jiffiaSySBiXSaBS
COUNTY MANAGER JOHN T. SM
Finance Director Lithia Ilahn during
budget workshop last Wednesday
State Heal'
Briefs On I
Holden Beach Commissioners and
the N.C. Division of Health Services
Sanitation Branch have until July 14
iu iuc oneis wun siaie tieaitn uirector
Dr. Ronald Ixjvinc.
The documents?pro or con?would
address a petition filed by Holden
Beach Commissioners seeking
Irvine's ruling on recent interpretations
of a state septic tank regulation.
"Parties who are known to have an
interest in the issue are invited to file
briefs outlining their positions,"
Irvine said this week. After receiving
and reviewing the biiefs he then
has until mid-September?60 days
after the petition was filed?in which
to make his ruling.
Added Chris Hoke, chief of the N.C.
Division of Health Services' office of
legal assistance, "It's not whether
Sand Sc
BY DOUG RUTTER
While many families spend their
summer reunions at picnic tables
munching on barbecued chicken
wings, at least one family spends its
annual get-together on the beach
with shovels and paint cans in hand.
i ?asi ween, ior UK- sevenm year in a
row. the Moore family spent much of
their time together at Ocean Isle
Beach creating brightly-colored images
in the sand each morning.
This year, 32 family members
spanning three generations and ranging
in age from 18 months to 58 years
attended the week-long reunion at the
west end of the island. The reunion
also doubles as something akin to a
sand sculpting exhibition.
Allen Moore, chief architect of the
family of sand sculptors, said the
crew comes to the beach from as
close by as Fayetteville and
Charlotte and as far away as
Michigan, Texas and California.
Moore is a resident of Vacaville,
Calif., but has l>ecn attending the reunions
since their beginning.
Uist Thursday, the family worked
the morning away sculpting a crab.
\
ftir i, iitt i m ?
Have A Bangl
Area communities
celebrate
ldeoendence Day with
Fireworks, festivities. A
ound-up s on Page 4-8.
"IMF " .
ITU coolers with beginning their wo
;i commissioners' had difficult) agre
in Bolivia. Since 1988-89 budget.
Ill Director ln\
Holden Beach
it's good, bad or ugly, but what it
says."
t nu; lunu ii'llUIli;>MUIIt;i S llht"
Levine's ruling, he continued,
"Everyone lives happily ever after."
If not. the board of commissioners
can appeal the decision to N.C.
Superior Court.
A revised Holden Beach petition,
received by Levine's office in
Raleigh on June 22, asks for a
declaratory ruling on a recent rule
reinterpretation that the town says
has affected approximately 288 platted
lots. They are now generally considered
unsuitable for septic tank installations.
In its first draft of the petition, the
board said that since the new rule
regarding "naturally occurring soil"
was adopted in 1982, 464 septic tank
system permits had been issued in
:ulpting Clai
complete with large red claws and
raised yellow eyes.
Color came from about a dozen
cans of spray paint used for each of
the works produced during the reunion.
David Mayerly of China drove
was the designated painter in the
group and was also the one who came
up with idea of using spray pair.*
three years ago.
Moore said the sand sculpting
started simply enough but gradually
progressed into a major family
operation. "We just started with a
whale one time and it grew from
there. One thing led to another and
here we are with shovels and paint
cans in our hands."
As other family members performed
various tasks required to finish
the crab, bystanders admired work
from the previous four days. On the
strand next to the crab were
likenesses of a hammerhead shark,
sea turtle, serpent and whale.
Moore said all of the sculptures
were built above the high tide line to
make sun* thev would last the entire
week." Kver. it it rains they hold up,"
(See SANI) SCIJIJ'TINO, Page 2-A)
t
(^m
Supplement includ
NSW
X 1 7
T
Alf PMOIOBY ?*HN ADAVS
rk iu late May, commissioners have
eing on how to balance the county's
/ites
Request
Dare County and are still being
issued there for lots on finger canals
similar in soil conditions to those at
Holden Beach. However, the revised
petition states that 464 permits had
been issued for septic tank systems
on Holden Beach canal lots, not Dare
County lots.
It adds. "The petitioner (Holden
Beach Board of Commissioners) has
information that Rule .1950 is not being
enforced in Dare County, and
they are still issuing permits to lots
similar in soil conditions to those at
Holden Beach."
The town board contends that such
inconsistencies in interpretation of
the rule and in opinions regarding
water quality in the finger canals are
causing "confusion" among property
owners and town officials.
AT OCE
n Creates V
*L.
INTERESTED BEACHGOERS ntlmii
shape last week at Ocean Isle Beach.
ed in this
]twM
nasn
Board SqL
As Adopt
BY RAHN ADAMS
Grace Beasley nervously lit
another cigarette. Benny Ludlum
and Chris Chappell rocked in their
swivel chairs. Frankie Rabon rested
his face in his hands. And dim Poole
jotted figures on a notepad.
That was the scene Tuesday afternoon
in the Brunswick County Commissioners'
conference room, as the
Doarci prepared to end its eighth work
session this month without adopting
the county's 1988-89 budget. Excluding
meal breaks and waiting on
fellow commissioners, through Tuesday
the board had deliberated on the
budget for 28' hours.
