1986.
Where There's Snioke...
Playwright Tenne.ssee Wile.mis must have been
thinking of Brunswick County ".'len he wrote •Summer
and Smoke, as the western section of the countv
discovered that the two terms went together in 1987.
A 5,000-foot column of smoke from controlled burning
and stagnant air was measured over much of western
Brunswick County in July. A large stable air mass and
smoldering organic matter combined to cause limited
visibility on the highways and respiratory problems for
some residents.
A group call Citizens .Against Toxic Shenanigans
(CATS) formed to oppose controlled burning and air
pollution.
As a result of the public’s concern, major paper com
panies in the area agreed to start no new fires in
Brunswick, Pender, Columbus and New Hanover coun
ties until weather conditions improved.
But in August 50 to 60 CATS supporters urged
Brunswick County Commissioners to help get the county
back on the state’s high luizard list, so that some types of
large-scale controlled burning could be more .strictly
regulated by the stale. CommLssioners took no action.
1987 was relatively kind to firefighters who in
previous years had seen more than their share of forest
fires. Forest Ser\'ice officials said the 1987 fire season
started off more slowly than in 1986 due to rainy weather
conditions.
But April 13 turned out to be an unlucky day for
firefighters. A blaze de.stroyod '256 acres of pine
woodlands between .Mill Creek Road and Danford Road
near Bolivia after burning out of control for four to five
hours. Earlier the same day, firefighters also contained a
20-acre fire off Cumbee Road in Supply.
Arson Suspected
Unfortunately, not all fires in 1987 were as easily ex
plainable as controlled burnings and woods fires.
; 'A ^
N/r* • j.
IT TOOK ONLY a few hours for the New Year’s Day
storm to work over the beleaguered end of Shallotte
HtAi ( »4$ II ►MO'O
Boulevard and an adjoining house, the Outrigger, at
Ocean Isle Reach. The house has since Im-cii relocated.
State and local law enforcement agencies said arson
was the cause of similar early morning fires that
destroyed two Shallotte doctors' offices on Sept. 14.
The blazes were at Dr. Karen Paine's former office
on Forest Drive and Dr. Pat Hewetfs Brunswick
Chiropractic Center on U.S. 17 just south of the town
limits.
"Highly combustible" material was found on the
scenes of both fires.
At year’s end, neither arson case had been solved.
In an apparentlv unrelated matter. Dr. Paine also
was in the news about a month after the fire de.stroyed
her office. She was indicted Oct. 1.3 by a federal grand
jury in Fayetteville on charges of .Medicaid. .Medicare
and mail fraud.
Information on 23 patients used to support the
89-count indictment specified more than $'25,000 in public
and private insurance payments Paine allegedly receiv
ed for services that were not performed.
The case is .still pending in federal court.
Fire officials al.so aren't entirely sure about the exact
cause of an October house fire that eventually claimed
one life in the Sunset Harbor community.
An elderly couple-Joe and Pearl Faircluth -were
critically burned when their home was destroyed in the
fire tluit apparently was caicsed by a kerasene heater.
Both were rushed by air ambulance from The
Brunswick Hospital to the Burn Center at .N.C. .Memorial
HospiUil in Chapel Hill. .Mrs. Faircloth died there in
November, while her husband renuMiied in serious condi
tion.
Burning At Sea
Not all fires were confined to dry land.
In October, the fivc'-man crew and 56 passengers ..f
the Calabash-based charier boat "Capt. Jim " were forc
ed to abandon .ship about five miles east of Little River
Inlet when the ve.ssel caught fire and later sank
Eight nearby fishing boats quickly came to tl.e
rescue and plucked the 61 people from the water. N'.. one
was .seriously injured.
.Although the cause of the fire is still iinier investiga
tion by the U.S. Coast Guard, owner .Iimiii> .Stevens said
he thought the blaze was caused by an electrical short. .\
preliminary investigation by the Coast Giianl determin
ed that the Capt. Jim had all rwiiured safeti e|uipinent
on txiard at the time of the accident.
In late June, a :t5-foot charter fishing vessel the
'Salty I" captained by Gary Carr of Holden
Beach—caught fire and sank about a mile from the
(See FlGH'r, Page 5-A i