The deadline for adoption is midnight
tonight (Thursday). Commissioners
were scheduled to meet again
Wednesday, in hopes of finalizing the
budget and setting a property tax
rate.
In the last action taken during
Tuesday's three-hour meeting, the
board defeated a motion by Ludlum
to adopt a revised budget proposal
?kn? __ ?
mat icm-iis no cnange in me
county's current 504-cent tax rate
but includes extensive departmental
budget cuts,
beastej,. Chapped and Poole opposite
m. 'ion. w' lle l.udlum and
Knbu.. voted in upport.
"If you can't vote to fund them all,
I say cut them all," l.udlum told commissioners,
after the motion was
Commissio
For 911 Em
BY RAHN ADAMS
When it came to deciding where to
begin making budget cuts.
Brunswick County Commissioners
last week decided that a proposed 911
emergency telephone system?even
with its $250,000 price tag?wasn't the
place to start.
I-ast Wednesday night during their
fifth budget work session, the commissioners
ended a drought of indecision
on budget issues in general by
reaching a unanimous consensus to
fund implementation of the 911
system.
The action came after Brunswick
County Emergency Management
Coordinator Cecil Logan brought the
ISLE
Vith Shovel
* # 1
re the sandy works of art which took
As sculptors continue working on the
BEAD
abbles Ove
ion Dead I in*
defeated.
County Manager John T. Smith
presented the revised budget to commissioners
June 21. after they balked
at his original $31.8 million proposed
budget, which includes a 16l2-cent
tax rate increase.
Ludlum's support of what the
board referred to as its "50l2-cent
budget" contradicted previous positions
he took Tuesday and during
previous work sessions. In fact, most
of the action taken Tuesday by commissioners
reversed previous board
decisions.
Monday night. Ludlum's motion to
allocate $450,000 for construction of a
minor league baseball stadium at
Northwest Township District Park
passed by a 3-2 vote, with Chappell
and Poole dissenting.
That action came after the other
four commissioners voted down
Ludlum's proposal to delete Parks
and Recreation Director Bobby
Jones' position.
During Tuesday's meeting.
i.iii-iiiiiii uiduc U uiuLiuu 10 gram ine
Brunswick County school system's
full operating budget request of $5.9
million, which is $718,152 more than
the allocation recommended in the
50'2-cenl budget. The motion was approved
on a 3-2 vote, with Chappell
and Poole again in opposition.
On Friday, the board had voted
ners Restate *
lergency Phon
board up to date on cost estimates
and other information pertaining to
the system, which would require the
installation of specialized telephone
equipment and a centralized dispatching
point for the county's 29 fire
departments and rescue squads.
In May, all five commissioners had
expressed support of allocating
$250,000 for 911 in the county's 1988-89
budget.
However, three weeks ago when
they instructed County Manager
.John T. Smith to cut a proposed $31.3
million budget in order to keep the
county property tax rate at its current
51l-j rente Smith u:ac fnrco/l to
delete the proposed 911 funds.
s And Spra)
* (v
aL
am
>.<*' "
crab (far ri^ht) last Thursday, small cl
hammerhead shark and sea turtle com
'hat s Bating?
Offshore ancjlers were
catching kings and
aupers this past week,
in the Fishing Report,
on Page 14-C.
IN
ifi m
>r Budget
b Nears
unanimously to give the schools only
the revised budget's $5.2 million for
operations, although they granted
Brunswick Community College's full
operating request of $402,467. The
vote on the college budget was 3-2,
with Chappell and Poole opposing the
motion.
On an identical 3-2 vote Tuesday,
the board approved Ludlum's motion
to revise an earlier decision concerning
changes in the county's insurance
package i see related story). The action
cancelled what had been figured
as an additional $116,000 savings on
insurance costs.
Also on Tuesday. Ludlum's motion
to reinstate a $35,000 environmental
health supervisor's position in the
Health Department also was approved,
reversing action taken by the
board on Friday. Chappell, who proposed
the original action last week,
was the only commissioner to oppose
Ludlum's motion.
Before recessing until Wednesday,
Ms. Beasley noted that, adjustments
to the budget had reduced Smith's
original 67-cent tax rate proposal to
59 cents. Before Ludlum's flurry of
motions Tuesday, the tax rate had
been reduced to 5714 cents.
it seems only logical that to
decrease the tax rate, you need to
start subtracting." Ms. Beasley quipped.
before recessing untiJ Wednesday
at the board's request.
Support
e System
Gene Sellers, president of the
Brunswick County Fire and Rescue
Association, and seven members of
the Pilot Club of South Brunswick
Islands appeared at a budget work
session last Tuesday night to ask that
the funds be reinstated. Commissioners
made no decision on the matter
at that time.
At last Wednesday's meetine
l.x>gan told commissioners that he
could not provide a true cost estimate
for the system until the two telephone
companies involved?Southern Bell
and Atlantic Telephone Membership
Corporation?make definite proposals
on the service.
I See SUPPORT, Page 2-A)
( Paint
J
'
lildren and ailulls marvel al a 30-foot
iplctvj earlier in Uie week.
*